I can't believe we have only been out of school for a week and a half and I already feel so refreshed! I certainly believe homeschooling is worth the effort (or I wouldn't do it), but it is an all consuming, draining experience for me.

I've been reading a really neat book lately called "Family Driven Faith" by Voddie Baucham Jr. The last few chapters are devoted to family integrated church (vs. age-segregation for anything). I've been thinking about it a lot over the past few days. I must admit, I probably lean more this way than the average church member. I am obviously very big into the idea of parents being the responsible party for the discipleship of their children (remember that draining homeschooling), but I guess I find value in occationally allowing my children to recieve training from other sources that I consider qualified. :) I value the additional training my children recieve at Sunday School, Bible school, camp and Word of Life clubs. I will admit that the church down the road is using Answers in Genesis VBS this year. I would love to have my kids go to a AiG VBS, but I'm a little leary of the doctrinal differences they may hear.

We are almost at the end of baseball season. I really love baseball, but dragging six kids to 18 games to watch one sibling play has just about done me in with the sport! We may have a few weeks break from sports before volleyball starts in July . . . oh wait, basketball off-season play starts in a few weeks - never mind! LOL!

Hannah finished her skirt for 4-H yesterday. I can't believe how long it takes them to sew! A month seems like plenty of time to finish everything, but who knows! Sarah is still crocheting away too . . . same thing there. Slow as molassas in January as a friend from high school always used to say.

I really need to spend some time up in the attic before the little ones wake up. It is amazing to have free time like this to do these big projects! I love summer! Have I already said that?

Neat Day!

Today our Word of Life missionaries came to award Hannah and Sarah their Steadfast Achievement awards. Good job girls on six years of hard work! After church those ornery folks insisted on taking our family out to CiCi's pizza. What a special treat!

We did get some serious pictures, but I just really liked this one!

After dinner we headed to another graduation open house then back home for youth group.

Asking for pre-teen girl advice from Titus 2 friends

I've got something on my heart right now that I'm going to ask for help with from all my conservative friends. Hannah turned 12 in March and is really growing up. Over the past few months I've noticed some slight attitude changes that I've really been thinking about. I call it the "woe is me" attitude.

I'm not really sure where she has picked up some of her ideas, but I want to deal with them swiftly and Biblically, and I would really like some books to use with her if anyone has some ideas. I guess her biggest complaint has been that she thinks she has to work too hard. I do admit that she has a lot of chores. She is also taking piano lessons and she practices 25 minutes a day, and I still ask that she practice her flute ten minutes a day. I'm trying to teach her to have a servants heart and to work hard. I really believe that laziness is a sin that is easy to slip into, and I don't think the teenage years are an excuse to be lazy. I think if she would work hard, she would have a lot more free time. She mentioned the other day when she was doing a chore for Steve that she thought he should do it himself.

I guess in summary, I've decided that my living a life of submission as a helper to my husband hasn't exactly shown her the biblical role of a wife as I had hoped. I've decided I need to be more thorough in my teaching with her to show her God's design in this area. I have several books already that I can start with (Lies Young Women Believe and A Young Woman After God's Own Heart), but I would really appreciate any other sources that would help me teach these issues.

Slow but sure progress around here

We are making progress on these projects! The girls spent several hours cutting and sewing today. Still no finished skirts or shirts, but I think we might just have them finished in the next month. The garden still has more weeds than produce, but we slogged around in the mud pulling a lot of weeds today. Sarah only has about six more granny squares to go before she can put together her baby blanket.

We are reading in Psalm now for Bible reading (the halfway book, right). Steve is having us memorize Psalm 1 together. I'd like to spend some time looking into what a scornful person is. It is pretty obvious what the ungodly and sinners are, but how would you define the scornful that we are not to sit in the seat of?

June

Here is my little Josh. Three weeks until he turns 3 and still not potty trained *sigh*. So far the three girls were trained at 2, but all the boys have been 3 before they have been trained. So, I'm in a mad rush to get him trained before his birthday! I know I just need to make the leap to no diapers, but what a pain for a family that is always on the go. For some reason, stubborn boys just don't care . . . and Steve and I seem to be really good about getting stubborn boys (just like their dad).

Relaxing on Memorial Day

This weekend was full of celebrations! Friday night was the KASH graduation. Saturday we spent the day (again) working on outside projects getting ready for our Memorial Day picnic last night. Saturday night we went to the booming town of Windfall for a wild graduation open house for two girls from church.

