Loveable Lucan

I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Lucan has to be one of the most easygoing 3-year-olds I've ever known.  Most of the time he is an absolute delight to be around, and his silly antics and constant random chatter keep us well entertained (for free, even!).  As you can see from the picture above, he is 100% boy--this was taken after he and his friend Sean entertained themselves for over an hour with a couple of snow shovels, lots of ice, and some dirt from the yard!

Lucan naps a few times each week, on occasion even putting himself to bed.  The picture below shows him as I found him, half asleep, in the entryway the other afternoon.  He uses his "Doof Dog" as a pillow and curls up with his "Soft" (owl blanket), with other stuffed buddies and pillows about.  The difference between this picture and a regular nap time scenario is that we generally don't allow him to sleep with pirate ships or blue balloons...

This picture shows Lucan with some of his favorite things.  While he isn't as obsessed with buses as he used to be, he does enjoy having a bus or a ship to place his Veggie Tale characters in.  These things go with us EVERYWHERE these days!  Even at the airport when we welcomed Ted home, you can see him in the pictures holding Laura the Carrot and Junior Asparagus with his USA flag!  He also loves his Cars lego set from Grandma J and really anything to do with cars, even though I don't know that he's super familiar with the movie.  He has hand-me-down pajamas with Mater and Lightning McQueen on them, which you can see in this picture of Lucan with my brother John, so maybe that's part of it.

Other Lucan tidbits:

• He is potty training!  Really, there has been--and is no--good time frame to potty train this kid.  Daddy deployed right after he turned 2, and now that Daddy's home, we're preparing to go on a major vacation and move overseas!  So, we're trying but not exactly expecting miracles.  Still, maybe God will be gracious!  Lucan loves the attempts and seems to think the whole process involves one long string of words:  "Pee pee poo poo potty, Mommy!"  Whenever he produces (always #1, so far never #2), it's still "Pee pee poo poo potty!"  He loves to get an "M L M" (what he calls M&Ms) as a reward.  Bet you didn't know potty training was a multi-level marketing endeavor.
• Hugs from Lucan include sound effects.  How can you not melt when he wraps his chubby arms around you and says, "Mmmmmmmm!"
• He is definitely in the independent phase.  He finally learned to say, "I did it!" instead of "I made it!"  Which was definitely an adorable phase while it lasted.
• I'm a much more patient mommy now than when I had other 3-year-olds in this independent phase.  I've learned it's much less stress and saves time to just let him do certain things himself, such as climb into the Suburban and into the car seat instead of lifting him up.  But I still have to sigh when he reverses a process that he thinks you've helped too much with and starts all over just so he can do it himself.
• I have NO IDEA where this one came from, but he is often heard muttering, "Little bit one zero [fill in the blank about whatever topic is at hand]."  This morning it was, "Little bit one zero Bob the Builder movie."  He has been saying these four words in connection with random things for at least a month now, and no one in the house has any idea where he came up with it or what it seems to mean!
• He is a very agreeable child and quite obedient, although we're working on coming right away when called; he tends to get very absorbed in what he's doing and doesn't want to come unless there is an obvious motivation, such as food.
• He is also a very polite child and even corrects others on their manners.  He once told me "thank you," and when I didn't respond quickly enough, he said, "Say 'you're welcome, You-can,' Mommy."  Oops!
• Lucan entertains himself amazingly well.  Like big brother Arden, he can be content with doing puzzles and building things for hours at a time.  The only bad thing about this is that because he is so content, I don't sit down with him as often as I might otherwise to cuddle and read to him or interact with him that way, because he plays so well by himself!  Hopefully we can work in some preschool cuddle and reading time once we get settled after our move!  In the meantime, this is a great season of our lives to have an easy-to-entertain boy!

Zaden Update

So...Zaden turned 9 months old on May 24!  I'm sure one day I will look back and feel that his entire first year was a blur, the way I barely remember Arden's first year because of having a 3-year-old, 18-month-old, and newborn all at once.  But for now, I'm treasuring all the moments I can scoop up and stuff into my heart.

