We're "Done"!

We did it. The youngers and I wrapped up Tapestry of Grace (linked in sidebar) by the end of June! We left the hands on for the past 10 weeks to do over the summer. We didn't read all the great lit books on Greece and Rome that we'd planned....but those books will be the basis of our summer reading program.

I need to wrap up Jamin's portfolio in the next week or two.

©2008 D.R.G.

Sundays....

The day began with a disappointment for Jared. His flight with CAP was cancelled due to storms.
This young man didn't let a storm or a skunk interfere with his planned early a.m. run. Now THAT'S dedication. ::snort::

Mike and Josiah went out in search of a local church this a.m. Josiah will be trying to find a church to call "home" here in town. This makes sense. Nostalgia at knowing this was one of the last times I'd have him sitting in our family pew caused me to click this. ::snort:: They LOVE ME! I was in the cry room - no one even knows I took the photo....and he will be back for things like Christmas and such I'm sure.....when the girls will be home too. Yippee!!


The rest of us planned Josiah's favorite meal while they were at church. I made Chicken Divan, Salad, steamed beans, and a big platter of cantaloupe. We enjoyed being together at the table. We KNOW Josiah will be back around the table again...but it was sweet to take a moment and realize that this is probably the last family meal he will join us for as a DEPENDENT!

Mike went up to the base. He needed to spend more time studying for another ACSC test. We've really not seen him much at all in the past 3 weeks. He takes another test in the a.m. Prayers are welcome. This test will be 4 of 6.....and they did grant him an extension. His goal is to finish it by the end of July. I pray.

Josiah and Jamin caught a movie.

The rest of kids enjoyed the pool.

I paid bills. I also took more photos out of magnetic albums. I'm getting sick of looking at them. I think its time to do a few digital layouts. ::snort::

We headed to chapel. Jamin drove and is getting quite good at handling the van. HE didn't back into any utility trucks. ::snort::

I got to talk with BreAnne and Krista! Have any of you had 11 yo's fly alone? The girls would like Arielle to fly out and drive back to CO with them.

Sunday means ice cream.

I have been thinking and praying a lot about all the changes coming to Josiah in the next week. I wanted to buy him something to commemorate the passage....to symbolize the changes.

I found the perfect gift. I got him a selection of socks and underwear...that will never need to be marked with tally marks, or rescued from his brother's laundry pile. ::snort::

Mike and the three older young men went to play basketball at a local school. The youngers played Settlers of Catan and are now in bed. Laughter is coming from the young men's room. Mike is working away on some more studies.

I'm going to call it a day. I believe.

©2008 D.R.G.

Krista's Package

Krista sent us a package from Trinidad. We have been watching all week for a time when ALL of us would be home to open it. That happened tonight after chapel.

Zander said he hoped it had what he wanted most in the world. Oh -oh. I said, "What are you hoping for Zander?" He replied, "A picture of Krista." Ah. Krista will be sending me some photos of her trip post haste. LOL

Jared claims first listening rights to the audio recording of GA Henty's "Cat of Bubastes".

This little man now has a place of honor on the entertainment center. Krista sent us a nice long letter telling us the significance of each thing.

We got some Trindiadian Oreos called Recreos....and some Caribean flavoring that I'll have to play with...and tar from the tar pit...rocks and sea shells...and a key rack.

Best of all was knowing that she thought of us while she was overseas. Thank you Ko-Ko - we love you!

©2008 D.R.G.

Zander Update - Jared Kudos

I didn't mean to leave you all hanging. Thanks for the private emails. I wasn't sure I could post on it on SHS until Monday. LOL

Zander is fine. He settled down. He had was totally FREAKED out, I think because of his sensory issues. He was sure it was stuck in various body parts...but is fine today. We shall see what happens when he passes the game piece.....dino bingo markers....

Jared is cadet of the month for the second month in a row! He was surprised. He's currently working on Msgt stuff for CAP. He hopes to go flying tomorrow but we're having a thunder storm tonight. We shall see.

©2008 D.R.G.

A Tale of Two Brothers (or Five)

Mowing the lawn is a right of passage in our home. I'm not sure how it became that way. It may have been a sneaky way for Mike to get free yard work done? ::snort:: I believe Josiah was 10 - 12 when he first began to mow. Jamin was probably the same. Jared INSISTS he was mowing before we moved from San Antonio, "when they'd let me". He was 8 when we moved. That seems young to me....but I think the key words are "when they'd let me" and he was closely supervised.

