SunShine - Homeschool Blogger

really?

Fri, 2 Oct 2009 12:33:00 -0500

What a crazy few weeks! Every time I think I need to write on my blog, I get 10 other things in front of it. I know I said I would write about discouragement. Can't decide if I should write about the mom's discouragement or the kids'! Wow...since I have a couple of thoughts rumbling around in me about the kids, I think I will start there.

Today, we are trying to wrap up the homework the middle schoolers have from our home-school co-op. Who would have thought that they would let it overwhelm them the way they have? Yikes! So, I'm gonna talk about the kids being discouraged today. Moms - you'll have to wait for another day for the pearls coming your way! ;)

Kids have such a variety of moods and needs. But I've come to realize that no amount of my dreaming that they could just BE responsible, PLAN their lives, and HANDLE their schoolwork will actually make it happen. And I've noticed that when I take a few minutes and sit WITH them, they shine. The work gets done. We have time for fun. Et cetera - - - yeah, I spelled it out today. Because there's a long list of things we get as BENEFITS when I take the time they need.

So, then I gotta look at me - what is wrong with me? On those days that nothing gets accomplished, I have to wonder that. Sometimes out loud! LOL But mostly, just the thought tumbling around inside my head. In that moment, I am learning to turn my thoughts back around - ask the Lord if that thought is from Him or if I am just wallowing in self-pity - and then act on what He shows me. (You know - take your thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ...)

Today's act::: help my little people excel. I can do this! I can't expect them to just know it, or sometimes to even just do it. But I can do MY part!

I'm reminded of the lesson that we learned in Bruce Wilkerson's 7 Lessons of the Learner. If the students are failing, the teacher is failing. One COULD look to the teacher who has them for a brief few minutes on co-op day, but the truth of the matter is - - - if my students are not "getting" it - it's my job to help them get it. So, today's goal - to help my students get it, get it done, get it learned, get it done excellently...

Whew! I can do this - and so can you.

Second area of discouragement for the kids - decision-making problems. Man, it's tough being a pre-teen. I have a teen and I have a Kindergartner. They don't struggle nearly like the pre-teens do.

Last night's agenda (after giving some ample room time to reconsider some bad choices they had made) was to give them the short talk about who they are. My theme - you have to choose what kind of man (or woman) you want to become. Every action you take now speaks to your character - generous/greedy, thoughtful/selfish, careful/careless, good example/bad example, server/taker, blessing/cursing, and so on. I didn't carry on about it, just sent them to bed with the question in their minds, "Who do I want to be?"

I'm still praying that they are chewing on that one. :)

Week 3 - can it be?

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 17:42:00 -0500

Can it be Wednesday of Week 3 already? Time flies when you are having fun. Unfortunately, time flies when you are having fun - I repeat that because sometimes our "fun" keeps us from getting our lessons completed. My philosophy of teaching at home is that if it's fun it works. I stand by that statement. However, it's the fun in the process of educating that makes it work! There are a few things that the students can learn along the way when they are playing, but a dedicated effort has to be made for the core subjects.

At our house, we require daily math and reading. The other things we do fill in all around it. For some, that is history and Bible - studied chronologically from the early years of schooling. For others, it's applying Biology or Health with experiments or writing projects. And for others, it's curling up on the couch to read for mom or have a read-aloud time where mom does the reading. There are LOTS of "electives" going on around this house any given day.

We have a blend of scheduled curriculum - like those math assignments and reading the history cards or doing a handwriting projects - and unschooling - where the kids pursue the things that excite them. Today, that has Timothy putting together a roller coaster made out of K-Nex pieces - it has a motor and everything - and really works. Other days it might involve Susannah sewing something or Nicole doing an experiment or Jonathan and Timothy having a rousing game of chess.

One day last week, Steve was working from home. So, to keep the kids quiet while he took a conference call, we played a game of Nerts (a card game where everyone has their own deck and plays off each other like solitaire with lots of people). That game has a negative score (for cards left in your hand when someone else runs out) and a positive score (for cards you played in the middle of the table on the "ace" piles). For Nicole, it was reinforcing her lessons from pre-Algebra about absolute value. Later, when Steve told Jonathan that he needed to get busy with his schoolwork, Jonathan (our 5 year-old) replied with "I've been doing math all day". We laughed so hard. That 30 minute game had really taxed his mental math!

