One down...

and I don't know how many to go. We got through our first week and nobody broke a bone. I whooped a couple of butts, but other than that nobody got hurt. It has really been interesting so far. With three of them this time, I have to really stay on my toes.

We sit down and do our "together" stuff first. That's our bible study, history, and science. The kids have been very receptive to the curriculum so far, and I like that. Even the baby will sit with us until we're done.

When we're done with that stuff, it's time for the baby to sit down and do her reading lesson. We are using "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" . I have heard really good things about the program from some other moms. My sister had used it for her kids, and her kids have done great with it. I tried it with my two oldest, but at that time I didn't really have a vested interest. I knew my kids were going to school and somebody else was going to teach them to read. This time is very different.

With the baby, we sit down and do two lessons a day. She has been very receptive to this process. She has had some speech issues, but she hasn't really been challenged to correct them. This has really brought the issue to the forefront with us. But I can honestly say it has started to show progress with her already. She is supposed to repeat sounds back to me of the various letters, and I can see her making an effort. If she doesn't get it right, she seems to get a little discouraged. But I just tell her what a great job she is doing. That has been getting her back on track. I am really proud of how smart she is. Here is a snippet of our conversation from the other day:

"Will you write some small e's for me?"

"Sure, Mama." Writing two small e's occurs. "How many do you want me to draw?"

"How about five?"

"I have three left." Then Mama freaks out a little because this was spontaneous. No counting of fingers, no thinking for a minute, just the words.

"Will you write m's for me?"

"Big m or little m?"

"Which ever one you want to do." I am not concerned about the capital or lower case at this point. Let's learn to read first ok. "That is a good m. Will you do four for me?"

"I have three left." Again, Mama freaks a little. There was no hesitation, just straight to knowing how many she had left to write.

And that is what I love about homeschooling. The spontaneity of the moment, the learning that has occurred without knowing it was learning. How fantastic is it that a four year old is doing math in her head? Not on her fingers, not with the funny screwing up of the face as she thinks about it, just math. And quickly. I am so amazed at the intelligence of children when they are allowed to learn in an open environment.

The boy had a couple of issues with his reading comprehension yesterday. There are certain things I am very flexible about. And I will help my children with almost all of their work. But I will not help them with reading comprehension when they have not tried to answer the questions first. And that is what the boy wants. That is the bane of his existence. And it's not that he doesn't want to read. He loves to read. He just doesn't like to answer the questions after he's read. Yesterday was one day too many for him to push me. He did it, and he did well, he just doesn't like it.

The big girl is always so good. She had a reading comp with her vocabulary. It was about Maya Angelou, and it was a little long. Some of the questions used her vocab words. And if it didn't, the words was supposed to be in the answer. She didn't read that part of the instructions. So she had to redo some of her answers. Unhappy would describe the big girl. But she did it and didn't complain.

And today was park day. We all agree that park day is more about the moms than the kids. Sometimes the kids will complain a little, but the response from the moms when were talking about it was always the same. "I don't care if you want to go. I'm going. And if I'm going, you're going." We need the down time and the camaraderie and the support. We were there until almost 4 today. I had tired, filthy babies. But they loved it as much as I did.

So take heart, family and friends. The babies are doing well being home schooled. Dance starts next week, and our church after school program the week after that. We are back to being busy, busy, busy.

Have a great day!

School started today

This weekend the kids and I were talking about starting school a little early. We were getting a little tired of "sitting around". That's so funny, I need to take a minute to laugh. Anyway, we decided we would start a little early. So we started today. It's only a week, but that could mean a lot in the grand scheme of things.

It means that we finish our weather book the last week before our Christmas break. I like that. Before, we weren't going to finish it until we got back from our break. I like the fact that we can start our geology and aren't left hanging for two weeks.

The boy also finishes his first spelling book before we go. Once again he would have had 2 weeks of lessons before he started the second half of his curriculum.Not that it matters much with his spelling. Not as much as the science.

The big girl will still have a couple of weeks to finish her vocabulary curriculum. But that is like the spelling. It's independent of the other lessons in the book and doesn't matter if it gets finished by a certain time. Well, except the end of our school year. It will be done before we end our year.

