Journey to Excellence

In 1942 an American plane went down in the South Pacific while it was on a submarine hunt. Three men survived the crash with little more than the clothes on their backs. They were crammed into a raft with less room than a bathtub for 34 days. The Raft by Robert Trumbull is a first-hand account of the crash and the ensuing survival at sea of Harold Dixon, Gene Aldrich and Tony Pastula. It was our choice for Poppins Book Nook for the month of April with the theme Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I have to admit I picked this book based on an exhibit the kids and I have seen multiple times at the National Musuem of Naval Aviation in Pensacola, Florida. It was a stretch for April's theme but worked in perfectly with our plans to go to Florida this month. Poppins Book Nook is a monthly-themed virtual book club for kids of which I am co-hosting. There are a lot of us who are reading a book within the month's theme and sharing the book and corresponding activities. Su...

The kids and I have had the opportunity to review The Brinkman Adventures Season 2: Episodes 13-24 this past month. The Brinkman Adventures is a fun and exciting radio drama show based on real life missionary stories. Season 2 follows the adventures of the Brinkman family through adventures that show them exactly how big their God is. Remember "back in the day" when families would gather around their radio at night to listen to their shows? Other than a couple of small toys, mom's sewing, and dad's cigar, there were no distractions, so the family would be engrossed and completely involved in what they were hearing. And they had to pay attention because there was no pause button, rewind button, or DVR capabilities. Today there are so many things vying for our attention that just sitting together as a family and sharing in a good story rarely happens. Listening to The Brinkman Adventures was a unique experience for us. What We Received We received a d...

We jumped right back into real life this past week, and we were ready to tackle it after our couple of weeks off. In fact, we were pretty energized all week. The Past Week in our Regular Life There was a lot of practicing softball this week, as Brynne's season has begun. She decided a few weeks ago that she wanted to try to be one of the pitchers on her team, so she started practicing. We all practiced with her all week. Turns out she isn't half bad! The girl set a goal and worked for it. I am so proud of her for that! My sister and I also started running again. It's the first time I have run since last August when I fell and tore a ligament in my knee. It was a long road to recovery as I chose not to go to the doctor and go through all the nonsense I was sure they would put me through. I was patient and it paid off. It has felt great to run again! The Schooling Basics Bible - We learned all about Daniel this week. This has been one of our favorite stories i...

Being a parent is the scariest job in the world. I left the corporate world 13 years ago to be a "stay at home mom". Little did I know that managing a department of eight adults would be a snap compared to parenting four children. Those two little kids I came home to care for are now 19 and 17, and we have added two more. I laugh now when new moms say they will stay home with the kids until they go to school and then go back to work. I cannot even imagine sitting at a job all day worrying about how my school-aged kids are doing in this world. Bandaids do not heal the wounds of teenagers. They need daily guidance. They need you to be at home when they come home from school. You need to see so much of your teenagers that you know in an instant when something is not right that requires you to push until you find out what it is. I can tell within seconds of when my teenagers walk in the back door whether something is wrong. I wouldn't know that if I wasn't here. Dawson...

We found our groove with math this year. I found a curriculum that both of the kids respond well to and seem to enjoy (as much as one can enjoy math). We have spent the whole year learning the ins and outs of multiplication and were just a few lessons away from being ready to move onto the next year-long level on division. And then an opportunity to review the 12 Month Family Plan from  CTC Math became available. To be honest, I wasn't very enthusiastic. I mean, why mess with the methods that have worked so well? When I was chosen to review the product I didn't go into it with the level of enthusiasm that it deserved. We have been using a dvd/workbook curriculum with great success. The 12 Month Family Plan from CTC Math is a web based curriculum. As we have not had a lot of luck with those types of programs, I went into this review with a negative attitude. And then my socks were knocked off by how great it is. In fact it is so great that we are going to continue to ...

I talked with my husband today as he shared news with me of just another injustice he and I have to deal with on a daily basis. He tries to shelter me from the consequences of his past, as I try to shelter him from the consequences of mine. We each have enough to deal with of our own. It made me realize how blessed he and I are to have each other. I am thankful for the daily sacrifices he makes for me and his children each and every day. He works hard, is away from us all week, lives as frugal a life as one can, and exhausts his body and his car every weekend as he drives four hours each way to be with us. His life is not easy. But he sacrifices much for the ones he loves. While the majority of society manipulates it and/or fails to stand up and face their responsibilities, Rick and I take it all head on. The consequences of our actions are many, but we don't shirk the responsibilities attached to them. We sure wish we would have done things differently … lots of things ...

I have to say that this is the best Easter we have ever had as a family. The weather was beautiful all weekend and we spent all of our time together outside playing games and just hanging out. I couldn't have asked for a better day spent with my family. We spent Saturday evening coloring Easter eggs. Kyndal and Collin joined in and Dawson stepped up to make a Pokemon and Spiderman egg. We got up bright and early so the kids could check out their Easter baskets before I had to go to early service at church to play bells. The Easter Bunny usually brings video games and dollars for the Easter baskets. A family favorite was Frozen on dvd. Then we celebrated our risen Savior at church. My kids in Sunday school helped hide eggs for the younger kids, and I played bells in service. It's always so great to look out and see my whole family filling a pew. We came home from church and the kids hunted Easter eggs. Then we went to my parents' for a family fish f...