If you've just started home-schooling this year - may I encourage you to relax your ideas of what school looks like? You'll be so glad you did. Give them some structure and some assignments, then make it fun. If learning is fun, it works.

I'll leave you with one last thought - from Bruce Wilkerson's 7 Laws of the Learner series - - - if my students are passing, that is great! If my students are failing or just failing to understand, I have to tailor my way of teaching to help them get the information into their heads. If I'm figuring out what method works with each student, they cannot fail. Only "I" can fail - by not speaking the language that they understand. I'm not talking about laziness, where the student WON'T do the work. I'm talking about those blocks in learning or those times where they just look at you with their eyes glazed over - - - in those moments, try another tactic and another, until your student HEARS you and the light bulb comes on!

This is a terrific journey that you're on! Hope you enjoy it!

Next time, I'm going to write about discouragement - so take courage for now and find the fun in your day!

Off to the Races . . .

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 22:26:00 -0500

So, we started last week! Yep, my LAST little one started Kindergarten and everyone else got crack-a-lackin' too! What fun!

Our new house (the one we moved into last September) has a room that we have designated "the school room" so everyone has a place where their school belongings belong and where I can call them to meet me when lessons need to be doled out or everyone needs to hear something school-related. Of course, quite a bit of that happens in the living room too, but that's another story! ;)

My biggest thing this week is that baby of mine. He's no baby, of course, but he's still MY baby! I've been kind of carrying on for close to a year about how smart he is - things he does that nobody expects to come out of a little guy's mouth. For example, last March at the National HomeSchool Basketball tournament in Springfield MO, we sat through a LOT of basketball games together every day. This kid, aged 4 then, could rattle off the scores of the two teams - no big deal, right - knowing two-digit numbers isn't that crazy for a 4 year old. But then to our surprise, he would tell us not only which team was winning but what the difference between their scores was. And kept a running tally for us of the difference in their scores and what it would take for one team to catch up to the other - types of shots, etc. - i.e., they need a three-pointer to catch up or they need 10 free throws or 15 2-point shots. Hilarious, I tell you. Different friends that would join us at games later in the week would just sit there dumbfounded at the spectacle of it all - quite literally distracting fans from watching the game even.

After that week, my dear hubby started extolling the virtues of formalizing that child's education. I thought about it for a split second, then came back with a twinkle in my eye at him - - - but you know, Honey, look how far he's come without me interfering! LOL He had to admit that was quite true, so he let us carry on through the rest of that school year without force-feeding education to him. I was surely thankful for that because I had my hands full with the other three, thank-you-very-much, and hadn't even begun to explore the world of planning studious things for that boy to do.

So, the summer approached and I began to mull over different ideas for him this school year. Would I go back to using "100 Easy Lessons" to teach him to read or try something new (like that fancy "Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading" that I had bought a couple of years ago to use with a struggling reader)? Would we jump right into Math-U-See's primer or start on Alpha, or Beta, or maybe just skip to Pre-Algebra and he could sit with his sister? (I'm joking, but these thoughts did fleet through my brain a time or two...)

In August, I went to what I consider to be the worst bookfair that I have ever attended (yep, in all my years of thinking about home-schooling and actually doing it once the kids were old enough - it was that stinky). I was quite satisfied with my decision to buy absolutely nothing, when I passed one of my favorite booths - My Father's World. Even though genius-boy was probably beyond Kindergarten level, I decided to buy him his very own, never-before-used-by-another-sibling curriculum and see where it led us.

So, week one came - last Monday - and I broke out the box. We excitedly got busy with talking about Creation and starting to make the 7 days pictures. I cracked open the pack of ABC flashcards. He knew all those letters. So instead of introducing 2 or 3 per day for 10 days, he ran through the set on day 1. Hmmmm, I thought. So, I let him do that every day last week. We plowed through most of the first 10 day lesson in the first 5. Still a bit unsure of where this road was leading, I marked down this week's lesson plan to finish out the 10 days of lessons (covering the 7 days of creation and then shoring up those topics...) and add in some reading (from a friend's Dick and Jane reader that was reprinted recently) and let his sisters write some "tougher" math problems for him - adding and subtracting 2-digit numbers, which I already knew he could do...just as a safety net and something to keep him busy.