Normally I would have skipped the 9-month well-baby check-up, but since Zaden's weight has kind of been an issue, I figured I'd go ahead and schedule an appointment, especially since we were able to piggy back with some other errands at the hospital the same day.  Looking back at some of his stats...

2 months: 10 lbs, 15 oz (54th percentile)
4 months: 13 lbs, 9 oz (14%)
6 months: 15 lbs, 2 oz (7%)
9 months: 19 lbs, 5 oz (27%)

2 months: 23.3 in (84th percentile)
4 months: 26 in (76%)
6 months: 26.6 in (46%)
9 months: 28.5 in (50%)

So it was definitely nice to see that his weight is in a better range!  They asked me to bring him back for a check at the 7-month point, since he had dropped into the single digit percentiles.  I wasn't concerned, since he hadn't started solids until after he was 6 months old, so he was bound to gain weight once he was eating something besides breast milk!  As you can see, he definitely doesn't look like weight is a problem, ha!  Look at that double chin!

Some fun facts about Zaden:

• He is our first thumb-sucker!  It's so darn cute that it's pretty much impossible to discourage the habit!  It used to be he would only suck his thumb when he went into his bed or right after waking up, but he has started to pop that thumb in his mouth a lot during his waking hours, too.
• When we put him in bed (on his tummy, his preference), he sucks his left thumb and uses his right hand to stroke the hair on the top of his head.  A-DOR-able.
• He has a slight dimple on his left cheek.  This is rather a novelty for our family, although Lucan does have a slight dimple as well.  Stinkin' cute.
• While he looked like a little clone of Arden and Lucan the first few months of his life, he looks like a mini Ted now.  His smile, like his daddy's, totally rocks my world.
• Look out world--he's mobile!  He has the army-man crawl down pat!
• Tile floors are a bit of a deterrent at present, but I'm sure it won't be long before he'll be trying to explore the stairs.
• He's a great little eater but not terribly patient--once you put him in the highchair, you'd better make sure the food is ready to be shoveled in!
• His face totally lights up when someone smiles at him.  It's a good thing he is Number Six, because I think he'd be a very sad, lonely boy if he didn't have such a circus happening around him all the time.
• Seriously, he is the easiest baby I've had.  I'd have a dozen more kids if I knew they'd all be as easy as this boy!  He eats well, he sleeps well, he doesn't have any health issues, and he's so happy and easygoing that it is truly startling when he cries!

Encouraging Words

In our Sunday school class a few weeks back, the teacher wrote these words on the board that his wife had copied down for him from a devotional.  I wish I could give credit to the one who wrote them, but that information is long gone!  Still, I hope it encourages and blesses others as it did those of us in class that day.  It is written as if God Himself were speaking to us as individuals.

"Don't be so hard on yourself.  I can bring good even out of your mistakes.  Your finite mind tends to look backward longing to undo decisions you have come to regret.  This is a waste of time and energy, leading only to frustration.  Instead of floundering in the past, release your mistakes to me.  Look to me in trust anticipating that my infinite creativity can weave both good choices and bad into a lovely design.  Because you are human, you will continue to make mistakes.  Thinking you should be error free is symptomatic of pride.  Your failures can be a source of blessing, humbling you and giving you empathy for other people in their weaknesses.  Best of all, failure highlights your dependence on me.  I am able to bring beauty out of the morass of your mistakes.  Trust me and watch to see what I can do."

ETA:  This excerpt is from Jesus Calling, a devotional book by Sarah Young.  Thanks to my friend Charlane who gave me the information so we could give credit to whom it is due!

The Story of Ted's Homecoming

Wednesday, May 16, turned out to be the day God chose for Ted to come HOME!  The original information we had was that Ted would arrive in Dayton on Thursday morning, May 17.  While we were delighted that he would be coming home sooner, that meant some changes in our plans!

Back on the home front, the family went into a flurry of activity!  Unbeknownst to Ted, his mom had made plans to fly out in order to be here to welcome him at the airport.  However, her original flight was scheduled to land late Wednesday night--which meant she would have missed his arrival!  Thankfully, she was able to change her flight and left Denver late Tuesday night, arriving in Dayton Wednesday morning.  Meanwhile, in Wisconsin, my dad and brother began the drive to Ohio late Tuesday night after Dad got off work.

