Well, once again time has flown by!  I wanted to share that we had our second supervision visit today.  We drove to the office to see Candace this time.  Alpheus, the 4 girls and myself nearly filled up the waiting area!  Four people came in one at a time and were called back before us.  Thank goodness they came in separately because there wouldn't have been enough chairs!  

The girls did very well and we had a nice visit.  Candace is a very sweet woman.  I don't think, being a unbeliever that she could really understand why we were leaving, but she was very kind.  She will be preparing our final document for the court and turning it over to the lawyer on the 28th of July.  We will then just be waiting for a court date.  She was telling us today that the adoption finalization happens in judges chambers and is about 7 minutes long.  Considering what it costs for lawyers and such that may be a good thing!   The girls were rather excited about being in a courtroom, but I am sure this will be novel enough experience!

We are still seeking God's plan for our  move.  Alpheus did go and visit the area near my parents and talk with some pastors.  We really cannot walk through a door at this point, but it is good to know what is there and begin praying for what God may call us to do.  For now our goals are to continue the work here at Joppa, prepare the house for sell, and just keep raising our girls in the admonition of the Lord!  I love to plan and think about the things coming up.  So I have really been praying and asking the Lord to help me take one day at a time and not get frustrated about so many things that are unknown.  When will we have a court date for the adoption?  When will we be moving?  Where will we live?  How hard is it going to be to sell the house?  So many questions running through our heads!  But the wonderful answer that is rather vague for my human flesh but manna for my soul is that God knows all the answers and will work things out in His good time!

This past week was VBS for our church.  We had a wonderful time doing the VBS curriculum from Answeres in Genesis!  It was excellent!  I teach the music classes and lead the opening and closing sessions.  The kids did a really wonderful job!  We held a contest for the class and also individual who earned the most points.  Points were earned by attending, memorizing scripture, inviting friends, and participating in the nightly contests.  The girls really enjoyed those!  They especially loved the contest for Babel night - dress up in a confused manner!  Sarah earned the most points and Hannah came in second.  Actually their whole class of 3rd and 4th grade girls were highly motivated and it came down to who was willing to go up on stage and play jungle jeopardy.  Sarah played two nights for her team and scored well each time.  That was what pushed her score above about three other girls!  All the top 5 girls learned a verse for each night and a theme verse.  I pray those verses always remain in their hearts and minds and are recalled easily! 

Today after the appointment with Candace we took the girls to the Christian bookstore so she could use her prize, a $30 gift certificate.  She bought a movie they all wanted (Veggietale -Fib From Outerspace - they were all scared- that is how sensitive they are!) and Sarah used part of her money to buy a pony for Hannah and Sarah as well as her own.  She also bought Lydia a tambourine!  Lydia loves music and moving so this was a good fit! It was sweet to see Sarah sharing her blessing with her sisters.  She put back a toy she wanted so she would have enough to get the movie and the ponies.

As far as school goes, we finished 3rd grade and have already started 4th.  We are using Ambleside Online curriculum for this comeing year so I need to officially change my category to Charlotte Mason instead of classical, although I think they complement each other.  I started the 8 and 7 yo in AOYear 3.  Though it appears to be a step back in year,  if you look at the curriculum it is much more challenging that the typical 3rd grade year for literature.  From what I read it is a good year to start children who are new to the Charlotte Mason style of education.  I haven't decided yet whether to start Mary in Year 0 or Year 1.   If you are curious about Charlotte Mason you can google the name and find lots to read!  If you would like to look at the curriculum the girls will be using I will be adding the links to my sidebar.

We have our evaluations this week.  It will be a full week!  Recovering from VBS on Monday, Adoption appointment Tuesday, dental visits for oldest three on Wednesday, and evals. on Friday!  I am looking forward to homeschooling in VA.  If you homeschool under religious exemption you never have to do evaluations for the state.  I really like that!  I am sure that I will at some point use a standardized test for monitoring purposes, but truly I don't feel that evaluations are necessary and it is a part of government red tape from which I am glad to be free!

Speaking of free, I was reading about families in Germany who continue to be fined and jailed because they want to educate their children at home.  I pray for these families, but not enough.  I truly hope and pray that type of "democratic" government NEVER comes to America!  It should really make all parents in America thankful that they can home school if they want!

