Women are allowed to change their mind...right? I would meet the stereotype for once I guess. LOL! Well, I'm beginning to feel like a lot of my decisions lately are not working out. So...should I change my mind and back out...or stick to it...or admit defeat and say, "I'm sorry, but this was a mistake and I'd like to bow out gracefully." I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Mike loves Flagstaff, the kids like it here, and I tolerate it. Not because of the snow or beautiful trees, but because of the people and the cost of living. I have made MANY good friends here, but the majority of people are complete wackos! I am sick of seeing "I Love OBAMA" and "Obama/Biden" bumper stickers. I'm sick of hearing liberals talk about being open minded and then actually turning out to be unable to listen to any point of view but their own. I'm tired of being called a "Phoenician" and being made fun of because I'm wearing gloves and a heavy coat when they are wearing a sweatshirt.

Don't even get me started on the cost of living here...

I really want to move out of Arizona all together. My biggest problem is that Sam wants to stay in Mesa with her dad, which is where she lives now. It breaks my heart to think of living so far away from her, but she is an adult now and will continue to move towards her own life and away from parents being influential on a daily basis. Letting go has been VERY hard, but I know it is part of parenting, just like potty training and weaning. This is just another major step (the last step really) towards complete independence.

This is probably not a surprise for many of you, but I don't think we are cut out to be a foster family. Not because of the kids, but because of CPS and other agencies that SAY they are about the children and really do not advocate for the children they represent. They are either cynical or accept the status quo of dealing with children as a number rather than a human being. I wanted to help children, but I'm finding that it is so stressful for me to fight for the children that it is causing me to have difficulty dealing with my anxiety problems.

Most of the children we have had in our home have been really good kids with rotten parents. We have had a couple that are so messed up by their parents that I do not see how they will ever live a normal life. It is so tragic that my heart hurts for them, but I cannot save them. No matter how hard I try. They have needs that our family cannot fix and the agencies refuse to get them what they really need. It is so sad.

I have always dreamed of living on a large lot or on acreage....until we had to mow it and shovel it! If we had the money to truly maintain it as it should be maintained, then I can see how it would be advantageous to have at least 1 acre. As it stands now, the land drains our money and energy. Just shoveling the driveway takes all day. We just need the income to buy all the things to make living here easier. When we move we plan on downsizing to a manageable house/lot size.

The only thing I love is not hearing my neighbors. In Queen Creek we could hear our neighbor swearing and beating his kids. So this is definitely an improvement, although a little freaky sometimes because at night it seems like there is nobody around. Spooky!

OOPS! Forgot to post this one....better late than never.

:: Daily Lessons ::

• Devotional: "Preach My Gospel" - Lesson 3 - a section a day.
  
• Read A-Loud Book: "The Long Winter" book #6 of Little House on the Prairie series.
• Math: Chris - Math-U-See: Delta - Marly - Math-U-See: Zeta - Celeste - Math-U-See: Algebra (review for mom...again!)
• Exercise - We are using the Wii Fit Plus while "the weather outside is frightful". It is harder than it looks!
  
• Writing - Chris - daily journal entries. Marly - writing her own book and Transformational Writing class assignments (see Marly's projects for more info.)
  
• Guitar Practice
• New Era and Ensign Reading, Scripture Reading, and Individual Reading - See each person below for their readings.
  

:: Weekly Lessons ::

• Monday: Government Lesson - "The 5,000 Year Leap" - Principle 11
• Tuesday: Guitar Lessons, Weekly Library Trip, Grammar Lesson - Chris - "Winston Grammar" - Adverbs - Marly - "Transformational Writing" class and "Grammatically Correct"
• Wednesday: History Lesson - Chris: "Story of the World", Vol. 2, Chapter 10 - Marly: "Story of the World", Vol. 3, Chapter 2.
  
• Thursday: Friend Outing was Canceled - "the Fallacy Detective", Lesson 1
  
• Friday: Science Lessons - "Concepts and Challenges of Physical Science" - Chapter 3.3 - Experiments on heat energy - we made fire balls with cotton and kerosene.
  

