Ruth,

Happy Valentine's Day!  Only 2 months late this year.  It looks like you are getting bigger and smarter every day.  It seems like you are keeping up in school, particularly in reading. You seem to really be getting along in homeschool with Momma this year.  I guess it really does kinda help, that you and Britt are so close in age.  Momma can focus on teaching you both the same thing, at the same time.  It seems that you, for the most part, enjoy school.  It's nice that you and Britt have your own school room, all to yourself now.  Even though I think your biggest distraction is the swimming pool on the other side of the window.

Now that it's getting really hot, you are really starting to enjoy the swimming pool on a way too regular basis.  Normally I can get you to leave the floaty alone in the shallow water, so that you can stand up and work on swimming alone in the shallow end.  But I guess you will go at your own pace.  You really enjoy swimming with your floaty all over the pool.

We've had alot of changes since last Valentine's Day.  We've had a few major changes, where we live, the type of job Daddy has, and the loss in our family.  For the most part I think you have enjoyed moving back down to Florida.  You are able to spend time with your cousins, and enjoy the new big house we are living in at this time.  You get to enjoy fishing with us having a canal in the back yard.  We have a great neighborhood with a park, just two doors down.  We added something else new this year, t-ball.  Your last game was on Monday.  You had a good time.  Sometimes t-ball is difficult to watch and enjoy, but it was great to see the effort you started to play with fielding the ground balls hit do you.  To see you run all the way to your base, though sometimes I think you were more jogging than running real hard.  I'm happy that you started to enjoy it, having fun learning the game.  Of course we will need to teach you to run the bases, without holding on to the helmet on top of your head.  You also got all the toys, with a new baseball bat and glove and shoes.

Well it seems like you are growing and changes will start happening on a regular basis.  Soon you will be able to read on your own, and maybe start riding a bicycle, or swimming without any help.  Another change we hope to see in you over this year is the trait of self control.  Self control is easier said than done, but it is a very important tool in your life.  I know that you are only 5 years old, but to have self control to not be argumentative and out of control with your anger will be helpful in years to come.  It is not only your actions, but also what you say and how you say it.  Sometimes the hardest part of self control is your tongue, the attitude that gets you in trouble and hurts other people.  With you being the middle child, it will be your benefit to have self control.  You are not the oldest and you are not the youngest, so you don't use those things as excuses.  You can either be a help to your brother and sister, or you can be a hinderance to one another.  Another important part of self control is attitude.  There are things that will happen, most things even that you can't control, but your attitude and your outlook, the patience and understanding that you have you can control.  They can make life easier and fun or with out them make life miserable and difficult.

Ruth, I love how  you are still Britt's best friend, that most the time y'all are thick as thieves.  You are still trying to show affection to Rebecca.  It's weird that your new hobby is catching lizards, which is great Momma has someone to take care of those things that get in the house.  Ruth I can see that you are a very sensitive and loving soul, and I hope you continue to nurture that.

I love you,
Daddy

Tonight while Rebecca was kicking around in the pool, I let go of her.  She didn't realize it at first, but when she did, we made a big deal out of her "swimming."  She has spent the rest of the night kicking between the steps and me and Gary.  Britt managed to get his doggy paddling coordinated enough tonight that he ditched his float and for about 3 hours criss-crossed the pool.  Lots of fun on a super hot day.

My last two games have been the best games so far.  Last Monday I got a game ball.  It was my first time getting a game ball.  I got it because it was the first time I got on base this season.  I feeled great, but not too great, not like mean to the others.  when I came home, I put it on my desk by my t-ball trophy and my t-ball picture.  Momma was proud.  And Memaw and Mister and Grumps and Ahna were there cheering too.  And Lilli, Ruth, and Rebecca, and Daddy saw it too.  It was so great.  Then we went home for supper.  I got my free Dr. Pepper to have with tacos and we all went swimming.


