Karen finished her course of chemo about a month ago.  She is due to fly in on May 6th for tests.  They will do blood tests and a full body scan. 

She had an upper body scan a couple of months ago.  At that time, the doctors were pleased.  They said the lung tumors were shrinking. 

3:00pm May 7th will be zero hour.  That's when the doctors will present their assessment and give their recommendations on what we do from here.  Karen is confident.  She seems to be feeling better than she has in a long time.  When she was last here, for her last chemo treatment, she had more energy than I do.  Only the Lord knows what's in store. 

Wow, it has been a long time since I was here.  Now that I have decided to post, I just don't know where to begin.  Let me take a stab at starting at the beginning. 

In October, we learned that my sister has cancer.  She had some crisis-type medical issues.  Those were resolved and she began treatment at M.D. Anderson hospital in Houston.  She lives in southwest Louisiana, where we grew up.  And M.D. Anderson is the closest cancer-specialty hospital for her. 

But Karen felt like they had very little consideration for her wishes and she was not pleased with the way they treated her as a person.  I sent the message to her that they had a branch of Cancer Treatment Centers of America near us, in Tulsa.  She came to check it out and chose that option. 

I was complaining the other day.  I am human, so I do that sometimes.  I was saying to myself that some days, it's just one thing after another.

Then it occured to me that it really was one thing after another.  It is not everything all at once.  And I was immediately grateful.  It very well could be everything all at once.

I will be thankful that I am given tasks as the Lord gives them to me, in the time He chooses to give them to me.  And I will try to not forget that He always equips me with everything I need.  And I will choose to lean on Him, not on my own understanding.

I guess it is time to update this blog.  It has been staring at me for too long, as it comes up as my home page when I start the internet program.

I did go to my reunion and I had a wonderful time.  The strangest thing was that most of my classmates appeared to me as strangers, until I heard them speak.  The faces have changed, to varying degrees, by age and life-experiences.  But the voices where still distinctive. 

I just didn't have enough time to sit and talk with some of them.  We each were like moths, flickering from person to person, sharing the basics.  I would have loved to have had the chance to have 2 hours with each of them, to ask things like:

• What do you feel are the greatest things you have learned as an adult?
• What are your greatest joys of the past 30 years?
• What are your greatest sorrows?
• If you could change one thing in the past 30 years, what would it be?

I could just write a book----if I didn't have things to do like manage a household and love a family and teach my children.  Okay, I am back on earth now.

One sad thing about the reunion was that there were some people I really wanted to see who didn't come.  I do know how to contact my friend Janet, when I have time.  I just don't have time right now to re-establish a friendship.  But it is comforting to know that if and when that time comes, I (at least) have an email address.  Another friend is lost to me.  Brenda remarried after a divorce.  I knew her new married name.  But from there it gets complicated.  Her new husband had been raised by his mom and a step-dad.  He was raised with his step-dad's last name.  Then his bio-dad contacts him and they reconcile.  So then Brenda's husband changes his last name back to his name at birth.  I had this new name written down.  But sometime over the course of three moves, I just lost it.  And the school buddy we had in common, Mary, who might know this name, is not speaking to me.  I don't know why; I don't know what I did that might have offended Mary.  But she won't respond to emails and I have stopped trying.  If Mary ever wants to contact me, she knows where I am. 

Life is truly bittersweet, isn't it? 

My 30th high school reunion is coming up this Friday.  We'll be loading up the car and heading south for the 8 1/2 hour trip on Thusday.

Sometimes I wonder why I am going.  I had a rough time in school.  I was one of the outcasts, riding the rim of a society made up of other kids.

My friends were also outcasts.  We grew up in a town which was very much class-driven.   If your father was not a doctor, lawyer, or the like--or your mother was not a teacher, you were not as good as other children.  Oddly enough, those people whose fathers worked for the railroad were lumped together with the professionals.  You see, the town was founded as a railroad town and almost owed its existance to that industry. 

My friends and I clug together, enduring school, rather than enjoying it.  So why do I want to go back?  Mary, my best friend in school, refuses to.  She says that reunions are not "her thing."  I respect her decision.  If circumstances were different, I would probably feel the same way.

