Out in the Woods

This week Ethan participated in the three day Ecology Camp that all 4th graders at North Branch Elementary get to participate in at Camp Lael coordinated by Pete McCreedy. The first day's lessons were the same ones I caught with Ben last year but still loads of fun and very informative. Our first lab class was about Native American culture and took place in a huge teepee, amazingly 30 of us fit in there comfortably and with a fire going it was nice and cozy. He talked about the lifestyle, habits, houses, farming, tools, and more.

Below is a picture of a hoe made from a stick and a buffalo shoulder blade and Ethan wrapped in a buffalo hide with his antler rake ready to do some serious farming for the tribe. During the next class we went for a hike and learned about plants that you can eat, some tasted good, some disgusting, and we also tried acorn pancakes (thank goodness for fresh maple syrup made at Chatfield School's Willow Preserve). Lunch was spaghetti severed family style and our last class of the day was about beavers and animal adaptations.













Day two we started out with a canoe ride on Skinner Lake and had a gorgeous day for it. Ethan ventured out with his own boating buddies. I got to take out a young lady from Ethan's class who was very scared about the experience. After assuring her I knew what I was doing in a canoe and would stay close to the edge, I said a little prayer with her and we headed out. She was the passenger, I was in back steering and another young man was my front man. We glided out along the side, around the lake and over to investigate the beaver dam from the water side. She relaxed and enjoyed the ride eventually asking if we could go faster across the lake. "Oh, so now you're a daredevil?" I joked with her. She didn't even want to go back in to shore when our time was up and commented, "I have to tell my mom about this place so we can come back and do this again."


Our second lab class of the day was a great presentation about copper. Did you know Michigan has the purest source of copper found anywhere in the world? Mr. McCreedy also talked about native burial grounds and how unrighteous it is for people to dig up sacred land without any remorse or restitution to the Indians. He told about some finds in the burial grounds one of which was a skull that still had hair on it and was adorned with copper pipe beads. After the lecture the kids got busy banging out copper wiring to make it flat. The anvils they used were made from old railroad track off the Saginaw line.

Once the entire piece was flat enough, they clipped it into three fairly equal pieces, then it was put in the smelter, doused in water, and twisted into a tubular shaped.

Lastly a piece of cord was added and voila, a modern version of the Native American pipe bead, made into a bracelet.

After a great explanation about the importance of wetlands and their intricate function in our ecosystem the kids all got their own net for some pond dipping. Many tiny creatures were discovered as well as several frogs. However our identification time was cut short because we had to high-tail it back to catch the bus.

All this camp stuff makes for one tired boy!

I wasn't able to go the last day because I had the first meeting of Choice Time Choir in the upper elementary. Twenty students signed up and they are a fine bunch, several of the girls from last year returned and I have one brave boy included. First we did a quick warm up, then a "Sing Together" round, and I introduced a piece from the Star of Wonder musical called "Look Up" which they picked up very quickly. Ethan's last day at camp was filled with fun, including the Herd Game, the Bean Game, Square Dancing and making ice cream! He also had his first guitar lesson yesterday with Mr. T so it has been a very full week for my blessed and victorious 9-year old.

Wednesday night was the Kick-Off party for the Star of Wonder program at church. After opening prayer and reading of Psalm 1 & 92 I read them a story from when I was a little girl called "The Shiniest Star." It's about three little angels who shine the stars and the littlest one thinks her star isn't bright enough or good enough but hers is the one that leads the Kings to baby Jesus. It's a precious tale and I explained to the kids that everything we do matters no matter how small, even when we don't think it does. I wanted them to understand that everyone working on the program is important whether they have a speaking part, a song solo or sing with the group. During the story they were all quiet and listening intently and I hope that translates that they all 'got it'. Next I played the entire program CD for the kids and talked about what will happen during and between the songs; they were really digging the music and dancing along. Last we snacked and had some beverage while I answered some of their questions. Next week we'll dive into practicing. Glory!

