My baby is 6!

Happy Birthday to Clayton! He turns 6 today and he's SOOOO excited about it. He has been planning this birthday for months and been asking me for weeks how many more days till his birthday! We had a party last weekend in Salem for him with the Salem-family. Darlene made the cake (she's practicing for ReVay's wedding!) and Cory and Maggie decorated it. Clayton LOVED it! (He especially loved eating the fondant!)

Below is him 'making a wish' and then blowing out the candles...and then when opening presents, he felt the need to put the gift bags on his head... Oy. :-)

I will update in the next few days with more photos from the remainder of the activities we have planned!

Wonderful weekend!

We were childless for the weekend! :) Mom and dad took the boys for the weekend so that we and some friends of ours could go on Saturday to one of the local wineries and take a tour. I'd been there last year with the college girls that came to MO, but Terry still had never been. We really enjoyed the live band and getting to try several different wines so that we could figure out which ones we liked! :)

We went to get the kids last night and they were WOUND! I kept asking mom what she gave them before we got there, cuz they just wouldn't settle down! They were loud and full of energy. But by the time we got home they had settled down considerably. They even commented on how clean the house was when they walked in! LOL Now, if a 5 and 7 year old will notice it when it's clean, it must be really bad beforehand, which it was!

This week is a 'normal' week for us. We have TKD twice and then Presidents with our homeschool group on Thursday morning. We've just started, but we're doing George Washington and John Adams and we'll work our way through the list. I'm really pretty excited about it, as I never learned them in school and have always wanted to learn about the Presidents. Cool!

This weekend, we'll be going to Salem so we can celebrate Clayton's birthday with the family there. It will be our first time going in since the first of August! It's not like us to go so many weeks without visiting, but life has just gotten so crazy! Clayton is excited about getting to FINALLY celebrate his birthday (even though it hasn't even occurred yet), as he's been waiting for months for his birthday! But hey, at least THIS year I have his scrapbook caught up to his 2nd birthday, so we have pictures to share with him. (He's only been asking for that for a couple years, but hey, what can I say???)

K, time to go get them ready for TKD and get supper started. One of these days, Sunny, I'll get some pics on here of myself and get out from behind the camera! :) No one will take pictures if I don't do it! LOL

Campout 2008!

We have been planning this family camping trip for weeks....months even! Terry promised the boys that he would take them camping by the end of summer and this ended up being the ONLY weekend we had to do it. So, we left on Thursday with plans to come back on Saturday. We went to St. Francois State Park, about an hour from us, and it was truly beautiful! Course, it helped that we were completely alone on our 'loop' for the first 36 hours and the kids could roam all over the area where we were and go exploring in other sites. I told them that as long as I could see them, I was comfortable with where they went. They absolutely loved it!

But the trip started out a bit ....well, shall we say wet! It was sprinkling on us before we ever even picked out our site and backed into it. We were supposed to unload our stuff and go pay for the site, but we knew that since it was raining we would need to get the tent up asap and then go pay. Luckily, the campground host was driving around and came to us while we were putting the tent up and we just paid that way. So nice. Anyway, it rained that entire night! Thankfully, we had a couple extra tarps so we were able to rig a canopy by tying a tarp up between some trees just outside our tent. The rained calmed a bit before supper and we went and got some wood....Let me just say here that whoever is supplying the state parks with wood is making a bundle of money...or perhaps they aren't, but the state is! This little bitty bundle of wood that burns up fast cuz it is so dry is $3. We spent $15 on wood that would have gotten us through the first day, maybe. But we had to have a fire that night so we could eat, so we paid the money. Ugh!

We got back to the site and Terry built a fire, showing the boys how to stack the wood so it would burn well and catch quickly. I was truly amazed at how the boys would just sit out in the rain watching their daddy build a fire and helping him chop kindling. :) Anyway, they finally got the fire going and started roasting some hot dogs. I got the chips, ketchup, mustard, and buns and sodas over under our little canopy. Terry would bring me a couple pokers filled with cooked dogs and I would slide them off with the buns, doctor them up and pass them out. We all sat under the canopy eating our supper while the rain continued to fall! Course, one piece of entertainment was how the canopy would build up a bit of water and then it would fall off...the boys said the canopy was peeing for us! LOL

(Obviously cuz of the rain I don't have any pictures of the beginning of our trip....I didn't want to take the chance of ruining my camera!)

