A Good Life

The idea of making a very big move, from South Carolina and our friends and family there, to Ohio, where we knew no one, was at first a hard one for our kids to process. They had (have, still) some very good friends in SC, and everything they had ever known was there. I talked to them about how the move I made when I was in my older kids' age group was "the" move for me, the one that led me to my best friends and to the houses, the social groups, the church, and the life in general that is the one I associate with my growing-up years. I hoped that this might be that kind of move for them, although it was a leap of faith, certainly. We really didn't know what we would find here, or how things would work out, or how in the world - sorry, dear Ohians - Ohio could be anything like a land of promise. But we took the leap, believing that the doors were wide open for us to come here.

From the beginning, we truly were impressed with what this area has to offer, and there have always been confirmations along the way that this was the right thing to do. Filling in the void of friends and community created by our leaving familiar territory was a little bumpier at first, but that's been coming together in these last few months. Today Dave and Drew had a canoeing trip with the 5th and 6th grade group from church, so I thought I would take the other kids to the pool. Aimee asked if her good friend from church could go, and I said of course, and the friend and her family are flexible and spontaneous like that, so she came over in short order so that she could go with us. When we got to the pool, our youth pastor and his family arrived there as well, and when it was time for me to get Scarlett home, they asked if my boys could stay with them a little longer (they have a boy around the our boys' ages) and they would bring them home later. The boys readily agreed, so I headed home with just the girls. The older girls immediately campaigned for a sleepover, which was fine with me, because this friend, a fellow homeschooler and a kindred spirit in many ways, is someone who brings out all the best in Aimee, and I love that. Her parents consented, so Aimee has a whole day and night with good, wholesome company. The boys arrived home only just a little while ago, having enjoyed an afternoon with more good company. Dave and Drew had a good time on their trip, and they'll have many more to come (as Dave has signed on to help with that group). I enjoyed a cup of coffee and then cleaned up around the house a little while everyone was occupied, peacefully resting in the knowledge that everyone was safe, happy, and with good friends. I didn't have to arrange it or ask for it - it just happened naturally. This, I thought, is what community feels like. And so this really HAS been "the" move - at least so far, because one never knows what will happen. We love our church, we are excited about growing friendships, relationships, and opportunities, and there is more peace in our life in general than I think there ever has been before.

It is a good thing. And it happened in Ohio! Who would have guessed?

A Quick Update and (Some of) The Promised Book Recommendations

It's been a really long time since I've been here. I don't know why/ I haven't been at a loss for topics; I"ve just been unmotivated to do much of anything but enjoy our small summer break (which is now over. Sort of.).Let's see...during the past month of so, we've enjoyed the pool (getting a membership this year was completely worth it!), been to the library more times than we can count as we've taken advantage of the reading programs of two library systems, I've taken a trip with Scarlett to visit my sister and her two little ones in Augusta, GA, and we've celebrated Scarlett's birthday. I rather forgot to post about that one. Maybe I'll get to that later. But I also forgot to post with specific book recommdendations, and by now, I've mostly forgotten what was captivating us at the time.

But I'll try with a few.

I did read, as was evident by one of my pictures, the new Flavia de Luce mystery. My friend Hannah, noting that, wanted to know if it was worth it. Eh...so, so. Good writing and a fun mystery. But the rather discouraging family dynamic remained the same, and my mother's heart was, as usual, a little pained for poor Flavia. But that was just an interlude during my intense dystopian novel phase. Aimee checked out a slew of books recommended for "those who liked The Hunger Games," and some of them looked interesting, so I read them along with her, or, if I could, before she did. That was useful in the case of Across the Universe, which was captivating and interesting, but dealt with some themes I didn't think Aimee was ready for. We also read The Shadow Children series, which is geared for a slightly younger audience (so Drew read the first one with interest). Variant was another that I initially thought I didn't want to read, but actually had some fascinating twists that made it worthwhile (no sequel until this fall, though - and the first book certainly left us hanging). The Comet's Curse lent itself to some very interesting social questions, but the sequel jumps the shark, as it were. And most recently, the best of all - Legend.. Exciting, romantic, thought-provoking...and needing a sequel, which I think is forthcoming.

None of that is  very serious, grown-up writing, although I certainly don't think a book has to be any less "valid" simply because it's a "young adult" book. A good book is a good book. Now, for good books for the younger set, we've had a revolving library of picture books and read-alouds this summer, and I have failed to record what we've read, before taking it back to the library to make room for more. Ah, well. I will say that for picture books, we just check out dozens and filter from there. Some are good, some aren't (obviously). For read-alouds and fun reading that's also good literature, I rely on The Veritas Press and Sonlight catalogs.

