Quick catch up!

Alpheus and Eva

Sarah, Mary, Lydia, Hannah

Wow, I can hardly believe that I haven't posted here since March. The year is just flying by! Things are about the same but small changes have been really good!

For my husband, the church is continuing to grow slowly but in God's time we are sure. God has given us precious church family and though the months of late have had their share of difficulties, they have also been sweet times of leaning on God and His Word for all our problems and questions! Alpheus is still doing side construction work, but as work has dropped off and the temperature too, we are hoping he can give more time now to the church.

I am still homeschooling and loving it! The girls are getting so independent and their material more to my personal taste. I love learning or relearning all over with them! I have recently had an increase in children in my classes at church which is so rewarding too! The biggest change for me is having a pool memebership!! Yes, thank you darling husband! I may not be losing weight as fast as I hoped, nor going as often as I should, but it is wonderful when I do get to go!

The girls of course are loving that too! Hannah is nearly 11 and getting so tall! She is probably not tall for her age, but she is getting close to me, so I imagine she will make it at least a few inches more than me! Hannah's drawing is continuing to get better and I hope to help her get some lessons in the spring. For now, she is enjoying watching Bob Ross on PBS and teaching herself. She is also excited about taking sewing lessons soon. She mostly wants to sew doll clothes! I think it is precious that she still wants to play with dolls!

Sarah is approaching 10 and becoming quite the reader and writer. She takes wonderful notes during church time and enjoys helping me write lists for school or home needs. She is very sweet to her baby sister who is her roommate. She is also developing and excellent memory and loves to memorize poems and Bible verses! She is the word lover like her mother! She also loves to memorize songs and sing them all the time. It is a blessing to hear her singing hymns when she is playing.

Mary is half way between 7 and 8. She is doing great in school and still enjoys playing with Lydia whenever she is not doing chores or school work! She is my snuggle bug at this age. She enjoys that she is still small enough to sit on Mama's lap! She may be the shortest one and reminds me a lot of me! She is also growing in leaps and bounds with her writing skills and has learned to spell quite a few difficult words! She and Sarah are the fish! They love to be under the water as much as above it when we go to the pool. She also loves to braid hair and has learned to do her own. I keep telling her she has to learn so she can cut all of our hair for us!

Lydia is between 3 and 4 and learning so much each day. Her speech has always been delayed but has been getting much better recently. Several people at church have commented that her speech is much more plain now. Yes, I am doing much less interpreting! LOL She is learning to dress herself and brush her hair (at least four in the front lol) and loves to play with anything she can get her hands on. She entertains herself very well for the most part. I guess that is because she has so much time on her own while we do school. She is doing preschool activities about twice a week and without real lessons has learned to count to 12 and recognize 1-10 and about half the letters of the alphabet. She also loves swimming and any kind of running and jumping off of things especially!

I feel very blessed to have my family and I thank God each day for their love and presence in my life!