On the zoo and pallets...

What a week it's been!  How can we be so busy when I thought I worked pretty hard to ensure lovely downtime at home for the summer?!  Gwyn and Lyla had their last swim lessons this past week.  Celee continues with her gymnastics.  Gwyn, Celee, and I got to spend the night at the Indy Zoo Tuesday night.  The girls went to VBS at the Lutheran church across the street.  And a surprise project took up a lot of my time from Thursday on.  The girls also picked "movie theater" out of the fun jar this week and so we went to see Brave on Saturday. 
     The zoo trip was really fun!  Celee's Girl Scout troop was scheduled to do a "Bunk for a Badge" at the zoo on Wed.  It ended up that a few of us didn't have spots on Wed., however (I know for us it was because I forgot to turn the money in to Roxanne in a timely manner)  so we got bumped to Nature Night on Tuesday.  After the bussle of getting Lyla to where she needed to be (thanks Kim!) and getting to Indy by 6:30pm, us and 2 other mom/daughter combos from Celee's troop were heading into the zoo.  - incidentally, I did remember this time that Indy is 1 hour ahead of our time.  It has taken 5 years, but I think this is the first time that I actually remembered from the get-go that time difference.  There wasn't exactly a program for Nature Night - it's more of a "you get to spend the night at the zoo!" thing instead of an "earning a badge" thing like the others girls did.
 It was really neat to be at the zoo in the evening and then in the morning because that's when the animals are all out and active.  We went aroung part of the zoo that evening and saw the bats, the desert animals, and the gardens next door which had a temporary orchid exhibit throughout the giant greenhouse that was
 awesome!  Apparently after hours in the desert house, the animals are not as scared and come out of their enclosures into the walkways.  We got to see the quail up close as they were running around us on the rocks.  By the time we had seen all that, it was time for a snack and then to bed.  We got to sleep in the dolphin building next to two big windows into the dolphin tank.  We brought the air mattress and slept head-to-toe with me in the middle.  I was pleasantly surprised that this worked really well!  We all slept pretty good and the mattress didn't deflate so I wasn't laying on the floor when I woke
up like I had been worried about.  In the morning after breakfast we had to pack up, then we were free to roam the zoo prior to its opening.  That's when the lions, cheetahs, bears, red pandas, and tigers are out.  The male lion was even roaring for most of the morning.  We got to see the dolphin show before we had to leave.  (We had to be back by lunch CU time to get Lyla so Jason could go to work)  I love the zoo and it's super neat to see so many exotic animals up close.  I even understand and support the education-conservation purpose of zoos.  It still leaves me with a sad feeling every time I go though.

 I'm glad I got to see a Bald Eagle up close, and a baby elephant, and the lions and cheetahs, but it makes me sad to see them confined.  Animals who were meant to soar and roam for hundreds of miles are kept in enclosures where their constant pacing wears paths in the grass that they follow over and over all day.  Like I said, I see the point and am thankful for the opportunity, but still a little sad too.  On a happier note, it was nice to get to give Gwyn and Celee my undivided (I guess it was divided, but only between the two of them) attention.  Both of them insisted on holding my hand almost the entire time, which I am again thankful for as I realize those moments are fleeting. 