Open Run

On a beautiful, crisp fall afternoon Brown City held their invitational run at the Brown City Park. Ethan decided it was his time to run and for the first time ever he participated in the K-6 mile and a half run. There were 147 boy runners, and 139 girl runners that ran separately thank heavens. Ethan did a fabulous job for his first time out coming through the shoot in 13:26 not far behind his running buddy from North Branch, the cross-country coach's son. He was pretty pumped up about it and is hot to run another race at Cass City this Saturday. The only glitch is he's feeling pretty sore on the upper front of his right thigh. Coach said to ice it, maybe massage in some muscle rub but still run over the next few days to prepare for Saturday.

Fox is keeping in the groove with his times out of 92 junior high boy runners he kept pace with the front of the pack on a very challenging course, with a huge hill several smaller inclines, straight aways and a few wooded sections which can get a little hairy sometimes with a large group running. Medals were given out to the top 20 runners, Fox finished the two miles in 14:46 coming through the shoot in 17th place! Way to go!

I've been to several rehearsals for the Lapeer County Community Chorus and I am loving it. Although my tongue is not exactly enjoying the Latin pieces yet but I'll get there. My favorite selection so far is "Children Go Where I Send Thee" A Gospel Spiritual arranged by Paul Caldwell & Sean Ivory. I was fortunate enough to perform this exact arrangement with the Flint Festival Chorus years ago and jumped back into the part easily. I don't have a huge group for the Praise & Worship choir at church so far but I'm believing new people will continue to show up each week.

Looking forward to tomorrow, during the day I get to go to Camp Lael with Ethan's class and learn more about ecology then in the evening we have our Star of Wonder kick off party at church where I'll finally get to introduce the kids to the musical I've been listening to daily. Any public or home school kids in the area that would like to join us Wednesday nights from tomorrow until December 15th and participate in a fantastic Christmas musical please join us at 7pm. Click on the website link below for location information.

Well you may have guessed since I haven't mentioned it lately I did not make the 2Timothy challenge. I have however been making an attempt to study the Word more than I have lately and enjoy thoroughly being able to listen to weekly messages from my church pastor via internet while I work on my editing project. I've also re-listened to a missionary speaker we had visit recently from Tree of Life ministries in Honduras who spoke about the process of forgiveness. Very interesting, very timely. Needing something meaty to consider than visit the FCFC website and check out the audio feeds and downloads.

Oooooo October!

Finally got the sub ball rolling this week starting with a half day as an elementary art teacher. My first group was Ethan's class, we worked on the beginnings of a tree project. His buds thought I was so awesome I have been asked to chaperone two days at Camp Lael next week. Woot! Then I had Mrs. Coppo's third graders which are always a great group of kids, with them we started a leaf composition, you can see the sample I used and Ben embelished with sharpies. Next I had a first grade health class then a second grade group that also worked on the leaf project. Below is a snap of two friends from last year's after school chorus who have informed me they are looking forward to singing again. Soon, ladies very soon. Benjamin walked the trail over after school and hung out during my last group and was a fabulous helper at the end of the day from there the younger boys and I headed out to Marlette for the cross country meet. I could totally be an art teacher full time, it is so much fun to see kids create.

Wednesday after school was the Marlette meet and it was a fabulous day weather wise. This year they had the elementary open race separate from the junior high race which was fortunate since last year the kids were tripping over the little rugrats and a few of 'em bit the dust. Fox did the 1.5 miles in 11:32 and came through the shoot 11th. Medals were given to the top 12 finishers. He said he felt he was really pushing himself to keep in it this time but he looked good to me.

Friday I subbed in a 6th grade team at the Ruth Fox Elementary, since this weekend is homecoming everyone was dressed in their blue and white getting charged up for the big game. They even had a 'tailgate' party in the staff dining room for lunch which was cool; much better than your cafeteria fare.