Oh, but we did stumble upon a good series all on our own - The Gideon Trilogy, about children who accidentally fall through time back into the eighteenth century. Very interesting and exciting! We also all read the final book of Rick Riordan's Kane Chronicles, which  series we had picked up due to our fondness for the Percy Jackson and Heroes of Olympus series. I didn't love that set of books, because of the high magic content, and the third book is probably the most magic-heavy of all of them. So we read it because we had begun the series and wanted to finish, but I am cautious about recommending those. Those of you who like the Rick Riordan books, what do YOU think of the Kane Chronicles?

Thirteen Years and Going

I know I'm cheating a bit here, and falling back on the same format I've used the past couple of posts, in which I use pictures to tell most of the story, rather than words. Perhaps I'm being lazy, or I'm pressed for time, or I'm just enjoying the poignancy of looking back. In any case, here it is:

Dave and I are celebrating our 13th anniversary today. We went out to eat to celebrate the ocassion on Sunday evening, and with that done, we both almost forgot about the fact that today is the day of our actual anniversary, and honestly, we don't have much time today to reflect on the past thirteeen years - the present is too busy and exciting...and good. It's good. But I'll take a look back for a moment, to our beginning, when we were practically infants. Good grief, we were so young!

We don't regret getting married when we did, but we do sometimes think about how young and inexperienced we were. We made plenty of mistakes in those first years, that's for sure. Probably some people thought getting pregnant in the first year and having a baby just before our first anniversary was one of them...but we don't.

We were still children at that point, but starting our family early (and with such a treasure as Aimee) was a good thing. Adding our first son a couple years later was also a good thing.

The next few years weren't always easy - they were probably our most challenging. Certainly it seemed unwise to most people for us to get pregnant yet again, it scared us a little, too. But we knew God had a plan for our family, and that he would always provide for our needs. That's probably what we learned most in those years, Sometimes it was seared onto our souls in a painful fashion. And we were still learning it when we had that third little one and found ourselves readying for number four in pretty quick succession.

I think people thought we were crazy, foolish, or both. But that's something else we learned after getting over the hardest of those times. Listening to wise counsel is good. But laboring under the weight of other people's convictions, ideas, and criticism is not. It was freeing for us to begin to make choices based on our own convictions, and to be confident in those choices. It was also freeing to acknowledge our mistakes, but not to be weighed down by guilt - to learn from them, to make better choices the next time, and to walk our family's journey with more confidence. And we still didn't consider any member of our growing family a mistake or an unwise choice.

When Scarlett, as number five, was botn, it was like a culmination of that learning process. Yes, we were having :"another one," and yes, our house was "too small," and we still didn't have any money to speak of, and a gentle birth at home in said too small house may have seemed ridiculous to some, but the whole pregnancy and birth was faith building and family bonding.

Our move to Ohio a year and a half ago was another positive step for our marriage and our family, which is still of seven - and no, there's no annoucement coming! We are not growing in number, but everyone is certainly growing. And growing.

And we are happy. Now, I know some who might be critical of our choices might say we are all about our kids, that pretty much our whole married life thus far has been about kids. It's true that we only had a few months together before I became pregnant, and it was no longer just the two of us, But that hasn't taken anything away from what Dave and I have; on the contrary, our emphasis on family, been a major part of what has caused us to continue to grow together. We grow our family together, we trust God for our family together, we are happy together.

And when we get a chance to go out just ourselves, sans children - and a little older and wiser ourselves these days - we still have things to talk about.

"Do You Feel Older?"

This morning my Mom Skyped Aimee to tell her Happy Birthday (and to see the pink streak the latter put her in hair for the occasion). Mom asked Aimee if she felt any older, and then she remarked, "Well, you look older!" And, sporting her pink streak and her new Mockingjay earrings, Aimee rather did look grown up this morning.

But we are partly in jest when on birthdays we ask that question - did you feel older?" - and remark on whether the person in question looks older,because of course one day doesn't make much difference in how we feel or look. As a parent, I note my the growth and development of my children, but I confess that I get accustomed to them in their respective phases. Aimee has been in the "older kid" phase for a while now, and so when my mom remarked that she looked older - again, partly in jest - I pondered her growth of late. Does she look "older?"

In the beginning of child's life, of course, growth is so drastic, change so noticeable, that it's noticeable almost daily. They start out so tiny, so new...

...and then in a matter of months, they are different creatures altogether.

Into toddlerhood, growth is still rapid, but perhaps the change slows just a bit...

Still, seeing them do things like sports and dance takes your breath away, as you remember what they just were, not so very long ago.

They don't slow down, by any means, but they become kids, and the stages last longer each time.

But somewhere, somehow, "little girl" doesn't seeme to apply anymore, and that's a new stage, when the horizons broaden..and legs keep lengthening...

And when they hold younger siblings a whole decade younger than they are, the difference does start to show.

And yes, some days, they just look so grown up...

And some other days, they look REALLY grown up, and you can't help but take note.

So does she look older? I guess so. Just a little bit.

Happy birthday, dear Aimee Perrine!

