Third Day Photo

One tired boy

David started his morning with 25 minutes of outside play time with Maggie. While Maggie worked on some school work he and I played with colored shape lacing cards. He counted them. Named their colors. Named the shapes and asked the name of the pentagon. He counted edges and angles/points. He made waves with the laces. After an outside stretch break for the three of us, David was ready for a snack and a rest. He was in his room for a short time --long enough for some quality homeschooling time. When he came out he played a Noah game on the computer and selected the puzzle option. He was so excited when he did the puzzle all by himself.

Maggie finished all of her schoolwork by 12:00 noon!! We ate grilled cheese sandwiches and fruit for lunch and then walked to the elementary school for Maggie to go to art class. David and I headed to Bibles for Missions to use the restroom and browse while Maggie was in class. After we picked her up we went to Kinderspeeland, a big wooden playground, where Maggie and David did lots of climbing. Upon arriving home, Maggie went to play at the neighbors' house. David and I went home and were soon joined by Bob. David got out some puzzles to do with Bob, but before Bob and I were done talking, David had already gotten to the point that I captured in the photo above.

Homeschool is exhausting, especially without a nap.

First Day Photos

Trying out new thinigs

Carie is trying out bangs and chin length hair. I'm trying out really short hair (again). Today I tried my hand at canning dill pickles and tomatoes. I didn't have enough of either one to make all that boiling water worth it, so I decided to do both at the same time. Things got tense at times, particularly when the jars started inverting in the water bath. I have some things to learn, but we now have one pint of diced tomatoes, 2 pints of dill slices, and 1 quart of dill spears that seem to have sealed. One of the tomato jars looked like it wasn't going to seal after about a half hour, so I turned that into salsa that Bob and I enjoyed tonight. The other jar of dill pickles crashed into the floor. The lid opened and the contents when flying, but no glass broke.

Carie starts school on Monday. At 8:45 Monday morning there is a church service at First Cristian Reformed Church. Parents are encouraged to attend, so I will take Carie to the service and then drop her off at school. Maggie will go to work with Bob who has to be present for a panel discussion. Hopefully David will be able to go to a friend's house. I'm not sure he'd appreciate sitting through the church service. Carie has early dismissal at 12:00, so I don't think Maggie will be starting school on Monday as first planned. That plan was the plan when Bob thought he'd be able to take Carie on Monday morning.

I have to admit that with a mind affected by hormones I began to panic about all the external schedule keeping that is in store for us this year and wondered why we didn't just decide to homeschool Carie and not even mention to Maggie about the possibility of taking a class at school. Maggie will be taking art at the public elementary school, which operates on a six day cycle, so each week she will have art on a different day. Carie has some days that are early dismissal days at 2:00. Those days Bob won't be able to get her and ....aaaaah I'm losing my mind.

Bob asked me if I would like for him to be in charge of Carie's schedule and let me know any time I'll have to pick her up (most days he will be able to drop her off and pick her up). My first reaction was, with some thigh pounding and clenched teeth was, "No! I'll feel stupid if I have to have you keep track of the schedule. I should learn to do that myself and not get stressed about it." On second thought I realized that we all have our areas of weakness and we all need help. Better to get the help then to keep muddling along messing up, feeling guilty, and getting angry at oursleves. I agreed to have him be in charge of the schedule. What a feeling of relief.

That whole incident was a big reminder to me of how things work with me and God. He doesn't want me coming to Him saying, "I'm really working at it. Can't you see I'm improving. I'm going to learn how to avoid sinning. I don't need any help. I will learn this. If I can't do this on my own I'll feel stupid. I should be able to do this." No. God wants me to come to Him saying, "Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. I am weak. I am poor in spirit. I keep messing up and it makes me really sad. I really want to do what's right, but I can't do it. Please help me." When I'm ready to admit that I can't do it, He is there. He loves me no matter what. His power is available to me when I seek Him, trust Him, delight in Him, and know Him, but the truth is, I only seek Him, trust in Him, delight in Him or know Him because He has already sought me, proved Himself trustworthy, delighted in me, and known me.

"My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me."

"Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am meek and humble in heart. And you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

I'm toying with this defnition of humility: "The ability to say, 'I can't, but with your help I will.'"

Summer Fun

This morning was a delightfully rainy, gray morning. Before breakfast we all snuggled together in Mommy and Daddy's bed and recited Psalm 1, Psalm 23, and Psalm 100. Maggie started practicing piano without being asked and picked it up again after breakfast. Carie came and asked how she could help and proceeded to wipe the table and chairs, vacuum the floor, and wipe the bathroom mirror. She was pretending she was the maid. She also started to clear the walls of her preschool art work to make room for the kindergarten work to come.

We have been having a delightful summer. Our evenings have included watching the hot air balloon, going for a family bike ride (Carie can ride on her own and David tags along behind Bob), catching fire flies, watching bats flit through the air by the light of a full moon. We've been grilling food, eating sweet corn, and enjoying lots of cucumbers from our garden and a pepper and some cherry tomatoes. Swmming at the Orange City pool, playing with friends, and

Today may be the day we get fish.

Home Happenings

We had a fantastic time visitng family and friends in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Our ride home went well; nevertheless, we were delighted to extract ourselves from the car and enjoy the comforts of home. The children wasted no time in pulling out many of their toys. We could hardly see David's bedroom floor after ten minutes. That evening we enjoyed some Iowa sweet corn, cucumbers from our garden, and a tasty chicken pasta salad Bob put together. Yummmm.

Gardens

Our vegetable garden is spilling over into our yard. We have eaten at least four of our delicious cucumbers and picked several more. Our tomato plants are loaded with green tomatoes and we have watermelon, cantaloupes, and peppers getting bigger by the day. The flowers Dad W. planted took off and look wonderful. Maggie added to our patio landscape using birthday money to purchase a hand pump fountain that has provided hours of fun for the children and a nice focal point on our patio.
Bikes
Not long after we got out of our van, Carie started ridng her bike without the aid of training wheels. She's riding like a pro now! She attirbutes some of her success to riding the tag along bike at Oma and Grandad's house. David now proudly tags along behind Daddy. Bob and the kids rode bikes to church on Sunday. Just this evening we bought a new bike for me so now we hope to take some family bike rides.



Prayers
Lately David has been eagerly volunteering to pray at meals and bedtimes. His prayers are full of thanks. He thanks God for each of his family members and then for things he experienced during the day. One day last week he thanked God for fireflies and the next day he thanked God that we had a fire (in the fire pit). Listening to him pray is a great reminder of the importance of noticing and be thankful for simple every day things.