     Thursday as I took the girls to swimming I noticed that outside of Jefferson Middle School the dumpster was full of wooden pallets.  Aha!  This was just what I needed right?!  The pallets to complete the Pinterest deck project I pinned so many weeks ago!  So after asking one of the workers at the middle school if they were indeed trash and I could have them, I filled up the mini-van.  It took 3 trips to get what I thought would be enough pallets.  (They are actually half-pallets - that's why they could fit in the van.)  I spent the rest of the afternoon hauling pallets, digging out and trying to somewhat level the area next to our existing deck.  Gwyn and Celee even helped as every pallet came with a metal piece screwed across the center that had to be removed.  They thought this was fun for quite a while before they got tired of it.  After much discussion with Jason about this surprise project, we decided that the pallets needed to be painted and cement blocks put under them before they are put down and then attached together with long pieces of board.  So Friday the girls and I painted one side of the pallets.  They got so covered with paint!  I would have taken pictures but we all had paint all over us and I didn't dare touch any of the cameras like that.  I am so thankful that my girls all enjoy helping with my various projects.  And they are getting to the point that they really do help.  Not like in when they were little and their "help" was really just more work for me.  :)
     All 3 girls had a great time at VBS Sky this past week.  Good Shepherd Lutheran Church is sort-of across the street from us and is one of the few churches around here that has their vbs in the morning as opposed to the evening.  It's a smaller church too, so their is less drama and chaos surrounding their vbs.  (For those of you who have helped run vbs you probably know what I speak of)  They each had to miss various days due to swim/gymnastics lessons and the zoo trip, but they really enjoyed it.  And they got to spend time with some of their school friends that they don't see very much.  I was very pleasantly surprised that each family was given the cd of the vbs music to have also.  The Group vbs music is always a hit in our house and the 4 cds I have get constantly cycled through the car and the stereo inside.  I so have enjoyed listening to Lyla singing to herself all week, "Everything, is possible.  Anything, is possible with God..."  Thank you Good Shepherd Lutheran Church for letting us in on your vbs fun this year!
      We got up and went to the 10am showing of Brave on Saturday.  It always surprises me how much movie tickets are!  Even the 10 am ones!  We all enjoyed the movie though.  It is predictable - the whole mother-daughter conflict brought to resolution through some tramatic event and resultant adventure that they share together to fix the situation brought about by said conflict.  But all together I still liked it.  Jason and I also wondered why the whole archery thing is hot right now.  Between Hunger Games, the Avengers, and Brave shouldn't there be archery lessons and programs springing up all over?  I would totally do it if there were!  I've even considered getting trained by Girl Scouts to run archery stations just so that I could do the archery.  But that's a different story.  Back to Brave - good story and the bonus of having a princess character who doesn't depend on a man to save her.  The movie is beautiful too, it's everything you'd expect Pixar to make.

      Sunday was a little relaxed.  We taught kindergarten/1st grade Sunday school, which is a little crazy, but we only have them in small group for about 20 min., so it was ok.  You can do almost anything for only 20 min.  Jason wasn't feeling well so he slept most of the day.  I'm hoping this allergy-related sickness is the result of his playing Frisbee golf in a field all afternoon Saturday and not some home-related issue (like the cat).  I got some stuff done around the house while the girls played at our neighbor's birthday party.  The sermon yesterday was from 2 Timothy and centered around the exhortation to endure.  So that's been on my mind, what it means to endure.  What ridiculous things I have to endure in my life.  I say ridiculous because compared to what 1st century Christians were enduring, and what many believers have to endure today in other parts of the world, my enduring is really only enduring inconveniences.  How can I really say I share in the sufferings of Christ when I don't really suffer at all?  I don't think I, or anyone, is meant to go looking for suffering.  I just wonder if I'm too comfortable to step out in faith in ways that could lead to suffering.  I will have to keep praying that God will give me the courage to step out of my box when He presents the opportunities to me. 
   

Curriculum, Curriculi

Well, I've seen people who homeschool post the curriculum they use. I guess just to let other homeschoolers know who might be wondering what others use.  So I'm gonna do that, but also to keep a list for myself to make sure I order everything I need!  Let me also say that I totally realize that as we take on this adventure for the first year I will probably plan to do way too much.  I get that.  My rationale is 'tis better to plan to much than to plan too little.  Some of my choices were vicariously made through the co-op we have chosen to participate in.  If my girls are in certain classes there they are expected to be doing that particular curriculum at home too.  Some of the classes are simply supplemental, but some are not.  So my hope is that with the classes in which they are having to keep up with what the co-op teacher has planned I can say, "This is what your teacher needs you to do, Mommy isn't in charge of this one."   ;)   I am still planning on using the Project approach.  (For those who don't know, this isn't just doing "projects."  Its a whole learning approach that incorporates inquiry-based learning into every subject to investigate a set topic with a demostrative aspect at the end) This also needs to incorporate a good amount of choice, so the girls will choose aspects of the project to investigate.  I'm going to plan "centers" for each one to choose each day, although it won't actually be a center b/c I don't have enough room, more like Daily 5 reading and math activities that they can pick 4-5 out of 6-7 to do each week.  I did find this cool list of online books for the girls to listen to:  http://www.techsupportalert.com/free-books-children  I especially like the We Give Books site because every book you read helps get books donated to the cause you choose to support.  The girls are each taking some type of music lessons.  I haven't really decided if Lyla is ready to take real lessons or not though - we may just do this at home.  I hope to supplement the music with the World's Greatest Composers set once a week.  Jason is in charge of art.  And they are each in some type of sports activity which I hope to supplement with different P.E. themes each month like skating one month, track one month, etc.  At public school, they cycled through art, music, and p.e. each week so getting each at least once a week (most of the time more than this) should be about par with what they were getting. 

