Smile

Without fail, everyone who meets James comments on his beautiful smile (and like all mothers I comment that he is lucky that it's cute). It is indeed beautiful. I was still utterly skeptical about that smile and how much it might cost daddy to preserve. We were the first ones to introduce James to a toothbrush or toothpaste. In five years, he never brushed his teeth or flossed. Yep, think about that for a minute.

We have heard horror stories about kids coming home with decaying teeth that are not savable and the monstrous costs to pretty up their smiles. 

So, off we went, with all four kids in tow, to the dentist (on daddy's birthday ... good times). The dentist, who was absolutely wonderful, was beyond  amazed at the end of our visit ... an hour of deep cleaning, scraping, polishing, stain removing, and xrays ... and NO cavities. None. No decay. No missing teeth. Nothing. Just glorious and healthy baby teeth. All 20. 

She aged James as a four year old, which is what we are going with based on that exam and on our 7-hour assessment and buckets of testing by our International Adoption Pediatrician when we first arrived home.

Here's his million-dollar smile that isn't going to set daddy back a million dollars. Phew.

And a few pics of the rest of the troops in all their clean-teeth glory.

Hmm, not so sure about what in the world  was happening to sissy.

So thankful for James's health. It is a miracle in about a million different ways ...

Twenty

September 27, 2011 marks the twentieth birthday that I have been {insanely} fortunate enough to wish my husband.

Twenty gifts we have unwrapped together that have made my life ridiculously sweet ...

20. Asking me
19. Founders 12/27/97
18. That spooky b&b in Bath
17. Gather the chickens ... HURRY
16. The drive-in, the drive-in, the drive-in
15. Grunions
14. The trunk of your mustang
13. Prom
12. White t-shirts and dark jeans and ears
11. Our bed
10. 13 changes-of-scenery in 13 years ... I'm ready again
9. Arms
8. Puck & Stella
7. Easy 8
6. Forgiveness
5. James
4. Jack
3. Viola
2. Mae
1. Us

Happy Birthday, Kevvy.

To 20+20+20+20 more.

You are my most favorite.

God bless you for blessing me every moment of every day.

"If you live to be 100, I want to live to be 100 minus one day, so I never have to live a day without you."

~ Winnie-the-Pooh

School ~ Week 3

Every Sunday I am refreshed. Daddy is home, church, Sunday School, lazy afternoons, playing outside, changing leaves, Sunday supper all together, and getting school neat and organized and prettied up for the new week ... I revel in the two hours of quiet that I have with a cup of coffee, my corebook, and books all around me while daddy takes over with the little people.

I also spend time really thinking about the prior week of school ... it keeps me up some nights ... I want it to be just right. Just perfect. That's an impossibility, I know, but it's me, to a fault.

Week 3 brought us a few days spent with Leif Erikson and the Viking explorers. Our core was A Living History of Our World and aside from our smorgasbord book basket, I also read aloud from D'Aulaire's Leif the Lucky each day and the girls colored the respective pages from Beautiful Feet's Early American Coloring Pages. This week I found that Mae was really struggling with narrating ALHOW, which made me a little curious since last year she was a narrating genius with MFW First Grade. Hmm. This upcoming week with Columbus I am trying a different spine to see if the way in which the writing is presented makes a difference to the girls. I am also setting the journal aside this week as I feel that Mae is getting plenty of writing in between her language lessons, copywork, science, and Bible and I don't want to squash her fire for school ~ coloring and illustrative narrations will be plenty. I am still LoViNg ALHOW, but I just want to dabble in another style of writing from a living book perspective this week with a subject that is quite familiar to me to see how it eases or doesn't ease Mae's comprehension.

We're moving right along with Classical Writing and Primary Language Lessons and I am finding that we are loving CW more than PLL. I know that PLL is a gem in the Charlotte Mason world, but it's not clicking quite as I had hoped ... I find that we are skipping a lot of the memory work and I wish for a little more relevance to the lessons. Next week we are going to give English for the Thoughtful Child a whirl to see if it bridges that gap in what I love about PLL but still am seeking. 