We had a good day today. We did our bible lesson first. The big girl and the boy had their paper, while the baby colored the picture that came with the lesson. It was so nice to have them all at the table together. It was also a little strange. Last year, the baby only had to sit with us if she wanted to.

We did our history and science today as well. That went fairly well. We have a lot of podcasts and online articles to read with both of those subjects. I like that though, because it gives us a little break from book work. And the kids think it's cool we get to use the podcasts.

We sat down with the baby and started our reading book. I had her write the first two letters that they go over in her book. She already knew them. She also already knew how to write them. She does a pretty good S, if you ask me. But, once again, I'm biased. We actually got through our first two lessons. She did so good.

The math curriculum for the boy comes as four books. Two are student workbooks, and two are teacher's guides. I bought a 2"binder and when I make copies for the boy to use, I put the originals in the binder. It was a little expensive, the books not the binder, so I don't want him to write on it. The pages are tear out, so I just tore the pages out of the teacher's guide, punched holes in it, and put that in the binder as well. I found these great erasable subject dividers and used those to seperate the books it the binder. It took awhile, but that's ok.

We've been listening to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" on CD. Today we finished it by listening to the last three. We've already seen the movie. We own it. But as we listen, we try to find the differences between the book and the movie. It's been fun, and it has given us something new to talk about at the dinner table. We are going to work our way through the series, since we own all the movies that have come out so far. Except "Order of the Phoenix". But I DVR'd it.

I like the recorded books. I don't have to find the time to actually read them aloud. Those days are few and far between. We listen to them in the van, while we clean our rooms, or while we're eating lunch. The kids have enjoyed it and so have I. Sometimes we just hang out together while we listen. I get on the library website and reserve them. I need to do "Chamber of Secrets" now that we've finished this one.

All I have left to do today is our list of books. By state law, you have to have a list of all books used for teaching. You also have to list all books read during the school year. That's cool. I signed the kids up for the Pizza Hut Book it program. that should be interesting for us. But their science and history also has a list of books that go with the curriculum. I've already told them they have to read at least one history and one science book for the week of study. Then the rest are all books that they get to choose. That means a weekly trip to the library, but I love requesting books on line.

Tomorrow the big girl wants to go to the mall and spend some of her bday money. It's burning a hole in her pocket. I told her ok, but she doesn't get to spend all of it. She wants girlie stuff. Duh! She is such a girlie girl. We went to get our ink cartridges refilled at Walgreen's today and while we waited, she wanted to look at makeup. I wonder where she got that (her mother ha, ha)?

And the best part of all- we finally named our school. I called my dad to get some info from him. Then we voted for the name we liked the best. The name we decided on is Kula a Hale Na'auao Akamai. That means The School of Wisdom. The kids are excited about telling all their friends. I am too actually. Thanks, Dad!

We had a good day and I loved it. Hubby is working a ton of overtime right now because of Fay. But that's good by me. It means I work a ton of overtime with the kids. I can do it. Now it's time to go make dinner. Hamburgers tonight. I'm making mine with shrooms and Swiss. Yum!

Have a great day!

Other blogs

I grew up a Southern Baptist/Catholic. In the era of my childhood, SB preachers stood on an altar that was raised and screamed and shouted that you needed to repent and accept God into your life. You were going to hell if you didn't shout like they did. Meanwhile, the Catholics have a very different view of God than SB did. The good thing about C though, was the communion wine. I was a very confused child. I am even a very confused adult on occasion. So what does this have to do with other blogs? Read on, because this was just a way to let you know that I don't still don't have many answers, but I do have faith.

I was reading a blog from one of our homeschool moms. She actually is the one that got me interested in having a blog. She has a couple that she does and uses it to keep family and friends up to date with the things that she and her children are doing. I liked the idea very much and have decided to use it as my own.

Her blog was very well written and seemed to be very well thought out. I was very impressed with the style of her blog as well. And what surprised me the most I think was the extent to which she shows her spirituality on the blog. She quoted scripture, used examples, and appears to have given her ideas a lot of thought and consideration. I know she is a Christian, but I was not prepared the outpouring of her faith.

Her blog is extremely faith based. Every one of her entries has scripture in it. Not only does it have scripture, it quotes the verse(s) and offers a little teaching on the verse. I thought that was very interesting. Although she is normally a very quiet person, she isn't on her blog, if you know what I mean. She is very out there with her faith on her blog. It almost scared me a little.

