Read Across America 2014

Today is Read Across America in honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday. I picked up Green Eggs and Ham for Rae this weekend for her to learn to read. Her reading has come along was with the help of homeschooling, speech therapy, and ELL classes at the school. She is starting to pick up the love for reading like the rest of her family. She tries to read everything!

 As many of you know we have a recording studio at home for our AbideWithHim ministries, so I sat Rae up on the school and she read Green Eggs and Ham for all of you to enjoy. (yes, she is still in her pjs)

Don't Give Up!

I received many different kinds of emails through out the day. Some I read, and others I may skim or just delete. This one just caught my attention.

25 Reasons Not To Give Up

• God's grace is sufficient.
• God gives us everything we need for life and godliness.
• God's mercy endures forever.
• It is God who works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.
• Our children need Godly parent mentors and teachers.
• Our children need their questions answered from a biblical worldview.
• Our children need and are permitted room to grow and time for creativity.
• Our children need and receive Godly socialization. 
• Our children learn to be unselfish and how to serve others.
• Our children retain their innocence.
• Our children will have a lasting legacy of love and commitment.
• Our children and our children's children will be spared worldly indoctrination.
• We know where our children are at all times.
• We know what our children are being taught at all times.
• We know who our children's friends are and who their parents are.
• We retain our God-given right to educate our own children.
• Our children receive a superior education no matter what philosophy or curriculum
• Homeschooled children receive one-on-one attention and specialized training.
• Homeschooled children can see and experience the world around them regularly 
• Homeschooling permits the teaching of important life skills.
• Homeschooling builds strong character and strong relationships.
• Our children will not have to walk in the counsel of the ungodly.
• Our children will not have to stand in the path of sinners.
• Our delight will be in the law of the Lord and everything we do will prosper.
• Our God never gives up and He gives us His strength to continue the journey. 

 Here's to all the homeschool moms out there - DON'T GIVE UP - GOD IS RIGHT THERE WITH YOU!!!


 

Quick update!

WOW! It is almost Christmas. I been wanting to sit down and compose different blogs, but I just haven't been able to compose a thought. I know some of you may want to know about our vacation. I thought I would give you a list form of update -

• Disneyworld - fun, great weather, long days, little overwhelming for the little one, and everybody hands-up!
• Beach - relaxing, too much food, and the girls loved snorkeling
• Hannah turned 15 - birthday party fun and wow she starts driving in 6 months.
• Homeschool Christmas Drama and District Honors Band - Canceled due to snow - Hannah was sad.
• My birthday - Got the FLU! Great gifts from hubby and the girls.
• Dave Koz and Friends - SURPRISE! great concert with great friends (B&R)
• Pictures with Santa - another fun year with kids who liked Santa and those who didn't
• Children's Choir - Rae had a solo and she did a wonderful job.
• Gotcha Day Today! Hard to believe it has been two years.

"I've Got to Get it in My Head"

It's that time of year where the girls are learning parts for their various Christmas productions. Hannah is playing the part of Elizabeth in the homeschool Christmas production. Rae is learning song in the children's choir at church. Emily, I think, will be reading in the adult Christmas production. So,it will be a little busy. Rae got a CD to learn her part. She loves listening to the songs, but she didn't think she could sing on stage with her friends and do a solo. Natalie really wants her to do one, and she wanted to find one she can sing and work with her on. Rae kept thinking she just couldn't do it. This week she has learned her solo part. We have to work a little more on the pronunciation, but it is so sweet to hear.

Ok, that is just weird.

Couple of weeks ago, the little one had a several appointments with Children's - speech, neuro, and ophthalmologist. We rotate thru these doctors about every 3-6 months, so they fall usually within several days of each other. It makes for a crazy time especially when it is during tennis season. We thought her neuro visit would be routine, but it was determined the little episode she had this summer was in fact a seizure. Thankfully it was very mild and short compared to the last one, but it did mean that she did have to up her medicine. She has not had any seizures since she had been on the medicine, but it seems that the medication was keeping them from happening. This one broke thru the wall most likely because she was at the top threshold of her weight versus medication amount. This also meant the clock restarted for when she could come off the medication.

