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Thursday, February 5, 2009 - Homeschool Memoirs-ABCs, Describing Me
Theme:
This week use the ABC’s to describe your character, your life, your homeschool, and your family. Next to each letter of the alphabet put a word that describes you or has something to do with you. It was very amusing and a bit tricky. Once you actually get to a letter your mind goes blank!
dventurous
lessed
reative
elivered
ducator
aith
uitar
omemaker
nquisitive
esus
ind
ove
usical
atural
penhearted
arent
uirky
eader
aved
alkative
nique
ictorious
acky
enodochy
ankee
any
(FYI-Xenodochy means reception of strangers; hospitality)
I must confess that this is actually a repost from way back when with some changes.
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Wednesday, January 14, 2009 - Homeschool Memoirs-School Days
This week I wanna YOU to post your school photo, whether from the 90’s, 80’s, 70’s, or do we have anyone from the 60’s? lol I know you should have one for every year so find your best one and post it. Make sure post year and grade!
I posted a lot of pictures from my school days in my post for Flashback Fridays entitled "Flashback Fridays-Hair" , but you may remember this from the Flashback Friday post about "Things I Can't Do Anymore".
I started school in 1969, but I don't have any school pictures from that year. This is dated 1971. I remember my mom putting those pink foam curlers in my hair trying to get the curls. I am sure by lunchtime those "pig tails" looked more like "rat tails". I was never big about style.
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Tuesday, January 13, 2009 - Homeschool Memoirs-Happy New Year!
For this week, since I’m quite curious, post about what you did for New Year’s and what your traditions are each year. Have fun!
As I spoke about Friday, my daughter’s birthday is January 1 so for the past 6 years we have had a couple of her friends spend New Year’s Eve with us to celebrate her day. My son also has a friend or two spend the night.
We have done various things over the years to make this day memorable. When my daughter was 6, we had her first sleepover. It was a Barbie theme party where the girls brought their favorite Barbie with them. I made all the girls matching nightgowns using an oversize t-shirt and adding a flannel skirt to the bottom of the shirt. I made an iron-on for the shirt with a picture of the girls on it. I then made matching nightgowns, sleeping bags and pillows for the Barbie dolls. They had a wonderful time.
Then one year we had a Build-a-Bear New Year’s Bash for her. During the day, we took the girls to Build-a-Bear and they each made a new friend. That evening while they did all kinds of crafts and drank juice from plastic champagne glasses I again made matching t-shirts for them and their new stuffed critters.
This year I kept it super simple. They just enjoyed each other and watched the neighbors shoot fireworks across the street.
While for some New Year’s may seem to be an adult holiday but for us it is a time to celebrate children.
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Monday, January 12, 2009 - Homeschool Memoirs- Making a List
I had fallen behind on my Homeschool Memoir’s Assignments so I thought I’d try to catch up on them this week.
From December 24:
This week I want to set our minds on setting some goals for next year, whether personal, for the whole family, or for school.
I set goals on a regular basis, not just for the new year. Not in any special order or priority, this is my list of some my long term goals for 2009
1. Learn more computer skills.
2. Improve my household schedule in order to be more efficient with my time.
3. Complete the various unfinished projects from 2008.
4. Spend more regular one on one time with my various family members.
5. Play my guitar more often.
6. Memorize more Scripture passages.
7. Learn to be a better homemaker when it comes to cooking and gardening.
8. Get my pictures into photo albums and arrange the digital photos into Photo DVDs.
9. Learn about the different things my digital cameras can do.
10. Walk closer to God and follow His lead.
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Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Winter Treats
This week I want to invite you to share one of your favourite winter treats. A treat you look forward to making when the snow falls and include the recipe for it so others can try it out.
There's something about this time of year that seems to promote the making of sweet treats and yummy favorites. My absolute favorite treat that I usually only get to indulge in during the winter is Divinity Fudge. But I don't make it. My mom does. I have tried to make it several times and I can never get it to come out the way it should. I beat the dickens out of it and still end up with goo. But my Mom makes the best Divinity I have ever had. I just wish it wasn't so hard to make.
I've heard that you need to make this on a dry, warm day with very low humidity in order for it to set. That may be the issue I have. I don't think to check the weather before I cook.
This is the recipe I think that she uses, but I may be mistaken. I found it in my recipe notebook so I think it's the one I got from her.
3 cups sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 egg whites
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup chopped nuts
Place sugar, corn syrup, and water in heavy sauce pan. Over medium heat, cook to hard ball stage (248 degrees). Remove from heat and let stand until temp. drops to 220 degrees. Do not stir during the temperature drop.