In Him,

Here is the view of the biggest girls doing a nature study yesterday.  I have been sick (abscessed tonsils) and I needed to give them something to do without me.  So I told them to go to the garden with a pencil and paper and sketch one of the plants  from the garden.  They chose to get chairs and be comfortable.   They just looked so cute lined up there, that I had to get a shot of it.  I am standing on the new back deck that used to be our fort! (another story that I didn't get pictures for; let's just say that I am blessed to have a creative carpenter for a husband!) That is the neighbor's yard on the other side of the garden.

Here is one of the girls up close.

They all did very well, and drew three different plants each.  I was really proud of the detail each one put in their drawing.  These are planned gifts so we are going to save the revealing of them! :)

Here is a picture of the baby doing her nature study.  This was actually a different day, but it is so cute, I wanted to share it.

I am going to try to remember to take a picture by the tree every month so we can see how tall she is getting! :)

BTW, you may have noticed I haven't used her name in this post.  That is because we are changing it after all.  We were going to keep her birth name because it was easier, but then as I began to think about the years ahead, it would be one more difference between her and her sisters.  They have Bible names and she doesn't.  So we are going to name her Lydia.  This is similar sounding to her birthname so she already answers to it. We are keeping her middle name the same.  I think it will be harder for us to adjust to than her.  I have caught myself at least 10 times today saying her old name! :)  We also think that changing the name is a beautiful reminder that when we are adopted by God we are made new too!

Garden update:  Dh has already picked and canned 14 quarts of green beans, and he picked more today!  We have also enjoyed green onions.  We are looking forward to potatoes and squash soon!

Adoption update:  We didn't get to have our first homestudy visit last week because Candace misthought and didn't come.  She was so apologetic! So we are going to try again for this Saturday!  Thanks so much for your continued prayers for us.  We are so thankful to have her and each other, and most of all God's love!

In Christ,

The HSB Front Porch is having a contest and you can win a $50 gift certificate just for blogging about The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring Promo before midnight April 30, 2008. Subscribe now to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and receive 25 BONUS gifts valued at over $550! The Winter Promo sold out, don't miss out on the free gifts this time!

They are also giving away a $150 gift certificate to the Schoolhouse Store. All print subscribers (new or renewing) between April 3 - 30, 2008 will be automatically entered into a drawing. No purchase neccessary to win. To enter without subscribing, please send a postcard with your name, address, telephone number, and email address to:
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Spring Promo Contest
PO BOX 8426
Gray, TN 37615

I am so excited about getting my Spring Edition of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine!  I just love looking at all the different books, products, and resources that are being developed by companies, or homeschoolers themselves!  Even the ones I know I probably won't be using this year or ever are so interesting!  I always get like this about this time of year.  Looking forward to what I will be teaching the next year.  Getting my spring edition of TOS is a major part of that excitement!

This magazine was the first one I received at a homeschool fair the year before I began "officially" homeschooling.  It was such a blessing!  I learned so much from just one magazine!  I am so thankful that everyone at TOS works so hard to give a broad spectrum of homeschooling topics with very specific and helpful articles, resources and activities!  I always recommend this magazine to anyone considering homeschooling.  As a matter of fact, I have bagged up the last several editions to pass along to a friend who is starting down this wonderful journey!  Thanks again TOS for being our guide, cheerleader, and friend! May God bless you all!

For His Glory,

I was very disturbed to hear about the ruling recently in California.  Here is a letter I received about this and a link to a petition I signed.  If you are like minded, please use this also!

Subject: Urgent Request from Veritas Press

I also wanted to add a link to another blog and petition you might be interested in signing.  I previously thought ammending the U.S. Constitution would be unnecessary, but I now believe that we will lose our rights to home educate, without government intereference, if we don't act and soon!

http://www.parentalrights.org/blog/

We have been sick for the last 10 days.  I am thankful that I can stop teaching and wait for them to be well again, instead of knowing the hours of lessons they would have missed!

Many things to pray about! God bless you as you homeschool!

I already have a link on my side bar for a wonderful organization called Vision Forum.  I also want to let you know about a fairly new project they have called Every Day News.  Kids from all over submit news stories about every day happenings.  This is a great way to teach about communications with a world wide audience!  They have submission guidelines that keep the video standard high!  Go check it out here:  http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/multimedia/enn/

My other favorite place for videos (educational and just plain funny) is

http://wholesomechildhood.com/homeschoolvideos/ from the Erskine Family!

If you haven't already found these for yourself, go enjoy!