A Day Trip to the Mountain in July

I went to Mt. Rainier in July. What a beautiful day we had. The weather was perfect, the hike wasn't bad and the views were magnificent. To God be the glory.

My Son the High School Graduate

Well it's been a long road with 9 years of homeschooling, 4 years of public school and me going back to work, but Josh graduated as an Honor Student from High School last Saturday. It was a wonderful day & memories flooded in especially on Sunday when the grads at church showed their videos. It was so fun to see pictures of them through the years.


Josh with his friend (Ben) since they were in preschool.




Lots of love to our son, Joshua who "rocked the cap and gown" as my friend, Debbie put it.

May Josh go out with the Lord as his guide and Savior.

Visit With Highschool Friends June 2012

The six of us enjoyed a meal at Red Robin earlier this month. Some of us haven't seen each other since our last highschool reunion in 2006.

Center front is our friend Nina. I met Nina in elementary school and we attended school together all the way through graduation. Nina has lived across the United States for over 30 years and she came to town with her two boys a couple weeks ago. She wanted to meet our kids too. We all wished we had more time & a better visiting environment, but we did have a great time together.

Thanking God for good times with old friends.

Happy Resurrection Day!

We've seen enough of this!!


And this...



And this...




Looking forward to these days again.



The Pacific Northwest is beautiful in large part due to the amount of rainfall we have each year, but I'm looking forward to seeing old Mr. Sun a lot more.

Easter Sunday is suppose to be beautiful and not rainy which will make my day even better.

As Luke 19:10 and John 3:17 tell me that Jesus came into this world to seek and save the lost I am both excited and encouraged by the celebration of His Resurrection.

May you all be blessed during this season of Christ's Death and Resurrection.

Grades: Who Needs 'Em?

See these two kids? I love 'em to pieces and yet they can frustrate me to pieces too. As their mom I feel responsible to make sure they are doing well in school. I also would like them to take responsibility for doing their very best. I cannot prompt them every day. They've got to own it.

So I back off and hope for the best and pray for them to do their best. Then the new grading system comes along and has thrown me (and other parents)for a loop. So I check their grades on line and I cannot decipher how they are progressing, but encourage them to hand in missed assignments and follow up with their teachers as to how they are supposed to finish their Learning Targets to complete the Power Standards.

Report cards come home and I see F's and I's. "Face palm. Head shake." I'm so frustrated. Now I have to take away privileges and begin close monitoring. I pray that my kids will have a desire in their hearts to be responsible not only in school, but with chores at home.

I know that grades don't define my children, but school is a way to help them show what they've got and find for themselves how well they can do when they apply themselves and be proud and thank God for an education and opportunities.

They did have better grades in math than in the past so I'm so thankful we've made progress there. They each had at least one "A" and 2 "B's" so I am pleased about this. Feel free to give ideas and advice on how to encourage my kids and how I can cope with where they are in their lives right now.

I am giving this over to God because He has it all in control and I need to let go and let Him do His mighty work in their lives.

Where Have I Been All Year?

Well this is last February. My kids went to a Winter Ball at a church nearby. It was decorated in the Narnia theme and it was awesome. It's almost time for them to go again and I haven't even posted pictures from last year. I'll post a few for ya. Enjoy!

We found H's dress at a thrift store for $14.00. I thought it was pretty. She did have to wear a shrug because it was a haulter dress and she wasn't comfortable showing so much of her back.

Here they are ready to go to their very first Winter Dance.

H invited a friend. They had a lot of fun.

Two of J's friends. The one on the right is Nan's (Mom's The Word) youngest. Aren't they dapper? They are in front of the coat closet that leads to Narnia.

I went into Narnia for a few minutes to take pictures. This is the way back into the coat closet from the Narnia side. Clever, wasn't it!

A glimpse of Narnia and I had to let my kids have fun without me at their first dance.

I wish I could experience every first in their lives, but time is past for me to be at every single first in their lives. They are in high school now and I don't homeschool them anymore so that settles it. I'll take every opportunity to experience any firsts that I can though. Some day there may be grandkids to experience firsts with :)

Blessings In 2012

Here we are after almost a year of not posting anything I thought I might drop you all a line and a picture.We've had a fun and difficult year, but the Lord has brought us to this day and we're stronger in it.



We visited Seattle with our friends one day in December as we have been doing for several years now. It's so fun to go there at Christmas time. This year it was a beautiful, sunny and even warm day. We were carrying our coats and scarves and hats most of the time instead of wearing them.



At the end of the day we saw this beautiful sunset on Commencement Bay





In closing I'll wish you all a Happy New Year and do enjoy God's blessings for you in 2012