Place egg whites in bowl. Whip until soft peaks form with an electric mixer at medium speed about 1 minute. Gradually add syrup in a fine stream, taking about 2-1/2 minutes to pour. Reduce to speed and add almond extract. Continue whipping 20 to 25 minutes or until mixture starts to become dry. Turn mixure to low speed and add nuts, mixing just until blended. Pour into prepared pan.
If you get it to come out for you, please share your secret. I would love to be able to repay my mom for all the years of her making this for me with a homemade batch from me.
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Thursday, December 4, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Candy
This week it’s seriously going to be just fun. This week share your favourite candies. I know from being on the HSBA Post team that Sprittibee and Dawn love gummy-bears, and maybe Bunny too. Have fun with this… and you’re welcome to post a photo of YOU eating your favourite candy. Haha!
God’s Word is also like sweetness to our souls. His sweet love, forgiveness, comfort, peace, and more is what makes our lives seem a little more bearable when things get rough. Whenever you eat your sweet piece of goodness remember that God loves you and will always be there when life seems sour.
Mmmm. What a delicious assignment. Just thinking about my favorite sweet treats makes my mouth water for those confections.
I don’t normally think of myself as having a sweet tooth, but while thinking over this assignment I realize I was mistaken.
Throughout the year you will probably find a jar stashed away with these tempting goodies.
Every now and again, after a long shopping trip, I will pick up one of these
or maybe one of these.
Whenever someone gets one of those mixed bags of mini-candy bars, these two don’t stand a chance when I’m around.
After having dinner at my favorite restaurant, we are treated to these delights along with the bill.
If in my travels I come across these favorites from my childhood I can’t resist.
And these remind me of my mom.
And then there the Christmas treats that make the holidays complete.
Last, but certainly not least, you will find these in my purse at all times. 
The evidence is in and I officially admit that I have a sweet tooth. No wonder I spend so much time at the dentist.
Psalm 119:103
How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!
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Wednesday, November 12, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs- "Mom" Help
This week I’d like to invite you to share what YOUR “Mom” help is. Some drink coffee, soda, or chia-tea. Others check email or read their favourite blogs. Some talk a walk…. what do you do when you need to clear your head and take a breather?
There are a couple of things I like to do whenever I need to clear my head and take a breather. I am always encouraged and uplifted after reading God’s Word. When I have free time I love to read some of my blogger friend’s blogs. When I really need to wind down in the evening, I slip into my jammies and my fluffy bathrobe, settle onto the couch, and watch some of my favorite TV shows. With all the things going on in my life, watching TV just allows me not to think about anything and to just enjoy being entertained. Some of my favorite shows are Survivor, The Amazing Race and I love the old classics like Hogan’s Heroes, Dick Van Dyke, and I Love Lucy. A healthy dose of “Vitameatavegamin” cures what ails me.
Jeremiah 35:25- For I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.
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Wednesday, November 5, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs- Let's Play a Game!
Over the years we have used many games for learning tools. I have a cabinet full of wonderful games.
We have used the classic game of ‘Scrabble’ for spelling on several occasions, although not so much as a competitive game but for my kids to practice their word lists. I have them take their list of words and try to arrange the letter tiles on the board so that they form a crossword of them. They also get a kick out of using sidewalk chalk and writing their words as big as they can on the driveway. We have also incorporated spelling into basketball. I give them a word, they have to spell it correctly, and then they get to shoot to score a point. If they miss the hoop, they spell it again for another chance. They get to shoot until they score as long as they spell the word correctly.
Other classics that we love to play are ‘Monopoly’ and ‘Payday’. We have used them to strengthen math skills. We have also used a deck of cards to practice the multiplication tables. Each card is its face value with the jack, queen, and king as 11, 12, and 13 respectively. They flip over 2 cards then multiply them. If they are correct it goes into one pile; incorrect another. Then they shuffle the incorrect pile and go through the process again until all the cards are in the correct pile. We have used Dominos in a similar fashion. Larry Burkett's 'Money Matters' really helps them learn about budgeting. We also enjoy a good game of ‘Yahtzee!’ whose mathematical benefits are obvious.
For geography, which is one of my daughter’s favorite subjects, we play ‘Great States’. She also enjoys playing the computer classic, ‘Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?’ and ‘Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase through Time’ For history, we love Amy Pak's games that are part of her Time Travelers packs. Even when we have finished the units, we go back to play them.
For English, we have made up games using word tiles and played games similar to Scrabble, creating silly sentences. We have also used them to play what we call ‘Add a Word’ where they take turns adding words to come up with very long and crazy sentences. Because the tiles are color coded to the parts of speech, I have also written sentence patterns on the black board and they have to create sentences using those patterns.
