Clearing Stuff Out

We are planning to do renovations at the church this fall, which means no Sunday School. This week, in preparation for whenever the renos start, we cleared out the Sunday School rooms. It only took one morning, and was faster than we thought to get everything sorted, packed, and hauled out to the van. One of the teachers is going to store it all at her house.

In the process, we found:

• curriculum that had never been used
• other curriculum books that we do use
• still more curriculum that belongs to another ministry
• many pencil crayons
• so many erasers
• a very nice pen
• another assortment of pens
• crayons
• crayon bits
• more pencil crayons
• registration forms from 2014
• several pack of goggly eyes
• a VBS kit that came from who-knows-where and included a VHS tape
• piles of photocopies for worksheets that we no longer use
• seriously, where do all these pencil crayons come from?
• multiple pairs of scissors

In short, I am never listening to teachers again when they insist that they need more materials. What we need is to look closely at what we already have!

I told the elder who does the shopping for me to check if I ever again order pencil crayons, crayons, or erasers.

Anyway, that's done. Fall will be strange without Sunday School, but I'm thankful for the renos because they mean more room for Sunday School. I'm also thankful for a year to rest and revamp our program. It's good, but with the influx of children over the past few years, we need to make sure we're serving them well. We also need to go over all the curriculum, making adjustments and making sure we're ready to start strong next fall.

Quick Recommendations

I don't know how many of the books written by my former Sunday School children I've recommended, but here is the list, in order of publication date:

A Vessel in the King's Hand: A Story of the Filles du Roi by Abigail Froese

A Parched Land by Elizabeth Russell

A War Within by Maddison Ford

Difficult Decisions in Difficult Days by Elizabeth Russell

When All Isn't Right With the World: Letters from Golden West Farm by A. Frose

That's the list, for now. I'm looking forward to more from the children, especially the sequel to A War Within. I think they're all wonderful, so go and read them.

How much rain?

I didn't quite understand how much rain we have had this summer until I looked up the stats. In June, the city shattered a 212 year record, with 269.1mm of rain (10.5 inches); it was the second rainiest month in our history (July, 1901 was a bit wetter). We usually get around 78mm of rain in June, so it was very, very wet. So far we've had around 95mm of rain this month. Our average is 91.7mm for the month, so we are ahead of schedule.

The rain has stopped, at least for now. It's hot, hot, hot outside now. It's supposed to cool down a bit on Sunday and then start going back up to so very hot, maybe with thunder storms. I have the fans going and I'm giving the plants -- especially the tomatoes -- plenty of water. I'm also making sure I drink plenty of water!

The rain was good, for all that it seemed excessive. For the first time in several years, my part of the country is not overwhelmed with forest fires; we're down to 17 active fires (compared to the over 1000 each year for the past few years). The city is not full of smoke for a change; it makes breathing much easier and my throat is not as bothered. Of course, now we're getting hot, dry weather, so the fire risk is there again.

The gardens are doing well, both from insane amounts of rain and now sunshine and heat. My tomatoes are getting many, many flowers. My flowers are thriving, getting taller, and blooming wonderfully.

I am very thankful for the rain that we got this year.

Books, Books, Books

I have started my plan to read all the recommended books, or at least all the books I can get from the public library. I'm a little disappointed at the number that aren't available.

So far, the books have mostly been good, although not without some problems here and there.

There is one I won't recommend because there's a bit that I suspect the parents don't know about. It's rather subtle and may go over the heads of children, but it's there anyway.

I'm also a little hesitant about The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place series by MaryRose Wood. I read book 1, The Mysterious Howling. As I read it, I thought "She was definitely influenced by Lemony Snicket and A Series of Unfortunate Events." After the first book, I looked up the series to see what the rest were about, and many of the reviews and websites mentioned A Series of Unfortunate Events! It's not in the storyline, but the writing style.

The book started out well. Someone found three wild children (they had been raised by wolves) on his estate and claimed them. Penelope comes to be their governess and she tames them just as she would an animal. The taming is pretty quick in many ways, but it makes for a good story. It's only later that I began to be concerned about giving it to children. There is a party, and some of the men talk about hunting the children. The lady of the house also gets very drunk at the party. There are themes that many children aren't ready for. The story ends on a cliffhanger: What is really going on at the house? (That's when I looked it up online so I didn't have to read the rest!)

It's probably okay for some children and a bit much for others. As I said, I'm hesitant, not refusing. It's down for readers aged 8-12.