At the end of the day we trucked down the street with the whole gang to see the Homecoming parade with the band in full uniform, last year's king and queen, this year's court, football and other teams, floats with an American cities theme including Honolulu (Seniors), Hollywood (Juniors), Nashville (Sophmores) & Detroit (Frosh). Unfortunately my camera was being kooky so I didn't get everything but you get the general idea.

Here is a video of the band coming through the halls playing the fight song.

Fall Festival Fun

The third week of school went off without much incident other than Ethan had a couple reprimands, nothing to serious, the worst punishment was he had to stay in from recess one day because he and another boy were throwing rocks out in the open field behind the playground. No meets for Fox. Ben had soccer pictures one day and a game on Thursday which they got clobbered in; it will be really good for them to get busy during practices this week and work some kinks out. Saturday we had planned to do another nine holes at Maple Springs but it was cold and windy and when we got to the course they were closed! So, plan B went into effect which turned out to be a great time. We (me, the boys & Grandpa Q) headed over to Past Tense, an apple orchard and gift shop which I had never been to in the 12 years I've lived in the area. Shame on me. They were having their Fall Festival which included some basic carnival games, giant slide, hay rides, a haunted house, corn maze, etc. We were excited to still get in a little golf on their 9-hole putt putt course!

This was a really cool set up for Ben, future putt putt designer of America, to see since he's always trying to set up courses on our property much to my chagrin since they are not the easiest things to mow around and I find parts with the tractor. So these 'portable' holes were pretty ingenius.After golf we headed back to the corn maze (sorry no pix, just picture big tall corn and us wandering around aimlessly). For the first 40 minutes we divided to conquer eventually starting to mark symbols on the ground to note paths that were dead ends or that we'd tried before. Our effort was to no avail since we found ourselves at the start again! However, we had a no fail attitude and ventured back in again, with a little hint from the ticket taker, and in 20 minutes we victoriously arrived at the designated exit. Fun time and we got some exercise in. Next, we headed into the restaurant for some lunch and I picked up the traditional cider and donuts to have back at the homestead.

While I went and puttered around in the gift shops the boys got busy on some more carnival games and went down the big slide, and I mean ALL the boys big and small. When we met up again I could hardly believe all the game prize booty they acquired. Being it was the first time I had ever ventured through the shop there I felt I was in the corn maze again, it was huge, with various holiday theme rooms, garden stuff, plus every type and color of fake flower known to man; I had to ask for directions to find the front door again! The antiques shop was interesting as well and the loose leaf teas smelled fabulous, I almost purchased a couple flavors but decided to hold off for now.

Dad followed me back to the house where we dropped off the boys. I wolfed down a cinnamon donut and some cider then he gave me a ride down to my in-laws where I picked up our new/used Astro van!!! Yes! After three weeks of being down a vehicle and having to run Alex to work and classes and all the boys activities and mine it will be nice to finally have Alex able to get herself around independently again.

Another amazing development is this is my first post from my own home on our new hi-speed Internet! Woot! We finally made the jump to Hughes Net which is really the only option I have for my area. Rob already had a router and Sunday after church I picked up a wireless USB adapter for the boys' computer and they are up and rununing which makes them happy beyond belief. We're finally living like the real world, no more dial-up.

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I've also had a few new opportunties come my way but things are still in the works so no details yet just know good things are happening. Fox has two meets this week in Caro and Marlette. Ben just has practices with a game on Saturday. I'll be diligently working on my current editing project and subbing on Friday in the Ruth Fox building (I finally grabbed a job). Alex has been working almost 30 hours a week plus going to class; she says they're all pretty decent and the Algebra class is "super easy" so far. That was the one she dreaded the most. She's talked about definatly transferring out for next Fall but I'll believe it when she actually gets the ball in motion. Right now it's time for me to learn to let go of the reins, step back and give her the space to fail or achieve on her own. If she asks for my assistance I will certainly comply but I will not be the force to get things going initially, that she'll have to put into effect herself. For a fomer homeschooling mom used to orchestrating many educational endeavors on behalf of her children this is a very challenging task. God give me the grace!

