Julie here again...

Miranda has been busy with school and other stuff, so I guess it is me writing again...

Mark was able to fly home for the weekend on a buddy pass. (Thank you, Peggy) We picked him up about 7 pm on Thursday and he was here until today about 3 pm.

It was a crazy weekend though, because I had signed up to go on a women's retreat before he took the job. He encouraged me to still go though, so I was gone from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon. It was really encouraging to be with 35 other homeschooling women who have the same ups and downs, joys and fears as I do. I came back appreciating even more the Godly man that I married, my dear children and being able to teach them at home.

Oh, about the games we were going to play last week. We had packed one box of games to go to Illinois and one to stay with us to go directly to Leo. Well, apparently they both went to Illinois, because we searched and searched and could only find one deck of cards and one dice. (Or is it die?) Anyway, Rachel, Luke and I knew how to play euchre, so we convinced Miranda that she had to learn so we could play. Then we played spoons so that Reed could play with us also!

We started co-op last Thursday too. Miranda is in a Financial Peace class for teens and a quilting class. Rachel is in Courtroom Drama (Mock Trial of The Case of the Big Bad Wolf that I am teaching.) and Klutz Klass, which is crafts from the Klutz company. Luke is in Financial Peace Jr. and a gym class, and Reed is in Dangerous Boys (boy activities) and Where in the World are We? which is a country study with crafts and snacks from each country.

It was bittersweet to be there again. It was great to see our friends again, but hard not knowing how long we'll still get to go. It is just hard to live in two places.

Oh, about the courtroom drama class. I found this game online connected to scholastic.com Here is the link: http://www.makeyourcasegame.com/ It is a simulated courtroom where the student gets to pick the questions and help determine the outcome of the trial. You can also object and the judge has to sustain or overrule your objections. It is great to help show the steps in the trial and how it works. I had fun with it too!

Several other things totally unrelated:

John Brewer fell off of their roof last week and suffered a concussion and some broken ribs. We are thankful that it wasn't more serious or even fatal. He was in the hospital for several days and the doctors thought that he had cracked several vertebrae, but they think now that he has some degeneration in his spine instead. He does have recovery ahead of him, but he is home. This is very difficult for John and Mary, because Mary hasn't been working because of her own back injury and pain. Please pray for them. We love them both so much. They have become so special to us.

We sold our pool to a family with six children in our co-op. It was a couple of years old, and we thought it would be wise to hopefully get another one when we finally get settled instead of moving it. They were really excited to get it, so that was pretty neat.

We also have someone coming on Wednesday to buy our piano. The girls haven't been taking lessons here for the past year, and Mark said we aren't moving it again. He said if they decide to take lessons up there, we'll get a different one. It is hard to part with it, because I love it and still think it is just beautiful, but it really is a beast to move. I'm sure James probably won't be sad that he doesn't have to help move it again!!

At the retreat, one of the women heard me sharing about hoping to find buddy passes so that Mark could come down on weekends, and she offered that we could have all eight of their family's because they don't use them. That is so wonderful. I couldn't even express to her how much it means to us.

I hope hope hope that it doesn't take longer than eight buddy passes to get this house sold and get us moved...