Packing June 22-28, 2014

June 22-28, 2014

Hello Friends,  Dh went back to Michigan, and Dd and I stayed here in Indiana to pack, pack, pack!  We had Sophie (our dog) and Pappa had Smedley (our cat).  This week we had no formal lessons, I was hoping to finish up packing our house--but, we still have plenty left to do!  It just amazes me how long each step takes.  And working alone makes it do even slower.  Dd turns out not to be very helpful, unless Giz is working with her.  She was not helpful or happy to be here this week without Pappa, and packing "her home".  I had a hard week trying to keep working while dealing with her difficulties.  She had gone swimming with the "L" family last Saturday and got so sunburnt that Monday she was still miserable--and stayed miserable until Friday.  This was her second sun burn, both when I was not with her---sun burns are one of my particular issues and I always make sure she has on LOTS of sunblock and a shirt.  She had to take a nap on Monday and was "tired" all week from her sunburn.  She was absolutely miserable from Sunday to Friday...not any fun to spend the day with a unhappy kid! 

Monday-packing all day.  I started taking down my paintings from all the walls, vaccuming them, spackling the holes, and touching up the spackle with paint.  In hindsight, I wish I would have just left the small holes on the walls that had been painted.  I could easily match up the "Egg Shell" white walls, but the other walls with bold colors were very hard to match.

Tuesday, packing with Giz and Grampy here--then they returned after dinner. G&G were kind enough to take Pappa Kitty to the farm.  Pappa Kitty use to "belong" (he is partly ferral, so he just showed up) to the family 3 houses down from our house.  Well, the father killed his wife, then killed himself.  So, the poor kitty was wandering around getting skinner and skinner until I started feeding him.  He likes to wander around the houses in our little section, but I know for a fact that none of the other houses would feed him.  I can't take him, I've tried before, and he sprayed in our house (repeatedly).  So, he will be feed each day at the farm and petted by Grampy and Jeff often.  Once we get a home again, I will take him there.  I can't take him to the tiny apartment, they would call the pound on a wandering cat.  So far he has stuck around and seems to be enjoying living in the "smoke house".  The other critter G&G took for us is our Sucker fish.  It is almost 12'' long.  We have had it 8 to 10 years...somewhere in there... it is definitely the biggest, longest Sucker fish I have ever seen.  They thought they were agreeing to take a normal sucker fish, not a monster-sized one.
**G&G and Dd got Dd's room completed!!!

Wednesday-"HUMP DAY"-boy, was I out of fuel and didn't get a lot done.  I can't say this happens to me often, very rare, but I just could not motivate myself to do much.

Thursday-Good packing day, then we were invited over to the "L" families house for dinner with them.  Then Dd went swimming with them for an hour.

Friday- I had a migraine building throughout the day.  I would work awhile, rest a while, and as the day progressed my work decreased and my resting increased.  Some progress was made, but not as much as I had hoped.  Pappa came home around 10pm.  I did get all the paintings organzied and put out in the garage, by height, in rows--with cardboard between each one.

 

Saturday- Giz and Grampy came back up and helped us pack some more.  They worked on the first floor so they (especially Grampy) didn't have to go up and down.  On Tuesday, poor Grampy took load after load from Dd's bedroom to the garage; and was plain tuckered out!
**I got the Purple Room completed--the closet still has a few things, but that shouldn't take me long to box up.

 Read Aloud's:

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller

 Dd's Readers:

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, Book 2) by Rick Riordan

(re-read--in process)

The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 4) by Rick Riordan

(re-read--in process)

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean and Scott M. Fischer

(re-read--in process)

Hawksmaid: The Untold Story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian by Kathryn Lasky

 Completed!

The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds

 Completed!

These Happy Golden Years (Little House) (Edition Reprint) by Wilder, Laura Ingalls [Paperback(2004£©]

 In Progress--

 Core F stuff:

Music:

We bought a three-disc music collection on music from Africa at Sam's a few years back--we've been listening to it this week.

The Tree Where Man Was Born and The African Experience by Peter and Porter, Eliot Matthiessen

Jacques Cousteau's Amazon Journey by Jacques Yves Cousteau and Mose Richards 

 

African Art: Its Background and Traditions by R.S. Wassing (1968)

 

(Add-in Reader):

Facing the Lion: Growing Up Maasai on the African Savanna by Joseph Lemasolai Lekuton

(in process)

Audio's:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1) by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter

By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

(completed)

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe CD (The Chronicles of Narnia) by C. S. Lewis and Michael York (Nov 19, 2013) - Audiobook

(completed)

The Last Battle CD (The Chronicles of Narnia) by C. S. Lewis and Patrick Stewart (Nov 19, 2013) - Audiobook

(completed)



audio on iPod:

The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus, Book 4) by Rick Riordan

Cooking:
Helped Giz make dinner on Saturday--she worked hard and did a great job!

