Where to even begin?! We are quickly wrapping up the school year, and it’s been a year to remember. I still can’t wrap my around the fact that Garett will be a senior in the fall! Where has time gone? I want to soak up the moments and the memories, but sometimes I feel like I’d just like a moment to breathe!
So much has happened in the month of May, and we are just a few days into the month. First, I want to capitalize on the highlights, cause ya’ll might run off if I start with the overwhelming stuff! So blessings and highlights are at the top of my list.
Two of our boys, Chandler and Wyatt, competed in a golf tournament on April 29th. This was the final competition for the golf season, and the meet was held in Virginia. Travis and I were able to go to the tournament as we stayed overnight at the Everett’s house in Virginia. The meet started at noon, with it being a nine-hole round of golf. The golf team had come down on Sunday night as originally the meet was scheduled to start at 10:00am. This was the first meet that I had been able to attend as the golf meets are on Mondays, and I’m always busy teaching art classes on Mondays. I watched Wyatt hit his first golf ball, and I was like “oh dear!”. He was off to a really, really rough start, but he managed to overcome and he was the second place golfer for his team. I was thankful that both Justin Everett and his coach, Chance, were willing to talk to him during the meet to encourage him to “keep at it”. I was proud of him because Wyatt struggles with defeat. Once he messes up or has a bad play, he often can’t overcome to make a comeback, but he did at this meet. The golf team placed third in the meet, so that was exciting for the golf team as this is the first time in a while that the school has had a team. I’m thankful that Chandler and Wyatt had the opportunity to play on the golf team, and they both said that it was kinda nice to be a part of a smaller team for a change. I’m thankful for their coaches that invest in them, help them enjoy the game, and are willing in to give of their time and energy to the golf team. Travis and I left a little early from the golf tournament, so that we could make it back to school for Emma’s piano recital. Wyatt was also supposed to be in the piano recital, but the golf team barely made it back in time. Since Wyatt was dressed in sweat pants and a stinky polo shirt, he escaped having to perform- and he wasn’t crying about it! I’m thankful that Jen was willing to pick up Emma from school to help her pick out a nice dress for the recital, get flowers for her piano teacher, and get Emma back to school for the recital. It was a long and tiring day, but we made it!
Another highlight would be that the Elementary Fine Arts Competition is behind us! Whew! We entered 29 projects into the competition, and four received ribbons. This was my first year teaching art, and we learned a lot at the competition. Personally, I think the categories are way too broad for elementary students. All the painting is lumped together, but if you’ve ever painted, you know that acrylic paint and watercolor paint are not even close to the same! I was a bit disappointed in some of the placings (or lack thereof), but hopefully we will be a little better prepared in the future. Some of our students art underwent quite the transformation before the event. While their art still may not have placed, I know how hard they worked and how much they’ve improved. I also help with the Bible Sword Drill teams for 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grades. We made it into the second round of playoffs with all the teams except third grade. Our fourth grade team placed third in the competition, so that was exciting for them. And while third grade didn’t place, they’ve come a long ways in a short amount of time! When we first started practicing with them, they were using the table of contents to find the books of the Bible. They improved so much over the past few months! It was an exhausting few days, but I did learn a lot. Hopefully, we will be better prepared for future events.
Last weekend was the baseball team’s tournament hosted by our school. It was a bit of a crazy weekend with the tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Everett’s came down for the tournament, and we all pitched in to help with concessions, taking admission, and helping pick up trash. Many hands make light work, and thankfully we had seven kids between us to help the Hardisons. The weather was beautiful for the tournament, and the baseball team made it to the championship game! It was a good game, probably my favorite one to watch all season. The team that they played had beaten our team earlier in the season. It was back and forth throughout the seven innings, but at the end of the game, our team won! The score was 8-7! It was fun to watch the team play in the game as they really did work hard and together to win the game. It was a bit of a long and tiring day, but it was a good day.
Also last week (first week in May), Garett ran for student body president! He worked hard at helping create posters, coming up with ideas, and his brothers helped him come up with slogans for his campaign. Garett was up against some tough competition from two other girls also running for student body president, so he had his work cut out for him. He wrote a speech for his campaign, and I listened to him present it to the student body on Thursday afternoon. He did a good job, and while he didn’t win student body president, he did win Vice President. I asked him if he was disappointed, and he replied that he was a little disappointed, but “Kate is better at speaking to a bunch of people than I am. This way I can just back her up and still be involved. I’m really glad that I got picked for something.” Me too. I am proud of the man he is becoming, and while I often wish he was still a little boy, it’s exciting to see God at work in his life.