The only information we had to go on when we were frantically making calls and changing our plans on Tuesday was that Ted was supposed to arrive in Indianapolis on Wednesday around lunchtime.  He planned to call us once he had the final flight details, but we assumed that he would go through customs and hop on a flight to Dayton from there.

Since Dad and John would be driving east on I-70, I asked Mom (who was here in Ohio with us) if she thought the guys could pick Rhonda up from the airport, since it is right off the freeway, on their way here.  When Mom and Dad talked on the phone, Dad agreed that would be a simple matter, and so it was settled...

Wednesday morning I was running around like a crazy woman!  I heard the phone ring while I was cleaning the bathroom, but since I wasn't expecting Ted to land in Indy until lunchtime, I didn't bother rushing, and Mom answered it first.  I heard her say, "Oh, you're at the airport?  Well, your mom is there now, too!"

ACK!  That part was supposed to be a surprise!!  Apparently Mom didn't realize that, though!  "NOOO!" I called out.  "DON'T TELL HIM!"  But it was too late.  I got on the phone and learned that Ted was about to go through customs and that he would call me back once he had information about his arrival in Dayton.

Meanwhile, Rhonda had arrived in Dayton.  She and my dad had connected by cell phone, and she was waiting for him to pick her up.  When I talked with her to let her know Ted had arrived in Indianapolis, she was watching for my dad's minivan but not finding it.  When she mentioned something about Dad being on a different level, I began wondering...anyone who's been through Dayton knows it's a small airport, and everything is on the same level!  I called Dad, and...sure enough...he was driving around the Indianapolis airport looking for Rhonda!  Somehow the tiny little detail of WHICH airport didn't get communicated clearly!

What a comedy of errors the morning was turning out to be!  Since Dad and John were still so far out, I just hopped in the Suburban and drove to pick up Rhonda myself, figuring maybe I just needed to get out of the house before I went stark raving mad!  A detour along the way (off I-75, of course) had me driving all over downtown, laughing at the craziness we were experiencing on the most exciting day of our year.  I was so glad none of this was a surprise to God...and all I could do was pray that Ted's actual arrival would be much less traumatic than the morning had been.

So, in the midst of all this chaos, Ted got his final flight arrangements--to Atlanta and then to Dayton.  If it weren't for the fact that he was transporting weapons, I would have driven to Indianapolis myself to get him (for that matter, Dad and John could have picked him up, LOL), but we weren't allowed to carry the weapons that far in a vehicle.  And...surprisingly, there are NO direct flights from Indy to Dayton.  So, Ted had to wait another 8 hours or so before actually getting home.

The good news, though, was that it allowed his crazy family a chance to get our ducks in a row before going to greet him at the airport!  Those who had traveled all night were able to get naps here at the house, and I was able to get word to local friends about the details for those who wanted to meet us at the airport.

Rhonda rode with the kids and me to get to the airport early enough to get special passes to go back and meet Ted at the gate.  My friend Becky from church had graciously agreed to be our photographer for the special occasion, so she went back with us as well.  I was so glad she came!  It was fun to just be caught up in the moment and not have to worry about trying to capture those moments for later.  You can see some of Becky's beautiful work in the photos in this post!

The kids had made signs, and we found flags at the dollar store that were actually MADE IN THE U.S.A. to wave.  Charis made a sign for Rhonda to hold since she was traveling all night. :-)

Oh, it was so fun to watch the kids!  Lucan was so excited at seeing the airplane actually land!  In fact, he nearly didn't leave the window because he wanted to see the plane so badly.  The rest of us were as waiting eagerly at the end of the walkway, straining to catch a glimpse of our tall, handsome airman!

Needless to say, Ted was accosted as soon as the kids saw him!

The applause from all the people in the airport was overwhelming and brought me to tears--if I weren't already that way from the emotion of the moment.