Tuna Melt

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Sonlight Core F Week 30 June 16-20th, 2014

Sonlight 

Core F 

Week 30 

June 16-20th, 2014

Our first week in Grand Rapids went fine.  On Monday we went to Grand Haven State Park http://www.tripadvis...y_Michigan.html, and had to pay for a "non-resident" sticker since we have Indiana plates.  It was a big beach that seemed to go on and on!  There was also a lighthouse, but we didn't go to it.  We walked the shore for about an hour.   Tuesday we found the Wal Mart and did some shopping there.  The Wal Mart's patron's were not as fancy as the Meier we had been to the week before.  Then Thursday we went to the downtown library and checked out some new books (see the Readers for the week below) then in the evening after Dh got home we went to another park--the Comstock Riverside Park.  We walked the grassy shore around the lake, and looked at the view of the Grand River.  It was nice---too many people there; but nice.  We saw lots of geese and ducks in the lake, and a BEAVER!  That was really neat!  We walked around the lake, and looked at the Grand River beside the lake.  Grand River is the big river that goes through (and gave GR it's name) Grand Rapids.  Oh, and the ducks and geese had all their babies with them--so great to see.  One geese couple had 11 babies!  I don't know if they all belonged to one mom or not; b/c there were 3 adults swimming with the babies.I'll post pictures of all we saw next week.  Friday Dd and I drove back to Indiana after successfully seeing Dh off to work.  

Dh completed his first week at his new job.  He see's that he has a lot to offer the company and has some things in mind that he wants to work on to improve things.  I am glad we got him off on the right foot.  This week Dd and I will stay in Indiana and work on packing up the rest of our house.   One week in the apartment has really been different.  Trying to get use to such a small space has been difficult.  Instead of doing our lessons & reading in our 'library' we have been doing it in our beds.  The apartment really is basically a large hotel room, and there isn't space to do much.  I also succeeded in using a dryer for my clothes, instead of using my drying racks like I am use to.  It makes the clothes really soft, but the dryer takes forever to dry our clothes--even splitting the small load in half and drying one half at a time.  I think our dryer and our microwave  are either old or have a lower energy level than we are use to. 

This week Dd had a lot of bad days and feeling like she "had nothing to look forward to".  We tried to go to the two parks and find our new library in hopes that we could show her some of the positive things of Grand Rapids---but she stuck with her 'not happy' attitude.  Between you and me, she really liked the downtown library.  The library was beyond huge---I am not sure how many stories, but it was big!  The two things she really liked--they have a big "teens" section filled with lots of Rick Riordan books and graphic books.  Also, she loved the mosiac tile floors and marble columns.   There was so much marble!  The library is really beautiful, old, and built with so much care!

We have a "library" in one of our spare rooms that was floor to ceiling books, on all four walls.  I never would have imagined how long it would take, how many boxes it would take, and I'm still not done!!!  It just goes on and on!  I could use prayer on this---we still have a lot of things to pack, and a small space to fit all the boxes into.  I don't know how all our stuff is going to fit into our garage!  I have a LOT of work ahead of me this week!!!  We are going to take next week off from lessons, so I don't get distracted from the job I need to focus on.  I'd rather be reading to Dd, but I *have* to get things packed up---and wish I had a team on my side! 

Living in a house, with a fence, we are use to just opening the back door and letting out our dog, Sophie, out.  Now that we are in an apartment, we have to take Sophie for walk after walk after walk!  I am really surprised by how lovely and natural the grounds of our apartment neighborhood are.  It seems every other tenant has a dog and walking your dog is very common.  In our neighborhodd in Indiana, few people have dogs, and those that do don't walk around our neighborhood.  I always felt like I was on show when talking Sophie for a walk, and I don't get that feeling when walking Sophie in our new neighborhood.  That really is very nice.  But, the downfall is that Sophie doesn't get to RUN and do her laps like she could in our backyard. 

