Perspective

Our washing machine has been making horrific noises lately. Today, it died. The repair man said it would cost more to repair than getting a new one. Our emergency fund has recently been depleted. This purchase is not in the budget. Our van is making strange noises... (Trust)

I'm all alone today and craving everything I should not... (Discipline)

The girls were supposed to get their bus passes today, but the paperwork wasn't properly filled out so I was late picking them up for school on just their second day. I walked into the school to be greeted by the principal saying, "Is it the plan for you to pick your children up everyday?" He was unaware of our paperwork issue and the fact that I had only minutes before been notified they wouldn't be able to ride the bus. The girls were confused... No Mr. Principal, I'm really not one of THOSE parents, I just look like one... (Humility)

Our son tried to deceive us tonight by skipping swim practice and going to play video games at the Y instead. Unfortunately (for him), tonight Mom finished her workout earlier than their swim practice ended and went in to watch... (Wisdom, Grace, and Forgiveness)

My husband had an early dentist appointment this morning. He was in a meeting when I tried to call him to discuss the washing machine thing. He donated plasma after work. We were gone already for swim practice when he got home. He'll be at an elder meeting at church most of the night tonight. Missing him... (Patience and Love)

Believe it or not; my attitude is still positive... (Hope)

These "minor" mishaps are not so bad when taken in the proper perspective... (Truth)

Jesus is my Savior. He is always on His throne. He loves me more that I can even imagine. He is working all things for my good... (Peace)

I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion... Phil. 1:6 (Faith)

Praise the Lord!

The Children Speak

Hi, this is Ethan. Mom said the kids can post something on our family blog. So here goes...

My fall wasn't that fun because the leaves didn't fall off the trees soon enough. Also, it was raining a lot and I'm ready for snow. I want it to snow really bad. Now it's Hannah's turn...

I'm excited about swim team. We have a meet tomorrow. I hope I get to swim 50 Butterfly and 100 IM. My fall was fun, but it wasn't long enough. The leaf truck came to get our leaves right after they fell off the trees. We'd like to show you some random pictures...

Can you guess who this is?

We love our pets so much! They are so cute. Dudley likes to play with his pink and red toy. Dudley is very wild and crazy. Whenever he sees Selah, they chase each other around the house and he tackles her. And Selah growls at him. They lick each other a lot too. Rudy does lots of tricks and likes to play too. Selah likes to play with Rudy. She teases him. Selah can jump so high. It's funny when she tries to catch bugs (like ladybugs) on the door or on the ceiling. She tries to jump up to catch them. She is very sneaky. Once she actually caught a moth and ate it. She ATE it?! Oh, I don't remember that part! (Ethan) Rudy likes to play fetch and chew on his bone. He's soft and snuggly too when you want him to be.

This is me and my cousin, Elysa. She was at our house for a week this summer while my brother was at her house with her brother, Evan. We like to go swimming as you can kinda tell. We are silly together. Whenever I see her face and she's making a silly face and I see her I laugh and then she laughs and we can't stop. (And then it gets really annoying - Hannah)

Random thoughts on:

Food -
Sarah, "I really love food. If we didn't have it, we wouldn't be alive."
Ethan, "I love pizza!"
Hannah, "I'm glad my mom doesn't like tomatoes so we don't have to eat them."

Daddy -
Ethan, "He's always gone except on weekends...so I like weekends."
Sarah, "My favorite food is fettucine alfredo and when we have it, he always eats it."
Hannah, "He's big - a lot bigger than I am."

School -
Hannah, "I'm gonna love my new teacher."
Ethan, "I have too much homework."
Sarah, "I really love my new teacher. I'm excited to meet new friends. I already made one when I went to the conference. Her name is Sierra.

Swimming -
Ethan, "I'm doing way better this year than I was last year in 100 IM."
Sarah, "Last year I only was able to do 25s; this year I can do 50s. And that's the truth!"
Hannah, "I don't like to practice very much, but I love the swim meets."

Poop -
Sarah, "Poop and pee is very gross. Sometimes when I go poop really hard and fat, it hurts my butt like today."
Ethan, "In the movie called 'Shorts', the pteradactyl pooped on Loogie's head."
Hannah, "Daddy's smells really bad and so does Ethan's."

Computers -
Ethan, "I am a computer geek!"
Hannah, "I love playing Cake Mania."
Sarah, "I someday will make a blog about Selah and one thing I'll put about her is that she goes, 'Meeeeeoooooooow' (pronounced Mee - oo in a very high voice)because Selah can't go on the computer, but I bet that's what she'd say."