Ted was greeted by more enthusiastic family and friends as we walked to baggage claim.  Both my parents, my brother John, and some friends from church were there as well, holding flags and signs and ready to welcome their hero!

We drove from the airport to base to drop off Ted's weapons.  While Ted was inside the building, I called the PR gal from Chick-Fil-A, with whom I had been in touch with regarding a welcome-home lunch/dinner for Ted.  I had asked him where he wanted to eat when he arrived, thinking it would be easier to go out to eat than come home and fix a meal.  When he said Chick-Fil-A was fine with him, I thought of my friend Stefanie, whose husband had said the same thing when he returned from his year in Afghanistan.  She told me she had talked with the manager of CFA, who set up a nice welcome-home dinner for them, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to talk with them.  Wendy was very sweet and enthusiastic about helping us.

So, when we arrived at CFA, not only was there a section of the restaurant reserved for us, there were also friends (and strangers!) clapping and cheering and welcoming Ted home!

The folks at CFA were so kind.  They gave EVERYONE in our family (including our parents and my brother) a free meal!  And there were stuffed cows and balloons for everyone, to the delight of the children.  Since Ted landed right at the time the AWANA closing ceremonies were starting at church, we missed attending the service, but friends dropped by afterward to say hello and shake Ted's hand (and have some ice cream!).

All in all, it was a wonderful, special, extremely memorable day for our family!  We are so thankful for God's grace, for His tangible presence in our lives during a long and difficult year.  Without Him, we would not have even made it through the year, let alone come through even stronger in our faith and more confident of His good purposes.  What a blessing to look back and see the growth in each and every one of us, the work of HIS Holy Spirit!  What a blessing to have had such dear friends and family praying us through this journey!  We have learned to appreciate the Body of Christ more than ever before.  Thank you, dear friends, for sharing this journey with us.  If anyone has been blessed or encouraged by our family at all over the course of the deployment, it was worth every moment.

To God be the glory--great things HE has done!

The Wait Is Almost Over!

So...life has been speeding by since I last posted, and while our days have been anything but boring, I simply haven't had time to update this blog.  And frankly, I don't really have time now...but for those who don't yet know, I wanted to say that...

TED IS COMING HOME!!!

HE'S IN THE AIR!!!

WE'LL SEE HIM TOMORROW, GOD WILLING!!!

This is over a week earlier than we anticipated getting to welcome him home.  I'm overwhelmed with thankfulness and the desire to spin in circles while cleaning my house.

I think I'll settle for being thankful.

And maybe a little bit of circle spinning. :-)

Finally...A Writing Assignment

I was in desperate need of a nap yesterday, so after the kids were done with their lunches, I gave orders for the school kids to watch two short DVDs from the library (bios of Thomas Edison and George Washington Carver) and then write a paragraph about what they learned about one of the men.  Here is Arden's unedited paragraph, which makes me giggle as much as it shows me what we need to work on!

"thomas edison was a very great inventer.  He invented many machines like movies iron ore sorter etc.  He also had a not so big problem, a hearing problem.  As I say a not so big problem, it was'nt a problem at all.  he couldn't hear but that made him concentrate.  also He hired george carver, a black man.  both of them were great inventors, one made food and one made machines."

[I know Arden knows basic capitalization rules...since he printed his assignment, I think his lack of correct capitalization reflects more on his handwriting habits than anything, but there it is!]

Kenna's Decision

Over the last few weeks I've been thinking and praying about Kenna's awareness about her need for a Savior.  With Easter coming and going, we had opportunities to talk about WHY Jesus died on the cross.  And Charis had even commented that Kenna was older than Charis herself was when she prayed to ask Jesus into her heart.  Charis recently completed a Child Evangelism Fellowship training course and had asked if she could sometime go through the wordless book presentation with Kenna to see if she was ready.  Of course I told her that was a wonderful idea!

Well, tonight when I was tucking Kenna into bed, I asked her what she learned in Sunday school.  We usually try to discuss that around our lunch table, but today's lunch was pretty chaotic with getting leftovers heated for everyone and whisking Charis out the door for call time for her show, then the rest of the crew out to SEE the show while the little boys and I stayed home to nap.

