Michigan! DH is in the midst of his fourth week there, I think. It’s been a great switch for him, and it looks like some great little towns—we’re really looking forward to small town living again. I don’t think I would have told you exactly that this isn’t small town living, but…it’s not.

We were up there this weekend house hunting. I can’t wait to see how God orchestrates this—it’s always a God thing when you move—the timing of it all is simply an amazing work that only God could make happen. We found a house we like—we’ll see what happens next!

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It’s hard to believe—we’re moving again!! I suppose we’ve known for quite a while now—six weeks, maybe? It has been hard to get my head around, though. At first, I was simply in denial—can it really be happening? I was sure it wasn’t—like I was living in the twilight zone. My head knew we were going, but the rest of me just wasn’t catching on. And then the realtor arrived and walked through our house. She quickly, and abruptly J pointed out everything that needed to be changed. She STRONGLY suggested that we order a POD to put our overflow in. The pod arrived. We began cleaning…and organizing. I was exhausted…and overwhelmed. And Friday, ready or not, the house went on the market. Woo-hoo!! After all the changes we’ve made, I have to admit, I LOVE our house now. It’s hard to believe we’re leaving! Jim re-wired a bunch of stuff, we’ve painted and cleaned up, removed ugly carpet. Who wouldn’t want this house? J I find myself praying for the family that buys it—pray that it will bless them as it has us.

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This is so sad, yet I'm not surprised.

Unfortunately, BeccaLoo was entirely a daycare kid, and Bubba was in daycare until he was a year and a half--before I was wise to staying home. It's interesting to see that there are studies to show what so many of us have felt intrinsically...

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Actually, I should have blogged earlier--she was in the hospital for about a week, and then we brought her home. We are learning just a plenty about heart disease and angina and medicatilons and all sorts of things. But it's all good. It has truly been a blessing to have Mom here. It's fun to see how far we've all come in our walks with God to simply be able to love and appreciate one another instead of being grouchy or put out or critical. It is fun to have Mom sharing in our daily lives and getting to really know the children. They love having her here. And DH and I do, too!

It's cool to watch the way God works things out, too. We recently lost a teacher in our co-op--she decided she was over-committed and needed to let go of a few things. We are quite taxed wtih the "staffing" in our co-op and losing a teacher would have been quite a problem. Not to mention she taught a writing course and was difficult to replace. Except that my Mom is a retired teacher and a writer to boot. She is gladly filling in. It is so fun to hear her in her element again. The first week she was there, she put the kids who were misbehaving and not doing their work in place, and her second week one kid told her, "Thank you. That was the best lesson we've ever had!" And the rest of the kids applauded.

It would be so tempting to be frustrated by this co-op. Instead, we daily see God's faithfulness worked out. It is very clear that this is God's co-op, and He has plans to carry it through--plans we cannot even imagine. It has been amazing to learn about His history, and to watch the kids grow.

Thank you, God, for your love and faithfulness--for being so much bigger than I give You credit for!

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Well--here I am--with a quiet, peaceful moment. A rarity at our house! We've had quite a couple of weeks! We learned a couple of weeks ago that due to her doctor's request, Mom was moving in! The preparations began, and now we've moved carpet from our formal rooms down to the basement and covered up some seriously ugly, dated tile. The carpet had been covering some gorgeous hardwoods--not sure why anyone wanted to cover up such beautiful floors, but it worked in our favor. We moved our main floor masterbedroom furniture to our basement--a good-sized room, and rearranged quite a bit. DH has been working some long, long hours, but we have some fabulous friends who came and helped when DH couldn't. These same friends also had me getting rid of extra stuff an de-cluttering our house. Woo-hoo! What a good feeling, and so much more to do!

So this weekend Maggie and I flew down to Mom's and with the help of her church friends, we got her stuff all packed and loaded, and SuperMaggie drove the big 'ol U-Haul through hilly WV while Mom and I took the RR short-cut. Friends continued to serve and got us all unloaded here at this end. Her room is re-arranged and looking pretty good (we'll not mention the boxes we left in the basement to unpack as Mom got a chance) And Maggie went back to the airport to fly home this afternoon. (thanks for coming, Maggie!!!!) But...