For science, we have only a few games like ‘Somebody’ and ‘Amazing Animal Trivia Game’.
Games we play that provide and overall review and challenge are ‘Go to the Head of the Class ’, ‘Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?’ and ‘Trivial Pursuit Junior’. We also play ‘Bible Challenge’ and ‘The Ungame’ to improve our knowledge of God’s word and to examine our relationships with Him.
After doing this assignment it makes me want to spend the day playing some of these wonderful games.
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Thursday, October 30, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs- Timely Facts
I’m playing a bit of catch-up on the assignments, thus the reason for them being out of order. This was last week’s assignment for Homeschool Memoirs.
The time will be changing again. I think on Sunday but not sure. Anyhow this is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you! Include facts about you as a woman, a wife, a mommy, a homeschooler, a homekeeper, a taxi-driver, a cook, etc . I only put 10 facts because I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but you’re welcome to do more.
What don’t you know about me? This will be hard.
1. I am a cheerful early riser. I love my Bible-time and my decaf coffee (2 sugars and milk) in the morning.
2. I hate to cook but love to bake.
3. My husband and I went to Disney World for our honeymoon and about 5 years later went again for a second honeymoon. (I’ve been to Disney 4 times in my life)
4. My favorite board game is Scrabble, but living in a house of non-spellers, I have to play alone.
5. I love to go on walks and to the parks with my kids.
6. When I was 18 I tried to join the Air Force but because of kidney problems I wasn’t accepted.
7. I don’t mind doing the laundry, folding the clothes and sorting them, but I hate putting them away.
8. I definitely would rather clean the bathroom than do dishes.
9. I absolutely love homeschooling and get very excited when I talk about it and all its benefits.
10. Lastly, my husband and I have issues over driving. He’s a professional driver and we differ about directions and driving style whenever we are out together. So mostly I let him drive so we don’t have ‘discussions’ about it. lol
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Wednesday, October 29, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs- Favorite Field Trip
This week I’d like to invite you to share your favourite field-trip that you’ve been able to go on since you’ve started homeschool. I’d encourage you to include photos, but you don’t have to.
My favorite field trip that we have taken was actually the first one we took about 5 years ago. We had gone to my sister’s wedding in Massachusetts. After the big day, we take a ride to Sturbridge Village. We had a wonderful time and the kids learned so much just experiencing colonial America. If you are ever near there I highly recommend a visit. I had gone several times as a young girl, but I think I had a better time exposing my children to living history and watching them as they participated in the various activities.
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Wednesday, October 15, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-The_______Family
This week’s theme is about your family. Don’t worry. I’m not going to make you write a long essay about all the great things your family does. Just something little diddy that I know everyone will have fun with!
Watch the youtube video below and then take this song and add your own words, about your family. The end of the first three lines should rhyme. Can’t wait to see what you come up with!
The zoos we like to see-em
Exercising our freedom
Our Homeschool Family
Over Math that can be frightening
Saxon ‘s been enlightening
Our Homeschool Family
(Impressed)
(Progressed)
The Bible our foundation
School is a sensation
Our Homeschool Family
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Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Study Time
Back in February I posted about our classroom switch. Our new room has become our haven for learning. I’m reposting the pictures of the classroom for this post, but I must confess, it is definitely not that neat anymore. It has a lived-in-learned-in look to it now.
When it comes to studying, the kids prefer to do that in their bedrooms with the door closed. I have tried to ‘help’ them study but they do so much better on their own. Learning does take place all around our home and outside the house. The car really is one of my favorite ‘study’ spots. We listen to books on CDs. We stop the CD and discuss different aspects to the stories. I am always excited by their observations and the conversations that happen. I guess because there are fewer diversions the car makes a peaceful place for learning. No matter where we are is a perfect place for learning whenever we are together.
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Thursday, October 2, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Snacks
Ah, snacking. That is always an issue here at our house. My children love to snack and we struggle with the control of it. The problem is that just about anything constitutes a ‘snack’ around here, whether it be the crunchy kind like chips or carrots, the sweet kind like cakes, pies, or fruit, or the kind leftover from last night’s dinner. My son loves peanut butter and will often grab a spoon, scoop some out of the jar and eat it up. My daughter loves apples and has taken to the philosophy that if an apple a day will keep the doctor away, two or more should prevent any trips to her office. Cereal is an option any time of day and ice cream doesn’t stand a chance around here. So when it comes to snacking, anything goes.