We finally got to bed...the boys were asking for their beds by 8 PM!!! I was shocked! But it was nice for Terry and I...we got to sit out by the campfire and visit, alone, for a couple hours! And the rain stopped just so we could....we only got dripped on by the trees! But once we got into the tent for bed, we had only been laying there about 10 minutes when we heard this loud, "sshhhhhhhhh....thunk!" and then, "Dad, I fell out of bed!" It was Brent. The boys were sleeping on an air mattress that was raised up on a frame and we were on a mattress on the ground. Well, apparently Clayton had continually scooted over to Brent, and Brent kept scooting from Clayton...and ended up in the floor! Poor kid! He fell out of bed twice through the night, so none of us really got much sleep that first night. But oddly enough, we all woke up feeling well and rested...and ready to tackle the day!

Friday morning was a bit cloudy still, but you could see a little blue sky trying to show through, so we were hopeful! We got around, Terry stoked the fire...well, rebuilt it really cuz there weren't any coals left from that dried out wood we had to use....and we had breakfast of Pop tarts, Granola bars, and juice. Very easy but a treat for us, cuz those aren't things we have much at all at our house! We decided to go back up to a place a couple miles from the park where we'd seen a sign for firewood to see what the cost would be. The guy LOADED that back of the van with nice round pieces of wood and only charged us $20! When we got back, the boys helped Terry unload it:





Just a few minutes after we got back from getting the wood, mom and dad came for lunch. We made campfire sandwiches...well, we tried to make them anyway...! If you've never had them, campfire sandwiches are these GREAT camping tools that create sandwiches for you when you stick them in the coals. Most of them are square, but you can find round ones sometimes. They are sort of like hot dog pokers, but have a square compartment at the end instead of the pokers. Anyway, you put in bread, cheese and lunch meat (ham is best) and close it up and stick in the coals. Watch it for a bit (opening and checking it so it doesn't burn, which ours did!) and when it is toasted and the cheese is melted, you pop it out onto a plate and bam-o! You have a hot ham and cheese! YUM! Then at night for dessert, you can butter the outsides of the bread and fill it with pie filling and cook it...instant pie! :)

Well, after mom and dad left, we took the kids to the playground area and to the creek. Oh, the creek was hilarious! It is always amazing how kids can play for a long time with a rock and not want to play at all with toys you have purchased! We skipped rocks and the boys had fun just throwing rocks in the creek. Then we encouraged them to wade into the creek (it was only about chest deep for Brent) and they had so much fun! Brent found this rock (pic below) that he continually would throw across the water, let it splash and sink, and then find it again...only to do it all over again. He played like that for over 30 minutes!

(Left: B splashing himself with his rock. Right: B 'looking' for his rock after throwing it.)



Clayton figured out that he couldn't keep his flip flops on very well in the water (they kept coming off and floating to the top) so he decided to just take them off and play with them!




Left: Clayton watching the dirt 'trail' that he left behind and that floated down-river every time he walked. Right: Clayton "dog-paddling" in the creek.



Just some more misc. creek picture...





These below are pics of Brent's rock that he found and then them together with his rock. He wanted to take the rock home with us but we explained that the State Park wouldn't look too nicely on us taking rocks....



While the boys were in the creek I found some deer tracks that we showed them when they got out. Very cool...and I was SO proud that I was the one that found them! LOL



We finally got them out of the creek and back to the campsite. Terry got the coals going for our supper and then took the kids up to the shower house for showers. While they were gone, I scrubbed taters and got them in the fire for baked potatoes....OH! What a great meal when it's cooked over the campfire like that!

Oh, and another thing happened while they were all in the shower....I was just sitting there, minding my own business when a deer came out of the woods at the top of the loop (couple hundred feet away) and began eating from the grasses that were there. She just stood there for nearly thirty minutes eating and listening, twitching her ears and her tail....but just as calm as you please! It was such a beautiful sight!