Mom's not here!! This AM she woke up with an angina attack and extreme dizziness. We took a trip the ER and they diagnosed an ear infection, but they also wanted to watch her to see what the heart issues were, so.. there she is--her second night in her new hometown, staying at the hospital.

She's pretty bummed out, but I'm really proud of the way she's handled this whole move. She's as determined to make this work as we are, and we're looking forward to having her in our home. Heck, I can't wait for her to help with schooling!! I can't read as many books as the kids desire, or listen as much as they need to be read to.

So come home, Mom!!!

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Aaahhh. An excellent weekend is in progress. So much has been happening in our personal lives lately, not the least of which is that my mom's doctor told her that she shouldn't live by herself any more, so she'll be moving in with us in two short weeks. This means that we need to get a lot done--move our bedroom furniture down to the basement--make the basement livable before we move the furniture down there. Which means taking the carpet out of our living room dining room (the previous owners had put it over beautiful hardwood floors, and we have never had the opportunity to move all the furniture and rip it up) and move it to our basement to put over the disgusting 50's tile.

So--this is a work in progress and we have lifted up all the carpet. Now we have to take it downstairs. And pull up all the staples, etc. But it's so great to be this far along.

I have to say that it seems that I don't feel like a house is our home until we've done a certain amount  of work in it. Now, I'm starting to feel like this is our HOME. A couple of coats of paint, and we'll be on our way.

On another note, we tried out a new church today and really liked it. We really enjoyed being greeted by so many people who receognized that we were new. We appreciated the teaching in the sermon--it was definitely a sermon directed toward Christians. I enjoyed the teaching there. And the appropriate dress of the women. It's odd that it's the simple things that did it for me--the cross in the front of the sanctuary--the brightness of the sanctuary. The music was phenomenal. I missed a few things we're used to--raising hands and contemporary music--but it's a fair trade for greater depth in other areas, perhaps. We smiled when we were told that the jr. high Sunday School class was studying the Westminster Confession by one of the elders. We would love for dd to have that teaching! Anwyay, it was encouraging to not feel like the ultra-conservative "freak" I've been feeling like lately. We'll continue to seek His direction in our lives and go as He calls us to.

So nice to have a good, productive weekend. Thanks, God!!

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It's hailing! We've been waiting for snow all season. (sorry, Denver folk) Actually, we've been waiting for winter all season. Most of the time we don't even wear coats. Today, we were excited about the newscaster's report that we would have an inch of snow. Instead, we have hail.

Quote of the day--from BeccaLoo--"I looked out the window and thought, 'It's snowing!' But then it bounced."

Wait--another great BeccaLoo quote--we started a new book on tape. Turns out it was quite inappropriate. We decided to turn it off. BeccaLoo said, "And it was so good, until she started talking..."

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Ok, so I'm sitting here at the computer, trying to put my best foot forward and be well-prepared for a "new" school year. And dh is watching the Fiesta Bowl. What, to our dismay, do we hear? The poor marching band is playing Queen's Boehemian Rhapsody!! Talk about things that just aren't right. Who's idea was it to arrange a Queen song for marching band? And who's idea was it to have their marching band play it? At the Fiesta Bowl? I'm speechless.

I do love the way the new year comes in the middle of the school year--it's like having an opportunity to start fresh just when you need it--about halfway through the year. Those new year's resolutions are like a shot-in-the-arm to my parenting/teaching.

So--I'm hoping that all the things that start off so well at the beginning of the school year will go well again for a while--sitting in the school room, doing our stuff all together, having some type of a schedule. We'll see how it goes!

