Carillon, Sukiyaki and a Lifetime Love of Spelling

Do you ever watch the Scripps National Spelling Bee finals?  I have always loved spelling so I try to watch it every year.  I am in awe of these kids.  I seldom recognize the words they are given to spell, much less know how to spell them.  Years ago, before I had children, I would [...]

Dots, Squares, and the “Mom Thing”

We went to Red Robin for lunch after church on Sunday.  Two things I can always count on when we go out to eat:  1) the kids will always argue about who gets to sit by me (I’m apparently the more popular parent in this family), and 2) I will, within seconds of being seated, [...]

Please Reconcile (Part 3): Don’t Ask “Why?”; Ask “Why Not?”

Tim went to Together for the Gospel (T4G) when the Please Reconcile group was in its formative stage.  While at the conference, he got a copy of the affirmations and denials that were written when T4G began in 2006.   Let me quote from Article XVII:
“We affirm that God calls his people to display his glory in [...]

What Christ is to me

Occasionally in our Sunday evening service, our pastor will randomly call on people to say what Christ is to them in three words or less.  When put under pressure, I draw a blank.  I cannot think on my feet.  If you asked me what my phone number is, I couldn’t tell you.  Not because I don’t [...]

Evan is Seven!

Happy birthday to our favorite (and only) son!
Evan was born two weeks early on May 23, 2001, after I went into early labor immediately after dragging a really heavy tree branch off the road after a bad thunderstorm so that I could get home after picking Kendall up at the babysitter’s house.  Tim wasn’t very happy with me [...]

Pray for the Chapman Family

Some of you will probably already have read in the news today of the tragic death of the youngest daughter of Steven Curtis and Mary Beth Chapman.  The Chapman’s story of how they came to adopt their three youngest daughters from China, their volunteer work in Chinese orphanages, and their organization that seeks to help [...]

Children’s Books: Discover America State by State

I discovered this series of books by Sleeping Bear Press before the kids were in school.  Now they’re coming in handy as a resource for our U.S. geography lessons.
Each state has its own “alphabet book”.  For example, Oregon’s is called B is for Beaver: An Oregon Alphabet and North Carolina’s is called T is for Tar Heel: [...]

Evan gets Glasses

Evan got his first pair of glasses today.  He is very excited about how much more he can see.  We drove to Tim’s office after picking up the glasses and Evan was reading all the signs along the way.  Now Kendall is the only unbespectacled member of the family.
While we were admiring and discussing [...]

Homeschooling when it’s Hot

Here’s Evan working on his geography notebook and complaining that he’s cold (he was sitting right in front of the air conditioning vent).

 
And here’s Kendall working on her grammar and complaining that she’s hot (but refusing to come indoors).

And here are both of them after I’d heard so many complaints that I gave in and let [...]

Thankful for Central Air

When we moved to the Pacific Northwest and began to look for a home to buy, we were shocked to find that many homes do not have central air conditioning.  That was unheard of in our previous locale of Raleigh, North Carolina.  Central air was on our list of “must-haves” and we did manage to [...]