After supper, we taught Brent how to play Yahtzee and he loved it! (I always love being able to squeeze schoolwork in without them noticing!) Shortly after, the boys went to bed...they could barely keep their eyes open!

***The One Bad Thing*** I started getting a headache around the time they went to bed. I took some Advil and went to bed myself, telling Terry that I wasn't feeling very good, but didn't really know why. Well, I found out! I woke myself up multiple times through the night moaning in pain from a migraine! I finally got up around 6 and took some migraine meds (I'm so thankful I remembered to bring them with me!) and went back to bed. (It was the worst migraine I think I've ever had! When I got out of the tent to get my meds, I glanced up at the sky to see what the weather was doing. There were a few clouds in the sky and they were pulsating at me! I've never had that happen before. Light sensitivity, yes. But nothing like that!) Terry let me sleep till about 9:30, but he had to wake me up so we could pack up camp and be off the site by 12. I still had an achy head, so I took more Advil and started working. Oh, it hurt!

Anyway, we got everything packed up and I'm so thankful for the wind! It was only because of the wind that we were able to dry everything out before packing it up, so we didn't have to put the tent back up when we got home! :)

Amanda

9/11 Tribute from the Boys

Two days ago (Tuesday) the boys began the morning playing in the living room with some yarn. Brent decided to build a city when he found some empty boxes in the laundry room. So he took the yarn, the boxes and a bunch of cars, and started working. He came to me later (maybe 30 minutes) and said, "Mom, you gotta come see our city!!!" So I went in and saw what they had done..."Very Cool." But then he tells me that they have made "New York City" and 'walks' me through the town.

This first one is the school building (where the army guys are!). The second is their "city sign" letting people know where they are.

Next, are the streets with all the cars and the highways and the 'farm' areas....of course, since they've never been to NYC, they don't understand that there aren't farms in the middle of the city, cuz where we live there are farms in the middle of town! LOL

This next one is what Brent called the Twin Towers.

Now, mind you, he was only 4 months old at the time of the Twin Towers Attack and while we have explained the basics of what happened, he doesn't know the impact it has/had on all of us as a nation. He is learning, with the more news we watch and the more political debates we see. He is also listening anytime anyone mentions 9/11 and probably takes in more than we realize. But this next picture is the one that got me. He came up with this all on his own and placed everything just so with his own explanation. I didn't specifically tell them, "Thursday is 9/11, the day we remember, and let's do something nice." This was all him. He amazes me with his loving and tender heart and the things he is thinking about sometimes. See below. Remember what you are seeing is the "Twin Towers" made of boxes.

So, after seeing what they did, I decided to capture it with the camera and share with everyone. Our family is still dealing with the ramifications of 9/11, and I don't really know why. We had no friends or family working there. And for some reason, this year we have been talking more and more about the Attack and the anniversary. Perhaps it is all the politics in recent weeks. Perhaps it is us 'getting older' and thinking more deeply about issues. Perhaps it is me becoming more aware of life on a national/worldwide level. Who knows. All I do know is that on this day, we are prayerful and mindful of the families who are still dealing with the effects that the Attacks placed on their families and in their lives. We are thankful that our family is still in tact, and that our nation still stands. I pray for our nation daily, but even more so in the coming election times. We have so much to fight for as a nation, and only God will see us through.

((((HUGS)))) to all our friends and family.

Weekend update

What a busy weekend! Whew, where did the time go??? I'll tell ya:

Friday night we headed out for a baby shower for one of Terry's cousins. He took off early so he could go by a place and get new inserts for his boots, and so we could shop for our food contribution for the Cajun Boil and Trivia night. After running our errands, we decide to drive (to get past the curves!) before eating dinner. We get to Bloomfield and see a sign for Cowtown...a restaurant we've heard of, but never been to. Wow! We literally drove up into (what looked like) someones yard...driving past corn/soybean fields...till we got to the 'restaurant' which was a metal building. BUT! They have AWESOME food and fried catfish that is out of this world! The sides are ALL homemade and are delicious! We have plans to go back again, but the drive is something to consider.