As life would have it, this Monday, I woke up on day 2 of a nasty stomach flu. Some people were educated that day, but not that fella, at least not by me. When Tuesday dawned, I felt slightly more human, so we snuggled up on the couch to begin the Dick and Jane reader. He didn't really want to try but I insisted that he just give it a whirl and see how it went. I would show him each "new" word and then each time he encountered it he would read it confidently. A couple of stumbles with words that started the same, like Jane and jump, but mostly a pretty nice little reading lesson . . . . . that he didn't want to end. So, the kid read FORTY pages! Seriously - I'm not exaggerating in the least. When Steve got home that night, we told him about our reading lesson and went into the bedroom for him to give a private reading while the other kids played noisily in the living room. He wasn't satisfied re-reading the pages we had already seen that morning. Dude went on to read through to page 72!

At this point, I was cracking up! Little sight reader!!! This morning, I decided to crack out 100 Easy Lessons just to see if he could do the sounding it out thing. We did 5 lessons before he even complained that he wanted to read more about Dick and Jane and Baby Sally. (His favorite part of that book so far is that the teddy bear's name is Tim just like his brother!) So, today he read to page 87.

Honestly, this little dude is a lot like I was. So, I'm not falling out of my chair shocked about the turn of events. But I am a little besmirched that I made education so difficult with the other 3 - good Lord - if I had only known to "pretend" like I wasn't teaching them anything at all and to make them beg ME to let them read - - - imagine what we could have accomplished! Hahahaha!

I guess you can tell that we are having an excellent start to this school year. The other kids are engaged in their main studies. I still have a couple of subjects to introduce to them, plus their co-op classes with our group at church that start in a couple of weeks, but I'm learning that the longer I've been around this racetrack the more I have realized that the view is the same, but I am enjoying it a lot more!!!! So, we're off to the races!!!! Come along for the ride!!!! You'll be glad you did. :)

Israel trip update

Thu, 2 Apr 2009 09:59:00 -0500

We leave THREE WEEKS from today and we can feel the time getting shorter! We are very excited about all that the Lord will do in us as we experience the Holy Land and also through us as we share His Truth about walking in freedom with the people that we encounter there. Our boys are marking their calendars for the day we leave – I think that’s a good sign – they are excited to get to go stay with their friends for such an extended period of time – 9 sleepovers in a row! Haha!

Here are some verses that ministered to me this morning. I’m using them in this update (look for them!)

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. – I Corinthians 1:24.
And so all Israel will be saved . . . – Romans 11:26a
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. – Psalm 3:3

Here are some updates on the planning and then some points of prayer for this week.

TRIP SCHEDULE: Not sure if we said this before but the trip plan was flipped a bit because of the national holiday (Israel becoming a nation) that will occur while we are there. So we will be visiting in Jerusalem for a few days first before going up to the Galilee area to do the teachings in the evenings. At first, I wasn’t sure about the switch in schedule, but it actually gives us several days up front to spend with our translator (who will be translating during our Free Indeed teaching nights) to work on what to share and how to share it. We have just sent him a copy of the CDs for Free Indeed so he can have a solid understanding of what we are planning to share before we arrive. (Have I mentioned that I love technology?)

MEETING LOCATIONS: We were told at our last Israel team meeting that they are working on getting a location secured for us to have people from both of the tribes able to meet together for the nights of our Free Indeed teachings. We will be meeting and visiting house-to-house during the day time and then hosting these meetings for 3 nights on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (April 28-30). While we are in Galilee, we will be staying in a Jewish kibbutz and ministering to Arab Christians. The owner of the kibbutz has already given explicit instructions to our tour leader that we are not allowed to proselytize any Jews while we are there – the only reason he allowed us to stay there is because we are working with the Arabs – because he would be in danger if it became known that we were talking about Christianity with Jews. (They are happy for us to talk about it with the Arabs though!) So, you can sure pray that we would be able to be discreet, yet Spirit-led, in all of our conversations throughout the area.

But to those called by God to salvation, both Jews and Gentiles, Christ is the
power of God and the wisdom of God. – I Corinthians 1:24.
**We are trusting the power of God and the wisdom of God to go before us and prepare the way!

If you’re interested in more information about the group that we will be with – check out http://www.centerformissions.com/ - the group is called the Center for Global Ministries, based out of Plano. They travel to Israel several times each year, as well as India and China, and have built a good relationship with the people that we will be teaching. We are looking forward to adding this “freedom” element to the work that they have begun with the Arab Christian community in the Galilee area.

