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We have five weeks left in the school year, and the days are flying by! Every year after spring break time seems to pick up speed as we wrap up the school year. Spring sports, awards banquet, spring music recitals, competitions, and warmer weather are all indicators that the end of the school year is right around the corner.
We enjoyed a few days of warmer weather on spring break, but then the weather turned quite cool. However, we did get down to the beach one of the days on spring break to catch a few rays of sunshine. The boys enjoyed several rounds of golf during spring break, and golfing has become one of their favorite activities (it’s also fairly cheap if you’re a minor, so they need to golf while they’re young!). I didn’t get a whole lot done on my to-do list, but we did enjoy time together as a family and that’s important.
Last weekend, (4/12) we had our friends the Everett’s down for a few days. Garett and Savannah attended the Junior/Senior banquet. I think they had a good time, but it was a lot of work, money and effort for an event that lasted less than two hours! That was also a crazy Friday as Garett was dismissed from school early due to the banquet, Travis had soccer practice for his rec team, and trying to get everyone where they needed to be on time- but it all came together. We also enjoyed strawberry picking while the Everett’s were here, and a round of golf, and lots of food!
Last week (April 15-19) was a bit crazy. We had art classes as normal on Monday, but then found out that the art room would be used for the high school competition later in the week. I do not mind sharing the space at all, but we had 29 art projects in the room that were in the final stages of preparing to enter for the elementary students next week (April 22)! My art assistant, Kaycee, has been great this year, and she helps with whatever wild schemes I dream up. We arranged to move all the elementary art over to the science lab to set it up there for the next few days while we finished up the paperwork and helped a few students with their final details. We did art as normal last Tuesday, and then spent the afternoon cleaning, re-arranging, and moving things over to the other building. I spent a lot of time on Wednesday and Friday helping students complete their projects for the art competition. I had asked for the art projects to be brought back right after spring break, and while I got a lot of them back, some of them needed some “fine tuning”. I am amazed a how little parental support some of my students received, and it makes me a little sad. But I’m thankful for teachers who are willing to let me take their students to receive some direction to help their art projects. All in all, the elementary art did come together, and it was all dropped off for competition on Monday morning! Praise the Lord! Now, we are just waiting to see how the students placed!
Our school hosted a high school competition last week (Wednesday-Friday), and Garett and Chandler were in a couple of events. The choir sang on Wednesday, but Chandler spent all of Tuesday night throwing up as in practically every couple of hours. On Wednesday morning, he had a low grade fever and was still throwing up. I texted his choir teacher and said that unless Chandler was desperately needed, he would be staying home! So Chandler stayed at home while the rest of us went to school. I’m not a huge fan of this competition because I feel like a lot of kids spend their time sitting around and not cheering on their classmates, but rather just wasting time (I hate wasting time!). Garett was in choir on Wednesday and the Ensemble. He didn’t need to be at school until around noon, but since I go into school at 7:30am, he had to come too. But Garett is a pretty good sport most of the time, so he helped with a few odd things here and there, and worked on some school work. The choir sang in the afternoon on Wednesday and the ensemble shortly afterwards. We actually got to come home a little earlier than normal so that was a pleasant treat! Chandler wasn’t feeling 100% on Thursday, but he was healthy enough to go. Wyatt had a migraine though so he stayed at home! Thankfully, Wyatt is too young to be in the competition, so he didn’t miss much! Garett sang in a mixed quartet on Thursday, and while he struggles to hold his part, I’m thankful that he is always willing to try. He will smile and give it his very best. After the quartet, Garett had to hustle out to the soccer field for the soccer kick shoot out. We did terrible in that event (usually how it goes when no practice is involved!). It was a warm afternoon, so we were all happy to go home with that event was over.
Friday brought about the final day of competition for the high school events, and Wyatt still wasn’t feeling great. Travis offered to stay home to take care of Wyatt and the dog. Wyatt and Sam had been just fine the day before, but Travis was an eager beaver to volunteer to stay home. Roger and I think highly of education, but with the competition going on, the junior high classes had been having a lot of substitute teachers and irregular schedules, which Travis does not handle well. We decided to let him stay home and you’d have thought we had given him the moon! It’s hard on me to have him ask me every single day if I will sign him out of school, does he have to go, or will I pick him up early. For whatever reason, God has allowed Travis to have another challenging school year. I surely don’t know the reasons, and I tell Travis often that I don’t know what God is doing, but I know that He does care about each one of us. We pray hard and we pray often that God will provide Travis with one special friend. Having the chickens to take care of and Sam has helped some, but Travis still could use a friend at school.
Anyways, back to the competition at school. On Thursday night, Chandler asked me if Eli could stay overnight at our house. Normally, we don’t have people over during the school week, but since this week has been a little different, I agreed. I can’t remember the last time Chandler asked if someone could sleep over, but it was a fun afternoon. The boys tromped around in the woods, went fishing, played basketball, watched a movie and ate a lot of supper! Roger didn’t get home from work til after 9:00pm due to a fire, and he didn’t even notice that we had an extra boy in the living room! I think the boys had a good time, and I was thankful that it worked out on the spur of the moment idea.
Chandler competed in the mile run on Friday morning. I was able to watch him compete, so I was thankful for that. Chandler ran his mile about nine seconds faster than last year. Last year he placed first, and this year he placed fourth. The kid that won the mile won by a long shot! Chandler didn’t seem terribly disappointed as he was just happy that he had ran faster than the previous year. It meant that Chandler did not place in any of the events that he competed in, but he said that next year he’d like to participate in a few more events. As for all the teachers, we are glad that week is behind us!