We made it to the shower, albeit about an hour late! But we got to visit with all of Terry's family that was there, so we really enjoyed that part. WE left there about 10:30 and got home after midnight. :( By the time we got the kids down and we got to bed, it was nearly 2! Needless to say we slept in on Saturday morning. LOL

After getting around Saturday, we headed down for the Cajun Boil at church...what fun that is! Everyone contributes some amount of food (ranging from shrimp, crawfish, potatoes, sausage, corn on the cob, onions, garlic, etc...to dessert!) and it's cooked up and just dumped out on a table lined with newspaper! YUM-O! A bit spicy and very delicious! Then after everyone has eaten their fill, we get to play trivia that Scott has dreamed up...er, found in books and/or the Internet. 10 categories, with 10 questions each. It is hilarious how much we just pull out of the air when we don't know the answers and how much fun we have doing it! We get really stupid too.... For instance, one of the questions was "how long is the Statue of Liberty's index finger?" Well, who really cares????? LOL but, I got smart (imagine that!) and stuck my index finger on my nose and said, "As long as her nose???" Of course, that got a laugh from some...probably at how stupid I was! LOL (It's 8 feet, btw!) Anyway, we're divided into teams of 4-6 and we can come up with our own 'team names'...ours was Oompa Loompas! But there was Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, Blissfully Unaware (hi Steph!!!), Us, The Fabulous Five, and others. I don't remember them all....it's so much fun! We left there 6-ish and headed home to get ready for church the next morning!

Of course, then yesterday was worship and afternoon naps! (for me anyway!) We got home from church last night and ate supper and went to bed! We were actually in bed and going to sleep by 11:30 last night!!!! (I know, not a miracle for some, but for us it is!)

Today was slow going and yet, we still got school done! Woohoo! Now, we're off to bed again to do it all over again tomorrow!

Baby Blanket

Last night I began the task of cutting out and sewing a baby blanket for a baby shower we're going to tonight. (Yeah, I know..nothing like waiting to the last minute to do things, huh??) I knew what material I was using, but wasn't sure of the pattern. And since I'm not very good with blocks, I didn't want to make it too complicated for myself.

Well, I am blessed with a very loving and giving husband, cuz he came home around 6 and saw me working on the blanket. He changed his clothes and came out and said, "So what do I need to do for supper since you're working on that?" So I told him what I had planned and he started it, then started a load of laundry. He cooked supper and fed the kids, then did math with Brent, wrestled with Clayton, and then wrestled with both boys together before putting them to bed! Wow...how blessed I am!

Anyway, I finally finished the blanket a little before midnight and I decided to share the pics with you!

Caterpiller.....BUTTERFLY!

YIPPPPEEE! We had a butterfly 'hatch' yesterday. I had a homeschooling friend here and the kids were playing and one of them came in and said, "Mom, one of the butterflies is out!" So we all ran to look and sure enough....there it was. We let it 'dry' for an hour more and by the time we got back into the kitchen, it was near the top of the container. So I put my finger in there and it just crawled right up on my finger!!! :) We slowly walked it outside and Clayton asked if he could hold it....it crawled over to his hand and then just took off flying! The kids all watched it fly around a bit till it flew to the point we could no longer see it. Here are a couple shots of it:

New Crayons!

So, I got the boys each their own box of Crayons (64) for this year so that we wouldn't have the issue of not having a particular color when needed or "he lost the green!" LOL I remember when I was in school and you'd open up that new box of colors on the first day of school and they would be all organized and in order of their color schemes.... So nice!

Well, not anymore! NOW they are just haphazardly put in there, with no order at all! It was WEIRD to see and just bothered me! Well, apparently it bothered Brent too! Cuz on his first "break" from schoolwork when he could have gotten up and run around or gotten a drink, he took off his glasses and said, "I think I'll sit here and organize my colors." LOL I just about fell over....he has them now, "not perfect, but at least they are better than they were." (According to him.)

I just don't get it...why'd they change it?? Just a minor oddity in life and I thought I'd share it!

WHY???? (Slight rant, be warned!)

