I Wouldn't Play this Game

Our son Kevin gave my husband a six pack of horrible soda. Horrible because nobody would drink, turkey, or pumpkin pie or herb stuffing flavored soda. Grace dared her father to drink a bottle with her. (Apparently she's been doing a lot of daring lately.) They picked herb stuffing.....the most disgusting sounding of all.













Cheers!









James keeps drinking.





Grace is puking.





The winner puts his empty cup on his head. Wow James. You're the best at drinking nasty stuff. That must be good for something.

Steven and the Stump

After many days of hard labor the stump went down - along with Steven.

"You have a collect call from an inmate ....

There is something you can kill in a child that makes them very dangerous. I can't really put my finger on what that something is but I have seen kids who no longer posses it and to give them a "regular" life is almost impossible. When a baby cries out, mommy runs to them and shows them how loved they are by feeding both their stomachs and their hearts. When you grow up never being any one's baby you figure that all you have is your self. A self reliant person is scary. We have taken in kids who look normal on the outside but have a hole inside that is too big/late/hard- to fill. Nobody and their values matters to them and you can't take things away because they don't care about anything. Other people (parents) are never to be trusted - they will hurt you or let you down. If you can't trust then you must lie and sneak and hurt before they hurt you. These kids break my heart but I can't reach theirs. "Just loving them" is too little too late. We have sons in jail and a daughter in placement because nothing matters to them. I know God grieves over children like these. And you can't give up on them because that's what they expect. But sometimes you sure want to.

Come Play with Grandma Kate

Layla Grace stayed with us this weekend while her mom and dad were out of town. I told Layla that although her mom thought I was doing this to help them out...she was actually here- purely for my enjoyment.

All Dressed Up

Last night was our second annual Homeschool Formal. It was a ton of fun! Only with homeschoolers can you have a teen formal with moms and dads and little sisters and brothers all dressed up and still have a great time. Here's the whole gang and a few candid shots.

Wearing Down the Sin

My husband has a parenting theory - You can always pound the nail in......some wood is just harder then others.
Our oldest son at home has put that theory to the test both figuratively and in reality. He chose to disregard a word of admonishment and chose to ignore a reminder. An easy punitive task was also unheeded.
We're calling this lesson, "Steven and the Stump." We've provided him with an unmovable stump, an axe, plenty of fresh air, a chance to build up some stamina and lots of time to consider the error of his ways.
And Steven, just like all the kids, is happier as the nail goes in.

Here's My Plan

Last night we had a mom's homeschool meeting. It's a really nice excuse to get together but we do some planning too. With the school year ending, we not only planned the rest of this year, but came up with some tentative ideas for next year as well. I'm always excited thinking about what the new school year will bring...what we'll learn, the new books we'll read - I'm ready for a fresh start (i.e. sick of this year!). Filling in the dates for events as we get closer to summer is a challenge. Every one's got a million things going on and we're no exception. Our summer is full of camps and trips (to France!) and visits to relatives........
I got a call yesterday from Grace's nephrologist with some bad news about her latest blood work. Her kidneys up to this point have been doing a slow gracefull decline but this month they took a drastic jump downwards. Her functioning is now below 15% and that's kicked in a new course of action. Her doctor talked about preparing to start dialysis next month and activating her on the transplant list. When I told Grace about all this and we thought through all our upcoming plans and how they might be affected she got teary eyed and said, "I'm sorry Mom". "Sure, you rotten kid, how dare you have kidney failure and mess up all our plans!" With lots of hugs and assurances that we would get through all this, we felt a little better.
I'm still keeping my calendar - with a caveat...
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9