Summer's Winding Down

The heat may not be winding down, but summer vacation is slowly drawing to a close. I looked at the calendar and realized we are only three weeks away from starting school. I knew it was getting closer, but looking at the calendar really made it hit close to home.

We have been out of school for almost three months. What a blessing this time has been. I was so burned out at the end of the year. Mentally it had been a tough year, between finances, new jobs, and dealing with morning sickness the last couple of months of school. Once we were done I wasn't sure I would ever want to start back.
Thankfully God has ordained times and seasons for everything. It is one thing I love about God. Our creator understands our frailty, and the need for rhythms of work and rest.
This week the school bug bit me. I attended a curriculum expo yesterday, and bought all of our curriculum for the upcoming year. It still has to ship, but I could hardly contain my excitement as we drove home. My mind was racing with ideas for field trips, books lists, and ideas for the year.

It is hard to believe we will begin our 5th year of homeschooling. I believe I can safely say I have move out of the novice phase. I actually have a 5th grader. Now that boggles my mind. I did the math, and realized that if we successfully school and graduate all of our children, I will have spent 22 years homeschooling. What a crazy, busy, and wonderful blessing!

We are continuing with My Father's World as our core curriculum. I know everyone has there own methods, and I'm often tempted to look around. Still my motto is, if it's not broke. don't fix it. We are only tweaking a few things in the language arts area. Overall this curriculum has been a godsend for us. I found it when I was new to homeschooling, and had no clue what I was doing. I truly feel God led me to this curriculum, and I have not been disappointed. I love the focus on living books, and family learning. It is a gentle approach that still challenges where it counts. This will be the first year I will have two kids in the family learning cycle. I am excited to watch them fight it out  grow together. I know there will be challenges, but the cohesiveness of learning is a great benefit to all of us.

 Isaac has also begun to express an interest in participating in school work. I have taken the approach of letting him learn as he is ready at this age. With Kaylie I was a little more obsessed with making sure she knew everything early. As a more seasoned parent I now realize how much joy can be taken from a child when there is such pressure to perform at a young age. I have tried to adapt in many ways, but I still see the remnants of frustration that periodically arise due to my earlier mistakes. Thank God for grace and mercy as we grow as parents.

I hope the new school year is a time of reflection and renewal for each of you. There are many hurdles and challenges that lie ahead, but we forget what is behind, and press on ahead. Grace, peace, and joy to each of you as you begin this new year!

Grownup Kids

Today my little brother turns 23. Happy birthday Allyster!

It is extremely surreal when you realize you and your siblings are all of adult age. Growing up as the oldest of three the siblings were always "the babies" of the family. How strange is it to wake up and realize they aren't quite babies any longer, and maybe they now look at me as "the old one."

This all has me reminiscing about summer and the old days. I have some of the best memories of my brother, sister, and I during summer vacation. Of of course there was the usual yelling, pushing, and tattling that kids do, and then there were all the moments in between. Moments that consisted of jumping on the trampoline so high you felt like you could fly, swimming at the water park for so long our skin becoming tan and wrinkled like a prune, and lunches at CiCi's Pizza because it was cheap and mom needed a break from cooking. Then there were the family vacations. Oh how I miss being a kid and enjoying these without the cares of money or travel logistics!

As much as these sweet memories remain, they slowly lose the clarity and detail that they once possessed. Like dreams fading into a mist, I can still feel the essence, but those little kids come into focus and I realize they are not really children any longer.

Vacation

No I'm not going on one, but I sure wish I was. Unfortunately I have no vacation time until September 17th. Yes I have it down to the day. This warm summer weather has me craving a sunny beach If it wasn't for the economic mess and high cost of living, California would be my place to live.

It was a good weekend. We made the mistake of going to downtown Fort Worth Saturday afternoon. We walked from Sundance Square all the way to the Water Gardens behind the convention center. The walk there was not too bad. Kaylie loved the unique fountains and pools. I recommend checking it out if you are ever downtown. It really is an amazing piece of work. Unfortunately the temperature really started to heat up and we had a long walk back. We were all dragging the whole trek back to the car. Saturday night Chris and I went on a date. We had some wings at Buffalo Wild Wings and then coffee at a new shop called Roots. It was a cool little shop in North Richland Hills. The decor was aweseom and the coffee not too shabby. My only complaint was the people were not too friendly, even after I attempted to engage one of the baristas in conversation.

Sitting in the coffee shop made us realize once again what a great desire we have to one day open our own coffee shop. It has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager, and Chris just happens to share that dream. We spent the rest of our date brainstorming and crunching numbers. It was fun to converse about something we are both so passionate about. Hopefully that dream will be fullfilled in the near future, but more on that later.

Sunday was a relaxing day. We had lunch with the family at Saltgrass (so very good). After lunch we took the kids swimming for the remainder of the afternoon. It was quite enjoyable. As usual I did not want it to end. I will post some pictures later this week from out trip to the water gardens.

Time to sign off. Until tomorrow!