Camp New Dawn

 

Last week was Jeremiah's annual week at sports camp at Camp New Dawn. It was his third year and he was excited. He was eager for a week of sports, swimming, crafts, and making new friends. Jeremiah's award this year was for being "the verse man." Apparently there was a competition between cabins to see who could memorize the most verses and Jeremiah did really well.

Nathaniel really, really wanted to go this year too. But he has to wait until he is 6 so he will get to join Jeremiah next year. We are so thankful for our friends who have a heart for running this camp. It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice. Thanks for another great week of memories! Next year we will be sending two Rapier's your way! Hope camp is ready for it!

time for the tooth fairy again...

Jeremiah was well past 7 1/2 years old when he lost his first tooth. It was my expectation that Nathaniel would be similar. Imagine my surprise when this evening it was revealed to me that his tooth had started loosening last weekend and an unfortunate incident with a Wii remote this evening helped loosen it more and it was ready to come out!
So now my baby is snaggle-toothed. And I am not sure that I am ready for that. He isn't even 6 years old yet!
He is pretty excited though. He has already made the requisite calls to grandparents and is eagerly awaiting Jeremiah's return from camp so that he can show his brother.

Goldrush

Goldrush week was pretty epic! We drove down and spent the week at a youth conference in Atlanta with the youth group from our church. Aaron was there in an official capacity as a chaperone and the boys and I were pretty much just tagging along for fun. It was lots of fun to stay in hotel room, eat out for every meal, climb rock walls, play hours of fuzball (spelling?) air hockey and basketball, participate in some pretty awesome worship services, get to know the youth of our church better, and spend hours hanging out with friends.

A new look

I still remember when my mom got glasses. I was a teenager and she kept asking me to read things for her that were in small print. Over the past few months I have been noticing that the TV and computer screen can look blurry and that I would have headaches at the end of the day. Turns out I needed glasses. Choosing frames was my idea of a nightmare because 1) I hate making decisions, and 2) I have no fashion sense. Aaron helped me narrow the choices down to two frames. I texted pictures to friends and family and ended up choosing the frames that go the most votes. I like them. Now I just have to get used to wearing them....

As soon as I put them on both of the boys said, "You look just like Oma!" In this instance looking like my mothers is a good thing.

Where goes the summer?

 Proof that we did celebrate Father's Day a few weeks ago. My guys!

June is over.
I can't believe it.
It flew by and now July is staring us down. July is packed full and looking a bit intimidating at this point. I am not one who usually embraces "busy." I prefer to mix up busy with down time at home. But this is where we are right now. And everything filling up our month is fun and good and worthwhile so with some extra patience and grace I think we can enjoy the busy.

Aaron finished his June classes for his Education Specialist degree! He is a hard worker and a good provider for our family. He has also taken on extra responsibility by being on the pastoral search committee of our church. He is patient and funny and loving and wise.

I am starting a part-time job later this month. I was really unsure as to whether I should add the responsibility to my plate. But it seems that God has perfectly provided for us through this opportunity. It is going to take good time management skills, some sacrifice of free time, and family teamwork to make it all work but I think we are up to the challenge.

the summer of the pool

I think when the boys are grown their memories of this summer will be colored sparkling blue. The smell of sunscreen and chlorine will remind them of the summer that they got to go to the pool almost every day! Warm beach towels will bring them back to afternoons lazing in the bright sunlight because mom made them take a brief rest from swimming. I hope they remember this as the summer when they first felt their bodies move like fish. The summer that they overcame some of their fears. The summer their mom wore that royal blue bathing suit along with her big sunglasses and floppy white sunhat. The summer their dad taught them the technique to make the biggest cannonball splash. The summer that every now and then they were allowed to pick a special treat from the concession stand.

We weren't sure if the cost of a family pool membership would be worth it. But we decided to try it and all I can say is that it has already been worth every penny! Almost every day finds us pulling on our suits, grabbing our swim bag, and heading to the pool for at least an hour. The boys swimming confidence has gone from, "I can basically keep my head above water" to snorkeling, underwater diving, sliding down the slide, and fierce cannonball competitions.

I love to watch the boys jump and swim and splash and snorkel. Their enthusiasm is boundless. Their hair is bleaching even blonder in the sun. Nathaniel swims energetically and fearlessly, refusing to give in to exhaustion or cold. Jeremiah proceeds with more caution but quickly masters new techniques once he puts his mind to it. They are growing so fast these boys of mine. All I can think while I watch them is that this is the stuff that childhood memories are made of.

Summer!

It is officially summer at our house. The school books have been replaced with the never ending display of swim suits and soggy towels. The magnolia tree is in full, glossy bloom. Weeds are growing prolifically among the herbs and flowers. The nights and mornings are cool and we fling the windows open only to close them around lunch time and give in to turning on the a/c. The boys are constantly hungry and their hair is bleaching even blonder from hours in the sun. I am making countless batches of granola bars for on-the go snacks. Clothes flap on the line. A fully stocked pool bag sits ready and waiting by the backdoor.

Aaron is working on getting his Education Specialist degree. He is enrolled in a year-long cohort program and his classes began yesterday. He will be gone 3 days a week for the month of June. This makes our summer different from the past few summers, but we bought a family membership to the city pool so we should be able to keep ourselves occupied while he is away.