Here is the list so far:
Lyla - Kindergarten
My Father's World (co-op)
Earlybird Kindergarten Math (Singapore)
Miquon Orange Book Level 1
Bible Beginnings: Precious in His Sight
World's Greatest Artists
For Project work:  Buildings
*My friend also loaned me the book, Mathematics Their Way by Mary Baratta-Lorton which I'm planning on using activities from - it's out of print now, but contains some really neat active math games/activities

Celee - 3rd Grade
Winning with Writing level 3 (co-op)
Growing with Grammar level 3 (co-op)
Primary Math US 3 (Singapore)
Miquon Blue Book Level 3
Mystery of History Vol.1 Creation-Resurrection (co-op supplemental)
Anatomy and Zoology at co-op
Bible Beginnings II: God's Promises
Espanol Para Chicos y Grandes (co-op)
World's Greatest Artists
For Project work: Ancient Structures

Gwyn - 4th Grade
Writing Strands 3 (co-op)
Primary Math US 4 (Singapore)
Miquon Green Book Level 4
Mystery of History Vol 1 Creation-Resurrection (co-op supplemental)
Anatomy and Zoology at co-op
Bible Beginnings II: God's Promises
Espanol Para Chicos y Grandes (co-op)
World's Greatest Artists
For Project work: Ancient Structures

I'm also developing a reading list for each of the girls based on various grade-level lists available to me.  Sonlight Curriculum lists their reading lists on their website - Most of these books correspond to the era of history that each grade in their curriculm is studying so they don't fit well with the ancient history we are doing.  So I'm picking some of those, but adding other lists like those from the library, books the girls choose, and others that go better with our project.  I'm hoping that going along with our project topic of Buildings/Ancient Structures we will get to go on some field trips to Cahokia Mounds, a construction site close-by, up to Jason's office to hopefully see some virtual buildings and how the guys at Volition create them in their games, and the Field Museum among others.  I still haven't figured out how to arrange an end-of-project event where the girls can display their work and knowledge, but I'm working on it.  We may have to have a Buildings Party in December!
I also know that some of this may work for us and some of it won't.  So we will learn together what works best for us and I am going to try to stay flexible enough to let things go that prove not to work for us.  Again, this is what I would hope for if I was preparing to teach again in a normal classroom and I always tried to get too much done then too.  So it's all good.  We will work on our inquiry skills and reflexivity together.

Peanuts, gentle digenists, and bicycles

This week has been busy!  Gwyn and Lyla have swimming lessons two days a week and Celee has gymnastics two days a week.  Lyla got moved up out of the preschool swim-lessons into beginner lessons and she is almost able to swim independently.  I don't think it will be much longer until I will really have to keep a close eye on her - for now ,as long as she can't touch the bottom, she feels the need to have a hand on one of us and so there's not much threat of her slipping away un-noticed.  Which is nice because she is my most impulsive child and most prone to slipping away.  It may become easier to swim at Spalding pool (normal-shaped and -sized pool here) rather than Sholem (large, crowded, water-park-type pool here) when she does start swimming just so I can keep her close.

Celee is doing great at gymnastics - She enjoys is so much and is really learning a lot!  She also won a hoola-hoop contest at church and then got to give a demonstration of her many and varied hoola-hoop tricks in front of the children's church that day.  She can do all kinds of crazy stuff like jumping, doing a split, running, squatting - all while hoola-hooping.  I keep thinking of the lady at the circus that hoola-hoops with like 100 hoops all going at the same time to the point that you can see her body anymore - that could totally be Celee one day.

