This is what it was looking like outside...

when Mom was driving back from the expo on Saturday.

It's starting to warm up, so there's only a little bit of snow left outside now, for which we are very grateful! :) Maybe spring is finally here to stay! We made the mistake of disposing of most of our winter clothes too soon, so we've all had some trouble finding warm clothes to wear. :)

Speaking of clothes, I am now participating in Week In Feminine Dress! It's a blog to encourage young ladies to dress femininely, especially in skirts. I am taking the challenge to wear skirts and dresses instead of pants for one week! You can track my progress as well as that of the other young ladies participating at the WIFD blog, weekinfemininedress.blogspot.com. I found out about WIFD through Allison, Cecily's and my Bright Lights leader, who is actually heading up this month's WIFD!

In Circle Time Mom has started a reward system for Scripture memory. As you know if you have been following our progress at the bottom of the page, we have been working on memorizing 1 Peter. She put together a prizebox containing books and small chocolate bars, and for every 5 verses of 1 Peter recited perfectly, we get a candy bar. Knut, Cecily, Thor, and Gloria get a book for every 12 verses recited perfectly, and I am handicapped so that I need to recite 20 verses to get a book.
Individual progress for each of us is kept track of at the bottom of the page.

Adventures

We have reason to praise God today that we still have Mom! Yesterday, as she was coming home from the homeschool expo, she was in the car with Rosemary,  two other homeschooling moms: Mrs. Clayton and Mrs. Woolever. Mrs. Clayton also had her baby along. It was snowing(!) and they hit a slippery spot in the road. The car spun around twice, then slammed against the guard rail. Miraculously no one was hurt and they didn't hit any other cars, even in the heavy traffic. Praise the Lord for His protection! (Sidenote: my babysitting job, which would have been for Mrs. Clayton, was cancelled. I wasn't exactly surprised.) :)

After church today, we went on a Sunday Afternoon Adventure... something we haven't done for quite awhile! First we went to Maeystown. It's a small historic town about 30 minutes away from where we live. It was a really neat place! We plan to go back when their museum is open.

  Main Street

Don't you love this sign? :)

 Knut, Bjorn, Thor, Rosemary, and Cecily got bored waiting for Mom to get finished looking through a book about the town. :) (sorry for the bad photo quality) :(

This was a wonderful place!!! ;)

After that, we went to Rural King to look at (and hold) :) the baby chicks. We ended up buying a few things as well. :)

Rosemary loved the baby chicks!

So did Gloria

Aren't they sweet???!!! :)

Friday

Cecily here,

Yesterday was Friday, and we went to Lyceum. All of the kids have three classes. My first class is called Beginning Sign Language. In that class I learned sign language and played games in sign language. My second class is called Keepers of the Faith. In that class I learn scripture memorization, quilling, sewing, and punch needle. My last class is choir. Mom teaches it. We are going to perform in a concert at the end of the semester.

More pictures, as promised...

These are from Bright Lights on Tuesday. My camera was really not liking the lighting in the basement, so they are a little strangely colored. :) I am still trying to figure out this camera. :)

Audri blindfolded and ready for the game

 Cecily getting blindfolded

Hmm. Three pictures. That's not very many, is it. Somehow, I thought I had more. :|

Lyceum was today. Knut's lightsaber 'class' was supposed to be outside today, because the gym was in use, but it snowed last night! I suggested that they use one of the little rooms that weren't in use and sit and talk about chivalrous behavior (especially towards sisters). For some reason, they didn't like that idea. :) (I'm not saying that Knut is really bad about this; he is usually very polite and gentlemanly.) :) They ended up watching parts of a Starwars movie and discussing the lightsaber fighting techniques.

Lyceum Singers went really well! We were rehearsing The Terrible Tale of Tom Gilligan, which is about a scarecrow who is elected senator. You will have to come to the choir concert to hear it- it's going to be pretty good. :) I'm hoping I will be able to get a video this semester... it's pretty difficult when I and all of my family members are busy singing/directing/accompanying.  We have tried to get videos from other people before, but it hasn't ever worked out. :( I may be able to figure something out with the tripod this semester... we'll see.

Mom's going to the homeschool expo in St. Louis tomorrow, so we will get to clean the house without her. It's no small job! After she gets back, I have a babysitting job down the street. Mom has to be back in time for me to go, which should be quite easy since she is carpooling with the lady I'm babysitting for! :)

Bright Lights Video

I finally figured out (well, Papa showed me) :) how to work Papa's Youtube account!

So here is the first video. It's from Bright Lights- Cecily , Jenny, Haleigh, and Kaitlyn are playing a game. In case you can't tell (sorry the video's a little shaky), Cecily and Jenny are each racing to fill their cup with coins before the other. They are doing this blindfolded and wearing big, thick work gloves. Kaitlyn and Haleigh are holding their cups for them. :) Allison explains the purpose of this game on her blog.

By the way, this is the 100th post on this blog!!!

Spring Photos

I've been really busy lately, which is why I haven't been blogging much. School, Bright Lights, Lyceum homework, planning for drama club, sewing, and babysitting have been taking up most of my time. We've also had some lovely weather lately, so I've been wanting to spend my free time outside instead of inside at the computer! :) I have been taking quite a few pictures outside, though, and now I am finally getting around to sharing them!

Rosemary looooves outside!

Bjorn on the trampoline

 Signs of spring

Rosemary helping wipe the cabinets

Skype lessons with Grandpa Grover (photos by Mom)

More pictures to come! Videos, too, if I can get them to load. :P

Spring!

