Update 2 of 3: 2nd Grade & Pre-K

Colton is SO excited to be in 2nd grade. Here is a look at what we will be studying this year.

• DiscipleLand 2 (All about the Bible...who wrote it, where did it come from, how do we use it...)
• Math-U-See: Gamma (starts with multiplication, and he is LOVING it!)
• Exploring Creation with Astronomy (already learned the planets in order as well as the names Copernicus and Galileo)
• The Story of the World: The Middle Ages (Even Eli enjoyed the Beowulf excerpt this week.)
• First Language Lessons 2 (grammar) (learned the being verbs this week)
• The Complete Writer 2 (copywork, narration (summarizing), and dictation)
• A Reason for Handwriting (handwriting practice...duh! He likes copying the Bible verses.)
• Building Spelling Skills
• The Learnables and Basic Structures: Spanish 2
• A Beka Health 2
• piano

I'm still trying to get Eli officially "excited" about pre-K. I'm only doing 2 subjects with him, even though he sometimes listens in on Colton's lessons. The plan is to do reading lessons on MWF and DiscipleLand (Old Testament stories) on TT. If we happen not to get to his schoolwork one day, though, we can easily do both subjects the next day.

Rain, Bunk Beds, and Summer Break

We still have not had our yard sale yet. Two weekends ago, we set up in the garage "just in case" it rained any. Any? It rained most of the day. I found that even though we kept our stuff dry, PEOPLE don't get out in the rain to go to yard sales. DUH! Oh well, we made $40, and I had fun visiting with Cindy.

Last weekend the forecast called for a greater chance of rain than the previous weekend, so we decided (before even advertising) that we wouldn't even try. Yep. You guessed it. It was pretty most of the day. Granted, a nice storm came up earlier than we would have closed, but the sky turned black ahead of it. We could most likely have gotten everything put away in time after having been open a good 4-6 hours.

Another factor in skipping last weekend was that this coming weekend was looking promising...0% chance of rain. By Sunday, it was 10%. Monday 30% for Friday and 40% for Saturday. We've got to get this yard sale over with!!! : ) As each weekend has flopped, we have gotten more donations (yea!), and we can no longer walk through the garage to get into the house. We used to actually park there...both vehicles!

On a more exciting note, we have gotten bunk beds for the girls!! This is such an exciting step for us. I've noticed that we say things like "the girls' beds" and "the girls' room". I think this has made our adoption more real to some. It certainly has made it easier to talk about the adoption with some. I think that they figure if we are going to buy bunk beds just maybe we are serious about this adoption thing. Ya think?

Last thing... Colton has officially finished 1st grade! I think we have had a most productive year. I slipped a bit on getting him library books to read, but we've been reading a bunch in the last week or so, and he is doing very well. We still have a couple of DiscipleLand lessons to finish because we got behind and missed a day here or there, and we are going to continue history on into the summer because we didn't start until after Christmas (so we are a semester behind and I'd REEEALLy like to start second grade "on track"). I've already picked out what I need to purchase for next year, but the Homeschooling account is dry after purchasing classic literature on DVD-ROM and an ebook reader. (Yikes! but Cool!) We'll get to it eventually.

Birthday Season Begins

Birthday season is upon us. February brings Eli's 4th. March will be my "somethingth". Colton will be 7 in April, and Tim will be older-than-me in May. We've been trying to plan Eli's birthday party, and February is a hard time. It will most likely be too cold or wet for the kids to go outside to play. As we began to look into having the party elsewhere, cost became an issue. So, we began to toy with a new idea. After looking carefully at Eli's guest list, we noticed that the list was almost identical to one Colton would make for his party. Since their birthdays are February and April, we decided to do one big party in March.

We've enjoyed for a while now doing their annual pictures in March as well. It makes me wonder when Keely and Maggie's birthdays will be. We aren't really any closer to bringing them home, and I'd be lying if I said that I'm not saddened and frustrated by that. I know that God is in control, though, and I trust that my girls will be home someday.

