Look at what I saw today!

When I came in to check on a very talkative Rachel at naptime, this is what I saw:



I also like this picture. Look at those smiley eyes! (This was taken when she did it again after I laid her down.)



I can't believe how fast they grow! Aren't God's blessings fun? I guess it's time to move the crib mattress down another notch.

Grandmas

On the way back from Father's Day Campout we stopped to visit Matt's Grandma Strasburg. If I am not mistaken, she will be 98 years old on July 31.

Here is a picture of our visit:



This picture of the boys and Matt's Granny McFarlane is another one from that weekend.



This is a picture of Garrett in the pool with Grandma McFarlane:



This is not a picture of a Grandma, but just a random picture of Garrett from the time at Grandpa and Grandma McFarlane's pool. I decided to just post it since I haven't gotten around to posting the camping pictures.




Here's a camping picture of Rachel with Granny:



This picture of the kids with my Grandma Covey was taken on June 13 when she stopped to visit on her way to Michigan from Florida.



I know I have some somewhere, but it looks like I need to get more pictures of my Mom and the kids when we go to Michigan. And there are no pictures of the kids with Great Grandma Dunn since Rachel was born (unless Grandma Bradley has them). I'd better fix that!

A Giveaway at Biblical Womanhood

There is a giveaway going on at the Biblical Womanhood Blog right now that you may want to check out. She is giving away a free Ballantyne Christian Adventure Library compliments of Vision Forum. I've been wanting these books for when Micah is older. So when I saw this on another blog, I decided to check it out.

Here is a link if you are interested:
Ballantyne Christian Adventure Library Giveaway

You only have until Saturday, so check it out if you are interested.

Random pictures and thoughts

We have had an interesting few weeks. Matt and I went to the Illinois Christian Home Educators conference (ICHE-- Matt pronounces it "ICKY," but it's growing on him) on the Thursday, Friday and Saturday before Memorial Day. We were greatly challenged in our parenting and the responsibility that God has given us. A speaker that particularly challenged us was Voddie Baucham. God has given him great vision for families and churches!

On Memorial Day, we attended a breakfast picnic with friends from church. Then Matt, Karissa and Micah rode their bikes home (8 or 9 miles). Right before they got home, Matt got a call asking him to play tennis. So, when they got home, we rearranged the bikes and put the Burley on my bike. I pulled the little kids and Matt ran beside Micah and helped him practice riding. At the high school Matt played two sets of tennis. The kids and I watched and played around. Then we biked/ran home. I think Matt was a little tired by the time we got home. To end the day, we had a cookout with neighbors. The Menels provided the meal and Mrs. Gould added a salad and dessert. It was yummy and fun. Of course, we also had a bonfire and the kids roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. They stayed up way too late, but it was a fun ending to a fun day!

Last weekend we attended a graduation on Saturday and a trombone recital on Sunday. It made for a busy weekend. Karissa started talking about when she graduates and goes to college and what she wants to "major" in. Micah has revived his desire to play the trombone. Karissa also said that she wants me to teach her flute. Both kids are doing well on the piano. So, I think we'll continue getting a better foundation by learning the piano and then we'll branch out into more instruments.

Now that the neighborhood kids are out of school for the summer, our days our changing a bit. One day the kids had a traditional lunch of "peanut butter and jelly and fluff" sandwiches at Mr. Gould's. WAY TOO SWEET FOR MY BLOOD, but Karissa LOVES them! Of course, Mommy makes lunch for Micah and Garrett because of their allergies, but they still like to join the fun. We just make sure they don't touch anything but their own food and that everyone washes up really well.

Here are some pictures from the lunch:




Here's a picture of Rachel "investigating the grass" during the picnic:


Here's a picture of Micah teaching Rachel the fine art of football and about being a Packer's fan:


Here's a cute picture of Rachel (I wish it showed her two bottom teeth! I haven't gotten a good picture of them yet.):


Saturday, Micah played his last soccer game of the season. They actually have one next Saturday, but he will miss it. We will be at the annual McFarlane Family Father's Day Campout. Everyone but Mommy (and perhaps Rachel) are very excited.

Here's a picture of Micah playing soccer:


Yesterday, we had a Monopoly tournament at the request of Micah. Daddy won!

Tomorrow Grandma Bradley and Great-Grandma Covey are coming for a quick visit on their way home from Florida.

Our biggest "project" for right now is memorizing the New Testament book of 1 Timothy. We started this since Pastor Phil is preaching over it for the summer. We hope to learn the whole book while he is doing the series. We started on Thursday and the kids know the first 14 verses pretty well. I'll have to post our progress as we work on it so that you can keep us accountable. Mommy isn't doing nearly as well as Karissa and Micah.