On the list of fun books that I will definitely recommend (the grade levels are approximate and will change by child; they can also be read alouds for younger students):

• Appleblossom the Possum by Holly Goldberg Sloan (around grades 3-5)

           Young Appleblossom gets stuck in a people house. At first it's fun, but then she misses her family            and outside. Happily, her brother are planning a rescue! It's a fun story and children can learn a               little bit about possums.

• The Wild Robot by Peter Brown (around grades 3-5)

            Roz the robot washes up on the shores of an island inhabited by a plethora of wildlife. She learns             to communicate with them and to enjoy being wild. In the end, she has to head back to                            civilization for repairs, but that it not the end. There are 2 more books in the series, and a picture             book for younger children.

• Sunny the Shark by Remy Lai (around grades 1-3)

            This is a simple story about a shark, some fish friends, and the dangers of pollution.

• Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library; Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics; and Mrs. Pennypickle's Puzzle Quest by Chris Grabenstein (around grades 3-7)

            The title of the first one won me over fairly quickly! The Mr. Lemoncello stories are fun and full             of puzzles and quizzes. There are two more that I haven't read. I enjoyed them more than the                    Mrs. Pennypickle book; while it was an okay story, parts of it felt forced, and I didn't really                    enjoy the ending.

There are still more books that I'm reading, and more waiting for me at the library! It's a very fun way to spend summer afternoons.

June

I missed doing an end-of-June post!

June is the beginning of things quieting down, but it was still somewhat busy!

The start of the month was the last work meeting of the year. It was just the group of Edmonton area facilitators, and I was quick enough to volunteer my house for the meeting! We talked about our professional growth plans and what we had learned that year. We also talked about families, summer plans, and books!

There was a birthday party for a friend and a lunch for the Women's Ministry leaders. There was a lot of laughter and some very good food.

Sunday School ended for the year. We're on break now, and waiting to hear what the plans are for next year. Will there be renovations at the church? Will we take a year off? Will we have time to recharge, make plans, and make Sunday School better?

I had parties for my Sunday School kids. The girls came one week and the boys the next. There were crafts for the girls and park time for the boys. There was pizza, pop, candy, and chips for everyone. There was Lego and games and fun.

The saddest part was a funeral for a friend. We've been going to church together for many years -- his son was in my Junior Church class and is now in university, so at least 15 years. He's had health problems forever, and things got really bad this year. We weren't so close -- I knew his wife better -- but he was funny, smart, and a good guy.

Finally, there was church grad. Another flock of kids are done high school and ready for the next part of life, wherever that takes them.

In all, it was a good month. It rained a lot, I was busy, but had time to rest, and it was a good start to summer. July is still very quiet and I'm enjoying the rest.

Happy News!

Very early Saturday morning, a wee baby girl made her appearance, much to everyone's surprise. 

It's not that she wasn't expected; it's just that she wasn't expected for another 3 1/2 weeks. She definitely wasn't expected the weekend that her parents were moving into their new house!

Evelyn Louisa, weighing in a 5lbs, 2oz, is tiny, sweet, adorable, and completely wonderful. She is also my fourth granddaughter, and I already love her.

She reminded me, when I got the text Saturday morning, that I have been so very, very blessed. Despite not getting to be a mother, I somehow still get to be Grandma Dorothy.

Sometimes I think of the things I gave up by remaining single and I'm sad. Then God reminds me that He's taking care of me and I didn't really give up anything. I just came at it all from a different angle.

I have been given family. Not through marriage and motherhood, but through God's grace and love in putting me in families.

I am so very happy and so very blessed.

Daily Walk

I should be going for a daily walk. Sometimes I do not. It's a combination of mosquitoes and rain, lately, and also that I don't want to go outside some days. I need to keep up with my daily walks, for both mental and physical health. I'm really, really going to get on track with that!

I have five regular walks. 

The pond one is the longest and has the fun of watching birds, both in trees and water. There are ducks, geese, coots, and one day a great egret; there are also a vast number of red-winged blackbirds and many, many songbirds. It also has the most mosquitoes right now. 

The other long walk is along the path above the creek. It has a bench part way along to sit and think, and if I go long enough, I can go down to the part beside the creek. It's also very mosquito filled right now!

The third walk is up to the start of the creek path. It takes me across the creek (and if I want, there's a little "look-out" spot to sit for a bit), and I like to stop and watch the water on both sides as I come and go. 

