Today I feel genuinely happy. My cup overflows. I wish all days could be this wonderful. Nothing extraordinary happened. It has just been a good day.

I spent the morning with a new friend and her girls. As a quiet person, it is hard for me to connect with others. A new friend is a great blessing. We picked strawberries at Froberg's Farm, shared food, and later our girls played at our house. We talked about our faith in God and our hopes in home schooling. Pat worked from home today (it is widow season) holed up in the garage so we would not bother him. He ventured out for a few hours of family time later in the day. Our big girl is spending the night with her grandparents.

I love seeing my girls play well together. So many days they do not. Today was rich in sisterly affection and sharing. It gives me hope for the future, and reassurance that the CPS madness is worth enduring.

----Homeschool news ----

I have officially joined a HS co-op for the next school year. I'm looking forward to participating. I'll be co-teaching a Kindergarten class that is 3 hours long. Mariah will be attending a pre-school class. Kami will be enrolling in history, science, writing, and a couple of elective courses. Co-op is 1 day a week from 8:45am to 3pm.

Kami gets to experience HOMEWORK in her history / writing class -- and another teacher besides me! I'll still be teaching math, spelling, and additional grammar at home.

Mariah will still be attending mother's day out 2 days a week while Kami and I do school work together. They provide her with a loosely structured pre-school time too.

Pat and I are meeting with a lawyer on Saturday for legal council about what can be done for Mariah's legal situation. Many of you know it is awkward. It is not at all what we thought we were saying yes to when we accepted her placement. Pray for us.

We have had her in our care for almost a year. Our social workers are not moving forward at all on her case. There is always an excuse, and truth is very flexible. It is becoming hard for us to believe and trust in their words. For the last 5 months they have done absolutely nothing to schedule a court hearing for termination of parental rights. We need to know we are getting true information. Assuming we are, we really want this to end. If we can get it moving forward we would like too.

We are hoping there is something that can be done to expedite this case.

This is not information we are sharing with Kami at this time. Those of you are local please be careful with words in her presence.

---------Update---------------

So we talked to the lawyer and we've contacted social worker supervisors too. Yes, we can get involved and push things forward. It comes at quite a price. Then there is still the adoption to finalize. We've been mulling it over for a while.

Ultimately, we think it would be an irresponsible use of funds (ours or of those willing to help) at this time. We are going to try for more patience on our part.

Apparently I am due for some character refining. So to add to your list of things to pray for -- a speedy legal process for Mariah.

So our theme this 6mo. is all about choices. My students have already had 13 weeks of choices with their previous quarter's teachers. I'm back in the teaching rotation after a 6 months absence. My kiddos age 5 to 8. We have one boy in the class.

Last Sunday we were discussing King Manasseh an OT king of Judah. He started out quite dreadful (idolatrous, made his children pass through the fire), was taken prisoner, released and returned a changed man -- a godly man and leader . The people of Judah never really went back to God after this king's reign. His bad example had left it's mark. We were discussing the importance of a good example. This discussion really jumped off of a springboard and took a life of its own. I'm going to do my best to recount this conversation.

girl age 8 - describes God and satan are both competing for people's soul.

Me - I clarify her description by pointing out that God allows people to choose their own path. He loves us, and he wants us to choose to be like him. However satan works tirelessly trying to get your soul by making sin look good and fun.

boy - Is Jesus the oldest person ever?

Me - I explained the difference between body and spirit. Jesus as spirit has been around since creation.

boy - Will satan ever die?

Me - I give a very high level explanation about final judgment and the final defeat of satan. Trying to go back to our theme of choices state we need to always be living our life for God - His way.

my daughter (big eyed) - like no more moon and stars.

Me - yes. We don't know when. quote the thief in the night passage. We always need to STOP and think about our choices. Is this God's way or satan's way?

boy - What is sacrifice?

Me - Description of OT sacrifice, the importance of Jesus' sacrifice.

girl age 5 (big frown) - God told Abraham to sacrifice his own son...but then he stopped it.

