New Homeschool Challenges

Each year our homeschooling is different from all the years before in one way or another. This year we are in for two big changes. I have enrolled Aaron and Sydni in a co-op class for Chemistry. I've decided that since I hate science, I shouldn't have to teach it anymore. I also want them to have the co-op experience. My good friend is teaching the class, which is a bonus.

Also, Aaron is starting college in two weeks. He has enrolled for dual-credit classes at Eastfield and will be taking Economics and History. He will be out of the house much more this year than normal, and I will miss him. He will still be home for English, Algebra 2, and Spanish.

Sydni is unable to start dual-credit classes this year. While she's a junior, she is just turning 15 on Tuesday, so she can't enroll until she is 16. She is bummed because she has always done what Aaron has done, and now she has to wait.

Special Friends

Well, for someone who doesn't want their children to date until their close to marrying age (whatever age that is), what do you do when your daughter likes someone who likes her back? They are growing closer together, yet we don't want her dating. They're not ready for marriage. They're still in high school! They consider each other very good friends. Everyone in their circle of friends sort of considers them "a couple".

We've struggled with this, and we don't like it. We like "him" a lot, but what about no dating? We don't want her to refer to him as her "boyfriend" either because of all that implies. So, in trying to decide what to call them, we decided on "special friends". Of course Sydni thinks that's "retarded". Whatever. We are constantly being forced to define limits on what is acceptable and what is not.

We don't want her riding in the car with him, as he is only allowed to take one other person right now. We don't want them holding hands, (which has just been redefined as no sitting so close that their arms touch, no linking arms), no wandering away from the group, no going anywhere without a group, etc.

What a tough job it is to be a parent. We must protect them and yet not exasperate them. Love them and yet enforce limits that may make them unhappy.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Wow! I had a really great birthday yesterday. Despite the fact that really good friends are leaving the church to find rest, I did get to spend practically the whole day with them, which was really good. The whole church even sang happy birthday to me during worship (they weren't worshipping me; they were interrupting worship). I normally can't stand being the center of attention during the happy birthday song, because I can generally feel myself becoming more and more warm (red) in the face. This time I decided to enjoy it because I realized I would have been disappointed if no one had said anything. It was over pretty fast, and I really felt loved by everyone there. That's a really good feeling to have on your birthday.

Next we went to the pastor's house for a quick pot luck. It turned out to be a nice time to sit and talk with people. We really need to do more things like that as a church. I think if we would do more social things with people outside of church, we would feel more connected with each other. I know the last thing people need is more on their calendar, but I really think this is an important thing to add. For everyone.

After the pot luck, everyone headed over to the airplane hangar in Caddo Mills to watch 7 people skydive. It was 4 1/2 hours of sitting in the heat. It should have been the last thing anyone would want to do on her birthday. I really enjoyed it. I think it's because I had the opportunity to just sit and visit with people. It was hard at first because the kids were very hot, and we brought nothing. No water, food, blankets, chairs, NOTHING! We weren't very prepared. There was a little girl whose family must run the place because she did her fair share of running the place too. She hooked me up with some water for the kids, and we found some chairs. We were in the hangar, which is sort of like a giant garage with the door open. Luckily we were in the shade in there. We only really had to go into the sun when we wanted to watch the people land. It was pretty amazing. I've never seen anything like that. I still would NEVER want to do it. No Siree Bob!

I think sometimes it's good for the kids to be so incredibly bored that they have to make their own fun. They don't often have those opportunities that provide such creativity with the tv, video games, etc. Savanna found a dice and was rolling it then moving her water bottle cap however many jumps the dice said. It was cute. Then she found a small piece of plastic (like part of a straw wrapper, but plastic) and would let it fly then stomp on it to stop it from getting away from her. This was making her laugh out loud, which was quite amusing for me.

