First off, thanks to all of you who left comments about the gas pumping. My family and I had fun reading them and my boys learned about different ways to be a servant to their spouse. I must say that I was surprised to see how many of you have husbands that take care of getting your gas for you. I think it is great. My son told me he would get my gas for me if I wanted him to. Ahhh. Melt my heart.

Secondly, I have been so blessed this week with wonderful new friends. Our home school group went to a candy factory on Thursday night to watch them make home made candy canes. The owners were Christian and they shared their testimony with the kids. I also met some more home school mom's that I just loved, I was so excited. Last night six of us met at the Borders Book Store for coffee and fellowship. I spent two hours with these very experienced homeschooling moms having my tank filled up and getting all kinds of words of wisdom. The really fun part was that they all have different philosophies and styles and yet I did not detect any judging on each others parts. Just encouragement. IT. WAS. FABULOUS.

God has been so good to me throughout this journey. I was really scared and unsure at first, but he keeps sending me people to encourage me and walk along side our family. He has made my heart happy and secure. I am so very very thankful.

Lastly, you may have already heard, but our State is on fire again. We have several family members who's home's could be in danger from these fires. Please pray for the safety of the men and women battling these fierce blazes and the wind (oh my, the wind, you just wouldn't believe it), and pray that they are able to get the fires under control as soon as possible. Hundreds of people have already lost their homes, it is so very very sad.

Have a great Saturday my friends. Our family is headed up to my sisters cabin in the mountains for a day of fun. Anyone else have a family fun day planned?

Labels: getting away from it all, Home Schooling, Mom Stuff

My stomach is in Knots and it is questionable as to whether I will get a good nights sleep for the next five sundown to sunrise cycles.

You see, I sent my second born all the way across the country this morning. To Washington D.C.. Without a parent.

Yes, their are chaperone's. Yes their are tour guides. Yes, my head tells me he will be fine.

Unfortunately, it is my heart that isn't quite going along with the whole thing.

Oh, he will have a wonderful time. He and 26 other student's will be touring Amish country, visiting Civil War battlegrounds, taking a tour of the White House and Washington Monument (thanks to our local congressman for arranging those two), laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, visiting the Vietnam memorial, and the list goes on and on.

Six jam packed days of History and fun.

However, their is one minor point in this whole thing that is causing me some anxiety. The one that my husband thinks, I am sure, is ridiculous.

Who will be there to remind him?

You know, remind him to make sure he hasn't left anything in the hotel room when they pack up each morning at 6:00 a.m.. Do you have your wallet? Everything out of the bathroom?

You see, they change hotel rooms almost every day. That is a lot of picking up and packing for a 14 year old boy.

I know, I know, it will be a great learning experiencing for him. He will learn responsibility and how to take care of himself. I understand that.

I also understand that this is my child who is most like his father. We like to call them "The absent minded professors". They are both very smart. Love math and science and just learning.

At times I think that their heads are so full of important stuff, like how to solve quadratic equations (spelling?) that their brain has no room for simple things like multi tasking and remembering where you put your keys.

I know at some point we have to gently nudge our children out into the real world to sink or swim.

I would just prefer that my sweet second born wasn't sinking 3,000 miles away.

Maybe I will be pleasantly surprised and he wont leave a trail of lost items from D.C. to Pennsylvania.

This is what this poor child had to listen to from his mother this morning at 5:00am.

"Tyler, try and remember to put all your toiletries back into your suitcase right after you use them, only charge your cell phone in the bathroom so you will be sure and see it, keep twenty dollars in your pants pocket so you won't always be having to get your wallet out, don't forget to call for your wake up call so you don't oversleep" and I went on and on. My poor poor child.

At 5:45 this morning he was on his way to the airport. I laid back into my bed trying to block all the things from my mind that I thought he may have forgotten. Suddenly I had the most awful realization.

I FORGOT TO TELL MY CHILD THAT I LOVED HIM BEFORE HE DROVE OFF IN THE CAR.

I am horrified at myself. I was so worried about all these things that really don't matter that I forgot the one thing that was the most important. Making sure my child knew how much I loved him and that I would miss him while he was gone.

Tonight when he calls after his first day of adventure I will not ask if he remembered this or that.

I will just listen to his stories of the day and tell him how much I love him.

Though I am still pretty sure I won't sleep well until my sweet boy is home in his own bed.

Have a great time, Tyler, I love you.

Labels: getting away from it all, kids

We had a wonderful weekend in the mountains last week. My family and my brother and three sisters all got together for a few days. There were a total of 22 people and it was great to have everyone together and just hang out. We also played some cards and began teaching the younger generation about the fine art of playing pinochle. Our oldest was really interested in this.

We took walks.



Big Sister helping Little Sister.

Cousins enjoying time together.

The younger generation learning new recipes in the kitchen. They had a great time helping Aunt Stacey cook up all her wonderful meals. I can still taste the freshly made corn salsa and fresh chips. Yummy!!!

Uncle Dan taught Garrett all about birds. Garrett loved learning about all the different kinds and looking through his Uncle's bird book to find the different species. Here is one he especially liked. He's already asleep or I would ask him what the name of this bird is....for the life of me I can't remember.



The kids also enjoyed watching the squirrels jump from tree to tree. They were the fattest squirrels I had ever seen. Obviously very well fed by the locals.


Paige spent most of her time hiding from me so I couldn't get a good picture of her. I trapped her behind the sofa while she was playing with some blocks to get these two shots. She is such a little stinker.


Now, of course, any good trip wouldn't be complete without some shopping. After breakfast on Sunday the girls went shopping while the boys stayed home and watched football. They had some of the cutest little shops and we purchased quite a few treasures. Samantha had a good time trying on every hat on the rack at this store. She did look pretty cute.

Well, now that last weekend is over tomorrow I have to get back to reality. I plan to clean my upstairs from top to bottom, with a little help from other members of the family.

I doubt they will show the same level of enthusiasm as they did for our mountain trip.

Labels: getting away from it all