Catching up.....

Wow, life has been so busy lately! Most recently, we've been working with VBS at church. It's been busy, but great. We've had 250-300 kids per night and about 80 workers. Both Craig and I are crew leaders for the 4-5 year old group. Our youngest is in the same age, but not in either of our crews which has been really good for her. She tends to shy away from the dancing and such around us (guess we're just the old folks, LOL), but really comes alive when she doesn't think we're looking. It's funny, we encourage her to have fun, but I guess because we are more conservative at church than most, she thinks she has to be as well. Hopefully, as she gets older, she'll learn that praise and worship are very personal and will find her own way (although I still don't see anything wrong with being conservative, LOL). Stuart is meeting more of the teens (more on that in a moment). Some of the kids have been very fun to work with, others...something of a trial, but all a blessing. We've gotten to know so many more people in the past week, we've been attending this church for just over 3 months and have taken things slowly. We haven't joined the church yet, but we're considering it, prayerfully. We are getting more comfortable with some issues (nothing theological, more logistical), and we are studying scripture and praying about the others (theological). I respect Craig's wisdom and faithfulness and we'll await God's desire and follow that path.

Stuart has had fun, he's gone paintballing with a group and is learning how to work the sound control board on Sunday mornings. He loves computers, so this is a good fit for him. Last night, his friends let him know that one girl likes him. She made minor attempts to get his attention a couple of times. I know that at 14, he's very much aware, but knows we don't go in with the boyfriend/girlfriend thing at this point. She's nice (according to everything we've heard) and very modest in appearance (Thanks be!). We're leaning more toward courtship as an option to dating. At the very least for a few years. He can have friends, they can go on group activities, family dates, visit her home (as long as we know the parents and know they will be there), and sit together at church. But no one-on-one dates or anything (I was surprised at how many are allowed to do this at this age). We won't say that he won't be allowed to date later, I think it really depends on him and his maturity level and who it is with, etc. At this point, he's completely on-board with courtship in the future and has not problem with it. We'll see. As for Alyssa, don't even want to go there for another decade or so, LOL.

Things are going well with Craig's work. We've all settled into a schedule and I think it's so sweet and funny to see him taking a conference call on the back patio. I fix his lunch and serve it to him out there sometimes. It's almost like we've always done it this way.

We've gotten the kid's homeschool schedules ready for next year. Stuart has to decide on one more elective, but otherwise, we're done.

Stuart's schedule is:

Abeka Bible Doctrine for Today
Abeka Grammar/Composition IV
Abeka Vocab/Spelling/Poetry
Heath Integrated Algebra 2/Trigonometry
Abeka World History (includes Government supplement)
Abeka Biology (with labs)
Abeka Spanish
Computer Programming /Game Programming for Teens
'?' the mystery elective (maybe guitar)
Plus, he'll have field trips with the homeschool group (laser tag, go carts, etc.), and missions service.

It'll be a heavy year, but he's doing well, so I think it will go well. Last year his GPA was 3.74. I'm pleased, but hoping he'll take this year a little more seriously. He can do better, but is a little apt to goof off. I never should have told him I didn't want to push to graduate too early. As it is, he'll graduate at 16. So, I think he's taking me literally and not pushing too hard :::sigh::: oh well, LOL.

While Alyssa did K4 last year, I don't really want to start her in 1st grade yet. She's just turned 5 and I would rather wait and not pressure her at this point. So, we're going to do K5 this year. She's already sounding out most words and reading/spelling 5-6 letter words. She does well with basics, but we're moving on to the higher level readers. She does very well with basic adding and subtracting, too, so we'll see. Here's her schedule:

Abeka Letters & Sounds
Abeka Readiness Skills
Abeka Number Skills
Abeka Writing with Phonics
Abeka Basic Phonics Reading
Abeka God's World Science
Abeka Social Studies
plus, Art & Music from a variety of companies and she's starting Ballet & Tap at a local dance studio.

I am going to see how she does holding back to kindergarten, but we did go ahead and buy several of Abeka's first grade texts so that if she needs to move on to keep from getting bored, we'll be ready quicker.

Well, let's see. I've been slacking off on my knitting lately. Craig's poor socks will never knit themselves so I will have to start on those again. I've found a wonderful knitting community at Ravelry.com and just love the message boards, tips, patterns, etc. I've been working on some Paton's Kroy socks for him in a Glenchek colorway. But, I only have 2/3 of one sock done. Those heel turns are still slow-going for me and I've moved on to sewing for Alyssa lately. I've made several shift dresses for her with matching head scarfs for her and her American Girl doll, Kit. She loves to go to church in matching outfits. (I also found a couple of sets on ebay and that's always fun!). But, I need to be more diligent about finishing projects. I'm starting on some capri outfits for her/them, since it's been so hard to find modest shorts for her. She's so tall for her age and so thin, that's it's hard to find shorts that aren't too short but still fit in the waist. I think it's going to be easier to just make them myself. So, I've had a blast looking at patterns, catalogs, etc. and recreating my own for her.

This past week, the kids and I cleaned out the garage and attic. We had a yard sale last Friday, but got rained out. I didn't really mind since it got the last of our unpacking done and we just donated most of it and threw out the rest. One of our neighbors got really irritated that a few people stopped by our trash to pick through it and loaded up some boxes. As long as they didn't make a mess, I didn't care, and it was only out for a few hours Sunday night (pick up is Monday am). I figure it's in the trash and someone wants it, they can have it and be blessed. She considers that if it's in her trash, it's still hers until the garbage man picks it up. Oh, well...different strokes for different folks. LOL. On a sadder note, our other neighbor's (an elderly woman) son moved in recently after losing his home (he's not married). Well, he lived there for a couple of months before taking his life in the back yard this past Sunday. It's horribly sadder because they do not know Christ. We've just really been praying for her family. The neighborhood has been taking up a collection to help her with funeral expenses and doing what we can.

Well, that's about it, I'm waiting on my dryer to be delivered shortly and then I can finish up the laundry. First, 3 weeks ago the washer started leaking and we had to replace that. Then, last week the dryer switch shorted out and we had to replace that. They messed up the delivery date on Tuesday and now, hopefully, we'll get it today. YEAH!! So, lots going on. Continue to be Blessed!