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Well, of course there's eternal hope in Jesus Christ! But I'm talking about short-term hope, as in--today is the first day in TEN that someone in our house hasn't been racing for a bucket or for the bathroom. I began to think, as this bug was making its second rounds, that it would never get tired of our home. My husband was the last one standing, but even he went down yesterday. Today was his second day, and he didn't bounce back as fast as some of the rest of us. My in-laws bravely entered our germ-infested house to spend Christmas with us, and my mother-in-law who "never takes things that don't belong to her" came down with it. My mother, on the other hand, sadly spent most of her visit here in the hospital after a severe angina attack. The up side? So far, she's doing ok--and she left today. I was worried about her driving ten hours and possibly coming down with our bug on the way, but she's doing fine.

So that's it for now...greater updates later. I just didn't want to miss the opportunity to document this most momentous Christmas vacation.

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Thanks, for sharing, Anna--this was too funny not to post!!

Seasons Greetings Of The Times

For My Democrat Friends:

"Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low-stress,
non-addictive, gender-neutral celebration of the winter solstice
holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious
persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with
respect for the religious/secular persuasion and/or traditions of
others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions
at all.  We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling
and medically uncomplicated recognition of the generally accepted
calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of
choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make
America great.  Not to imply that America is necessarily greater than
any other country nor the only America in the Western Hemisphere.  And
without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability,
religious faith or sexual preference of the wishes.
By accepting these greetings you are accepting these terms.  This greeting
is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable
with no alteration to the original greeting.  It implies no promise by
the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for herself or
himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law and is revocable
at the sole discretion of the wisher.  This wish is warranted to perform
as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of
one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting,
whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this
wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher."


For My Republican Friends:   
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

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What? Ride the boat, you ask? It's a very important day for our nation--today's election decides the next two years under President Bush. Take advantage of the freedom we have in our country to decide who our leaders will be. what a blessing! Lets not take it for granted.

We were exercising that very right ten years ago, when BeccaLoo was 3. It was a very important presidential election and the lines were huge. We had tried to explain to her how important it was to do what we were doing. She was so good. Angelic! The lines wound around and around the community center where we voted--they used every inch of available space--I swear we even wound through closets. Almost two hours we waited. BeccaLoo was good as gold. Everyone around us commented on how good she was--no one could believe how supportive she was of the democratic process. What could we say? We knew she was a special child. When we finally cast our ballots and proudly told her we had voted and could leave, she burst into tears, "But we didn't get to ride the boat!!!" So...

...all our family has to say is DO YOUR DUTY AND RIDE THE BOAT!

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But I do love my Saturdays. Almost as much as I love my Friday afternoons and evenings, when I feel like I've put so much into my week, I can just crash.

Today, DH is at Cub Scout training, and I am home with my fighting boys. I have to figure out the best way to get a grip on that. Preferably something besides keeping them separated their whole lives.

Yesterday was kind of a rough day. I was emotionally drained, then came home to a lovely sympathy card from a dear friend who knew my sister. My carefully pent up tears and emotions came pouring out, which was really good, actually. A cleansing rain. But...sometimes, I just can't believe she's gone, and I go through my days completely suppressing it. Yesterday I so wanted to call her--to share my day with her.

On another note, I had the kids pictures taken over the last two weeks--all but BeccaLoo, who will be the easiest. They came out pretty cute!

Co-op continues. The kids made Lap Books this week, to summarize their reading. They did an excellent job--it was fun to see how much they had learned. I wish THEY realized how much they had learned. And I wish the parents realized how much they had learned. Rebecca's Lap  Book was excellent. I was so pleased to watch it come together. It just got better and better the more she got into it.

Next we're learning about Athanasius, reading a book called Against the World: the Odyssey of Athanasius. I have my work cut out for me this week.

The Punkie is almost walking. She cruises like a champ, and stands up unassisted, but she's reluctant to take steps--move her little feet. We bought her a walkie-thingy to push. She loves it! It's a hippo that eats blocks. She loves music, too. she's so funny when she listens to it. She shakes her leg--mini-Elvis style. Totally cracks us up.

And that's about it. Blessings to you all--it's so cool to be able to keep a blog and have a record of life, as it happens, and emotions, as they exist and change.Thank you for being an audience and for being my friends.

