Graduation At Hand

Well, it has been a while since I've posted. We've been busy getting finished with school and preparing for Caitlyn's graduation. This experience has been so different for me. When my son graduated from public school, all we were required to do was to fill out forms, send in checks, and arrive on time. Since Caitlyn is being homeschooled, and we are not part of a homeschooling group outside of our church, she is the only graduate. I had no idea what to do to make a graduation special for her. So I started asking around, checking the web, and thinking of how to make her day a special one. It's been fun, but it has also been a lot of work. Things are coming together nicely.

Saturday is her big day! Family members from Louisiana are coming in on Friday. Some family members can not be with us because of health situations. We will miss them dearly. However, we will video tape the ceremony to share with them.

She has chosen a pink (rose) colored gown. We had it altered. The sleeves were about six inches too long. That would not work well since she is playing the piano during the ceremony. Yesterday we ordered her cake. Pink, black and white are her colors. She wanted a yellow cake with pink butter cream icing, black border, and white scroll design on top. The cake will say, "Congratulations Caitlyn," and in one corner there will be a mortar board. I will post pictures later. The ladies of our church are being so kind and helping out by bringing finger food for the reception. What a blessing! The moms of our homeschool group will help by serving the cake and punch. I think everything is covered!

I'll post more after Saturday!

My Baby's All Grown Up and Driving!

Caitlyn started driving school on the 9th of March. She received her permit on the 19th, and has not stopped asking the question, "Can I drive?" LOL So far she has driven in normal traffic (HA - if you can say that DFW area has "normal" traffic), evening traffic with the sun hitting her in the face, business traffic (when she drove to pick up her Daddy), and rain. So far, so good.

Today is her last day of class before her written test on Saturday. After this she will only have a few more drive times and then she will be finished. But something tells me that I will still hear, "Can I drive?"

I'm proud of you, Caitlyn!

Ducks in Our Pool

Every year at this time the mallard ducks come through this area. A lot of houses in our neighborhood have pools, including us. They use our pool, and others, for resting spots along the way. Our dog T-Bone got his first up-close view of a duck!

He ran around and around the pool trying to figure out how he can get to them. The ducks simply swam from one end to the other. They were not too bothered by him.

He was sad when they flew away. Don't worry T-Bone. They will be back!

House of Mugs

The second week of February my family and I went to North Carolina for a Bible Conference. It was a wonderful trip. On the way there we spent a night in Nashville, TN. The next day we traveled to Pigeon Forge, TN where we stayed two nights. Our friends from our home church in Louisiana were there also. They had rented a huge chalet. We spent some time with them Saturday night before checking into our hotel. On Sunday we attended Temple Baptist Chruch in Powell, TN, who sponsors Crown College. After church we visited with my friend's daughter, who attends Crown College. It was nice to see her again.

On Monday we went to Cades Cove, which is part of the Smoky Mountain Park. It is beautiful there. We drove on to Lenoir, NC and arrived in time for the first meeting of the conference that night. The week was great. The choir and special music was uplifting. The preachers throughout the week preached messages that encouraged and strengthened us. We saw the Holy Spirit working on the hearts of people, including our own!

On Thursday we went riding through the mountains near the church and saw some beautiful sites! We came across a cute little house beside a river. The house was completely covered with coffee mugs. Even the split rail fence was covered with coffee mugs. It was very interesting. I took many photos of it. I'll share a few with you now.

Side of house.

The split rail fence is covered with mugs.

Doesn't this little mug make you smile? He was sitting by the entrance to the porch, welcoming you in.

The Count Down Begins

Our year of homeschooling is on a down hill slide towards the end of the year. It seems like yesterday that we started this journey. Soon my little girl will have graduated high school and making preparations for college.

The next few months are jammed full of projects, reports, and the daily grind that is school.

We are presently making graduation ceremony plans. It will be so different from when my son graduated from public high school five years ago. Caitlyn will be the only graduate, instead of hundreds. We will hold the ceremony at our church instead of a civic center. Caitlyn will take an active participation in her graduation instead of just being one little speck in the crowd.

It is fun, it is exciting, it is a little stressful (but it's a good stress), and it will be here before we know it. Got to go.....there's so much to do!

Test of Sanity

I read this today....


The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends -- if they're okay, then it's you.

I am....

They say there is nothing original under the sun. I don't know who "they" are, but I think they are right. I wanted to add something to my blog today, but didn't know what to add. After visiting a friend's blog I thought I would borrow the following from Tami, who borrowed it from Terri. *smile* Thanks Tami and Terri for your wonderful inspiration.