I imagine it was quite overwhelming for the skydive people to have that many people descend on their little place just to watch and hang out. There were 48 people watching the 7 people skydiving. Too bad we didn't know we could have just brought a picnic out there. Next time we will definitely plan better. Some people are talking about a "next time" really soon. There were only 3 families in our church that didn't make it out. Maybe "next time".

After we had watched the last of the crazy people (oops! I mean jumpers) jump and land safely, I don't think anyone was disappointed that it was time to go home. We were hot, hungry, tired, and some of us had a birthday party to get to at our mother-in-law's house.

She made all my favorite foods. She had recorded the Olympic trials, so we ate and watched that while sitting on comfortable furniture in the air conditioning with all the kids (until I had to take Austin to Aunt Jill's to spend the night).

In years past (most likely during my emotional teenage years) I could always count on crying for some unknown reason on my birthday. Thinking back it was probably for too-high expectations. Since I ended up crying on my birthday for so many years in a row, I think I am now conditioned to wake up and think, "I wonder if I'll cry today." I did ask myself that question yesterday, and I did take steps to prevent tears when I would think about our friends leaving. I had to blink them back. We ended up spending a lot of time with them throughout the day, and I just pretended they weren't leaving. In fact, they're not leaving town. There is no reason we shouldn't still see them unless we don't make an effort. I plan to make the effort.

Because I'm a Perfectionist . . .

Because I'm a perfectionist,

*I don't blog very often. I feel as if I have done nothing blogworthy, and feel like I would bore any readers.

*I haven't finished the high school transcripts. It takes time to grade papers and enter grades. I don't know exactly what type of transcript form I want to use, but whatever it is must be the perfect one.

*Clutter has invaded my home more than I'd like. Until I find the time to go through everything and sort and clean and label it for a sale, I'm most unlikely to go through anything at all. Fortunately, this has changed a great deal recently. I just got so sick of seeing things that I've started going through small areas at a time to throw out as much as I can. Money motivates, and if I can make some money at a garage sale, I'm more likely to get rid of something.

While I have gotten better at trying to do everything perfectly, it still does creep in at times. I've got to keep working.

Tornado Warning

Wednesday night, we went to bed as usual. At 4:00 am, the phone rang. I immediately picked it up, alert. It was Jill, hating to wake us, but she thought we should take a look at the weather, as it was supposed to be pretty severe.

We turned on the TV and watched for a few minutes before we decided to wake up the kids to get them downstairs. Sheldon went down to start taking all the shelves of toys out of the closet under the stairs. I started with Aaron and Austin, thinking they would be the easiest to wake up. I was right. It only took a minute to get them out of the fog and realize I was seriously waking them up to go downstairs in the middle of the night. (At this point, we had barely even heard any thunder.)

Sydni was a completely different story. I went to her and started gently shaking and calling her name repeatedly. I knew she'd be more difficult because she's such a heavy sleeper. She said, "Are you serious?" I told her to grab her pillow and go downstairs. Summer was already awake by the time Sydni came to.

Next I went downstairs to make sure there was a place to put Alex and Savanna. Sheldon was emptying the closet, so I helped him. I thought the heavy photo albums up on the shelf which would be over our heads should probably come out too. As I stepped in the closet, the carpet was wet. (I'll come back to that later.)

After it was empty, I watched the weather for a second, then went up to get Alex and Savanna, alone. As I was standing between their beds trying to decide which one would be easier to awaken, I had the thought that I was glad there wasn't a fire. I started working on Savanna, and she barely came awake enough to get down the stairs. I had to practically drag Alex, as he's too heavy for me to carry. His feet really floated down the steps as I had him under the arms to guide him. He crashed right away on the couch and didn't remember a thing by the next morning.

We ended up watching the weather to see if they ever said "take shelter" (they didn't). I think Savanna was a little worried because earlier that day she had said, "I hate tornadoes." So, like in the balloonshop videos on youtube, she may have thought that she made them come.