We had a very light "lessons" week.  Our Read Aloud's consisted of Star of Light by Patricia St. John.  I really liked this book a LOT.  It was similar to a Lamplighter book in that it was a wonderful testimony to Christian growth.  We are really enjoying Star of Light, a Core F book.  We didn't do any spelling, science, or language arts---just some reading and math (and bible).


Star of Light (Patricia St John Series) by Patricia M. St. John (completed)
Yesterday it had a really touching part in it; a boy who had stolen eggs from the English woman who had been feeding him and the other orphaned boys.  She was walking with him to see another boy, at night, and had a beamer/flashlight to show the way.  But, the guilty boy stayed out of the light and walked in the dangerous gutters.  He eventually tripped on something and fell hard on his face, which cracked the eggs on his chest.  She then realized why he wouldn't walk with her.  It lead to a really great and meaningful section.  He knew he deserved to be yelled at or beaten (those kids seem to get beaten a lot in this book), and definitely he figured he lost his free dinner each night and wouldn't be allowed back in her house.  Instead she acted like Jesus, and lovingly cleaned him up and replaced his thread-bare clothing with much better, clean, dry clothes.  She cleaned and wrapped his bloody knees.  She made him feel loved.  Then she described how b/c of his stealing the eggs, he couldn't walk in the light or on the path---and how our sins do the same thing with our walk with the Lord.  He needed to ask for forgiveness from her, but also from the Lord.  The events of this one night changed his life and his relationship with the Lord.  The story gives a lot more details, but you can get the idea from the little I wrote here.  The next thing he did was to care for a starving kitten.  Her actions opened a part of his heart so much that he now cared for others beside just his attention for himself.  What a really good lesson for children (and adults) to read about---a very visible and tangible lesson that we can all understand.  Another one of those books that has a cover that doesn't really draw you in, but the story has been very good.  We are only a bit over half way through--so I don't know how satisfying the ending will be yet...but, wanted to share.  It is like the Lamplighter books that have a good story PLUS have such a good 'sermon', for lack of a better word, for the Lord's grace and goodness to us.  Just thought I would share in case anyone might be looking for an extra book to add in that will also help with Christian Character building.

Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar (Christian Heroes: Then & Now) by Janet Benge    (completed)

Another Core F Read Aloud we have been enjoying is entitled Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar.  My only problem is that I know her story so well, and don't remember which book I had previously read!  But, Dd doesn't remember the story so she thinks she is reading it for the first time.   It is an amazing story of how this little Irish red head puts all her faith in the Lord and He takes care of her time after time in impossible situations.   It shows us how much the Lord is involved in our lives and the most minut details of it.

For our bible this week--we did read a few Psalms, but we are still reading the book:

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller

We are really liking this book, and even though I have read it before, I am just as pleased as the first time.  This is the type of book that has such deep things to think about you don't want to rush through it.  It may take a while to read it all...we will see.



Readers:

The Odyssey by Gareth Hinds

Odyssey

Hawksmaid: The Untold Story of Robin Hood and Maid Marian by Kathryn Lasky

Hawkmaid by Kathryn Lasky

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, Book 2) by Rick Riordan

Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan

 Audio:

Little Town on the Prairie (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

completed LTOTP

By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

(in process) 

Narrator: Cherry Jones



EHN: Africa worksheets & Worldbook:
1 hour

Pre-algebra Test Booklet Math U See by Steven P. Demme

Math:
Math U See: Pre-Algebra
3 A-E


We have taken so many pictures this week (so has Dd), but I don't have time right now to compress and add them in right now.  I will get some pictures as soon as things settle down a bit.  

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Sonlight Core F Week 29 "A" June 9-13th, 2014

Sonlight 

Core F  

Week 29 "A"  

June 9-13th, 2014

My first post from Grand Rapids, MI.  We are in a teeny, tiny apartment, on the bottom floor (ground level- first floor).  We have a total of three windows, which is funny b/c our home in Indy has three windows in our Master bedroom alone!  I should say that everything about ending up in this apartment has really felt lead by the Lord.  The other apartment that we were really leaning towards getting was on the THIRD floor!  With this apartment we backed the UHAUL back, almost to the door, and unloaded in record time.  It was just SO easy, and you usually don't hear "so easy" when talking about unloading your furniture!  

This week I focused on packing, packing, packing and Dd did her reading and some packing.  Then on Wed. we got our UHAUL, and filled it to the brim!  It was a 20 ft. truck, and we did a great job organizing it so that nothing was broken during the drive.  Our wooden bed frames somehow got scratched, but that is all of our bad news.  We unloaded on Thursday (with Giz and Grampy helping), spent the night, then headed back to Indy on Friday. 