I know for some people, faith is a very personal journey that takes years and years to come to terms with. The seed of my faith was planted many years ago by a very good friend of mine that not only loved Christ but willingly shared that love with others. She was able to see her life, her walk with Christ as a privilege. She loved the life that God had prepared for her. When she passed, although it was a sad day for the many people who loved her, it was a happy day for her. She was able to share the love of Christ with many and let her love show through her words and actions.

Although the seeds of my faith were dormant for many years, it did start to sprout when the man who would be my husband entered my life. Many of you know the story of how we met. For those of you who don't, we met in a bar. We were shooting pool, drinking beer, and getting really, really drunk. I caught him stealing a look down my shirt and asked him if he saw anything he liked. He blushed, poor shy baby, and walked off to the bar. I shouted for him to buy me a drink and he did. And he has ever since.

That was fourteen years ago, and I am still convinced that God brought him into my life. There would be no other way for me to meet him. God presents us with opportunities and we have to decide which path we are going to take. I know I took the right path. Have we always been happy? No, actually we have been on the verge of divorce twice. Not many know that either. But we took a really hard, honest look at our lives at that moment we were in and decided what was going to happen with our family.

We are stronger people for loving each other, our family, and our God. We decided together that what was lacking in our lives was Christ, and the love of God. We decided together to go to church, to find a church family. We decided together to be baptised as a family, and join our church. And it has been the best decision of our life. Our church is struggling right now, financially and spiritually. But all we can do is pray for God's knowing grace. The kids love being there, we love being there, and we have indeed found a family.

But, I digress. This blog was not meant to be a preachathon, but we are all moved in different ways. That's my witnessing for the day. My friends blog started me thinking about my faith, and the faith of my family, and how our lives revolve around that faith. I know some of you have a relationship with God, but you aren't a "practicing Christian". That's fine. And I know that some of you have no relationship with Christ. I hope that one day you do. But I know one thing for sure.

God created us all in his image. I am not one of those Christians who think that if you don't go to my kind of church, act the right way, be like I am, or think the way I do that you can't have that relationship. I do not think that all people who don't know Christ right this instant will go to hell. I think that God gives us a little leeway in our lives. I think He knows when we will come to realize that He is our maker and that Christ is our salvation.

All I ask is that you take a look at your life and decide what is right for your life. Will I still love you if you decide that this is not the road for you? Absolutely! I love you because of you. Sometimes I love you in spite of you. And sometimes I love you in spite of myself.

Have a great day!

Tropical Update

Tropical Storm Fay just absolutely refuses to go away. We are now in day 3, but she hasn't affected us that much yet. Which is a good thing. When the first track came in, the forecasters had her coming in straight through our happy little town. Thankfully for us, but not for those on the East coast, it shifted and shifted. All we've really gotten up until now is wind and rain.

Now that she is stalled on the East coast, she is just unloading all the rain she can. In some places she has dropped over 20" of rain. That is alot in a 24 hour period. She is supposed to shift to the west again and come back across today. She is such a big storm, we will still be affected by the shift. But once again, all we should get is wind and rain, but not badly.

The kids are about to go crazy. They want to go outside and play. We finally let them yesterday evening. It was still raining, but the wind had calmed down significantly. So we let them put on bathing suits and jump on the trampoline. Do you remember playing in the rain?

I do. Mom would let us go outside as long as there wasn't any lightning. I don't think she necessarily thought about us getting struck by lightning, just the fact that when it's there, the storm is a lot worse. That's the good thing about a tropical system- no lightning. And since we live in the lightning capital of the US, not the world, it's pretty prevalent when we have rain.

Did you know that we used to be the lightning capital of the world? Now it's Katmandu, I think. Anyway, we don't get many chances to play in the rain. So we let the kids take full advantage. They laughed and played and jumped. Sometimes when it's hot, we attach the sprinkler to the trampoline, but we didn't have to yesterday.

The kids were soaking wet when they came in. I sent them straight to the bathroom to strip off wet suits and get a towel. Then they all cuddled up in their robes. Our trampoline usually leaves big black marks on you when you jump. When it's wet, though, it doesn't do that. So the kids didn't need to get a shower last night (YEA!). While we were eating dinner, the kids were begging to go back outside. But with the clouds, it got dark really quick. And then the wind picked up. So we told them no. But we did watch a movie together last night.

