Goodbye Fall, Hello Winter

So today I believe is the first full day of winter - or maybe it was yesterday.  I'm never sure, but the nights are long, the days are short, and we do a lot of celebrating between Christmas, vacation, and the birthday of our eldest (who can't decide if she's a fall or winter baby).  In any case, we're celebrating this year with an ice storm, and me being sick.  At least I made it through the last couple weeks!  Now I can (theoretically) crash.  Not on the ice, but on the couch. 

My beloved just took them all for "an ice storm walk" - basically to see what it's like out there.  The inconvenience of an ice storm coming on the weekend before Christmas cannot be overstated.  Nor can the timing of being sick just now, although again, theoretically, it could have been worse to be sick the past few weeks.  But church actually got moved to tonight (wow, that's a first), and my folks are up visiting and getting back and forth to the hotel is no fun, getting up to Stowe is ... ummm... not going to happen at least not today (hopefully tomorrow AM) and I've got no voice and no energy to pack or grocery shop or bake or gift wrap.  And, well, it will all get done still, of course.  Yay.  Good thing we'll only go up for 24 hours, and maybe I'll feel better by the time we have to scurry to be ready for Santa.

It is beautiful out.  And the last few weeks have been very nice; lots of family time, special music, fun activities at school, and we've accomplished a lot.  Patience's performance at the Flynn last week was lovely.  Her diabetes was not, but we're figuring all that out - as we always do, as we go.  Her other grandparents were here for her multiple performances and she's certainly come a long way.  Constance can play Christmas carols on the piano (a few) and while Vivace's energy is a challenge, he is so capable of keeping up with the rest of us, it's a fun time. 

In any case, we're still here, the fall was busy (a blur) but some great stuff happened which I'll try to post about over this break if/as I can.  And while the ice is too bad, we do like the snow and are happy to see all the brown covered up.  Should be a nice winter overall.  Our kids now range in age from 15 to 8, and we love geography as much as ever (Geo Bee news and details to come in another posting!) We've settled into the school year quite solidly and are making headway on the home front w/all our stuff.  We're currently living w/o two working appliances (dryer and dishwasher) but we have a new (to us) dryer here and ready to hook up when we're ready to do it, and the dishwasher part is almost ready to put back in (all fixed!) and then it will run again, we think possibly like new for some time to come, depending on how long the glue holds.  Then we'll do it again.  :-) In the mean time, the kids are washing dishes better and better, and the drying racks are doing their job w/ the wash just fine. 

Happy winter to you all!

Up on the chimney (actually just the shed...)

It's kind of fun when your husband tackles a home repair type job that is a "real" project, but which is "manageable" and which he can complete - from start to finish - in a measureable amount of time, and which you can see the results of very clearly.  Back in September, he repaired and reshingled the roof of our shed.  He did a great job.  It looks nice, and is done, including the clean up.  It took him a couple days from start to finish (from planning, shopping, priming, removing old shingles and rotten wood, applying new wood and shingles, to cleaning up and putting on finishing touches), but was mostly done in one single day.  I am proud of him and here are photos of the work.  Go Papa Bear!

Leaf-eating Haiku

Today I was in Vivace's classroom for our monthly Four Winds lesson (the first of this year).  This is a hands-on nature science program for elementary aged students which we parents teach.  We have monthly trainings which are fabulous; I learn so much!  Today our topic was "Leaf-eaters" and the kids enjoyed it.  That said, the activities went very quickly, and we had plenty of time for our final activity, which was to teach them to write Haiku and somehow relate it (generally) to what we learned.  I was surprised how much they enjoyed this.  In 2nd grade, they actually do understand the idea of syllables, and they were able to write about nature (we had a lot of poems about owls and butterflies - I do think these related to our topic for the most part).  One child wrote about cactus (I thought that very creative), another about dragonflies, and their illustrations were great too.  I learned about this teacher; I think she loves Four Winds.  She had on hand activities related to food chains, ecosystems, and habitats, and all those beautiful Haiku will be up on the classroom walls tomorrow.  And the kids were very excited about reading them aloud to boot.  It was a great intro to the year, and I think we'll keep doing poetry with these kids all year based on how today went!

Welcome to high school

I guess it's a little early to be making predictions, but I'll go ahead and make a few observations, and share some thoughts, based on the first few weeks.

(1)  We have a great public high school

• The academic strengths are obvious and my daughter is challenged academically at school across the board, a first if I may say so in her public school experience.  I am thankful for this.
• The variety of choices of classes and extracurricular opportunities is mind-boggling.  I doubt we'll even crack the surface in the next four years.
• So far, the teachers are "for" my daughter.  It may not be perfect. I'm sure we'll have issues.  But they are not against her or against us and appear to want her to succeed, even by my definition.  That's a definite plus.