PRAYER POINTS:

But you, O Lord, are a shield around me; you are my glory, the one who holds my head high. – Psalm 3:3
**We trust the Lord to guard and protect our way, guiding our path even before we go, holding our heads high and helping us to thoroughly prepare without fretting, for He knows the plans He has for us…

- Top of my list – we MUST finish our taxes – preferably this weekend and not drag it out until the last minute! Having a regular job plus owning our own business on the side makes it slightly more complicated, but I’m trusting the Lord that we can easily get our hands on every piece of documentation we need (even though we moved 6 months ago) so we can fly through the details.

- Money – would you believe that money is NOT on our list of “needs” really? I mean, of course we need finances to do what we are going to do, so don’t get me wrong. But we have been amazed at all that the Lord has provided since the beginning of 2009. Steve has been taking in a lot of extra work on the side and it has relieved that worrisome feeling about “where will the money come from?” that we have commonly felt before mission trips in the past. (Maybe it’s a girl thing – but we ladies do worry about stuff like that…)

- Steve’s “day job” – he is currently working 3 mid-size projects at his company. Each of them is in the early stages and one of them has a “gate review” on the day before we leave. Normally, if things aren’t perfect, you can push a gate review out if you have to, but in this case, everything needs to fall into place so the project does not get delayed and so people can do their jobs while Steve is gone out of the country. (This might actually be the top of Steve’s list!)

- Sharing the Word – because of the language differences (word meanings, syntax, etc.), I have been very prayerful about saying things in English in such a way that they can be smoothly translated for those listening. I’m sure it’s the teacher in me, but my heart is not to present good teaching, but for people to receive the good teaching, so they have to understand it first!!! If you would pray that we would just be super-naturally led to use phrasing that isn’t our same-old Christian-ese, but be the right phrasing for our translator to “get it” so the people listening can “get it”, that would be awesome! You know what else would be awesome? If Steve and I could just quickly and easily connect with our translator so it’s amazingly simple for him to know what we mean when we say things.

And so all Israel will be saved . . . – Romans 11:26a
**We are believing God will give us divine revelation for the new friends we meet in Israel,
His saving grace for ALL in Israel, Arab and Jew and Druze and any others!

Guess that will do for this update! I hope to send these a little more frequently between now and the time we go. I’m considering whether to just journal while we are gone or to try to update a blog each night. Not sure on that one yet but I’d love some feedback from others who have traveled and blogged, versus traveled and journaled.

- We are so thankful that we worked out the primary arrangements for the kids while we are gone. The girls will be staying at my parents and the boys will be staying with our friends. Instead of being my typically “over-planning” self, we have prayerfully appointed each of them the “parents” for the week and a half that we are gone to choose whatever schedule they would like to keep with our kids. Those of you who know me well know that I would normally have a calendar with each of their events and such planned out, including where they would stay each night, etc., but as I prayed about this part of our being away, I really felt to let that go. Whatever the kids learn for school and if the kids are going to do anything extra, my friend and my mom will make the decisions.

Basketball City - here we come!!!

Sat, 14 Mar 2009 01:04:00 -0500

Well, well, well. If Springfield, Missouri didn't know much about home-schooling before this week, boy, will they be surprised when they see what hits them when the National Christian Home-School Basketball Championships come to town!!! 2009 finds the championships making a big move from Oklahoma City, where it has been held for about 7 years running. The guy in charge says there are 350-360 teams participating - largest turnout ever - and that equates in my "pea brain" math to at least 3500 people and more numbering upwards of 500 (I was just counting 5 players per team and one parent per player - but home-schoolers travel in packs, so I know it's more than that lowball estimate)!

All-American team selections are announced in a ceremony starting on Monday afternoon and then games start for varsity players. Other days, kids play in one game per day per team. For us, that means 2 games per day (ours plays on her natural age group and plays up an age group too), plus watching friends in other games. I think our home-school athletic organization is taking 4 teams. And we have friends with several other programs from in and around the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

I hope I will get a chance to blog while I'm there and show some photos of the crazy times we have together. I'm going to post a little sampling from last year's national tournament here . . .

Shanisha and Susannah cheer on the THESA Riders - love those crazy wigs!!!

14U Girls won first place in the 5A Division - they're obviously tired - but it's a happy tired!

