It's Mid-April

Time flew and I didn't blog.  Life has been a roller coaster of  LTC and social events and family activity, and teenagers.

I have been concerned with a relationship my oldest daughter has been in since New Years Eve with a lovely young man, who is all I ever could have asked for.  He really is the kind of young man  I have prayed for her to find, but alas, the timing is not quite right. They had many attempts at seeing each other thwarted, and due to differences in family feelings about young relationships, they are about to be on hold until things change or he turns 18. Truly this breaks my heart. However, it is my fervent prayer that they remain connected by talking and texting and seeing each other as friends whenever they can, until such time as they can, hopefully, have an actual courtship. I pray this is what they will desire when the time comes, but that is not in my control. Time will tell.  I will keep this in prayer until we see how it all turns out.

My five kids all were involved in LTC this year. So many things were different but it went quite well! Many coaches were changed and our schedule was very busy and the Watsons couldn't be there due to a death in their family. The hardest part is always the bible bowl/bible quiz. Bronze is a good score for kids. It was by far, our craziest weekend of the year.

Emily began going back to ECD, english country dance. This happens monthly and was one place she and the young man were able to see each other. I suppose on occasion they still will. Lots of friends attend and it is a fun time with good fellowship.

Jacob and Emily both are involved in Hello Dolly which will preform on July fourth weekend.

Our homeschool co-op is about to come to an end, and has been wonderful.

We have gotten closer to the Snyder family especially with Jacob and Kendall being best friends now. That is another "couple" that I hope one day end up together. Right now they are just friends but they have the potential to be a great couple. As always, in my prayers, but there is some work to be done in this paring, first.

Jacob has completed driver's ed and is awaiting his certificate so he can take his driving test. At the same time, Emily is beginning driver's ed. She has a job cleaning a house for a friend and has purchased her own cell pone and pays her own bill. I think she will have her license within the year. Jacob is now working on a couple of family farms part time so he will be able to pay his part of the insurance.

Elizabeth is still taking ballet, Jordan and Kimberly are just involved in being kids.

I have completely revamped my ideas on homeschooling and have made the curriculum fit the needs of each individual and the direction of their unique futures. This has meant cutting several things out, and letting them blaze some of their own trails. I think it will make the road much smoother and enable them to become independent and responsible for their own learning. One major change is the high school curriculum which was extremely heavy on reading. It pretty much killed the love of reading in my oldest two, so I pared it down to the bare necessities and added in media resources.

Now on to food and its effect on our lives this past year. Gluten free for the youngest three caused a lot of weight gain as I tried to change our diets. Behavior and ADD was better but health was suffering. So in December I started Trim Healthy Mama. It is almost GF but low carb and burns fuel sources independently, rather than tandem. I have seen 12 pounds lost and all blood levels back to normal. So I replaced GF with sprouted flours, all organic, and started making other changes, like having them drink a tea made with ACV, I gave up sugar for stevia/truvia, and we have far less wheat and processed items available in our home. Now I am buying more organics from Azure Standard and Whole Foods, and next week I am going to give kombucha a try (if I like it I will try my hand at making it) ...and maybe even buy some natural deodorant! I'm even part of a grass fed beef buying group and get my chicken hormone and antibiotic free...and bought farm eggs! I sometimes can't believe who I have become. But I know all this is better for us. I also began making our own elderberry syrup. I still do a lot for health with our EOs too, and use mostly organic and natural/homemade cleaners. I am not there 100% but... I think I've gone crunchy...wow.

So that has been the focus of this year thus far. May should be relatively calm (hahaha), but as always, June will be nuts. Three family birthdays, high school church camp, Hello Dolly, Vacation Bible School. Then July brings the performances, mission trip and Kids church camp.

And in the midst of it all we are living each day to learn about and serve the Lord by being a light in our community and to all we come in contact with, for the glory Jesus Christ our Savior. Because if that is not the ultimate focus, we truly are lost and pitiable.

I dont know how many people will ever read this but if you do I pray your life is lived for Christ.