Author: Joy

While reading other blogs, I just realized I haven’t posted anything in 2 weeks! Not even a Monday Multitude or iFellowship. I had told myself I was going to start writing more and here time has just slipped by me.

The day after I last posted, we left for Florida to visit with family. While it was a good trip, it just passed way to quickly. It doesn’t seem like we ever have enough time to visit with everyone that we want to. We couldn’t stay as long as we usually do, because my oldest had to get back to his job. He had already missed a week, a couple of weeks back due to being at a missions camp. So his job was being generous letting him miss the week we were in Florida. We were able to visit with my mom, my husband’s parents, his great grandma and great great grandma who will be 98 in August. Can you believe that I didn’t take any pictures? First trip back that I didn’t even bring out the camera to get pictures of the kids with grandparents. I am hoping we can make it back during the holidays. We normally have a few extra days we can spend at Christmas time. So I am looking forward to heading back to visit more with family and will definitely take pictures then! Until then, here are pictures that I took of family 2 years ago.

The one above is of us with my husband’s great great grandma, great grandma and dad. There are 5 generations pictured here. The picture below is of my mom and the 5 grandkids. They sure do love their Meme!

As I mentioned before, we have been having Vacation Bible School at our church this week. It started on Sunday night. Our theme this year? God Always Wins! Yes, He always wins and will definitely win in the end! My kids have been having such a wonderful time. We have had some awesome conversations about Jesus and how we want to spend eternity with Him. When my youngest son said he wanted to spend eternal life with Jesus, it brought tears to my eyes. God is so amazing! You see, my youngest son has not always enjoyed going to church like my other children. I honestly don’t know what had happened, but when we attended a previous church, he did not want to go to class. He would cry until it made him sick. He ended up staying with my husband and I for a while, until my husband decided to start taking him to class and staying with him. Even with Buddy doing that, he still did not like church and did not want to go to class. We eventually left that church to the one we are attending now. Finally, after a year of Buddy and I taking turns being with him in class, he will now go on his own. He will run to class now and wave goodbye to us. I just talked with his 2 teachers and they say he is participating in class and will talk with them and the other kids in class. It truly is an answer to prayer. So as you can tell, when this momma heard him say he wanted to spend eternal life with Jesus, I was ecstatic!! Tonight is the last night of VBS and my youngest daughter and I are missing it. She woke up sick and is still not feeling well. We are truly bummed that we are missing it. I am praying that this is just a 24 bug and she will be better on Sunday morning to take part in the VBS commencement program we will be holding.

My oldest daughter has had Ballet camp this week. She has been having an awesome time learning from a wonderful ballet teacher who has been dancing for 80 years. Her teacher, Mrs. Marilyn Cloutier is in her 80’s and has danced with some of the best ballet dancers in the world. This has truly been a treat for our daughter and I am just hoping that she will continue to take ballet in the fall.

I have also been going through my homeschool bookshelves. I am preparing for our 8th year of homeschooling. While I have the books I will be using for my youngest 2 children, I am still looking for curriculum for my oldest daughter. She is wanting to learn about Ancient History and I am wanting to cover American History. I am praying about this decision and even talking with my husband about it. Since my oldest daughter will be in the 8th grade, I would like for her to have some say in what she learns. However, with the United States going like it is in this day and time, I am really wanting us to study the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. I want us to go over and study what this country was founded on and what those who founded this wonderful country went through to make it the greatest place to live. When I do decide on what we are going to use for my oldest daughter, I plan on writing a post about our homeschool curriculum for the upcoming year.

Oh, I am also writing once a month for Seeds of Faith and The Homeschool Village. So as you can tell, it has been a busy summer around here and it doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon! I am going to do my best to try and start posting more. I do enjoy writing and sharing with others. I appreciate you all being so patient with me!

Now that I have you caught up on what we have been doing, what about you? How has your summer been?