When we had our 10 year reunion, I (had almost accidently) found myself on the radio.  It was never something I had planned to do for a living.  I had gone to college to become a reporter.  I was a senior before I woke up and realized that reporting was the wrong choice for me.  But by the time I quit school, I had had several semesters at the school radio station.  Even then, it didn't occur to me to try that profession.  At that moment, I just wanted to get a job--any job--to pay off school loans.  While working unhappily in the sewing machine section at Mongomery Ward, I listened to an ad on the radio in the nearby electronics section.  This station was recruiting anyone.  Well, I was anyone.  So I applied.  I later learned that it was the absolute worst station in the area.  But that was okay.  I made all my worst broadcasting mistakes at a station where almost no one heard them.  Time went by and I got much better, and moved to other jobs.  In time, I became a respected member of the broadcasting community.

So there was some degree of satisfaction in going to that first reunion.  The girl whom people had looked down their nose at, had become the girl people heard on their radio.  That felt great; to be recognized as a person, finally.  On the other hand, the recognition felt funny.  Inside, I was still the same person I had always been.  Why did they look at me funny, with those glazed-eye expressions?  I hadn't actually done anything to deserve the recognition.  I just went to work and did my job.  It's not like I did anything all that useful, like fixing toilets or curing the common cold.  (If you think fixing toilets is not being useful, then you haven't had a broken one lately.)

Now by the time my second reunion had rolled around, I had married, moved to another state, and had two kids.  That was also an achievement for the person no one (including myself) thought was going to get married.  It's amazing how quickly the Lord can turn your life around and make things happen once you finally surrender your life to Him. 

It's time for my third reunion.  I am living two states away.  I live in the country.  My nearest town is much smaller than the one I grew up in.  (And that's ironic because as a child, I wanted to leave and never live in a small town again.)  I am raising children while most of my classmates have grandchildren.  I am almost sure I was the only one to have homeschooled. 

I have had a good life.  And I have more adventures to come.  And I'll bet it's the same for the rest of them.  The ones who didn't stray far from home will have more common experiences than those who moved off.  Yet because 30 years have passed, we are mostly strangers to each other.  Yes, we grew up together.  But that seems like a lifetime ago.  Or maybe it's because I have forgiven everything. 

Those who still have a hard heart about old wounds don't realize that they are only hurting themselves.  Have you ever seen that movie Grosse Point Blank?  It's a dark comedy about a hit man coming home to his class reunion.  I personally find it amusing that the hit man comes to town and finds his old girlfriend is a DJ.    (No I don't know any hit men.)  Anyway, there is a point in the movie where the main character encounters a drunk classmate who keeps trying to pick a fight.  The hit man tells the drunk, (paraphrasing) "What do you mean there is something between us?  There is no 'us.'   Anything that went on in school is long gone.  I don't even know you any more."

I am going back for the same reason people finish reading novels.  They want to know what happened.  Well, I want to know what happened to ole so-and-so.  I want to know who moved away, who stayed, and who moved away only to move back.  I want to go and tell them the story of my life.  And I want to listen to the story of their lives.  And when it's over, while the glow of fellowship is still making me smile, I'll come back to Oklahoma and be glad that I am here.  I have had a good life.  And I wouldn't trade it for anything.

What is your favorite Christian song?  It could be a current hit on the radio, or one that has been out for years.  If you have trouble listing just one, feel free to give me a list.  You see, it looks like our church might be getting a nice new sound system. 

At present, we don't even have a permanent piano player.  We have a lady who plays for us sometimes, when she is in town.  But she is retired and enjoys traveling and we don't often see her.

Most Sundays, one of the gentlemen plays CDs over the speakers, and we sing along with them.  And we are grateful for that!  But it could all be so much better.  My husband thinks that a new sound system with a screen would help to bring in more people.  There was one like that at the church we used to attend. 

I am looking forward to this so much.  I love the old songs.  But I would love to sing some new songs, too. 

Well, I know what I like.  I want to know what you like.  I want the music we play to appeal to a variety of people.  So please......tell me what you think.

Way back in May, my husband and I went to the state homeschool convention.  As it happened, we entered the exhibition hall in the back instead of the front.  And the first thing we saw was a booth with a man representing a robot-building competition. 

What?!  There I was, in a room just full of homeschool books and toys.  And I was frozen at the first booth because my husband just wouldn't move!  Now I have nothing against robot-building or any resulting competitions. It's just that it felt as if I had been offered chocolate, then was told I had to listen to a lesson on nutrition before I could get it. 

