It finally rained here !!!! HURRAY!!! Not that it's going to do a thing to help our poor "grass" (in quotation marks because our lawn is really clover and weeds now) or my now dead boxwood:(  RIP boxwood - let's see if Lowes will exchange your sad carcass for a fresh new shrub:)
I am in the middle of Oliver De Mille's A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the 21st Century.  Fascinating stuff - and ridiculously motivating, for homeschoolers and public/private schoolers alike.  He posits that the classics/mentor model of "education" is really the path to raising up folks who will know how to think as opposed to what/when to think.  I'm not yet finished so if there's more to add I'll do so in another post; suffice it to say, I am yet again praying and thinking over how to improve what we're doing here at home.  There are truly not enough hours in the day!

All of the kids (well not Ryan) pitch in during meal prep. Here's a perfect example of how we roll in our house!  Stripped down to our skivvies to peel a carrot:)  This was actually his first time peeling a veggie - he did a great job and his big bro was very complimentary at the dinner table.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, being in such close proximity with the kiddos all day has certainly brought to the surface some sin issues.  The children's ministry at our church has been studying the fruits of the spirit.  Great teaching for the kids, catchy songs, and a fantastic segue to our home learning, especially since we're around one another so much now!  So, I took each "fruit" put it on an index card and then added a magnet to the back, posted them on the fridge in easy reach, and we've been making a point of reminding one another of our fruitful or fruitless spirits!  We did this a while back with verses pertaining to behavior and I know my friend H has been doing it with the fruits too.  Anyway, I noticed last night that 'goodness' has corner missing. 

Turns out Ryan took a bite out of this one last night!  Really that about sums up our attitude lately - while we persevere in our desire to learn about our God, sometimes in a family unit, someone just takes a chunk out of our fruit!  Thank heavens that He is big enough to mend that hurt or soften our hearts from the anger that caused us to lash out and take the bite in the first place.  We forgive one another, pray for peace and a mended relationship and move on.  We have learned that more often than not we will sin again, but in those precious moments when we find victory over that sin and we have chosen His way and the fruit is demonstrated - boy howdy, doesn't that call for a celebration!  Mommy does a happy dance for self-control and peacefulness (a big victory in this house!) and while my kids may not want me following them around for the rest of their lives doing a victory dance over every little sin that's overcome, they know that their Lord does just that!  Hope he's a better dancer than mommy:)