The fourth walk is through my neighbourhood. I can make it a bit longer or shorter, depending on how I feel that day. It's a shorter walk in general (even the long version), and I take it when I want to stretch but don't want a long walk.

Finally, there is the "I really need to walk but it's probably going to rain soon" walk. It's pretty much across the road, then either down the alley or the side street; either one will easily lead back to my street. It gets me out of the house just enough to feel better and avoid the coming rain.

Today I took the third walk. It's sunny and warm, and it was a nice break from the rain. The creek is high, but lower than it was last week. I watched two ducks rush along until they reached a quite bit near the bank, just before the log and white water. They seemed to be getting up the nerve for the next bit, and then launched themselves into the rapids and shot out past the wild water. I'm pretty sure they were having fun!

Thoughts at Grad

Saturday was Church Grad. It used to be Homeschool Grad because we've always had several homeschool families (more than several now), but for some years now it's been open to every grad, regardless of how they were educated.

There's always a mix of children I know well and children I hardly know. The later are usually families who started when one or more of their children were junior high or older, so I maybe know the younger children but did not spend much time with the older ones. Last year was different; almost the entire group had been in my history class one year. This year, of the 13 grads, I had only taught three of them.

One in particular I had taught for 3 years and tutored on and off for more. I had also been involved with his family when he was in the younger classes and needed more help with focus and behaviour. He's much less trouble now!

I was thinking, as I watched my boy (and the others) get their diplomas, as I listened to their parents talk about them, and we all got a bit teary at points: I have so little time with them. I know that their parents feel the same, but I have even less time. I get them for a year or two in Sunday School (the three years was an anomaly and back when there were fewer students and I could keep some for an extra year); I maybe see them in the homeschool room; I talk with them on Sundays; I may have their families over. Taken altogether, it's a very short amount of time. If I add up the hours, it results in days, maybe weeks in total. 

The questions I was asking myself: What am I doing with that time? Am I doing all I can to help prepare them for adulthood? More importantly, am I doing my best to point them towards Christ?

It merged with my plans for Sunday School going forward. I've always tried to find the best materials, good teachers, everything to make Sunday School enjoyable, yes, but more importantly, to point them towards Christ. Many of my plans and desires for this take time that I don't always have, but that I need to keep finding and using well. 

And absolutely, the biggest responsibility is with the parents. It's their job to teach them, raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, daily point them to the cross and the biggest, most important truths. Still, while my responsibility is much smaller, it's still there. God has given me a place to serve the church family and the church families and the parents have entrusted their children to me. 

This coming year will (I pray) be a planning year, a time to make sure Sunday School is all that it should be. We have so little time with them; my pray is that we will use it wisely and well.

July Plan

Summer is definitely upon us. We have had so much rain, with more to come. On the other hand, the sunny days are getting hotter. My garden is growing nicely. The little pot of perennials from last summer has flowers just starting to bud, the tomatoes and growing well, I've already harvested some green onions, and the other flowers are bright and cheerful.

I don't have a lot of work in the summer. The happy life of a homeschool facilitator means that I'm pretty much off until mid-August or thereabouts (whenever parents start filling out program plans). I just need to check email once in a while just in case. I do a bit of tutoring once a week, and I'm doing some tech work for a friend, but that doesn't take much of my time.

My plan for July is to read, read, and read more. Specifically, I plan to read children/young adult books. I get piles of recommendations from families, and I like to read the books before passing the recommendations on. It's not that I don't trust my families, only that different families have different rules for what they want their children to read. 

Which means I get to do a lot of light, easy reading next month! I've already started, and now I'm just waiting to get more books from the library. I'll also mix in some deeper reading; I have some biographies, theology, and history in my summer pile as well. 

The main goal for July, though, is rest. Reading lighter, simpler books has a double benefit: I can recommend things to families and I get to rest. It's a win-win!

In Which I Try A New Genre

I have a high school student who is a Very Reluctant reader. Tutoring him is a challenge, as not only does he not want to read the books for his course, his dad agrees that he doesn't have to read all the books. We ran into trouble when the assignment was directly from To Kill a Mockingbird and he had not (and did not want to) read it.

He had to read something. We couldn't do all the assignments from Tom Sawyer (which I'm pretty sure he read at least most of).

He finally agreed to read Leviathan by Scott Westfeld. It's a steampunk novel, and WWI alternate history, and his parents had given it to him for Christmas, and he had immediately tossed it on a shelf and ignored it until recently. And, lo and behold, he enjoyed it. I mean, really enjoyed it. Enough that his parents got him the sequels and he's reading them.

