Partly Cloudy

Right now the sun is shining. The clouds are hazy yet still allow the blue sky to emanate through. The garden is slowly being planted as time and chance allow. The yard also is being raked up, two years of pine needles and whatnot into the brush pile.
The kids are in the other room, playing checkers, their new found game. Full of lunch and transitioning to rest time, I take this quiet opportunity to write a quick post.

My mind and emotions are full. Full of uncertainties, drama, anxiety and excitement. But one thing stands ahead. Not necessarily looming in a dark sinister way, but rather like cumulonimbus clouds gathering over a valley. There might be a storm of wind and rain, maybe even some hail. But there might not be a storm. It might just blow over and come to nothing. Either way the sun will shine again. Just like it is now. Just like Jesus is shining in heaven with our daughter Emily Grace. Emily's day of birth and life is this Sunday, June 2. And she will be five years old.

Five.

One of those huge mile markers that every parent looks forward to. So many opportunities at this age. An age where they are learning their independence on a whole new level. An age where unlocking the mystery of reading brings daily excitement. An age of wonderment, change, and imagination.

I wonder where Emily would fit into our homeschool. Would she be excelling at this point and ready for first grade with her sister Rachel? Or would she be beginning to recognize sounds and putting them together and starting Kindergarten with Madelynn? Or maybe she would find schoolwork more on the challenging side and insist instead on watching flowers grow and pointing out different birds at our feeder?

Maybe it's not just me doing the wondering. Maybe Emily is wondering when she will get to see her mommy and daddy again. Maybe she is wondering if her sisters and brothers will fight the good fight of faith and become more than conquerors. Maybe Emily is in the great cloud of witnesses that the Book of Hebrews talks about, standing as a testimony, encouraging us on, on, on to glory. "Don't give up. Press on. Keep praying, keep on doing good, resist the evil one, stand against temptation, keep in step with the Spirit. Christ is in you, Christ lives through you, Christ conquered death, Christ conquered sin. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross. He endured to the end. For joy."

And joy He has. And joy He gives. Emily is full of joy, for she is full of Christ.

What more could I want for my daughter?

And yet, my grief continues. But it is for me. Because I want to be where she is, with her. And so until that glorious day, we celebrate the day of her birth, the nine days of her life with us, and the awful wonderful day of the 11th: Emily's Heaven Day.

A Smattering of Broken Thought Processes

The last week or so has been filled with great happiness as Joel has come home from being in Bangkok, Thailand for a month. He will be posting about that soon I'm sure. But for now, we are enjoying having him back. If you simply cannot wait to hear why he was in Thailand, I'll just say he was teaching English as a means to reach out to Thai Buddhist university students. You'll just have to wait for the rest. *smile*

Spring has sprung in our neighborhood of the world and with it brings motivation to do yard work and garden clean up. Our home is surrounded by Red Pine trees, so instead of nice green grass, we have orange dead pine needles. Once it's raked though, the grass shines through and makes the yard so much more beautiful. (Yes, I know. Bad grammar. I'm on summer vacation.)

Speaking of vacation, the kids think it's autumn vacation. I think you can guess why. But now that the flowers are coming up and I planted the onion sets today, it felt more like summer was peeping it's welcome face around the garden boxes.

I finally finished this book last night. What a great book. Even if you don't totally agree with the philosophy, there are many nuggets of gold for any educator.

And that's all I have the mental capacity for. God bless you and keep you, may His glorious face shine upon you!

Happy Anniversary Darling

Nine years ago, you and I started a life together.

We loved each other then:

And we love each other now:

Even if you are halfway around the world.

I love you, and I can hardly wait to see you on Friday.

Thoughts on Homeschooling: End of Year 3

yes, we are still here. The sun is out and I think it might hit 50 degrees today. The small lakes are still frozen, much to the dismay of our local fishermen I imagine. Four inches down, the ground is frozen solid. The grass is green though. That is encouraging.

Rachel and Madelynn are on summer break and we are working on finishing up second grade for Josh. Only a couple more weeks!  I've also spent some time reorganizing and planning for next year. I'll have a kindergartener, a first grader and a third grader. Yikes! But God is good and I am trusting Him to work it all out. He has been so gracious with me as I've switched math curriculums in the middle of the school year and changed my mind on a few other things. I'm learning simplicity is best. Though I tend to forget that. I have a tendency to overdo things and buy/plan too many things. You can imagine the results- a fried mother and some tired kids.
But I'm loving the new math curriculum, reading out loud to the kids from "living" books, and saying 'no' to the homeschool marketing industry. I've learned to take advantage of used curriculum, let my unrealistic expectations simmer down, and enjoy my children: answering their questions and giving them opportunities to ask more. It's taken me awhile to get here and I still have lots of growing left to do. But homeschooling is an adventure and you can't plan out every detail of an adventure now can you?

A Beautiful Saturday Morning

It was a high of 50 today. It was just gorgeous in the sunshine. 

So we had an excursion down at the lake, throwing rocks in the water and a picnic lunch: