Preparation

Peace
I've been sleeping SO well the past several nights.  When I go to bed, I'm asleep right away, and I don't wake up until morning (such a new thing!).  I hadn't been sleeping well... waking up in the middle of the night worried about something at work... so this is new :).  Because I've been sleeping so well, I've been waking up early feeling refreshed!  I've enjoyed the quiet early mornings to reflect and spend time with my Savior (while listening to Christmas music... YES, ALREADY!).

I am so excited to be starting this journey again... it's really what's best for our family.  I have been torn since I started teaching about whether or not I could keep going, and God made it clear that it's time to stop.

Cleaning and Organizing
Robert and I decided that a great way to start this new "journey" of being a stay at home mom (again), would be to organize and clean! 

The kids are staying at my parents this weekend (something we planned a LONG time ago, but it worked out well!), so we went to my classroom yesterday and emptied it.  Yesterday evening we started the tedious process of organizing the junk that I brought home.  I'm SO thankful that Robert put a new closet in this summer because we have plenty of storage now!  All of my school things fit nicely in this new storage closet. 

Homeschooling 
In the process of organizing the junk from school, I went through and pulled out anything that I can use to teach Karis (or the boys).  I have a crate full of teaching books that are great for preschool through 1st grade.  I have TONS (3 crates full) of already made games that she can use.  I have a basket full of books that teach science concepts and vocabulary.  I have many, many books that are at the beginner reading level.  I feel pretty fully equipped to homeschool, at least for now :).  Next year will completely depend on if we can get her into a specific school, which we have to put her on the waiting list for (in February).  We'll see how that goes!  I'm excited about being able to homeschool her, even if it's just for a semester :). 

Ways to Make this Work
When discussing the possibility of me staying home, we discussed many things that we can and want to do to make this work for our family.  The biggest things are trying to "live off the land" as much as possible so that we don't have to worry about food so much.  In the spring, we plan to get some chicks to raise into chickens to have eggs.  We also plan to plant a large garden and plant the things that we eat on a regular basis.
In December, we'll make a trip to Costco to stock up on basics (cheese, butter, meats, etc), and I plan to start making our own bread products again (I have at least a year's worth of wheat berries to grind into flour!). 

I will be signing up in a few weeks to start the process to become a childbirth educator.  Anyone who knows me knows that this is something I have wanted to do for a long time.  I have even purchased the books and have paid a part of the course fee (when I thought about trying to stay home before)... so the process had already been started a while back.  I can't wait to start studying! 

Robert is thinking through anything that he can do to prepare to do side jobs... we're getting there :).

Christmas
We had plans to buy the kids bikes this year, but we have changed our plans (because that would probably cost a few hundred dollars).  My parents are buying the kids a swing-set for the backyard (yay!), so we decided to add to it.  Robert is going to build a small playhouse, and he's going to build a sand box (both out of wood that we already have!).  We'll probably get them a few other small gifts such as books, crafty things, etc.   We're going to make other gifts for family as well, but I can't share those yet :).  We LOVE making gifts!  We haven't been able to do that for a while.  I'm looking forward to it!

I'm in awe of how everything is working out so well!  I'm so excited and at peace!