Counting down the days

We are counting down the days until Morgan goes to Lindenwood. He moves in August 17. Do you realize that is only 52 days? That's less than two months. That's too soon! We are making more of an effort this summer to have "family" days because of it. Saturday was great! We stayed home and played some games, then headed up town for the "Catch the Glow". We have lived in Truesdale for five years in September and never attended the "Catch the Glow" because until this year we didn't know what it was. Finally, this year we get an ad in the mailbox on Saturday that it's a street fair. It was so fun! We walked around, played chess at The Village Bookstore, bounced in the bounce houses (there were 7!), ate snow cones, entered a few drawings (and won a lunchbox and t-shirt!), and looked at all the snazzy cars up there. There were some really nice vehicles up there!

Saturday night Morgan and I stayed up until 4am talking. I think that's what I'm going to miss the most when he is gone. The unexpected conversations in the middle of the night when every one else is in bed, and he comes out to the living room and says "What'cha doin?" That's my clue he's in the mood to talk. I have learned when my kids want to talk, it's time to talk. Sometimes it's for a half an hour, other times (like Saturday) it's for four hours. I am so thankful for the relationships I have with each one of my kiddos, and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world!

This Friday all of us are heading to the zoo for a family day. I am so excited! The St. Louis Zoo has a new baby elephant! I'm hoping to post pics this weekend! Have a great weekend, and I hope to see you at the Flags sometime! :)

He's Graduated!!

Yep, he's a high school graduate. I am so proud of him! Friday rehearsal was pretty rough. I kept wanting to tear up. But then rehearsal was over and we went to lunch with some friends, came home and started working on Saturday "stuff". When Morgan and I finished his board, I lost it. Completely. He put his arm around me and said, "It's ok Mom!" To which I responded, "No, it went too fast. Way too fast!" And I still believe that! We finished everything sometime after midnight. I believe we got to bed about 2a.m., but I'm not really sure when we got to bed.

Saturday before graduation I kept tearing up--ALL the time! It didn't take much! But something pretty amazing happened. I sat down for the processional and prayed God wouldn't let me completely lose it during graduation. Praise the Lord for answered prayer! I teared up a little bit when the class hymn, "When Christ Alone", was sung. It was beautiful!

All in the all, the ceremony was wonderful! Presenting him with his diploma was about my proudest moment. Dad actually handed it to him, but standing on the platform, realizing just how much he has accomplished this year, academically yes, but more importantly the struggles he has gone through and risen up to. That makes this Momma proud!

The reception after the ceremony was crazy! There were about a thousand different people there (or so it seemed when we were trying to get into the reception area!) , and it was very difficult to move. Once we got back to Morgan's table we stayed put. (Morgan didn't, of course. :) )

The party was a blast! There were a total of 89 people who attended, and I am thankful for every single one of them. It was a crazy day, and we felt like we had 5,000 thirty-second conversations. Morgan felt very loved Saturday, thank YOU for making his day special!

There are pictures on facebook for all to see of rehearsal, the ceremony, and the party. Go over, take a look!

Now we get the summer to spend some time together, go on vacation, and then August 17 will be here before we know it, and he will be moving into Cobbs Hall, Room 113, at Lindenwood University.

Congratulations Morgan! We're proud of you, and we love you!!

Four Days

In four very short, very packed days our eldest son will walk across the platform and receive his high school diploma. Wow. It's all come down to this. I'm excited! It's been an amazing journey God has taken us on the last 18 1/2 years! Morgan has been an easy child. I tell him all the time he was born older, he's always been mature for his age. (I wonder if his size when he was little had anything to do with that? People expected him to be older because he was so tall! I'm sure his birth order had a lot to do with it!)

I can remember when he was graduating 8th grade, so many people asked if we would continue home schooling through high school. I didn't have any other plans for his education, why not? I knew people who had home schooled through high school and their children seemed to be just fine. Then it started: he won't be able to get into college, (he did!); he won't receive any good scholarships (can you say Presidential Scholarship, AT&T Foundation Scholarship, Brightflight, and Missouri Access? I thought you could!); don't even try honors college, colleges won't even look at students who don't attend accredited schools for their honors colleges (you guessed it! He is enrolled as an Honors College student this fall!).

Am I little proud of him? You bet I am! This is a kid who will not brag on himself, but there is so much to brag on! He is exceptionally smart, he always has been. Yet, he thinks he's not smart enough. I think that pushes him, he always wants to do better. I love to hear him sing, and love even more to watch him sing. He is so animated! Morgan loves his family, and isn't afraid to show it in public. (What Mom doesn't love an 18 year old who still kisses your cheek when you leave in public, and isn't afraid to say I love you?)

You want to know what I am even more proud of? His personal stands he makes. He heard a girl call someone a retard because they flipped a sign over at Learning Center. I was the proudest Momma when he told the girl the boy wasn't a retard, and to call him that not only brings the boy down, but it also brings down people who were born with a mental condition. Of course the girl blew him off as being ignorant to her, but you could see the kids standing around him appreciated what he said. I got a glimpse into why Morgan is planning to go into social work, and it was pretty amazing. (It was also one of those tear moments for me, so I turned my back so he wouldn't see. I've wondered since then if he thought I wasn't supporting him?) He is one amazing young man!

