What's Going On In Our Family

The third week of September, Rick, Matt, Laura, Kelley and I took off for the HSLDA Leadership Conference in Colorado Springs. We visited Focus on the Family the day we arrived on our way to the conference. The next few days were packed with inspiring sessions and plenty of sightseeing. We heard from James Dobson, LTG William Boykin, David Noebel and many others. I always stand in awe of how God is using the dedicated families of the homeschooling movement to change society and help to bring it back to the right path it was founded upon. I am excited to see what He will do in the next few years as we now have a large number of homeschooled kids who have graduated and desire for God to use them to accomplish great things for His Glory.

It snowed on the top of Pikes Peak, so we didn't get to go to the top. However, we toured Cave of the Winds and Garden of the gods and observed the wonders of God's marvelous creation all about us. We fellowshiped with many dear friends and met some new ones too. It's like a big family reunion! Our kids love to worship around the piano each night with other homeschooling families, singing praises to the Lord. They stay up till the wee hours singing hymns around the hotel piano. We didn't even bother to go to bed the night before we left, as we had to leave for the airport at 3 am anyway! It was worth it!

Extra special was the time we had with Chris Klicka, our dear friend who is now in glory, healed of his MS that he bore for 15 years. The kids and I came home on Sunday and Rick stayed on for a few days to try to be of service to the Klicka family. He is thankful for the precious time with his dear friend.

October 1st we attended Tina (our daughter-in-laws) baby shower. She's expecting a baby boy due in Nov., but probably will be here much sooner than that. We are excited for her and Nate as they await the arrival of Anne's baby brother. Anne was, of course, at the shower and had lots of fun with her cousin, Lauren. She enjoyed bringing Mommy each gift to open.

Last week our special fall day with Anne was on Wed. and with Cass and Adam on Friday. We packed in a lot of fun , as you can see from the pictures. We had a picnic in our woods, made leaf rubbings, Giant Thanksgiving sticker placemats (the biggest hit of all) , and did leaf scratchings and 'do-a-dot' fall paintings.

Kelley helped the grandkids make turkeys from apples and made cookies with Cass and Adam and gave Anne one of the mini pumpkins she grew in her garden this summer to paint. Next week we'll have more fun fall days with Luke and Melody and Lauren. Tomorrow we head for the Pumpkin Patch for a morning of fun. We'll be sure to share some of those pictures with you, too! Have a wonderful October.