He was an average man, but not to us.....

His name was Gary Lynn Brown. He was born in Detroit, MI on February 25th, 1942. He was a very cute, chubby baby, who was well loved by his older sister Pat and his mother. Later, he was lovingly known as "Butch". At age 11 he lost his father, Evert. How this must have affected him so. He had fond memories of his gentle and well loved father.
Most of his younger years were spent with an obsession with cars, maybe because he grew up in the Motor City. Later his family moved to Wyandotte, MI. He met a girl in high school named Mary. They married and Gary had his first son, Keenan at age 18. One and a half years later Kelleigh arrived, with brown eyes so beautiful that she won a baby contest in the local newspaper. Then came Kevin, another year and a half later. At the age of 21, this average hard working man had 3 very small children. Then one day at the age of 23, with his children at the ages of 4, 3, and 2. His wife Mary decided to leave and she disappeared. Not even her mother knew where she went. Until one day a friend called Gary and told him to turn on the T.V. Looking at the television, Gary saw his wife on a game show called "Let's Make a Deal." She decided to abandon her children and move to California to start a new life. So, at the age of 23, Gary became a single parent. His life and theirs changed forever. Many friends and family teamed up and supported this average young man, now a single young father and he was so grateful. You see, Gary was like a big Teddy Bear. Some would call him "Mr. Smooth", not because he was a cahrmer, no, he did not like attention, but because he was kind and appeared very calm and very even. Gary was sweet, he liked to visit and he enjoyed hearing others' stories. For those reasons, for his qualities, four years later at the age of 27, his ex-wife's mother decided to set him up on a date with a beautiful young women named Carol Ann Shankus. They fell in love and she fell in love with the whole little "Brown" package. They married on December 19, 1969 and moved to Southgate, MI. One year later they had a baby, and sticking with the "K" theme, named her Kristen. Then one and half years later, Kraig arrived.
Gary continued to be a hard working, loving father. Moving his family a few more times. He worked at Jeep for a while as a foreman. Then he settled into the average kind of truck driver job. Working long hours, waking at 3am, coming home at 8pm, kind of just collapsing after a hard days work to support his average family. The lived in a fairly average home, a 2 story, on a street with many other similarly average homes.
He was funny, but in the "dry sense of humor" kind of way. People loved him. Once, walking in the door, I found my dad talking on the phone. The conversation lasted at least 20 minutes. He was joking and chuckling and telling stories. He hung up the phone and when asked who he was talking to, he replied "some AT&T telemarketer". One would have thought they were old friends the way they were talking.
Gary attended every baseball game and every football game that his oldest boys were in. Every hockey game and every Ice skating event that his younger two children were in, there he was watching. He worked hard so they could have fun and so he could enjoy watching them have fun.

Then one cold, icy, night in November in 1984 tragedy struck this average man's family. His precious 22 year old daughter, Kelleigh, was killed in a car accident with her unborn baby by a drunk driver. He was crushed, but he was solid. He stood strong for his family, they were held together by his calm presence. He was quiet and steady. He mourned and he ached. The weight of his family's grief rested on his shoulders and he did not falter.
In fact, he never faltered in his love and support for his family. He had the utmost confidence in his children and if you were to ask him he would tell you. He was not showy or pretentious. He was 'down to earth', real, modest and reserved. His "I love you" was delivered in the words "ok, my little buddy" and his kids knew it.
He was dedicated. He was loved and he loved well and he loved hard, but in his quiet way. His kids knew his door was open. His kids knew that he would listen. His kids knew that no matter what he was always going to love them.
Gary's life ended on September 7th, 2011.
To describe a life of an average man is difficult. It is hard. That is because to us..... he was no average man.
He was no average father.
He was Gary "Butch" Brown, our dad.......and he lived well.

Week of November 18th review.

This week was weak :) in studies as we were all kind of battling some virus. Tis the season though, it seems to happen every year. I guess I would rather it hit us this week than the week of Thanksgiving. I do have to work on Thanksgiving, but plan to go in early so we can have our dinner when I get home about 3pm ish.

