This summer has flown past.  It really is true that the older you get, the faster time goes!

This new year comes with several new commitments and some big changes.

We have been homeschooling since 1998.  We started when our oldest daughter entered the second grade.  We lived in Mississippi at the time.  We have fond memories of those early years-just the two of us, my only daughter and I-living and learning together.  Of course, the boys were in the background.  Never a dull moment.

After we moved to Tennessee, it just felt natural to continue schooling at home. 

We added another student to the mix.  Despite having a speech/language delay, he was a good little student, learning to read was fun for him and exciting for me. 

When it was time to add  the next student, he threw a kink into our plans.  He wanted to go to school.  He begged and expected to go to school!  So, he did.  He went to Kindergarten and even though he was sick for much of the first semester, he managed to do very well.   He came home to school for first grade.

When it was time to add the next student, I paused.  He wasn't ready.  I knew it in my heart that he was still too much of a baby for school-at home or away.  You see, he was the baby.  Or so we thought...for nearly five years!  The decision was made to move forward with Kindergarten at home.  We knew we could move at his pace and even repeat it, if necessary.

And then the baby came along.  The REAL baby.   He came in like an unexpected storm, a surprise, with his medical issues and now probable Autism diagnosis.  He changed us in more ways than you could ever imagine:  our faith, our trust, our sense of family, our strength, our joy.  And just as big as all that, he changed the way we lived and schooled.  

So, after a very difficult two years, we felt God urging us to grow and change once again.  Change is hard, though.  I fought this change for eight months.  Last month, I embraced it.  HIS will commanded it and I found the courage to follow.  

My middle boys are now in school.  I have peace.  I know they will be fine.     It has been just one week, but the routine has been set in place.  Both boys seem to enjoy it, although it does take a lot of hours away from home.  Our house feels quiet and empty during the day...and clean.    (Yes, even with the rambunctous two-year-old!)

If that isn't enough change...

 I applied and have been accepted into a local LPN night/evening program.  There are still a few details I have to work through, like money (!) before I can say I'm a part-time student.  We'll see.

See, lots and lots of changes!

Together, my husband and I will run our home business, provide time for my possible schooling, school our older two kids, manage our middle two and their schooling outside our home, and deal with the little one's many therapies, doctor appointments and upcoming surgeries.

It seems like a lot, but we have the Lord and each other.  We're a team and a family. 

  18 "Forget the former things;
       do not dwell on the past.

 19 See, I am doing a new thing!
       Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
       I am making a way in the desert
       and streams in the wasteland.

Isaiah 43:18-19