Bunch of Berries!

Berry patches fear us! We can really do some damage in picking and eating! 106lbs of blueberries, last week it was 22-25 qaurts of black raspberries (and these were all God given, organic from our back field!). We put some in the freezer and we leave a dish of them on the counter and everyone grabs a handful as they pass by. And now the black berries are so abundant, we've gotton some, but we're pretty tired of being poked and scratched by the thorns! ;-)

Psalm 34:10b But those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing.

Summer Fun!

Megan's Graduation

This is the 'documentary' of my home school graduation. Some of these might make you spin trying to follow whoever happened to be manning the camera. :)

Megan playing 'Holy Manna', arranged by Joseph Martin


Megan, Robbie, Daniel, and Emily singing 'Tender Shepherd' by Bridget Shevy


Megan's Speech


Dad's Speech


Diploma


Megan playing her own composition, known around here as 'Comp and Pircumstance'.



Nobody got a video of Mom's speech, but she had it written out so here it is:

I especially want to thank my husband not only for the life he has given me, but for the life he has purposely directed for our children.

It was his idea to home school in the first place, but it didn't take long to win me over.

It has strengthened my faith in God to see the blessings of a father led home, just another way He has shown me God's way is so perfect.

One of my favorite memories is in our earlier years is when I would correct their school Thursday night, they could either have Friday off if all was well, or spend whatever time was necessary correcting it.

So on Thursday's Megan and Robbie were in charge of making dinner from start to finish. We would always have dessert, and they would change their names, "I'm Becky your waitress and this is Charles, he is in charge of drinks!" It was so fun!

Proverbs 27:2 "Let another praise you, and not your own mouth; someone else, and not your own lips". So I would like to take a moment and share with you some things about Megan that you may not know.

Reading has always been her favorite subject. She's a student of God's Word and I often find papers and notes of scripture that she is working on. She has mastered the gift of reading while doing something else, like cooking - she can hold a book with one hand and stir with the other, folding laundry - she'll hold the book open with her foot on the coffee table. Several times when she was younger we had to ask her to stop reading in the shower! This habbit made us a bit nervous when she started driving.

When she was younger, I would sometimes bump her head when I would open the door to check on her at night as she would be laying on the floor reading by the light that was coming under the door.

Math is her least favorite, but as our family grew the need to multiply recipes certainly helped sharpened her skills.

Science has also provided some wonderful and some interesting experiments. Don't put Mentos candy in a Diet Coke bottle unless you're ready to shower!

History has given her a love for the young and the old, she can converse and has friends of all ages.

Economics has taught her a love to shop at Good Will and garage sales, and she's thrilled with a good deal.

Music is another favorite, piano, violin, singing, teaching. She just can't walk by the piano without plinking something. She has more songs in her head than Daniel has things in his pockets!

For extra curricular activities, she hasn't taken much to hunting, but she will kill anything that stands between her and a Reeses peanut butter cup!

She thinks school hours start at 10pm and a lot of our teachable moments have gone into the wee hours.

She's received a lot of knowledge over the years, that's good for the head, but most importantly she's gotten wisdom from God's word, that goes directly to the heart.

She has a servants heart and will quickly do anything that is asked of her.

She also has a heart of compassion and is quick to notice when there is a need without having to be asked.

She loves to make meals for others, with dessert of course, and has a special heart to help moms with newborns or young children.

Megan has exhibited a strong faith and trust in Jesus Christ. As a result, she knows how to survive a crisis, learning faithfulness and trusting in God's providence.

Over a period of several years she was quite sick, to the point we eventually had to take her to the Mayo Clinic. I remember one day when she was really sick and had been experiencing a lot of pain. I offered her some medication and she said, "No, I think I'll go pray through this one." I thought to myself, here is a child who knows her God. She knows where to go in a time of need, a time of joy, even a time of sorrow.

She has incredible determination and dependence on the Lord, the kind that helps her make right choices in difficult decisions.

For this reason alone, Megan, it makes me very excited about what your future holds, because I know that God can do great and mighty things, and as Heb 11:6 says, "He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him". I pray you seek Him diligently every day of your life!

I've had the privilege of wearing many hats as Megan's mom: dentist, beautician, teacher, nurse, but my absolute favorite is being your friend.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Skunk!

Emily sat a bag of goodies in the garage waiting to be delivered. We all went back inside for just a few minutes and Mom asked Emily to fetch the bag. We had much excitement when Emily ran out to the garage to get the bag and found a skunk inside of it! Inside the bag! She didn't even see the rascal until she was right up close, and she bolted in the house and was laughing/crying trying to tell us what happened. It was absolutely hysterical! We were all so thankful she didn't get sprayed!

So we put the damaged bag of goodies in the back yard and tried to attract it again so it wouldn't come back in the garage around the kids. Robbie, Megan and Mom were up talking when they saw the skunk coming for the bread.

Robbie took care of it and we've enjoyed a skunk smell all week. When Joey woke up to see it, he was thrilled and said, "That is the biggest skunk I have ever seen! Can we eat it?" Well, we've never tried skunk before, but we're hoping we never will.

This is the grass (a week later) where the skunk died. If it's spray can kill the grass, we can't imagine what it would have done to Emily and/or the garage!