While we were dealing with this news, her platelet count had dropped earlier in the week - so we were monitoring that and hoping we were not going to have to get a treatment on top of an already crazy week.  She was to start getting her immunizations up to date, but now it was postponed again. As if this were not enough, we had the second follow-up visit with the eye doctor.  Thankfully her eyes are now almost perfectly aligned, but she is still seeing double.  We are hoping it is just her brain taking time to work around the damaged area to get to "normal". He is going to check the progress again in 3 months, but if it is not better she may have to get glasses fitted with prisms to help.  She usually doesn't complain about it, but I do find her closing one eye to block out the second image.

Here is the new wrinkle - sometime after her last eye surgery, an eyelash got into her eye and is now embedded in the eye membrane. YIKES!! It was not very comforting when the doctor said that is was only the SECOND time he had seen that. Thankfully she does not feel it. We have to watch it so it does not get infected or cause her problems.  Best case scenario is that it could dissolve, but if not he will have to surgically remove it. We do not want to have to do surgery again!

Even though all of this is going on, she is doing well in speech and is almost up to grade level.  She will see a reading specialist soon to check her progress and to see where she is.  She is excited that she has started her 3rd math book (MUS Beta) and continuing to work thru her phonics books in Explore the Code.  The big thing we work on is bringing up her vocabulary.  She knows and reads alot of words, but the meaning of those words are not always there.  It is fun seeing her unlock the code to reading words.

Lil' Farmer Tour

Last week Rae and I went on her first little kid only field trip. One of our local fruit farms was starting a new tour and needed some guinea pigs to see how the tour was going to work and to work out any bugs. The family that runs this farm are homeschoolers, so they reached out to our group for help. The tour is designed for K-2nd graders. Students learn where their food comes from when they ‘harvest’ their goods as they travel along the path of 12 interactive stations. “Milking the cow, collecting honey, gathering eggs, and digging potatoes are just a few of the activities they will experience. Once their work is done, they ‘sell’ their goods to the ‘market’ where they will collect Lynd Bucks used to ‘purchase’ a cup of cider. Then students go to the orchard and pick a 2 lb. bag of apples to take home! All students will receive a complimentary coloring activity book complete with Lynd Fruit Farm coupons to be redeemed during a future visit!

Rae and I had a lot fun going to the different stations and learning interesting facts. Rae's favorite was "fishing" for blue gill. I think it was a favorite of all the kiddos. She was hoping we would pick some apples, but they did not open the u-pick till the weekend. 

Learning about what they will be doing.

Picking pumpkins

Picking corn, but wishing it was real.

shearing the sheep

fishing for blue gill

taking her harvest to market

getting her coin for apple cider

yummy!

Only a few tears

Week one of the 2013-14 school year is in the books. The girls worked hard and had good attitudes (most of them anyway). Some things are coming back to memory from last year and others are not. The school day is longer for the older girls, so finding things for the little one is proving a little more challenging. I am proud of Hannah who is willing to take on the challenge of doing algebra and geometry simultaneously. Thankfully, she is already half-way thru algebra, so it makes it a little easier. Emily is not thrilled school is taking longer, but she is handling it well. 

The next few weeks will be interesting with more activities being added to the schedule.  In addition to tennis for Hannah and Emily, that is in full swing, art, drama, and piano will be starting after Labor Day. We will be running hither,thither, and yonder till October.  It will be crazy, but over in October.

Hubby has started his grad classes back again too.  He is taking 2 classes this semester which is going to be killer because his professors are requiring alot of work this time.  He has all of this in addition to the church work, the occasional helping me run kids somewhere, and making it to as many tennis games as he can. Can you see why we are looking forward to our vacation? 

This weekend we are looking forward to having Noel's dad in town.  The grill will be in full force preparing all sorts of goodies.  One good thing when we have family come up, projects around the house get done that we put off. The girls are very excited for their granddaddy to come up.  They were hoping he would get to see one of their tennis matches.

Emily with her double partner Kaitlyn in their match @ CSG Tennis Day.

Hannah in her first match as a high schooler

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First Day of School - 2013

My summer has been hijacked. Is it really time to start back? Didn't we just finish school? Our summer was filled with 4H projects and fairs, 4 camps, swimming, tennis, and finishing projects around the house.  The girls were not excited about starting this early, but with tennis season already underway and a vacation coming in November, we started this morning.  Many discussions over dinner were held between hubby and I about what we were doing and what goals we wanted for the girls.  With a freshman, we are getting in college prep mode - YIKES!!