We eventually went back to bed, but it took a while to fall asleep with the adrenalin rush. It was almost like when I was a kid in Indiana, riding out the tornado in the basement. This time, however, there were no frightened children thinking "please get away from the window, Daddy!"

Now that the weather is beautiful again, the closet was smelling very musty the next day. So far, all the toys are still in the entryway and the coats are all shoved into the other closet. Last night, Sheldon had to take out the carpet and pad and remove the whole tack strip (soaked) against the wall that backs the fridge. He could not find a leak anywere, but it was very wet carpet. I guess now it's just a matter of fixing the mysterious leak and maybe tiling that closet instead of putting the musty carpet back. This is definitely not the next home improvement project we had in mind.

The Hope for Snow!

There is something different about staring outside watching the cold, cold rain today. Normally it would be sort of depressing because it's so cold. The back yard is flooded, which means nobody gets to go play outside (in the mud). Yet, we're staring outside with so much hope. Hope for the snow that gives us an unexpected time to play and make a snowman and have a snowball fight. Hope for the snow that gets the bored children outside. Hope for the chore of cleaning (?) the floors after everyone tracks wet shoes and dirt (mud?) inside? And most of all -- hope for the potential day off (or at least morning off) that Sheldon might get if the roads are bad in the morning.

I was most surprised by the request from the kids to stay home from school tomorrow if it snows. Seriously? Stay home from school? No, but there's a pretty good chance we're staying home . . . I'm so sure. Ah, the joys of homeschooling!

Summer

Well, yesterday we switched Aaron & Austin's room with Savanna & Alex's room. Aaron decided he wanted to switch before we painted, so the older boys now have a pink room (temporarily). Paint is on sale today, so we may be fixing that rather soon. Unless we get sick.

Last week Sydni and Alex both got sick. I thought (hoped) we were over it, but this morning Summer said she felt like throwing up, so here I am at home with the little kids instead of going to church. Sheldon has to teach a Sunday school class, so he had to go. I hate to miss his class. Maybe he can go over it with me when he gets home. I hope Summer's not really sick, as we had several kids here last night, and I really don't want to get people sick.

I must say that I am so thankful I haven't gotten sick (from the MANY childhood illnesses I'm exposed to very often) in a very long time. Each time someone has gotten sick, I have tried to isolate them and clean often so that it doesn't spread to everyone in the house. I don't know if I'm getting better at those things or if it's just luck depending on the virus and our immune systems. (God knew I would have a desperate need for an efficient washer and dryer way back in November when we had to buy new ones.)

Being sick, though, doesn't give you anything to do really while you're feeling the stomach cramps since you can't sleep, so I find that during those times, I am so much in prayer and focused on heavenly things because that does seem to comfort me, just knowing He is there for me, even though it doesn't make my stomach hurt any less. I have tried to encourage my kids to think on those things while they are sick, too. Anything that makes us focus on Christ can't be ALL bad, right? Even though from our own perspective it may appear bad. We just can't see God's reasons for everything. It helps to know that we don't always have to know His reasons. We just have to trust Him. He is faithful.

Now I'm going back to bed. See? It can't be ALL bad. . .

Why should I feel guilty?

I feel so guilty for not blogging in such a long time. Why is it that there's always so much to do? I guess if my kids went to "school" I'd be much more likely to get paperwork done. Right now it's all I can do to get school done each day. Sometimes that wipes me out, especially when we're working on it still after dinner. When I feel guilty, all I have to do is look at everyone else's blog, and it's the rare one that has an entry more recent than my last one. Except Michele, who always has a beautiful card for me. She's so faithful, at least to the stamping blog. We won't talk about her other one. Pretty sad. It proves I'm not the only one too busy to write. Get well soon, Michele! Actually, Scott usually has an updated blog, and I feel so "in touch" with the whole family through reading his ramblings. Good job on the Littlest Lessard competition, Scott. One of these days, I'm just going to post a diary of what I did all day so people can -- nevermind. Maybe I don't want people to know that much. ;)

Final Days of Breaking

Well, these are the last couple of days before we start back up with school again. I needed the break from the constant work of getting everyone to finish everything on their lists for each day. It is quite a full-time job to homeschool. Aaron and Sydni don't take so much time, but when they want something or need help, it has to be right now. Austin just doesn't want to do anything but play or tickle little kids until they scream or chase them throughout the house. It gets quite tiring keeping tabs on him all day. Summer is taking after Austin, and I'm really trying to put a stop to it before it becomes a really bad habit with her.

