Wedding Bells!

We went to a wedding on Saturday. A sweet friend got married, and we were so excited to be able to participate. Kristy and her family moved here when she was in the 9th grade, and our families quickly became friends. Over the years, we have enjoyed lots of happy times together. Kristy babysat when the girls were much younger, as did her sister, Alli. Kristy was also the girls' first piano teacher. One of my favorite memories of those days happened one day during Banana's lesson. Kristy's mom and I were sitting in the dining room having our weekly "chat and coffee session" (oh how I miss those!), and listening to the piano "playing" coming from the other room. Suddenly, it got quiet. We listened for a few minutes, but no piano. Finally, we heard Kristy call out, "Banana, you need to come back downstairs. We aren't finished yet." Apparently, Banana had decided she had had enough piano lesson for one day and went upstairs to find Kat and the other kids. Sweet Kristy...she was so patient!

I remember her learning to drive, getting her first real job, playing "Rock Star Queen" with Kat and Anna and her siblings...and the infamous dog bed experience. Long story, you had to be there, but fun memories nonetheless.

So Saturday, she crossed a new milestone. Her wedding was beautiful and sweet. Kat and Anna got to take part, handing out programs to the guests as they entered. They were so happy to share in her special day. Congratulations Kristy and Jonathan! We love you!

Labor Day Labors

Labor Day was, by all accounts, a wash out thanks to Gustav. But that didn't stop us from being productive around here. Thankfully, we were spared any of the bad stuff! So we made the best of it, and got to work. At the top of the priority list was Banana's closet. Only a chosen few of you (actually, maybe only one of you) have ever seen said closet. It was a sight to behold. Banana doesn't believe in wasting any of her precious, abundant energy on housekeeping. The floor is a perfectly acceptable place on which to store one's belongings. There is no need to fully open a drawer to put an item inside. Slightly opening it and stuffing whatever it is inside works just as well...and it doesn't matter if the drawer is the correct drawer for that particular belonging. And beds are for sleeping in. Why bother making it if you are just going to get back in it later? So...you get the picture. Banana's closet was dangerous territory. It was the kind of place that gave me the shakes. It had become a nightly ritual for me to go into her room at bedtime and launch into a high pitched litany of despair.


Many years ago, when the girls were little, we installed a lower clothing rack and shelf in their closets so that they could reach things. In Banana's closet (I suppose because it is slightly longer) we also installed shelves up one side. At the time, I intended for the shelves to be for toys. The last few years, they have been used for shoes. But in reality, they have never worked well. They just encouraged clutter. Shoes, piled on shoes, falling off shelves, mixed up and hopelessly messy. To find a pair of shoes, Banana would dig through all three shelves, then crawl around on the floor looking for the shoe she wanted, then go through the same routine looking for it's mate. Not to mention all of the Barbie stuff and purses and hats and belts that were mixed in. Oh it was just awful...
This picture doesn't really do it justice. I didn't think to go get the camera until she had started.


Yesterday, Banana got to work. She pulled out all of the shoes, purses, hats and other clutter. The shoes got placed side by side, in pairs, so that she could sort them. All those that were too small got moved out. (I, by the way, inherited three really cute pairs of shoes this way.) Here is a picture of the shoes...just call her Imelda...

She worked really hard. She rearranged things, and moved some things, and (shock!) got rid of some things! After Kearsdad did the "dad" job of taking the shelves down, Banana did the rest. I supervised, but she really did all the work. I was quite proud of her. Here is the result.

I wonder how long it will last.

Perfect

That's not how I usually see myself. That's not how most of us usually see ourselves. But I was reminded recently that perfect is exactly how God sees me. How humbling.

I have a devotion book by Charles Swindoll that I love. It was actually a gift to Kearsdad from one of our pastors. It's called Wisdom for the Way and it is truly chock full of wisdom. The devotion I read the other day said this:

Our past is like an art gallery. Walking down those corridors of our memory is like walking through an art gallery. On the walls are all of yesterday's pictures: our childhood, our parents, our rearing, the heartaches, the difficulties, the joys and triumphs as well as the abuses and the inequities of our life. Since Jesus Christ our Lord is the same yesterday and today and forever, then we can take the Christ of today and walk with Him into our yesterday and ask Him to remove the pictures that bring bad or defeating memories. In other words, the Christian can let Jesus invade yesterday and deal with those years of affliction...and remove those scenes from the corridors of our lives.