In recent years Josiah has moved on to things such as: fixing the grain mill, fixing lawn mowers, changing oil, repairing tires, plumbing....Jared has taken over our yard and window work.

I was suprised Friday morning to see Josiah outside mowing the yard.

Jared rushed out, "That's MY job!"

Josiah replied, "I've got it."

And I realized what he was doing. He was mowing the yard one last time as a dependent in our home. We let him. It was one of those "ahhhh" Mommy moments. I'm proud of the man he's become; and sad to have him grow up all at the same time.

The mowing told me that he is also working through what it means to move out. We're proud of you Josiah. When are you have having Dad and I over for dinner? ::snort::

©2008 D.R.G.

Scrapping


Mike made my entire WEEK this morning when we were talking. I showed him the layouts I'd printed at Scrappin Unique. I expected some comment about the frippery or the fact that I could fit more photos on each page.


I preemptively told him that I realized I need to throw a boatload of photos away. I told him I'm trying to find the least expensive way to print layouts. He closed the album and said, "Every penny spent now will pay off in mememories in about 10 years." Ah. I love that man! I guess he isn't worrying about the money it takes to transfer the photos from the computer to albums.


I spent yesterday afternoon taking photos out of magnetic albums. I decided that I would take all the photos from the 1980's and put them in my Creative Memory organizer. That way I can find all the spare ones floating around and corral them. THEN I'll scrap the 1980's. I'll do the same with the 90's and then 2002 - 2005. 2005 - present are all on the computer and I'll digiscrap them rather than print them out and then scrap them. These photos are in pretty bad shape after decades in the albums. It's time. They curl up and storing them for a time like this is helping them to flatten out. I'm also collecting the photos of Mike's "pre-college" days and saving them all to make a G family album. I've begun to find photos Grams gave me of my uncle, Mom as a child etc...and am saving them to make an album of my anscestors too.


I counted all my coversets and pages to see what I need to make the big change to TRUE 12 x 12. I was surprised that I have enough pages to fill each coverset. I'm good. I guess when I use these 4 albums up the rest will be 12 x 12's.


As I pulled photos out of albums and reminiscenced I suddenly recalled someone (Cindy I think?) saying she didn't mind different styles in her albums as they showed the different stages of her scrapping. Well.....I didn't KNOW about scrapbooking as a hobby until the mid 1990's. SO.....maybe I should keep right on with my naked albums until I hit the super fancy albums of 1995 - 2001. It would certainly be cheaper than covering each page with colored paper. I can then do modest albums for 2001 until I hit the photos that have those little walmart discs...Mike says to digiscrap those. We are all enjoying having photos off the computer.


I also shopped online for 12 x 12 paper. I found that the Fuji Crystal Archive paper (used by Costco) comes in a 36" x 100ft roll. I am seriously thinking of this. I could get a roll that would make 300 pages...for pennies on the page...but it's a huge outlay at the start. Melissa is checking to see if her printer can handle a roll that size. ::snort:: Meanwhile I did find some paper that looks to be very close to the Epson Premier Art Matte Scrapbook Photo Paper that she uses in the store for .60 a sheet instead of 2.00 a sheet on ebay. I'm deciding if I should take a chance. There are 50 pages in a pack. That's a lot of pages if I hate it...and not near enough if I love it. ::snort:: She'll charge me $1.48 for ink and overhead if I use my own paper. That would bring the price to $2.08 a print....down from $3.49 a print. Surely for that big of a savings I'll like the paper I found online. If anyone knows where to buy 12 x 12 photo paper that you've used and liked do leave a note in the comment section.

I wasn't sure I liked the matte paper that Scrappin Unique used at first...but now that it's in an album I really do like it.

Yes, this is how I spent the majority of my day. BUT it feels GOOD to be making progress on the albums and we are enjoying seeing these old photos of Bre learning to crawl. I teared up today when I saw the very first pictures of Bre meeting Krista....we had such dreams for them as sisters - and they've come true. Parenting is sweet.

©2008 D.R.G.

Solitude!

One of the "benefits" of the little having swimmer's ear is that Arielle was able to enjoy a couple of long, solitude swims.

©2008 D.R.G.