WHY do parents/grandparents/adults allow little kids (and I mean little...as in still wearing diapers and still sucking pacifiers (which I know doesn't guarantee a certain age these days!), and looking to be about 3) to ride in a car in the front seat, with NO car seat/booster seat, and sometimes not even buckled??? I just don't get it! Here is MO law:

Missouri car seat safety laws require children under age four and under 40 pounds to ride in a federally approved child car seat that is appropriate for the child's age and size. Children ages 4 through 7 who weigh more than 40 pounds but less than 80 pounds or are not at least 4'9" tall must ride in an appropriate child car seat or booster seat. Children ages 8 to 18 must wear a seat belt.

So while they do not have to be in the back seat (like I originally thought, till I researched...and let me say, it shocks me that it's not law for them to be in the back seat!), they clearly have to be in a car seat/booster seat, depending on their age and/or weight. So WHY do people just blatantly ignore that fact and take such risks with their children's lives?

Once when I was younger, a friend told us of how she always answered the question from her daughter, "Why do I have to always be in my car seat?" with the answer, "Because I love you so much that I want to make sure you are safe while we're driving." But then one day, the little girls' grandma came to visit and Grandma took her shopping but didn't move the car seat. The little girl asked Grandma about it and Grandma said, "Oh, we're not going far....it will be okay for you to ride up here with me in a seat belt." Well, the little girl came home crying, running to her mom. When asked why she was crying, the little girl replied that Grandma didn't love her anymore. When quizzed even more, she said she knew Grandma didn't love her anymore cuz, "She didn't make me get in my car seat to make me safe."

How true!!! We LOVE our children so much that we want to do everything we can to keep them safe while on the roads. What does it say for the ones who don't take that extra step to ensure the safety of our children? It just bothers me when I see grown, responsible adults (currently 2 of my neighbors who do this all the time!) who will put a little kid in the front seat. One of the neighbors will take the time to at least strap the child in the seat belt. But the other one doesn't bother. Her granddaughter is simply allowed to ride all over the front seat, and at times we've seen her go by with the little girl in her lap 'helping' her drive. !!!!!! It's unfathomable to me!

Brent got mad last year when the MO law was changed to require children who weighed less than 80 lbs to remain in a car seat if they were under 7. That law used to be 60 lbs I believe, but don't quote me on that. Anyway, he was very close to reaching that point where he no longer had to use a booster seat, but with the change in the law, it made him have to remain in his booster seat. He was pretty upset and (like his mama!) pretty vocal about his opinion! We had to explain (a few times) that the law was changed because they were seeing children getting hurt even with the law the way it was before, and they thought that if they extended it a bit, it would help save children's lives. And since we want him to be safe so we have him around a long time, and because we want to obey the laws like God wants us to, we will follow the law and he will stay in his booster seat. He wasn't happy, but he complied. :)

Please find out what the laws are in your state and OBEY them! Keep your children safe!!!

Caterpillar update

Well, I was wrong a bit....they are swallowtail caterpillars, not swordtail. Ooops! LOL

But we now have 3 chrysalis's! :) I'm so excited....one of them went up the side of the container and did it's thing and became a green chrysalis. Then we had 2 more that went up on the stick that we put in there. For one day (yesterday) they 'hung back' by attaching their lower feet and creating a 'girdle' to hang with. They spent that day and then yesterday evening they were still looking like the caterpillar. No biggie. But, within about 4 hours (by bedtime last night), one of them had transformed into its chrysalis (green) and then by this morning the other one was a chrysalis (brown). I was a bit confused by the difference in color of the chrysalis, so I did some looking. Here is what I found:

There seems to be a bit of a difference in the look of the resulting butterfly, but I don't know that for sure. hehe

From what I have learned online, we have a couple of weeks for them to be like this and then their chrysalis will become transparent and they will emerge the within the next 24 hours. So, we shall see! :)

7 New Additions

And no they aren't babies! LOL

We have caterpillars! A fellow homeschooler emailed out that she had several sword tail caterpillars in her back yard and offered them to anyone interested. Of course we were! We went and picked up 7 and took some of her parsley (what they were eating) to get us going. Within a few hours, all the parsley we had was gone and we needed to buy more!