Anyway, it worked well that we hadn't had that discussion yet!  Kenna told me that she learned about the woman who wiped Jesus' feet with her tears and dried them with her hair.  Our conversation then went something like this:

"Why did she do that, Kenna?"

"Because she loved Jesus so much."

"That's right.  We can't wash Jesus' feet now because He's in heaven, but we can still show Him that we love Him by loving and serving other people."

"How can we give Jesus stuff?"

"Jesus doesn't need any of our stuff!  He already has everything--but what we CAN give Jesus is our heart!  Someday when you're ready, you can pray and ask Jesus to come into your heart."

"I want to pray now!"

We went back downstairs and told Grandma and Grandpa K, who are here visiting, what was going on, and Charis, who was reading on the couch, went and got her wordless book.  We sat together while Charis went through the pages and made sure Kenna understood everything.  We (Kenna and I) recently had a conversation about the gospel message...in fact, we've had a few of these conversations lately!  Now that I think about it, there was a touching parenting moment recently that I believe God used to prepare Kenna's heart for tonight's decision...I'll write about that in a moment.

Kenna listened to Charis (being just a bit silly now and then, but mostly I think because she was in a hurry to just go ahead and pray!), and then we prayed together.  What a joy to share this moment with her AND her big sister AND her grandparents!  I'm still in awe over how it all came together!

So about a week or so ago I discovered Kenna eating out of Lucan's box of Easter jelly beans.
1.  She did not have permission to be eating candy.
2.  She stole Lucan's candy.
3.  She then lied about eating Lucan's candy, even though the evidence was CLEARLY hard to mistake!

I took her up to her room, and we had a very precious time of conversation.  I felt God impressing on me that this was NOT the time to punish her, even though her actions clearly deserved punishment.  She knew she had done wrong!  She was very tearful and repentant (probably more sorry she got caught, but still, I believe she was indeed sad about her sin!).  I told her that because she had sinned, she deserved to be punished...and the Spirit led me to tell her the good news about how God reaches down with grace and mercy on all of us, who deserve eternal punishment, and instead gave us Jesus, who bore our sins on the cross.  I made it clear that USUALLY, in our house, anyone who disobeyed, stole, and lied would have been disciplined!  But to show her a picture of what God did for us through Jesus, I chose NOT to give Kenna that punishment.

Thankfully, I am pleased to report that she has, to date, refrained from repeating said sinful behavior, and I would like to think that our little talk made an impact on her that helped lead her to tonight's decision.  What a joy and a blessing to lead our little ones to Christ!  Another child joins the kingdom of heaven, and the angels are partying tonight!

A Day in the Life--Tuesday

Up bright and early today...heard a child coughing at 3:30 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep, so I did some work in the kitchen for awhile before making some coffee.  But not just any coffee...Anchor Bay Roasts coffee!  I just have one cup, so I use my cute little French press.  Real cream from real cows and local raw honey make it extra yummy.

It's Tuesday, Bible study day, and I have one more day of homework that I need to finish.  So, after the coffee is ready, I sit on my comfy bed and work.  I keep my planner with me for those wandering "Oh yeah, I need to..." thoughts.

After showering it's time to wake up my little honey bear to nurse.  It still amazes me that I have to wake Zaden up for his breakfast every day!  After he's finished, it's time to make breakfast for the rest of the crew and herd us out the door to church.  We zip along, amazingly leaving the house a bit early.  Good thing, because there's a detour and we have to go out of our way to get there!

These lovely ladies are at my table!  Jackie, the lady to the right of me, is our table leader, with Candie, front right, as her assistant.  A couple of ladies are missing.  I love these women and appreciate their wisdom and insights!  Meanwhile, the older kids are working on independent school assignments while the younger ones are in child care.

Lunch time!  Zaden is so excited to have banana mush!

After some kids have finished wolfing down their food, all who remain at the table are the slow eaters (i.e. the readers), to include myself at times, as it may be the only chance I get to glance at the paper.