Make no mistake, I wanted to physically pull him along.  I could visualize myself just putting my back into it, as you would in a tug-of-war, grunting all the way.  But I squelched my selfishness  and stood there with the man who graceously brought me to the event.

In the end, we walked away with literature and a determination on my husband's part to look into it.  While this activity is largely participated in by public schools, homeschools are welcome. 

A week ago Saturday, we traveled to the kick-off.  We were told the rules and picked up the robot kit.  Although "kit" is a rather loose way of referring to it.  When I say "kit," you might think of something you might get in a box at Radio Shack.  Oh, no.  It's not as sophicated as that.    The kids will really have to learn about this stuff to put their robot together. 

Now you might think the kids would be interested in this.  Sam used to love to watch robot battles on TV when those types of shows were popular.  And Matt loves the idea of robots so much that he takes empty food boxes and joins them to build pretend robots.  Yet the whole concept of this project is being met rather coldly by both of them. 

Maybe it's Sam's age.  He's 13.  Maybe he is just inclined to be resistant right now.  As for 10 year old Matt, he lost interest when we told him that he would not be allowed to put weaponry on the robot.  It's not a fighting robot.  The robot will have the task to pick up and deliver to a reception place a number of boxes and bottles.  These boxes and bottles have point values.  The robot which gets the most points wins.

For us, the whole point (tee-hee) is that the boys will have a project to work on with their Papa.  It doesn't matter that they are not interested in this.  They all need this male-bonding.

There already has been some gnashing of teeth over resistance.  Joe thinks they are dragging their feet in working on the project notebook they are required to keep.  Joe said it simple--they should do it or we'll resign.  Well I am determined to not let them quit!

Well it's not that simple.  Joe thinks if he tells them how to do it, they should then just go do it.  Keep in mind, he is trained as a scientist and keeps a project notebook as part of his own research.  I told him this morning that he is expecting too much.  I said it was as if he would tell Sam, "Okay, you have been watching me drive all these years.  Here's the keys.  Go to the store." 

The kids have to be taught.  I have not really stressed composition until this year.  They both (to some degree) have communication disorders.  I have been waiting until they matured a bit, and I have been taking it slowly.

Okay.  So I worked with them yesterday on this.  I asked, "What happened first?"  They wrote that down.  Then we discussed what happened next.  That was added to the paper.  And we discussed the next thing.  After I got them going, I told them to keep working on it.  Then Joe came in and read what they had.  On the whole, he was pleased with their start.  He told them it was good, but could be better.  He told them to keep working on it.

I just found out that instead of improving on what they had, Sam destroyed it.  He felt offended that Joe didn't think their efforts were excellent.  Sam said he figured what Joe had said was that it was not good enough, and therefore Sam thought that it should be totally erased.  This kid needs attitude adjustment.

Do you ever think that God puts hints in front of your face?  I have been thinking about what I heard on Tuesday.  Some ladies and I were talking, while we waited for our kids to be excused from PE.  We were discussing things kids should be forced to do whether they want to or not, for their own good (as our mothers used to say.)  It's a character issue.  We discussed, as an example, having to take piano lessons.  Whether or not a person ever plays piano again once they become an adult, they are likely to (grudingly) admit the lessons had been a good experience.  People have to unselfishly learn to do things whether they like them or not.  Sometimes a person doesn't want to work for a living.  But they have to, to support a family.  Sometimes we don't want to have to take care of a sick person.  But the sick person is family, and that's what you do. 

Sometimes you don't want to participate in a robot competition.  But you do, because it's something you and your Papa can learn about together. 

My role in this is clear.  I am the glue.  With God's help, I will hold them together.

Okay, I am goofing off right now.  This morning I had some dental work done.  Maybe I could be doing something useful.  But my mouth is still sore.  And I am cranky because I have only had my morning tea.  The dentist said it would be a good idea to skip my afternoon tea. 

I had scheduled a no-school day.  And we did school as usual on Labor Day, so I don't feel bad about missing today. right now I am playing on the computer while listening to Jeopardy on TV.  I suppose it's not a bad way of goofing off.

Our school has been going well.  Sometimes we don't do as much as I have scheduled.  I have been trying to calmly roll with the flow.