So after cleaning out a see-through bucket for them to live in and adding some sticks (for the chrysalis stage) we got them set up in their new home. They are devouring the parsley and I have no idea how long it will be before they are entering their chrysalis. There are 3 larger ones, 2 medium ones and 1 smaller one. So it will be nice to watch them grow and change.

My friend told me that it is normally 2-3 weeks in the cocoon before emerging as a butterfly. We can't wait! I will post pictures when we get them...the caterpillars (or "calipitters" as Clayton calls them!) are gorgeous!).

A wonderful compliment

A week ago yesterday, right after Bible class, one of our 'senior saints' came up to me and patted me on the shoulder. She said that after our Wednesday night Bible class, she went home and did more study.


Some Background
We've been doing Revelation since November (!!!) and we're just about to wrap it up. I co-teach with a deacon's wife...well, co-teach sort-of. When she's gone I teach for her! But I'm always prepared to teach for her cuz there are some times it's relatively short notice due to her job.... Well, Wednesday night I had brought up some questions I had during my study about the New Jerusalem (in Chapter 21), and how many people say that the New Jerusalem is heaven and how some say it is the church. Our questions started off saying it was the church and then switched gears in the middle of the lesson saying the New Jerusalem was heaven. But I brought out the fact that the NJ comes down out of heaven and wondered how heaven can come down out of heaven? It created quite the discussion and quite a few puzzled looks, and we really never came to a good conclusion....

I digress
So on Sunday of last week, this wonderful lady comes up to me and tells me that after that class on Wednesday, she was truly intrigued because of what I had said and that caused her to go home and study more of it on her own. She said she wanted to thank me for causing her to do that and that in her opinion, causing someone to go home and do more study is the mark of a really good teacher. *enter humbled face here!*

I was truly touched by what she said and had tears as she hugged me thanking me for doing that for her. Wow!


Well, last Wednesday night we finished Revelation! Finally! Wooohoooo! LOL It truly was a great study and I'm SO glad we did it. We threw a little celebratory party on Thursday evening (dessert and coffee) for the Ladies Class, but we had a secret motive: to honor Marcia for teaching it for us. We had been planning it for some time and one of our ladies volunteered to make a quilt in honor of it all. We each got a block for the quilt and we put something on it: some embroidered, some wrote scriptures, some stamped a message on it. Then it was quilted together and we presented it to Marcia on Thursday evening as a surprise...she was truly shocked! And honored. We had her in tears...well, several of us had tears. We are truly blessed to have in our midst a woman as devoted and talented as she is and we're thankful for her.

What a great Bible study and what a great time to come closer to God as we came closer to each other in the process!

Homeschoolers say, Enough already!

I received this article from a group I'm on. I really lik what she has to say...very well stated.

Homeschoolers say, enough already
by Patricia Lewis
World Net Daily

It happens. Some idiot parents have their children yanked out of the home because of abuse or neglect. The typical reported scenario is the kids were often malnourished, were rarely seen by neighbors and sometimes had untreated injuries.

And naturally, they never went to school. Instead, they were "homeschooled."

At least that's the conclusion formulated and trumpeted by reporters across the country whenever one of these horrible cases comes to light. Close upon the story's heels comes a fresh outcry of "Homeschoolers need more regulation!"

Never mind the vastly more common examples of abused children in public schools. Whenever an abused child is described as homeschooled, the extrapolation starts. All homeschoolers are like that. Therefore they need more regulation.

The stated or implied reason for additional regulation is that homeschoolers are a secretive lot who have something to hide. They must be doing something nefarious or they wouldn't be so adamant about keeping the government out of their private lives. See these poor pathetic abused kids? There's proof.

Grunt.

Government officials are embarrassed to acknowledge that, despite the unending billions of dollars poured into the public schools over the past 50 years, a bunch of uncredentialed yokels are showing them up. Their hostility is understandable, really. Homeschoolers are a threat. With often extremely limited funds, they persist in putting out sharp, polite, balanced, astoundingly well-educated young adults. Gosh, I'd be threatened, too.

So, with the twisted logic so endemic in government circles, they conclude: "The homeschooling system is working well, and it is working outside our control. Therefore we must fix it."