While I clean up the lunch mess, Lucan makes a "bee-yoo-tee-ful" tent.  ("Beautiful" is one of his new favorite words.)

Meanwhile, Zaden is having all kinds of fun on the floor!  He's especially happy in this picture, because I just changed a huge poop that resulted in an outfit change as well.  And it was double "doo-ty," since Lucan also had a poopy diaper.  Sigh.  I really need to get that kid potty trained.

After I put the little boys down for their naps, the older kids and I go over their school checklists from the morning.  We check everything except their Story of the U.S.A. workbook, which we'll go over together tomorrow (I hope).  Charis needed help remembering how to figure out the circumference of a circle, but once we reviewed the formula, she was good.  Arden did well with his digraph practice in his phonics book--hooray!  The little bit of instruction I gave him before we left stuck in his brain!

Today was my day to get milk from the farm.  I totally forgot to take a picture while I was actually AT the farm, so these 5 jars will have to suffice.  I also dropped off a couple of stamp club orders when I took Julia's cooler of milk to her.  (We trade off...a milk carpool, if you will.)

 And of course it wouldn't be a very fun day (for the boys) if some kind of video game weren't allowed!  They each turned in "media chips" to play games on my computer.

The older kids spent time playing outside (except for Charis, who stayed inside to knit and read) before dinner.  Don't let this picture fool you--we have been eating most of our meals at the smaller table in the kitchen, where most of the chaos is, but it was easier to eat here because this table was completely clear!  Normally our table area looks like we're trying to eat and do school all at the same time!  I call this dinner Easter, Part Two...leftover pulled pork and squash bake from Sunday, plus steamed green beans and almond flour biscuits.

While I'm cleaning up dinner, I hear Lucan saying, "Here, Baby Zaden...here, Baby Zaden...here, Baby Zaden..."  And when I peek in the family room, I see that Lucan is very kindly handing Zaden every single toy from his toy basket!

My friend Jen H comes over to visit for a bit in the evening, and it is so nice to have another adult to share the evening with!  Before too long the three littles are in bed, the boys are playing in the basement, and Charis is curled up reading on the couch where Jen and I are visiting and making plans for the homeschool convention we'll be attending together next week.  (Charis didn't have rehearsal tonight--the past several Tuesdays she has been at the theater in the evenings.)

Since Jen is here, we forego our read-aloud time, and I shoo everyone to bed shortly after 9:00 so I can get Zaden to nurse one last time before turning in myself.

Zaden Update

It's a little late to do Zaden's 6-month update, I suppose!  Here are his stats from his 6-month check-up:

15 lbs, 2 oz (7th percentile)
26.6 in (46th percentile)

Since his weight had been in the 13th percentile during his 4-month check-up, the pediatrician asked us to bring him back in another month for a weight check.  Thankfully, she said we could do it in conjunction with Lucan's 3-year well-child visit; otherwise I may have just blown it off.  I wasn't concerned--Zaden had just started solids literally two days before this check-up, and he was (and is) nursing just fine, usually 5 times a day.

So anyway, we took him back in last week, and his weight is up to 16 lbs, 4 oz, which puts him in the 9th percentile for weight now.  I don't remember how long he is, and unfortunately, they didn't write it down for me this time and my hands were full with the two little ones.  All I heard was that I don't need to bring him back for another weight check!

This is a happy Zaden in the huge high chair that our friend Chris brought over.  I LOVE this thing!  He had definitely outgrown his swing, which was what we were using for feedings before this--rather difficult, since he learned that he could jerk his body and make the swing move, resulting in food being smeared all over his face.  Now I can plunk him in here and let him play with toys while I get his food prepared, and the chair has wheels, so we can easily move it.

The foods Zaden has tried so far include avocados, squash, carrots, parsnips, apples, bananas, and pears.  I've used chicken broth as well as breast milk mixed with the rice cereal; he really seems to enjoy the broth.  I need to puree some green veggies and start him on those; just haven't had time yet.