Sam, who sometimes writes just for pleasure, surprised me by resisting any essay writing assignment I gave him.  This is something he is going to have to work through.  He will do these assignments whether he likes it or not, and no matter how long he takes.  And he will re-do it until I find it acceptable.

Over the summer, Matt had forgotten his multiplication tables and how to do long division.  Dh told him that if he could remember every single part of his favorite cartoon (Chaotic) then he was very capable of remembering his math.  Dh told him that until he could do his math, no more Chaotic.  After we did some intense tutoring, Matt was able to be eased of his prohibition.

Both boys are enjoying science.  They are doing it seperately this year.  Sam is doing Apologia Physical Science and enjoying some independence.  Matt is doing Apologia elementary Astronomy.  He has always liked that topic.

Dh kindly offered to take Sam to Band class every Thursday.  I like it that they can spend some male-time alone on the one-hour transit time.  Matt and I stay home and do regular school, plus work on anyting Matt is behind on or has difficulty with.  After they have been gone awhile, Matt starts to look lonely.  But it's good that the boys spend some time without the other.  They spend so much time together, they just need breathing space.

They did get into HS PE.  And they are enjoying it.  They have a very kind, creative teacher.

We haven't gotten as far in the Konos Russia book as I would like.  I will keep working at it, though.  I hope that we will get to a part that will excite them about this topic.  Well, at least not as dreading of the topic, anyway.  All they can think of right now is the Nutcracker ballet tape they know I will force them to watch one day.  I suppose I need to put it out of sight.  They cringe every time they spot it.

Okay, time to stop goofing and get ready for church.  Dh has to be there a little early.  I hope we get back home in time to watch the political debate....

I feel like I have my ducks in a row.  We will start school on August 20th.  I am ready.  I have been working with my Homeschool Easy Records software.  I did the bulk of the data entry and I have been tweaking it here and there.  I really think this software will be *the thing* that will keep me sane this year.

This year, Sam will be joining homeschool band, to meet on Thursdays.  He wants to learn the saxophone.  Dh has already taught him to read music and play the recorder.  I think this will be really good for Sam.  He needs better self-discipline.   The (almost) daily practice should help with this.

I have signed up both boys for homeschool PE, but I am still waiting to see if it's a sure bet.  When I received the sign-up forms, there was a sticky note on them which said they would only accept 25 children.  Later this afternoon I will call to ask if they have received our forms and if we made it in.

These two things will make our schedule difficult.  Monday, Wednesday and Friday should be all right.  Tuesday is when P.E. meets.  The class starts at 1:00.  It takes 75 minutes (at least) to get there.  (Remember--we live waaay out in the country.) So lunch on Tuesday will have to be ready by 10:45 so we won't have to hurry eating.  I want to leave by 11:30.  The class goes until 2:30.  But the literature from the rec center said the gym would be held open for another hour of mom-supervised free time.  This is great  because there is still a shortage of kids coming to our church.  We now have one more kid about their age coming.  And we are so very grateful for that--for a variety of reasons.  But this P.E. course should help put them in contact with more kids.

Thursdays might take some getting used to.  If Wednesday evening church lets out when it should, we should get to our car to leave by 7:40.  And we'd be getting home about 8:00. But that rarely happens.   Sometimes the lesson goes late.  Sometimes there's a lot of visiting and fellowship after we are dismissed.  Sometimes the deacons need to have a casual discussion with my pastor-husband for a short time.  A lot of the time, any combination of these things happens.  I am not complaining---just explaining.

After we get home, I have been letting them wind down by watching TV, then bathing and getting to bed late.  That will have to end. 

Sam's band class meets at 9:00 on Thursdays, and it takes about an hour to get there.  We will have to get up no later than 7:00 and be out the door by 8:00.  Maybe Sam could nap on the way, if we have to get to bed too late the night before.

All this running around is made possible by my family.  My brother bought a new car.  Instead of trading in, he gave his old car to my sister.  She, in turn, gave me her old car.  It's a 10 year old Saturn which still runs great.  It drinks oil, but that's not hard to keep up with.  And it gets 28 MPG *with* the air conditioner running!!!

We will be doing the Konos Russia unit study on MWF.  I want them each to do math, science, and a language art every day, if possible.  (I know that stuff happens.  There will be days we won't get everything done.  But I want to try, all long as I can do so without stressing anyone out.) I have also worked an hour of saxophone practice in for Sam on MWF. 