I'm almost halfway through my medical transcription course. It's not gone as quickly as I had hoped. The material I have studied so far has been very dry and monotonous. So, it doesn't call my name every spare moment like a good novel would. I just pray that I can push through the boring stuff and get finished. I'm also praying that God is already preparing work for me. All I have to do is find it.

Tim has been spending all of his spare time researching SUVs. His car is 19 years old and on its last leg. I do not like driving it anymore. Our search would be easier if we were only looking to seat the four of us, but it seems a waste not to go ahead and plan for 6. We would just have to get another vehicle when the girls come, or we would at least lose the convenience of being able to transport everyone in either vehicle.

Colton is surprising me with Spanish. He is also enjoying the history I added the second week of this semester. Eli is a character and doing well with reading when he wants to do a lesson. For now, I'm not pushing it if he doesn't. Let's keep it fun.

A New Year

Happy 2009!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and New Year's. I know I did. We got to spend lots of time with family. Then we ended the old year with new friends and started the new year by spending time with old friends. How cool is that?

And today, the reality check--back to school for us all. Colton started Spanish this semester (at his request), and he really did a great job with his first lesson. He and I are also going to begin a strength training program and a homemade walking program. I say "homemade" because in an effort to keep it fun, I'm simply letting him pick a TV show, and we will walk through it (in place or forward and back). Today as the first day, I let him walk until he wanted to stop. We made it 19 minutes. Now that we have a benchmark, we have to try to beat that time tomorrow. Who knows? Maybe Mom will benefit from this too.

Eli got a taste of school today as well. He has agreed to start reading lessons and was quite excited about it until today. When I got the book out, he suddenly changed his mind and didn't want to anymore. With a little coaxing and some "I just want to show you something," he got suckered into looking at the lesson and participating in it. In maybe 5 minutes, it was over. I don't know if he was more surprised that it was already over or that it had ever started in the first place. He agreed that it didn't hurt or anything and seemed to have had fun. For those of you who think I might be pushing him too much (he will be 4 in February), you need to understand that he already knows all of his letter sounds and can use the magnetic letters on the fridge to build words I sound out for him. He also often asks to do his Bible lesson with me. In other words, he wants some school time with Mommy like Big Brother gets.

Just yesterday Colton was asking again when Keely and Maggie are going to come. He is so anxious to have them here. Sometimes I worry how devestated he would be if we never raised the money to go and get them. It's been quite some time since we were able to add anything to the adoption fund. As much as I rethink everything, I still don't feel like God is saying "no" to the adoption. In the depths of my heart, I think I would be "messing up" if I quit the adoption efforts. But instead, I am trying to stay focused on the goal while at the same time seeing the snail's pace as God's timing. After all, God knows the best possible moment the girls will be ready and the best possible moment for us to travel and the best possible moment for us and the boys to be ready for them, etc.

As I always remind you, we still have bracelets and pizza cards for sale. At last check we have lost a good bit of money on the pizza cards. If there is any way you can buy one or take them to people where you work or something, it would help us out immensely.

Summer is here

It's finally summer! Tim doesn't have to go to school anymore; Colton's friends are home during the day; our friends who are teachers are free to visit; and we don't homeschool...well, not everyday. I have gently talked Colton into continuing reading lessons and piano lessons 2 days a week through the summer. We started this reading book in January 2007 for just 3 days a week and continued all last summer. By sticking with it this summer too, we will be able to finish it before starting our first grade material. I highly recommend The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. The website suggests that even kids attending school will benefit from this method of learning to read, and I believe it. So many schools have lost all focus of phonics (learning the sounds of letters and combinations of letters so you can sound out a word). These schools have gone to memorization of words, and a kid can only memorize so much, and what happens when he is on his own and sees a word that wasn't on one of his lists?

Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed homeschooling this year. I was actually afraid of kindergarten because I was used to teaching middle and high school students. Kindergarten is so fundamental and so basic, I was afraid I would have a hard time explaining things in a way Colton could understand. But the materials we used really took care of the explanations for me.

Soccer was another highlight from our school year. Funny, though, Colton's interest in soccer peaked about 2 days after the season ended. I think it was because Eli started driving the soccer ball throughout the house. Big brother then had to give him some pointers because he had actually played soccer before. Now they both want to play next year. Eli announced that he wants to be on a red team. (Colton's was blue, so I'm not sure why he picked red.) Eli will actually be old enough next year as a 4 year-old. Can't wait to see that.