The girls are absolutely loving the Aesop fables we read, narrate, and illustrate with CW. Such a great way to marry our art lessons with block crayon coloring with good literature. This and italic handwriting are done with hot tea, cookies, and napping brothers. Bliss I tell ya.

Mae learned to spell all the days of the week through copywork with the nursery rhyme Solomon Grundy. I love this approach to learning. Pretty much just love it. 

We are whizzing through Math Mammoth Grade 1 with Mae as a review of her math facts, which I really felt were lacking with our math program last year. We won't get through all of Math Mammoth Grade 2 this year, but I'd rather that her foundation is solid and unwavering before moving ahead.

I feel so spoiled that Viola is such a fluent reader ... it helps an awful lot when it comes to math. She reads the sweet stories aloud and then completes the lesson with me nearby. She thrives with the independence and feeling so "schoolish" like her sis. I'm grateful for this very CM math program! It is very much a review for her, but in that sense it builds her confidence beautifully, and there's no rush.

We didn't get to as much science this week as I would have liked, but we had an amazing time with living science and nature. We ordered caterpillars a few weeks ago and had a sad catastrophe (that turned into brilliance). The caterpillars arrived and ate and ate and grew and grew ... as in exponentially right before our eyes. It was wild. We had five caterpillars, and the company (Insect Lore) said to expect two to three to live. Super. Well, one morning we woke to one glorious caterpillar inside of a chrysalis. It was spectacular. Then, as the morning progressed the other four did the same. I stepped away from Jack for a minute and returned to find four of the five caterpillars laying in their chrysalises on the bottom of the jar. Grr. Not a happy mama. NOT a happy mama. I gave the kids a whole narration on God's creatures, great and small, and respecting life, all life ... yada yada yada. Well, we set the butterfly habitat aside and let it be. I was sad. The girls were sad. The boys were clueless. 

THEN, one afternoon Mae was walking past the butterfly habitat and ... A BUTTERFLY WAS EMERGING FROM THE CHRYSALIS. Seriously. She squealed the most delightful happy squeal ever. Over the next two days all five butterflies hatched (is that the correct term?) and it was pure heaven to witness. Sadly, very sadly, one of the butterflies wings were bent so she couldn't fly. I'm sure it was our (Jack's) fault since she formed with the chrysalis resting on the ground, but we gave her special treats and helped her along. One of the butterflies did not survive ... that made us all cry (even daddy). The four survivors paired off, mated, and flew away. What an incredible experience to watch God's hand right before our eyes. 

Another really cool God-connecting-school-to-life-for-us moment ... we are reading aloud an old nature story about a porcupine named Inky. Honestly, old books are the best. Did you know that a porcupine has approximately 35,000 quills. Yep. Wow. So, we're reading about Inky and marveling at God's creations and the girls are retelling the story to daddy over dinner. One afternoon he comes home with a surprise ... a quill that he pulled from the tire of his ambulance (rest his soul the poor little guy ... not daddy's, of course). It was again sad (think butterfly who could not get out of his cocoon all the way), but authentic life in all its goodness and rawness, and investigating the quill was fantastic.

The boys are being boys. James is learning a few words in English here and there. He is very quiet and reserved and has a long way to go to be ready for school next year. I get frantic thinking about it ... but right now we're just focusing on surviving and seeing each new day as a choice to be happy and grateful and giving and compassionate and loving ... from all sides.

Jack is making me so very tired and exasperated, but there is nothing in the world that can compare to how he holds tight to my neck every night to fall asleep. When he was first born, I was in a challenging time of life and that baby was Jesus in disguise ... he was my salvation in so many indescribable ways. Today I feel the same way.  

With thanks for each new morning ...

Unclutter

With my life a complete cluster right now I am more grateful than ever for the clarity God has given me over our materials. I am such a curriculum junkie, and yet, I am absolutely at peace. Yes, it's only week 3, but seriously, we LOVE what we are learning and how we are learning it, together.