Last night, I didn't just get on base, but I made it all the way to home plate.  The catcher could not get me out.  I think he was tired of seeing me hit the ball.  I feeled great when I scored.  My team was so proud.  I scored the 12th point.  The final score was 12-3.  For most of the game, the other team got 0.  It was a miracle.  But alot of my team worked hard.  My coaches were proud and all of us had fun.  Daddy got me some cheese fries and a hamburger after.  Then after I waited an hour after my food we went swimming again.  It was super fun.

I have a friend, his name is Flat Stanley.  And yesterday, Momma took him and us to see a play about Flat Stanley.  The story started out like this, "I wish I could be super hero."  Flat Stanley was singing about doing something like "the world never seen before."  So he wished on a shoot star to be a super hero and do amazing things.  And the light twinkled on his bed, and then the bulletin board fell on him while he was sleeping, and it made him flat.  He felt like it was a curse because some people weren't nice to him and he got stuck in a tree. Then he singed another song in the tree.  Then Flat Stanley goed into an envelope and went to another place.  He went to three places.  First to California to go to see his friend.  Then to the art museum (the Louve) and he saved the day when the pictures got stolen.  Last he went to Hawaii and did a wave thing, pretending he's a surf board in a movie.    It was super long.  I liked it alot.  Flat Stanley liked it alot too, I held him the whole time so he could see.  The End.

The faeries moved into my faerie house.  They built a little fence.  They also made a little tiny faerie tree that is orange.  That first day they arrived they brought a faerie note.  They used glitter and pink words and wrote my name.  My faerie's name is Nettle Willowdancer, and her sister came with her.  Her name is Juniper.  And they hung curtains in the faerie house cause it would make it shady in the day since they are nocturnal.  Another day they brought blue marbles and some diamonds that make tiny rainbows.  The made a path with them.  Sometimes when they walk they leave pink faerie dust.  I write faerie notes and pictures and they answer me back.  And both of the little faeries can count to ten, I know because I asked them.

I like legos.  Emmett is a lego person.  There is also Wild Style, but her real name is Lucy.  There is Batman too.  I like playing with legos.  Once I built a lego t-rex.  I have a lego set, I've never built yet.  It is of the bad guy robots and Emmett.  I also have a set for an airboat.  I think they are the hardest legos there is to build.  Your strongest power when you play legos is your imagination.  Sometimes Batman says "This is not how Batman dies."  Once Ruth built an Elsa set.

I can't think of anything else, so the end.

This school year is wrapping up, and the end of April means one thing, it's time to start planning the next homeschool year.  Last year I wrote that for the 3rd year in a row I was trying a new homeschool planner.  But once, this year I am again using what I used last year.  I really love the Erin Condren Teacher planner.  It's so pretty that I want to do the school work, and in a year like this year that is especially useful.  The homeschooling community refers to years like these as "Homeschooling through Hardship" or a "Sabbatical year." And while it's been a hard year, one of the benefits to homeschooling this year was the flexibility we had.  And surprisingly enough  we have accomplished alot this year, much of what I planned, just not exactly the way I had planned.  But more on that in my end of school year post later.








Of course the bulk of the planner is the lesson planning pages.  There are only 40 weeks worth, which is a little bit of a problem for me since we school year round.  Of course there are breaks, but I like to have 52 weeks because I like to document alot of things that I find educational, but aren't strictly academic.  I am removing, very carefully, the pages I will have left over this year to add into the end incase I need them.  Not sure if they will hold up since I didn't want to uncoil the planner, but just snipped and added.  But I can try it. I will again change the top seven headers to the days of the week, and relabel the days down the side with our subject areas.  I just haven't printed up my labels yet, since Gary's not had time to fix the printer.