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* All photos except for the Astro van compliments of Dad with his new Droid phone. Thx!

Meets and Greets

Last Monday was the North Branch Home meet and again Fox held his own coming in 6th place out of 26 junior high boy runners. He's was talking about feeling a little sore in his legs this week but nothing too major. This weekend he took it easy and walked his regular trail route instead of run. We are all experienceing sore throat and coughs thanks to the kids entering the public school peitry dish. I seem to remember this happening last year also, Ethan started it, then it hit Ben and Fox, and lastly me, Rob and Alex. Tuesday was the Birch Run meet, there were only 2 teams running junior high, not medals were given out since it was more a high school meet than junior.

Saturday I got to watch Ben's soccer game and it was a good one. All morning it rained on and off but when it came time for their game at noon the sky cleared up and we all used our umbrellas to guard from the sun rather than the rain. Ben wasn't 100% since he was fighting sickness but he did manage to kick one goal in although it didn't count because a player was off sides.

Following in the anti-retail attitude of my BFF Michelle I have been finding some great deals at local thrift shops. With Fox growing as fast as he is I hate to pay full price for something he'll probably only get to wear a few times. At out Thrift Shop in town they had $1 bag days going on. I got Fox 2 practically new pair of jeans that fit great, and 2 pairs of chino style casual dress pants in navy blue and beige. Plus a pair of pants for Ethan and a cute summer suit jacket.

Had my first practice with the Lapeer Community Chorus this week. Their new director is excellent, with great exercises, very organized rehearsal, kind, encouraging and funny; all the best ingredients for a choir director. I need to get my chops back for the 2 hour rehearsals, I'm used to having kids for 30 minutes to an hour only. I forgot the big people really get the most out of their one time a week together. Still debating whether I'll make it tonight because my voice is not great with this sore throat thing. Pout.

People have been asking me lately if I miss homeschooling. I can honestly say no, I don't. It was time to make the move not just for myself but for all the kids as well. They enjoy pursuing things on their own and reporting back to me at the end of the day. I enjoy having time to myself during the day without policing them plus I've been getting more new opportunities since my time is freed up from schooling them. Friday I got to sub as a secretary at Quest High School which was cool. All the boys were glad they had time at home to school and be with me but they really like being around 'their own kind' for daily lessons too.

Stand Up & Shout

What a difference a year makes! Last year, the Bad Axe meet was Fox's first ever, the goal was just to finish the course without walking. He came through the shoot third from last. This year out of 30 junior high boys running, he came in 7th Place. Medals were given out to the top ten runners. Guess all that running around the trails all summer is paying off, not to mention he grew a foot and has more of a height advantage now. He seemed to tower over many of the competition. Great job buddy!! Tonight he'll run at the home meet, last season it was the only race he medaled in.

Ben also had his first soccer game Sunday but unfortunately we had to divided and conquer so I did not get to witness the game. They lost 5 to 4 but gave 'em a good fight. Hopfully things will run a bit smoother as the season goes on. Rob said they started late and the coach had to ref, which is always hard.

Alex is going to get lucky with book costs, one class doesn't have a book at all, math is just a paperback and not so expensive, one she can get as a download, so there's only History she has to find out about. Lucky girl.

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I'm continuing the 2 Timothy challenge. Had a funny thought after reading one day, a total 'Family Guy' moment. In the address it infers Timothy is Paul's son. I'm curious how old is he at the time and what was he really thinking about his dad? I pictured a 20 something guy reading this letter, thinking, 'Dad's in jail again, for crying out loud! When is he ever going to just shut up about this Jesus dude already! What a crack pot!"

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A merry heart is good like a medicine!

and Away We Go!

The forms are filled out, the classes are set, open houses attended, and we're on our way!