One of his favourite things is that the book describes how things work. One side has been building mechanical beasts and means of travel, and the other has been playing with biology and coming up with their own contraptions and animals. The book talks a lot about how they work, more than just "it flies because it does". My student is mechanically inclined and that appealed to him.

So.... I read the book. It was not a bad story. The characters are interesting, the story moves fairly quickly, and it wasn't too predictable. The steampunk bits were just like any fantasy book, so not that strange for anyone who has read a lot of fantasy (raises hand). I probably won't read the sequels, but that's nothing about the story and more about being the wrong age with the wrong interests. I like my historical fiction a bit more realistic.

I'd definitely recommend it for teen boys who like reading about adventure, war, close escapes, and mechanics and the like. 

On Slowing Down a Bit

Yesterday I had my Sunday School boys over. There were 5 boys and the young man who helps in my class. It was noisy (boys are loud), chaotic, and fun. They devoured pizza, chips, and junk food. They played with Lego and a remote controlled truck. We had planned to go to the park, but there was a storm moving in, so we decided against that. We discussed which of the Torchlighter videos to watch later that evening, but put it aside until a bit later. I prefer movies as a "wind down" time.

Much to my joy, the storm blew over with little rain and the sky started to clear up. They boys were playing happily. Some of them were building a castle and dungeon out of Lego and the rest were playing a board game. I was hesitant to disrupt the peace, but I also didn't know how long it would last, so I finally gave them the option: stay, or head out to the park. The boys voted 4-1 to go to the park, so we headed out. The park is a short walk away; the boys alternated between running ahead and having pinecone fights.

At the park, they grabbed the basketball and all the males headed over to the court. I stayed at a picnic table (happily sheltered so not wet from the rain), taking care of the other sports equipment they had brought, along with water bottles, jackets, and whatever else got tossed my way.

And for half an hour, I just sat. I watched the boys play, I watched the children on the playground, I listened to the sounds of the park. I just sat and enjoyed life. Officially, I was taking care of the boys and keeping an eye on the stuff. Really, I was just enjoying getting to stop and rest.

I'm trying to do that this summer: Slow down, stop working, stop thinking about all the things, enjoy the moment, let the peace settle over me. I've been walking down to the creek to stand and watch the water. I've been sitting in front of the balcony window and watching the rain pound down and the wind whip the trees. I've been standing by the pond, watching the waterfowl and listening to the birds in the trees. I've been getting coffee and sitting outside in open areas and reading or people watching. I've been letting my mind slow down and I've been relaxing.

There are so projects that I could focus on, but I've been remembering that it's okay to slow down, to stop for a while, to just let things go. Summer is my quiet time, and I'm allowed to enjoy the peace and not think about all the things I could do. There is a time to stop and watch the rain, listen to the birds, enjoy coffee, and then be ready for the next task.

This summer is about slowing down.

The Last Sunday

Yesterday was the last Sunday School for the year. It was a wild year; we had some illnesses go through in February, making things more complicated. Then a wee, sweet, very early baby came in March, leaving us short two teachers as his parents were more focused on him than on the students (go figure!). But we all survived, 33 weeks of teaching, and now we get a break!

This year I taught my kids theology, focusing on Bibliology and Theology Proper, with some Christology and Pneumatology thrown in. We covered everything I could fit into the time we had and looked up piles of Scripture references. We also had 2 missionary weeks, taught by my helpers.

The kids did a good job on their memory work this year. They got a prize for every 10 verses, for a potential total of 3 prizes. Most of my class received at least one prize, and 9/15 received all 3 (and to be fair, 2 of them stopped attending part way through the year, so really it's 9/13). I was very pleased with them.

The last week is always more relaxed. Some teachers do a short lesson, most of us do review or trivia, and everyone has snacks. 

My class of 11 and 12 year olds had some excellent cupcakes and some acceptable juice boxes. There was a rousing game of Bible trivia, followed by ocean trivia because we had time and it was the first box I grabbed. The Bible trivia winners had first choice of a pile of treats; for ocean trivia, answering a question correctly and first meant I threw a candy at you. I did eventually make most of the class stop answering so the quieter students had a chance for prizes! We ended with me throwing the remaining candy at them and the wild scramble. According to one student, that was his favourite part, completely overshadowing the 32 hours and 45 minutes of Sunday School leading up to it!

And now it's summer, and we all get a break. I'm resting for three weeks, and then I'll start to think about next year.

I Might Be Old...