So, this morning we started the 2013-14 year for the Dear School for Girls today! Hannah is a freshman, Emily a 7th grader, and Rae a 2nd grader.  We are working on trying some new things in our school, but with several the same.  Hubby is being even more involved this year with subjects for Hannah.  I am so thankful that I married a math major! The girls are really ready for band, drama, and art to start so they can see their friends again. Emily is excited she is old enough to go to Teen Night.

Tennis season is going strong. Both girls have already had matches, and it plans to be an exciting and busy season. We will be running between middle school and high school matches and practices.  I am thankful for parents in our neighborhood who can carpool for tennis.

Here's to a successful school year. Ready or not here we go!

The Basement Remodel

This process started over a year ago. Since we homeschool, we try to have an area dedicated to our school room stuff. When we moved in our current house, the extra bedroom was our school room. After adding Rae to our family, the schoolroom became her bedroom. Our school stuff and all my office stuff was moved to the playroom and the basement.  Emily had to do school in the dining room, and all the other stuff was a mess and disorganized. It made doing school hard and the landing in the basement was always in a state of disarray.

Last year we came up with the idea of turning the storage area in the basement into an office and new schoolroom.  This area had been our workout space, but since joining the gym, we no longer used it as that.  It became the best solution.  I needed a place where we could be organized.  I also wanted a desk that was not a 6 ft. folding table.

This summer we decided we were going to finish what we started last year.  We had been working this past year to get our home more organized, and this was the last area to conquer.  So, this past weekend it was finished (almost).  A great deal of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this project, but we are so happy with the results. I now have an awesome set up for school, crafting, sewing, and my office. We even have been able to get my photography lighting set up in part of the playroom.

Sealing the wall to get ready to add shelving for storage

The disorganized mess!

The walls are up.  The other side will be our storage or the "tunnel" as the girls call it.

My office area which also serves as the area for crafting and sewing.

School books and one kiddo's desk. The other one is on the other side of the short bookshelf.

This is the view from my desk.  The curtain hides all the house's mechanical stuff.  The table is for group projects and fabric cutting.

I am so thankful for this all to be done.  My hubby worked hard, and I am very thankful for him and his abilityto do little projects like this. There are a few little things left to do, but it is ready to go.  We just feel sorry for the trash man who has to pick up all the things we got rid of.

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The Great Playroom Clean-up

Earlier this year we started working on cleaning out the different areas and rooms in our home. Hubby says it is an effort to be more productive and to lighten the house. It has taken a several weeks, but we do have most of the house done with just a couple of areas left to tackle. So, yesterday the girls and I tackled the playroom with some groans from the peanut gallery. Hubby had already moved my computer back down here from our bedroom. It had been in our bedroom due to my ankle surgery. Plus, Rae and I were doing her school in our room. Moving all of that to the playroom, plus Emily starting to clean out her room created quite a mess in the playroom. You could not even see the floor.

In order for me to work and Rae to do school, I knew it had to be cleaned. So armed with our trash bags we cleaned and organized. It took a few hours, but it was clean - even the little closet in the room. I will not tell you how many bags we filled up. With only a little left to organize, every thing now has a place. The loving family has a nice clean home, the ponies are all together, and Barbie and her friends in various states of dress are all together as well. Hannah organized our books and movies, but I did have to keep reminding her not to read as she goes. I do like where we put all the fairy wings. It originally is to hang pictures, but it is nicely holding the wings and Emily's ribbons. The girls were proud of all the work we did. They celebrated by picking out a board game and played it in the floor of the newly cleaned playroom.

The playroom side of the room all clean. The horse in the picture was made by my dad and a loving keepsake of mine. There is a little closet to the right that holds all our board games, puzzles, and the few dress-up clothes we have left.

With this week's trash - our trash man made need another thank you sign and candy.

Our Family Story in Print

Since becoming a family who has adopted an older child, we have wanted to share our story.  Our first one was in our local newspaper not long after coming home.  God called us to this, and we want to be used by Him. We want to be an encouragement for other families, and potentially a resource for them.  