Stacks of Books, Part One

In my last post, I mentioned that we have been to the library numerous times (two or three times a week), and that we have read through stacks of books. I'm not exaggerating. Stacks, and stacks, and some more stacks. In our very first days of freedom from school, all our readers began devouring books through hours upon hours of reading, as if we had all been starving. We hadn't - our learning experience revolves around whole books - but the freedom to read what we want and for as long as we want has been almost intoxicating. And, I should add, it means that learning hasn't stopped in the least. Some of us have even been writing our own books. Aimee has been working hours each day on a dystopian story, and I believe, still at the fantasy story she's been working on for months with a friend. (Both stories are quite good!).


 But back the books already in print - we have quite a few from the library around here, and they aren't collecting dust. This is our usual library basket:

But we have some books upstairs for bedtime reading convenience:

And a basket in the hallway for chapter book readers to choose from:

And a stack of required reading, also in the hallway, from which I would like Aimee and Drew to pick a book at least once a week. (This picutre just won't load for some reason.)

Then everyone has their own stack in their own room. Aimee always has quite a few in her room:

Drew has some:

And the younger boys always have an interesting assortment:

Of course, the Star Wars research is ongoing:

They also like to listen to books on CD, so we have a special basket for those as well:

And since we are on break, I have time for a good selection, too (these are tucked between my bed on the floor and the mostly un-used crib mattress - we're so stylish here):

And I have the latest Flavia de Luce mystery on my Kindle, courtesy of our library's growing digital collection:

.

So. Books, books, books, and more books. Recommendations later.

A Timeful Life

We wrapped up our school year (such as it is - since we have a year round schedule, the lines dividing one year from the next are somewhat indisctint) two weeks ago, and since then, we've done pretty much nothing. I had meant, for one thing, to go straight into sorting our school papers and portfolios, to organize the school room and then the house, and I had meant for us to have a more purposeful sort of break in general. I suppose that defeats the purpose of taking a break, though, and in any case, there's still time for some of that. And the truth is that because we had our "spring break" in February, when Aimee and Dave were in Chile, and then had three solid months of school before another significant break, we were burnt out. Really badly burnt out - or, at least, I was. I fully acknowledge that in the last couple months, as we were trudging along at home, I was completely useless to anyone else. At church, in our LLL Group, in our homeschool group, in any area I can think of, I contributed almost nothing. I apologize to my friends in all those areas, and make my mental note a publicly stated one - never go so long in our homeschooling without a decent break. That was a mistake, and by mid May, when I finally surrendered and declared our school year over, I was mentally and emotionally tired.

So...for the past two weeks, we've just been. We haven't been hermits, by any means (although that sounds nice to my introverted self sometimes!), but we haven't had much plan, direction, or structure at all. We've done some work in our garden, kept the house at a reasonable level of order, done some basic chores and errands here and there, but mostly we've just played outside and read through stacks - and stacks - of books. And yes, the rules for the electronics have relaxed a little, so we've played the Wii and watched favorite movies a little more often than usual. We've done some park dates and we went strawberry picking once, we've been geocaching when we felt like it, and we've been to the library numerous times - basically, whatever we've felt like doing and whenever we've felt like doing it, we've done it. When the weather warms back up, we'll add the pool into the mix. And eventually, we'll pull ourselves together and ready ourselves for more structure. At some point, I will be ready to re-enter society and be helpful again.

But for now, we are enjoying what Sheldon Vanauken in A Severe Mercy referred to as a "timeful life-" in which we are "quiet and leisurely", with time "to stop and stare." Okay, okay, I know this is not realistic with kids. They aren't exactly quiet, and they will grow bored with this after a time; indeed, they are getting to that point already. But my soul is enjoying some quiet and leisure, and for that I'm not apologetic. I'll get back with the rest of the world later!

All the Special Things

Last night both Aimee and Drew had special dinners at church, to welcome them into the respective groups into whch they are graduating - Aimee into the junior high group, and Drew into the 5th and 6th graders group. For some reason, I am having a much harder time with the idea of Drew going into 5th grade than with Aimee going into junior high, but let's save all that for another day. In any case, since Dave will be helping with the 5th and 6th grade group next school year, he also went to dinner, so I decided to take the younger set to do something special, which for them means Chick-fil-A. Listen, I know there was an article that went around several weeks ago about how Chick-fil-A really isn't very great nutritionally after all, but I'm just going to say that I didn't feel guilty in the slightest about taking them last night, so we're just going to leave it at that. In fact, when we pulled into the parking lot, and I responded in the affirmative to the boys' queries about whether we were getting kids' meals AND eating in, their joy was postively contagious. It was easy, then, once we got our food and they began trying to decide whether to keep the toy or trade it for ice cream, to say that they could have the toy AND we would still get ice cream. At this, Ryan said, "Wow! We get to have ALL the special things!"

I didn't tell him that he was wrong, that really I'm the one who gets all the special things.

As we we walked out the door, Ryan said, "This has been the best night of my life," Granted, seven doesn't have much perspective, but I had to agree it was pretty great.