Wordless Wednesday: Glimpses of D.C.

Weekly Recap: School Year Wrap!

We finished our school year today.  At least we finished the book part.  Our testing is complete. We still have a super special field trip coming up but I'll share more of that after we come home.

Just in case you don't remember what my crew looked like at the beginning of the school year, you can look back here.  And just nine months later...

M8 is now ready to start 4th grade.  S11 wrapped up 5th grade and is moving onto grade 6.  H14 is now a freshman.  That just makes me breathe deeply.  My oldest daughter, K16, is now a senior.  That just takes my breath away.  She's not ready to face it either.  She won't even let me take an end of the school year picture so I'll share another prom picture.

I think it's fitting that we are spending this evening celebrating our year and accomplishments with cake

and the 145,678th viewing of High School Musical.  It's nice to know that no one is too old to enjoy the good stuff.

I'll write a more in depth run down of our year later but here are the highs and lows for now.

K16

High:  Making National Technical Honor Society.

Low:  The beginning of school. All the drama.

H14

High:  How well I did with math.  I did well and I don't usually.

Low:  Science because I don't like science.  I enjoyed it just not as much as everything else.

S11

High:  My high was Bible because I'm learning about God and I'm guessing it will earn me bonus points in heaven.  Just teasing.  I do love learning about God.

Low:  Math.  Who likes math besides M8?

M8

High:  How well I did with Bible.  I finished it all quickly and that made me happy.

Low:  I don't have a low.

Me

High:  I am so proud of all my children.  They are all becoming life learners and developing skills and discipline that will help them in all they do.  As far as our homeschool year, I feel that we learned so much. We completed our first 4 year cycle and I am so pleased by that accomplishment.  When we set down this road four years ago I don't think I really believed we'd get this far.

Low:  Latin.  We managed to squeak out physics but Latin got lost somewhere along the way.



Wordless Wednesday: Prom 2013

These pictures are courtesy of my wonderful, talented sister.  You can check out her blog here.

A Mixed Bag

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him,

who have been called according to his purpose. 

- Romans 8:28

Some mornings I wake up and expect the day to be challenging.  Some days, admittedly for me many fewer days, I wake up and expect the day to be easy.  The morning of my birthday I was really expecting an easy day.  I'd dropped my husband off at the airport and then spent an hour chasing a calf the night before.  Those events should have entitled me to an easy day.  Plus, it was my birthday.  Again, an easy day should be a given, right?!

It started well.  I slept late.  My oldest daughter woke me with birthday wishes as she left for school.  I got up in a leisurely manner.  I fed the fish, turkeys, chickens, dogs, cat and cows.  I had a great plan for the day.  Jog, strawberry crepes, no school, library, produce auction, pizza.  Perfect!  I put my headphones on, called the dogs and started on my jog.  Less than a mile down the road my perfect morning fell apart.

My dogs, two large lab/retriever mixes, strayed into the neighbor's yard.  I went after then yelling.  The neighbors dog, seeing a trespasser (me) came barking and growling.  My dog, the more dominate one, defended me by barking at the other dog.  The other dog didn't back down.  My dog became aggressive.  Unfortunately, my dog outweighed the other dog by 70+ lbs.  The neighbors other dog joined in the fray, ganging up on his "sister". I was screaming at my dog.  The neighbors came running for their dog.  It was not a happy situation. 

It's amazing how quickly an easy day can become something else completely.  It took me much of the day to recover from the morning.  I enjoyed time with my children.  We celebrated my birthday in a variety of ways but the sparkle of the morning, the expectation of easy joy, was difficult to recover. 

The neighbor's dog was taken to the vet and will be fine.  I paid the bill, no questions asked.  The neighbors are still very angry with me, especially since my dogs are still living.  They want my dogs dead.  Even though one of my dogs never touched their dog.  Even though their own dog did touch their other dog.  I'm not sure how I feel about that.  To me it seems extreme and vengeful.  How do you blame a dog for being a dog?  I was at fault, do they want to put me down?  Probably.  That's not a very neighborly sentiment.

So many days present a mixed bag.  You get good (birthday wishes, chocolate covered strawberries, flowers, pizza, sunshine) and you get challenging (disobedient dogs, angry neighbors, tears, sorrow).  Sorting it all out becomes almost impossible.  Feeling thankful in difficult circumstances becomes tricky. 

There are so many lessons to be learned and truths to be recognized in each and every day.  Even when I'm not grateful for the specific circumstance I can be grateful that I've had the day to experience the good along with the bad.  I can be thankful that the blessings of grace and mercy are mine, even if they won't be coming from my neighbor.  I can be thankful.  Now, how long did it take me to choose gratitude?  Longer than it should have. 

Sometimes I can access grace quickly in bad situations.  Sometimes I wallow in the misfortune before I recognize that God is with me in all things, not just the easy things.  Thankfully, while I wallow, God is with me.  And that is most certainly for my good.

Happy Mother's Day!

To my mother!

And to me!

Weekly Recap: May 6 - May 10, 2013

It's been awhile since I updated.  We've been busy living life with not so much time or energy left over for documenting the living.  Since our time in Florida we are working on completing our school year.  As of this week, we are finished with our history, grammar, reading...  Really, everything but Bible, math and physics. As a solution to our lack of physics done this year, we are having a physics intensive month.  So far, it's worked beautifully. 

Since spring break, we enjoyed the company of sisters and cousins, hatched 6 pullets (baby turkeys), pulled off a gorgeous prom for K16, and obtained three calves.  It's been a busy, fun filled time.  Currently we are waiting on the delivery of  two Columbia ewes and have about 3 dozen more turkey eggs in the incubator.  Never a dull moment around here.

Our state mandates that we have 900 hours of school time.  We aren't quite there yet so we will continue filling the time through May.   I think everyone is enjoying more fun reading and fewer lessons.  I know I am.

This week we ended our co-op time.  Each one of the children participated in a play.  We enjoyed M8 in her performance as Annie Christmas, the Keelboat Queen.  S11 gave an outstanding performance as an alien.  As Bill Sikes,  H14 was positively villainous.  It was a fun week.

Over the next three weeks we'll be concentrating on physics, finishing our Bible curriculum, and completing our testing for the state.  For our grand finale to the 2012-13 school year we'll be taking a fabulous sight seeing, educational field trip.  I'll be sure to share pictures.