This is just before the Varsity Girls played in the National Championship game - our 18U girls took home the gigantic trophy, winning it all over KC Metro. One of the things I really LOVE about this THESA group is that the boys were as thrilled for the girls to win as the girls were. The boys made capes and bought crazy fun gear and rode around the gym like the only reason they came to town was to cheer for their friends. Great support and great spirit!

As you can see - we have a VERY good time together. Who can complain about spending a week watching (or playing) a sport you love, surrounded by good friends who love Jesus and share your educational and spiritual ideals? We think it's one of the best time investments and financial investments we could make for our daughter and for our family.

So again, I say - - - basketball city - here we come!!!

I Dare You to Love

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 19:47:00 -0500

Today, I'm on Day 5 of the "Love Dare" book - from the movie "Fireproof". Whew - what a fun week already. I had some friends doing it in a class, but I thought that might lose some of the sweetness and romantic-ness of actually taking the dare if my husband knew I was doing it - or if I knew that he was doing it. So - - - another friend and I are walking through it together and blessing our husbands - and I'm pretty sure that we are blessing ourselves too!

If you haven't seen the movie Fireproof - let me highly recommend it to you. It's out on DVD now, so there's no reason not to check it out. Don't know if you can get it at redbox, but surely you know someone that has a copy or two! ;) The paperback book that I'm using costs between $9 and $12, depending on where you buy it. You write in it, so it's one that you won't really be passing along or checking out from the library. But it's a good spend! ;)

Today's topic is "Love is Not Rude" and I have to ask my dh what 3 things cause him to be uncomfortable or irritated with me. Yikes! I don't know if I'm looking forward to that conversation or not - oh and I have to NOT be defensive when he responds or to justify anything I have done. I can do this... really I can! ;)

The first four days were a breeze for me - they might not be for some folks, but I didn't struggle with doing any of those four things. I'm not really struggling today either - just need the grace and the smile on my face to do it!

I'm not going to blog about each of the days - it's a little private, you know - but rest assured, you'll see me brighter and happier on the other end of this 40 days! And if you decide to give it a try - let me know! I love to encourage people and I know there is GOOOOOOD fruit to be had from this study.

Enjoy! I dare YOU to love!!!!!!!!!!

Out of Sight, Out of Mind?

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 09:19:00 -0600

Well, it is entirely possible that my homeschoolblogger "site" has been out of my sight, but then it's also possible that I've just been out of my mind! ;) Have you ever had one of those semesters where life just flew by and you turned around and it was almost MARCH!?!?!?! Well, that is how it's been around here. (I know you home-school moms can totally relate!!!)

Don't want to spend my whole 5 minutes carrying on, so I will move on to today's topic at hand . . . the mouth! My husband and I were blessed with two daughters, followed by two sons. NOT ONE THING about raising those girls has really applied to the boys. Seriously! I listen to the things the boys say and do and just have no idea where that stuff came from - how can 2 humans be so intently interested in all things that happen in the bathroom (and I don't mean scrubbing out the bathtub)?

It is so extreme that we have implemented a "no potty talk" rule - with these caviats - - - if it happens in the bathroom or is a part of the body covered by a bathing suit, you may not say it unless you are IN the bathroom - with the only exception that they can say "I need to go to the bathroom" (not the toilet, not the potty, not 'use it', not 'pee' - - - well, you get the drift, right???) I'd like to say that this has been an effective tool, but I still have to bring correction several times a day in this area. They just think it is so hilarious to say things they ought not say.

After 15 years of parenting, it has come down to this - spending my days asking people not to say inappropriate things. Joy! :) You can bet that I'm going to get to the "bottom" of this soon - but now I understand why cartoon makers and movie makers think potty humor is such a great way to go - it gets the boy laughs. See, I never quite understood that before!!! LOL

If you have some genius insight into this matter, feel free to pass it along to me! Apparently, I could use it! ;)

Hope you are having a blessed day! Ours is going to involve a trip to the Planetarium - we can't wait!!! Hopefully we won't have to "go to the bathroom" while we are there . . .

can't beat it

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 08:22:00 -0600

Waiting for my kids to get up this morning (I know - you would think they would be standing tall at 6am on Christmas morning, huh?!) so I thought I would blog about why they are still sleeping! ;)

This was maybe the 5th or 6th Christmas Eve in a row for us to participate with my parents' ministry, Restored to Serve, in passing out Christmas presents to families in need - not homeless (although we did distribute about 100 shoeboxes of toiletries and needed items to a homeless shelter earlier in the week) but underemployed or unemployed families trying to make ends meet. What a tough but good thing for our kids to experience.