(2) The news about teens is generally not good

• The headlines abound regarding drugs, violence, vandalism, bullying, sex, misuse of technology and I could go on.
• The stories behind those headlines do not paint a pretty picture of home life, responsibility, parenting, accountability, values, or anything else honestly.  It's discouraging to think there are so many kids out there who both can and will get "lost" during these years and make both stupid and potentially life-changing decisions.
• Their parents (and the apparent lack of parenting) scare me.  Our culture has some real (bad) issues and I don't see it getting better.

(3) My daughter is making good choices

• So far
• I think these choices have set the tone for the year - and I both doubt it will change, and hope it won't, at the same time.  
• So much seems to depend on those decisions - and they are primarily what you choose to focus on and who you choose to listen to (and surround yourself with).  In her case, she's chosen to focus on academic and spiritual growth, and she's surrounding herself with people who will influence her for good in both those areas.  Really, I'm not sure how either of those could be going better. 

Proverbs 13:20

Become wise by walking with the wise;
    hang out with fools and watch your life fall to pieces.

Those are my observations.  And if anyone were to ask my advice, it would be to help your child navigate those waters of making good choices - choose well what you focus on, and choose well who you listen to (which is who you spend time with and with whom you surround yourself).  Honestly, these are the lessons we all need to learn for life.  And they begin well before high school.  But I think high school generally comes with a broader pool of potential influence, an opening of new opportunities - and ideas and challenges, and both more independence and more responsibility. Our job as parents is to lead them to good water - again and again and again - and then pray fervently that God would have them drink it (again and again and again)! 

Proverbs 13:24

A refusal to correct is a refusal to love;
    love your children by disciplining them.

High school's got a strong and important academic component.  But the point I think is no longer the foundational academics of the 3Rs.  Everyone needs those.  That's my philosophy for K-8.  High school presumes that foundation, as it should, and the paths for different kids with different strengths and interests begins appropriately to diverge.  Some will focus on academics, some on sports, some on arts, some on technical skills.... all ok and no longer "the same" across the board, and plenty of blend of the lot of them.  But ALL will grow in their ability to navigate life's decisions, for better or for worse, as they prepare to live independently in a few short years.  I think character growth and maturity in that area is what high school is about.  While still under their parents supervision (supposedly - again, I'm grieved by the lack of this for far too many....), they have a chance to test the waters of what they value and act from those values, try to fly - and fail - and get back on the saddle again, over and over and over.  This is that time.  Before they leave the nest, they learn to navigate life and relationships and opportunities.  This is the crucible of character, and who they are when they finish will be their launching pad and foundation for true independence and adulthood.  

My prayer for my kids is that this time will go well and by God's grace that they will build well so they don't have to destroy that foundation as adults and start over.  It's much harder, and sometimes the consequences of poor choices quite severe.  But if they make poor choices, may they learn from them and know - through my hands - that God is still sovereign and they are in his hands.  He is not finished with me, and he is not finished with them, and he can (though he does not promise to) redeem all our failures.  Most importantly he can and will redeem their souls by faith.  This parent is entrusting all her kids - and herself - to the Lord. It may not turn out well by my definition (though it is so far, for which I'm very VERY thankful...), but I can and will trust him to do what he thinks is best in my life and in theirs, even  if and when it doesn't go well.  So that's that.... welcome to the high school years.

Proverbs 16:9

The mind of man plans his way,
     But the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.

Weeks like this

It was a good week, full of good times with people, from my kids to my friends to my church family.  We enjoyed watching our beloved Pats play football, our Vivace play soccer, we went to school open houses, we heard (and enjoyed) compliments about our kids (yes, all of them) in various places, and all in all had some great conversations.  I took Vivace out of school on Tuesday to go on a field trip - just him and I - to the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum; it was a gorgeous day and a fabulous place to visit.  On Wednesday I picked raspberries with a friend and we had a great time of interacting.  The kids and I enjoyed blessed warm weather with a last "hurrah" of ice cream after school one day, the weather was amazing all week, Papa Bear redid the roof on the shed (amazing! and it's done! success!), and I went away for three days (two nights) on our church's annual women's retreat.  Very sweet time, and a break from cooking and the routine as well.

But ... Vivace had a couple headaches (we're working on that one...) and it was "one of those weeks" with diabetes - a really hard week on that account.  What does that mean?  The short and sweet of it is that four of the last six nights, Patience has had low blood sugars in the middle of the night (that means one of us parents was up every one of those nights for at least 15 minutes - and often longer, and more than once).  We were up monitoring her the other nights too, and yes, we were trying to avoid the issue every. single. time.  And the daytimes had some low points - and some high points - as well.  Yes, I was part of this even three hours away in NY on the retreat.  Fun.  We have several weeks like this every year, usually we have no idea why, and this would be no exception.