Dh and Dd were too tired to do much packing Fri., Sat., and Sun. but, I still had plenty of motivation and energy to keep going.  I mowed our yard and got some more things in boxes.  Then on Sunday we drove back to GR with our dog and cat.  Giz and Grampy have agreed to take the stray kitty to the farm and feed it there while we are in the apartment.  (We had neighbors that the husband killed his wife, then himself, and left a kitty behind.  After watching the cat get skinner and skinner I started feeding it.  Then the son of the couple came back to pack up the household and I gave him the cat...and then the cat was back at my door the next day!  So, I've been feeding this cat for a while now.  I asked the son the history of the cat, and he said he was feral and just showed up at their door....)

Dd was so blessed to go to the Children's Museum along with the "L" family on Wed. to see the actual Chinese Warriors that archeologists dug up in China.  She had a blast!  We had signed up to do that weeks before and I didn't know that that would be the same day Dh would plan to get the UHAUL.  Dh's father helped load the van with Dh using a dolly.  Grampy is in his 80's so he doesn't do much lifting, but really wants to help.  Some people might think the mom/wife wouldn't be one of the most active loaders, but they would be wrong--I am the youngest of our group of workers and was busy from sun-up to sun-down.  Dh and Grampy had to spend hours getting the actual UHAUL since they requested the wrong truck and then had to drive to another place to get a larger truck...mini chaos...meanwhile, I packed and worked at the house.  Giz did a great job preparing meals for us, and packing some kitchen things.  She is still on severe lifting restrictions since she just had open heart surgery a few weeks ago and isn't feeling strong at all.  Poor dear, she is really struggling to recover from this--and she just had her knee replaced a few months before that.   I made it clear they didn't need to help us, and she made it clear that not helping wasn't an option. 

I asked Dd to tell me some of her thoughts on GR and I would write them down for her, and then we could look back on her first thoughts after we have been here a while and see if she still feels the same way after a few months.  Here is what she said to write down:

"GR is more artistic, more developed, bigger city feel, buildings are more creative and new.  People like to dress-up a lot.  There is lots and lots and lots of sand!!!!!  City has a "big city feel", more than Indy.  The weather is cold."

I do see and agree with Dd on the "dress-up" comment.  I sat outside Meijer grocery store with Sophie (our dog) while Giz, Grampy, Dh and Dd went in, to watch the crowd and get a feel for the people.  I was amazed at how many people were dressed up.  Most men had khaki dress pants on---that wouldn't be the case in Indy.  In Indy, there would be lots of jeans and shorts.  It seemed the majority of people were dressed very nicely, and only a very small percent were wearing t-shirts and/or shorts.    Oh, and she is right about the soil being VERY different than Indy---clay vs sand--very different!!!

The "lessons" from our week:

 
Bible:

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller


 
Audio's:

Little Town on the Prairie (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Little Town on the Prairie--completed
by Laura Ingles Wilder
 *narrator: Cherry Jones

By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder

By the Shores of Silver Lake (Little House)--in process
by Laura Ingles Wilder
 *narrator: Cherry Jones

The House of Hades (Heroes of Olympus, Book 4) by Rick Riordan

The House of Hades--in process
(Heroes of Olympus, Bk 4)

Reader's:

A Hardy's Day Night (Hardy Boys Graphic Novels: Undercover Brothers #10) by Scott Lobdell

Hardy Boys-A Hardy Days Night--completed

The Son of Neptune (Heroes of Olympus, Book 2) by Rick Riordan

The Son of Neptune--in process
(Heroes of Olympus, Bk 2)
by Rick Riordan

Cave of the Dark Wind: A Never Land Book (A Peter and the Starcatchers Never Land Book) by Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry

A Never Land Book: Cave of the Dark Winds--in process
by Dave Barry

Escape from the Carnivale: A Never Land Book (A Peter and the Starcatchers Never Land Book) by Ridley Pearson, Dave Barry

A Never Land Book: Escape from the Carnivale--in process
by Dave Barry





Art:
Made a great Father's Day card!

 

Gym:
Worked out alone in her room---she is getting in shape to be a surfer!

Geography:
Two trips from Indy to Grand Rapids, and back again.