Wedding pictures

Karissa and Micah were in a wedding yesterday.

This is what they did when we came home between the wedding and the reception:






Here's one of Micah and Karissa during the photography time at a nearby park:


Here's one of Karissa at the park:


Here's one of Garrett at the park:


Here are our unsuccessful attempts to get a good picture of the kids while the photographer was taking them. (Hopefully his turned out better!)






We also had someone else try taking a family picture of us while the photographer was taking his (once again, I hope he did a better job!):





Here's one from during the formal pictures at the church:

Busy, busy, busy... and homeschooling musings.

Well, things have been BUSY! Anyone who knows our family is not shocked by this news. Since I last posted, we have celebrated two birthdays, gone to Michigan for Easter, had District quizzing and I went to Ohio for a weekend with my "Cedarville girls" while the kids spent time with Daddy. (OK... so the Ohio weekend was actually first in that list, but the sentence structure just didn't work that way.) Karissa and I also got to attend a bridal shower for a young lady from our church who will be having her "church wedding" this Sunday. (They had a civil ceremony sometime before Christmas.) Micah and Karissa are in the wedding and are very excited about it. Karissa is still in gymnastics and Micah has started soccer. The kids are still taking piano lessons. AWANA has finally finished for the year! Oh, and I got about 7-9 inches cut off my hair last week.

With this list of activities, I'm sure that there are some pictures that I should post and perhaps I'll try later. I also know that I have some stories that I should
have posted, but have probably forgotten. The busier we are, the more things I SHOULD post and the less time I actually have TO post.

We also have been going through a kind of "metamorphosis" in our homeschooling. I always wanted to be very structured in my schooling, but I didn't want to use a "canned curriculum." So, I have spent a LOT of time making things up on my own.

Most of you will probably want to stop reading at this point. The rest is just my personal ramblings on homeschooling and what we are doing well and what we are NOT doing well. Those of you who homeschool may recognize some of the things we use and wonder what kind of nutcase I am.

We have done "Sonlight" plus "My Father's World" plus "Greenleaf History" plus some things from "Veritas Press" plus some things from "Tapestry of Grace" plus... Well, you get the idea and you'll also understand why we're still stuck in Ancient Rome and Karissa is now finishing 3rd grade.

We have used 3 math curriculums (at the same time) for most of Karissa's "school" experience. However, she is currently "only" using Saxon 5/4 and Singapore 3B. Micah is still using Modern Curriculum Press (Book B), Singapore 2A and Miquon Blue Book.

We study the major people and events in US History on birthdays or holidays related to them. If we ever get there, we will do a more "in depth" study of American history. We also have a LOT of biographies about "important people" in US history and some "If you were there..." or "If you lived at the time of..." type books. Karissa and Micah both read a 5th grade American History textbook in a couple of weeks when I needed something to keep them busy. We also studied World War II this year because the kids were interested in it.

We do handwriting about 1/2 of the time.

We don't do science nearly as much as we should! (And what kind of excuse can I use? I have a degree in Chemistry with an emphasis in biochemistry! It's not that I don't "get it" so I can't teach it.) Matt does electronics projects with Micah and Karissa usually gets involved as well. Does that count?

Karissa has not done as much writing as I would like. I don't like "projects," so I don't tend to assign things such as reports, essays, journaling and creative writing. However, she has started writing a pen pal. I do wish the pen pal wrote more often, but we can't control that.

I don't do enough grammar. I always planned to do a lot of dictation and copywork and use First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind to fill in the gaps, but it's one of the things we often don't get around to when life is busy.

We memorize large portions of Scripture.

We try to learn several hymns a year.

My kids read for probably an hour or two (or three or four...) a day. They really enjoy missionary biographies, but will read anything I hand them. Karissa is reading The Secret Garden right now.

Starting either this summer (yes... we sometimes do school in the summer) or in the fall, I am going to try to stick to Sonlight history (double time) and add extra reading if we are bored. I am going to continue math pretty much "as is," although Karissa will not continue with Singapore. (Micah says Singapore Math is his favorite thing in all of school and does not want to stop doing it.) We are also going to add in Rod and Staff English for Karissa. I'm still not sure what we'll do for science. I have more than enough stuff from Answers in Genesis and Apologia and Usborne and Janice Van Cleave! We'll see.

Then again, maybe we'll only do math, handwriting and read aloud everyday and worry about the rest when they get to high school! (JUST KIDDING!!!!!) I guess I'm not really too worried. When we were talking to a friend that is not really in favor of homeschooling, Karissa commented that we sometimes have trouble getting school done (between dawdling big kids, a busy toddler and a needy baby). The friend replied, "Well you must be doing something, you know the word "_____" and use it properly." I can't for the life of me remember what word it was, but the point was that my kids can communicate effectively and intelligently. After reading this post, you are probably thinking that is better than their mother can do!