Love,

Melissa

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So I head down to Mom's in SC, having left dh with a school schedule. I'm pretty excited, because not only does he get to really school the kids for the first time, Bubba's schedule showed that he was to be taught carrying in math that week. Hooray! I get out of teaching carrying, and DH gets to do it. In fact, it becomes the joke of the week--"Don't worry, Mom, this is all worth it for DH to get to teach carrying..." Well, picking hs'ing on the fly, DH is not quite as accomplished at getting the entire schedule in (not to mention that the kids tested him like the proverbial substitute teacher) and carrying did not get taught.(sigh) So on Sunday night, after I'm home, we're driving around in the car and Bubba asks, "What's 39+36?" DH starts to say, "You can figure that out yourself"--when he realizes that Bubba can't--because he hasn't been taught carrying yet. I am gloating on the inside, and DH is looking somewhat sheepish, when Bubba says, "Is it 75?" Well doggone if he hasn't just gone and learned carrying on his own!! Just to see if it was a fluke, we threw all kinds of other carrying-type problems at him, and he did them all--in his head. Even the ones that crossed over into hundreds!! Now how did DH get off the hook so easily?

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...I hadn't realized it had been so long since I blogged until one of my two fans e-mailed and said, "Do you realize you haven't blogged since the first day of school?" (Thanks, Anna!) I have certainly THOUGHT about blogging!

So here's the latest. My mother had been having trouble breathing (pretty sketchy territory, since that was my sister's main symptom.) She went to the doctor, who sent her for a stress test, then sent her to the cardiologist who sent her for a CAT scan then told her she needed to go in for a heart catheterization and possible angioplasty. So DH took most of a week off from work to stay with the kids while I trekked down to South Carolina to be with Mom. (THis all happened in a pretty short period of time.) I'm really glad I went--she tries to be such a trooper and do all this kind of thing by herself. It's hard to discern when I need to be there and when I don't--but I needed to be there for this one! She had the heart cath and had to keep her leg immobile for SIX HOURS afterwards. The nurses were wonderful, but I had to feed her--she'd have starved if it weren't for me! (Ok, maybe not.) the upshot of it was, though, that one of her arteries was completely blocked, the other two were eighty to ninety percent blocked and they couldn't do angioplasty because her arteries were so calcified they would have shattered! That's not the kind of news you want to be told with no one else around! They strongly suggested by-pass surgery--either triple or quadruple. Once we digested the information, she decided that she would go with managing it by medication instead of having the by-pass, and her cardiologist approved her decision, so I feel pretty good about that. Still and all, it was a bit traumatic after losing Lynn this summer!! On the upside of it all, Mom and I had a lovely visit while I was there--it was really precious time together. When does that ever happen without the kids. And two eight-hour trips all by myself to stop whenever and wherever I want and not have to listen to constant cries of "are we there yet?" was heavenly!!

Experiences like ours these past few months really make you stop and appreciate the family members that are around you, and realize that you can't count on tomorrow, so you really do have to appreciate today. And...take pictures!!!

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Well, we just finished our first week of school. It does feel really good to be back in the swing of things. Our first day was a bit eventful--this comes from an e-mail I sent that day:

AND—Praise God—I had a GREAT first day of school despite the fact that I had a totally whacked out dream last night about my sister and I woke up in a state and I was in tears when my husband left, and we had an incident (involving scissors) within the first five minutes of school that warranted a trip to the ER in the afternoon. (fortunately we were able to have the cut assessed at triage, where they cleaned it and let us leave) In spite of it all, we got ALL of school done, including two read-alouds AND I had an outstanding dinner on the table—salmon and baked potatoes. I feel a bit like super-mom!!

Fortunately, the rest of the week wasn't quite so exciting, though we did have our first day of co-op on Friday. 16 families, 49 kids, and the three of us who are coordinating it have never done that before. It's history, literature and writing, all woven together. I'm team-teaching the jr. high/high school with a friend of mine. We're using the Sonlight 200 and Omnibus II. Have I blogged about this already? I'm having a deja vu. At any rate, there are 13 kids in that older group, and i was super nervous, but we managed to fill all three hours, and it went really well. It SHOULD get easier from here. I hope. But the amount of work I'm going to have to do to keep up with the kids...

