Josh's Happenings

I haven't really posted much about Josh lately so I thought it time I did. Josh has adjusted pretty nicely to being here in North Dakota. He's enjoying his classes and seems to be doing pretty well in them. A couple of weeks ago he tried out for the upcoming school play and landed a role! He's one of five guys and seven girls in a play called, "And Never Been Kissed." He was pretty happy to get the part and is enjoying rehearsals. The show will be Halloween weekend.

Last weekend was homecoming weekend. He went to the game Friday night with a group from here on base. Then, Saturday, he met up with a group of people at a friend in town's house. I (in a separate car) went with him to her house so I could meet her and her mom. (I should clarify that she wasn't Josh's date just the person inviting everyone to her house before the dance!) The picture to the left is one of Josh with a girl they call Simon (on the left) and Alex is the one on the right. Very nice folks and looked like they were all having a good time. I would've liked to stay longer but Ian was still on base with friends and I told them I would be back by 4 and it was already 4 so I had to go. Since I wasn't there when they took pictures (once they were all dressed up) Alex's mom was nice enough to take some and Alex posted them on her facebook so I have a couple to share with you (thank you Alex and Kim!). You may or may not notice from the pictures but I took him to get a haircut before he went to Alex's house. He was not at ALL happy with the way it turned out and he's been surprised how many compliments he's gotten on it! He says, "Why can't people compliment the haircuts I like?" Oh, well, as he said, it'll only take about 2 weeks for his curls to come back!! He had a fun time at the dance and it sounds like fun was had by all. Plus, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that they played other music than just rap!!

Last night Josh told me he had something kinda surprising happen to him at school yesterday. He was walking through the halls when his Biology teacher stopped him and told him that he had recommended Josh to another teacher for the Science team! Then, his teacher happened to see the other teacher and introduced him to Josh and the teacher asked him something like, "So, are you really a genius?" Anyway, the Science team would start at the end of October and the competition would be in February. What's neat, too, is his Biology teacher is a Christian and has made it pretty clear in some of the things he says in class - which is great when in a Biology class! I told Josh that based on this (being asked to be on the Science team) and his true abilities in the science arena that, perhaps, he should consider doing something with it as a profession?! I told him that God gives us talents and abilities and we really are designed to enjoy our work and wouldn't it be cool to be able to make money doing stuff we love (plus, what we were designed for). I thought it interesting that he came up with Biochemistry - he enjoys both biology and chemistry and he's pretty good at both of them. SO, perhaps it's something he'll consider rather than feeling locked in to graphic design just because of the things he's done in high school.

Well, I think that brings you pretty up-to-date on the goings on in Josh's life. Please say a little prayer for him when you think of him with it being his senior year and trying to make some big decisions. Thanks so much!!

Funny from Ian

Yesterday during our school time, Ian and I learned about geese and how they "imprint" on the first thing they see when they are born. We just happen to own the movie "Fly Away Home" so we watched it after we were all done with school so he could see that it could, literally, be anything that the geese will follow. Well, later that evening Ian tells me a joke that he made up (unrelated to imprinting but about geese). He said, "Mom, why do the geese fly south for the winter?" The answer - so they don't get goose bumps!! I thought that was pretty cute.

Fun at the Playground

Well, I haven't posted anything in a little while so I thought I would post some pictures I took yesterday while we were at the playground. It was a beautiful day yesterday so we had to get out and enjoy it! You'll notice the pictures seem to have a haze on them and I think I realized why - little fingers left marks on the lense! ARGH! Oh, well, it just makes my kids look all the more heavenly! :) I'm including a few of Ellie so you can see how big she's getting! I thought the one of her looking at the slide looks like she's contemplating something serious!

Quick Ellie Update

Thought I would post a picture I took last week at a UND football game of Ellie. The reason I thought I would post it is you can see her tooth coming in (okay, you can only see it if you look at the big picture and squint to see her bottom gum area). Unfortunately, it does appear to be coming in crooked but at least it's her baby teeth and we can hope her permanent ones will be different!

Homeschooling

Well, I thought I would put out an update about homeschooling Ian. We officially started last week and our first week went quite well. We've really enjoyed our science so far (Dinosaurs and the Bible) and we've been doing the read-aloud book as a family and we've all be enjoying it. All of us look forward to each chapter and finding out what happens and we've each used "voices" to spice it up so that's been fun. Math looks like it's going to be a little bit of a challenge but it usually is for me - not because I don't get it but because I have a hard time understanding why HE doesn't get it! So, I've been praying for lots of love and understanding with that.

Another concern I'd had was how it was going to work with Ellie and God has been good because Ellie has done wonderful! With the way our schedule is working out she sleeps from about 10am-12pm and we're able get almost all of it done during that time so I've been able to focus on Ian. I'm sure some of that will change when her nap schedule changes but so far, so good!

This week has been a little more challenging with the holiday on Monday. We had a tough time getting into it yesterday and then this morning I had some training to go to so we didn't school at all today but I suppose that's the beauty of homeschooling!

I'm attaching a picture of each child - Ian's first day of school, Josh's first day of school, and one of Ellie on Ian's first day of school (she put on the sunglasses by herself)!

North Dakota Adventures

I keep thinking there are a few stories I want to share but they aren't specific to anything but then I realized they are some of our North Dakota adventures! So, I have a few of those I want to share now and I'll periodically share more as more come up.


The first adventure I want to share actually happened the day after we arrived here - the 4th of July! We were on our way home after the fireworks. We were on this stretch of open road (imagine that) that we believed was a speed limit of 70 the whole way. Well, after a little bit Brian starts to pull over to the side of the road and I was asking, "What's the matter?" and he says, "I think I'm being pulled over." I looked behind us and, sure enough, there were flashing lights coming from the car behind us. The officer came up to the window and says, "Do you know why I pulled you over?" To which Brian replies, "No, sir." He says, well you're doing 73 in a 55. Brian said, "Oh, we just arrived here yesterday and I thought it was 70." The officer says, "Well, there are these signs they're about "yay big" (using hand motions) - you'll see them if you're looking for them!" He ended up just giving us a warning but we still joke about the signs and our first and, hopefully, ONLY run-in with the local law enforcement!



The second adventure happened a few weeks ago. Brian is training to run a marathon in a couple of weeks in Ohio and because his knees started having issues the last time he tried to train he only does one big run a week. He was at the 16 mile run and he was getting all of his stuff together the night before when I asked him if he was going to take his phone with him and he said, "I wasn't really planning on it." I reminded him that he's always talking about safety and with as far as he was planning to go I felt like he should have his phone. So, although still reluctant he rearranged things so he would have it. He leaves EARLY to run before work and I sleep until my normal time. Well, the next morning I was awakened by the ring of the phone, answered it and heard the voice of my husband saying, "Joy, it's about to start storming, would you please come get me, I'm too far out to beat it home." So, I hopped in the car and went to rescue my husband from being struck by lightning. By the time I got close to where he said he was, it was POURING rain and lightning. I had slowed down to find him and finally saw him when he poked his head up from the ditch where he was croutched down. I finally got to be HIS hero (since he always seems to rescue me)!




Finally the last story I have to share isn't really much of a story it's just a point of interest. The boys got to go plow a wheat field a week ago. Brian has a lady that works for him who farms in the area and she invited us to join them on the combine. Well, it was later in the evening close to Ellie's bedtime so I stayed home while they went. They had a good time riding on the combine and thought it was pretty cool.