Bug Hunt

My kids are the cutest, sweetest, funniest, smartest, most creative students in the world. You'll probably hear me say that all school year...or see it written here anyway. =) Why am I so blessed? I don't know, but I thank God for such a blessing and plan to take advantage of such great learners! Wednesday we took a walk in the woods and fields back behind the school. We saw tons of great spiders, grasshoppers, bees, and a myriad other specimens of God's creation. In science class we have been reading about insects that you might find surrounding a golden rod plant especially. Come to find out, "the back forty" is chock full of golden rod!! So many bees, even ones with their pollen baskets full! Lots of interesting spiders - Josh saw one catch a mosquito on its web then proceed to wrap it up and eat it! Science is so much more interesting when we can actually see and hear and touch the things we have been studying. The day was perfect for a bug hunt, too. Sunny and warm, but nice and cool in the shade. What a day, a beautiful day!

National Play-doh Day...seriously!

Tea Party

Our K4/K5 teacher, "Mrs. Stacie", spent many years living in different countries in Asia. Last week my class joined Mrs. Stacie for a Central Asian tea party. She served us tea in beautiful china from Uzbekistan, and shared with us many interesting facts about hospitality in Central Asia. She also showed us many wonderful photos from Bangladesh, Thailand, and a few other countries. The students and I truly enjoyed our little "trip" to Asia,and we are so thankful for Mrs. Stacie's willingness to share her experience and knowledge with us!

Origami

My class is learning about Asia right now, so yesterday we made origami pinwheels. Origami actually means folded paper in Japanese. Go figure!

Then and Now

When I saw this picture of Kendall, Jack, and Grace at the piano, it brought to mind another photo of three little ones at a piano. The little ones in the older photo are my cousin Stacy, cousin Nicole, and me. We were probably 9, 4, and 4 years old respectively...or somewhere around there. Mom, of course, is at the piano. I must say, many of my memorie include a piano: singing around the piano at Gram and Gramp's on Christmas Eve, listening to Mom practice at home, listening to Mom's many students over the years, taking piano lessons from Aunt Angie. Thanks to Mom, I have a love for piano music. Notice I said piano music, not playing the piano!

Everything

I honestly have not felt like posting for a long time, especially since going back to school. In the spring I started being tired all the time. I remember telling mom "I just can't stop being tired, no matter how much I sleep." The summer was really rough because of that, too. I was always, always tired. Not yawning and dozing all the time, but my whole body was just exhausted. It was awful. Finally, mom and Sam told me to go to the doctor. But how dumb I felt going to Doc and saying, "Well, I'm tired, have been for about six months now." It seemed ridiculous to me. But Doc was really nice and patient and ordered some blood work done. Hopefully this week I will find out something. I realize that tons of people, and possibly some who are reading my blog, are suffering far worse than I, but I can't describe how the fatigue has affected my thoughts, my emotions, my relationships, and my everyday life. It has been such a struggle to just get through every day, much less get through it well! I praise God for His faithfulness and patience because my spiritual life has suffered as well. On top of the fatigue, my allergies are bugging me a bit. Oi! For a long time I just let it get to me, but the last few weeks I have been able to get back on my feet and get my mind where it ought to be. I have found hope in God's strength since I have none of my own. I have found peace and relaxation through reading His Word, praying, and listening to encouraging music. I have made some changes in how I spend my evenings which, I hope, will help me sleep more peacefully as well. I wish I had been able to see this as a growing time earlier, but I praise God for helping me now.

Ephesians 6:12

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.