Everyone has been spending as much time as possible outside in the sunshine! The first daffodils in our yard are beginning to open, and Mom has a vase of miniature ones on the dining room table.
Yesterday after school, and after Knut mowed the lawn, he and Thor were making a tree fort over at Shady Oaks. There is a big hollow tree on the east side of the house, and they were digging out the rotten wood from the center to make a room.

They're also planning to build a rope ladder so that they can climb up into the fork of the tree and have a 'watchtower'.

They had three of the Clayton boys over helping them, and they sure had fun!

Thor was their messenger. Whenever they needed something, they would send Thor on his bike home to get it.

(I don't know why he's making such a weird face.) :)

Rosemary and I came over to see how they were doing.

Shady Oaks and Summer Stuff

Grandpa and Grandma Davis are here! They're going to be moving to Mascoutah in May, so they will be planting a garden and working on their new house- Shady Oaks. Today they ripped out ALL the carpets, with the help of Mom, Cecily, and Thor! I stayed home to babysit, do schoolwork, and bake pies. :) Tomorrow they'll be doing some painting.

We are really going to have a busy summer! We're not doing full school throughout the summer, but everyone will keep doing music practice, and I'm continuing with Science- I'm behind a bit since I kept switching curricula this semester. :P Of course, the thing about homeschool is that it never really ends. :) We may do a lot less with workbooks, but we'll be doing a lot of learning!

Here are a few things we're going to be doing this summer:
Bright Lights once a month
First Lego League
Gardening
Helping Grandpa and Grandma with their garden, pool, yard work, etc.
Swimming
Drama Club
Sewing
Going to Montana for a 2-3 week vacation in July
A Bright Lights Strong in the Lord conference
Our own family summer reading program
And a lot more!!!

School/Projects

Thor was slow with his math this morning, so Circle Time was a little bit late.



Knut took advantage of his extra time by reading.



Cecily did, too.



So did Gloria

And Bjorn

 

and Little Rosemary, too!

  

I've been trying for several days to upload videos from my camera to this blog, but I haven't been having any success. (That's partially why I haven't been posting lately.) When Papa has some free time, I'll ask him to help me and see what the problem is.
Speaking of Papa, here are some pictures of things he's done for Mom and me the past couple days:

Rosemary kept climbing up the ladder to my office, so Papa nailed a cover onto the ladder!

(sorry for the bad photo quality)

It's easy to get up by climbing the ladder to my bunk and then stepping onto the ladder to my office, but Rosemary isn't able to climb up to my bunk (yet). When I had moved the ladder so that Rosemary couldn't get at the front of it, she started to try and climb up the back of the ladder, so Papa put a cover on the back as well. :)

Mom wanted to crochet a bathmat, but she needed to do it double-stranded. Here is what Papa fixed up:

Amazing, isn't it!



Latest news

Josh here.

A wise man once gave me a set of questions to ask whenever I or a friend had experienced a loss of any kind.
1. What did you lose?
2. What didn’t you lose?
3. What did you gain?
I think these three questions are fantastic for helping a person to be grateful for what the Lord has provided. The Bible never promised us an easy life, but rather quite the opposite, so hardship must be expected and properly dealt with.

Several years ago life was exceedingly good for us. Our job was great, money was quite sufficient, home life was fantastic, and all seemed right with the world. I would often turn to Nancy and say “Life sure is good” but I would always add, “…right now.” I had a suspicion that we would be turning a corner at some point.
Eventually that point came, and it was hellfire and brimstone for a number of years. Much of it is too personal to put on the internet, but suffice it to say that I hope no one has to go through what we did. Even now to look back on that nearly causes me to weep. When I asked myself the three questions, it took quite a while to answer the first, since so much had been lost. The second question is rarely difficult to answer, but I was amazed at how lengthy that answer also was. The third was the hardest to answer, but I had to admit, we did have great gains, although some of it took years to manifest.

Last week we had another loss – we were let go by a church that has employed us. This was quite a shock in its suddenness, but we had known that our employment there was not a perfect match. As we tried to think of why God may have led us there, we also pondered the three questions, and it was fairly easy to answer all three this time. I think we’re beginning to trust the Lord more for whatever He brings our way, and our faith is certainly grown much in our trials.

The worst part about any loss is the relationships. Sometimes after experiencing a loss people are hesitant to get in close relationships again, but God calls us to be in community with one another, to “be at peace with all men” and to “go out into the world.” I’m reminded of a modern parable of Jesus who is depicted as a kind of beggar, going about taking people’s sorrows away and giving them his joy. He’s continually weeping as he goes along, for the people he meets give him their sorrows, but he continues on, doing the very thing that gives him pain.
What a beautiful (if not exactly Biblically accurate) picture of the sacrificial aspect of what Christ does for us. But we must not forget that we are called to “go and do likewise.” We are to bear one another’s burdens, and befriend the friendless. We are to continue the struggle, to “fight the good fight,” and to “never tire of doing what is right.” Perhaps Job 13:15 puts it best: “Though he slay me, yet will I put my hope in him.” Indeed we are called to lay down our lives, yet what is that? We have eternal life, and one thing that hardship has taught me is to have a desire to depart this world and to be with the Lord, but also a desire to bring as many with me as possible. We have a job to do before we end our time here. So when you’re knocked down, I would encourage you to get back up again and continue the fight, and may we all fight in such a manner that we hear those beloved words, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.”