:: Individual Readings ::

• Chris (Practice Scholar) - "Jubal Sackett", Scriptures, and New Era magazine.
  
• Marly (Project Scholar) - "The Fellowship of the Ring", Scriptures - "Book of Mormon", and New Era magazine.
  
• Celeste (Mentored Scholar - back to looking for a mentor) - "The Fourth Turning", "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", "The Great Conversation" Ensign and New Era magazines, Scriptures, and Primary Lesson.
  

:: Projects ::

• Chris - Chemistry Labs - "Fire Balls" and Vinegar and Baking soda explosions. - Palm programming, Windows App Programming - Christian collects Palm and Pocket PC's to learn programming applications on. He is a very talented guy!
  
• Marly - Transformational Writing class at TJED Academy and Prep School and Seminary. Latin - Latina Christiana I - Lessons 4.
• Celeste - Tax preparations, purged items laundry room. - Made "Thank You" gifts for upcoming Southwest TJED Forum. - Latin - Latina Christiana I - Lessons 4.
• Family - Selling items to prepare for move.

I am currently reading "The Great Conversation" by Richard Hutchins, which I believe is where Oliver DeMille got many of his ideas for "A Thomas Jefferson Education". It thoroughly explains how our educational system was drastically changed from a liberal arts education to an occupational training and social integration program. It is a very enlightening read and I highly suggest everyone read this short book. See this article in TIME magazine from 1953.

My newest addition to my list of books to read (drum roll please!)...the "Great Books of the Western World". I heard about a reading list for getting the Great Books read in ten years...yea, that is what I thought too! I must be crazy! I found several books to be the same as on the George Wythe University required reading list (which is part of my current compass for learning), so I figure many of them will overlap. I needed some kind of goal to work towards and this list gives me several ideas.

Here is a link to the check-off list for the Great Books of the Western World in ten years. I found the list at The Great Conversation Reading Group, which contains a combination of version 1 and version 2 books, and made it into a checksheet. I also found a similar listing at The Great Ideas Program, but that list only had version 1. There is also a Yahoo Group here.

Here is a link to what is available online for free for the Great Books of the Western World. I found the entire set at my local library to read for free! Of course, I did not bring it all 60 volumes home to read in the next three weeks. LOL!

Rarely has a book been so informative, educational, and necessary that was also hard for me to grasp (I've read Common Sense, The Communist Manifesto, and What is Seen and What is Not Seen without problems). I'm usually a quick study, but I had to reread several portions of this book to retain the information. Maybe that has nothing to do with the book and everything to do with me and my current life phase (there was a lot of noise during my attempts to read). I'm not sure.

First of all, this is a MUST READ for anyone concerned about the current state of affairs in the United States of America and those who wonder what the future will hold. This book shows patterns, predictable patterns, of American history and predicts that we are currently in a Crisis situation. The book was written in 1997, before the current Crisis catalyst, which took place on 9/11/2001. That major event of 9/11 changed us as a nation and we can never go back to the way we were before.

That said, the current Crisis is expected to last for 20-25 years, meaning we are nearing the mid-point of the current Crisis cycle. All of America's previous Crisis periods involved war - The American Revolution, the Civil War, World War II, and now ____? All of the logic in this book was thoroughly explained with examples and deep conversation into the why and how this happens.

Let's just say...I'm a little freaked out by it all!

I could go into greater detail about how and why this happens, but that is really what the book teaches and I could not do it justice here.

My Criticism for this Book:

1. The writing is very long and boring. I think the first part of the book is so long-winded and unnecessary as to turn a lot of people off to finishing the book. They could have used more layman's terms and been more precise and the book would have been much easier to understand and enjoyable.
2. The authors over-generalize a lot of the stereotypes. I felt that too much was assumed with a broad stroke. (But then, if you read the book you will understand that I am looking at the book as a Nomad from the 13er generation (Generation X) who sees things individually rather than collectively.)
   

With that said, I still think there was a lot of truth to this book and should be read and discussed openly.