The Lord is gracious to us and the retreat helped me continue to grow to depend on Him.  A lot of the focus of the retreat was to encourage me to relate intentionally with Him, with my family, and with others (why, how etc).  It was a great week and retreat for that.  And it was no less helpful in remembering that I can trust Him in all things - even the hard weeks.  I was encouraged in many ways as we try to teach Patience to work through these things herself and to be part of the solution (not just us making all the decisions and then telling her what to do).  She is doing really well at that; but it is not just w/her and w/diabetes.  It's a critical skill for all of us as we "grow up" and mature - in our faith, in our wisdom, and in our service and responsibilities and work and relationships....  I hope to explain more what I'm thinking and how this works out in my thoughts as well as my life, but that's a lot of what I took away.  But, for this evening, upon my return, I spent an hour or two analyzing data to try to "change pump (insulin) settings" to address the multitude of issues that seem to be collaborating to create this particular smattering of low blood sugars.  No unpacking (except for the toothbrush and the pillow in just a few minutes).  Oh well. But time to catch up conversationally to some degree, some snuggling with those who missed me most (Constance in particular) and number crunching and a stab at solving the riddle they call diabetes - at least for a couple days (so we can get some sleep!)

Lamentations 3:22-24
                 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; 
                  His mercies never come to an end; 
                    They are new every morning;
                      Great is your faithfulness.
                 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
                      “therefore I will hope in him.”

A Sunday Jaunt

Back in mid-summer, there was an awful nighttime accident on the highway near us where a heroic driver of a tractor-trailer filled with paper avoided running over multiple other vehicles ahead of him who'd hydroplaned and gotten tangled up in a torrential rainstorm  - by driving off the side of the highway - unfortunately right thru the guardrails and over the edge of the highway down the embankment and into the Winooski River.  He survived (which was miraculous and it was definitely touch and go for days) but the accident closed down said highway for most of the night and affected traffic for the entirety of the following day.  We had a doctor's appointment that direction and we were able to avoid the highway to get there, but decided, since the traffic was improved, to check it out on the way home (and we were going in the opposite direction from the direction of flow that was affected).  It was worth looking and we were all very impressed by the machinery involved in repairing the railings and cleaning up the pieces of the truck etc.  But we (I) completely lost track of where we were going and totally (and ridiculously) missed our exit.  So we went a few (cough cough like 15) extra miles out of our way - in one direction.  Oops.  And jokingly I threatened to continue the afternoon's adventures of going way out of the way by going to the Islands.  We didn't go, and a certain little princess (Constance) was very disappointed.  So I promised we'd take her another time.  

So on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend, I made good on that promise.  We took a leisurely family jaunt to "The Islands." 

The drive is pleasant (maybe 30 min to get there?) and scenic and the bridge is pretty neat.  Really it's a long road with a small bridge in the middle.  Very enjoyable and lots to look at.  We visited an apple orchard, drove to various points, checked out a souvenir shop (enormous!), bought a huge serving of french fries to share (they went well with the honey sticks and fresh cider), and all in all enjoyed our time out.  On the way back, we stopped on the bridge to throw rocks (where we took the picture above) and again on the "mainland" (there's a parking area on the land just beyond the flag) to throw some more rocks and look for (chase, catch, and otherwise terrorize) frogs.  It was fun.  We must have seen 50 frogs - all green frogs for those of you who care.  But we didn't photograph them - this time.  That was very fun.

The princess had a blast and wants us to go back to the Islands again for some apple picking as the season for that ramps up.  We may - or may not - but it sure was a fun day.  Certainly we don't have to go there to pick apples (there are plenty of choices much closer to home).  But I love spending time w/my family, and Papa Bear enjoys the driving and taking photos.

Repetitiveness and Polishing

When I teach my kids how to write, we look at grammar, spelling, organization and much more.  When we get to the editing and fine tuning process, we start to look for the polish and redundancy and that sort of thing.

I am apologizing here and now regarding my blog.  Yes, I do take time (sometimes quite a bit of time) to review before I post.  But I can be a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to things.  I can agonize over word choice, appropriateness of my content, and even whether or not to post.  For months, I found myself stymied - wanting to post but not feeling I had anything to say.  It would kind of be like constantly writing about the weather.  Honestly, that's not what's on my heart and mind - unless I'm soaked or the homes of folks I know are being flooded repetitively - but even then, what exactly does one say about that which anyone else would like to hear?  And besides, I have facebook for some of that daily "drivel"...  and I really won't bore you with that, either repeating it or "including you" in that (and putting you to sleep probably).

