One Day

We started school last week! We started promptly at 8:15 on Monday morning and worked diligently for a few hours with a break at one point. Cora is doing a fantastic job! Every single day last week she said, "Mom? Is there anything else I can do? I want to do more school! Mom! Give me more school work to do! Can't I keep doing school?" Phew! She was wearing me out, however, I appreciate her love of learning. I know it won't always be this way, but I finally gave in, and we are a good week ahead in most of the subjects. Granted, math, for example, is all review so she's zipping right through that. I love this about homeschooling: you can go at your own pace. If your child is grasping something there's no need to spend days/weeks on it, you can simply move on! I love it. We don't have to wait for 28 other kids to get the concept. We can just move on . And, if there's something we want, or need, to spend extra time on, well, we can! Ben and Bekah are

Do you have a friend, or friends, who you don't get to see often (like with many years between visits) but when you do see each other it's as though time has not passed? I have several of those friends. Being a missionary kid, and then later a missionary, you learn to build deep, lasting friendships with people. You don't waste time with the fru-fru stuff, the surface information. You get deep. You learn about each other. After college I spent 2 years in Cameroon, Africa. I loved my time there. I was young, single and thought it would be a grand adventure. It was, but it was also a time that I look back on when I grew as a person. I made several really wonderful friends. Most of whom were older than me, but women of faith, each in her own journey with God. One thing you have to know is, when you leave the mission field you do not know when you'll see your friends again. And, honestly, you know you'll at least see them in heaven. So, when the opportunity arises to

I'm not sure you can read much online or turn on the news and not see something about whether or not gay marriage is right, should be legal, where churches should stand on this, etc. I have remained silent on this issue because I know where I stand. I don't feel the need to put it out there on my Facebook wall or anything like that. However, due to a conversation I had recently I wanted to put some thoughts down. The question was can a church say to one part of their congregation it's OK to support gay marriage, let them do their thing, and then have another group along side NOT supporting it? Can they worship in harmony, can they do church together? Is it OK to say to the one group, "you go ahead and believe that, be blessed by us, but we're going to go a different direction." Can you do this? I've been thinking about it a lot since that conversation. And I think the answer is no. I thought it at the beginning and after thinking on it longer I still t

Last week was the end of swim lessons for the kids. They all 3 did really well, and Cora passed through 2 levels this summer! Ben passed through 1, and Rebekah remains where she is due to age and not being potty trained! HA! Our community has a wonderful outdoor pool with a slide and splash pad. And, for 6 weeks during the summer they do a fabulous job with swim lessons for the kids! Our kids love it, and it's so great to watch their improvements in the water. David and I both think knowing how to swim is one of the most important things your child can learn. Here are some photos of them on the last day! I love my 3 little fishies! These children are my 3 biggest joys! Bekah is in the Tiny Tots class. Basically, they're learning it's ok to get their faces wet and how to find their footing in the water. Lots of splashing!  She's supposed to be showing me how she can blow bubbles...but, ya know, licking the water is good too... Ben started the

Yep, we went to the circus last week! At the beginning of the summer we made a list of some bigger things to do with the kids this summer so we weren't found stuck in the house all summer! Two years ago we went to this circus. Cora was 4, Ben was barely 2 and Bekah wasn't quite 2 months! We remember it being WET (had been raining), HUMID and HOT! But, we still had fun! We figured with everyone 2 yrs older it might go better this time, and it did! YEAH! We had a good time. Now, this isn't the big Wringling Bros but is a much smaller, 1-ring circus. There are still tigers, and elephant, camels, trapeze act, etc. Last time we went there were all sorts of animal rides for the kids--elephant, camel and pony. We knew the kids would want to do at least one of these (and seriously, just 1, because it's highway robbery what they charge to sit on an animal for 2 minutes...) so we went early so we'd have time for that and also get a good seat! HA! Apparently, this