Perhaps we'll take the next year off and memorize the book of Proverbs. Oh wait, that's what I want to have as one of my high school graduation requirements if we homeschool that long! It's doubtful that we will, but it's good to plan ahead. Besides, Karissa has decided that she wants to memorize her Bible in order and is about halfway through the first chapter of Genesis.

Evaluating what is important to know and where your kids are in the process is a very difficult thing. I don't feel that they need to be on a school "scope and sequence" and yet I want to them to be able to interact intelligently in society. I really want them to know and love God. I want them to know, love and obey His Word. I want them to enjoy the beauty God has made in nature and in things such as music and art. I want them to be able to work diligently and be productive. I want them to be able to intelligently communicate Christ's love to others. I want them to willingly and cheerfully serve others. I want them to love their neighbors as themselves. I want them to obey their parents (and not for purely selfish reasons). I want them to learn to be hospitable. I want them to know how to reason and think logically and be able to communicate those thoughts. I want them to seek to honor God in all they do. Not too much to expect, is it?

Excitement at the AWANA Games

Yesterday was the "AWANA Games." It used to be called the AWANA Olympics, but apparently THE Olympic Committee didn't like AWANA using their name. So, some years back, the name was changed. Our church had not participated for 20 years. Pastor Phil thought it would be fun to do it again, so we did.

Karissa participated with the T&T group from our church and Micah was there with the Sparks for the "Sparks-A-Rama." Matt was at a quiz in South Bend, Indiana. So, I had recruited one of our former quizzers to help me with the "little kids." (Thank you Amanda!) The T&T games started at 9:00. Part way through, Micah wasn't feeling very well. My three older kids have had colds this week and he seemed to be having a little trouble breathing. So, I gave him his inhaler and he seemed to be doing slightly better.

T&T finished and we ate the lunch we had brought. Then it was time for the Sparks at noon. Micah seemed a little under the weather, but said he was feeling okay. During the second or third game, he was moving pretty slowly (not like Micah). A few minutes later, his coach came walking over to me with Micah and he was saying he felt like he was going to throw up. I thought, "Uh oh!" Then, when I looked down at him, I saw his eyes start to roll back. I was holding a sleeping Rachel, but I told another parent who was standing next to me, "We need to get him out of this gym to some fresh air and give him his inhaler." She picked him up and off we went. After he had his inhaler, he laid down for a bit and seemed to be doing better. We both agreed, he shouldn't play any more games. So, we went back in to watch.

As we sat in the gym, he just didn't seem "right." So, I decided that we would just go home. As we went to get our coats, Micah started leaning on me really hard and could barely walk. He also was worried that he would throw up. I found the room where I knew the officials were going between sessions and where I knew I would find some people from our church that were helping with the organization of the day. From there, someone went to get the nurse that was there to hand out band-aids and put ice on bumps and bruises. She was frustrated because she didn't have a stethoscope and couldn't really tell how Micah's breathing was.

Eventually, we made the decision to call the paramedics. Of course, they got there about the time the Sparks were finishing an the next group of T&T kids were arriving for another round of AWANA games. And since the officials were done in the gym, they were headed for their "break room." So, we got moved out to the hallway. By this time, Micah was just sprawled on the nurse, had to be carried to the hallway and looked very pale and weak. Amanda went to get Pastor Phil in case details had to be worked out for someone to help with my kids and van. So, of course, we had a large crowd around us. The paramedics weren't quite sure either just how bad he was doing. No one was comfortable with him "crumpling" to the ground twice and no one wanted him to go into respiratory distress during my 40 minute drive home. They checked his oxygen saturation (it was pretty good-- about 92) and for two doses of albuterol so close together, his pulse wasn't even that high (only about 96). As we waited, he seemed to get better. So, I made the call to drive home and go to the hospital near us if he wasn't getting better. Since Amanda was with me, I felt better about that decision. Here's the kicker: when we got home, Micah runs up the stairs, grabs a ball and starts bouncing it around the living room. "NO SIR MISTER! I do NOT want any more emergencies while Daddy is still gone."

What a day! (Oh and did I mention that Karissa threw up in the car on the way home?)

God gave amazing peace through all of this. I had several people comment to me or someone from my church about how calm I was. At one point, after I couldn't reach Matt on the cell phone and the paramedics were coming and Micah was looking pretty bad, I had about 30 seconds to a minute of panic. But, after asking God for a clear mind and direction, He really gave it. I was so thankful! Pastor Phil, unfortunately, happened to arrive at the scene and ask what was up during my time of panic. So, he had to see the tears in my eyes and the frazzled look on my face. But thankfully God gives grace for all situations when we seek Him.