Blogging for the first time -
Ethan, "I can't believe Mommy let us put something on here about poop."
Hannah, "I wish I had my own blog and Facebook and Twitter."
Sarah, "Blogging is dumb."

That's all for now folks!

Moving On

We've come to the end of our homeschooling days over here. The girls will re-enter the public school system on Monday. We'd been praying about this decision for about a month now, and have decided this is what is best for our family. School has gone much better this year than it did last year. Attitudes are very much improved. In theory, we love homeschooling; in practice, we struggle. Our reasoning for homeschooling never really had to do with academics, although at one point we were excited about the opportunity for a more individualized approach. Many homeschoolers report a renewed love for learning in their children when they homeschool - that their children were somewhat stifled in the school system. I'm sad to report the opposite in our family. Our children are now more resistant and bored with academics than ever. Where they used to love school and the academics that came with it, they now view their work as something to check off the list so they can move on to something more exciting. They are extremely discouraged and resistant to learning and being corrected by their mother. I'm sure there are things that I, as the teacher, could do differently, but I'm ill-equipped and unmotivated to do so. I do not have a teacher's heart. I have a discipler's heart. The "spiritual" aspects of homeschooling met with eager and receptive hearts from both mom and children. We love reading books together (esp. missionary biographies). AWANA verses and Bible study time are highlights of our day. Our desire in homeschooling was to disciple our children in the Lord. This is still our heart. Homeschooling was what we felt we needed to do for a time in order to do our best for Him. We've learned a lot in this last year - the children did too. Our relationships in our family have been strengthened. Homeschooling was not a mistake for our family; it's just time to move on...

I've had many thoughts and feelings in the past few weeks...Am I a quitter? Am I a failure? Did I do enough? Am I just lazy? What will people think? What is God calling me to (rather than away from)? Mostly though, I just felt relief...

In the past couple of days, God has released me from any burden I had put on myself. I am as excited for the girls to go back to school as they are. I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I'm hopeful. I'm prayerful. I'm moving on...

Nedra

Too Funny

We've been so absent from blogging for too long...today, we're back! Anyone still checking this site? Comments please.

Nedra and the girls went to a show today at the Ordway called, "The Bad Boys of Dance". This was supposedly for school although we're not sure how educational it actually ended up being... All of that aside, we had fun. Right before the dancing began, one of the dancers introduced their show by saying the songs they'd be dancing to were all by Prince, Queen, and Michael Jackson. Hannah turned to Nedra and whispers, "Who are those people?" Sarah says, "Prince and Queen of what?" After Nedra explained who these people were, Hannah responds, "Oooh, I thought Michael Jackson was a basketball player!" Maybe our children are too sheltered...or, more likely, this is just a generational thing - We're old!

Quotes of the Week

Dana: "I feel like Charles Ingalls going away from his family to find work." (He's working with my dad this week while we're missing him in Mankato - hey, even the Mankato reference is so Little House:)

Ethan: (when asked what he thought the lesson was in the movie "Up") "I'm not sure what the lesson is, but I know it has something to do with, 'It's just a house...'"

As we were driving in the van last night, Sarah couldn't get her seat belt clipped and Hannah told her she'd help her. The next thing we hear (about 20 seconds later) is Hannah saying, "Ouch! I just clipped my tongue!" Nedra: "How in the world did you do that?!" Hannah: "I was playing with my hair clip and it just snapped shut on my tongue!" Needless to say, the misunderstanding was quite humorous.

We've been trying to narrow down activities for fall. As Sarah was considering her options, she said, "Well, it depends on what I get to wear..."

Nedra: "There are these chemicals in your body called hormones and sometimes they really mess you up." (In a discussion with Hannah about irrational and out-of-control emotions)

What can I say?

Ethan: Hey mom, did you know that Brett Favre is playing for the Vikings now?
Hannah: So what? What's the big deal about that guy?
Ethan: He's a really good quarterback and he used to play for the Packers, but now he's on our team.
Nedra: Yeah, I'm just not very fond of him though...
Ethan: Why don't you like him?
Nedra: It's not that I don't like him. I just don't respect the way he makes decisions.
Ethan: Like what?
Nedra: He's said that he's retiring so many times and then he always comes back. It's like he doesn't have anything besides football. I think that's kind of sad.
Ethan: If he doesn't have anything else but football, why doesn't he just get a football video game?!