We're still working on figuring out the sippy cup.  Kenna was sweetly helping him with this tonight, and I managed to snap a picture.  (Yes, it's a pink and purple sippy cup.  It's the only one we currently have with handles!)  I think it's harder for him to figure it out because he hasn't had a bottle at all since he was very, very tiny and the doctor had told us we needed to supplement with formula.  (Thankfully that didn't last long at all!)

As you can see from that picture, he is sitting up very well.  I absolutely LOVE this stage, where the baby can sit up and play with toys in front of him but can't move anywhere yet!  His personality so far seems to be very similar to Arden, who was content to sit on his blanket and let the world come to him rather than Kenna's tendency to take on the world herself.  (I still remember Kenna trying to sit up using her abdomen muscles even from as young as 3-4 months old!  Zaden has no such interest!)

Zaden's preferred sleep position is on his tummy, and I still often find him sucking his thumb when I go to wake him.  I love how he had his ankles crossed in this picture with his little butt sticking up!  He doesn't seem to suck his thumb quite as often, though--only when he's sleepy, like when I wake him and he instinctively knows he's going to be nursing, he'll find his thumb before I sit down.  He still is a champion sleeper, taking 3 naps a day plus sleeping a good 9 or so hours at night.  I am extremely thankful for this!

Overall, Zaden is one of the happiest, easiest, most laid-back little guys I've ever known!  He adores his siblings and rewards them with shrieks of laughter, blown raspberries, and all kinds of fun responses.  He doesn't have any teeth yet.  He recognizes his daddy's voice and gets excited when he can hear Ted on Skype.  We look forward to celebrating Zaden's 9-month birthday by having Daddy HOME...or at least close to it!

Homeschool Update

Urg.  This blog is so far behind now!  It's Easter Sunday, and I find myself having had a 40-minute nap with a bit of time before Zaden's next feeding, so I'll do what I can to update things.  This first post will be an overview of what we've been up to on the homeschool front.

MATH
The one thing we've been able to plug away with, even if I personally can't be involved in a school activity, is math.  Thank the good Lord for Math-U-See!  Charis is nearing the end of the the Epsilon book, while Tobin is closing in on finishing the first 1/3 of the same book.  Arden is almost 2/3 of the way through his Delta book.  I feel that I have not interacted all that well with the kids on their math skills, so I can only hope and pray that they are learning well enough on their own with the videos!  Thankfully I have pretty good math skills myself, so I've been able to reinforce some of the things I've seen them struggle with.  Mostly, though, it's just practice, practice, practice!  Kenna is starting to pick up her primer book again to "do school," which is probably a good thing since she just turned 5.  And one of Lucan's very favorite activities is playing with the math blocks--he reminds me so much of Arden at this age!

LANGUAGE ARTS
I am SO grateful that Tobin and Charis are such eager readers!  Not only do they fly through their assigned books for Sonlight, but they have done so much extra reading on their own just from our nearly weekly trips to the library.  I have told Charis that we need to take our suitcase on rollers for her--she loads up on so many books each trip!  Compared to these two, Arden is more of a "reluctant reader," but it's not that he hates reading; when he finds a book about a football player, for example, or a new graphic novel that interests him, he'll curl up and read as well.  But...he thinks his trip to the library is complete when he finds 2 or 3 books, and he definitely would rather be in motion than sitting and reading.

Sadly, our writing assignments have been the most neglected this year.  I'm thankful that Charis, my oldest student, is at least self-motivated to write poems, journal entries, or other creative writing projects on her own.  I plan to have the kids keep detailed journals during our travels this summer so they can keep those to look back on.  I truly wish I could be more on top of things, but I've had to realize that this year some things just had to go, and while I wouldn't have expected writing assignments to be one of those things...they just are.  I sit down now and then and go over things like the "Grammar Gems" and the application activities in the language arts worksheets with them (often doing several weeks' worth in one sitting!), but we certainly aren't doing a very thorough job of that.

And spelling.  Sigh.  I haven't gone over a spelling list with my kids since...well, I don't even remember!  The thing is, my kids are GREAT spellers naturally--even Arden, who reads the least, surprises me by knowing how to spell most words I toss at him.  (Sometimes it's the very simple ones he misses, like "realy" instead of "really.")  So again, I'm giving myself some grace with that and hoping we can catch up once we return to "normal life," which may not be for another year, ha!