Last year I ultimately decided to use the checklist pages primarily for the kids chore charts.  They have a list of chores, some weekly and some daily that I check off if they do them.  And they get paid a quarter a job at the end of the week.  It is a great way for me to keep up with everything.  It allows them to take responsibility.  And it's a way for us to integrate some money management skills in our schooling.  I'm planning to start out Rebecca with her own chores soon, and so I revamped the layout a bit.  I went ahead and blocked off Monday through Friday of every week of our school year July-June.  There will be some weeks that they are gone, and others that they don't do their jobs, but this way I already have everything roughed out.  Toward the end of this year, I have started doing some testing, and wanting to be able to chart their progress that way.  So following the chore chart, I used the end of the page to chart the remaining Alpha test that Ruth will complete into next school year, and then under it the math test through the lesson I'm projecting us to finish in the new Beta book.  On the following page I've already listed the spelling test.  At two a week, we should have at least that many.  I still have a number of pages after that incase there is anything else I feel the need to add or chart to follow.





And of course there are still all the monthly spreads.  I really like that each day has it's own box now, before Saturday and Sunday shared a box at the end of the week, which constantly had me off on my days because the first day of the week isn't Monday.  But there are no longer 6 weeks, so there are the occasional months where two days are in one box, which is a pain for me.  In the past I have used these to track days and hours.  That isn't required in Florida, but I may continue to track for my use.  There is only one note page at the end of each month instead of two, so I'll have to see if that leaves me plenty of room for my monthly notes.  I probably won't have alot of extra room for doodles and things I've added in there.  However, I've also taken all the extra checklist out of this year's planner, again by carefully snipping and moving them.  I may need to use them for extra notes or documentation.  I've kind thought about using them with each month to add pictures of what the kids are doing, kinda like a scrapbook, instead of just their's and my drawings.  Since I will use this along with a small notebook with samples of their work, this is part of their portfolio, and the pictures would just be another fun way to document our days.

Some of you may know that we went back to Old Carroll for our spring meeting.  If you are ever in the general DC area on Sunday morning you should definitely head out to Point of Rocks.  Some of the best people you'll ever meet are there.  The Church is an interesting group, since many of them are transplants.  Some of us came from Florida, some from Texas, some from the Appalachian mountains, a few are local originally.  But even better than who you see there, the Lord is there.  He has blessed the Church immeasurable over the last several years, and we've seen alot of growth spiritually, and had new members join as well.














Fourth Sunday in March this year, also happened to be Easter, so we had a great weekend together, followed by communion.  Bro. Ronnie Loudermilk and Bro. Chris Crouse were the invited ministers.  Gary and I left South Florida about 6 pm Thursday night, and after an all night drive and a short 45 minute nap in a Waffle House parking lot we arrived at Sis. Bonnie's house around noon.  Gary got him a couple hour nap in a chair and I got a shower and then for the rest of the weekend we crammed in all the fellowship with all the people that we could.  Friday afternoon and evening there were some good scriptural conversations and debates.  Saturday afternoon there was lots of catching up and goofing off while the kids all played.  And Sunday time to leave came too soon.  We had a great time.














Friday night Bro. Ronnie preached first on our "Common Salvation." After traveling all over the Bible to establish that the word common means something that we all share, he used Jude 3 to prove that the common salvation means all who have it get it in the same way, and that is through the shed blood of Jesus Christ, without any effort on our part.  He then showed us if we have that common salvation, it should lead us to live a fruitful life.  We have to get in the fight by being baptized.  We learn what we fight for by reading and studying.  We fight against our sinful nature. And we fight using the spiritual weapons we have by putting on the whole armor of God.  Bro. Chris followed him by preaching on "Moses: a picture of Christ." Deu 18:18 "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him." He showed 9 parallels between the two 1) at their births many children died, 2) but their lives were preserved, 3) tried over 40 years and 40 days, 5) endured murmurings, 6) displayed power over the sea, 6) fed many, 7) at times they couldn't be viewed due to the glory of God on them, 8) had 70 helpers, and 9) both reappeared after their deaths.  But in all the ways that Moses was a picture of Christ who would come, there was a key difference.  Moses fell short and didn't enter into the land, but Christ accomplished his work entirely and he entered into his rest.  And that is grounds for great celebration on our part.