Outside My Window... The sky is still blue, the sun is still bright, yet it is beginning to cast a shadow as it sinks lower and lower in the sky. The temperature is 64 F.
I am thinking... of how peaceful and quiet my house is right now since our 54 lb "puppy" is at Petsmart getting a shampoo and his nails clipped. Aahhhhh!
I am thankful for... the Lord Jesus dying for my sin, and for my family.
From the kitchen... comes the sound of my sweet daughter doing the dishes.
I am wearing... a fun floral shirt inspired by the nice weather we are having today.
I am creating... a yearbook for my homeschooled daughter.
I am going... to fold/hang up a load of clothes after finishing this post. Exciting, huh?
I am hoping... to take some beautiful scenic photographs of Tennessee and North Carolina on our upcoming trip.
I am hearing... the tv playing in the living room.
Around the house... I see many projects that I'd like to get done, but can't do right now.
One of my favorite things... a good cup of Community Coffee!
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week… Get ready for our trip.

Stay Out of the Kitchen!

Since adopting our dog, T-Bone, cooking has become a challenge. He's a tall boy, and can easily reach the counter. We have to cook as if we have a small child in the house again. Everything gets cooked on the back burners, and we can't leave anything out on the counters. It would be nice to block of the kitchen with a baby gate so that he can not enter, but it is not possible because of the layout of the kitchen. Last night I tried blocking the entrance with a chair.

Oh, he did not like being excluded from all of the fun! He walked back and forth, whined a little, and finally laid down and pouted! LOL Here is a picture of him pouting. T-Bone's a smart dog, and it wasn't long before he figured out how to squeeze under the chair and get into the kitchen.

Oh well....c'est la vie! 

(Still In Training)

Home Ec

Caitlyn is taking Home Ec right now. Of course it is not called Home Ec anymore. It's called Family and Consumer Science. This has been a fun class. Caitlyn has gained a new love - baking! So far she has made applesauce muffins, pumpkin pies, minced meat pies, cookies, and banana nut muffins.

Not long ago she made a full breakfast. In the near future she will make lunch and soon after that an entire dinner for our family. Some things are familiar for her, because she has helped me in the kitchen before this class. But she has not had to cook entire meals on her own. This is great experience for her.

She will be hosting a cake reception in a month or so. She will have to make 2 or 3 cakes, write and send out invitations, make punch and coffee, and host the reception. It will be so much fun! I love putting on things like this. I hope she discovers that she enjoys it as much.

Her last event for the semester will be planning, preparing for, and hosting a dinner party. There is a lot of work that goes into a dinner party, but I know she will do a great job!

God is Awesome

Saturday night our electricity went out around 9 pm. I walked out back to see if our neighbors lights were on or not. That is when I looked up and saw something I've never seen before. A halo around the moon! It was so pretty. Of course I grabbed my camera to take a picture.



What causes a halo around the moon, you may ask? Well, I wondered the same thing. I searched for an answer and found this explaination on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(optical_phenomenon)

Homeschooling

I thought I'd update you on our homeschooling adventure today as well.

Everything is going wonderfully. This week Caitlyn finishes up all of her 11th grade work and begins on her 12th grade work. Her goal is to graduate this year. She is doing a good job. Not only is she working on acedemics, but is also taking piano, voice lessons, and playing her flute in our church orchestra.

She finished health, and has started speech. This works out well, since she will have to speak at her graduation ceremony. Speaking of graduation ceremony, that is what I am working on now. This will be such a different graduation than what my son had. He was in the public school system and attended a rather large school. The ceremony was held in a civic center. Our seats were so far up that we could only see a blob when he walked up to accept his diploma. Cailtyn's graduation will take place at our church. So we will have a front row view of her graduating!

Okay. That is all for now. I will try to update more as we head down the hill toward the end of school and graduation.

Hello again, hello.

Oh wow. I knew that I had not posted here in a long time, but I didn't realize how long it had been. November 9, 2008 was my last post. So much has happened since then. I'll give a brief summary of what has been going on in our little world.

> Our Thanksgiving was a nice, quiet one spent at home with our immediate family. We have so very much to be thankful for. The number one reason being that Jesus is Lord of our lives!

> On November 29th we took a ride to Oklahoma. Before leaving Texas we stopped at an animal shelter and ended up adopting an 8 mo. old hound/lab mix puppy. All 42 pounds of him! Here's a picture of him that day with my daughter:


We named him
T-Bone.

And here he is a 6 weeks later, at 54 pounds.



So now you know why I haven't been here. LOL He's a big dog, but he's still all puppy! His favorite thing to do is tear things up. Homeschooling has been a challenge since he has been with us. Caitlyn and I are constantly having to stop what we are doing to chase T-Bone down when he gets something he's not supposed to have. One day he put his front paws on the kitchen counter top, and grabbed a sharp knife. He proceeded to run through the house, playing "Catch me if you can" with it! That taught us a very valuable lesson...nothing can be left on the counter tops that we don't want him to have. Yesterday he took off with a can of chicken noodle soup. LOL Yes, it has been a mess around here. Thankfully it is getting better and he is learning.