Yesterday the Sunday School girls were over for an end-of-year party. There were crafts to make, pizza and junk food to eat, movies to watch, and things to discuss.

At one point we were talking about books we've read recently. I told them that I'd just finished a autobiography, but they probably wouldn't know the person. It was about Alex Trebek. They didn't know who he was, no problem, but it turns out that they'd never heard of Jeopardy!

They knew the theme song, given that I sing it to them frequently during quizzes and trivia time; in fact, they said that everyone knows that. They had just never heard of the show.

When I was younger, I'm pretty sure everyone had at least hear of Jeopardy! I showed them a short clip of final Jeopardy (teen tournament), but they did not recognize it.

One day I'm going to make them watch a full episode, but an older one with Alex Trebek.

Cooking in Summer

Summer is rapidly approaching, unless that week of very hot was it; in that case, fall is rapidly approaching! I think, though, that we'll get more summer soon enough.

I don't like cooking much in summer because my apartment gets hot quickly and cools off slowly, and turning the oven on is not helpful. I have the stovetop, microwave, toaster oven, and air fryer to help (the air fryer is new; it was a Christmas present). Still, I prefer not cooking much.

The normal plan is to have things cooked and ready to be heated up or added to salads or something simple like that. 

The challenge right now is that the freezer is full. Some of it is for the kids (frozen juice boxes and treats for Sunday School and parties; as a side note, the fridge has a case of pop for the kids as well). Some of it is about 20 cups of rhubarb, several small bags of partly cooked potatoes (to be spiced and thrown in the air fryer), and some of it is just stuff: bread, meat, large bags of frozen fruit, general stuff that can be found in the freezer. Also, I don't have a deep freeze in my apartment, just the fridge freezer.

So cooking ahead, beyond what is already done and in the freezer, is out for now. 

On the other hand, it's still cool enough to cook regularly. Today I made a stir fry for this week's lunches. It was beautiful: yellow bell peppers, orange carrots, red onion, green celery and tomatillos, and white mushrooms and chicken. I've been trying to eat vegetables regularly and I love the variety of taste and colour. Pretty food makes eating even more enjoyable.

For summer....well, we'll see. I tend to rely on salads, anything that can be cooked in the toaster over or air fryer (the benefit of living alone is that I only need to cook one serving at a time), and maybe more stir frys. Basically, easy and not too much extra heat in the apartment. 

Another Young Teacher

Another one of my former students has joined the ranks of Sunday School teachers. Officially, he's a helper as he was unsure about teaching this year. I spent the summer trying to recruit him (while the music leader was also trying to recruit him); I was sure, from teaching him, that he had the makings of a good teacher. He learns well, thinks well, and communicates well.

For most of the year, he's been taking care of the attendance chart, keeping score during quizzes, helping children find Scripture passages, and once or twice getting things started when I was called away to deal with various Sunday School issues.

In April, I brought up the final missionary lesson of the year. I gave him and the other helper the option of teaching it if they wanted to; otherwise, I would make it a homework lesson. My young helper said that he wanted to teach, and I was very pleased.

He taught this past Sunday and did an excellent job. He was clear, engaging, and linked ideas from the life of Adoniram Judson to what we've been studying. With more practice, he's going to be an excellent teacher.

That gives me 4 young men and 2 young ladies who were in my Sunday School class once upon a time and who are now involved in teaching Sunday School. I'm quite pleased that the next generation is stepping up. 

May

There were so many things I wanted to do in May, and instead I was tired and didn't accomplish as much. I did finish work reports and my professional growth plan and emails and all things work related, so that's nice.

The best part of May was one lovely Saturday when one of my former Sunday School students got married! It was a wonderful wedding and the bride was radiant. 

We finished women's ministry near the end of May. We're looking at doing renovations at the church, so there won't be regular Wednesday ministry next year (the renos are to the classroom area to add more room for students, but that means no childcare for the first part at least). It works nicely so we can all get a break. The leaders are planning some events -- maybe our regular fall/Christmas/spring teas. They will also be encouraging other people to do some practical sessions in baking, gardening, whatever they like. It will an interesting year.

The very end of the month was more painful. One of the men at the church, one who has been there for at least 15 years, passed away yesterday. He has had health issues for as long as I've known him, but things pretty much came to a head this spring. I'm happy for him; he's free from pain and illness, and he's with the Lord. I'm sad for the rest of us, and especially his wife and son.

So it was a mix of a month. 

Summer Already?