An additional highlight in the past two weeks would be God’s protection over Emma as she ran into a tree with her bike. Her face was pretty scraped up on Saturday evening, and she stayed home from church on Sunday morning with a black eye, but God protected her as it could’ve been much worse! Boys get all excited about battle scars liked a scraped up face, but Emma was so nervous about school on Monday as she didn’t want to be the center of attention. Her face is almost completely healed up now, so we are thankful for that. God is good.
Mother’s Day this year was also a highlight for me. We decided to take the day as a family, and do something a bit different as in visiting a different church, and going out to lunch on Mother’s Day. We went to a church in Wilmington, and then ate a nice lunch at a casual place, walked around on the riverwalk in Wilmington, and visited a few thrift stores. It was a very enjoyable day for all of us. The church service was a blessing to me as the pastor talked about moms (pretty typical for Mother’s Day), but he also had all the moms stand while he prayed over the moms. It was a special way to honor the moms, and I appreciated the intentionality of his prayer for moms. The message spoke to me too as the pastor spoke about not letting “your barrenness turn to bitterness”. He was referring to Hannah in First Samuel, and how she held her tongue when Peninnah was provoking her; Hannah waited; Hannah prayed; Hannah worshipped. To be completely honest, I have felt like I’m in a season of “barrenness”- waiting for God to move in a big way. I’m going to move on to touching on a few deep disappointments, so if you only want positive news, just stop reading here.
Waiting on God and waiting for God to work in and through us to orchestrate His perfect plan is a challenge. As many of you know, we applied for the North Carolina Opportunity Scholarship. Due to the number of hours I’ve worked in the past year, we were over the limit for Tier one families by a mere 4K. Early in April, we had been informed via email that there would not be enough funds for all the families in Award Tier Two, and that the families would be selected by a random drawing and notified via email. We prayed through much of April asking God to provide the scholarship funds for our family, and I really felt like that’s what God was going to do. I mean, why wouldn’t He want to help us continue to give our children Christian education, save for college and retirement, pay off bills, etc.? Surely, this is what God would do…but…it was not God’s perfect plan. Two Fridays ago, on April 26th, we received the email from the state notifying us that the scholarship funds had been depleted, and we had not been selected. I was stunned. But why? Roger and I have sacrificed much over the years (and many have helped along the way!) to keep our children in Christian education, and why wouldn’t God make this easier on us?! I cried - a lot. I’m tired and weary, and I just couldn’t understand God’s plan. I’m not saying that I understand it now, but I’m determined to continually give it over to God. Every.single.day. His plan is still perfect, and He didn’t forget where we are or what we need. I talked with my mom last Sunday morning and poured out my woes to her. She reminded me that we aren’t the only ones praying for God to work, and that they were praying too. And I know that many of you are as well. I guess my prayer in all of this would be that I would remain faithful to do whatever it is that God has for our family. If that means homeschooling, online learning or continuing on, then we will be faithful to do what God directs. Roger reminded me that we’ve wondered what God was doing before and God has always shown up right on time. (It’s also a reminder that I shouldn’t gamble. The opportunity scholarship families were selected through a random drawing, and since we weren’t selected, I clearly shouldn’t gamble- I’m not a lucky person! JK!)
A lowlight for Travis would be that two of the chickens have disappeared! Somehow the chicken coop wasn’t quite latched, and two chickens escaped during the night. Travis was pretty upset that two chickens are now missing as he’s been so faithful to feed, water, and clean the coop. It may seem trivial to some, but it wasn’t to Travis. The chickens have given Travis something to pour some energy and attention into, and that has helped some with his school anxiety. He still asks me every single day if I will sign him out of school, but having the chickens has helped him press on to finish out the school year.
There’s been a few other lowlights in the past few weeks, but none of which I’m going to mention currently. We are working to finish well. We are praying diligently for jobs for our children for the summer. Chandler was supposed to be notified on Friday about his job application, but we did not receive any news. So please pray that he will be able to figure out a job.
Last week was teacher appreciation week, and we worked on teacher appreciation gifts. Emma’s love language is giving gifts, and thankfully her teacher never bats an eye at what Emma might bring for a gift! I had my art students work on teacher appreciation letters, and it was fun to read their responses! (We didn’t finish the letters as we had to get our Mother’s Day projects done, but I’m hoping it’ll provide some laughter and love for the teachers). It was nice to have lunch provided twice this past week and three students surprised me with a small gift- it’s always nice to be remembered. We are quickly approaching the end of the school year, and it’s hard to believe that we only have ten school days left.
I received a sweet note in my mailbox from my other friend named Laura this week. It was a good reminder that others are lifting my name before the Lord in prayer. Prayer truly is our greatest resource, and the older I get the more I realize what a special privilege it is to bring all our concerns and praises before our great God. “Heavenly Father help me to lean on you more. Thank you for the blessing of being able to boldly approach your throne.” This song has especially encouraged Roger and I over the past couple of weeks.
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