I just realized this morning that Emily is off of school the whole week next week for Thanksgiving. Brian's mom is flying in this Saturday morning and will be here until the day after Thanksgiving. She will enjoy having the kids around. I guess I will have to decide whether or not my homeschooled ones will have the entire week off as well.
Here's a cool commercial from the YouTube vault:
I've discovered a new (to me) Christian author recently. A few weeks ago, while Emily was at youth group, I spent my time at Barnes & Noble and was able to read a book called One Tuesday Morning, by Karen Kingsbury. It was a very powerful and moving book, centered on 2 families affected by the 9/11 tragedy. This weekend I picked up an anthology containing 3 books in one by her and have managed to read 1 of them, Where Yesterday Lives. It did not disappoint. I think I enjoy her writing as much as Francine Rivers.
I'm also currently reading and taking notes on the book Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell. He has some really thought-provoking ideas.
My husband surprised me while I was out this weekend. He rearranged the schoolroom/office for me, moving in the large desk that used to be out in the living room for me. I did not have enough room or storage in the small desk I was using in here. It looks really good.
There's nothing like conversation with friends. I was able to spend some time with a new friend this week and feel hopeful that we will be an encouragement to each other as we both cope with living in a place that is very unlike what we are used to and would like.
I've had conversations with old friends who make me feel so lucky and so blessed to be able to call them friends. It's funny that I was nearly 40 years old before discovering true friendship... and once I discovered it, I marvel at how I lived without it before. My hope is that everyone has someone they call a true friend.
It's a slow news day around here, so enjoy these gems from YouTube:
Hopefully I'll have something tomorrow.
Just got back a little while ago from a meeting with Emily's choir director. Her choir will be taking a trip to Chicago next May. It sounds like they are going to have a great time. They'll get to see Wicked, possibly take in a Cubs game, visit Shedd Aquarium and Lincoln Park Zoo, tour Moody Bible Institute and sing there, and maybe even take a "gangster tour." I will be so jealous... I've never been to Chicago (unless you count the airport).
Noah also had his first flag football practice of the season earlier tonight. His coaches seem very nice, and I saw a familiar face among one of the moms there. Her son played Little League this summer (on an opposing team) and we had chatted a few times at games then. It's nice when there is at least one familiar face in a new situation. Anyhow, they have gotten a late start this season and their first game is next Wednesday night. I can't believe they are going to play so soon!
Up until this year, parent/teacher conferences consisted of me talking to myself (ok, for 3 of my kids, they still do). But tonight I got to experience something altogether different. Emily's teachers all had overwhelmingly positive things to say about her (except for her Bible teacher, whom she refers to as the absent-minded professor.... he was a bit more general and vague in his comments). As I mentioned in the last post, we were already well aware of her academic progress (all A's) and what we wanted to learn tonight was more of what her teachers see in her personally. Basically they all see her as a very outgoing and positive person. Her web design/graphic arts teacher said that she works very quickly and usually completes in about half a class period what it takes most other students 2 class periods to do, but that Emily spends a great deal of her free time helping others. She also said that in addition to being gifted in this area, she is also good at teaching others... she doesn't do their work for them, but is good at explaining and instructing. She is hoping Emily will have room in her schedule next year to be a teaching assistant for her. Her algebra teacher seems to have a very good opinion of Emily as well; she's impressed with how well Emily made the transition from homeschooling and with the way the work in her class has started to "click" for her. All of Em's instructors said pretty much the same thing: that she is a respectful person, cheerful, and that she seems to have made friends with a good group of kids. It was good to hear nice things about her. It's nice to know someone else thinks I have a good kid, too.
The coolest thing about tonight was that her web design teacher prayed with us before we left her table. I am so glad we are able to send Emily to this school. It has been a very good thing for her and for our family.
I had a follow-up visit at the hearing center today to see how my hearing aids were working for me this week. We tweaked the settings a bit, plus got a second program added to it for listening to/singing music. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works at church this weekend. It already made a big difference in listening to the radio in the car. I am able to turn the volume down if I switch to my "music" program on the aids. Plus I can hear myself sing better as well. We're going to give it a couple of weeks more before doing another evaluation and tweaking.
Tomorrow afternoon we'll be heading to Emily's school for parent/teacher conferences. I'm really looking forward to hearing what they have to say. I already know how she's doing academically; I'm more interested in their impressions of her character and person.
In honor of the elections:
(Click for link)
No big surprise here. I think the bulk of my answers pegged me as "red." I skipped the alcoholic beverage questions, as I didn't have an answer for those.
I have to confess I am not much of a housekeeper. I like a neat house, and can pick up and put things away, but when it comes to actually cleaning, I'm not going to win any awards. Brian, on the other hand, is a cleaning machine. He is good at it. He may not be fast, but I guarantee that if he cleans something, it will be clean when he is done. This little difference we have makes it difficult when it comes to enlisting the kids' help in maintaining household cleanliness. We just don't have the same standards. Nor does he have a wealth of time to spend teaching the kids what he would like to have done. That's why this book looks so appealing:
If you click on the link, you'll be able to see a few pages from the book. The author is selling it in combo with another step-by-step book to help kids clean their bedroom. That's certainly another area we could use some improvement in as well.
I'll be sure to report on it if we decide to try it out.
Tonight was the Annual Fund Dinner for Emily's school. It marks the kickoff of fundraising for her school for the year, and also provides an opportunity to honor students, faculty, and community members for their achievements and for their support of the school. We were treated to some great jazz music by the school's jazz band and Emily's choir performed at the end of the evening. Unfortunately, the choir had to cut its performance short because the event ran longer than anticipated. It certainly served to whet my appetite for more, though.
We shared a table with one other parent and 3 teachers from the school. None of the teachers are currently teaching Emily, although one of them is her class advisor. I'm hoping that for next year's dinner, we'll actually know someone that we can plan ahead to share a table with.
Emily's algebra teacher did tell me how well Emily is doing in her class (not that I didn't already know), and how good it makes her feel to hear a student tell her "This is easy!" I'm just glad Emily isn't hating math any longer.
