He is risen!

New kid

I discovered two buck kids Thursday afternoon.

Smile

Simple things

For weeks the faucet of my bathroom sink dripped. Since I have hard water, the constant dripping left a yellow stain at the bottom of the sink. 

A couple of weeks ago, Dad repaired the faucet so that it no longer drips. Then I applied Iron Out to the stain. It was magic. I had forgotten that my sink could look clean.

It looked so good I took a picture.

Baby shower

The ladies of the English Language Program held a baby shower last week honoring our pregnant students. We had a blast sharing American traditions. Of course, we played silly party games. One involved fudge inside washcloths folded like diapers. Another was a combination of musical chairs and hot potato with ladies frantically passing baby dolls to one of Justin Bieber's songs. It was a blast!

Smooth

One chore I find relaxing is ironing the cloth napkins. 

Birthday candles

Charlie's verse

Charlie watches me through my kitchen window

You, LORD, preserve both people and animals

Psalm 36.6c NIV

Geometric III

Laundry

Laundry and shopping were two of the jobs that Julie did when she was here. She is a detail person, so she did a great job scouring the grocery store ads and producing clean clothes without tissue fragments plastered all over them. Lately, as I attack the household chores on my own, I've been missing her. 

Geometric II

Geometric

Expire

Rebecca's shower

Rebecca is the one in the blue. Esther, one of her bridesmaids, is on her left and her mom is on her right.

for Julie

Our friend Rebecca is getting married in April. Since Julie wasn't able to attend the bridal shower, these pictures are for her.  

The clothespin game: anytime you heard someone say the words "wedding" or "Oklahoma" you could take one of their clothespins. The person with the most clothespins won.

Rebecca and one of her nieces.

Julie, I finally met Jenny and Erin. Already knew Kaziah.

Another one of the games was filling out information about Terrill and Rebecca. Did you know Rebecca wears size 7 1/2 shoe?

The kids were one of the best parts of the party. The little boy is Erin's oldest and the girl is Dot's youngest.

Fishers

"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will send you out to fish for people." Mark 1:17 NIV

Soggy

From my sister

Meatball subs

Brian had a cow butchered a couple of weeks ago, and I promised to make him meatball subs. He wasn't the only one who showed up for the ground beef, tomato sauce, cheese and french bread combination last week.  

Detox

I wish Charlie wouldn't give me so much to write about. Or, at least, he could choose less stressful adventures.

Last Saturday while I was out of town, Charlie ate rat poison. Dad and Logan rushed him to the vet where they induced vomiting and gave Logan charcoal to feed Charlie over the next twenty-four hours. 

The rat poison that Charlie mistook for treats has no antidote. The best hope is to get it out of a dog's system as quickly as possible. The first twenty-four hours are critical, but, though less likely, the effects of the poison can mysteriously appear and cause paralysis or death a week or two later.

Saturday night Logan and Charlie had a sleepover during which neither got much sleep. When I returned Sunday afternoon, Charlie was tired and hungry, but otherwise appeared to be fine.

Evening walk

The weather yesterday was typical of an early spring day in Michigan. It was relatively warm, but it was raining and every inch of ground was gray, soggy, and wet. After I finished teaching for the day, I borrowed a pair of rubber boots and pulled out my umbrella and Charlie and I sloshed through a couple of laps on my parents' driveway. It was pathetic. 

Then in the evening I noticed it had stopped raining and the sun was turning the sky incredible colors as it dropped in the west. So, I loaded Charlie up and we drove half a mile down the road to a side country road where we took a short evening jaunt. It was refreshing.

Beach

Lots of people go to the beach on spring break. I did too. My beach happened to have snow and ice, but that didn't keep Mom, Naomi, Charlie and I from having a delightful walk.

Majesty

God comes in awesome majesty.

Job 37:22 NIV

Soon

Spring paint

Over spring break, Libby and Betsy helped me continue the painting project I started last summer. 

Basking on the beach

Magic

Even the road wasn't clear on Wednesday morning

When I got home last week on Tuesday night, the Beachy Buggy made tracks through the snow. When I went outside to feed Charlie on Wednesday morning, my driveway was clear. Everyone should have a driveway like mine... or maybe everyone should have a neighbor with a snowplow like mine. 

Homework

Weather

I have three pairs of snow boots. And, still last week I had to borrow a pair of Julie's boots.

Recently, we've had snow, mud, ice and slush--all mixed together. A typical step starts with a crunch as you break through a thin layer of ice, then a mush as you sink through snow and finally a slog as you land in murky water puddled above the frozen ground. 

On Thursday, I realized I had left a pair of boots at school. My second pair of boots was damp from a walk with Charlie the day earlier. The third pair of boots had holes an inch or two from the soles making them unsuitable for the occasion. So, I borrowed a pair of Julie's boots.

That, my friends, is a commentary on Michigan weather. 

Worth dying for

One of our journal prompts this week was, "What are you willing to die for?"

"Are you willing to die for your car?" I asked. "If someone pointed a gun at your head and said to give him your car keys, would you?"

"Of course," they said.

Next I asked about their money and houses. None of the students were willing to die for their possessions.

A few students said they were willing to die for their motherland.

Many were willing to die for their religion and almost everyone was willing to die for his family.

"Would you die for a stranger?" I asked. "What about if the man was a great doctor who was about to cure cancer; would you die for him?"

They thought about it.

"What if the stranger was a bad man, a murderer?" I asked.

They laughed at the absurdity. No one would die to save that man's life. "We would die to kill him," they said. 

~~~

Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:7-8 NIV

Portfolios

One of my achievements during Christmas break was to sort through my school portfolios. 

My Mom was very diligent at documenting our education--each year we created a portfolio with samples of our work in every subject, as well as tests, quizzes and papers. We also included photographs and other artifacts, such as certificates, concert programs and museum pamphlets. Partly this was for our benefit, but it was also to prove, should anyone ask, that our educated at home was legitimate.

When Julie and I moved to the Cookie House our boxes of portfolios moved with us. Since keeping all of my records for truancy officer is no longer necessary, I wanted to reduce the number of boxes in my closet. The easiest thing would have been to haul them to the road for the trash man. 

But, I decided there was still some value in keeping some of those drawings and old math worksheets. So, I sorted through the boxes and three-ring binders and saved some of the artifacts. I started the task months ago, but finally completed it in January. It was a painful process to look back at those math and history tests. I reread a few of my high school essays and cringed. I still could barely stand to look at my Moderm Curriculum Press elementary math workbook and felt no qualms about chucking it in the trash. I threw out nearly all of the worksheet pages, quizzes and tests, saved all the essays and photographs, and managed to reduce the lot by three-quarters. 

In the end I was quite pleased. I had four, neatly-organized, three-ring binders. They still represent the blood and sweat and tears of those years of my home education, but they don't take as much space in my closet. 

Fish eye

Fish chowder anyone? You can have my portion.