Sunday was an interesting milestone for Hannah, Sarah and I (although Hannah wasn't even at church). After teaching the girls in Sunday School for many years (best I can figure it has been about five years), we have decided to move them up to Steve's class next week. Since our church is so small, we only have three classes for kids. It really is hard to believe they are moving into the "youth group" phase of life.

We had a special time during our worship service as all the veterans sang the Battle Hymn of the Republic. There was one line I really liked that I hadn't thought much about before . . . wish I could remember it now . . . something like "as He died to make men holy, let us live to make men free".

We also had a recognition time for all six of our graduates. I just can't help but think about how my kids will be there soon. Sarah is already looking forward to graduation she told me yesterday.

Sunday night we hosted a cookout for . . . well, anyone that wanted to come. Steve and I counted afterward, and we think there were 66 people here. And the deck is still standing :) ! It is always nice to have our friends over! I did, however, pretty much take today off (the rain helped with that).

Steve is in the basement watching some war movies to celebrate Memorial Day right now *thanks Walt (where is that sarcasm button)*. Noah watched a bit of one movie and told me all about how the Jerks (his pronunciation of Germans) stole our plans, loaded cannons, etc. It is just a male thing I think!

The next big event on the calendar is the KASH leaders meeting we are hosting Friday night. It is only six families, but you know some of those crazy homeschoolers and their large families! I don't think we will hit 66 again, but it might be close.

We are also looking forward to awarding the Steadfast Achievement award to Hannah and Sarah on Sunday morning . . . yes, they are officially graduating from Olympians to the teen group this year.

Our family is finishing up our reading of Job. What an interesting book and reminder to trust God. Were you there? I'm glad I know the One that was there when everything began!

Well, Noah is giving me minute by minute updates on what time it is, so I better wrap this up. He got too much of a nap today! If I were a dilligent homeschool mom, I'd whip out some reading books and teach him to read right now. I'll have to let you know if that happens. :) Oh wait, Ruth is awake for her first snack of the night . . . it just might be a long night!

School is out, school is out!

This tired teacher officially "let the monkeys out" today!! Hoping for a good summer to regroup before starting in with FIVE students next year (oh my).

I've had the urge to blog for a few weeks now, but life has just been too exciting! Well, today I'm indulging (and yes, chocolate chip cookies and blogging are about the extent of my indulging in life) . . . at least until Ruth wakes from her nap.

This by far has been the school year I was most ready to end! Out of the four students, only one is a really self-motivated student, so I seem to spend most of my time motivating kids to do what they don't want to do. I just think that if I were homeschooled as a child, I probably would have finished my year in March or April. But, I recognize God's distribution of personality traits varies greatly even among family members, so I accept His sovereignty in this area, but that doesn't mean I don't get frustrated at times!

The next thing to conqueror are the 10 4-H projects the girls are in. I have a sweet friend from church that is crocheting with Sarah. I think she would have exhibited something very small if it weren't for my friend Joyce. There is another lady from church that has helped them with their sewing. The garden was doing well until a rabbit got in this week. Urrrr! We have a fence around the garden, but not all the kids are very good about getting the gate closed every time . . . and a rabbit can do a lot of damage in one visit.

Right after the fair, we will be heading to Twin Lakes Camp. The kids already have a paper chain to count down the days. Steve will be the camp pastor and Nathan will be the only official camper. The rest of us will just be tag-a-longs. Hannah and Sarah will be attending camp in August . . . junior high camp?!!! I'm not sure what happened to my little girls, but I have these two pre-teens living in my house now!

We are also looking forward to a visit in July from one of my Cedarville roomies. This is the friend that we met in D.C. last summer. It is a real blessing to have "friends for life" like that.

The most exciting thing that has happened this week has been putting the baby pool up on the deck. You would have thought we had invested in a water park in our back yard. It has been very nice, and I'm once again thankful for a husband that can build me nice things. I have two little boys crashed out on my bed right now due to the hard pool play they had this morning. That right there is almost worth the money we invested in the deck! :) I was doing paperwork on my bed this morning when Ruth opened my screen door, walked to the pool and climbed in, wearing her regular clothes, of course. So, I think if one can do that, they lose their baby status (and no, that wasn't a hint at anything).

Well, I'm starting to feel a bit guilty about sitting in a chair for more than ten minutes. I'm sure I can find something to clean if I look really hard (joke).

I love summer!