We got to see some old friends this week.  We haven't seen Mason and Brynna for a year or so and it was really nice to have them over to play.  My kids have played with these kids since we first moved here and I kept Brynna after pre-school for two years until she went to kindergarten.  They've always played so well together!  It's neat too because Mason is one of the few boys that age which Gwyn enjoys playing with and who will actually play with my girls without destroying whatever it is they happen to be playing.  No offence to boys here, my girls just usually like to "set up" a lot of things (which is most of the actual playing) and most boys end up messing up whatever the girls have "set up."  I also happened to have found a crockpot recipe for boiled peanuts, and found out that at least 3 of the kids loved it!  It's not quite the same as getting them from the trucks that sell them on the side of the road in Newton Co., but they were good.  As an aside- the "recipe" isn't much, put peanuts, water and a lot of salt in a crockpot on high for 18 or so hours.  I don't know why I hadn't tried this before!

Friday Jason had the day off which was super nice because the girls had picked going to the Bloomington-Normal Children's Museum out of the Fun Jar this week so he got to go with us.  This museum is 3 stories of fun, with a lot of stable exhibits but also some that change - like the theater zone complete with ticket booth and working lighting controls.  Gwyn and Celee had fun on stage putting on a dance show.  Lyla mostly manned the curtains and changed the backdrops at random points in the show.  There was also  a place to make puppets and then use them in a large puppet theater.  Then there was a large music area with a feet piano and a blue man group-style pipe piano.  Celee decided to keep her costume on from the theater to jam out the Harry Potter Theme song on the feet piano. 

Lyla also got to play dentist with Jason which is so funny to me because of her recent dentist experience.  She went to the dentist for the first time a couple of weeks ago and she was very nervous about it.  She ended up doing great and then told everyone for the next week and a half who brave she was and that she wanted to be a "gentle digenist" when she grow up. I guess she's getting her practice in.  

 
 Here is Gwyn with one of the puppets expressing love at the paint wall. 
Jason and I had a lot of fun with the pin-rack thing. (I have no idea what these things are actually called)  He thought it was especially funny to make the faces look like they were spitting or had horns, etc. 

 Yesterday was Father's Day.  We tried to make it a great day for Jason.  We got up to prepare his requested breakfast of fried eggs, biscuits, and sausage gravy.  Right before we were about to take it upstairs to him though he tentatively called down the stairs to see if it was ok if he came down or should he wait upstairs.  He knows how particular the girls are when they have plans (especially Gwyn) and didn't want to mess up any "breakfast in bed" plans.  So he did have to go back up and receive his breakfast in bed according to plan.  Since Jason has been riding his bike to work occassionally, and said bike is one I got out of a dumpster when we lived in Orlando, we had decided to get him a new bike for Father's Day.  We had carefully chosen a bike on Wed. and hidden it in the garage the whole week.  Then Sunday morning I realized - I had bought a women's bike.  I was so preoccupied trying to make sure the bike was a steel framed, hybrid, cushy seated bike that I neglected to notice that it was a woman's bike - until I got it out Sunday morning.  For those that know me this shouldn't come as a suprise.  I often get overwhelmed with details that I can totally miss something big right in front of me, but this was just too much!  I felt like such a blunderer.  All's well that ends well though b/c after church we all took the bike back and exchanged it for one that Jason got to pick out himself that was actually a little bit cheaper anyway. 

Well, with a new bike we all had to take a bike ride!  So we purposed to ride to Meadowbrook Park (Lyla riding in the trailer behind my bike).  This was all good on the way there.  We had a good time although it was hot.  We even saw a deer that came really close to Celee while we were riding around the back of the park.  After playing on the playground, everyone was tired and the ride home was not so pleasant.  Bless her heart, Celee persevered, but her bike does not coast well and she has to make 2 pedals at least for every one of ours and she was dog tired.  Gwyn is also getting too long-legged for her bike, so we are going to have to upgrade everyone soon.  Gwyn also crashed on the way home.  I guess some thing got caught in her spokes and threw her off as we were going up Windsor Road.  She wasn't seriously hurt, but we had the whole "I am not getting back on that bike!" discussion prior to getting back on that bike in order to get home.  I guess all in all, everyone did pretty well considering.  When I mapped it at home, we had gone 8 miles in all.  For the girls I think that's quite a distance. 