Fundraising Update
Tim has a garage to clean (hopefully adding items to our yard sale). Tim may have to get a summer job, but he would love to fill his summer with installing laminate flooring. If you can recommend him to someone, please, please, please do so. He not only could raise more money this way, but he would enjoy it so much more than the summer jobs he's has in the past. Oh, and of course, he will charge way less than the stores who sell the flooring, so everybody benefits.

As for my bookkeeping, I could use more clients. I figure that if I just had a couple more clients, we could qualify for adopting 2 children through the agency we like best. (See the last posting for an explanation if you need to.) With 5 or 6 more clients, I could maintain that qualifying amount even after I stop babysitting some day. (That never was an indefinite source of income.) It doesn't HAVE to be a small business either. I can do your personal bookkeeping as well. I'd show you where you are spending money so you could see where you could trim and save. I'd also help you create and follow a budget. We've been using a budget for at least 11 of the almost 13 years we've been married. If you've never had a budget, you really should try one. I find it relieves a lot of stress when the car breaks down and you see that you have more than enough money in the Car Repairs category to cover the repairs. Ok, end of the commercial.

Back to Summer
Isn't it strange how summers seemed to last longer when we were little? Summertime was this vast space of time filled with fun relaxing activities: days spent at Granny & Grandaddy's or at a friend's house, swimming, playing outside, completing a special project and so on. So much time to just do what you wanted to do. Now, it seems like we're just getting started when the summer is gone and Tim's back at school. What was your favorite summer memory? Any big plans for this summer?

My Crazy Life

Hi, everyone.

Allow me to introduce myself. I have been married to the most wonderful man (Tim) for almost 13 years. We have two boys--Colton (6) and Eli (3). I taught school (grades 6-12) for 8 years and then moved to a position overseeing technology in the classrooms for 3 years. While my husband is completing his 13th year as a middle school teacher, we have decided to homeschool our own children. Colton and I will be finishing kindergarten soon. In addition to homeschooling, I baby-sit an 8 month-old neighbor; I play the keyboard/piano full-time at church; and I have a very small bookkeeping business that I run from home during naps and between diapers.

But the "craziest" thing on my plate right now is trying to make plans for an international adoption. Actually 2 adoptions if God wills it. We would like to adopt 2 girls most likely between the ages of 1-5. We don't know where they are, but their names are going to be Keely Page and Maggie Elizabeth. Our 2 biggest obstacles right now are choosing a country (and agency) and raising the money. We are trying to set small financial goals, but even those are slow in coming. Just to get through the application, home study, and initial paperwork, we need about $3,000.

Part of the reason for this attempt at blogging is so that I can meet people who have adopted or who know people who have. I'd like to hear your words of wisdom. We have a website at www.demossendeavors.com/ where we advertise jobs we can do. We also have a little store there for selling these adoption bracelets I'm making. What do you think? They cost $8, and I have recently made a couple of necklaces for $10. Want one?

We are also planning a yard sale for June, but other than those two things, we've been fundraising since December, and we've only got $470 to show for it. Any suggestions anyone?

Now about country, we started out looking at El Salvador. They had very few adoptions per year and had a potential for being flooded if/when Guatemala closed (which they have). Then we chose Guatemala, but it has closed for now. As I look at other countries, there seems to be at least one major obstacle with each one. Either it has recently closed, is way more expensive than others, has a very long wait (like 3 years), or requires a very lengthy stay in the country (like 5-6 weeks). I can neither imagine leaving my boys for that long nor can I imagine taking them into a foreign country where a little girl or girls would be needing my undivided attention anyway.

Over the last few days I have looked at Bulgaria, Ukraine, and even China. But China's wait is approaching the 3 year mark, and you can only adopt 1 child at a time. That's 6 years! I'll be too old to handle it by then!! Okay, I'm not exactly ancient, but I'm 38, and Tim is about to turn 42. That does start disqualifying you from some programs.

Does anyone have any advice on countries? or agencies?