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Wednesday, September 24, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Summer Photo Essay
This was a fun assignment that I probably spent too much time on, but I had a lot of fun creating these little collages with my free Paint.net program and found it really relaxed me. I also noticed that I have really slacked off taking pictures and have made a mental note to take more.
Our summer consisted of the usual all-American pastimes of ballgames, cookouts, fishing and camping, and just the everyday warm weather activities. We had a few interesting encounters with snakes and experienced the birth of kittens. My daughter learned all about horses while working on 2 Girl Scout badges with a neighbor and we all were blessed by a visit from my husband's sister. I thought it was a wonderful summer spending time doing the things we love.
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Wednesday, September 17, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-My Favorite Things...Er-Sites
This week we are doing something fun. We are to share some of our favorite sites from selected categories:
· Magazines/Carnivals - in print or online- The Old Schoolhouse
· Freebie sites - any sites that offer freebies or often have giveaways- Donna Young.org
· Homeschool news/informative- HSLDA· Forums/book clubs-
· Networking, Blog “About” (sites that offer tech-support or tutorials for computer/internet) & Quick Links-Dynamic Drive
· Mom site - a sites just for moms- Marmee Dear
· Inspirational/encouraging/motivational - Homeschoolblogger Just pick any blogger and you are bound to find down to earth inspiration, encouragement and motivation,
· Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them-Disney (My kids chose this one)
· Memes-Home School Memoirs and Blogger Friend School
· Organizing/crafts - sites that you look to for organizing tips or crafts- There are so many, but one of my favorites for the kids is Making Friends
· Homemaking/Homesteading- A Christian Home
· Bible-focused - sites mainly about God’s Word- Focus on the Family
· Homeschool Method - sites that offer a lot of info on a certain method- Simply Charlotte Mason
· Family blog - sites that give you a glimpse into another family’s life, run by a family- So many out there, but I think the following blogs really show what thier lives are about:
Hilltop Academy, My 4 Sweetums, Teacups in the Garden, Song of the Sagebrush, and Reviews By Heidi.
· Businesses, particularly homebased- Homeschool Boutique
Now you know my favorites list could go on and on, but I honestly can say that my all time favorite site really is HomeschoolBlogger. Where else could I have met so many wonderful people on line and God has used HSB to open so many doors in my life.
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Wednesday, September 10, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Something New
This week we are asked to share something new we’re using, why we’ve decided to use it, and if we have used it, how we like it. Make sure to include the publishing information and where we got it from so others can look into it if they like.
We are using a few different things this year especially with my son entering high school.
Among other things we decided to use Write with the Best Volumes 1 & 2 as part of my son’s English course this year. This series by Jill J. Dixon really seems to fit my son well. Although he started struggling with the assignments, he has begun to figure it out and is doing a lot better. I love that she uses classic literature passages to teach the concepts. I bought this directly from the publisher when they were having a ‘ding and dent’ clearance.
I found Powerglide Spanish at a huge homeschooler’s tag sale this summer. I was looking for a fun language course. I had heard about this and thought I’d give it a shot. While I first found this program kind of hard to understand how it worked and how this method was going to teach the language, after only two weeks my son has picked up on many of the words and uses them correctly. I am very interested to see how much he will be retaining and actually be able to use. I know so many kids that take a language and only remember a few words.
I purchased the following from Rainbow Resources.Also as part of my son’s English course we are trying Design-a-Study’s Movies as Literature by Kathryn L. Stout. I think this is going to be an awesome course and really help my son dig deeper not only into the movies he watches but also will develop better analytical skills for when we have to do American and British Lit in the next few years.
U.S. History Power Basics is exactly what its name implies. We are using this as a skeleton for his history, that way we can still work together exploring historical topics together, but he still will have his required U.S. history.
There are a few other things that are new for us this year but these are the major changes.
Share your Homeschool Memoirs at the Homeschool Blog Awards site.
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Wednesday, September 3, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs- Routines
This week please post what your planned homeschool routine is.
We have a basic routine that we have been following for a while. Though we don’t always follow it to the letter, it helps keep us focused and sure helps the kids know what to expect. We each have our own scheduled so that we may use our time wisely.