Hubby is supposed to go with his brothers and their dad to New Smyrna Beach and go metal detecting. I think he is out of his ever loving mind, but I knew that before I married him. He said his oldest brother's wife will probably be mad at him for even suggesting the trip. I told him his brother was a big boy and if his wife got mad at my hubby for planning she needed to get over it. But that is such a long story for another time and my other blog.

Have you ever been metal detecting? It is actually alot of fun. Specially when the beeper goes off that you found something. Hubby found a pendant the other day that was gold and silver and had twenty four stones around it. He was so excited. He took it to a jeweler and found out it was gold plated and the stones were zirconias. Poor baby.

There have been several ship wrecks off the East Coast from the 1700's and the 1800's. When we have a big storm, it washes up gold coins, gem stones, and all kinds of artifacts. They are ususally worth several thousand dollars, if not more. People are constantly losing things on the beach from vacations and Spring Break. Watches and rings and all kinds of things are always found. I hope this time it's found by hubby. I think it would make him feel better.

Lord, hear my prayer that Hubby will find beautiful treasures that will help us out of our financial situation. And keep him and his family safe as they search. Please bring them home safely to us.

Basically in a nut shell, we all have a little cabin fever. But I think we'll get over it. We are warm and safe and dry. The temperature today should only be in the middle to upper 70's. That's fantastic for Florida in August. We will definitely take the break from the heat. Our lakes, which have been suffering from a two year drought, are starting to fill up. Things are glorious in our little corner of the world.

I will ask that you pray for the people that have been affected by this storm in a worse way than we have. There was a tornado that affected about 50 residences. Shelters have opened for people being displaced by the storm. Sewer systems have backed up, forcing people out of their homes. And flooding has caused millions of dollars of damage, and people have lost all of their belongings. I will also ask for prayers of thanksgiving that this part of your family is safe. Thank you.

Have a great day!

Getting Older

Today is the day. The big girl is officially in double digits. She's 10. And it's killing me! How did this happen? How is possible that she was just coming to us 10 years ago, and look at where we are now. Where did the time go?

We switched satellite providers a couple of days ago. We had to move the entertainment center out from the wall for the guy. That meant cleaning off the entertainment center. In the process of putting all of the movies back, I decided there was no time like the present to get rid of all the movies we aren't going to watch anymore. And I found a couple of gems that seemed really appropriate for the day.

When the big girl was four and the boy was 2, we attended a safety fair at our local mall. The good thing about that is that we found a spot that videotaped your kids for free. It was in case something happened and law enforcement could get a visual of your kids interacting in different ways: walking, talking, laughing, etc.

How sweet were my babies? Ohmygosh! I had forgotten how little the boy used to be. His little squeaky voice. And the big girl! She was even beautiful back then. We had the baby stand next to the TV while the big girl was on it, and talk about two peas in a pod. They look almost exactly alike. We figured how cool since the big girl was four and the baby is four.

What really strikes me is how bad of a mother I was at that point. I was controlling and rigid and wanted my kids to always behave in public. Good luck! I feel like fear is the tool that I used to keep them "in line". I could see the big girl just scared as all get out while they were video taping. I'm hoping it's because she was incredibly shy and not because she was scared of her mama.

Things are so much better now. I have learned that control is not what it seems. I have also learned that the only person I can control is myself. I can still discipline my kids, but it isn't for control, it's to teach them a lesson. They are people, too. They have thoughts and feelings and all the same stuff I have, only smaller. We have a lot more fun now than we did. I always say that the reason the big girl liked to go to school was to get away from her mama. I have apologized for the early days, and she seems well adjusted.

The boy said something really sweet on his tape. He was asked who his best friends were. He said his sister and his mama. How nice is that? I loved it. He earned brownie points for that one, and he wasn't even here.

He has spent all week with Oma and Grandpa. He wasn't happy that we went swimming yesterday without him. But he got to go swimming when the big girl was at the grandparents house. We pick him up tomorrow, thankfully. I think a week is too much for me.

We had a busy day today. We picked up passes to a glow in the dark, inside, miniature golf course at our local mall. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, but we don't have to worry about that. Because it's inside. All of the holes have glow in the dark things on them. Even the balls glow. It's really cool. We'll pick up the boy after church tomorrow and then go golfing.