So to get back to my point, the bottom line of THIS post is me apologizing for my blog being fraught with errors and disorganization.  Because I want to have a blog that keeps family and friends up to date on our lives, complete with pictures, I cannot be too much of a perfectionist, or you'll get nothing but silence.  And silence can be on the "bad" side.  This is especially those of you who are NOT on facebook (and who are therefore spared my postings in that arena, which believe me are plentiful - too much so I think but again, I digress...).  I think those of you who are on FB (my mom and sister especially) know well that we are alive and kicking and have a million things going on which occupy our thoughts and attention. And you are in the know much of the time (for better or for worse).  I think we stay somewhat connected thru our various postings there on FB - which is of course the point of that.  But those of you who aren't (my dear in-laws in particular)... well, between not posting here and not using the phone (sorry for that too...) weeks can pass and we forget you have no idea what's going on - because we've been posting on FB as we go.  Or the emails have gone to one or two people, but not to everyone. You get the idea.

Thus, this blog will be imperfect so that I can succeed in its purpose of staying connected with some of the every day things as well as some of our crazy "thinking" etc, especially with my extended family, but also the rest of you we know and love and who may be far away and whom we see infrequently - if ever.  I do occasionally catch spelling errors or go back and reword a sentence here and there because it really annoys me... but I am trying to let things go without them having to be perfect.  If you reread my recent post about Andante and his summer, I repeat myself horribly.  I say alternative twice in a sentence, along with "different" and who knows what else.  It's a terrible sentence.  I could rewrite it easily in the time it took me to write this post, but I am determined to practice the art of letting it be and allowing "imperfection"  to remain. Because sometimes that is better, and this is one of those times and occasions.

But for those of you who are particular (like me... sigh), I am very sorry.  Thanks for understanding.

School days

Four kids, four schools, and tomorrow is the fourth day of school.  I have completed the paperwork, confirming who we all are, where we live, how to reach us in case of issues or emergencies, and what they can and cannot do (rules, health info, computers, you name it). 

They like to learn.  We like to teach them.  The schools have and do serve us all well.  The schools here have been an asset to what we as parents want and strive to do to raise our children.  What makes these schools so good for our kids, we think, is that the teachers genuinely care about our kids, and they work WITH us to raise them rather than instead of us.  Granted, there are gaps, holes, and shortcomings, and even a few problems from time to time.  But I remain VERY thankful for our schools.  We do and have homeschooled them too - especially when they're in the public schools full time - because we are the parents and we believe it our responsibility to teach them and make sure they know what is needed.  But as one of our tools in so doing, we like our public schools.

The picture above was taken of a bunch of us parents at the "incoming 4th graders" open house a couple days before school began after the kids got to check out their classrooms and "meet" their teachers again. These are folks we've known pretty much since kindergarten.  It's a new school for our 9-yr olds, and it's a transition.  These people are part of why we have liked the schools so much.  And it's fun to catch up with old friends, and that includes we parents.  I have enjoyed this particular group over the years.  And our kids are all buddies, young and old.  

 One of the things we've found about school, whether we're doing the public school route or the homeschool route, is that we like the routine - the rhythm if you will - of school.  The day, the chores, the schedule, and especially our walks and talks on the way to and from school (and appts and everything pretty much).  Living where we do allows us this special time.  We got rid of a car to be able to better afford this particular community, and Papa Bear takes the bus to work every day.  Our entire neighborhood keeps time by when we walk by.  "Oops there they go, better hurry or you'll be late!"  It's a fun reputation to have.  That said, if we don't keep to this schedule, he misses his bus and that's not so good... not the end of the world, and it does happen (albeit rarely), but we avoid it as best as we can.  As a result, we're almost never late for school! 

A particular treat this year is that Patience now walks the same direction as us again (having gone the other way for several years - as Andante did that first day - all alone ,but he didn't mind. About half way, she splits off in another direction, but Papa Bear and she can walk another couple blocks together if he goes straight to the bus station rather than catching the bus at the library (which is more along the elementary school walking route).  I caught a rather murky shot of she and Papa Bear walking together the first day of school.   I think this will be a special time for them and a great opportunity for him to minister to her life directly and in a comfortable and natural way each day.  He is so good about connecting with his kids during this time and is a real model to me of relationship.  She's pretty happy with this and eager to have the time with him, and for this we are truly thankful.