Everything went well for the boys during the school day so far, the biggest glitch has been the bus pick-up. With one entire school changing runs there are to say the least a few snags in the program. Not to mention losing the head of transportation during the summer and a new person in place, bless his heart. Ethan's driver was so far off schedule (30 minutes late) I ended up driving him up to school. The second day the driver for the first run came so soon we missed her! Then I find out someone called the bus garage impersonating me and said that Fox will not be riding the bus at all and to cancel his pick-up. What! Myself and the poor woman at the garage were confounded and a bit scared. The weird thing is I called about them not being picked up just moments after the bogus call was placed. (cue Twilight Zone music). Alex had her first class last night, two more tomorrow, plus lots of hours at the BK.

Mr. Ben is one happy 5th grader, except for a small exception. He has made it perfectly clear he is not into missing his special classes (art, computer, gym) all year just to be in band. No way, no how! So we had some discussion and came to a bit of an impass. I'll not require him to do band until Middle School but we'll get him back into lessons to keep him up to speed. He probably knows all the notes and rhythm they'll cover this year so I'm not to concerned. It would be different if he was playing a wind instrument but with drums it's a little easier to play catch up or even keep up. Got yer back, Ben man!

A peek through the fence at the after practice coach chat while I was waiting to pick up Fox. Ben's soccer practices have been going great too, he really got an awesome coach this year and the uniforms are super cool! I think they should call themselves the Grasshoppers because they're green, black and yellow.

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Below is another peek at Mr. Ethan heading into school on the first day for his last year in elementary. It seems that since the ceiling has been broken with Alex graduating it will only be a blip in time before this one is commencing.

We've been given a challenge by our P&W leaders to read 2 Timothy everyday for the next 40 days along with fasting something. I'll be honest, I'm sort of creatively fasting, something different everyday and then maybe changing it up to a week. It's still hard but not as much. Anyway I finally got to reading late last night and the scripture that stood out to me on the first read was "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." (1:7) and " And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. " (4:18) I love that it states SHALL deliver me, not might, not maybe, not if you do thus and thus and so and so you will be delivered. It just is without a doubt. Praise God because I need to be delivered from myself, my own thoughts, my own doubts. I recently met with a counselor to possibly confide in regularly. After briefly explaining "what's been up" she asked me if I was mad at God because my mom died. "No, I'm not mad at God at all. He worked mightily along the way on her behalf. I'm mad at people and how stupid things got among us." I know what you're thinking, so don't even go there cuz I'll go first.....forgiveness. I'm working on it. It's a process. "Grace, mercy and peace" (1:2) to you.

Ready, Get Set ...

We are getting closer to the start of another academic year! Yesterday all the boys got their back-to-school haircuts from the best stylist ever!! All three opted against the buzz cut this time and Ethan is planning to grow his hair out this year until his bangs cover his eyes. Can you say skater boy? This is a rather popular style in the schools.

Tuesday night we had open houses in the upper elementary (Ben) and middle school (Fox). Ben was soooo excited he couldn't stop talking and asking me questions about everything. He was successful in working the combination and getting his locker open and knows several kids in his home room from his class last year. Fifth grade is run in teams and Ben is on a three teacher team, his home room teacher Mrs. Rogers seems top-notch and I'm looking forward to working with her as well as Mr. Lewis and Mrs. Goldstein. Ben will also start playing drums with the 5th grade band which he is excited about but even more so about eventually playing in the marching band when he gets to high school. Ben and Fox will ride the bus in together this year with a bright and early 7am pick-up time. Wooooootttt. (Yawn) But the upside is they'll both be done by 2:35pm. Fox pretty much did his rounds by himself. He found all his classes, saw who his teachers are and picked up whatever materials they had available in the class then met up with us at the upper el. His schedule is pretty standard other than he's got Algebra instead of Math 8, he's also sticking with band through middle school. The only change is he's going to check into adding an extra history elective and dropping Art2 but we're not sure if it is offered at the same time. He can deal with that once school starts. Cross-country practices are well underway with the first meet in Bad Axe next Saturday which will also be the day of Ben's first soccer game. Divide and conquer!