Field Trip:
http://www.childrensmuseum.org/
Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Tera Cotta Warriors/Chinese Warrior exhibit
Take Me There China
Waterworks


Baking:
She twice made Shortbread Cookies from scratch

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Pictures from June 9-13th, 2014

Pictures from June 9-13th, 2014

to come!

Photo's June 7th, 2014

 Photo's June 7th, 2014

Here is the Mallard that keeps visiting our backyard!  He flies in and out- I think he is eating birdseed that has fallen.

Dd made two shortbread cookie's

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Sonlight Core F Week 29 June 2-6th, 2014

Sonlight Core F

Week 29

June 2-6th, 2014

This week had a little bit of everything in it.  We had another wonderful hike with our friends, the family "L's".  We went back to Eagle Creek Park and walked around the lake.  Then Dh had his last day of work at the "S" company!  What a completion of a major life event---8 1/2 years of it.  I am so praying that his next company will be better; much better, for his sake!  Then the three of us drove up to Grand Rapids to find an apartment for us to move to while we sell our house.  It feels like we are going backwards by going to an apartment, but I will just keep reminding myself that this is temporary.

I have to admit, that I had a really hard morning today.  I have been feeling mostly good about how God has been leading us.  We had prayed for my Dh to find a new job for year after year, and finally the Lord opened this door.  Then I knew that the Lord would also open the door and show us the path of what to do, and how to do it.  But, then today I just felt so emotional and so "behind" and "lost" about what direction to take.  And then we changed our mind about which apartment we were going to choose, and that changed my whole outlook.  It was like the Lord was telling me the plan "we" had chosen was not right, and once we righted it, I felt better. 

Grand Rapids seemed so busy; and the traffic was so intense!  i hope that I can get use to the "Michigan Left Turns" which is really doing U-Turns instead of being able to turn left at the lights.  In Indiana, if you want to take a left at an intersection, you get in the 'left-turning lane' and wait for the green arrow to go left....but, they don't do that there!

Bible:

Believer's Bible Commentary   [BELIEVERS BIBLE COMMENTARY -SS] [Hardcover] by W.(Author) ; MacDonald, William(Author); Farstad, Arthur L.(Editor) MacDonald

Bible: Psalms: 62, 127, 28, 29 30, 31, 23

We read the bible chapter, then we go to the Believer's Bible Commentary and read what it has on that same chapter.

Since we have been reading Psalms, I remembered a wonderful book I read a few years back and thought Dd is old enough now to also enjoy this--so we are reading it now:

A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller

A Shepherd Looks At Psalm 23 by W. Phillip Keller

Men of the Bible: A One-Year Devotional Study of Men in Scripture by Ann Spangler and Robert Wolgemuth

We also read the section on David from Men of the Bible by Ann Spangler

Language Arts:

Daily Grams 7, pg's 96-99

Core F items: AFRICA

EHN Pages Worldbook: 2x @ 40 min. each

Mary Slessor: Forward into Calabar (Christian Heroes: Then & Now) by Janet Benge and Geoff Benge

 Read Aloud:

 Mary Slessor: Forward to Calabar

(in process)

King of the Wind: The Story of the Godolphin Arabian by Marguerite Henry and Wesley Dennis

Reader: King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry

(completed)

Movie:

King of the Wind

(Dd said it was NOT like the book.)

Math:

Math U See: Pre-Algebra

2 A-D

Current Events:
CNN Student News online

The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Couloumbis

Family Audio:

The Misadventures of Maude March

(Fantasticly Funny!)

Dd's audio:

House of Hades by Rick Riordan

Fun Readers:

1)The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan (in process)

2)The Labyrinth by Rick Riordan (in process)

3)Took the week off from her Trixie Belden book--it was in a bag!

Foreign Language:

Rosetta Stone: French: 2x @ 40 min each

Nature/Science:

Hike at Eagle Creek

Saw 2 Hawks in their sanctuary; Dd really enjoyed seeing those birds.

Travel:

Went to Grand Rapids, MI.

This week we rescued...and released a Snapping Turtle!

We went for a hike at Eagle Creek Park with our friends!

The park had 2 injured hawks that we visited:

This hawk was very large--but it is in the back of the cage, this photo doesn't do it justice!

I believe this OLD tree was brought in from the Redwood Forest for us to see.  They had historic happenings posted on the ring it would coincide with--so cool.  Currently, a black snake family was living in there and the white sheet of paper is telling us to be aware of these innocent/harmless snakes....so, basically asking people to be nice.

A deer at the park

Another load of books we donated to our library--

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