Spring seemed to take forever to get here. April was nice, then snowy, then nice, then snowy... Winter just kept coming back. Spring finally came at the end of April, but it still felt like forever before the leaves were out and the grass was green.

Now here we are, the end of May, and it's suddenly summer. The weather report keeps promising thunder storms this week, but none have made an appearance. Instead, it just keeps getting hotter and hotter. It feels more like July than May.

I don't enjoy +30 any more than I enjoy -30!

On the other hand, the trees are in leaf and the one by my building is in full bloom of beautiful pink flowers. My plants are growing. The birds are singing loudly. It seemed like almost overnight everything started to grow.

It won't be "summer" hot for long; the heat is set to drop a lot next week. Maybe the rain will finally come. I'll enjoy that.

Spring Fever

Spring fever has struck Sunday School!

The little ones have been excessively chatty. One wee girl who hadn't said a word to her teacher all year has suddenly found her voice and become rather voracious.

Many of them have become more forgetful and can't remember the lesson by the end of the hour. This is probably in part because of the constant interruptions from children who have something very important (and irrelevant) to say.

One young student took up whistling during the lesson. 

Even the older kids are affected. They seem to be forgetting how to think. We read a verse, ask them about the verse, and they have either forgotten what they just read or heard, give an answer that has nothing to do with the verse, or just read random words from the verse.

We spent the entire hour talking about glorifying God, and they took turns reading a verse (or a couple verses) followed by the question "How do we glorify God in this verse?" Many students answered some version of "worship Him" regardless of what the verse said and had to be prompted to look at the verse.

The 12th student read 1 Peter 4:10-11: "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

When asked how we glorify God in this passage, she did not say "worship Him". No, she tried "the manifold grace".

Three more weeks until we break for the summer. We can do this!

Garden Time!

It is spring, and getting warmer, and time to garden!

My garden is a row of planters on my balcony. It's smaller this year, although that may change if I get more soil for the other boxes (and the plants for them as well). 

I have a small pot of perennials. I grew them last year and left that lot to see if they would return this year. There are several seedlings that are growing well, so that answers that question.

Next is a box of Cosmos plants, grown from seed. They sprouted quickly and are growing well; I've already thinned them once. They likely won't bloom until August.

I have a long planter that I sowed with Pink Queen Spider Flowers that I got at a bridal shower last summer. They took longer than normal to sprout and I was about to give up and buy some plants when some seedlings appeared. Only I'm not sure if these are the seeds I planted (they're not all in the nice row I tried to plant) or some of the perennials from last summer. I mixed some of the old soil with the new, so you never know. Time will tell what's growing there.

The end of the row has a round bowl of tomato plants. They are also coming along nicely and just getting their second leaves. I'll have to thin them when they get a bit bigger.

Today I was shopping and purchased a small pot of purple Balloon flowers. They're pretty and already blooming. I like having some colour while I wait for the others to grow! Also, they're perennials, so they should keep coming back.

I quite like my little garden.

An Update

 Hello world (or as much of it as reads this)....

Why yes, I am still around and writing sometimes! I've just come out of my Very Busy time and spent some time catching up on things that were neglected over the past couple months. And it's finally time to get back to blogging again!

March was mostly meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Such is the life of a homeschool facilitator in the spring. I also started more work for a friend. She does websites and marketing stuff, and I'm learning to run reports for her. It's new and interesting work. It's also fun to tell people that I do tech work now, because no one sees me as a computer person!

The only other event was a baby shower for a wee bit of adorableness who appeared at the beginning on February. She's a sweet, lovely little thing, and growing rapidly. 

March also brought the very early arrival of another sweet baby. He's spent his life in the hospital, but is getting stronger and better and we're all pleased with how he's doing.

April was mostly meetings, meetings, and more meetings! And then, on May 1st, the meetings ended. April was also spring - then winter - then spring - then winter.... But now it's nice out, definitely spring, starting to be summer. 

There were two events in April: baptisms at the church, and a bridal shower for one of my former Sunday School students. I think I'm getting old; the children are all getting married!

Oh -- and one of my former students published a book in April! Miss A. Frose, When All Isn't Right in the World: Letters from Golden West Farm. While it is technically fiction, the stories are based on the real-life adventures of her family. You should go read it.

That's pretty much it. May is moving along rapidly. Every week I tell myself that I'm ready to get back on summer schedule, but there's always something that comes up. It's good though, and I'm starting to feel rested and ready to deal with all the summer stuff (starting in June).