It is true that there are kids who fall through the homeschooling cracks. There are some "parents" (I use the term loosely) who allegedly homeschool their kids but actually do nothing. Some people even use the homeschooling excuse to keep outsiders from seeing the bruises. It happens. There are all kinds of people in this world, after all.

But what is absurd is that, when this rare situation occurs, suddenly all homeschoolers are suspect. This is like saying that just because a female teacher sexually exploits a teenage boy, then all female schoolteachers are lecherous abusers and must be treated as such.

Talk about guilty until proven innocent.

There are indeed hundreds of thousands of kids who are falling through the cracks and receiving inadequate education – but they are attending public schools. How else can you account for exorbitant dropout rates? Embarrassing test results? Graduates who can't read their own diplomas? Schools have passed beyond serious concern into the realm of laughing stock.

So before you attempt to clean my house, get your own house in order first. Or, to expand the analogy, don't you dare pass laws that require me to keep my house in a certain and precise order when you're living in a sty.

Anyone who has read the news in the last couple months is aware that a California judge, with the stroke of a pen, outlawed homeschooling in that state. Needless to say, this caused cries of protest from outraged parents across the country.

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association (one of the greatest inventions since sliced bread, in my opinion) teamed up with various other state and national organizations and helped convince the Court of Appeals to reverse this decision. This caused an enormous sigh of relief among all homeschoolers.

The California victory is just that – a hard-earned, intensely fought, righteous victory. But I can't help but see it as a temporary stay of execution. Yes, homeschooling is once again legal, but just watch – it will become even more complicated. My suspicion is the government wants all homeschoolers regulated to the point where parents may as well give up and stick their kids back in the cesspool … er, public schools, and the government won't stop trying just because they got kicked in the pants this time.

Thanks to the constant vigilance of HSLDA and other supportive organizations, homeschooling is now legal in all 50 states. States can no longer impose such unconstitutional absurdities as home inspections (can you imagine?). However, to a greater or lesser extent, states still try to discourage homeschoolers by imposing restrictive and unnecessary bureaucratic paperwork.

What on earth do people think will happen if homeschooling is more strongly regulated? What benefits will occur if parents are forced to comply with ridiculous rules and regulations and government mandates? Portfolios. Testing requirements. Attendance records. Curriculum approval. Mandated subjects. Instruction plans. Quarterly reports. Annual assessments. Immunization requirements. Receipt of health and medical records. Parental qualifications.

Come on, already. These are all unnecessary burdens on homeschooling parents. The more requirements parents are forced to comply with, the more they get frustrated and intimidated. And – here's a concept – the more it distracts them from their primary role, namely educating their children.

Of course, maybe that's the point.

According to Ian Slatter, Director of Media Relations for HSLDA, on average homeschooled children score just as well on standardized tests in states with low regulation as they do in states with high regulation. In other words, government-mandated regulation is a waste of taxpayers' money and parents' time – and has no effect on the test results of homeschooled students.

• The academic achievement of homeschoolers is indisputable. According to the National Home Education Research Institute:
  The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.
  Homeschool students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education or their family's household income.
• Whether homeschool parents were ever certified teachers is not related to their children's academic achievement.
• Degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling is not related to academic achievement.
• Home-educated students typically score above average on the SAT and ACT tests that colleges consider for admissions.
• Homeschool students are increasingly being actively recruited by colleges.

Enough is enough. The data are in and the case is closed. Homeschoolers don't need more government regulation.

We need to be left alone.

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I'm now in love....

This is what Clayton told me this morning on the couch. :) I said, 'Oh yeah....who with?" He said, "You know...Taylor. The one I kissed last night." LOL

Last night at McDonald's, Clayton and Taylor proceeded to fall in love while playing on the indoor play-ground. They said I love you to each other and even kissed each other on the cheek! And now Clayton says they're gonna get married! So sweet.....

Of course, he's been saying he's gonna marry just about every girl he comes in contact with!