Through this we have been able to share our story not only on this blog, but in other sources.  We were recently featured in the CHEO Ohio Homeschool Companion for Sept/Oct. Our family was one of three interviewed for the current issue.  

The second was a blog of a friend of ours, Amy Mozombite.  I was able to answer some questions for her Adoption Mama section of her blog. Check out the rest of her blog as well.  She and her family are serving as missionaries in Bolivia.

There is another article in the works, and I will let you know when it appears.

Our new family photo thanks to LENS Photography.

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Nine months and a Vacation

It is hard to believe it has been 9 months since we became a party of five. I think I did miss the 8 month update, but we were on vacation - a much needed vacation.  The last couple of months have been busy. A couple of highlights of our trip to Myrtle Beach were:

• Rae's first time to the beach
• Loving eating seafood
• Having wonderful family time
• Having friends down for a weekend
• Pirates and Mermaids
• Riding the Caterpillar and a few others rides.
• Getting to go to Alabama to see Nana, Papa Jim and the puppies
  

Fun, fun, and more fun...

Before we went on vacation Rae had her eye surgery and her nose cauterized.  She did great, and her vision is almost back to normal.  Getting her eyes working together caused a little double vision, but it should hopefully clear up soon.  Her health has been good, and we have had no hospital visits other than finger sticks.  She has also not had any nosebleeds.  Her last neurology appointment went well too. 

I had ankle surgery after getting back from vacation, so that delayed the start of school.  I am still recovering from it.  So, the girls started after Labor Day, and it is going well.  Hannah is in 8th and is working on doing more independent studying. She happy to be back in art, band, and drama. She is also playing keyboard in the praise band on Sunday mornings until I get back to playing again.  She is also still playing in youth praise band.  Hannah is also excited for her new piano teacher, especially getting to play in more competitions and festivals.  Emily is in now in 6th grade.  She is working a little more independent as well.  This year like her sister she is playing on the Granville Middle School tennis team.  She is also in band, art, drama, and continuing her trumpet lessons.  Rae has started doing more school this year.  She will start tennis back up soon and is also in a drama/art class for little kids and loved the first class.  In school, we are working on learning her letter sounds, addition facts, and we do a lot of read alouds. 

Next week we will be celebrating Rae's 7th birthday.  We are planning a small party with a couple of friends from church and family.  She is very excited to get to dress up and wear her "kong-kong" shoes.

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In the Trenches

It has been a crazy couple of weeks around the Dear house, but really when has it not.  Juggling three girls and all their stuff - I'm tired.  In a period of 3 weeks we have had 4 doctors appointments, tennis games, tennis practice, tennis tournament, trumpet lessons, band, middle school solo & ensemble, homeschool recital, a stay in the day hospital for an IVIG infusion, blood draws, and somewhere in there we did school.

Rae is doing well.  She has had no more seizures - PTL! Her platelet count is up in the normal range thanks to her IVIG treatment.  We should get 4-8 weeks of good number with this before having to do it again. We do hope this is the answer, and there is no more seek and find.  There are other doctor appoints we have to go to, and decisions of possible surgery coming up on her eyes and getting her nose cauterized.  We are really getting to know our way around Children's Hospital.  Her English is doing great, but it has been a little more difficult to get her to do school some days. We were proud of her when she sang "Jesus Loves Me" at the CFE recital. I think a few of us may have teared up.

Hannah and Emily are doing great as well.  Our family enjoyed watching Hannah play one of the dwarfs in the CFE Drama production of "Fairy Tale Courtroom-REMIXED". She loves drama class and looking forward to next year.  She also played in her first tennis tournament.  While she didn't win, she played really well and all her games were close.  Emily is really doing well in her trumpet lessons and did an awesome job on her solo at the homeschool recital.  Last week she got to play in the advanced band for the first time.  Both girls did fabulous! 

In the coming weeks, we are trying to finish up some things in school, and next week we are going to do their Iowa testing.  I just hope I can keep Rae from distracting them.  My mom is coming in 2 weeks, and will get to see Rae for the first time.   I cannot believe Emily will be 11, and so we are working on that party.  I am looking forward to bringing back a Dear Family Memorial Day tradition - Low Country Shrimp Boil with a new addition of crawfish - fresh from Louisiana.

Thanks everyone for your prayers through all of this.  We are truly grateful!