They run to the doors of each of the apartments or duplex/quadplex houses to find out if kids live there and if we can bless them with Christmas presents, then run back to the cars to select the presents for that home's kids with a little something for the mom and dad too. We had amazing testimonies of families that didn't have presents and of one man who made our teenagers cry because what they gave him was the only present he was going to get this year. Now I'm crying again just typing it! The love that pours out of our own kids (mine and some other families) while they are sharing God's love on Christmas Eve is the best present a mom could receive. I love it - maybe even more than what we will do today. Because Christmas Eve's work is life-changing, today's is memory building, but maybe not life-changing, you know?

Each one had a favorite experience to share - Nicole's was the older man who couldn't believe these kids showed up with a present for him out of the blue - he cried, they cried (Nicole and her 2 friends) and came back wishing they could do even more to bless him just because it blessed them so much the first time they knocked on his door - we sent them back with a little something else for him. :)

I'll post more later - I have kids waking up now! Tired as can be, especially for a Christmas morning, but a good tired!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you and yours!!!!

Why is my apple juice from China????

Mon, 1 Dec 2008 10:57:00 -0600

This morning, when we came downstairs for a break from school to find a book for me to read to Jonathan, he decided that he wanted some milk. So, I went to the fridge to get out the milk, only to find that someone returned the jug to the fridge with ONE SIP left in the bottom of it. Jonathan thought it would be silly to drink that one sip, so we settled on Apple Juice. I poured him a half-cup of the juice and as I returned it to the top shelf of the fridge, I saw the words "Concentrate from China" stamped on the side of the clear plastic. You know - where it usually says the "sell by" or "bottled on" date or the lot code. Well, on Kroger Apple Juice from concentrate, it says "Concentrate from China". I shut the door to the fridge and loudly (maybe too loudly) said, "Why am I serving Apple Juice from China????" Good grief! It's not like we don't have a kajillion apples right here in the good old US of A! Why are we importing apples or worse, apple juice made from concentrate SOMEPLACE ELSE? I'm thankful that we live in a land of plenty, filled with an abundance of everything we need. So I'm more than a little perplexed as to why we are purchasing this apple juice and importing it all the way from China. If someone has a brilliant answer to that question, I would love to hear it! :)

Can November be over already???

Sun, 30 Nov 2008 22:18:00 -0600

Can November be over already??? How can this be? It seems like only yesterday that we moved into this house and now we are coming up on three months! LOL

More rooms are unpacked and starting to come together. Honestly, when we bought this house, I thought it was so similar to our other house that we would just put everything in the same places and keep on keeping on like nothing had happened. Well, that didn't really work for long. So, we have had about the fourth rearranging of furniture, completed changed out a couple of rooms, and are starting to feel settled...just in time to decorate for Christmas!

Our co-op semester zoomed right by me. We had so much sickness, in our own family and in several of the other families, that it was seriously difficult just to keep all the classes covered from week to week. Thankfully, we always had just enough, but it was a little stressful for this girl who really likes to function WITH a plan! Flying by the seat of my pants and reassigning teachers weekly was kind of zoo-ey (is that a real word?).

The kids loved their co-op classes. Jonathan is READY to move out of "the purple room" and be a big boy next semester. He is so cute about it. Everyone learned cool stuff - Timothy is a budding historian and scientist (don't even ask him about his favorite president or his favorite planet unless you have time for his dissertation!); Susannah is becoming quite a seamstress and botanist and is really into sign language; and Nicole acts like Chemistry is so hard, but she is really good at it and gets it.

As for me, well . . . someone, who shall remain nameless, suckered me into joining facebook in October. Oh my goodness - I might be an addict, if I had time to be one that is! ;-) My high school classmates decided that staying connected via facebook is better, faster, cheaper than classmates.com so here we are - and meanwhile I have found friends from every path my life has taken so far and cannot believe how many of them are on facebook! So, facebook is robbing me of good blogging time - I'm going to have to rectify that!

If you aren't ready for Christmas yet, it is time to set your mind to the season at hand! I'm mailing my dad's office Christmas cards in the morning and starting on our family cards. If you haven't been on my mailing list before this year, our annual newsletter will be hitting the post office by Friday, so email me (if you know me) and I will add you to the list!

Have a tremendous week!