After haircuts the boys and I headed over to my mom's house to pull a few more perennials. Things looked rather sad even though the neighbor across the street has tried to keep up on it; bless her heart. The neighbor behind however made sure to come over and voice her discontent with how things looked commenting "your mother is probably rolling over in her grave". It was all I could do to walk away and not b*tch slap her. Honestly other than the grass being a bit burnt from lack of water and the plants a little dry it wasn't as dismal as I imagined. All the plants I brought to my house are thriving and we had more butterflies than I could count this year due to the two buddleia bushes I aquired. Very cool. I'm anticipating having a renewed energy toward my gardens next summer and hope to get them back in shape. This year it was all I could do just to get through each day.

I am humbled, honored, and excited to anounce another new assignment I've been blessed with, director of a new praise & worship choir at church; deemed the Halellujah Chorus. It will be a united vocal group that supports the existing praise & worship teams on select Sundays as well as ministering special music on occasion. Practices will begin mid-September. The upper elementary principal has also confirmed me for Choice Time choir on Friday afternoons which will begin in October AND I will be working with my kids at church on Wednesday nights to prepare "a kids Christmas musical of hope" entitled "Star of Wonder". Our kick off party will be the first Wednesday in October and we'll minister the program December 15. Look for updates right here!

My Getaway

Early Friday morning I caught the Amtrak in Lapeer to go and visit my good friend Gidget that lives in a suburb outside of Chicago. It was so nice to ride out there and not have to stress over sitting in construction traffice or the craziness of going through the notorious Chicago Loop. It was a beautiful, sunny day and I enjoyed some great magazines and an awesome page-turner of a book, My Abandonment. I made it there in record time, about five hours which never would have happened if I had driven. From the Union Station I caught the Metra out to the burbs. People on the train are interesting to me, there's the readers, the computer users, the ipod listeners, and the ones that are compelled to be on the phone for the entire ride. You can actually see their little brains thinking, 'who can I call now-who can I call now.' There are so many different nationalities in the city I swear I heard no less than five different languages being spoken by people on the hour ride out to the burbs. Being in the crazy, smelling union station makes me realize however why I live where I live. Gidget's she-owner picked me up from the station, we had some Chinese for lunch then headed to their house.
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Gidget is one lucky dog! She lives in a beautiful house with many artifacts that her he-owner brought back from all over the world on his travels as a corporate pilot. I couldn't even do them justice by trying to take pictures. The bedroom in the collage is my favorite in the house. I love the colors, this was not the room I stayed in, but I hope to next time. We had several wonderful dinners which included fresh vegetables from their cute little backyard garden.

Saturday I was treated by Gidget's she-owner to a massage and a pedicure at a spa near their home. Wow, what a friend, it was great. For the rest of the day we just hung out, played some frisbee, and chase games, then watched Avatar. I had never seen it before, it was awesome even without 3-D.
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Sunday I went to church with them and although the music and service was quite nice, whenever I go to other churches it makes me realize how much I love my own. After service we went downstairs so I could check out the rooms where they held their children's ministry. There were so cute! Each room had a theme, nature, space, Suessville, very well done and security was tight! I couldn't even really go in the rooms because I didn't have a card. Cool. Here's a couple shots of the hallway which impressed me tremendously.

But the best site of my entire trip was their supply room. It was unbelievably organized and from what people told me it always stays that way which means teachers are trained to put things back from whence they came. What an amazing concept.

After church we went to one of the most popular public parks in the area. Gidget's she-owner works for the county forest preserve so we pretty much entered like rock stars with our Staff pass to check out a pavilion for a party they are hosting next weekend. What a fabulous park with a great beach, playscape, biking/hiking trails, and more.

The park system there is very green concience, I was most impressed with their parking bumpers which are made out of recycled tires!! They also have rubber mulch down on the playscape, super thickly too, it feels squishy beneath your feet.

After a quick stop back at the house to get Gidget we headed out to a farm market that had a small petting zoo. Gidg got some great sniffs and had fun visiting with Macaroni the calf, and some baby goats, Dora, Boots and Swiper, and a motherly duck that takes every new arrival under its wing.

