Tiffani's Last Day to Homeschool

Friday was our last day of homeschool for the 2007-2008 school year. As we finished up the final exams, cleaned out desks, filed papers, stored away text books, and averaged grades, there was a different feeling than other years. Friday was monumental. For the past 11 years, I have been Tiffani's school teacher. For nine months out of every year, she has started every school day off at 8 p.m. sharp (well, sometimes not so sharp) writing her spelling list, and then moving on to language, math, history and science. (There were electives in there too. Her most recent elective was French, in which, ironically enough, she scored higher than in English.)

But. Friday was her last day to homeschool. This fall she will be starting the collegiate program in the metroplex whereby she will complete her last two high school years congruent with her first two college years. It is a free program for those who are accepted. Two years from now she will have 2 graduation ceremonies: one for her high school diploma; the other for an associates degree in engineering.

As most of you know, we have used the A Beka curriculum, and it has served us well. She scored extremely high on the Accuplacer entrance exam at the college.

This is a big step for all of us. This is one more step in letting go, and I've got to say, it is tough for the mom in me. These are unchartered waters, however, we have all prayed about this, and we truly feel as though God has opened this door for her. Tiffani has a good head on her shoulders, and when it comes to the big decisions, she consistently makes the right choices. I trust that she is going to be a faithful ambassador for God on that campus this fall.






This is our downsized classroom, ready for the 2008-2009 homeschool year.

Blessed

The music in this montage is what inspired this blog. I have to admit that from time to time I get to feeling a bit sorry for myself. Immature, huh? It is at those times that I need to stop and count my blessings. My husband has preached many times that people start to backslide when they stop being thankful. When I start to focus on ME and MY NEEDS, I am not only ignoring God's plan for my existence here on Earth, but I am hurting myself by brushing aside the blessings that come with focusing on others.

God has been so incredibly good to me. How could I complain??

The Red Plate-Special

Saturday morning, I woke to a phone call. It was my mother telling me that she would be landing at the DFW airport in just one hour to take me shopping and to lunch at our favorite restaurant. She flew in for the day to let me know that she thinks I am special.


Yesterday morning my youngest daughter woke up early, made banana pancakes, and served me breakfast in bed. She used the Red Plate to let me know that this was my special day. I am now 39.

My husband took our family of 5 to Tokyo One for lunch--it was a financial sacrifice, but he wanted me to know I was special.


Last night Craig and I toured the Galleria. He was looking for something to buy for me. "Do you like this? I'll buy it for you. How about this?" (The Louis Vuitton store did not count--I certainly found something there.) We finally found something. I felt special.

Sis. McGree took our kids home from the church so we wouldn't have to rush back. On our way home we stopped at Braums for a really special treat.

Altogether I received eight birthday cards from family and friends who always remember me. Four phone calls came in wishing me a great day. Even Henry, my college teacher and Preston, a rough-around-the-edges kind of guy signed the traditional song in ASL.

Before going upstairs to bed, Bethani came to me in such a sincere way, gave me a big hug and said, "Mom, I love you. Happy Birthday." THAT made me feel special.

Yes, I am truly blessed to have wonderful people in my life. Thank you Lord for blessing me.

The Easter Outfits

For all of my growing up years, each Easter was the same. Here is the scenario that played out year after year:

My mom would sew my Easter dress--sometimes matching hers and Grandma's. Of course, true to her personality, it was almost always done last minute. The Saturday night before Easter was the same. Mom would be in the sewing room hurrying to finish my dress, while I would be in the adjoining kitchen dying the Easter eggs that she had signed up to bring for the next day's egg hunt at church. I would invariably have stained hands to go along with my new dress. (Mom always told me that is why the tradition of Easter gloves.)

After my egg dying was finished, and I could no longer keep my little eyes open, I would guiltily recede to my bedroom while my mom continued to burn the midnight oil. The next morning I would awaken to find my new Easter outfit hanging from the poster of my canopy bed.

We had purchased an ivory dress for Bethani some time back that needed a short jacket. It seemed perfect for Easter, so I decided on Wednesday that I should sew Bethani’s jacket. I went to my closet and found nothing with which to make it. I did, however, find a piece of salmon colored silk dupion. So, I made up a dress. Of course, it was a sleeveless dress, so now instead of ONE jacket, I needed to make TWO. I apparently didn’t help my cause any.






Thursday we went to the store and bought material for the ivory jacket. Friday I made the second jacket and helped Bethani make her American doll her own matching dress.






Saturday morning I woke up and wondered, “Hey, what about me and my needs???” So, I went to the infamous closet and found a nice piece of blue linen, picked out a pattern, and by midnight had a new suit for myself. It was totally unplanned, but typical of my Easter weekend--in fact it wouldn't have seemed normal any other way.

While I was upstairs sewing, Bethani was downstairs dying eggs. To her dismay, however, the next morning she could only find one glove for her stained hands.

Today, Bethani sleeps in the bed I grew up in. There have been several years when she too has awaken the next morning to find her dress hanging on the post of her canopy. This year she asked if she could hang her Easter dress on the post even though it was finished 2 DAYS EARLY!

Memories, sweet memories...

(The ivory jacket still isn't made. I wonder what the aversion is? I really need to get busy.)

Easter 2008

Windy Easter Morning









The Kiss

Holiday Youth Convention

Pastor prayed for the kids before they left. Can you believe there were 3 vans and 60 people!!!




This is apparently the latest trend. Too bad I don't have a picture of the final "Do". Must have been beautiful!

Jeremi's Lawn Care

This week is Holiday Youth Convention for the teens, and this year, they are earning their own money to pay their expenses. (Well, Grammy did send a sizeable check to help them along...)

Jeremi is a bit shy when asking people for anything, so I was there to help push him along. We decided that since it is spring and time to jump start the lawns, he should mow our lawn first as a sample of his quality work. So, on Saturday when he finished our yard, he and I jumped in the car and started driving around our neighborhood looking for neglected lawns. We found several. The first house had no answer at the door. The second house had a son who is capable of mowing himself, but the third house was his answer. He bravely knocked on the door, explained that he was a neighbor looking to fund a church trip next week and was willing to mow grass. "Would you believe it" the man said, "I was just talking with my wife about what to do about our broken lawn mower blade. I would really appreciate your help."


Well, Jeremi was so excited! He was now in business. You can imagine how excited he was when the man said he was going to pay him a lot more than just the suggested $15. In fact, he came home with 2 crisp $20 bills!

I asked him later, "Doesn't it feel good to do a good day's work?" He admitted that it did and added, "I just don't like to ask for work."