We also went to Claire's so the big girl could pick out her bday present. She wanted earrings so we let her pick out some. They were having a buy 2, get 1 free sale. I tried to talk her into the multipack as often as possible. She wanted hoops. My hubby kept picking out earrings that had huge hoops. I found myself panicing a little. He asked what the problem was. I told him he needed to start picking smaller hoops. He pointed out that I let her get skull and crossbones. I pointed out that I was a lot more comfortable with our oldest daughter being a pirate than a ho. He laughed and said he had never thought about it that way. He picked out smaller hoops. I felt better.

Then we went to our local grocery store and let her pick out a bday cake. She got a chocolate cake with chocolate ice cream in the middle. I love an ice cream cake. Hubby tried to talk her out of a cookie cake. He didn't want one. I told him to get over it because it wasn't his birthday. It was alright because as soon as she saw the ice cream cake, it was all over but the screaming. It also had that hard shell chocolate topping all over it. And Hershey's kisses. And chocolate chips. And whipped cream not buttercreme frosting. My girl can pick a cake. Then we came home and had cake for lunch.

Tomorrow we measure her against the wall and see how much she has grown. We have all the kids do it every year for their birthday. They love to see the progress they have made during the year. It is fantastic. I even wrote down the measurements from the old house. Before we moved I measured and wrote them all down. I couldn't leave without them.

We are expecting birthday money when we get to the grandparents. The big girl has it all planned how she wants to spend it. I told her to get over it because she wasn't spending all of her money. We're expecting some in the mail, too. Lucky girl. I never get checks for my birthday. But this year and last I got my mom. Last year I had my sister, too, so I'm good with that.

The big girl may be getting older, but I can guarantee I haven't. Ok, I can guarantee I don't feel much older? Better?

Have a great day!

Almost

It's almost Friday, right? Not that that matters much in this house. All days are equal. It just seems like a really long week and it's only Tuesday.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with the Christian Education Director at church. He wants to talk about our Wednesday program at church. Our Children's Director is no more, so he's taking over the program. I think he wants to talk about volunteering. Which is alright with me. I had thought about it actually. If the baby gets to go this year, it would be okay with me. It would save me a trip home and back to church, and back home again. And with the price of gas today, I could use a break.

We all get to dance this year. That's four trips to town a week for us. I was hoping that we could get some classes on the same day, at least close to the same time, but that wasn't meant to be. We had some very good family friends give us some leotards for the baby. There are warm and cool weather, and tights. I am so glad about that. I had to get the big girl one more pair if dance pants. Thankfully, I got them on clearance at an outlet store. And she can wear just about anything with them. She outgrew a pair last year. I didn't think they would last until the end of dance but they did. The boy can wear his pants probably another two years. The first pair he wore for three years. Last year was the second pair of pants I ever bought for him. He can wear any shirt, too, so that's cool.

Now I need to pull out my dance paraphenalia. I love that word. I'm not sure if I spelled it right, but oh well. It's my blog and I can misspell if I want to. I am so excited about dance starting. I am excited about putting my tap shoes on again. I'm excited about that hour of nothing but me. I love the ladies I dance with and I love my dance teacher. Miss Valerie works us hard, and she gets us to believe in ourselves.

I think that's probably my favorite thing about dancing. I see my kids start at the beginning of the year, unsure of themselves. At the end of the year I see beauty and confidence in the way they walk, talk, interact, and just live. It is so incredible to see them believe in themselves.

I still don't think I'm doing the recital this year. It scares the crap out of me to get up on that stage. It is so not for me. But now I have at least three days of volunteering. I want to spend time with all my kids back stage. I love the atmosphere back there. And what a way to see and hear the excitement of the crowd. I love to hear them react to a special move that only one class is doing.

My big girl is about to have birthday. The big 1-0. Double digits for her. I love her so much. Despite the efforts of her mother, that girl has turned into a very fantastic person. She is smart, funny, beautiful, and a joy to be around. She makes me smile all the time. And she is slow as molasses. To get her to move fast is like pulling teeth. She is just like her great grandmother. And she has such a caring, giving, loving heart and soul. I am so blessed that she is my daughter. And she loves her family. We were thinking about taking her to play indoor, glow in the dark, miniature golf. How fun does that sound? We looked at the place yesterday and her eyes lit up. She had been talking about having a party at the house, but she likes the golf idea a little better.

