A Real Adult

My baby Joel is NOT a baby, or even a child, anymore!  He's the band director of the Anchorage Christian Schools Pep Band, Jazz Band, Jr/Sr High Band, and elementary band.  He's also a full-time student at Moody Bible Institute Online.  A couple days ago, another teacher at ACS stopped me in the hall to tell me what a great job Joel's doing.  She said that she had been nervous about this school year because of the big changes taking place, but that Joel had stepped into the band director role and exceeded all expectations.  That's not the first compliment I've gotten about how fantastic my oldest son is, and I have thoroughly appreciated every single one.  I take no credit for Joel's success, but am very thankful for God's grace, loving guidance, and protection over this precious young man!

Twins

Luke and Seth were “twins” Sunday morning. These cuties make me smile😍

Science and Writing

Seth and I did another Science lesson.  We learned that when water gets really hot, it turns to steam.  Neither Seth nor I really like Science, so I was pretty surprised when I called Seth back into the kitchen a few minutes after our lesson to show him the steam coming off the hot water from the faucet.  When I asked him what that was, he answered, "Sssssssteam!"  He even remembered that the steam means that the water is really hot.  I was so impressed with his memory on this lesson!

Seth's writing is something I just don't know how to improve.  The best I can do is to keep having him practice.  This picture shows the first time he ever wrote an entire sentence anywhere close to the same as how I wrote his example.  Two good educational achievements in one day!!

Luke’s Skin

We have been to the dermatologist several times, but we can’t figure out what is wrong with Luke’s skin. Next stop is the allergist.

Sermon

-- Follow PEACE with all men, and holiness (Hebrews 12:14).

-- As much as depends on you, live at PEACE with all men (Romans 12:18).

-- Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind (Luke 10:27).  If people actually did this, there would be no strength left to complain, argue, and hate.

-- LOVE your neighbor as yourself (Luke 10:27).

-- The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control (Galatians 5:22-23).

-- People will know we are Christians if we LOVE other people (John 13:35).

-- Be KIND, tender-hearted, and forgiving (Ephesians 4:32).

** What if people who CALL themselves Christians actually LIVED and talked like Christ tells people to live and talk?! (James 1:22)

Makenzie's 18th Birthday

Saturday was Makenzie’s 18th birthday!

Seth was the first one to give his sweetie a birthday hug.

Makenzie opened two presents as soon as she finished breakfast (a dress for the luau we’ll be going to in December and a Gilmore Girls version of Monopoly).

Makenzie, Seth, and I were SO excited to eat lunch at Red Robin since they now have gluten-free buns!  Delicious!!

After going shopping for her homecoming dress, Makenzie and Seth needed a birthday nap.

Monday night was Makenzie's family party.

More Science

                

Seth and I did another science experiment that went REALLY well.  We learned about evaporation by marking a glass bowl to show the water level on Thursday and then looking at the bowl every day to watch the water level get lower.  Unless someone dumped out some of the water, we learned that about a quarter cup of water will completely evaporate in about a week.  Learning is so fun with Seth!

Influenza A

I've had the flu (the real flu according to the nose swab test the doctor did Wednesday night) most of this week.  The worst part of this has been not being able to hug my kids.  Thursday, Makenzie came home after her first two classes so that she could hang out with Seth and I could stay in bed, hoping that Seth doesn't catch this.  When I told Seth that maybe I'd be able to hug him on Sunday, he emphatically said SATURDAY!  Today, I sat on the couch most of the day with Seth, so he picked out a stack of movies that he knows I enjoy.  It's SO hard to not hug this precious boy!  A close second worst part has been the horrible pain in both hips.  The doctor ordered a shot that she described as being "like ibuprofen on crack."  It took several hours to start working, but it finally helped.  Hopefully, I'll be all better by Sunday so that Makenzie and I can enjoy our 2nd annual Super Bowl tradition of NOT watching the Super Bowl while drinking coffee/hot chocolate and reading at one of our favorite cafes.