Well, it was quite a trip!  But before I bore you and begin my rambling I have to tell you just how awesome our God is.  I had so many friends praying for me as I was quite nervous to fly across the country all by my lonesome.  But God is so good, and I got on the plane without the least bit of anxiety.  I was in awe!

Well my time in Florida started bright and early Wednesday morning with a flight out of Ontario at 6AM.  Mercy that is an ungodly time of day, well it is for a woman who sleeps in most mornings.  After a stop in the lovely Dallas/Ft. Worth airport, I safely landed in Orlando around 3PM est.  Are you east-coasters aware of the fact that you can chew your air? WOW! I was picked up by two other Lamplighter gals, Rosalie (my new best friend) and Francis.  We drove straight to the hotel and started working.

We found our boxes and began the fun of unpacking all the boxes and sorting all the books.  Are you aware that Lamplighter now has over 100 books in its Rare Collector's Series.  If you aren't reading them for yourself and your children ,you are truly missing out on a wonderful experience. 

Thursday afternoon afforded us a bit of time for a sight-seeing trip to Celebration City.  Rosalie drove me through this planned community with its picture perfect houses and streets.  It is quite something!  Come 5PM, we were in position and ready for all those FL conference attendees!  Wow, are there a lot of you or what?  I always thought our CA conferences were big, but you make us look like a street fair.  And what a gorgeous venue it is held at.  Do you know how wonderful it is to have carpet in the marketplace when you have to stand on your feet for ten hours or more?  Fabulous is what I say, fabulous.  This would also be the day that I would meet the infamous Ig-girls, you know: Jen and Coie Igarashi.  Yes, they are as fabulous in person as you imagine.  It was like meeting movie stars. 

After a full day on Friday, I was invited to have dinner with Jen, Coie and another new friend, Phyllis at their favorite restaurant, Chevy's.  As the slide show up above will attest, these girls love their salsa. I've honestly never witness a stronger passion for chips and salsa, hence the photo.  I thought they were kidding when they asked the waiter to bring 10, and apparently he realized they were kidding because he actually brought that many to the table.  Far too funny!  More fun happened later in the night when Phyllis and I were allowed to party crash with the Igs to Maggie Hogan's hospitality suite party.  What a fun, wild, and crazy group of gals over there at Bright Idea's Press.  And, I Babs, I mean, Jennifer do solemnly promise to never share or reveal the contents of the night, unless of course I am paid well to do so.  What happens in the hospitality suite, stays in the hospitality suite!  You all made my trip so special and memorable, thanks.  I means a lot to be so far from home, yet never feel alone.

What a joy it was to share my passion for the amazing and life-changing books that Lamplighter publishes each year.  I hope that the opportunity to enjoy and be apart of the FPEA convention happens next year as well.  Maybe we can turn it into a family vacation, mmm......

Well, somewhat unexpectedly I find myself winging away to the Florida Homeschoolers Conference in Orlando.  I have the pleasure of representing Lamplighter Publishing and they need one more rep in the booth and I was the lucky winner. 

I am turning over my fear of flying alone to the Lord knowing that my days are His to count.  Maybe a bit morbid, but I just don't relish the idea of going alone.  My oldest was asked to go with me, but she already had a commitment for the weekend.  I only wish that I was going with my family so that I could enjoy the sites.  This will be my first visit to the Sunshine State. 

So, if any bloggers are going, please come by and say hi to the short blonde in the Lamplighter booth.  I look forward to the opportunity of encouraging moms on the east coast, humbled that the Lord would choose to use me.  So back to ironing and packing my bags. 

Blessings, Jennifer

Well as I sit and write this at 10PM on Sunday night, I am wrapping my brain around the fact that tomorrow is our first day!  Where did my summer go?  I am beginning to admit that taking too much time off isn't just bad for the kids, but bad for the momma, too.  I do think the fact that I have a sore throat and ear infections going on aren't helping matters.  I work as a professional photographer, and I have client orders and work on the computer hanging over me as well, and I would have liked to have a clean slate before starting school.  Oh well...

Maybe what amazes me the most is the fact that tomorrow begins our 8th year in our journey of homeschooling.  I can honestly say that I just don't know where the years went.  What happened to having a Kinder and 2nd grader with a toddler running under foot to having a sophmore, 7th and 5th grader.  What I do know is this...I did not make it this far, rather the Lord has brought me this far and it is only by His grace that I am able to continue. 

Happy First Day to all,
Jennifer

The first weeks of  a new year are always a time of adjusting.  Getting back into a routine of earlier mornings and into bed at a decent time.  The realization that I've papers to grade again and planning to do.  There does exsist the fun and wonder of new books and curriculum, and that offers up its own adjustment. 

As the children are trying to wear a happy face at the idea of some of their carefree summer days are behind them, I, too, must put on a happy face and be smiles and sunshine when in reality I just might want to pull the sheet (too hot for covers) over my head and hang it all for another day or week or month.  I just have to remind myself of the freedom a year round schedule offers, especially around the holidays. 

So I have to admit that yet another summer has come and I am no more caught up on my scrapbooking or quilting.  The photographs I hoped to frame and organize still sit in boxes, and as a photographer, I suppose there will always exist those boxes of pictures.  It's my portfolio that I really ought not ignore any longer and get put together.  Such is life and such is the life of a homeschooler who answers the call of her heart to nuture and educate her children within the walls of her home.

After having my oldest at church camp for a week, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that having my children away from me is not something I wish to experience on a daily basis.  With that said, I will throw off the sheet and greet each day grateful that they are home...home where they belong!

That is what I feel like I am doing when talking with some Christians.  I am still struggling with how they justify having their children in public schools and how they feel that their children are being salt and light.  If you share thoughts on how children aren't meant to be salt and light but we as adults are, they will justify it and give you as many reasons as possible why it is ok for their kids to be a part of a system that fights our Saviour at every turn. 

I have a hard time saying "nothing" when I hear all these excuses and rationalizing.  Let me just say that I am not always very "politically correct".  Am I really expected to just agree with them and applaud their choice?  I expect it from non-believers, but unless Christian America wakes up, we ought to fear where we will be headed as a nation.  Our churches are missing it and the Christian family is suffering.  We as a nation are in need of revival, real revival!