Me - Abraham was having his belief and faith tested. He wanted more than anything a child of his own. This test showed that he believed God would raise his son from the dead. All of God's other promises were to be fulfilled through the family of this child. His test showed that believed and trusted in God completely. God stopped the test when Abraham showed his belief.

my daughter - what happens to kids who die?

Me - I explain the words innocent and ignorance. I talk about how as you grow up learn and gain responsibility for your choices.

girl age 6 - when?

Me - I can't give you an age number. It is different for everyone. You will be greatly bothered by bad choices. You will be thinking to yourself, "What do you believe is true". Then you will choose to obey God or not.


Then the bell rang.

Wow

A lot of big questions in one class. Its enough to make me wish they were little again. They are definitely listening and thinking.

We took a much needed vacation in Oklahoma for the first ever Fall HS Camp at Robbers Cave State Park, and also met up with some much loved, much missed friends from college - The Moyer family

HS Camp was amazing. I am so glad they are organizing this Southern HS Camp now. The Indiana camp is just too far away for us. This was our first time to participate in a HS camp of any kind. We are hooked. We had so much fun. We will definitely be returning to experience this again. It was a small group of about 6 to 7 families. Kids from teens to babies played until they just dropped. The air was cold and crisp and the people were warm and friendly. I managed to go on one hike in despite having a 2 yr old to look after. I got to experience fall colors too - so very lovely. Pat led a few treks too. On his first hike Kami came back with an abandoned black kitten. Pat was a softy, and the kitten came back to camp. The camp cat was much loved and fretted over by all kids. Fortunately, for all the parents anyway, the cat remained on the camp grounds.

The Moyer's merry crew was so much fun. I think my greatest pleasure was seeing our kids form friendships together. I loved seeing Kami and Andrew all buddied up together. Those two were peas in a pod.

There is nothing like discovering kindred spirits to lift your heart. This was a week full of encouragement, happy moments and the chaos of happy children every where.

The only off note is that the girls and I came home with congestion. Sigh. Oh well, at least while I cough up a lung I can relive happy memories and plan next years adventure.

I've been ask a lot after the accident "how are you doing" and the answer is "Crazy, but good." Everyday has some destination and objective. Last week was consumed with our need to find a new car before the rental was returned. There has not been day to just rest. I'm ready to go hide from everyone for about 3 days. I think things will be a little closer to normal after next week. It seems like we are either at the Drs office, the chiropractor's office, have a social worker visit, HS PE, Bible study, girl scouts and/or school work. Every day is just booked. I can'r really cancel much of it. Moms are just not allowed to be hurt or to slow down.

Crazy Good defined:

On the bright side:

I am feeling better, every day. Now I just need my adjustments to stay put. So I can feel good all the time. I love chiropractor days! I feel SO GOOD. The neck and low back are really my main sore spots. Most of my other pain areas are shrinking.

We finally got our car replaced. We bought a used version of our rental. Not quite as luxurious, but quite nice (and in our budget)

We decided to take some of our insurance money and buy a new mattress. We should get it delivered in a few weeks. I hope that helps with my sleeping difficulties.

Best news of all, is that things are moving forward on Ms. Crickets legal situation. Birth parent visits have officially ended, and a hearing is being scheduled to terminate parental rights sometime in November. Once that occurs we officially will be able to move forward with the adoption! Doing the happy dance over here!


On the not so cheery side...

It seems like it has been raining trials not only on us but those we love. Pat's parents are doing poorly. His mom was in the hospital last week. Her immune system is nearly non-existent. His dad was admitted into ICU last night. They were afraid they might loose him last night. His sister is carrying such a heavy load. It is hard on Pat knowing their health is deteriorating and he is so far away.

A dear man/family in CA got some disturbing biopsy results indicating cancer. He is their main provider. He is young to be afflicted by this burden. We love them so much. The Grow family is need your prayers.