What happened to that sweetness???

I was fed up. I had had it. There is no reason it should take a child about 1 hour to clean his toys. How does he manage (with help from another) to destroy his room in such a short time? How does he walk, for I cannot even see the floor! After continually telling him to clean up and realizing my fuse is getting shorter and shorter I grabbed a garbage bag. Now mind you, this is a DAILY occurrence- not just a one time thing. This seems to happen every single day. The toys abound yet I have no idea where to begin as far as getting rid of them. Well, today since it was not appearing any cleaner I cleaned up by throwing whatever was on the floor in a garbage bag. The boys started wailing. The toys are in the garage. Once I am shown that they can clean up I will return their toys. In the meantime I have got to get rid of some of them so we're not all so overwhelmed.

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I am looking into what I want to do for school next year. Mainly I'm looking into some history and science that I can do with various ages (7-3 yr olds). So, what do you just love and recommend? Thanks to Teena I will probably use A Child's Geography. It looks like something my children would all enjoy. Speaking of history and science, you can go to Tapestry of Grace and sign up to receive a FREE 3 week study on Egypt. I just got mine in the mail yesterday! I'm still undecided on whether to switch to Math-U-See. I need to get my hands on it and check it out in person. Luckily there is at least one person I know in my area that uses it so I'm sure that won't be a problem.

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Yesterday we went out to lunch with Zach (only to Taco Bell). Well, the town we were in and that area aren't exactly the nicest. To think they offered us a base house there- you just drive down that road and shiver. It's not like inner cities, but its just nasty. Anyway, I'm sitting there and in walks a homeless man (or so I'm assuming). He had just come in to use the restroom and left. We were just finishing up our food and I see another man walking toward the door. He is carrying two grocery bags and I can see canned food in them. He's also got this brand new Ralph Lauren backpack. He walks in and immediately looks in the garbage can. I sit there puzzled, wondering what he is doing! Then he takes out an empty cup- that has been used as it was in the garbage- and goes into the bathroom. Out he comes and you can tell the cup had been rinsed. He goes to the drink machine fills up and leaves. I was floored! Zach did not believe me that the guy had been digging in the garbage as his back was to him! I just did not even know what to do! It just seemed so wrong to me, like he was stealing, even though it was a drink! I am so thankful that in our neighborhood we do not have people of that nature walking around. We do have the man on the bike that you see all over our town. He has this huge stuffed dog on the front of his bike and a long beard. He wears the oddest clothes. Sometimes we see him at the library. Sometimes it is hard for me to feel bad for these homeless people. Often we'll see people by Wal-Mart with signs that read that they've broke down and need money. Well, where is their car? I just don't understand. I know there are programs and shelters everywhere to help these people. I know we as Christians are to give to those in need, but where do we draw the line? I don't know, just some thoughts...