Happy Friday, friends! I've been playing a little catchup around my house this week. Sometimes the cleaning and organization gets put to the side when I'm spending a lot of time in my creative space, prepping for a series of projects on top of not feeling well, which explains the need for a little catching up. I've also finally emptied the last box of personal décor that I packed in preparation for our move to South Dakota. It included a number of black and white photos of my family that now graces our staircase. When I showed my hubby what I had done, while he was at work, he said, "Now it feels like home." He's been talking about a move for a long time, but ultimately, we're being smart and staying put. Our goal is to get his student loans paid off, as well as a little remodeling, before we try to put our home on the market again. Honestly, I'd be just fine staying put. I don't need anything big, and I love our home; but I also believe that the Lord has future plans for us, plans that would require a move.
So, anyway, it felt so good to get those things accomplished this week, but that also means that I didn't have a lot of time to get creative. I will have a little, Valentine project that Adina made for her friends, to share with you all, tomorrow. Until then, I have a few pictures to share, beginning with these of my big kiddo and his teammates taking first place in Awana Quiz, in Liberty, Missouri, a couple of weekends back. Quiz tests the kids on material and scriptures in their handbooks and manuals
and provides individual recognition and rewards.
This was his first time competing with this church. We moved to a new location for his last year of Awana and Adina's second simply because, as a homeschool family, we're trying to be intentional about our interactions outside of home being ones that foster friendships and opportunities to serve. Unfortunately, that goal was no longer being met at our previous club; and this club offered a much larger group of kids, as well as a healthy homeschool community within the church itself.
Last month, Ezekiel was asked to creatively and personally define a number of nouns, including sadness. He wrote, "Sadness is when your best friend moves across the world." Y'all, my heart broke. The one young man that he always seemed to connect and have a lot in common with moved to Jordan with his family, to work and share the love of Jesus there, four years ago. It's been since then that he's been in need of a good friend. You'd think those shoes would be filled in a church the size of the one we attend and have been attending since he was four-years-old, but he's a complicated kid. While emotionally and physically he is an eleven-year-old, he is advanced beyond his years mentally and spiritually. I'm so fortunate that he actually likes to listen to the sermons in youth group, but that doesn't exactly make him popular or relatable in our day and age.
Anyway, I'm just trying to do the best job I can to help him survive adolescence by giving him opportunities to meet like-minded friends and keeping my eyes and ears open for whatever he may need. Gosh, I love him so. I don't think he has any idea how much. He always thinks we're against him and trying to make his life more difficult. I know some of that is simply because he doesn't see that other kids are doing many of the same educational assignments that he is due to homeschooling and thinks that nobody else has to wash the dishes or pick up their room. I mean, no other kid in the world has computer regulations. Right ;)? I hope you can sense my sarcasm. He's completely irrational, and I know some of that is also just his age; but, well, if he only knew. Sigh.
Okay, enough of that. On a happier note, he's still loving homeschool band and playing basketball. This, too, is his last year to play with Upward. Why do all these activities leave kids high and dry come middle school?! It's fine. There are lots more places to play ball. It would just be nice not to have to keep moving around all the time. Remember what I said earlier about fostering friendships and opportunities to serve? This constant switching teams makes such extremely difficult as well, but we definitely still feel like the new kids in town at this particular school, too. So, maybe it's not so much of a loss. He gets to play baseball with the same group of kids as last year this summer, though, and he's really looking forward to that. Although, while most of the kids are the same age as he is, he's a year ahead in school. So, potentially, this will be his last summer with this group, too. Gracious! Poor kid!
What just happened? That was supposed to be a happier paragraph. Let's just keep trying. Oh, how about some pics of my daughter socializing during her basketball game? She and her designated opponent are the only ones not moving in the photos below. LOL!
We had a wonderful Valentine's Day! My kiddos each got chocolate and a book. What better way to celebrate?! We also made and decorated lots of delicious, sugar cookies. So good! We ended up staying in for dinner. My hubby grilled, and I didn't have to do a thing. It wasn't planned, but it worked for me. Maybe my subconscious had it all figured out when I was doing the meal planning and just didn't let my conscious in on the arrangement.
Finally, I just had to share this last series of pics. My littlest had his first time out this week. He is flying up the stairs, and while he can come down, he doesn't do it as gracefully. He seems to have good depth perception, but his pediatrician insists on the contrary based upon his age. Anyway, he's been scaring me to death on the stairs. He hasn't fallen, but I also don't want him to. So, he's learning to obey and only climb up when someone is going with him. He wasn't a fan of the time out for not following this rule. He tried to get out initially but quickly learned he was to stay put until mommy came to get him. He had five time outs, for climbing up, this first day, two the second, and is working on not a single one today. Yay! He'll get it.
That covers a few of the things that have been keeping us running. We've got two Saturdays worth of basketball games left in the season, and we're all ready to no longer have to make 8:30 am tracks in the snow to get there. Both of my kiddos have also been prepping for the Awana Games competition since practice for Quiz ended, which makes for long Sundays as well. It's all good stuff, but the lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer are calling this tired momma's name. I can't wait for the grass to be green and the doors and windows to be open and my gardens to be blooming. Matter of fact, we're taking a little trip to pick up veggie seeds this afternoon. It's time to start some of those indoor plantings. Eeek! Thanks for checking in on us! Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!
