So Long Ordinary

We're gearing up for what will be a very, very busy month in July.  Lots of guests, lots of big projects, lots of fun, too, I'm sure!    I'm so sad to hear about the fires happening in my home area of Southern Colorado. Some of my very favorite places to play in the mountains are in or near the fire zone.  So, selfishly, I'm praying for rain!  We are continuing on with homeschool.  It is going very well.  I love Sonlight - I'm sold.  I know the girls are enjoying it too.  Sure makes it easier to work through the summer, when you don't so much mind cracking open your books! Sean's sister's wedding is next week.  Sigh.  We're all just really sad we can't be there.  I never imagined we'd have to miss this special day when it came, but we're hoping to "be there" through Skype.  Missing these important days - graduations, weddings (even just birthdays) - gets harder and harder.  Big sigh. We'll also miss my uncle's wedding...

Madison and Paige learned about the Romans today!

Well, hello June!  Can you believe it?  This year is nearly half over already.  Wow. We've had a really nice weekend...well, sort of.  The girls and I have had colds and to add to my misery, I got some food poisoning on Friday night.  Ugh.  I am ruined for Indonesian food for a while - and I will NEVER AGAIN be eating at the particular restaurant that I know made me sick.  I suppose it was our fault for trying someplace new!  Anyway, I was pretty worthless on Saturday but I'm okay now.   The highlight of our weekend was that we were able to take the girls to a movie on Sunday afternoon - something we rarely get to enjoy as a family since good kid-friendly shows seldom make their way here. What a treat to eat nachos and hot dogs while we watched "Epic."  Cute show. Also, today Sean and I got a wild-haired idea to move our living room to a different room where we could be in air-conditioning and also less spread out as we go about our days...

An update. We started back to school already.  I know.  What?!   No parent wants to deny their children when they are BEGGING to learn.   Really and truly, the girls were begging to start again, driving me nuts bursting into my room every morning to ask if we were starting school yet.  Truth be told, I was anxious to start back as well.  We really do enjoy homeschooling that much.  We have intentions to take a nice, LONG break when we start our furlough in early 2014.  Starting early means we'll have the freedom to do that.  Plus, we're taking Fridays off, which is why I have time to blog today!   So you see, this is a very good thing. Our first week using all Sonlight curriculum was very good.  We've been making minor adjustments to make it work better for our family, but overall I'm very pleased. During our week off,  I was an organizing fool.  And I rearranged a lot of furniture.  This is what I do with time o...

Taking the Final Math Tests! These two happy little girls are really excited.  Today they have completed all their work for 3rd and 1st grades!  They have worked extra hard this week to finish up so that we can have a nice little break before starting up again with grades 2 and 4 in a little over a month.  Paige will also be starting Kindergarten - which you can imagine she is excited about - she's been watching her sisters and wanting to "do school" for a long time. I really love homeschooling our girls.  Long ago, when Brooklyn was a preschooler, I dreamed of homeschooling my kids, but when it came time for Brooklyn's kindergarten, we were in the throes of support raising and it just didn't work out.  Then, we were in language school and I was again not able to homeschool.  But when we started our first year of homechool in Brooklyn's 2nd grade year, I knew I'd found my calling. I'm not sure I ever would have had the guts to homeschool if it hadn...

It's hard to believe we've almost lived in Indonesia for three years.  In some ways, it has become a pretty ordinary life.  Things that once shocked me now barely register a blip on my radar.  I was trying to think of some examples for you but found I had to think a good long time to come up with anything!  That is how normal life here has become - I can't even recognize the things that, for this Colorado Mountain Girl, weren't normal 3 years ago.  You know -  things like taking your shoes off before going into people's houses to have important documents notarized.  Or unloading an airplane engine from the back of a dump truck using nothing but manpower and 2x4's.  Or seeing all manner of objects transported on scooters - refrigerators, chickens, 5-6 people, rebar, lumber, food carts, bicycles, fans, jerry cans full of gasoline, propane tanks, monstrous bags full of rice cakes.  On any given day, I see about 20 different things that I never k...

I knew I wasn't blogging much, but I can't believe I totally missed the month of March!  That's okay, though, because I truly needed the break.  We have been swamped lately so here's a little catch-up: Early in March, Sean and I took a little trip to the capitol city of Jakarta so that he could complete his annual flight physical.  Our girls stayed with our teammates, the Rogers, and had an amazing time.  I really enjoyed a change of pace and Starbucks but overall I came away with the realization that I. Don't. Like. Big. Cities.  And Jakarta is a big, big, big city.  Next time, I think I'll try to remember that I don't like shopping all that much, either.  Little touristy shops on quaint, quiet streets - yes!  Huge, indulgent malls with overwhelming prices and choices....not so much.  We had the Rogers' kids over the following week, so that their parents could have a similar trip to Jakarta.  I never expected the boys and girls to get a...