Dear Children,

The other day in the midst of another chaotic, crazy lunch hour, that only homeschool mom's know about, I yelled, "I love my life" or something to that effect. Even though it was crazy and wild and loud, I am just thrilled because I get to be your Mom. I get to 'do life' with you each and every day.

We have one more history lesson to do, then school is over for this year. Every year has its own unique challenges. This year, wow! Teaching Annika to read, making sure Brooklyn was properly occupied, explaining fractions to Logan, and helping Jamison learn to spell were just some of the challenges we faced together.

We had some really good days. We had some really funny moments, like the time I said (by mistake) that whale babies are born teeth first.:) We also had some really tough stuff to muck through, bad attitudes, disrespect, carelessness, arguments and frustration. I think we all grew in our ways of solving problems. I hope we all learned that problems solved on our own don't work out like problems taken to God.

I loved the nature hike we did last October. I remember how hard it was for me to lay aside school and just go, now it's one of my best memories from this school year. I also remember all the good talks we had in history class, especially talking about the North and the South rivalry in the Civil War and how it must have felt to be on either side.

I remember the classes Annika and I had every morning. You learned to read unbelievably easy and sometimes I still ask myself if you learned on your own or if I taught you. Reading your very first story that you wrote by yourself was so special. You love to write and you buy another notebook every chance you get.

And Brooke- oh my! You have added so much spice to our school days. Sometimes you 'hide' under the table and pretend to be a dog, or you sit right next to Annika and she explains subtraction to you. You love to listen to Narnia in your bedroom or look at books. You learned all your sounds from listening to Annika and recognize a whole bunch of words. One of my favorite memories is the way you 'read' chapter books page by page and use a bookmark to mark where you're at.

And I can't forget all those fun break times, playing Whistle, Wink or Wave, Kick the Can, Hide and Seek, Blow Ball, or Jump Rope. I think of the times we did exercises and ran up and down the stairs until we couldn't go any more.

Morning devotions was such a special time. Finishing up the Uncle Arthur Bible Stories, memorizing Scriptures, praying and singing together and reading the Little House books to you aloud. Sometimes we had deep discussions, other times we were a split second away from total chaos.

I met someone the other day who asked what it would take for us to send our kids to school. I said simply, "God". He called us to homeschool and He would have to call us away from it as well. I sure hope I could hear Him because I really, really love teaching you guys.

I'm as excited as you are about summer vacation. But when August rolls around, I'll be so grateful that I get to be your teacher once again.

Love,
Mom

Happy List

I suppose it doesn't make sense to anyone how I can just 'feel' the need to write, but that's where I am right now. I don't have time for a long post but a happy list w/ a few pictures might do the trick. Here are some things that make me very happy right now.

• tulips blooming in my pot by the window thanks to weekend visitors!:)
• watching our son's enjoy Communion for the first time on Sunday
• washing feet at Communion w/ a sweet girl from the city. Something about her black skin and my white skin just blessed me so much!
• making menu's and grocery lists for our youth group mission trip coming up in June.
• teaching Annika to bake her first batch of cookies-she chose Snickerdoodles.

• watching the ground dry off after lots of rain and flooding last week.
• seeing my happy pansies on the front porch.
• finishing up 2 dresses for Annika.
• date nights w/ my children -individually.
• laundry on the line
• GREEN grass!
• winding down school-only several more days!!!!!!
• 16 baby chicks peeping and cheeping in their box in the school room. We put 40 eggs in the incubator 3 weeks ago, and what an awesome adventure its been- to watch them hatch.

• SUNSHINE!




• annual garage saling w/ family this weekend!
• my organized office/sewing room.
• watching my husband get excited about planting corn.

Easter At Our House {keepin' it real}

Easter is such a special holiday. I really think it ranks up there at the VERY top for Christians! It also has a lot of warm fuzzy feelings that come w/ it, coloring eggs, family dinners, new clothes, spring and more.

Let me tell you about our Easter this year.

We just came home from a 9 day vacation/family wedding in the South. We were still tired. I was in an Easter choir at church so I had our final practice to attend on Saturday night. It was late-ish before I went to bed. My farmer husband had A LOT of chores on Sunday morning. He got up at the crack of dawn thirty and was still working hard when the boys and I left for sunrise services at church at 6:30 AM.

The service was very special. I felt like a dry crust of bread from all our travels the previous week. I was around people a lot and hadn't really soaked up a whole lot of Jesus for what seemed like a long time. Now I get to sing in an Easter choir about what Jesus did for me. I prayed that morning that I wouldn't just go through the motions, but that the message would be real in my heart. God answered that in a big way. It was just so incredibly meaningful. While we were singing I could see a gentleman in the audience. He was lined up w/ our director so that when I looked at her, I couldn't help but see him. He was having a Jesus moment, big time! Because of our songs, because of the message. His tears ministered to me in an amazing way, if that makes sense.

After the sunrise service, we gathered for an amazing brunch. I couldn't help but think back to a year ago, when we were so new in this church, and how much has changed. I looked around and saw friends, lots and lots of friends. I was almost overwhelmed at what God has given our family.

My farmer husband showed up with the two little girls, who were supposed to be dressed alike in their flower girl dresses, from their uncle's wedding last summer. Alas, the dress no longer fit the oldest daughter and Daddy dear had quite a time at home consoling her and finding something else for her to wear. I helped get food for the girls and then I was off w/ the choir to sing at our local nursing home. We dashed back to church and finished our program in the second service. When we sang "Lion of Judah" holy goosebumps came out on my arms and I couldn't help but feel excitement about that awesome day when we get to see Jesus!

After church, we headed to an extended family gathering for a potluck lunch. The children changed into play clothes and so no Easter family photos were taken this year. It's probably best, because while yellow was the theme color going on, the oldest daughter's pink floral looked a little out of place. I was so tired that I had a hard time being sociable.

We came home, where I enjoyed a wonderful nap. Then I set up a treasure hunt for the children and had some restful time reading and relaxing. The children and I watched Easter songs on you tube which was pretty special, too. We ate leftovers for supper. I tried to pick up the trashed house before retiring for the night. We all went to bed early.

So as I reflect on Easter this year, it wasn't the warm fuzzies I get sometimes. We didn't color eggs, eat chocolate;) or take family pictures. But Easter was very special in other ways; ways that count.

Here's a family picture from the recent wedding:

 And a few more just for fun: