6.13.2010

A VBS week

A cool, rainy weekend was just what I needed to 'take me off the hook' for doing yardwork!  Not that I don't enjoy it, mind you, but we had a FULL week helping out with VBS at our church.  If I told you I had a class of 15 6 & 7-year-olds, that might clarify things a bit, huh?  :-) 

But as is typical of the goodness of the Lord, He had all sorts of graces and mercies on a challenging few days.  First of all, the kids were great!  Our topic was wonderful--the Covenant.  We had a terrific group of volunteers to make it all happen.  And when I was scrambling to pull together a lesson (I was a last-minute fill-in teacher and so had no time to prepare ahead of time), I was relieved to sense the Holy Spirit's leading...something workable for each day.  Praise the Lord, it got done.

I made a funny observation this week.  Every time I needed my group to gather together and head off to our next activity station, there were fifteen little bodies lining up in a flash next to me like so many iron filings to a magnet.  Efficiently, superbly lined up every time.  One of the excellent 'crowd' skills taught in public school!  Truly, I heartily appreciated that this week.  Have you noticed that trying to get a group of homeschoolers lined up is like herding cats??  We could take a lesson.

One little girl in our class asked prayer for God to help her witness to a little neighbor girl.  You should have seen the shock on her face when that little neighbor arrived late in the week!  Just in time to hear the whole way of salvation through Jesus and how much God loved her.  I saw a hard and sullen little face change in two days to a happy, participating part of our group--and rejoice to know God's mighty work has begun in her.  Things like this sure make it all worthwhile, don't they?

6.03.2010

Ah, summer...

It's finally here!  We're warm, it's not snowing, and it's very green outside.  You can't tell me that I might still need gloves and boots.  Please.

And the other good news is that we finished school!  (Almost.)  We actually met all our state requirements for hours and days, and will just do a bit of wrap-up this month, then truly have a few weeks off.  We're in the middle of our last read-aloud for Sonlight Core 7, God's Smuggler, about Brother Andrew.  My goodness, what a wonderful example of being led by the Holy Spirit, of being truly sold out to Jesus and living every day by His heart.  It's been a fresh challenge to my own faith.

SweetPea finished Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra, and we certainly both have to give that program a huge thumbs-up.  She loves it.  And it's a relief to me to have found the right thing for her that we can track with now throughout high school.  Yay!

Having already done a big vacation in April, we're looking forward to some quality time to improve the homestead.  Hubby needs to rebuild a shed and do the finish work on our new patio roof, and I have a ton of yardwork and landscaping that will take me all summer to catch up on.  I haven't done much the last couple of summers; a nasty bout of candida last year nixed my energy for doing normal yard stuff, and it's been a year of recovery.  I'm praising the Lord for the increasing ability to tackle these things again!  "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"!

We're starting a fun project tomorrow with another family--I'll be teaching them and SweetPea how to sew.  We expect to work at it throughout the summer, and I have the side hope it will jumpstart me back into sewing.  I used to make most of my own clothes, but it's one of those things that fell by the wayside when I started homeschooling. 

Off to see what Brother Andrew is doing in the next chapter!  Blessings on your day.  :-)