Vibrant Moms

When it rains it pours - I’ve had lots of fun computer related challenges recently!  The latest was this site being down for supposedly not paying - the web hosting company changed their billing system in the last quarter, and at that point I was simultaneously receiving emails saying payment was due with receipt of payment (the payment had been made)!  They told me to ignore the faulty message since my payment was already received, and they were working out the kinks.  Apparently one kink that wasn’t worked out was that my automated payment was cancelled, and I wasn’t sent any invoices requesting payment, so I didn’t know that my payment was due and wasn’t made.

BUT- it’s taken care of and they’re been pretty good to work with for the most part so I’m going to focus on that instead of this small blip. 

From this point forward, all of my posts will be on the new blog, Oceans of Joy.  (Click on the new blog title and it will direct you there.)

I am seriously backed up on questions and haven’t forgotten about them - someone else is coming to check out our home computer tonight.  When I have the luxury of my home computer functioning properly again, I’ll have more time to post some responses!

Avivah

Thank you all for the many amazing suggestions you came up with for my new blog name!  After spending loads of time going through all the suggestions for a new name, then mixing and matching taglines with blog titles, trying them out and getting my family’s thoughts on them, etc, I finally decided on one!  And then found out it was taken on both blogging platforms I was considering.

So it was back to the proverbial drawing board - you ladies didn’t make it easy since there were so many amazing suggestions that came in!  The new name is one that wasn’t suggested in the comments section, but I love it and think it sums up my philosophy towards life and is a broad enough canopy to encompass all the different things I write about, which was a big challenge.

The new name of my blog will be (drumroll :))…………………………………………….

Oceans of Joy

I’ll explain the meaning behind it as the first post of the new blog, but I’m really thrilled with the new name and am looking forward to sharing the significance with you.  It’s not yet being finished getting set up - I need to get all the old posts and comments over to the new site and everything is taking much longer because of my computer being out of commission - but hopefully that will happen soon!

I also will be emailing all of you who submitted suggestions - thank you all again!!!  For every suggestion you submitted, I’ll be sending you an mp3 file from the list of eight below.  Some of you submitted more than eight, and I wish I had more to send you!  The list to choose from is below; start thinking about it so you can let me know what you want!

“Chanoch l’naar al pi darko – What does it mean for us?” – Rabbi Menachem Goldberger, maara d’asra of Tiferes Yisroel synagogue

“Yes, You Can Be Your Child’s Rebbe – Teaching Limudei Kodesh”  – Rabbi Osher Werner , author of Pharoah and the Fabulous Frog Invasion

“Teaching the Multi-Age Family”  – Mrs. Avivah Werner

“Homeschooling and Marriage: Stressing or Strengthening?” – Mr. Mort Fertel, author of Marriage Fitness

“Strengthing Your Family Through Homeschooling” -Mrs. Rivka Malka Perlman

“The Myth of Socialization” – Dr. Nechama Cox

“Whole Brain learning” – Exercises for Whole Brain Integration - Mrs. Karen Zeitlin

“Maintaining Health and Spirit Under Stress” – Mrs. Rena Levin

Thank you all for your help, your suggestions, and for taking the time to visit here with me!

Avivah

(Nechamah, please contact me - your email is bouncing.)

I’ve been wanting to move my blog away from my business site to an independent  blog site for quite some time, for various reasons.  And since we’re starting a new year, now seems to be the right time to do it. I’ve thought of several names, but none of them seem to be just right to me.  I’m looking for something that includes all of what I share here - not just homeschooling, parenting, or frugal living.

So I decided to ask all of you for feedback - what does this blog represent to you?  How would you sum it up, with a blog name and a tagline?  (For example, my business site is called Vibrant Moms, the tagline is Real Support for Real Moms.)  To help get your creative juices flowing, I’ll be giving a $25 Amazon gift card to the person whose idea I use.  You can submit as many ideas as you want, however specific or general they are - post whatever bursts of inspiration you have in the comments section of this post so I can keep track of who suggests what. :)  To give everyone time to think about it, I’ll make the final decision right after Yom Kippur, on Sep. 29.

Thank you all in advance for your help - I’m really looking forward to tapping into your creative energy!

Avivah

I haven’t been able to post in the last few days since there’s a problem with my keyboard.  Right now I have a few minutes at my in-laws house so I wanted to pop in and let you all know why I haven’t been posting daily.  We’ve ordered a new one and are waiting for it to arrive.

If I haven’t responded to your emails recently, I haven’t been able to get online.  I’ll get back to you!  Also, if you asked me a question and haven’t seen the response yet,  I haven’t forgotten it and be”H will get to it soon.

Avivah

I just added the new family photo to the ‘About Us’ page (look at top right of screen for link).  I was only able to add it as a thumbnail so it’s showing up pretty small - you’ll have to click on it once or twice to see it larger. 

My goal in having a family photo is for everyone to have their eyes open and something like a smile on their face.  Forget about the toddler and baby looking at the camera when the picture is being taken!  It’s a lot of people to coordinate, and most of my kids aren’t happy with how they look in this picture.  But I told them that a family picture means it looks fine overall, and it can look nice even if each person doesn’t look their best.

So for any of you wondering what we look like, there we are!  The back row is dh, 12 yodd, me, 13.5 yodd, 15 yods, 2 yods.  Front row is: 6 yods, 1 yods, 9.5 yods, 7.5 yodd.  Now you can put faces to who I write about. 

Avivah

I’ve been asked if any of the rotating pictures on the sidebar are of me.  No, they aren’t - I asked my web designer to make the blog page different from the rest of the site so I could post my picture there and it would be clear it was a personal blog, but it wasn’t possible.  I know that probably creates a feeling of confusion for people visiting the first time. 

We have a family picture that’s always been posted in the ‘about us’ page, that I last week became aware isn’t showing up for some technical reason.  I guess it’s just as well because we need to update it - it was taken almost two years ago and the newest baby isn’t in it.  That’s embarrassing, since he’s eleven months old already!  You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to find a time that everyone is home and someone who’s not a family member is available to take even a casual picture for us, let alone getting us all to a portrait studio.  That’s why it takes so long to get updated photos with all of us in them. Anyway, now that I know it’s down, it will push me to take a new family picture and get it up soon!

For those of you here the first time, we’re a family of 10, eight children ages: 11 months (boy), 28 months (boy), 6 (boy), 7.5 (girl), 9 (boy), almost 12 (girl), 13.5 (girl), and 15 (boy).  We’ve been married very happily for 16 years, and are entering our ninth year of homeschooling.  Feel free to ask questions if there’s something you’re wondering about and don’t see the answer to.

Avivah