Sunday, April 08, 2007

SCHOOL BEGINS TOMORROW...

It had to happen. We didn't take many days off at Christmas. We didn't take a spring break...all so that we could take time off when Mike got home from his fun in the sand box. He went back to work on Wednesday of last week...and we must start school again tomorrow.

As always - we're EXCITED but I'm also wishing I'd made better use of the time to get more THINGS done before school begins again....LOL I miss our days of schooling year round but now that the boys are in high school they are really driven to stay on a "traditional schedule" and the rest of us keep up with them....they compromise a lot for our fun so it's the least we can do. ::snort:: Maybe we'll just do history quilt squares tomorrow. Come to think of it that would be a GREAT way to review what we had been covering. OK - that's what we'll do for history...and I have Math u See placement tests for math. Science is always one they clamor for....

I've been praying and thinking and I think I'm seriously going to begin looking for a few families who are either doing TOG year 1 or studying ancients next year to meet a couple of times a month for "enrichment" - "fun with a purpose". LOL

OH - and it looks like I'm going to a homeschool convention this year. I'm excited. I've not been in about 6 years.

EASTER

I wanted to write something very profound today,but it is late at night and I'm too tired to even make an attempt. I love this time of year. I love remembering what Christ's Sacrifice bought for me....what GRACE...what LOVE...and LIFE...wow....but words fail tonight.

The day began early. We opened our last egg. We asked the kids WHY the egg would be empty? What does this have to do with the story we've been telling? Zander replied, "I opened the wrong egg?" ::snort::

We don't do the whole Easter /baskets/bunny thing. We didn't dye eggs, we didn't buy clothes, we didn't have a big meal....but we have been profoundly and gratefully aware of Jesus for the past few weeks. We usually do a bit more of the trappings...but I simply couldn't pull it off this year. The boys don't WANT new clothes. Arielle HATES to wear new things....I pulled out three frilly dresses that we have from when Bre and Krista were little and let Stacia pick one to wear. Here's my best attempt at a photo of the children who are still home. I tried....
Yes, she was wearing a tie. I guess she thought if Zander and Cy could - she could.

The book I ordered on Bible Feasts arrived on Saturday. I spent some time today in between services reading about Passover. I'm so relieved to know that a Seder meal isn't JUST the bitter herbs, bone, parsley and apple/raisen mix. ::snort:: We'll probably do a Seder in the next week or so.

We went to the Traditional service this a.m. Had breakfast/brunch with them. Took the children to Burger King for Easter Dinner. Believe it or not - the younger ones LOVED this. We've not been going in the last 7 months and they really miss it. ::snort:: I guess this ranks up there with Rachel's stories about Thanksgiving at Taco Bell...but I didn't feel bad about it at all. We dropped the kids off at home and then Mike and I went to the Gospel Service (had early dinner with them) and then the Contemporary service. I was glad to have gotten such a wide and varied Easter this year. It was cool to see all the different expressions in the Church celebrate Christ....there are days that I feel very blessed to be part of the military chaplaincy...and days it simply tires me out. ::snort:: This was Mike's first time back at the Gospel service since he returned from his deployment....they were so happy to see him.
We just got off the phone with the girls. They were so excited to share about their time in Mexico. They are getting ready to settle back into life in Spokane. I still miss them a lot. It seemed strange today not to have them in the pew with us...but the 9 of us fairly well filled the pew.