So I walked the youngest two to their schools (very near each other) the first day, on my own w/o a buddy to cover "the other child" and his or her classroom....  I left Vivace at his school (familiar and first in line...) and he was fine knowing I might be a little late coming back and might miss walking him into the building w/all the other parents.  I dropped Constance in the mob that filled the parking lot at her new school (and where we parents feel foolish and out of place because there is nowhere to go and nothing to do - we don't go in the building with the kids - no need really and no point), and she was a bit nervous about that, but once she found a friend, she was fine.   I was able to hustle back to the other school and was in time to walk him into his classroom from the line on the playground. Though he didn't need the company, he enjoyed it and the special attention from me, and was glad to pose with a friend from last year for a photo. 

While tired, the kids all seem to enjoy the routines at least to some degree, and are getting used to the schedule and the new kids, teachers, and classes (and for the girls, the new schools).  There are still kinks to work out, esp re: the high school, but all seems to be off to a good start.  Hopefully I too will find some routine this coming week, rather than putting out fires constantly as I did last week, and as a result, we will all be less tired. 

An Alternative Route

There is a lot I could say about my Andante.  One of them is that he has become resourceful.  Another is that I have enjoyed watching him really grow this past year in particular.  Last summer was the summer of baseball and football and swimming (plus all the "school" work I gave him, but we won't be dwelling on that at all for the purposes of this post).  These stretched him - for good.  We found that the regular physical exertion was really good for him - especially that which pushed him a beyond his comfort zone.  It helped him manage his time (and there was still plenty of down time each day), his emotions, and built some muscle.  He liked it all.  And he had fun too, even though it was hard at times.

Then came middle school - overall a fabulous first year.  He liked football (but opted not to do it again this year), he liked school, he excelled, he did geo bee and actually beat his sister often during practices, he joined chorus, tried (and enjoyed) handbells, learned to play cribbage, learned to downhill ski (fish to water - very fun), he was at the top of his class - a new experience, his writing really improved (through a lot of tears and effort - that was tough for him), played baseball, tried out track for a short while, and I could go on.  That barely touched the surface.  He was willing to try new things and take risks and I was very proud, because it was not easy for him and showed great growth in confidence and character. 

And then the summer arrived - with a few disappointments. Most of all, he didn't make the baseball all-star team.  Without going into all the details of how it all came about, he did end up being intimately involved w/the all-star team, becoming their "manager" and helping out w/practices, field care, announcing, the snack shack, and more.  This was of his own initiative, and he talked it over w/the coach.  He made quite an impression on many folks.  We were proud of him.  He did not hide his disappointment (it was pretty deep), but he took his interest in baseball and his desire to be a part of the tournament and made something happen with it.  He became an asset to the team, to the league, and he had a ball working at the fields and helping w/the team. 

My son is becoming a man.  It is a slow process, and he has much still to learn.  But this disappointment proved to be an alternative route to "success" this summer, by an alternative route and a different definition.  He earned respect in a different way, and made a difference.  He also took several swim classes to help him  become a swim teacher and lifeguard in a couple years when he's old enough, and got some volunteer practice in that area - again of his own initiative.  He loved it.  Swimming and baseball and math and geography and history are his current interests.  I look forward to this year and seeing how God uses these to continue to grow him.  What a privilege it is to be part of the process.

Fatigue at Summer's End

Interestingly, this summer seemed shorter than most, and we anticipated that going into it.  It flew by, and was very "full."  Granted,  it was fun.  But we're really not sure where July went, and while August allowed for some relaxation and some catch up both, it went by pretty quickly too.

As a result, we're all basically heading into the fall and the new school year rather tired.  Add to that an overnight in a tent a week ago for Constance and I (and no, I didn't sleep well, mostly b/c I was cold and comforting a young child who was also cold... kind of keeps you awake...), and a hot week (temps in the 80s and muggy), and tons of adjustments, ups and downs, adrenalin, and emotions, and well, there you have it.

We are thankful for a 3-day weekend to rest.  We kind of crashed today (or tried to).  Even the family monopoly was kind of cranky and tired.  We'll continue tomorrow, hopefully in a better frame of mind all the way around.  We may try to have some outdoor fun too, and go for a ride to the Islands to check out the apples and the water and all that.  Who knows.  But we're glad to have yet another day to rest, not just the bare bones weekend.

Here are some photos of our summer fun as we head into school...we'll just have to post on that later.  Reminiscing about our crazy summer must come first as we wallow in our end of summer fatigue.  Birthdays, youth retreat, visits from Papa Bear's sister and family and other friends from years gone by, visits to NH w/more of Papa Bear's family, campouts, visits from my parents, trips to Smuggler's Notch and the Stowe Alpine Slide... so much fun.