School starts for us in about three weeks. The kids are looking forward to it and not at the same time. I am trying to be more flexible this year. But I have to be. I can plan all I want, but if something takes a little longer, then it takes a little longer. We have a big curriculum this year. But everyone seems excited about what we've picked to do. I think that makes a big diffrence in the school process. If the kids are excited and have had a hand in picking the subjects, they have a vested interest. And the baby gets to learn to read this year. I am trying not to panic. And I am trying to have faith in myself that I can do this.

All in all, we never seem to stop being busy. I try to not just be busy, but be fruitful. I like to try to project the love of Christ in all we do. I like for people to see our family and know that we are touched by the hand of God, and that they too can have what we have. We are blessed and thankful that our lives are guided by God, who knows so much more than we ever could. If we can plant that one seed and lead one person to Christ, then we have had a good day. And I hope that you can feel the hand of God and the love of Christ and the guidance of the Holy Spirit in all things. I am grateful for all things.

Have a great day!

Guess What I Did!

Guess what I did Thursday! Go ahead. I'll bet you'll never guess. Fine, so I'll tell you. I had a root canal done. Yea!

I started having this horrible, drop to my knees, please somebody shoot me pain in my tooth on the left side of my mouth. When I called the dentist, the closest appointment they had was a week away. Great! The pain wasn't constant, thank God, but it happened enough to really be annoying. It got to one point that the only thing I could do was sleep through it. I know it sounds weird. I took three Motrin, and laid my head down. When I woke up about thirty minutes later, the pain was gone. But that didn't stop it from rearing it's ugly head a few more times in the next week.

I get to the dentist on Thursday and they are doing the exam and ask which tooth. So I tell them. The dentist takes the pick looking thing that scares the bleep out of me and sticks it all the way through my tooth. Come to find out, it's an old filling that has started to decay. And it has started to decay my tooth. All the way to the root. Two options: pull the tooth, or do a root canal with a crown. The root canal was more expensive, like we could really afford it. But I would like to keep as many of my teeth as I can. So we are pulling the money out of our butts to afford it.

It freaked me out a little at first. The dental assisstant was trying to put this tent thing in my mouth and I started freaking out about trying to swallow while this two hour procedure was going on. Because there was no wait period. It was you need a root canal, lay back and let's get started. I wasn't expecting to spend three hours in a dental chair. I had to sit up for a minute and calm myself down before the tent went in. Once I got my heart rate down, it was fine.

I stared at the spots on the tiles in the ceiling. They don't have the tvs or headphones. I think they should have things for your nose so you don't have to smell burning teeth. Ewww! About half way through I realize that if you line up the spot I was looking at with the twp spots above it, it made an angry face. I didn't want to look at an angry face. So I picked another spot. But the dentist kept getting her head in my way. So I picked yet another spot. And again, angry face appeared. I finally found one that made a pretty comical face. That was enough to keep me calm.

After the root canal was the build up for the crown. Great, more time in the chair. At least I got to stand up a little in between. That was nice. I got to flex my back a little. You all know how many back problems I have.

So while we're waiting for the dentist to come back, the assisstant starts talking about all the work I need done on my teeth (sorry, Mom. I know you paid alot of money for these teeth). Like I don't know. Then he starts talking about their finance options. I finally looked at him and told him to stop. I have three kids, a house payment and two car paymets to make. Not to mention the credit cards that are trying to eat us alive. Like I can afford one more bill. Specially since I just shelled out $500 for a root canal and a crown. I told him, one step at a time. Let's get through the crown, then the deep cleaning (shudder, shudder) and then whatever is next. I told him no matter what he says or anyone else, if he isn't paying my bills, he doesn't get a vote. He wasn't real happy, but I don't give a crap.

The best part about the whole thing was the pain pills. Yeah for pain pills! I haven't needed them though. I needed one the first night, but after that, Advil is doing the trick. Thank goodness. But before I left, he did give me a prescription Motrin. I like those, too. But by the next day, all was well.