We had Seth's first birthday party last night. He is adorable. He loved the cake and knew he had better reach for it while he could or he might lose the chance. Now that he's getting a taste of the good things, they better watch out or he'll learn from Donovan to raid cabinets and refrigerator while Mom and Dad are occupied. Speaking of a full time job . . .

Now that the Christmas rush is winding down and school is starting again, what will I obsess about next? School, of course. What will I use for curriculum next year? What changes need to be made? When am I going to be able to meet with the lady at Eastfield to see about dual credits and have Aaron tested for enrollment there? I think Sydni's too young, so she'll have to wait until her senior year to enroll when she's 16.

Well, I'm off to Mardel for their second semester teacher sale. There's no better place to browse next year's school options.

Christmas is over, but I'm still happy.

It seems like there's usually a let down after Christmas is over and the excitement and extreme busy-ness has died down. Not this year. I love it. We really had a good time enjoying this Christmas season and celebrating Jesus and what God did for us. Sheldon and I shopped together more than in recent years, and it's always fun shopping with him. Even on Christmas Eve, when we were supposed to be spending time at home doing things, we snuck out for Starbucks and light grocery shopping at the wonderful new Super Target. At one point, I even found some teenage store employees who were talking to each other about different religions while setting up a display of clearance items. What joy to be able to tell Sheldon about it and direct him over there to discuss with them the truth of Jesus. They were very open to discussion with him, and I didn't even mind picking up the rest of the groceries alone while they talked for a long time. Only when the managers closed in did they stop talking, but he was able to give them the Good News!

Today I'm hoping to clean up around the house. There is always a mess after Christmas toys are opened until we clear out some of the old and make homes for the new. We'll be taking down the tree and decorations and restoring order before it's back to the routine of school and work, when I really won't have time to clean like I plan to this weekend. Of course, Sheldon's off too, so we may end up scrapping those plans and going to the grocery store together alone. It's so nice to be able to leave the littles with the teens.

Taking time to enjoy the anticipation

I've been so busy and sleep-deprived lately that I haven't taken time to post anything because I'm trying to get "everything" done. I'm so sure.

I know I'll never get "everything" done. So why not just enjoy the busy time and anticipation everyone feels at Christmas. Soon it will be all over, and it will be a time of rest for a little bit until we start school again.

I'm sure I'll have the presents wrapped just in the "nick" of time for Christmas. I'm not so worried about Christmas cards because I'm sending them anyway, even if they're late.

Now I've got to make this blog short because I've got to get "everything" done.

Is Santa Claus real?

The other day while decorating the mantle with stockings and lights, Alex asked me if Mrs. Claus was real. I hesitated before answering because this was a delicate topic. Delicate because I have changed my mind repeatedly about how to handle this tradition that I loved as a child and new parent.

It seems that my children are way more inquisitive than I ever was. I NEVER asked my mom if Santa was real. Secretly, I knew he couldn't be, but I didn't ever want that confirmed, and more importantly, I didn't want him to stop coming to my house with presents.

Aaron used to make up stuff and tell Sydni as if it were true. Like the way Santa knows if you've been bad or good. He told her that elves hid everywhere to watch them. If you ever see a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye, it's an elf, checking on you. I never told him these things. I have no idea where he got it. They had elaborate ways for him to come down the chimney and get into houses, too, but that memory escapes me.

