An Exerpt from Grace's File

"She can say “baba”, “mama”, “shu shu” (“uncle”), and those kinds of simple titles. She is clever and can look at adults and see their expressions. She does what she wants to do. She can understand praising words and critical words. She can accurately point to all five facial features in a picture of a doll, and she knows the names of all the other children in her class. If she drops her shoes, she knows to take her shoe and put it on her foot. She pushes the toy car around the activity room, running quickly. Sometimes she helps the other children pick up the toys. She can walk all around while holding a hand, but she is scared if you let go of her hand and she won’t dare bravely walk on her own. As long as you give her a little help, she can bravely walk ahead. She likes to mimic things adults do. She is also extremely polite; when guests leave she will say goodbye. Sometimes when she is naughty, people like her even more. She likes to play with toys with the other children, and she gets along peacefully with the other children."

It warms my heart every time I read it.

School kicked my tail today so to top it off, because my house wasn't trashed enough, I decided to make playdough with the twins. I love making playdough, and I love the playdough stage. I'm so excited I get to have a preschooler one more time. Will thinks Grace will be a great playdough maker, and will probably make Chinese dragons out of playdough. They talk about Grace a lot. They know that China is exactly 24 hours ahead of us it's cool that at bedtime we can pray for her as she's waking, and at breakfast for her as she's going to bed. Sam figured out today that dad and mom are going to be exhausted after traveling to China for two weeks and then back.

PS One time when I was teaching I had an evaluation by my principal and I was exhausted. Paul stayed up very late making tons of playdough for me to use. He's the best.

First Day of School!

We had a great first day of school! Pictures forthcoming! The boys had banana splits for breakfast (hey fruit and real ice cream couldn't be any worse for you than poptarts right?) They opened up their new school supplies, and worked through our schedules well. I read three chapters of Homer Price (great little boys book!) and we are getting ready to top it all of by swimming with friends. We had a few bumps in the road. One child got sassy with me wailing over an MP3 player. One I handled really well, the other I had no idea what to do. Other then that things went really well, I think we all had fun while learning.

Planning and the Next Thing on My List

I had a weekend to myself to plan for our school year while Paul and the boys spent time with Grandma. This was my 4th annual homeschool planning weekend. My friends Stacey and Deborah - fellow homeschoolers- joined me again to plan on part of the day Saturday. We had a great time eating, laughing, walking and planning. I spent the rest of the weekend in solitude, which was wonderful for a time, but I was really happy to see the men on Sunday afternoon. I seriously don't know how I could do it without these planning weekends it's amazing the thinking and praying and wrestling with decisions to be made that can happen when given some uninterupted quiet time. I felt like I finally had clarity on some issues that had been frustrating and stumping me for a very long time.

Now that I have delt with our upcoming school year I feel free to work on more adoption stuff. The next thing I need to focus on is filling out applications for grants. They are daunting for some reason, and I would appreciate your prayers. I have some beautiful necklaces that my sister made just for me to sell to help with adoption costs, and some other fund-raising ideas in the works. Through all the paperwork I don't want to forget that we have a very real little girl waiting for us in China.

What I don't always tell.................

I posted the last post kind of toungue in cheek. I meant it to be funny, and actually I really do say that when people ask. But my conscience has gotten the better of me. The truth is I did teach that many children (and at times more) and honestly, I think I did it well. But as Jodi or Shannon or anyone who worked with me will tell you, it wasn't easy - AT ALL. There where many times I complained and sometimes I even cried. I loved the job, but I didn't love it every minute of every day, and I made lots of mistakes. It's the same with homeschooling. I truly feel called to homeschooling (for many reasons maybe someday I'll get into that), and I think I do a decent job of it - I'm not going to give it up because we are adding another child to our home. But it isn't easy - AT ALL. As any of my homeschool buddies would tell I complain. As Paul would tell you, sometimes I cry. I love the job, but I don't love every minute of every day. And I make LOTS of mistakes. So by the grace of God I plan to homeschool five chidlren, and my prayer is that he will give me the wisdom and strength to do it well - and maybe I should be little more humber too :). Because, in my own strength and pride I would (and have) fallen flat on my face.

My standard answer..........

whenver I am asked how I could homeschool five kids:


"My last year of teaching I successfully taught 15 precocious preschoolers, at least 9 of them with autism. I can handle my own five. " :)