Lazy Hazy Days of Summer 2016

Life has a way of distracting me a bit.  Making the urgent more than the important come to the forefront.  Journaling is one of those important things that seems to go by the wayside. But I recently read an article about all of the wonderful things journalling does for the writer as well as the readers...chronicling memories and musings, helping to deal with hard things and frame them in encouraging ways, connecting us to our Creator and others...so here I am.

May was a bit more of a whirlwind than it has been in the past. It's usually our quiet month and we travel before Kevin's summer traveling moves up a notch.  We finished our first year at the Learning Center. I enjoyed my Young Explorers.  Funny how you can be so tired and caught up in the to do's of little ones that it's rather hazy to remember those preschool years.  Elly and Gabe took Poise and Manners and Engineering respectively. Both enjoyed their teachers and the subjects.  Isaiah opted to stay home and work after they all finished woodcrafting in December.  We adopted chicks for 2 weeks. We also went up to Camp for CEF training in preparation for VBS weeks this summer.  Elly had her first dance recital. It was spectacular. She learned a lot at Morning Star Ballet...more than dancing, but how to give glory to Jesus in it.  She loved having Sienna, Abigail, Anne and Kris in her class.  Kev and I made a quick trip to Washington DC to see our nephew married. That was a bit shocking since he was seven at our wedding!  He found a sweet girl and we pray is enjoying marital bliss ;).

June was a month of VBS at Camp Assurance for Isaiah. He stayed up with Grandma and Grandpa. He did well telling the Bible Stories twice a day for two weeks.  Had to get along with a wide variety of people and didn't have a lot of alone time but he wants to go back next year and take Elly.  We all helped out at Believer's Bible--now Grace Life--for their VBS toward the end of June. In the meantime we played with friends and Gabe tried out baseball with the Y while Elly gave tap dancing a try.  Gabe played with Zach and Colin and really improved his skills while making new buddies.  Elly enjoyed tap a lot and is going to continue that and ballet this fall.

July was a lot of hot!  We had a quiet 4th and then took Isaiah up to Camp for the Jr. High Boys Campout.  It was his 3rd year and he loved it.  He stayed up to help Grandpa post arm surgery and watch Heidi/Luke's puppy at Grandma's while Elly and Gabe and 7 friends from church had their week at camp the next week. They thoroughly enjoyed themselves and their friends and time with God in a different environment.  Jake and Kylin were favorite dorm leaders.  They were all learning about Drinking Deep from Jesus.  We finished July with a week of VBS with Go Fish at the Wurtele's barn.  We had some help from a few EH families and saw 35 kids come for the fun and learn with us about a life God rewards when we: do what's right, endure hard things, point others to Jesus, are humble instead of proud and live with eternity in mind. 

ABC Sewing Class Day!

And now here we are at August ready to start adding in our fall subjects tomorrow.  I can't believe we're at 5th, 7th and 9th grade already (sort of).  I'm thankful we still have the opportunity to teach our kids from a Biblical worldview and we pray and support those who are on the front lines defending our freedom. Everyone starts Math books tomorrow in an effort to be done by May so we can have a quiet month.  Isaiah's getting ready to finish 1 more semester of World History/Lit, start Physical Science, Greek, Logic and Grammar too. He hopes to be taking classes at Metro by spring semester, have a job and get his learner's permit and maybe get the ACT in after Algebra 2 is done.  He's motivated...now to follow through on hard things, please Lord!  Elly and Gabe and I are going to continue ABC co-op with the 6-7 other families.  We enjoy our Mondays with friends, learning all kinds of wonderful things and doing hard things with lots of buddies to encourage us.  We'll also continue at Learning Center and with AWANA.  Aikido is on the docket for everyone including Mom who has now been coached in rolling by each and every family member! Gabe wants another go at Upward Basketball with co=op buddies. Elly will continue dance and Bright Lights.  Isaiah is on for Robotics and maybe the Navy Sea Cadets this winter. Kev and I are going to try to keep up. I think chauffeur is going up a notch on my resume!  Glad Isaiah's almost to driving age (I think).  We'll start praying for safety and good decisions now...

We added some pets this summer as well.  A guinea pig came to us via a friend of a friend--how many times has that happened?? Gabe is happy to have Cocoa Bean to care for as well as Jack/Husker, the turtle.  Elly added Skystorm, the parakeet, who just happens to match her new room decor, to her bunny, Snowball.  Sadly Gabe's bunny, May, had a run in with the neighbor dog. She was getting old and I think it was a mercy, though Gabe was pretty sad about how that went down.  Having pets is a joy...getting to care for them and play with them and see them grow/learn but it's also a lesson in life that it's short and we need to be thankful for each day we have.  Charlotte continues to think she's more of a person than a dog. Isaiah is faithful to walk her and El and I try to get her out a few times a week too. Gabe likes to run her around too.  She's hit middle age which means she's a lot less excitable and has a lot fewer messes!  She does get treated like a beloved 2 year old kid.