It was only a matter of time before they questioned the logic of it all. I knew they were asking because it didn't make sense to them, but I also knew that they didn't really want to know. (I know there's no way they believed a giant bunny snuck in the house to leave baskets of candy and a tooth "fairy"? come on!) With Sydni, it was always like walking on eggshells to keep from making her burst into tears over things like that. I knew I better have some kind of answer ready. That's when I made up this answer that became my standard response to their many questions: "If you start questioning Santa Claus, he might stop coming, so you better not ask."

Well, eventually, they figured it out. It was becoming more and more difficult to hide the wrapping paper that "Santa" was going to use so they wouldn't recognize it and to disguise the handwriting on the gift tags from Santa so they wouldn't figure it out. I did all this to protect their fragile emotions. I just noticed that "Santa" has all the same letters as "Satan", and I don't think this is any coincidence.

Well, fast forward to 2007. All these memories must have flashed through my mind (and the heartache) when Alex asked, "Is Mrs. Claus real?" I said, "No." Then he said, "Oh, it's just someone dressed up?" Then a few minutes later, "So does the fake Santa Claus bring us presents?" I said, "No." He said, "Oh. You and Dad just sneak downstairs and pretend like you're Santa Claus giving us presents?" I said, "Yeah." There were no tears at all.

Five minutes later, Savanna came in from outside where she had been helping Daddy put lights up. Immediately, Alex said, "Santa's not real. Mom and Dad just sneak downstairs and give us presents." No response from her. It was like she must have known and wasn't all that surprised. Later she asked me about it, and I told her he wasn't real, but that it was fun to pretend and so we would just pretend. She was fine with that.

As you know, I have daycare kids during the day. Monday morning, I heard Alex telling Sejal (almost 4 years old--only 9 days older than Alex) that Santa wasn't real and Mom and Dad sneak downstairs . . . I had to intervene right away. Now I have a whole other set of problems I didn't foresee. At least I don't have the guilt of lying to my kids. My conscience just wouldn't let me rest about the fact that I was lying every time they asked me.

Now Alex is driving me crazy wanting to know when we can go see Santa at the mall. He calls him the fake Santa.

Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Thanksgiving again

I guess there was something very exciting that happened in November. Thanksgiving, which is always something to look forward to (unless you're limiting yourself on food and desserts, which I never do on holidays). We had all of our shopping done for Thanksgiving by Monday night date night. Then on Wednesday evening I unexpectedly had to run out to our new SuperTarget (which is way more convenient than Wal-Mart) to buy a new hand mixer. I guess the kids used it Monday to make something and failed to tell me it was acting funny. So, I got a new one. It was the first day it was super cold outside, so it was very festive.

I just remembered something else exciting that happened! I made two new very good friends. We had to get a new washer and dryer, and I LOVE them. I loved doing laundry anyway, but with my new friends, it brings a whole new joy I never knew I was missing! And not just because I don't have to run the spin cycle 3 times for each load and run the dryer 2 times for each load.

Something very sad (and happy, I guess) also happened. Eric, our kids' good friend, and our good friends' kid, went on a 5-month mission trip to Ecuador. It was a very emotional few days before Thanksgiving when he left us all crying at home while he went off to make a difference in the world. His blog is Eric in Ecuador on my blog home page. He has been really diligent about posting updates, so it's like we're still in touch even though he's so far away.

Back to Thanksgiving. We had Sheldon's family over to our house, where we quickly discovered that we weren't the only ones who secretly made sweet potatoes. His mom and sister-in-law both made them too. They weren't on the menu, so they both decided to bring them. Sheldon's was going to be a surprise, which was surprising! We decided to save Sheldon's for my mom's house on Sunday. (Which we forgot and left at home when Sunday came around. That's funny, too, because it's still in the fridge, and I don't like sweet potatoes.)