Wyatt’s 15th birthday was on Saturday (April 20th). I can’t believe my smack-dab-in-the-middle-child is 15!!! Time is flying by! He was feeling a little better on Saturday and asked if Roger would take him golfing for his birthday. We had lunch together at a Mexican restaurant early in the afternoon, and then Roger took all the boys golfing. I think they had a good time, but Wyatt was exhausted when he came home. He showered and laid right down on the couch. I don’t remember the last time he was this sick for this long with just a constant low grade fever and headache (sounds like Covid). He went right to bed on his birthday, so we will have to celebrate with ice cream cake another time.
It’s always nice when someone makes a meal or invites us over for dinner, and Jen invited us all over to her house on Sunday afternoon. Our church was hosting a singing group from a college, so all the Sunday school classes were combined. We had just sat down, and the students were singing their first song, when Wyatt broke down. I asked him what was the matter, and he replied that his head was hurting so badly and the music was making it worse. So Wyatt and I slipped out, and I took him to Jen’s house. He crawled right into bed, and I went back to church for the worship service. After church, we all went to Jen’s for lunch, and Wyatt still was looking pale. He didn’t eat much (a true sign to every mama of teenagers that something is not right), and when we went home in the afternoon, he showered and laid back down on the couch. Our family had already made arrangements to go over to the Hardison’s house for supper and fellowship, so Wyatt stayed home. Wyatt started to make a change for the better on Sunday afternoon, but we decided to have him stay home anyways- no one else wants to be sick! We had a good time at the Harrison’s, even though it was raining. They also have a fairly young pup, so Sam had a great time getting all dirty out in the yard with Marley the pup! We enjoyed conversations, food and fellowship, and we are thankful for friendships.
Monday morning was the morning of the big event for the elementary art competition. I get nervous that I’ll have accidentally missed a direction or did a step wrong. The last thing I want is for any of our art to be disqualified! All the art had to be dropped off at ten am, so I spent the morning checking and re-checking the directions, the paperwork, and having students sign the paperwork. I gave a huge sigh of relief when it was all safely delivered!
On Tuesday, Kaycee and I had to re-arrange our normal art schedules. Since the competition this week is for 3rd-6th grade, we had art classes for kindergarten, 1st and 2nd grades. I would’ve loved to have had art with everyone, but there are not enough hours in the day! I decided that kindergarten, first and second grades needed the art specials more as they won’t be getting out of school for the competition. I don’t always do it perfectly, but I do work hard to try to make sure that the teachers get their specials for their classes. 30 minutes of planning can and will make a big difference to a teacher! Having taught in the classroom, I know how valuable those planning periods are, so I try to make it happen. Since the art room was being used, we had art classes in the back foyer of one of our buildings. It’s a fairly big space, but it’s also a walk-through area for students going out to recess, lunch, bathrooms, etc. It was a crazy Tuesday, but by the grace of God, we made it through! I am also very thankful that we don’t have to do it like that every week!
Tomorrow will be a big day for our elementary students as they compete in many events. I’ve been working with our Bible Sword Drill teams, and I’m ready to have this behind us as well. I certainly don’t mind helping out with these students, and I’m thankful for the opportunity. But between art, Bible Sword drill and my own kids, I am thankful that this competition will be over this week! We have a 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade team for Bible Sword drill. My friend, Jennifer, and I have been working with the students for several weeks trying to prepare them for this competition. The younger grades get 10 seconds to find the Bible reference and the older grades get 7 seconds! That’s not much time when you’re trying to find a reference in 66 books of the Bible! However, they’ve worked hard, and we are praying that all that hard work will come to fruition tomorrow.
It’s hard to believe, but in four weeks from Friday, school will be over for another year! The boys have been busy trying to get jobs lined up for the summer. Garett’s boss from last summer said that he might have some work for Garett, so please pray that will open up for Garett again. Chandler applied for an internship job through a local community college. He had to complete a hefty online interview and then this past week, he was called for a face-to-face interview. I took him to his interview on Tuesday, and they said that they would notified the students that would be hired by May 6th. This would be a fantastic opportunity for Chandler as it’s an internship with some class time as well as hands-on learning, and he would be paid. However, they’re only accepting 12 applicants, and there were about 45 that had face-to-face interviews. But we will pray and see what God does.
In closing, I really should go back to writing on the blog once a week! So much happens in two weeks that it’s hard to keep up with all the details! Garett had a bit of a rough week last week, and we spent much time in prayer and talking with him. If he’s brought to your mind, please pray for him. I’m thankful that God loves our children so very, very much. Garett will also be running for Student Body President next week, so I know he’d appreciate your prayers for that. He is very excited about the opportunity, but also a little nervous. I’m excited to see him campaign. :)
Chandler and Wyatt will compete in their final golf tournament on Monday, and I am trying to work out the details to go and watch them play. Garett’s baseball season is wrapping up next weekend (first weekend in May), and Travis will start his soccer games with a game on May 10th. He’s excited about playing, and we are hoping that perhaps God will also provide a friend on his team.
God is good. We are waiting on God for some answers regarding schooling for our children next fall. It’s always hard to step out in faith, but God is always faithful. For whatever reason, God gave us several children that really do struggle with school. (I’m thankful that Jen helps out with tutoring Travis and Garett in some of their subjects!!) This doesn’t mean that these children are not smart, responsible, and respectful, but it does mean that as their mama, I have to stay on top of things a little more than with some of our other children. It can be tiring, exhausting and overwhelming, but I’m so thankful for the precious gift of each of our children. Christ’s mercy is more than I can imagine, and when I am overwhelmed, His mercy is more…
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