(Spoken like a Wii-crazed 11-year-old boy:o)

Our Crazy, Yet Wonderful Summer Schedule

We've been absent from blogging for some time now and have decided to update our blog by letting you know where we've been and what we've been doing.

We traveled to Tyler, MN the last weekend in July for the Bovbjerg Family Reunion. (This is Dana's mom's mom's maiden name.) We met many relatives we'd only heard of. The kids enjoyed running around with cousins (and 2nd and 3rd cousins). Altogether there were over 100 people in attendance. Our highlight was the variety show on Saturday night during which people showcased their talent (or lack thereof :o) There were 2 professional opera singers (mother and daughter), a banjo player, violinist, a weapons demonstration, dances (Sarah and her cousin, Elysa, made up a special dance on the spot), singers (Dana sang "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash with his brother and an extreme falsetto version of "Bread and Butter" with his cousin and brother), skits, etc... Hannah even brought Rudy up on stage to showcase his tricks.

We left the reunion minus Ethan and plus Elysa. Ethan went to Crookston for a week to stay with Aunt Jessica and her family. They went camping, picked juneberries, butchered chickens, and played games at Grandma's house. He loved his time with cousins, Evan (6) and Katelyn (3). Ethan said Evan was a "sleeper inner" so he played with Katelyn every day until Evan woke up. Evan and Ethan mainly played superheroes - their own made-up game where body parts become weapons. When we picked him up on Sunday, their fingers were knives and they were playing that if they touched each other, the place they touched no longer functioned. Ex. If Ethan touched Evan's eye, Evan had to close his eye and continue to play without that eye...you get the idea. Funny how the games we played around our house that week were quite a bit different...

Elysa (8) came home with us so we had all girls for the week. We even had a couple of extras when Olivia (8) and Sidney (9) came to stay for a few days at the end of the week. We went to the pool, experienced a day at the Patenaude spa, sewed ponchos, made friendship bracelets, rode bikes, picnicked, performed dances, and judged a fashion show. Nedra even got to get away to scrapbook for a couple of days while Dana was the only man among the 5 girls. The week was fun for everyone, but unfortunately there seems to be a major bug that is making its way through both of our families now... Sarah just came down with it tonight.

We left Mankato on Sunday afternoon (the 2nd), drove to Alexandria to pick up Ethan, and were at Nedra's parents' house near Worthington by 9:00 that night. Nedra and her sister canned beans the next day (37 quarts) while the kids went with Grandma to VBS and Dana helped Grandpa with a roofing job. Nedra, the kids, and Grandma went to Sioux Falls on Wednesday to go to the doctor and do some shopping. We drove back to Mankato on Wednesday night.

On Thursday, we took a somewhat spur-of-the-moment trip to Valley Fair. Some quotes from that day:

Sarah -
"I thought you said we'd only get a little splash, not a big soak!"
"The Scrambler is a 10!"
"Are you going to talk to me to make me try that ride too?"
"I'm ready to spend some money now."

Hannah -
"My favorite is the Wild Thing!"
"Mommy, don't scream on the rides. It embarrasses me."
"Why can't you go on the rides without shorts on?"
"I was brave enough to try the Power Tower!"

Ethan -
"My favorite was the water park. The Raging Rapids is AWESOME!"
"I don't care if it takes all my money - I'm getting a funnel cake."
"I don't want to eat anything else that smells good."
"Oh no! The icee places are closing. When can we get my Icee?"

Nedra -
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"Bring on the Mini Donuts."
"I need to go to the bathroom."
"Where did the kids go?"
"We're just going to shut our eyes for a 5-minute rest."
"I'll take Sarah. You take the other 2 and we'll meet up in a little bit."
"I've got a headache."
"I need to go to the bathroom."

Dana -
"I just want to try Steel Venom."
"You'd like it, Honey (or Ethan...or Sarah)" Hannah doesn't take much convincing.
"We should wait to do the water park when it gets hot out."
"I thought YOU knew where the kids were."
"We should have made them share a cotton candy."

On Friday, Nedra tried to get the house in order while Dana went to work and the kids went to the pool. Saturday brought us back to Tyler for the Elsing Family Reunion (Nedra's mom's maiden name). Sunday was Camp Patterson with our church family. Today, Sarah is under the weather and Dana and Nedra are exhausted. Plans for homeschooling have begun. (They better begin as we're starting next week.) Summer is fun. Gotta take advantage of it while you can. Right now, I think we're all just longing for some sense of routine...

Closing down the park at Valley Fair