The following is the basic plan:
|
Time: |
Me |
Middle Son |
Daughter |
|
5:00-6:00 |
Wake, Morning Ritual |
|
|
|
6:00-6:30 |
Alone time with God |
|
|
|
6:30-7:30 |
Computer Time |
|
|
|
7:30 |
Wake up kids |
Wake, Morning routine |
Wake, Morning routine |
|
8:00-8:30 |
Walk dogs |
Walk dogs |
Walk dogs |
|
8:30 |
Morning Chores |
Morning Chores |
Morning Chores |
|
9:00 |
Bible Time with kids |
Bible time |
Bible Time |
|
9:30 |
School |
Math |
English |
|
10:30 |
|
English |
Math |
|
11:00 |
|
Science |
Science |
|
11:30 |
|
History |
History |
|
12:00 |
Lunch |
Lunch |
Lunch |
|
12:30-2:00 |
School |
Language, Logic, Geography, Music, Art, other electives |
Language, Logic, Geography, Music, Art, other electives |
|
2:00 |
Afternoon chores |
Afternoon chores |
Afternoon chores |
|
3:00 |
Work |
Free Time |
Free Time |
All those times are estimates but for the most part they are followed in a first, second third, etc. kind of way. During school time, when I am not working with the kids, I am doing chores and working at my new job. We pretty much stick to this pattern except on Tuesdays when we are gone from the house for a few hours for the kids ice-skating. The afternoons and evenings are a modge-podge of different activities depending on what day of the week it is.
My prayer for this school year is that my children will grow in their knowledge that God is in everything, He is everything and that with Him nothing is impossible. I also pray that when they grow up they will look upon these days as wonderful times and have fond memories of their homeschooling years.
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Wednesday, August 27, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs-Homeschool Agendas
For this week’s Homeschool Memoirs we are to share our 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. We have not changed much from my original plan posted July 18, Book Choices. I had forgot to add Vocabulary Cartoons-SAT for my son to the list. Also, after looking over the SOS History for my daughter, I have decided to create some different studies for History. She still wants to do SOS, so she will do both. We have slowing added the ‘extra’ subjects over the past few weeks, easing into a full schedule. This has proved to make the first weeks of school a little more hassle free. I have also begun to score their work a bit different than I had in the past. Instead of checking the work for errors immediately like I had done in the past and having them make corrections right away, they are now correcting their work the following morning before starting that day’s assignments. For some reason I have noticed that less mistakes are made and they have a more positive attitude towards making the corrections. There seems to be a whole lot less arguments and frustrations. Go figure. I always thought it was better to correct everything as we made the mistakes but the way we have been doing it this year seems to be having better results.
I chose most of the books this year after much research and prayer, trying to match the kids’ learning styles with the curriculum. Some things we have been using right along, like Saxon Math, LLTL, Spelling Power and Apologia Science and others are very new, like the Power Glide Spanish, US History Basics, Movies as Literature and Write with the Best (all HS courses).
I have finished entering all their lesson plans for the year into my Homeschool Tracker. While this was originally time consuming, it has made and will make it so much easier to assign the work and keep track of it. So far, so good.
Proverbs 15:22-
Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
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Thursday, August 21, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs- All About You
The Homeschool Blog Awards is hosting an interesting meme that a whole lot of people are participating in. It’s called ‘Homeschool Memoirs’ and it looks like it will be fun. For our first assignment we are to tell about our family, our home and ourselves, and how long we’ve been homeschooling and why we decided to homeschool.
Those that stop by here regularly probably know all about us between my posts and tags, but for those that may be new around here, here goes.
I am an over 40, stay-at-home, work-at-home, and school-at-home mother of 3 children. I have a 22-year old son, who is out making his way in the world, a 14-year old son who loves fishing, the outdoors and is currently working on his Boy Scout Eagle Badge, and an 11-year old daughter who enjoys figure skating, Girl Scouts and listening to the Jonas Brothers. I am also a Brownie Girl Scout leader and avid crafter. I have been playing guitar and writing my own songs for over 30 years. I enjoy all kinds of writing and have a few of my copybooks in the Schoolhouse Store. I married my best friend 24 years ago and he is still my best friend today. My husband drives a tanker hauling cryogenic liquid, mostly oxygen and nitrogen. He has been a truck driver for more than 30 years. He has supported me in every endeavor I have ever led him on. 5 years ago, when we begin to notice different things at the school where I was working and my children were attending, it wasn’t a hard decision to make to homeschool. While my younger children and I finished the school year, our oldest son came home to finish his senior year. That was our first step into what has become the best decision we have made. I am passionate about homeschooling. When others ask me about it I am eager to answer their questions and try to equip them with information to help them make the decision that is best for their family. Whether it is homeschool, private school, or public school, I firmly believe that everyone should have the choice and should seek God’s guidance to make that decision. Not everyday runs smoothly. Life has a way of adding to the educational experience in ways I had never imagined. But in this stage of our life I can’t imagine doing anything else any other way.
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