I was reminded that God doesn't want me to live in a state of self-recrimination. He wants me to live in victory. This isn't a new idea for me...I know it. I've learned it over and over, but it never seems to stick. But oh how I want it to. I want to live in victory. I want to live in the security that I am perfect in His sight. He doesn't want me to walk around defeated, beating myself up over this or that failure, this or that memory. Can I do it? You can be sure I am going to try.

18 Years Ago Today

Ummm....yes, those children are actually Kearsdad and me. 18 years ago today. I can't believe I am actually posting this picture. But in honor of the anniversary of the best day of my life (just behind the day of my salvation, and just ahead of the birth of my two sweet girls) I am sharing this memory with you. Look how young (and skinny) we look!

The last 18 years have been incredible. Not always easy. But always good. God has blessed us beyond anything I could have imagined. I have a wonderful husband and I love him very much!

Happy Anniversary!

Creative Writing

Banana style. Banana had a list of spelling words this week. All her words have endings that mean "small". Words such as rivulet, ringlet, floweret, statuette, gosling, fledgling, and darling. Today, her assignment was to write sentences with said spelling words. Bear in mind, earlier assignments this week involved word meanings. Here is a sampling of Anna's sentences. Spelling words are in bold. Notice her use of girls' names in her sentences.

The dead man got put in a casket. ewww....

"Lou Lou" saw a fledgling.

"Kat" and I saw an eaglet at the zoo.

Brittany saw a darling come out of the bush. Huh? I had to ask about this one. She informed me that her spelling book said that darling is "a little dear". It had not occurred to me that she would misinterpret "dear" for "deer".

"Banana's" spelling word is ringlet. Um, yeah, that's real creative don't you think?

There were more, but these are just a few. In case you are wondering, she had to redo those last two. Those just didn't cut it. Dad said she would have to come up with something more creative. I thought she was pretty creative already. For what it's worth, I quizzed her tonight and she spelled them all correctly.

End of Summer...sigh...

Like it or not...it's that time again. The end of summer-as-we-know-it. Unfortunately, the Mississippi weather won't get that memo for at least 6 more weeks. (Although, I must admit, I have really enjoyed these last couple of rainy, coolER, days.) Most kids have gone back to school, regular activities are gearing back up. Banana goes back to dance this week, so there goes my free time! (Yea, Andrea! Here we come!)

I've been slowly making my way through the school books and new lesson plans, and I'm actually beginning to get excited. See, I have nothing against starting school...it's just the ending of summer I hate. But I love school...love the books and all the supplies and the anticipation of what will be learned this year. Adding to my excitement is the shipment of new books that is on its way. It should be here later this week.

Just for fun, I thought I'd list some of what the girls will be studying this year. People often ask me where I get my school stuff from, if I use a "curriculum" per se. Actually, I use a hodge podge of things...

Banana:
6th grade math-Alpha Omega publishers, LifePac
Grammar-Daily Grams 6 plus supplements from Easy Grammar
Spelling-Christian Liberty Press, Building Spelling Skills
Reading-various books accompanied by study guides from Progeny Press
History-Heritage Studies from Bob Jones University Press
Science-Bob Jones University Press

Kat:
PreAlgebra-Alpha Omega, LifePac
Grammar-Daily Grams 8 plus supplements form Easy Grammar
Vocabulary/Pre-Latin-Vocabulary From Classical Roots
Literature-various books, poetry, classics accompanied by study guides from PP
History-World Studies from Bob Jones University Press
Civics/Government-The Land of Fair Play from Christian Liberty Press
Science-Life Science-Bob Jones University Press

Those are just the basics...but it gives you an idea of what a homeschool study schedule might look like...We start Monday the 18th. I'm going to enjoy these last few days of summer.

The End of An Era-Part Two

It's a sad day for baseball. A few months ago, I posted this: The End of an Era. Today is the end of another era. Skip Carey died late yesterday. Skip was the voice of the Braves. Watching the Braves in the 80's and 90's meant listening to Skip and Pete and Ernie. Half the fun of watching the game was laughing at their antics. He was an icon, like his father before him. Harry and Skip...

Farewell Skip. We will miss you.