Sheldon's brother announced their mom's Christmas present to us, which is a 4-day cruise out of Galveston to Cozumel. She's paying the basic fare for us and the 3 oldest kids, so a lot of us will be going as a giant group next September. That gives us time to save up and buy $100 passports for each of us. (She's actually buying Aaron's and Sydni's, which helps a lot.) That should be fun, as it's something we're excited about doing, but we wouldn't have done it on our own for quite a few more years, I'm sure.

After Thanksgiving was over, we took the kids to Aunt Jill's house to spend the night. Black Friday morning, 3:50 am came quickly. We (Sheldon, Sydni, and I) drove by Target at 4:45, and their were people standing in line outside the front doors in the freezing cold waiting for the 6:00 opening. (I could easily drive by them and think they were crazy, not at all putting myself in the same category as them.) We picked up Jill and went straight to our first destination. I started getting that nervous sick feeling in my stomach that I always get when I'm afraid my special deal will be all snatched up. Luckily, they had everything we went out for. We got some great deals.

One thing I noticed is that an amazing lack of sleep really messes up your brain. We only had about 5 hours of sleep before our 19 1/2 hours of being awake (most of those hours spent shopping). We were delirious by the time it was over. Jill even started getting mean. I know it's hard to believe. MEAN! I know for a fact she only got 4 hours of sleep, so I guess she's forgiven.

Sheldon made the shopping so much more fun. He videotaped quite a bit of the adventures, and even passed out million dollar bills to the sales clerks (after we'd paid for our purchases). I can't wait to watch the video, but I'm afraid he may have accidentally recorded some of our purchases, so they can't be watched by the family until after Christmas.

Homeschool Homecoming

Wow. My last post was November 8. I'm sure lots of things have happened since then that I can write about. Saturday, November 10, was the Homeschool Homecoming dance. My kids went to it with their friends from church, and they were all very stunning.











Sydni and Eric won second place in the swing dance competition. I guess those ballroom dance classes at Calico are helping.



Too bad Eric is her only loyal, capable dance partner since he's now on a 5-month mission trip to Ecuador. (Read all about his adventures here.)

There are too many pictures in this blog, so I'm going to have to spend a little time formatting and thinking of the next exciting thing we did.

Poo Shoes Are Better Than No Shoes, I Guess

Well, last night a sad realization hit me. Here's the story:

Saturday night we went to a surprise birthday party for a friend who turned 50. While there, Austin stepped in dog poo while playing in the back yard. So, we brought home his tennis shoes in a plastic grocery sack (to be cleaned later). When we got home, Sheldon put the sack of shoes on the front porch (to be cleaned later at a more decent hour).

Sunday the shoes also sat there while we were busy all day, then Monday, same story. Then sometime Tuesday, I noticed they were gone, and I was so glad someone brought them (to the garage? to the back yard?) to be cleaned. I briefly wondered where they were sitting to dry, but didn't think much past that.

Well, last night when Sheldon and Austin were discussing what happened to the shoes, I realized that the two people who would have touched them did not know what happened to them. All of a sudden, the light dawned. I realized that the donation center didn't make a mistake when they left a receipt for the items I forgot to leave out for them. Instead of circling "sorry we missed you", it said "thank you for your donation". Oh, how sad. The "donation" they got was dog poo shoes. We all had a really good laugh over that. Except Austin who didn't realize how funny it was until much later after I promised him 2 new pairs of shoes instead of one.

My beautiful children

	.. www.myheritage.com

	.. www.myheritage.com

My look-alikes

This is pretty good for a person's self-esteem!

Pumpkin Patch 2007

Well, we went for our annual pictures at the pumpkin patch last week. Here are all the kids we took: (Left to Right) Seth, Andrew, Presley, Austin, Donovan, Eden, Aaron, Alex, Savanna, Sydni, Sejal, and Summer. Sadly, procrastination made going during the week the only option for this year, so we made it into a fun little field trip for the daycare kids. Once I got into the van with everyone, I quickly decided that I would NEVER do anything like this again. It took an hour longer than I planned just to get out of the house. There was a poop explosion I did not anticipate, along with only shorts to change her into, which didn't work well with the cold front. So, I had to rummage through some of my own kids' outgrown clothes for pants. I wanted to document that I was not doing this again in case time has a way of erasing the trouble it took, and I somehow think I want to do this again next year. Next year must be on the weekend. I repeat, the weekend. I must plan better.

