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!!!