This is the tightest schedule I have ever done.  I feel this is just practice.  Next year, Sam will be in high school.  Yes, I am still a bit nervous about getting everything in and documenting all the important stuff.  I am leaning on our Lord and hoping I don't let Him and Sam down.

Habits.  Sometimes we don't even realize we have been doing something slightly incorrectly.  Exactly how and when did we get off-track?

Last week I encountered someone with a mildly annoying habit.  We had all gone with my mother-in-law to the hearing aid place.  She had ordered a new hearing aid to replace an old one. 

We knew we would be there for awhile.  We were aware that the doctor would need to adjust the electronics to her sensitivities.  In addition to this, we got there half an hour early.  My husband overcalculated how long it would take to get there. But that was okay.  I had made sure my boys had gameboys and I brought my crochet project. 

Sitting there working on my blanket, I began to realize that when the secretary would answer the phone, she would say, "Smith Hearing Aid and Ideology Center..."

At first, I thought I had mis-heard.  So I listened closer next time the phone rang.  Nope, sure enough.  "Smith Hearing Aid and Ideology Center...."

Another lady who had come in tried to gently point it out to her.  "What was it you said?  Oh, you said 'Smith Hearing Aid and Audiology Center,' " she fibbed, the Grace of God aiding her efforts.  She continued, "I thought you said 'ideology' center." Then she gave a good natured chuckle. 

"Oh, no," she secretary chuckled back. 

But she didn't take the hint.  The next time the phone rang, she swapped "audiology" for "ideology" again.  It was a habit.  She did not know she was doing it.  When she was first hired, I am sure she began answering the phone with the right word.  Then over time, after saying the same phrase repeatedly almost every day, it had became twisted.

How often have each of us gotten off-track?  We set out doing something, then lose focus.  We wander off of the path without even noticing.  We wake up to find that what we are doing is, to some degree, not at all what we had intended to do. 

I am not saying this is necessarily a bad thing.  I have learned some really interesting things going off on "rabbit trails."  The key, I think, is being aware of going off-track and being careful to make sure that doing so will benefit you, your children, (or more importantly) God.

This upcoming school year, I will try to do this.  There have been too many times that I realize I have wandered deep into the figurative forrest, and my intended path is nowhere to been seen.  I hope to say on the path God has set before me.  And I hope to be aware when the path I think I need to be on diverges from His path.

The other day, I almost said, "Oh, we haven't studied that in school yet."  What stopped me was that whooshing, time-travel-ish feeling that I was in junior high again.  That's how it would have sounded, had I said it. 

A lady in church was speaking about a program she had seen on the History channel.  I believe she was speaking about ancient Greece or something.  She asked me a question.  It was flattering to think she would think I would know about such things.  I didn't.  If I have ever studied about that in my own schooling, I certainly don't remember.  My next thought was that Sam and I would go over that when he starts History of the World in about a year.

Is it shameful to admit that one reason you love homeschooling is because you, the teacher, love to learn?  Of course we do it for our kids.  We love them and want the best for them.  We love being at home and learning as a family. But I selfishly admit that I can't wait for the next thing to teach because it will be the next thing for me to learn!

I am one of those people who paradoxically have a large thirst for knowledge, yet was a terrible student.  Maybe it was the ADD I was surprised to learn I have, while trying to learn about my sons' challenges.  It runs in the family, from both parents.

I guess it doesn't matter that I love learning while I teach.  It keeps this old mom pumped up instead of getting worn out so quickly.  Is summer over yet?

Early this morning, I had a strange dream.  The zombies were after us!  And we had to flee.  There were just a few zombies wandering about at this point, and those were wandering aimlessly.  They were easy to avoid.  But we had been told that there would be many more zombies soon and they would become dangerous quickly. 

Let me stop right here and let you know that I did not watch any zombie movies last night.  I don't even like zombie movies.  I don't know why zombies, of all things, were the bug-a-boos in my dream.  (Edited section:  Now I remember that while I was busy crocheting,  my husband did watch part of a creepy movie.  He was channel surfing while waiting for another show to come on.  I didn't think any of this registered with me, but I guess it did.  The kids were not in the room.)

At any rate, when we tried to leave we realized we had a flat on the car and no way to fix it.  (I was with my husband and mother-in-law.  We were under the impression that the kids had been taken to safety.)  The car was towed to a garage.  The people there were about to leave to go to safety themselves.  They weren't happy about staying long enough to fix the car.  But my husband was forceful and insisted that they help us. 