I've been neglecting my blog because, well, you know there just isn't much going on with people's blogs lately, so not much reason to even look, much less post anything. My blog friends have almost successfully discouraged me by their sad lack of participation. Thanks to Aaron, Scott, and Michele (and lately Jill) for regularly putting new meat on there for me.

Actually, and unfortunately, I'm not on the computer any less because I'm now logged onto facebook and myspace more often. I'm actually playing several games of scrabble simultaneously with some of my facebook friends. (Kids' friends is more accurate.) You all should get a facebook too. It's silly fun. (And it's fun, silly.)

Maybe later I'll post some pics from our Reformation Day celebration or the karate Halloween party.

Another reason we homeschool

We have various reasons why we homeschool. Some of them are here. Usually, if I watch or read the news, I can find other reasons that completely confirm for me that I'm doing the right thing. Yesterday I saw this news story that made me so mad, I decided to blog it.

Maine school board approves contraceptives for middle schoolers

Here is a small part of what the article said and my reaction:

"Pupils at a city middle school will be able to get birth control pills and patches at their student health center after the local school board approved the proposal Wednesday evening. The plan, offered by city health officials, makes King Middle School the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to students in grades 6 through 8."

"Condoms have been available since 2002 to King students who have parental permission to be treated at its student health center."

"Chairman John Coynie voted against it, saying he felt providing the birth control was a parental responsibility. The other no vote came from Ben Meiklejohn, who said the consent form does not clearly define the services being offered."

So, pretty much, if I sign a consent form for my 11-year-old to be treated at the clinic ("student health center"), I am also giving unknown consent for them to offer my baby birth control, in several varieties. If I don't sign the consent form, does that mean my kid doesn't get treated if he breaks an arm or pukes in class? Then does the school sue me because I was negligent in the medical safety of my child? How can parents let this happen? Are we letting the public schools dictate to us what our kids should or shouldn't be doing? Is no one putting up a fight against this garbage?

"A supporter, Richard Verrier, said it's not enough to depend on parents to protect their children because there may be students who can't discuss things with their parents."

There may be students who can't discuss things with their parents? They don't even know? I wonder what that percentage would be if there were any.

"At King Middle School, birth control prescriptions will be given after a student undergoes a physical exam by a physician or nurse practitioner, said Lisa Belanger, who oversees Portland's student health centers. Students treated at the centers must first get written parental permission, but under state law such treatment is confidential, and students decide for themselves whether to tell their parents about the services they receive."

So the school is saying that my 11-year-old is perfectly capable of deciding whether or not to tell me about something as important as premarital sex. What's next? We might as well let them go ahead and move out and start making all their own decisions since we parents are not really necessary.

"Five of the 134 students who visited King's health center during the 2006-07 school year reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland's school health centers."

That's 3.7%!! I wonder if the numbers would be much lower if they weren't already passing out condoms to those students.

State Fair of Texas

Well, we went to the Fair. It was very fun. I wish we had taken more pictures, but it's so hard to take a bunch of pictures in the middle of having fun with so many little kids, so many strollers, wagons, and various "baggage" that comes with a group of 17 people at the Fair. I want to add a picture of Andrew and Austin because they were there too, but Uncle Steve took them off to have separate fun (rides) for awhile, and I think he may have taken some pics.

Luckily, the teenagers took some of their own pictures, so I copied this one from facebook. (Thanks Austin McD). Next year we'll be ordering free tickets for our private school, so hopefully we can save even the $3 and case of Dr. Pepper that it cost us to get in.