Guatemala!

Recently we enrolled our second oldest daughter into a new home school. We are very excited about it! I'm very excited because we're homeschooling the old way. Books and paper! No Internet. I will do all the online copying. (If needed) AND next year some of our other children will join our home school team! It's been another busy week with lots of paperwork. Some of the paperwork included an application for our second oldest daughter to travel to Guatemala for missionary work, to study Spanish and she will be taking a fully credited course on cross cultural missions, which emphasizes leadership. In a previous post I was writing about on how our children need to experience the world's differences and poverty. I'm hoping that many of our children can experience what our daughter hopefully will be! This life changing trip is not only important to me, to her, it's about helping others. She will be living simply with Guatemala families, sharing meals and working to provide better living conditions. Because I don't have enough to do, we are now fundraising for her to go. It's roughly $2800 for the month of February. These costs provide food, accommodation, materials for building and return airfare. I've been spreading the word as our daughter needs odd-jobs and fundraising ideas. My husband's Mother hired her instantly to clean her house. She was able to make her application fee. After explaining to our daughter that she needs to be pro-active and apply herself to make the money, she surprised me while working very hard this afternoon. She instantly handed over the cash and we're sending it away ASAP! I truly believe missionary work will benefit our children and with being pro-active, putting the positive energy forth, perhaps one year our whole family could go! (or maybe one child at a time) Already the middle of September and there is so much to look forward too. So much to do! But my plate is never too full, I'm always going for seconds, thirds and sometimes juggling multiple servings all at once. Again today I was asked, "How do you do it with your large family?" I've always stated that when you live it daily, it can be done. I do add that it's important to have organization skills, structure, routine and dedication. Another explanation I haven't really added to the answer is self discipline. Multitasking is a part of our life but it's a trait to know when to use. There is many times where being focused on one area is crucial, like on our children unless their lined up for haircuts! Like most of my blogs, they jump from one topic to the next but hopefully the ending concludes the beginning! And this ending is hoping for Guatemala!