Okay. I will go backwards through the past month. Last weekend Kaleb and I attended a Conference at Overlake Christian Church. It was for the Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington. We really enjoyed having some time together to pick out curriculum for next year (there were some vendors there). I finally feel like I have some idea of how much curriculum I can get done with the kids without it being too much to do or too little and then we are all bored. It has taken two years to get to this point! Saturday we even had time to eat lunch together at the Olive Garden (a rare treat for us)-- thank you Grandma Cathy for babysitting! We did have Gabe with us but he was a pretty good sport. The speakers had a lot to say about raising up the next generation of children and things to think about and pray about for the future, including the idea of courtship. This week we started reading a book we got at the conference aloud to the kids as a devotional time in the evenings and it is called "Wisdom and the Millers." Each day they have been memorizing a Proverb that goes along with the story from that day. Very cool.
The week before that I was blessed with the opportunity to go along with a friend from church to a womens' retreat in Leavenworth. I was very excited and it was an excellent time of renewal and even sunshine (I think it was like 75 degrees there on Saturday). The speakers were very impactful, the food was wonderful and yes it was a nice break from my normal routine. Gabe came with me and was a complete angel although he didn't sleep well in the hotel room. I felt so refreshed ever since the retreat and it really helped me to come home to my family with a good attitude and heart for serving them. I have never done anything like this, only retreats when I was in high school and college! It was long overdue and I plan to go next year for sure!
Other than that we have been staying home a great amount, getting as much school done as possible -- looking forward to a break in the summer and some serious camping time! We have great plans to go to the ocean (probably Seaside) and do some hikes, hopefully some involving Mt. St. Helens. Josh and Kenzie are both faster than I am with Gabe on my back but hopefully this will whip me into shape. Kaleb can wear Levi so we can really move along quickly. Hopefully we can get some friends to come along. We are also right in the process of getting a tent trailer so that will be fun. We are really looking forward to it. Kaleb is in the midst of processing his first loan. I am happy for him that he will have his first summer off from teaching summer school in 8 years. It will be nice so that he can get back to teaching in the Fall having had a break from teaching!
One last thing is just that we signed Kenzie up for soccer (her third year but her first year of "real soccer" where there are goalies and practices each week) and for soccer camp this summer. It sounds like some of her friends will attend the day camp with her. She loves soccer! Kaleb will coach her team again.
Josh will be playing football (tackle with full pads) for the first time -- we will miss our soccer families some of whom Kaleb has coached since Josh was five. He really wants to play football, has been saving his money since November and is very excited! Grammy and Grandpa provided a gift for the cost so we are going to have Josh pay for his cleats (since he has been saving and is really proud that he saved his money towards it). He will go to football camp this summer as well. We hope some of his friends will be on our team for the year.
Sorry that I have written a book! There really never is a dull moment around here.