Once we got home and everyone had a bath they were all in fairly good moods.  We had a really nice evening.  I made steaks and we watched Back to the Future (which I did not remember having so many potty words!).  Then eveyone sacked out peacefully.  Jason said he had a good day and felt very appreciated so I suppose that was a win too.  I wish we could have spent some time with our family this weekend.  It's always weird to me to give the "Happy Father's Day" or "Happy Mother's Day" or "Happy Birthday" call instead of actually seeing the person and saying it to them then.  At least I did get the cards in the mail in time for the Fathers to get them on time.  And we'll get to see them in two more weeks.  I am thankful for my family! - my family of origin and my now family.  I'm so blessed that Jason is such a wonderful daddy and such a great husband.  I am really glad that even through my blunders, he felt loved and valued on Father's Day.  I'm all about making the day special (he can't expect breakfast in bed everyday!) but I would like to remember to cherish him as a habit as well.  Again, this is one of those habits that is better honed under accountability.  So for now this is my accountability that I've said it on here. 

Putt-Putt, Tubes and more

     This past week I learned a lot of things.  Cats may be the death of Jason.  My children can't handle more than one round of putt-putt.  Garage sales are great.  Front desk-type employees can really make or break your day when your plans are in their hands.  All of this and more!  As for the first comment, we acquired a super sweet kitty a few weeks ago.  We named her Moxie and she loves to be loved on and likes to play with string, feet under covers, etc, - normal cat things.  But having had a cat before that didn't like these things, this one fits our family much better.  However, we have finally noticed that Jason's allergies go nuts when we are home and are fine when we leave the house.  So now we are going to attempt to clean  the house super well and keep the kitty out of our bedroom in the hopes that this will be enough.  Otherwise our sweet kitty may have to find a new home.  :(  Which is super sad because she's already been abandoned once and then given to us.  I keep thinking of the cat Mittens in the movie Bolt and her emotional baggage after being left behind by her family when they moved.  Poor kitty!

     This summer we decided to start a "Fun Jar" with the girls.  We thought of fun activities that we don't do a lot and put each one on a piece of paper in a jar on our counter.  Barring any horrible behavioral delays, each week they get to pick one thing out of the jar for us to do.  They chose things like going to the Bloomington/Normal Children's Museum, Knight's Action Park, picnic at Homer Lake (the one activity they chose that is free!), and putt-putt.  This past week the paper pulled from the jar was putt-putt.  Now I will say that we have played putt-putt before at the indoor putt-putt place here and it has never gone well.  I rationalized however that the disaster was always extraordinary circumstances - like having relatives in town, the ever-to-be-avoided no nap afternoon, etc.  So Friday we made sure Lyla had a nap, Gwyn had a friend over with us so theoretically this would allow her to have fun, and Celee was pumped for it so we were set!  We probably would have been ok if we had only played one round.  When the lady at the register told us we had the option of one game or two though, the girls all were very adamant that we play two.  Foolishly I paid the extra amount for the two games.  We had never been to this particular putt-putt place which is outside and has spinners placed at the start of every few odd holes in which each player spins and has to do some wacky thing like putt on one foot, hit the ball with the wrong end of the putter, after everyone's first putt exchange your ball for one of the others, add one to everyone else's score if you get a hole-in-one, things like that.  Things to make the game more fun, right?  At first yes, then everyone gets hot an suddenly begins to take it as a personal offense that they may get their ball exchanged or their score altered.  Celee ended up getting mad and hitting her ball across the street.  We got another one.  Gwyn thought it was really funny when she got to move my ball all the way back to the beginning, but thought it was not so funny when her ball was moved. 
     I will say that Lyla did really well.  She got a little bored and began putting her hands in the florescent blue water of the "river" throught the course and threw her ball through the fence at one point.  This actually lightened everyone's mood after we realized she was small enough to fit through the bars of the fence to get her's and Celee's ball.  By the end of the second round though, Gwyn had quit playing and was begrudgingly keeping score.  I'm not sure if her friend was having fun or not.  Celee was hot and tired and at the end of her off-and-on patience.  Lyla was playing some holes and not others.  All in all, I am glad that Jason didn't opt to go with us - He would not have had fun.  It was all I could do to keep on a happy face and continue to try to interject fun into the situation.  (Which at times just makes Gwyn madder)  So my lesson from this - play at a cooler time of day, only play one game, and have drinks at the ready. 