Anyhow, a lot of our focus was on the 3 Rs. "A" is continuing to work in his CLE math, focusing on common factors, changing improper fractions to mixed or whole numbers and decimals. He grasps the concept quickly and I happy with the way CLE is set up to constantly review the new concepts that are learned to really help him cement it in.

O is focusing on money, time and we are really trying to cement all these facts, which math does not come as easy for her as her older brother, but we have seen some good progress. She is also working on measurements. I decided to continue CLE with her as well, because it works for her and she told me she prefers it.

We also use CLE for LA. I may be changing this up to ILL, as I would like to go towards a more CM approach then will be adding a writing program at the first of the year and have been researching some programs. Then I remembered I do have WWE so why not revisit that? So many choices, what to do? It is the beauty, yet can drive me bonkers about homeschooling... all these choices out there.

We are using HOD Preparing and I am really struggling with it. I like it, I love the books we have read so far, but I am not getting all my boxes checked off and it is really annoying me that I am not. I feel like I am just reading the selections now and not incorporating the wholeness that this curriculum has to offer, well there is not feeling like, I am just plain NOT. So, I am reevaluating that as well. We are on Ancient Egypt and the kids are enjoying learning about it. We were suppose to make Egyptian pastry, but of course did not get around to that. Maybe a good project for my Roland this weekend since he loves to bake :) We went to the library and checked out some books on Egypt. I am surprised that O seems to have more interest in Egypt than A right now, maybe that will change.

Currently we are reading, Grandpa's Box, Cricket in Times Square, The Borrowers.

Praying next week is more productive and consistent.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Reflecting on lessons from God.

It has been a very long, hard, trying 4 years. I was thinking the other night about where my family is now and where we have been. I was reflecting on our path we have traveled so far.......

God did not put me on this earth to live up to someone else's standard, He wants me to live for Him. I believe my most important job in my life is being the best wife and mother that I can be. It may sound cliche or even boring or typical but it is part of my soul and always has been. Yes, I am a nurse and I do sometimes enjoy that part of me, but my heart is God and my family. I remember my sophomore year in high school and trying to think of the direction I wanted to take in my life. My dad came over to me with the "jobs" section of the newspaper. He showed me all the incredible sign on bonuses offered to nurses and how much money I would make once I took the 4 year plunge into the nursing school's pit of despair (just kidding it wasn't that bad). I was still contemplating if I wanted to be a journalist or a lawyer (because I love to argue). My dad pointed out to me that neither one of those would be easy to find work and I may struggle. I liked people (still do, some....;)) so I took my dad's wise advice.

Fast forward about 15 years, I was in my stay at home mom mode, ya know loving it one day, next hour ready to pull my hair out calling Roland, saying please come home now and save me and the next day thinking I wouldn't trade this life for anything, because all I want to do is be with my kids. That was the core of my soul talking, it's true all I want is to be home with my kids.

So, around 2007 I was thinking about letting my nursing license expire (gasp, I know) but I was. I remember having a serious conversation with Roland about it. So, not long after that discussion, Roland lost his job of 16 years. God's work is amazing. Because Roland was struggling getting another full time job, I went back to work full time and he stayed home with the kids to homeschool while he was picking up consulting jobs, part time work etc. until he could find full time work. Wow, who would have expected full time work would take 3 years and a move to the other side of the state. Welcome to the economy of the great state of MI (yet another topic for later, note to self).

So, here we are a new chapter in our lives. We have been in this new area for 1 year now.

The lesson that I learned, while not revealed until 20+ years later is that God had a plan (I know He has plans for us, but my point is I see it now). God knew I was going to need that nursing degree to support my family in trying times and He worked that plan through my dad's words on that day.

My dad died on September 7th of this year. I wish I could have told him, "Thank you for talking to me about nursing and pushing me to do things I did not really want to do." I am glad that God put that in my dad's heart that day.

While I am not so sure about living here. Because change is hard and frankly, it stinks. I know God has a plan for my family being here. I may not be able to see it for a month or even 20+ years, but He is in control and while I am extremely confused at times, I need to have faith that He knows what is best for my family.