Someone there said he would lend us a three-wheeled motorcycle.  That way, we could all leave (even the mechanics) and worry about the car later when everything was safe.  In my dream, the motorcycle was big enough for both me and my MIL to fit on the back.  The three of us were getting on the thing when we learned that the kids had not been taken to safety.  They were back at the house.  We waited while the car was quickly fixed, then went back for them. 

After we got there, my sister called.  She said all the family was going to hole up at our aunt's house, near a lake.  In real life, my aunt (who recently passed on) once had a small trailer near a lake.  It was a camp-out sort of thing.  She never had a huge house like the one in my dream.

Before we could go to that house, my MIL wanted to stop at a monistery.  The people there were keeping a large amount of money for her.  I don't know why she thought money would do her any good while we were running from zombies.  I don't know why the monks were keeping money for her.  And we aren't even Catholic!  But the last part of my dream had us all climbing steep, slick marble steps to get to where her money was being kept.

The troublesome part of it all is that, though the day is half over, I still am left with the feeling that I should be preparing the family to flee for our lives.  I just can't shake it. 

Okay--let's see if I can remember what has happened since I was last here.

As a family project, we built a model of the Tabernacle.  Konos users may *tisk* at this.  I know, we are supposed to let the kids build it themselves.  But we were working against a deadline.  We wanted to have it complete for our support group's end-of-year ceremony.  We also wanted to put it on display at our church, where we had been studying the Tabernacle.  In the end, the kids did do most of the work and they "own" it, as they say.  Throughout the project, my husband quizzed them on the elements and the symbolism of each element.  The result is that they learned, and the model is beautiful. 

Our friends who live about 100 miles away finally got to come over and show us their baby.  It wasn't the distance that kept us from our visit for so long.  It was that the husband was working long hours with irregular shifts.  The wife, unfortunately, must work also.  But we are hoping that this will only be necessary for a time.  In the meantime, the baby stays with relatives and trusted friends during the day.

Not only was it a joy to visit with them, but prior to their visit, we all pitched in for a necessary end-of-school cleaning.  I now have a clean house which I am fiercely trying to keep clean.

A dear member of our church died in her sleep.  It was unexpected. Like her, many of our congregation are elderly.  But we would not have expected her to go just yet.  Her absence will be felt for some time.

I am having a really hard time with this whole pastor's wife thing.  It's not exactly like anyone is putting pressure on me.  There was one day when Joe went down to help fix up the parsonage.  We won't be using it and it has been agreed that the sensible thing would be to sell it.  Some of the folks from church who were working casually asked Joe where I was.  He replied that my priorities were to teach the children and keep the house.

Back when Joe began to actively seek preaching opportunites, we discussed what would happen if the Lord led him to lead a church.  I told him what I had heard.  Some churches expect that when they hire a pastor, there are getting a package deal.  I told him that I already had a job, as homemaker and home-educator.  I wasn't interested in taking on more.  And he throughly agreed.

Now what we imagined has come to pass.  He is pastor of a church and I am a pastor's wife.  No one has laid out what is expected of me.  Yet I am wondering if I am not the source of all the pressure I feel.  I want to please.  And if I am not careful, this desire to please will get in the way of my obligations to my husband and my children. 

No one has asked me to lead a ladies bible study.  But, shouldn't I?  I have never done anything like that.  Time will tell. 

I always knew that my husband and I would homeschool all the way through high school.  My confidence came from two factors: 

1. My husband.  He is smarter than I am; he is often nearby since he works at home; and he is a scientist so he can automatically answer science and math questions that I would have had to research or guide my children in researching themselves 
2. Teacher editions!!!  If I can understand it, I can teach it.

Despite my confidence that high school would happen at home, I began to get nervous.  Sam is now finsihing the 7th grade.  I feel like I have one year to make sure he is prepared for high school.

I have purchased Konos History of the World, year one.  It looks really good--as good as I thought it would.  It would be easy to get excited over it and start it sooner than later.  Although it would be a challenge for him, I think Sam will be capable of doing it in 8th grade.  But I will wait until he is in the 9th grade because I want this unit study course to go on his high school transcript.