And it's still pretty good. I'm not eating ibuprofen like candy, whoohoo. I like that part the best. I never knew when it was going to hurt, how bad it was going to hurt, or how long. I'm just glad it's over. Except for the crown. But I still have three weeks before that happens. Hopefully, if you ever have to have a root canal, it will go fairly easily for you, too. And don't be afraid to tell the dental assisstant to hush.

Have a great day!

School starts when?

I have been busy, busy, busy.The kids are in Vacation Bible School again this week. It's their third for the summer. We use VBS like most people use summer camp. That is our summer camp. And the kids love it. The big girl is spending the week with Oma, which is fine. She had a choice and she made it, so good for her.

While they have been there, I've been scrambling around trying to figure out what school supplies we need, and what we have, and what I want. I have found some really amazing deals, but some aren't worth having. I still need a globe, so if anyone wants to donate to the Homeschool Shus School Supply Fund, please do! I'm also waiting for a Friends of the Library sale. I like those.

I have also been on the Interenet trying to find supplements to our school curriculum. There are a couple of really good web sites out there that will really help us and cut down our dependency on the library. It doesn't cost me money to surf the web, but it costs me gas money to go once a week to the library.

National Geographic has a great educational section. It is broken down into sections, and those sections have subsections. It navigates easily, thank you. And it has links to other articles on their site. I just sat down and listed all the articles that we will be using. It is fantastic. And the picture galleries are nice. I think that gives just that much more info. Now you can put a picture and not just a description in your mind.

Encyclopedis Brittanica is another website. The local school board pays for the membership. I got the info when the kids were still in public school. It has basically the same thing. It also has different versions. It has the elementary, middle school, and high school and beyond. It has fantastic articles as well. And once again, the site is navigated very easily. It's not so much on the pictures, but that's why we have the other site as well.

The great thing about those sites is that the kids love to be on the computer. They don't mind if it's educational or not. Turn it on and they are champing at the bit. This is going to be a hectic year for us, and I am glad my kids adapt well to a changing environment.

We have four of us dancing this year. I thought only one of us was going to be able to dance, but we have a benefactor (two really) that are going to help us pay for tuition this year. And then there is soccer, maybe, in the fall. And baseball, maybe, in the spring. And the boy wants to play basketball in the winter. Do you see what I mean by hectic? So keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Have a great day!

Hand Bells Over

Today was hand bell Sunday.We had our performance today, and talk about nerves. We did all three services and I was nervous as all get out. I am not a performer. Iam an encourager. But how did the kids do? They were fantastic! We all did really well, and most of us hit all of our notes and cues. But I think nerves played a part a little bit for some of the kids.

The 8:30 was our best performance I think. It was also our first. I thought I was going to throw up, but the kids looked just fine. I think it's all the dance recitals that they've done. They smiled and counted and rang their handbells. I could imagine myself passing out, but somehow I stayed upright. And managed to hit all my notes.

Hubby dropped us off at 8 am. But he had to go home and get the camera. We both weren't thinking about it before we left the house. I didn't think he was going to get back in time. But as we took the stage, i looked up and there he was at the back of the sanctuary. I was so glad to see him. He got there just as the big girl hit the first note. The bad thing was that the batteries were dead. The backup batteries were dead, too.

The Hymn@10 was a little different. It's a cafe service and people are talking and mingling and eating. I think the kids were busy watching everybody else and lost track. We didn't do so well. I think the boy was watching his table and dreaming about his sausage biscuit. He loves his sausage. The big girl did just fine. She's also our first note.

The 11, we did pretty good. The baby was doing an abbreviated sign language for our song. The Doxology is just a short praise song that we sing after our offering. She did such an amazing job. Wednesday was when she got shown the movements. And she nailed it. She gets it from her mother, you know. Nobody could believe that she had only been shown the signs three days before.

Our associate pastor made an announcement before the service to ask that the congregation not sing, because it was a little different version. That helped us alot. Our version was a little longer. They called it a children's handbell choir, and I was like, "Hello!". But at the 11, she also introduced the two middle school youth who were also in the handbell choir, and the mom (that was me). That was better.

We got alot of positive response. Grandpa came and watched us. Oma was going to come, she even bought a dress. But she was having foot issues with her psoriasis. I was glad she got that close, though. Grandpa even took us to lunch. That was fun, too. I am sorry you guys missed it. But hopefully, next time, you can all be there.

Have a great day!