We've had a great beginning to our school year!! The kids seem to be loving all the changes, and I am too. In History we've covered Pentecost, the missionary trips of Paul, the evil emperor Nero, the persecution of the Christians, the tradgedy at Masada, the Dead Sea Scrolls, Pompeii, St. Valentine, and more. For Science, we are studying air pressure and wind this week. The MathUSee is working out great!! They love it!. Community Bible Study has been a wonderful experience for the kids and I. It's really nice to all be studying the same material. We're right at the part of Noah cursing Canaan. And we've had some good conversations this week about our words being a blessing or a curse to others.

Our schedule is working out rather well. We have our full days of school at home on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. On Wednesdays, we have Beginning Public Speaking (Communicators for Christ curr.), PE, and on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday, we have Girl Scouts from 1-3pm, after lunch. Thursday mornings are for CBS and a few errands afterwards.

Connor is playing Flag Football for the Y on Monday evenings, with games on Sundays at 2:15. Clara and Briar are playing soccer for the Y...Clara practices on Tuesdays, Briar on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Briar is taking a short break from Boy Scouts this fall. He plans to pick back up with it in January. He needs that....he's been in Scouts now for 7 years. Bruce and the kids go to Small Groups on Wednesday nights...that's my chance to go to the grocery on my own (yippee!!). And Thursday nights are Cub Scouts for Connor and I. So, everything is in full swing right now!! But, the sports will end the second week in November, and the BPS and PE will end the last week in November. Oh, one more thing, I am taking Spanish on Monday nights....I love it....especially with Adri here helping me with home work. =]

Adri, our foreign exchange student from Spain, has been a beautiful blessing to our family. She's been here since August 16th, and it hasn't taken her long at all to be a genuine part of the family. She is attending the local high school. She has homework nearly every night!! Hours of it!! Sometimes, she gets to come with us to a practice or something. But, if its a special thing, she always comes with us. Last week, she and I went to see Briar receive his awards at the BS COH.

We pray for her daily. I think the first few weeks were hard for her....culture shock and homesickness. But, she does talk to her sister and parents via email and chat about once a week. She's met a bunch of friends at school that she's beginning to go out and do things with...the mall, football games, the movies. And, in October, she'll be attending her first school dance for Homecoming. She and a bunch of girlfriends are going together. It is neat to see how excited she gets about doing new things. And at the same time, she seems to really enjoy just hanging out with us. It's a new experience too for her to have younger siblings....they work hard at keeping her on her toes...lol....but she loves it.....lol

One night they came into her room before going to bed to give her good night hugs. She was going to bed too. The kids had a really weird look on their faces and I was wondering what in the world they were up to. But, I quickly found out when Adri jumped in bed....screamed...and jumped back out. They had put this actual sized plastic iguana under her covers at the end of her bed. LOL I'm laughing out loud right now, thinking about how funny it was to see her barreling out of her room so quick, yelling at the kids, and throwing it into their room. lolol It was quite a site!!! And they couldn't stop laughing either!!

Anyway, life is good. God is great!! And even with a busy schedule right now, we are enjoying our family and time together. This weekend is two big events....the ladies retreat at church (different from our Girlfriends retreat) is Friday through Saturday, and we have a ton of family coming into town for our nephews wedding. Rehearsal is Saturday night and the wedding is Sunday.

If you're reading this, have a blessed day!!! And thanks for stopping by! =]

Home For Him,

Deborah