A few tweaks ... 

We shelved A Child's Geography to study this summer instead. Our history program is perfectly full and the girls find themselves on delightful rabbit trails ... and that curiosity makes me happy. Plus I'd really love to incorporate Five in a Row after Christmas and so something has to give, right? FIAR will be better suited for all of the kids versus just the girls with ACG, and we have time to come back around to that book.

I decided to use the manual for Adventures in My Father's World for Bible, the neat hands-on history activity ideas, the tremendous book list for our coveted book basket and state study, and for the read-aloud and Tchaikovsky schedule ~ not for history, science, art, and the other core subjects. I know, strange in a way. It works for us. I initially needed a really, really good, tried-and-true book list from a wholesome, Christian perspective, so I considered TruthQuest, but I also wanted more Jesus in our school day. Voila ... the Adventures manual and student sheets solved my dilemma. Each day I fall more in love with A Living History of Our World and just cannot see our family history curriculum without it. Hooray, a hard-earned victory!

After ten lessons of Primary Language Lessons, minus some of the memory work since I prefer right now for the girls to memorize scripture and hymns, I felt stirred to incorporate a little more grammar, narration, and dictation, especially since this year we are not using a "formal" spelling program. (All of our spelling comes through dictation of great works ... the Bible, Aesop, Milne, Burgess, George Washington, etc., and I wholeheartedly believe in Charlotte Mason's philosophy with regard to this.) On my shelf I had Classical Writing Primer ~ Autumn, which is beyond lovely, and we are now enjoying this as well. I have dropped the picture study from CW since we are very, very happy with Come Look with Me, so that leaves three days of lessons ... one of which is nature study and we naturally add that into our quiet Fridays. Essentially, our week is two days of PLL and two days of CW, aside from the CW nature study. This feels so much more balanced. I am not pure CM in this regard ... may be my English-y past ... or that I just love grammar. Either way, again, it works for us and at 20 min per day, Mae is not overwhelmed and CW incorporates beautiful literature and drawing/art that Viola cheerfully sits in on, too.

Last, to unclutter our school time, I had to pry my fingers off of Queen's penmanship, both Printing with Pictures and Pictures in Cursive. In theory, this could be a gorgeous handwriting program, but in execution it falls short, and at nearly $15 per book, per child, my expectations were a little higher. I am a true devotee of Queen Homeschool, and my respect and thanks for Sandi's gift to the homeschooling world does not change, but we have set this aside. My first concern was the cursory instruction and minimal space for practice ... especially in the cursive books. If I have to create extra practice pages, then I'd rather not pay so much for three books per child per year. 

Mae has gorgeous handwriting (I owe this all to our first handwriting program which is excellent, excellent, excellent) and Viola is just barely learning to write top-to-bottom and frontward, since she is severely dysgraphic, and with two boys bringing up the rear I would love to see all of my children learn to write together and in the same hand. Enter Italics by Penny Gardner (not Getty Dubay). Since Mae is only in second grade and has accomplished printing, this is the perfect opportunity to teach her and Viola italics printing together this year and cursive next year (the boys will subsequently learn as well). Why not use the same program for Viola that I used with Mae? Well, 1) I want them to learn this together to encourage one another, 2) italics is simple and simply beautiful, and 3) the less strokes the better for sweet Viola. I anticipate that by the end of our second term both girls will be writing their copywork and lessons in printed italics. Oh ... italics is new to me, too, and sitting at the kitchen table with my girls with hot tea, cookies from Grammy, napping brothers, music, and learning pretty writing together is such a dream. (The dream for daddy is that the program only cost him $10 ... total ... and I can use this for all four children.) Anyone looking for Queen's primer penmanship books? ... leave a comment. :)

Every day with James brings new ways of thinking and sets of challenges and moments of absolute wonder. I am learning to be still more in my at times blurred days and to find our center in our school time ... which is the heart of our family ... which is the most amazing gift bestowed by our God. I'm just so grateful.