Frustration

I try really hard not to 'preach' to people about homeschooling. I know that if they need help or information, they will ask and I can offer the help they need (or send them to the right source). However, when they have asked for help and plainly know what they would like to choose, but then go the 'normal' way because of pressure from family, it gets really frustrating. And then to hear them continually groan and moan about the fact that they are having to send their child to PS and how horrible it is, when they know they have a better or different choice, and yet have chosen not to do so.

Such is the case with someone I know. I have talked at length with someone explaining that they cannot allow their family to determine their direction in raising their family. If they truly feel they should be homeschooling (as I was told) they should be strong enough to do what they feel is right. I also explained that their family would come around (and used my extended family as a prime example; myself personally as another example!) and see that they were not 'harming' their child by homeschooling and that they could do a great job, perhaps a better job that the PS.

And then to make the decision and then bemoan the decision is truly bothersome as well. If you make a decision, deal with it. Don't complain about it, especially if you had full control over it. If you aren't happy with the decision you made then change it. You can always change your mind and do what you truly feel is right.

Why are people SO against homeschooling? Why do they think that they have to conform to what their family wants them to do? What happened to doing what we felt led to do by the Lord and letting Him guide our footsteps?

These things I have been pondering....

T-ball pic and update

The boys had a great time with T-ball this year! This is their team photo, given to us by their coach! :) So nice. Now they are back in TKD full swing and I'm so glad to get back to some sort of routine. LOL Summer is winding down and to be honest, I'm so glad.

We've been so busy over the last couple of weeks. Last week was VBS, which was a HUGE success! We had 106 kids the last night...it was so amazing! :) And the kids were all so good....it helped that they had a 'contest' each night to see who was the quietest class going to and from the auditorium. It really made for an exhausting week, though, with the 30 minute drive each way....and with gas prices, OUCH! But I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Over the weekend we were in Salem celebrating Terry's birthday and seeing all the kids (well, adults, but nieces and nephews) before their school started back up. It was so nice to see Vay back from Hawaii! She had a lot of fun and it was great to see her RING finally! LOL Of course, baby Chase was there too...and I had so much fun with him Saturday night! I got to just lay in the floor and play with him...the first time for me. He was so cute! I got to where I was just hanging my head over him and letting my hair dangle just above his face and I would suddenly just shake my head and he would giggle! It was the first time I had heard him laugh out loud and it was such a precious sound! He laughed for a few minutes while I was playing with me, then we got up and rocked and sang some songs (it's been SO long since I sang to a baby!!!!) and then his grandma gave him a bath before we left. Such precious time! :)

On Sunday we celebrated Terry's birthday and then high-tailed it to town for a baby shower. Then we left town so we could get home at a decent time....my poor family was exhausted! The boys conked out within 10 minutes of getting in the car and Terry fought sleep the whole ride home. We were just ready to be home! We've gotten to be such homebodies it's scary!

It's amazing what happens to other people in our circles while we go about our every day business. I was pondering this thought the other day while the boys were in TKD. I found out so many things over the weekend that just blew me away! While we go on our merry little way:

• a friend gets divorced, gets someone else pregnant, and then marries her 6 months after the baby is born!
• a friends pregnancy comes in danger when amniotic fluid gets WAY too low and she's hospitalized. Then the hospital is so full of quacks that they want to try and turn the baby (who is breach), but "don't worry, we can do an emergency C-section if necessary." Then after swelling her up with fluids, they sent her home on bedrest. (She's now better, after getting a second opinion and scheduling a c-section instead of trying to traumatize the baby further by turning him....)
• a friend's friend dies of an overdose, with no family to speak of.
• children are needing to be adopted, but the adoption agencies make it extremely difficult to adopt, because of cost and requirements of the family.

I just get so amazed at how the Devil is working so hard in this world and how so many people (even Christians) are succumbing to his temptations. And there is so much sadness in society today and yet, some of us (me!) go on our way not knowing any of it until we're completely overwhelmed with the information in the course of a couple days. How do things like this happen? How do we lose touch with our friends, the people we grew up with? Why are things that used to be simple made to be so difficult by the 'government red tape'?

I know I'm not much of a ray of sunshine this time. LOL I just have these weird depressing thoughts flying through my head. Any answers?