He is the only one of my kids who attended public school. (He will still tell you he didn't get to go to the beach party at the end of the year!) His education has been the jumpiest, I think. In all he attended one year of public school, four of Christian school (I can honestly say there isn't much difference between the two) and the remaining seven were homeschooling. (At least we are at a majority homeschooling with him.) All in all, he is a well-rounded young man with a heart for God and others.

I am so proud of you, Morgan! I can't wait to post your graduation pictures!! I love you!!

A new year

Ok, so it's been a couple of years, yes years, since I last blogged anything. I had stopped doing it because the whole reason I was doing was to let family know what was going on with our schooling. The grands really like knowing what the grandkids are up to. :)


2011 has been memorable already. I can't wait to see what else God has in store for our family this year!

So far, Morgan has turned 18. We had a huge birthday party for him at the Knights of Columbus hall in Truesdale. We ended up with seventy-eight people attending (you know how homeschoolers are not socialized, right? haha). Evading, the band Morgan's best friend Andrew started a few years ago, played. We had so much fun! Putting the power point together was tougher than I thought it would be! Going through those pictures made me really miss when he was little bitty. It was pretty awesome! I'm still trying to figure out how to attach it to the blog, we'll see...

This year has been a year of mended relationships. I won't go into details, no need to. But to see the healing is so refreshing. The Bible says that bitterness eats away at you, and buddy I have seen that to be true! I was amazed at the feeling of relief!

Then came the blizzard of 2011. I keep hearing people say they didn't get much, come on over and check it out. We have about 15"! It is amazing to see it!












We did not take a snow day. I always give the kids the first day of snow off, but we've had so much snow this year I didn't see the point. We worked through, then today, when we could get out, we took them to Brunswick Zone to play Lazertag and bowling. It was the first time I have ever played lazer tag, and oh my word, what fun! I can't wait to play again! Bowling was an absolute blast! It was cheaper to bowl for 90 minutes, and get a pizza, salad, and drinks than it was to pay for just 7 games of bowling and shoes. So, of course, it was lunch! Ben had participated in Brunswick Zone's homeschool bowling this past fall. When we went in, the guy at the counter recognized him. (Which made Ben feel pretty special!) While we were bowling Ben was giving us all pointers on how to better bowl, and when we listened we could really see a difference. It was pretty cool! I was excited to break 50, as I don't do that very often. Ben had his best game ever at 99. Now his goal is to break 100. We'll see when that happens again. :)
Our first game took an hour. Christopher beat Ben by one point. We decided to see how far we could get in the second game with the 30 minutes of play time left.


Morgan started off a little slow, but overall it was great. It was a lot of fun to see how far we could get in the game before the timer ran all the way down. We decided to end it with frame 7 since everyone didn't get to bowl frame 8. If we had been doing quick play the first game, I think we would have gotten through a second game! Of course, I took pics of more than just the score screens, those pics will be on facebook. (Now that you've looked at the pics closely, I bet you are saying we are short one. Jeffery II didn't bowl today. He has been down with the flu for the last week, and just didn't have the energy to bowl after playing Lazertag.)

Thanks for reading! See ya soon!

Eckert's Farm Friday, October 2

We couldn't make the trip to Eckert's with Jeremiah Network last week, so we went this weekend with two families we are good friends with, the Northcutts and the Watsons. It was a great day to go! Beautiful sunny skies, a little fall breeze, and great friends! How could it not be wonderful! (Just don't ask Tina and Cheryl about getting lost on the way there. He he he)


The younger guys: Mason Watson, Benjamin, Ryan Northcutt, Christopher, and Andrew Northcutt. They liked having the top of the trailer!

Ben liked picking the apples that were at his level.

As did Christopher, Christopher's level seems to be getting higher and higher!
Mason and Ben look so much alike, that at first I thought this was Ben.


Morgan liked to study the apples before deciding whether or not they were good picking apples.




If you look on Facebook, Cheryl has the picture she is taking posted. (Might be under Amelia's page.)
Amber Northcutt and Victoria reaching for the same apple. I think Amber won!



Love this picture of the girls!


Tina and Cheryl in such deep conversation, they didn't notice me taking the picture.





Jeffery climbed to the top of the tree to pick an apple for Amelia.


He needed to smell it to make sure it was just right.




Jeffery on Jeff's shoulders. These two had a thing going on all day about jumping on each other's backs.


All the kids after apple picking, while we were waiting on the trailer to come get us. Benjamin decided his apples were his baby.




The Albertson kids on the green tractor. I love this tractor, it's half buried!




Ben and Andrew, two peas in a pod!


The view from the top of the hill was amazing!


Gorgeous! I love living in the midwest!!


Morgan accidentally grabbed his Dad's pants....


and two right shoes! Poor guy!



Tori playing in the sand box.

Ryan and Christopher put-put golfing. (If you look in the background, you will also see Andrew, Cheryl, Benjamin, Tina, and Jeff.


When we watched the pig races, Ben was chosen as the cheerleader for pig #2, Hammie Ray Cyrus.

Since Hammie won, Ben won a pink pooping pig. GROSS! BUT, he is all boy and thought it was great!



Four great teenagers! (And Mason.)


Jeff trying to pick Jeffery up.
At this point, he decided to try picking him up the same way he picks Ben up.

Success!


Jeffery had to get his Dad.






We waited forever to watch the jack-o-lob, only to find out the guy who operated the thing had left for the day already... :(

Ryan enjoying his candy stick.

Right before we left.