Get it Done--Episode 11

Hi all,  join me as we go through John 11 and Psalm 11 together today!

Leave me a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chrissy-mcmillan/message

For Financial Support of this podcast, Please click on support at:  https://anchor.fm/chrissy-mcmillan

Please leave comments and questions below in the comment Section. I'd love to hear from you!

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Get it Done--Episode 10

Hi all,  join me as we go through John 10 and Psalm 10 together today!

email me: getitdonemailbox@gmail.com

Leave me a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chrissy-mcmillan/message

For Financial Support of this podcast, Please click on support at:  https://anchor.fm/chrissy-mcmillan

Feel free to start a discussion in the comments below!

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Fall Fab Fit Fun Box

Keira and I had a lot of fun opening my new Fab Fit Fun box today. If you don't know, it is a box subscription that comes with full size samples of products to try out. 

I bought myself a subscription for my 40th birthday this year and it is so much fun! for $50 per season, you get so many awesome things. This box was valued at around $300! I would never spend that much on random stuff normally but I have found some great products this way that I have continued to use and I love it. 

If you want to try it out, click my link https://share.fabfitfun.com/x/omGNzB and sign up to get yours! 

Not only do you get options for customizations but they also give you options to purchase other items at a huge discount! 

Plus, sign up for Rakuten to get cash back on a ton of your online shopping...I mean...it's free money and right now they are giving cash back for Fab Fit Fun subscriptions!  https://www.rakuten.com/r/MCMILL208?eeid=28187 

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Another Change in the Plans

I think I reminded daily that I named this blog appropriately with the name "Not My Plans".  

Poor Janessa came down on her ankle wrong this weekend. 

Of course, I was away for the weekend with Keira at our first dance competition since January!!!! Off topic completely, but we had a great weekend and finally got to spend time with friends and see our girls do what they love. 

Anyways, Janessa's ankle was swollen and bruised but daddy made sure she was comfortable. They iced it and she slept fine.

On Sunday, he took her to urgent care just to make sure and they took an x-ray. They said it was a sprain, wrapped it in an ace bandage and sent her home. 

A few hours later, I got a call from the urgent care doctor who said that after the radiologist reviewed her x-rays, he saw a space that he didn't like so their might be a ligament injury and we should see Pediatric Orthopedics. 

So, today, I took her there (where we were in May with Addie's broken arm...thankfully not from the trampoline). It was a fracture, a small fracture that should heal in just a few weeks with a cast on. 

So, we will now not be headed to visit my sisters family in North Carolina in a few weeks because she will need to be seen here and due to Governor Cuomo's travel restrictions, we would have to quarantine for 2 weeks when we got back. So...once again, our plans are changed. 

Why do I even try to make plans? 😂 Have I not learned? 

We look at the positive and realize that God must not have wanted us to go for some reason. We will just continue to enjoy each other!

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Is This Normal?

We need to be careful you guys! We need to be watchful at what is happening to our kids through all that is going on. What is becoming normal to their precious little eyes? With all that has been finally coming out in the media about human trafficking, we need to be aware of how these things happen. It is a HUGE problem. 

Everyone keeps talking about the "new normal". I get it. Things have changed. Although I desperately do not want what life is like now to be the norm, I understand that, for now, this is the way things are. Since the middle of March, we've been dealing with Covid and it has come to be seen as normal for people to be wearing masks. Pretty much everything, at least here in New York State, was shut down so there was really nowhere to go besides the grocery store, and we all did that as minimally as possible. 

Then the 14 days to flatten the curve (which has been flattened BTW for several months now) dragged on. Businesses, at least the ones that weren't basically forced to close their doors permanently, started to find ways to open. So now, we start emerging again, with our faces covered, and our children's faces covered. Now, this post is not about how much I hate masks and think they are useless so I won't go there. However, we've semi gotten used to seeing people with masks without thinking anything of it. 

Then, some activities started up. Some churches started re-opening...THANK GOD! And now, it is considered normal to get your temperature taken before entering certain places. Everyone seems to have gotten a touchless thermometer. I have one that works great. When my kids are sick, I like to check their temp while they sleep and not worry about spreading germs from kid to kid. If you want one, I highly recommend this one:

Now, I do struggle with this a bit, but I know that at least in our area, if you aren't doing this, the state will shut you down, so I get why people are doing it and I am thankful in many ways that some of my kids activities have found a way to be open so our children can do something semi-normal and see their friends. I just want to be very clear about that. 