Monday morning I got a good walk in with Gidget's she-owner then after a shower, packing, and a great lunch at Olive Garden I started the reverse trip on the Metra back down to the city to catch the Amtrak back to Michigan. It was a wonderful trip with some folks I am greatly honored and humbled to call my friends. They made me feel special at a time that has been extremely troubling for me. But I continue to press through as I am buffeted, knowing I will come out stronger on the other side.

Not exactly what I planned

Much has transpired since my last post, so much I can't possibly review it all and much of it I'd like to forget. But I'll give you the general highlights. We had Alex's Open House/18th Birthday Party which went well over all with a nice turnout of friends and family and only one relatively minor incident that happened late in the evening. Thankfully I had already gone in and gone to bed by then so I only heard about it in the morning, out of respect for the individual I won't provide the gory details but I will say it had nothing to do with any of Alex's friends.

Yesterday Ethan participated in the final 3-hole "just for fun" Jr. Golf Academy Tournament. He said he was a little nervous but he did really well for being one of the youngest in this age group. He scored a 16 on the three holes they played which was the best score out of his 5 player group. He was one over par on the first two holes but botched his drive on the last hole which totally threw him off. Brookwood was a beautiful course and kudos to Mr. Simpson the golf pro who ran this summer's program. He was kind, encouraging, organized and extremely knowledgable. There were many grandpas and dads that helped with the lessons and the tourney and they were all quite helpful as well. For anyone in the area looking for Jr. Golf lessons I highly recommend this program.

One of the not so great things that transpired, although I am doing my best to find the grace to adjust is ..... that Alex dropped a huge bomb on us days before her Open House. She does not want (isn't ready to) attend Grand Valley and instead has opted to stay at home and get some general education credits under her belt at Mott Community College. We are extremely proud of her for getting accepted to GVSU and were heartbroken by the news and the timing of it all. Originally she told us she was going to move to Alpena of all places the get an apartment with a friend (who happens to be a boy) and go to community college. After a family confab with myself, Alex, her father, and grandparents we got to some of the heart of the matter and relented to let her stay in our home and go to Mott but we explained that in no way shape or form would we support the whole Alpena situation. I really was looking forward to having her out of the house and now I need to figure out how to make this work and not be treated like a doormat. Teenagers do not always realize how good they have it and that mom and dad actually do know a thing or two. Apparently my work is not done with her and she's not ready to leave the roost. God give me the grace to see this through.

So it goes without saying I feel like I've been through the fire and really got burned. It's not so much that she changed things up but how she went about presenting it. Financially it will certainly be easier on us paying community college prices, when I called GVSU to defer her enrollment they said her application will stay on file for two years and she can transfer in at anytime. As long as the class is called the same as theirs it will transfer. Alex assures me she still wants to finish a four-year degree and eventually get there but she's not ready now. All that's fine and well but she'll need to follow the rules of the house, something teenagers are not always willing to do. Honestly I'm not looking forward to what's ahead, I know there will be some head butting going on but I'm willing to try. Any prayers for this situation would be greatly appreciated.

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This week Ben is doing soccer camp in North Branch and having a great time. We should be getting a call from his AYSO coach any day now and start in the swing of practices for the fall season, which is always a good time. Ben and Ethan also attended VBS at our church this week and I helped as a group leader which was about all I could handle. It was nice not to be in charge as I have been in the past.

I am really looking forward to getting started into the new school year and I know the boys are too but will certainly continue to enjoy their last few weeks of summer. This year in addition to subbing I am planning on volunteering to run a vocal music program after school at the lower elementary and the middle school and during choice time on Fridays at the upper elementary. Plus, for myself I'm going to sing with the Lapeer Community Chorus which meets on Monday evenings at Trinity Methodist Church in Lapeer. Even if it feels like my life is being pulled apart I will continue to make a joyful noise and praise Him through the storm. Peace, out.