HISTORY
At last, something I've kept up with!  This is because the kids all really enjoy Sonlight's core.  My goal for this year was to get through half of our Sonlight curriculum (year 2 of American History), and we are on track to do that!  We are in the middle of week 16--hooray!  So getting through week 18 should be very doable, and maybe--just maybe--we'll keep going.  The time period we're studying is very exciting, with all the inventions and industry and progress.  Yet as we've discovered, human nature doesn't improve just because working conditions do!  So many good opportunities for discussion!  As a nod to the period we've been reading about, the kids and I are enjoying the Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman series checked out from the library.

SCIENCE
This is another area I've had to scale back on.  While we are doing fairly well at keeping up with the reading--we're staying with the same week we are on in history--I've set aside the experiments and flat out told Ted that he gets to do those in a "Science Camp" week with the kids when he returns!!  And some of the reading is a bit over the kids' heads, so I breeze through some things on occasion.  Still, progress...little by little.  And they'll be reintroduced to the concepts later down the road, so I'm not terribly concerned.

BIBLE
We're in the middle of reading 1 Samuel, and the kids were working on memorizing Psalm 19.  We got a little derailed, so we'll probably have to go back and review that.  But again...they do a lot of memorizing for AWANA, so...kind of hard to get too uptight about that!  And God has been so gracious at giving us so many life lessons during this deployment!  We find ourselves stopping to pray together so often--for wisdom, for forgiveness, for healing, for provision...really, we're living out Deuteronomy 6:4-9, purely by God's grace and mercy.  I'm so thankful.  More than anything in our curriculum, this deployment has grown the kids AND myself in ways I never would have believed!  Glory to our God!

EXTRACURRICULAR
One might argue that this whole year has been full of extracurriculars, ha!  Cleaning the house and taking care of the baby--home ec, right?!  But, for official activities, the older three continue to enjoy piano lessons weekly.  Our dear piano teacher, Mrs. D, is already so sad at the thought of her three students going away after July!  We are praying God will lead us to another good and godly piano teacher.  I am so grateful for what she has taught the children--Charis is starting to learn improvisation in the hymnal and is doing a fabulous job.  It brings tears to my eyes to hear her!  And while the initial excitement has admittedly worn off a bit for the boys (especially now that the weather has been better), they are still plugging away and doing well.  I think it will be good for them to have an opportunity to perform at the May homeschool meeting.

Charis is in the throes of the spring play, adding another production to her resume, and the boys continue with karate, likely doing another belt test in the next month or so.  And the three attend P.E. classes when the schedule allows.

In addition, Charis has had the opportunity to do a couple of unique classes recently.  Child Evangelism Fellowship, an organization supported by our church missions outreach, offered a 6-week class on evangelism to homeschool students.  Charis has done very well with this; it blessed my heart to see her reaction when I asked her if she was interested in attending the classes.  She has been diligent with learning the Bible verses and practicing sharing the gospel.  I know the Lord will use this in her life to bless others and draw them to His kingdom.  The 6 classes have met for an hour and a half Wednesday mornings at the CEF office downtown, giving the other kids and me the opportunity to explore the Boonshoft Museum or area parks.

Also on Wednesdays Charis has been attending a 6-week American Sign Language class that our friend Jessica is offering--Jessica is a homeschool teenager who lives just down the street, so at least I don't have to drive Charis to that!  So, Wednesdays have been busy--we do AWANA in the evenings as well--but I figure the activities are good and are just for a short season, and hey, this is why we homeschool anyway, right?!

I suppose I could add to Charis's activity roster...she has had a couple of informal knitting lessons from a friend of ours from church and has gotten herself a new hobby!  She has checked out books from the library and always seems to have some kind of knitting project going!  If you'd like to order one of these "knitted babes," let me know, since she's looking for ways to earn extra money!  And that finally wraps up this edition of the Homeschool News. :-)