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”  ~ Mother Teresa

Traveling Barnyard, Meet James

We weren't sure how James would react to a small enclosure packed full of barnyard animals ... you know, typical fall fun in America ... but as with all things animals, this boy loved it. A beautiful Sunday afternoon was had by all (except for Jack, whom had to be held by me--thus few pics of him--for fear of the smelly creatures ... until it was time for cider donuts).

Happy gorgeous fall ...

Light Peeking through the Cracks

Some friends are indescribably genuine and kind and good-hearted. I honestly cannot imagine where I would be today, three weeks home exactly, without them. Sounds cliche, but if you only knew how indispensable certain people have been in our lives, in mine most especially. When I reflect on where I was emotionally three weeks ago and where I am today I could fall on my knees in utter thanks for those who carried me here ...

One of said friends reached out last night and offered to have her son, an orphanage-mate and roommate of James, call him today to help heal his heart a little. I showed James his friend's picture and he welled up and got lost in himself. Too much too soon. Too confusing. So much heaviness that he is enduring that I cannot begin to comprehend and I have been with him around the clock for the last 25 days. So, another time, but how breathtaking is it that we have friends like this, friends who get it, get us?

Another friend, one my nearest and dearest, sent me the fixings for my favorite tea drink from home. HOME. She and I shared many a yummy latte together in our sans kids life. I love her. 

Tomorrow we are meeting with an adoption friend we "met" through our agency ... she is spending the weekend at a beach near our home ... and we're taking the kids over for a peaceful beachy morning with another little Ethiopian and her sweet family. Then in the evening I will head to a church we are considering moving to for a monthly adoption gathering. 

Today I feel especially blessed. 

School ~ Week 2

I love home schooling. Just love it. All of it. I am immeasurably blessed to have this opportunity to teach my own children and spend so much precious, fleeting time with them.

My beautiful, sweet second grader. How did that ever happen?

Viola loves her math lessons.

She pretty much loves everything.

A Living History of Our World is a dream.

For Viola, too, sans journal ... illustrative narration is plenty.

Kindergarten suits her.

Can you see Bugsy in the background peeling the paper off of crayons? Preschool at its finest.

These two are kindred spirits.

Delaware ... our first state (well, our first state study, too).

LOVE 106 Days of Creation

Very first true printing lesson.

Judah digs the soy rock crayons.

And Bugs prefers the block beeswax crayons for the shading effect. :)

Next week we move from the Ancient Americans in history to Leif Ericson and the first explorers. I can hardly stand it I am so excited. We will be reading Yellow and Pink with 106 Days of Creation and I have yearned to teach evolution through this book for years ... now is my chance. I'm giddy. A Child's Geography is on the books to begin as well. Ann Voskamp's writing is fluid, drapey, and pure ... how incredible to learn about God's wondrous world through her voice. Mae began cursive today and I found myself a little weepy at how much she has blossomed in the last two years of true home schooling. Gosh. It takes my breath away.

I am sprinkling in more and more Charlotte Mason studies as we progress and the girls thrive with it ... this week we studied the painting Black Rock, A Two Kettle Chief, Western Sioux, Teton  by artist George Catlin. Gorgeous and relevant. Mozart kept little minds busy throughout our days and next week we will learn more about the brilliance of this composer himself with word searches and coloring pages. I resolve to be more intentional with our nature studies next week, as well. We are still settling into our new "normal" and each day is a brand new experience for James, so we're taking things sloooooooowly for a while so his new world stays small a while longer.

The girls (and myself) are avid readers ... as a family we are reading How's Inky by Sam Campbell, Jessica's First Prayer, and The Jesus Storybook Bible; Mae is reading The Cobble Street Cousins: In Aunt Lucy's Kitchen and Pathway Readers; Viola is reading Andi's Pony Trouble and Pathway Readers; and I am (re-)reading A Charlotte Mason Companion (I love to sit down with this at the start of each new school year), Room by Emma Donoghue, and Radical Hospitality: Benedict's way of love (a little school, fiction, and non-fiction). 

To a restful weekend ...