Family Update

This past week we started school, and are off to a very good start. Charles is going to school this year at my dear friend's home, Caroline and Jonathan are attending the Classical School of Marietta (a 1 day a week program), our pastor is tutoring Jonathan in Greek, and Jonathan also takes General Science at the Great Oak Academy. In terms of homeschooling, this will be the lightest load I've ever done thanks to all the help we are enlisting this year.

Initially when planning the school year, I had decided to let Charles attend an art class and lego robotics class at Orchard Academy. But at registration, when I discovered just those two classes for 5 months were going to cost $800, I withdrew Charles. He was really excited about taking the classes, and I was a little concerned about breaking the bad news. I explained the situation, and he thought about it for a bit. I said, "Charles, are you upset about this?" his response: "Well, mom, if Jesus was not in my heart, I would be very upset. But since Jesus is in my heart and that is the most important thing, I'm ok."

I did let him know that he could get a crab from the pet shop if he agreed to take care of it, since he wasn't going to get to take the classes. Well, he really perked up then!

This weekend was a whirlwind of activity, and I had been eager to get beyond it and rest a bit this week. I have ended up so energized from the events, that I'm now going in the opposite direction of rest, and have several new projects on the immediate horizon. And most importantly, I now have a mentor! I have been praying for this ever since I started on this journey.

Vivian is walking very well now. She talks jibberish in earnest all the time, shrugs her little shoulders, walks with her hands behind her back, and gives kisses all the time. We are all a pile of pathetic goo with Vivian. Every time Oliver sees a small baby, he lets the mommy know that we have a baby, too. It goes like this: "We have a baby. Her name is Vivian. She's not a little baby, she's a big baby. Actually, she walks, so she's not really a baby. But we have a baby, too."

Yesterday morning, Jon got the 4 younger kids dressed for church, hair combed, etc., and then sent the three boys downstairs to sit on the sofa quietly while he got dressed for church- this is our Sunday morning custom. About 15 minutes later he called to the boys to get in the car- they filed past hot, sweaty and disheveled. Jon said, "Why are you boys all sweaty?" Charles answered, " Well, we saw a lizard outside, and we needed to catch it-" Oliver jumped in," and it was really fast, it went under the bushes, and we chased it under the bushes, and clamped our hands over it-" Gabriel chimed in, " a fast wizard!" (the l's don't come out quite right). Good grief.