     Friday must have also been part of National Garage Sale Weekend or something because whole neighborhoods were having sales this past weekend.  We hit St. Matthew's sale and found some cool stuff.  Then we went to a neighborhood that I was told had 60 some odd houses participating.  I found a picnic table complete with two benches and two chairs for $35!  The chairs are not safe to sit in, but if we can fix them great and if not that's fine too.  It's neat to realize that Gwyn is now big enough to physically help me do things when I need another person.  We somehow got all of it in the van and made it home without anything falling out.  So now I just have to find a pretty umbrella and paint it all and I think it will be great!  I love the feeling of getting something used and sprucing it up!  Jason calls some of my garage sale or side-of-the-road finds stewardship furniture.  That's a nice name I think.
     Saturday we took some of our Girl Scouts tubing at Turkey Run.  It was kind of a feat in itself as it was tricky to get council approval to do this in the first place because we would be on moving water and tubes are considered "small water-craft."  But it was finally approved and we had a reservation so it was all good.  We had planned to do a short hike at Turkey Run prior to the tubing departure, which was supposed to be at 12.  I neglected the fact that there is a one hour time difference there, so our hike ended up being really really short.  Then when we got to the canoe place, the teenager at the front office told me that she didn't have us on her list so that meant we were supposed to be at their other location at Shades State Park up the road.  If we left then we could make it.  Our group was all outside eating lunch at this point, so I went back inside to ask her to call the other location to make sure.  (None of our cell phones worked out there)  This wasn't a trememdous request I thought, but she wouldn't and just told me if we weren't on her list we should be at the other place.  She gave me directions to go up the road and turn at the Shades State Park sign and was done with me.  What she didn't tell me was how far anything was, which ended up being a twenty minute drive away.  When I went in the second canoe place I was told that our reservation was in their system but tubing trips leave from the place we had been at.  If we wanted to we could take canoes from there.  1/2 our group did not want to canoe and would rather go back to swim at Turkey Run in the nice pool there.  Unfortunately the canoe place does not give refunds for any reason, oh but if we go back to the first place we can take the tubing trip that leaves at 1:30.  What!?  Why didn't someone tell us this first?  Everyone decided to try for this so we all drive back to the first canoe place and wonder of wonders yes, we can tube at 1:30.  The original girl didn't even apologize!  She just said, "I heard what happened."  Yeah, because the other people called you to tell you we were coming back, because you do have a phone, because they at least tried to help us figure out a way for our reservation to be honored.   I have a front desk job, and my lesson from this is that in the little bit of interaction I have with people who come in I can be a big help or a source of big frustration.  So against all odds, Girl Scout Troop 2019 did tube on Saturday.  We had a good time too.  I would definately go back, although I probably will give the other canoe outfitter on Sugar Creek a try next time. 

 

     This week one of my goals is to make curriculum decisions for homeschooling.  I had yet another wonderful homeschool family share their way of doing things with us on Sunday.  There are so many people with so much expertise here!  I'm keeping notes on who to call for what kind of questions and the list is wonderfully long!  I am so thankful for people who are passionate about what they do and generous with their knowlege and time.  I'm so thankful for the flexibility to make decisions for our family like this.  I'm so thankful for a wonderful supportive husband who doesn't just approve, but is in this with us.  I am thankful for three little girls who are willing and excited to give this a shot.

On to new things...

     This past week was a strange week with a holiday, one last day of school (that mine didn't attend, but was there none the less) and then 3 days of "Summer."  I say "summer" because it turned off cold here and one day I resorted to blue jeans, a long sleeve shirt and wore house shoes all day because my feet were cold.  Jason and I both felt at the end of the week, "How in the world is this still the same week!  Gale just left on Monday!"  It was a long week.  This week will be our real first week of Summer with swim lessons, play dates, summer journals, a fun jar, and my new schedule still throwing my sleep schedule off a bit. A sweet friend of mine remarked that it's a little like jet-lag.  Three days of off by a few hours, then a few days to re-adjust just in time to do it again.  So I'll just try to pretend my tiredness IS from jet-lag and I must have travelled to some far-away place to have it.  I do have wander-lust, so this will have to do for now. 