I am reading Homeschooling High School  by Jeanne Gowen Davis.  It really seems to be a gem.  When I first received it, I skimmed through it.  I found lovely little tidbits; like getting a Bible in the foreign language your child is learning so they can read it and his English one side by side to increase proficiency.  That is something that never would have occurred to me.  Now I am reading it thoroughly and taking notes as I go. 

When my husband was asked to be pastor of our new church, there arose a slight problem.  What would I do about the unfinished library at our old church?  Here we are with boxes of books (which had been donated by other libraries) that I have been processing as time allows.  By processing I mean adding the book to the database and putting a spline label on it.  It also would nomrally mean putting a plastic covering of some kind on it.  But the pastor of this church decided he didn't want to spend money on that.  While I should have put that issue up for vote with the others, I decided not to.  Although the congregation voted for it, this pastor never wanted a library in the first place. It is best to tread carefully on this matter with him. 

So what were we going to do with all the books?  My husband wanted to take some of them and start a library at the new church.  That was put on hold because he was interim pastor. He didn't yet want to make that sort of decision.  And I was unsure I wanted to do that.  As the time got closer for the new church to make his position permanent, I began to like the idea of starting another library less and less.  Finally I told him that I didn't think I had it in me to start another library.  It takes away from family time, school time, and housework time. 

He said, "The Lord put it in your heart to start the other library, didn't he?"

"Yes.  But not at the new church."

"And when you were finally given the chance to start that library, He blessed us with almost two thousand books that were donated.  What do you want to do?"

"I want to just finish this library.  And not start another one."

"Okay.  Finish what He wanted you to do.  If He does want to start another one at our new church, He will put it in your heart then.  And He will bless that one, if that's what He wants to happen."

I am relieved that the matter is settled.  I disliked things being up in the air for so long.  I plan to throw myself into the task of finishing this library this week, as time allows.  I hope to have it finished by the business meeting on the 7th.  I want to ask them if they would like me to come in for maintaince once a week, or just turn it over to someone else.

I decided to start fresh on this blog.  I got rid of the old entries.  I just wanted to start anew. 

Here's what's going on in our family.  Dh Joe has been named pastor of a little church which was on the verge of dying.  The little church needs a new start of its own.  Most Sundays, we are lucky to have 17 in Sunday school.  Joe is seeking the Lord's guidance on how to build things up.

The kids really dislike this.  They want to go back to our old church.  Who can blame them?  At present, they are the only kids in church.  Sam really has a hard time of it.  We left our old chuch just as he started his first year in the youth group.  That meant (after having been there almost 3 years) he was finally receiving some acceptance.  My heart aches for him, but there's not much I can do about it right now.

I am still the librarian for our old church.  The library is still a work-in-progress.  Donated books are still in boxes and/or in various stages of being processed.  After I finish this job God set before me, I plan to go to a business meeting there and ask if someone else is willing to take over.

The good news is that the people at our new church have not asked me to do anything.  I was nervous about this, having heard that some chuches believe that when they hire a pastor, they are getting a package deal.  These people know we homeschool and that's my job.  Beyond that, after I get the library situation settled, we'll see if God leads me to serve in some way at the new church.

We keep trodding along in school.  Sam has reached a wonderful level of ability in math.  It seems to have clicked for him.  We are using the older version of Math-U-See.  He is beginning the last quarter of the Advanced book.  For new stuff, he sees it, catches on quickly, then is ready for more.  We are not spending time on extra pages.  Once I think he can do it, I give him the test.  He has been getting perfect scores on them.

On the other hand, it is best for Matt to go slow and steady.  We crawled through long division.  Now we are getting practice at dividing fractions.  Slow and steady is good with Matt.  If he gets confused and frustrated, he puts up a brick wall and starts to un-learn what he was taught.  It has happened before.

We had started Oklahoma history this semester.  And then I decided to pause that in order to do an overview of world explorers.  That has been going well.  We'll get back to the state history before too long.

Sam will be in the eighth grade next year.  Already I am nervous about him starting high school, even though it's more than a year away.  I told Joe that I am not nervous about what he will know when he graduates.  I am confident about the knowledge he will have.  What I stress over is his being able to get in the door at the college admissions office.  I am nervous about him not being able to get in because of something I failed to do.  I have never had to keep documentation before, either here or back in Texas.  Now this unorganized person will have to change her ways!!!