The boys love the pool! We have been 3 days in a row since we got our membership. They are pretty excited by the fact that we can just load up and go to the pool whenever we want. "Really mama! Every day if we wanted to?! That is awesome!" Nathaniel pretty much jumped right in and is a good little swimmer, although he still doesn't swim very far. Jeremiah was his usual more cautious self. Only yesterday did he start testing out his ability to swim without his kick-board. He is a good swimmer, he just likes to take his time getting used to using his skill.

There is a lot of change in the air. Certain chapters are closing and new ones are beginning. The year ahead is appearing to end up fuller and a tad busier than we had originally planned. But for right now we are embracing the slow, hot, activity filled days of summer.

Soccer Tournament

 Setting up a corner kick

 Celebrating an assist on goal (from the corner kick)!

 Happy teammates - learning to work together

 The serious face of concentration

 Back in goal

 Setting up for another corner kick

 Good defending

 Go Fireballs!

 Coaches being recognized for their hard work

Another great season

1st Science Fair

Jeremiah has been taking a science class this past year at Hilger Higher Learning. It has been a great experience for all of us. Jeremiah has benefited from learning in a classroom environment with a teacher and other students to interact with. He has learned how to manage his time during the week - completing homework and studying for tests.  This year's science class was about astronomy and he was very excited and interested in the subject matter. I loved knowing that he was learning a lot, getting to do lab experiments, and getting instruction in a whole subject that I did not really have to help much with.

At the end of every year the elementary students have a science fair. Each student picks a topic that relates to the subject they studied during the year and completes an experiment or project to present at the fair. This was our first ever experience with a science fair and my goals for us were:
- For Jeremiah to do as much of the project independently as possible
- For Jeremiah to learn through the process of creating the project
- For this to be completed with no stress

I think that we met all of those goals. Aaron helped Jeremiah with parts of the project but for the most part this was completely Jeremiah's idea, execution, and presentation. He learned a lot about gathering data, writing and editing, and creativity in presenting information. There were a moment or two of stress and irritation but in general we parents were able to keep our cool and we were all able to enjoy the process.

Jeremiah was very excited in the days leading up to the science fair. He completed his experiment, went shopping with me for his supplies (being mindful of the budget that his teacher had set), and worked on putting the elements of his presentation board together. The actual day of the fair was so much fun! All of the students had their display boards lined up around the perimeter of the room. The purpose of the fair was for the students to learn from each other. For about an hour there were kids and parents milling around viewing the various projects and interacting with each other. I was very impressed with the level of thought and creativity that all of the students had put into their projects (this was a 3rd and 4th grade class). At the end of the presentation of the awards their teacher had all the kids recite the verse that had been the class verse for the year. I must admit, it was quite something to hear a group of about 40 children reciting

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. - Proverbs 3:5-6

I am so thankful for this opportunity we had. For not only the high level of education Jeremiah received but also for the care and kindness of his teacher. Jeremiah is signed up for science class again next year and is excited to study the creatures that were created on the 5th day.

Mother's Day 2013

 

It was a gorgeous Mother's Day full of laughter and hugs and special gifts made by little hands. 

I am blessed by my mothers and feel blessed to be a mother. 

I have been challenged this year in my mothering. I have come to the end of myself more times than I can count. I have been aware of my weaknesses in newer and deeper ways. Yet, my weakness has truly made me aware of God's breathtaking grace. I am a daily spectator of the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, despite my bumbling efforts and outright selfishness and sin. On Sunday morning we worshiped, rocking out to the words

When he shall come with trumpet sound

Oh may I then in him be found

Dressed in his righteousness alone

Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand. 

What freedom and joy that truth gives me! I will not stand before God and be judged on my record as a mother. If that were true I may as well give up because my record as a mother will never be good enough. But I will be judged by Christ's record and righteousness and in that is my hope! He has already done the work for me! So I am free to do my best mothering out of joy and love not out of fear and judgement.  Breathtaking grace.

Box Day!

Even though we still have 6 weeks left of our Sonlight Core C curriculum to complete before we can call our school year done I went ahead and ordered our Core D curriculum for next year. We went hiking with friends this morning and got caught in a rain shower. When we returned home our Sonlight box was waiting for us in the carport and the boys were anxious to open it and see what was inside. I will admit I was anxious too. I love to open the box and stack up all the shiny new books. It is so fun to look through them all and see what our next year of learning holds. We are completing two years of Intro to World History and next year we will start our first year of Intro to American History. I actually don't know as much about American history as I do about European history so I am eager to learn right along with Jeremiah.

Today Nathaniel was excited to get his new handwriting and math workbooks. He breezed through his first Reason for Handwriting workbook this year finishing it a few weeks ago and he is itching to get started again.

Next year will bring some significant changes for us. I will be starting Nathaniel on Core A: Young Adventurers: Explore God's Big World! while also doing Core D: American History, Year 1 of 2 with Jeremiah. It will probably take some adjustment to get us used to doing the work of two Core curriculum rather than just doing one and having Nathaniel listen in as he is interested. But I don't have to worry about that right now. Right now we are enjoying finishing up our year, taking a break for a few weeks, and looking forward to the new things we will be learning again in the fall.

We order all our curriculum through the Sonlight website. You can click on the referral link below to see what resources they have.