     Our schoolroom is mostly cleared out now of the non-school things that accumulated in the previous computer/piano/
sewing/yoga-ball-antic room. I got the partition made (so when we have people over we can hide some of the school mess from them). My books have been moved to my bedroom to make room for a shelf full of the girls' books, two of the three desks have been cleared of non-school things, even the pictures are off the wall. Looking at it now, I have no idea what it will look like when we're done! The girls have convinced me to purchase a really cool hanging chair for reading independently - I just have to figure out how to get one b/c it's only sold in Canada. Ebay may be my only hope for that one as I calculated it to be much more expensive if I try to make it than if I buy it. I have been very blessed for the slew of friends who have offered advice, experiences, opportunities to observe and learn, and the loan of their books to me as I continue to prepare for homeschooling. We've decided to join a co-op for the girls to get some large group school time as well one day a week. Everyone has been so supportive so far - from homeschool moms letting me in their homes to see what they do, to the teachers and principal at Bottenfield offering any help or ideas I need, to other highly-qualified teachers-friends at UI who have given me wonderful resourses to peruse.

    This Sunday was a big day for the kiddos at our church.  It was Promotion Sunday and so now Lyla is officially upstairs with the big kids as a kindergartner.  She was loving it!  She and Celee even insisted that they have their hair curled the night before.  Lyla was a little nervous and held Gwyn's hand for quite a while in the big group, but then she had a blast!  She told me all about the songs and the motions she learned today and was very proud of her "I love Jesus!" bracelet she received. (she tried to sleep with it on) The morning was also poinant for me because prior to going to church somehow we ended up with an hour or so to kill with us all dressed but not time to go yet.  (This almost NEVER happens)  So I was laying on my bed flipping though channels.  Lyla was with me and we stopped for a moment on a Charles Stanley broadcast - he was discussing forgiveness and said something about Jesus saving us.  Lyla all of the sudden remarked, "Jesus saved me" very matter-of-factly.  I stopped short, my mind jumping to all sorts of "what exactly does she mean theologically" questions.  Then she clarified, "Yes, when the thunder was booming Jesus saved me."  Then she proceeded to list off the various ways people refer to thunder like God bowling, clouds fighting, etc.  What a sweet thought!  When we had a thunderstorm the other night and she was scared, she prayed for Jesus to save her from the thunder.  And He did.  I just love the faith of children and the small assurances they get that their prayers are answered.  I've got to remember that!  God blesses and saves me daily in who knows how many ways (like not falling off the 2nd story roof yesterday as I cleaned the gutters)- and I need to not take that for granted.  After all, Jesus did save me too.
     Jason and I were talking yesterday during our Staff Meeting (a wonderful habit to have by the way), about how easy it is for real intimacy (not necessarily the physical kind) to be lost in a time of transition.  We can be spending loads of time together, talking a lot, and still not be sharing ourselves with each other.  We do talk a lot, but lately it's been a lot of what's the schedule look like, what are we going to eat, what to do with whatever child is having a meltdown at the moment, in other words surface level things.  It really does take intentionality to go beyond a surface level relationship, especially when that surface stuff is important and immediately necessary.  I think this was easier to do when we were teaching marriage-based classes.  We were held accountable to be good examples of intentionally using relational tools to keep our marriage intimate and healthy.  Now no one knows if we do this or not.  Well I guess I just let people know by writing this, but the point is our accountabilty hasn't been there to keep ourselves in check.  So perhaps by writing this I'm holding myself accountable to put more thought into what is on Jason's heart, what his frustrations and delights may be right now, and how to better meet his emotional needs.  There. I said it. So now I've got to do it right? 
     Three of my friends are leaving for Ethiopia this week to do work with and be blessed by children's ministry there.  Another childhood friend of mine also just moved with her family of 5 to Honduras this past week.  They are going to live as a foster family in a very unique type of orphanage that places children in a home setting in-country.  As our pastor remarked in his sermon on Ruth, these people are taking risks, but they are taking godly risks to do godly work.  Their stories are such an encouragement to me.  I really should not be worried about my little-by-comparison risk-taking!  Hopefully when I am called on to take a big risk I will have the faith to step up.  May these wonderful people be blessed in their faithfulness!