But this....THIS...WHY? I was scrolling through Facebook yesterday and something just struck me. I saw an advertisement for little girl going into school. She was wearing a mask and her teacher/administrator was taking her temperature in the middle of her forehead with a thermometer that is shaped like a GUN! How many of our kids are getting used to this scene? Face covered, being obedient, standing still and letting someone point something straight at their head. This is not the picture that I saw but you get the point.

This is not normal and it should never be. If you are working with children and are using a thermometer on them that is shaped like a gun (and maybe you didn't realize it), please please please, find something else to use. 

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Spaceships and Community helpers

Just a peek into our day today. Addie is learning about Community helpers in Kindergarten...isn't she cute? Last week, she learned about Firefighters, this week was police officers and next week is the mailperson. She is loving it.

With the community helpers in mind and because today is September 11th, we also talked with out kids about the reality of what this date means to our country. We must never forget what happened and what our "community helpers" did for us that day and following! 

Also, on a lighter note. Levi made a spaceship to work in today....because....he had to think of something to do while sitting there not doing his school work! ha!

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Camping Fun

A week ago we randomly decided it would be fun to go camping again (we went in July) next weekend (Labor Day). Of course, there weren't many sites available to choose from but we found a campground and had a great weekend together.

Sometimes we need to just get out of the house, away from the computers (well...actually I had to bring one to write a paper at night while the kids were sleeping), and all the lights and just enjoy each other.

We really had a great time and now it is our goal to buy a camper....because I think I could do this often if it didn't require setting up a tent and 7 camping cots every time!

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Day 1 of Homeschool---Dreams vs. Reality

I think a lot of people who actually want to homeschool have a picture perfect idea of what it will be like in THEIR house. ha! I know that even after homschooling my kids for 5 years prior to this, I still get this picture in my head. This is the year. I will be organized. They will follow my schedule. They will do the chores I assign and life will be great. 

I always have this happy picture of myself helping my kids with their work and we are smiling and enjoying our time together. 

I work tirelessly to make sure everything is set up just right. That they can find their books and know where to turn in their work to make for minimal interruptions of myself and the hubby while we are trying to work. 

These are actual pictures from my house! 

If you like our bookshelf, I highly recommend it! The cubes are bigger than the normal size and it comes in a variety of colors! https://amzn.to/2RPulTj 

But this is reality. It is messy. It does not always go smoothly. Sometimes it does though. It does not always come with smiles. Sometimes it does though. It does not always come with good attitudes. Sometimes it does though. It is so so hard but so so rewarding. When your kids are home with you all day, you learn things about them that you just do not know when they are at school all day. You learn how they learn. 

This year is not what I planned but I am determined to make the best of it, enjoy as much time as possible with my children and to obey what God's plan for us is this year. We will need His grace and mercy, patience and forgiveness for sure.

"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it."

                                                                            -Proverbs 22:6

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Not My Plans

This was not my plan but here we are. I realized recently that really this is the theme of my life. 

I know I am not alone in this at all but I cannot even begin to tell you how done I am making plans for myself. It's a little bit sad really, because I absolutely LOVE to make plans. To the point where my friends actually nicknamed me the "Cruise Director" for a while. 

I digress. This year has been a challenge to us all, navigating the ins and outs of reality and what our futures will look like. 

For those of you who don't know us, Tom and I homeschooled our kids starting when our oldest, Keira, who is now 12 and going into 7th grade, was in pre-school. I thought I would always homeschool our kids. I had always wanted to and really felt that it was the right thing for our family. 

Well, two years ago, I started having some health issues, really strange things that I won't even go into here. I had swollen lymph nodes that would not go away even though all tests pointed to negative, among other very bothersome things. We got to December 2018 and I felt like I was literally going to lose my mind. My kids were not cooperating and I just didn't want to be around them anymore. I loved them, don't get me wrong, but...well....I was just done. 

We started looking into some private school options and long story short, they started at a WONDERFUL, AMAZING private Christian school in our area in January 2019.  Surprisingly enough, my health issues basically vanished. It was completely stress related. They continued there last year until...well...COVID. 

So, this summer, Tom and I were just thinking and praying, and of course the schools had no idea if they were even going to be allowed to open and if so, what that would look like. The longer it went without knowing, the more headaches, stomachaches and pure exhaustion I felt. Finally, one Friday, I said to Tom, "We need to make a decision. I need to know if we are homeschooling or not because if we are, I need to make plans." That was it. he said homeschooling it was and the decision was made. 

So here I am. Surrounded by new curriculum and knowing that God's plans are best.  

I can rest in His grace knowing that this is what He wants for our family this year. I have no idea what next year will bring, because, clearly, my plans make God laugh! Now we are just praying that God will bless us through this craziness and that somehow, we will come out of this closer to each other and the Lord.

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