The ups and downs

Our journey continues to take our family on a lot of ups and downs. We left the children's home in May, not long after our boys went to their adoptive home. We decided to focus on preaching school, raising our own children, and concentrating on their education to the best of our ability. That hasn't come without it's own challenges, but at least I'm giving my children the best I have to offer.

I am so thankful for the opportunities that our school has to offer because I am growing in so many ways! I have learned that I have an ability to speak in public. I joined my fellow preaching student wives in helping to put on Ladies' Day at Karns church of Christ. I had volunteered to be one of the speakers, and though my lesson was only 15 minutes long, I had a message to share about teaching our children to be modest. I really enjoyed preparing my lesson, and although I was nervous, speaking in front of 100+ people wasn't as frightening as I would have thought. I remember, when I was younger, my mom tried to encourage me to be a better speaker. My mom was/is a wonderful speaker, and I was terribly shy. I never thought I would be able to do it, but I did, and I did it well! And I like speaking! I have a lot to say...about lessons from the Bible, parenting, teaching...and I can't wait for my next opportunity.

Look for my Ladies' Day lesson here soon.

Wow, what a journey!

We have been on a roller-coaster of a ride! Paul and I became houseprents/foster parents in July 2009 and in August Paul started at the East Tennessee School of Preaching and Missions. Along with classes for Paul and me, Daniel (our 13 year old) took a class fall quarter--1 & 2 Timothy and Titus. He got an 89 and was the top person in the class of 13 students (all adults) in memory work each week. He actually got a perfect score on memory work until the last week, and impressed the instructors with his papers and sermon outline. Very proud! Paul took a full load fall quarter and did very well, but cut back a little for winter and spring quarters. Students normally carry a load of 32 credit hours each quarter. At the end of school they will have logged more hours than a normal 4-year degree, in just two years! Paul will probably stretch his out to 2 1/2 to 3 years because of our work with the foster children at the Tennessee Children's Home. We are really enjoying school!

Life with the foster kids, though, is stressfull. We have 4 boys ages 2, 8, 9, and 12. They are all "special needs" and they need a lot of structure and discipline. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to discipline according to what the Bible teaches, so it makes our job much more difficult. But we are happy that we have found an adoptive home for them and they will be transitioning to their new home within the month.

We continue to homeschool our own three kids while managing all this. Calais is in 3rd grade, Ashley has moved up to 7th grade, and Daniel is in 8th grade. We would like to accelerate Calais to 4th, but she doesn't like multiplication! Funny, I love math, but none of my kids do! Paul is the best math teacher, though. I only wish he had more time to teach them.

I wonder what the rest of the year holds for this roller-coaster ride!