My Boy Shined Mashallah

My 10 y old son preformed Boa Constrictor by Shel Silverstien at our local homeschool co-op fundraiser tonight. He did a great job, mashallah. He had practiced for a month and we both were so excited. The fundraiser was a success as well alhumdulillah. We now have more than enough money to do what we were aiming for, register as a non-profit with the IRS so we can use a building that we would like and have a wonderful co-op.

Giving Myself Credit

Let's face it, unless I congratulate myself or ask my 10 year old to, I wont get any at home. I have social media accounts so I can put, "I put my socks on." up and solicit accolades but I'd really like someone, especially my family to say to me on their own "Wow! I really see you have made a difference!" Since that's not going to happen and I would like actual sincerity it was a pleasant feeling to open my long neglected household notebook and feel pride, May Allah guide me ameen, in my work.

I had made the thing, when my oldest son was off to his dad's house for about a month in December. At first I spent my time sleeping in, watching TV, lazing about. Then I began to get busy. I got the house clean and amazingly it stayed pretty much clean. I tackled long over due projects like washing the curtains, dusting the laundry room. Well, I don't remember if I did the latter during that time but I found I was increasingly happy. I decided redoing my household notebook and making it very attractive me pursued my to use it more often. I bought a large photo album and crafting supplies.
I should tell you I am of the "good enough is good and done" camp and so it was unusual for me to be so meticulous in doing something.
I made minute details on things like a 2 inch cut out of an oven, a 1 inch cut out of grapes, and lettering using tiny silver beads to imitate bullets for the finances heading. My divider pages have texture and color schemes.
I was so refreshed that when my son came home, schooling was much better. I also got pregnant, I remember conceiving my 1 year old, with in a week of my son coming home.
And really, it is such a good thing because I got back to who I was, not just the wife and mom but the other part of myself.
Now, with a toddler and pregnant again I am very much absorbed in the demands of babyhood. I look forward to when I can start and finish a project in a day, focus uninterrupted for hours on a task and clean house and even if it doesn't stay that way, all I have to do is supervise to get it back to order.
I do enjoy the phase I am in, watching my abdomen grow, celebrating my toddlers accomplishments but I know that this is temporary. That one day there will be just me.

Realistic Expectations

Realistic expectations may or may not be easy for you. For my ten year old it seems to be very challenging when he wants to make plans. I don't want to be a nay sayer and crush his dreams but when asked to make a list of goals ending all wars was very close to the top of the list. Yes that is a great and lofty goal but you are setting your self up for failure if you think that you are personally going to do that in the near future.
There are lots of places to go to learn about goal setting as an adult but I have a feeling much of it will come from experience. My 10 year old just has very little experience in setting and meeting goals. On top of being very young he is a very live in the moment kind of guy. He would rather eat the icecream now than wait half an hour and take the chance that something will happen and he wont get to have it after all.
Maybe I have contributed to that. Weather or not I have, giving him opportunities to set goals and learn, by experience what a realistic goal is for him, personally, will, inshallah, help him to thrive.

His first time making mac and cheese without any help.

Who am I and why bother with this blog?

As nearly everyone is aware, or at least everyone with internet access or living in a country where that's very common know there are a bazillion blogs out there. What I haven't found are a bazillion or very many blogs at all that are in English and are made by Muslimahs who are homemakers. Therefore I will fill the gap, or attempt to do so.I am by no means perfect, may Allah guide me ameen, so I will make no promise to blog every x period of time. Seriously, I'm pregnant, have a toddler and homeschool my ten year old. What I can commit to is honestly sharing my experience and my ambitions, inshallah.So who is this woman making me, JP McReader, a promise, or nor promising as the case may be?Well I am not going to give you my name because I do have to account for nut jobs out there but I can tell you why bother with this blog.Because though I feel bashful to admit it, I AM actually a person of VERY interesting circumstances. A Muslimah, an American muslimah, a WHITE American Muslimah, a white American Muslimah from the bible belt living in the mountain west in a  Mormon town who HOMESCHOOLS her 10 year old from a previous marriage and who's exhusband is not nor has ever had any interest in being Muslim  AND this bloggers husband and exhusband hang out sometimes for the fun of it, AND who's husband has always been a welcomed part of her oldest's sons life AND this blogger wears hijab AND is a feminist AND is a political progressive very left wing, proudly so AND who most of her friends are conservative right wingers AND who was adopted by her second cousin when she was 3 AND has 2 brothers, and no sisters BUT has 3 sisters and 4 brothers biologically AND didn't grow up knowing that part of her family AND has a GED as well as spent 3 years going to college year round AND was her Job Corps equivalent of valedictorian and gave a much better speech, agreed all around, than the special guest speaker AND this blogger has over come clinically diagnosed major depression AND this blogger is the mother of a amazing 10 year old and a adorable 1 year old AND this blogger has 11 LONG weeks experience as a mom in the NICU AND this blogger is now 15 months into parenting a former 27 weeker micro premmie with IUGR and who is delayed with gross motor skills, and who took this long to get big enough to even be on the adjusted age growth chart at a whopping 2.25% AND who has experience, 10 years, in parenting a child that is very easily overstimulated most especially by noises AND this blogger loves meeting new people AND this speaker is a big NPR junky AND this blogger is a really nice lady who wants to share her pursuits of homemaking and homeschooling with anyone interested! AND who now at 3:29 am is finally going to BED! After she pees of course, being pregnant and all.