It's Been TOO long..

I cannot believe it has been over a month since I have posted anything on this blog. When we were missionaries, I felt like I actually had something to write about. Now that life is pretty much about education (homeschool and Ethan's seminary classes) I have restricted my blogs to photos of the kids and Ethan's wonderful mission trip this past summer. Plus, in general, I do not have the gift of writing that my husband's first cousin once-removed has on hesowsshesews.com. Yet, I can follow Gretchen's blog and in some ways feel her writing reflects many aspects of my life as a mom.

Homeschooling has been going much better than I expected at the beginning of the year. Now that things are well organized and we are in the flow of our work, my anxiety level has decreased to pretty much nothing. This has its exceptions however, especially when one of my children becomes very frustrated with his work and does not wish to endure through a difficult assignment. After a strong emotional reaction from this child, I do begin to wonder if I am doing the right thing in teaching this child at home, however, when I see the progress the kids are making, I don't doubt it any longer. They truly are making excellent progress in all areas. Now, if we could see some progress in the area of maturity and character. May God be strong in my weakness of instructing my children in this area. Parenting has to be the hardest job ever.

The School of Choice at Adams School has been a fantastic addition to homeschooling. I have been so very thankful to God for this program. Mrs. Torkelson and Mrs. Heikes have about four times my energy and are tremendously gifted teachers and communicators. In many of the ways I lack in teaching, they make up for it in many wonderful creative ways. Last Tuesday, the families of the co-op got together for a Thanksgiving Party with authentic food and dress. Gretchen, Lizzy, and Amy dressed as pilgrim girls, and Peter John was an indian. I baked two huge 9 x 13 pans of pumpkin pie (in the bar form so that it could be served more easily), and the kids sang songs that Mrs. Torkelson had taught them.
Unfortunately, I missed the entire event due to the stomach flu that has been bothering me for several days now. The kids performed beautifully from what I could see of the video Ethan shot.

Ethan's classes are going well. He has been swamped with papers and tests for weeks now. He has barely had enough time to breathe, and the Thanksgving Break has given him time to finish some papers that were due. I am sure he is looking forward to the end of the semester coming up in a few weeks. God has so graciously provided our daily bread, and I am truly thankful for his goodness. Now that things are slowing down for him at work (his work is primarily seasonal), Ethan will probably need to find another part-time job over the dark winter months of December and January. Until then, we pray for God to continue to provide in the miraculous way He has done so far.

This past week we celebrated my mom's 60th birthday and a wonderful Thanksgving holiday. These two events have turned my mind and heart to God and His goodness and steadfast love that endures forever. Our memory verse for last week was from I Chronicles 16:34 "Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." God is good.