Saturday morning Bro. Chris spoke first on the topic of "Communion with Christ."  He encouraged us to consider out uplook, and not be only looking in.  That when we focus on our selves and our problems and troubles we easily become discouraged.  However we should have a common union with Christ, and that is our fellowship with him.  He is a faithful high priest and we can have a relationship with God thanks to him.  Bro. Ronnie then followed him on the "Suffering of Christ."  He laid out three types of suffering that Christ experienced emotional/mental, physical, and spiritual.  He experienced emotional and mental pain when he was lonely and again when he was betrayed by a kiss.  The physical pain is something that horrifies us all when the Bible describes the crown of thorns, his body beaten, furrows of a whip, driving nails, and hung on a cross so marred that he didn't even look like a man anymore.  But the greatest suffering was his spiritual pain on the cross he suffered our hell, he was forsaken of God and for the first and only time, there was a break in communion with God.  And all to accomplish salvation for us.  Bro. Ronnie told us that we should respond to this with greater obedience, a looser grip on the world, a tighter grip on Jesus, and be constrained not to sin.



Saturday afternoon only Bro. Ronnie preached since he needed to catch a plane.  His subject was "Israel and all that He Hath."  In a very short time, he preached from Genesis 46, showing Jacob/Israel as a picture of Christ and us.  He showed how Israel took all that he had on the journey, none were left behind.  Just like one day Christ will take all of his people to heaven, there will not be a single child of God lost or forgotten or left behind on that journey.  Just like Joseph and his children were already in the land of Egypt, some of God's people are already in Heaven, but one day we will all be there together.  He also showed that Jacob was carried there, being old and unable to carry himself, and we will be carried there, since we are unable to carry ourselves.  He also showed how Jacob was satisfied when he arrived and saw Joseph.  When we all arrive in Heaven and see our Savior's face we too will be satisfied!


Sunday morning Bro. Chris preached on "God of the Hills and the Valleys"  beginning in I Kings 20:20.  Over several Sundays now (a few months at least) he has been preaching on the attributes of God at Little Union: God of hope, God of Peace, God of Love, God of All Comfort, etc.  I've really enjoyed the sermons, and gone back to listen to many of the ones that I had missed when we visited other places.  This sermon just fit right with those.  He showed us how God is with us in the valley of tears and cares for us when we are weeping and mourning (Psa 84:5 among other verses),  He is also with us in the valley of bravery, when though afraid we go forward in trust (Num 13).  He can bless the valley of trouble to bring peace and hope (Joshua 7).  He goes with us in the valley of the shadow of death (Psa 23).  In the "valley of the mighty oak" He becomes our defender and gives us strength (I Sam 17).  He also is in the valley of blessing, where we see through no power or strength of our own he defeats our enemies.  It is easy to see God when we are on the mountain when we are in the middle of the best Church sermon we've ever heard, when we have no problems, plenty of money, no stress or illness, but God is with us through all the miserable parts of life as well, and because of that I've found they aren't so miserable as I initially feared.



Immediately following morning services we had communion.  It was very special for Gary.  Many of the Churches in the Northern Virginia area, for whatever reason do not wash feet.  There is a very dear brother down there that visits us a lot at Old Carroll, and Gary has begged him every communion for the last few years to allow Gary to wash his feet.  He has always said no, but for the first time ever he washed feet with Gary that Sunday, and it made our day.  It was also very sweet for me to again sit in communion together with Old Carroll.  Last time we had communion, was in October and it was the weekend after Gary interviewed for the job here in Florida, but before they made an offer.  I picked him up from the airport on Friday and we booked to Old Carroll for the weekend.  It is unbelievable what has changed in that length of time.  It was good not only to think on all the Lord has done for us in taking the Lord's supper, but it was also a great blessing to think of all this little Church has done for us as we served one another and washed feet.  And then before I knew it service was over.














After services, we inhaled lunch, and got on the road about 2.  We caravaned with the Crouses as far as Savannah, GA about midnight.  We waved to them as they got off their exit, and we continued south.  We pulled in our driveway at 6:15, and Gary had just long enough to clean up before hopping back in the truck to go to work.  That evening after work and baseball games, I told him we are getting to old to be doing this.  But we both agreed we were VERY glad we went.