I'll keep you posted.

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Today's the last Friday before we start school. I never really feel ready. Still, I'm excited.

Last night we had the parent meeting for the new co-op we've just formed. We'll be spending three hours every Friday morning doing history, writing and lit, using The Mystery of History II with the younger crowd and Sonlight for history, with Omnibus II for literature with the jr. high, high school group.

The meeting went well--the moms seem excited. (As you much as you can measure excitement at a meeting--I mean, it's not like they all stood up and did the wave or anything.) With the 2nd-4th grades, we've worked hard to match up good books with the actual events we'll be studying in history.

It will be very fun--I've enjoyed the planning and working with the ladies I've been working with to put the together.

Our biggest problem? It looks like the facility which has graciously offered to host us may be too small!!!!

Last night we passed out a list of required co-op supplies. Hooray! We get to do some bonafide school supply shopping! I love that!

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It's been two weeks since we lost my sister. Or since the Punkie's birthday, whichever way you want to look at it. Life continues--you don't get to rest, you don't get a break, you just keep going--the same demands, the same expectations. I seem to do OK during the day, but the evenings are hard--I guess by then I'm emotionally worn and my defenses are low. I find I NEED sympathy cards. I have never been good at sending sympathy cards. I hope that changes after this. I find I NEED to have this loss acknowledged in that concrete, measurable way.

The boxes of her clothes and shoes arrived on Friday, while Maggie was visiting. I'm so thankful she was here, or those boxes might still be sitting in my front hall. We opened them all and went through them--trying things on and sorting. I've sorted out what doesn't fit and hung up the things that do. Still, it all seems so surreal. I've had enough hand-me-downs from her over the years that it's as if she's gone away on an extended vacation and allowed me to have her clothes--I want to call her and say, "guess what fits!" or "what would you wear with..." It's so hard to really get my arms around. Clothes are fun, but they are not a concrete way to remember someone--over time they wear out, go out of style...I need to make a memory book or something to grab hold of this better.

Unless I'm really involved in something else, my sister's continually on my mind. My memories, my thoughts, my regrets...We were sooo different. And she was thirteen years old than I. I always looked up to her. All my life, I sought her approval. But I never got it. In our adult life, our biggest difference was in our faith. I had hoped that my life would serve as a witness--that it would show that my choice to follow the Lord as a born-again Christian really is The Way. I hoped that as my children grew, that their fruit would be evident. But now she is gone and that opportunity is lost. I find I am greiving on so many levels.

Still, we have to start school next week. Still, I have to plan. Still, our co-op starts soon, and our parent meeting is Thursday. I am really excited about it--particularly about what the older students will be doing. Veritas' Press Omnibus II is an amazing piece of work. I love the way it whets the appetite for great works. And Paul Maier's translation of Eusebius' church history is outstanding. How I wish I'd known earlier in my life about the early church, the historical accounts of early Christianity. It is so bolstering to my faith to read these works--I can't wait to share them with the students--with my daughter.

I am so thankful to be homeschooling--to be spending this precious time with my children, to be able to guide them and guird them in their faith. To help them to love and appreciate one another. For us to strive together, every day, to serve the Lord in what we do.

I'll keep you posted as our co-op and our school year begins. Please keep me (and my mom and my sister's family) in your prayers!

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I try to stay focused, but it's so hard. I really need to do some school planning. I love my new program, Homeschool Tracker. And I'm going to start inputting soon. Not sure when--but soon. :) I've looked at what I'm doing, but planning is so time-consuming. Yet, I love it.

Looking for GREAT literature to go along with MOH II. We're planning a co-op and I need stuff for kids to read at all levels. Any suggestions for stuff between 1 AD and 1450? There's a mountain of stuff out there--just not sure what's really quality.

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