Birthday, beach and Vomit????

Okay, I'm getting ready to commit a huge bloggie sin... and I have done it before, but this is really bad. I am getting ready to post about my newest son's first b-day as a member of Team Dragovich-- and I am NOT loading pictures. This is not by choice. I used Tony's camera to take pictures and he can't find the cord I need to upload the pics onto my camera. To make matters worse... I didn't even TAKE a camera yesterday to our day trip to the beach because again, Tony's camera is missing a cord AND his card is full... and my camera's battery is dead and I can't find the charger-- which it doesn't really hold a charge anymore, so I see the end of my camera coming... but still. How shameful.

So... Thursday, August 20th, was JB's 6th birthday. Luckily, Sam's b-day was two weeks before, so he got to see a birthday in real time as we celebrate here at Team D. As the days approached to his big celebration, we would mention to him that he was going to have a birthday soon. He would smile and say, "No. Biruk-e birthday. No". We didn't really know why he kept saying this, other than maybe it wasn't the day yet, so maybe he was confused. Then, when Thursday came, we all got up and did our birthday thing and he kept saying, "No. No, Biruk-e Birthday. Sam's birthday. No, Biruk-e birthday". Every time we would tell him happy birthday, or say, yes, it WAS his birthday, he would say no. He tolerated our birthday fun all day, but denied that it was ever his birthday. Tony and I were somewhat puzzled over this, not really knowing if we were making him upset, if he didn't understand, etc. We thought once we did the cake and presents, he would brighten up and say, "Sure! It can be my birthday!" Instead he seemed so uncomfortable and uncertain of what to make of all the fuss over him. And at one point, I thought he was going to cry. He kept his silly smile plastered on his face the entire time, but when Tony kept telling him it was his his birthday and he kept saying no, I wasn't so sure we weren't headed for trouble. The crazy thing is, I think it was exactly what he needed. The persistent attention, the celebration of him, the constant, "Yes! It IS your birthday!!"... he just doesn't know how to handle the attention, affection and consistent love. Tony and I had a long discussion and just wondering outloud about his entire reaction. We laughed that we had just witnessed a first-- a kid who DIDN'T want a BIRTHDAY!! Now, let me just clarify-- he DID want the presents and was happy to unwrap gifts labeled "JB". But, consistent with a lot of his little quirks, the anti-birthday reaction helped put more of a face on our little boy's tough life before us. Joshua-Biruk wears a lot of masks to hide the hurt that he has experienced already in life. Most of those masks seem to present themselves in ultra-silly behavior, resistance to a lot of attention and focus on him, immediate "wounded" behavior when he is offended by a brother, over obsessiveness over Tony... there are more than just these, but Tony and I see these masks the most.

But... PRAISE GOD!!!... we are seeing less and less of the "beaten down little puppy" and more and more of the truly wonderful boy, God has perfectly created. It seems as though in the past two weeks, we have started to turn a corner-- or maybe it is more of a very wide turn... but either way, ALL of us have begun to settle more and more into our new, expanded family. I know I have talked before about lack of eye contact-- just in the last week, JB has looked at me-- ON HIS OWN-- EVERY time I have asked him to!!!! And he will even maintain eye contact for more than 2 seconds! Even when it is for discipline purposes for which I am speaking to him... he looks directly at me, and responds in an appropriate way. He speaks to the boys before he whines at them. They have many hours a day of appropriate and happy playtime together AND he seems to be really digging both soccer AND homeschool-- both of which started this week. And the boys have become INFINITELY more compassionate, kind and tolerant of him. Every day we pray, multiple times a day, for God to weave our hearts together as a family and He is so very faithful. Of course He is!

Okay, so that was a lot about the "birthday"... I'll try to be more concise on the "beach & Vomit"... as they sorta go together. Earlier this week, Tony got a wild hair to take a day trip to the beach-- we live about 2+ hours away and have made it a day trip before. We're crazy like this. He wanted to see the Hurricane Bill waves. Sure! I RARELY turn down a trip to the ocean! So, yesterday morning we get up and out the door later than we wanted, but still pretty early and headed to the beach. I noticed that RiSa was more crabby and lethargic than normal as we got ready to go. She was more fussy and sassy. I assumed she was mad that we weren't eating breakfast before heading out the door-- the girl likes her food. Well... after about 40 minutes in the car, I found out the real culprit. RiSa was sick!!!! She still is. She threw up consistently on the drive to the beach and once while we were there. JB joined her, of course in the vomiting fun-- you know, he gets car sick pretty easily and we don't get to "our" beach via interstate-- two lane state roads, through little towns, full of starts and stops, slow moving vehicles, turns and uneven pavements. She seemed to liven up at the beach. We all had a blast in the waves and sand, came home sufficiently lobstered and I thought all was well. No. She started throwing up again around 7pm last night and is STILL throwing up. It is 10:30 am on Sunday. I have never had a child throw up for over 24 hours. And once she started vomiting last night, she maintained a steady rate of "sick, Mommy" every ten minutes or so. To say that I feel like my head is in a fog right now is an understatement. And I'm still blogging. Whatever. Pour me more coffee. My husband is calling me his "hero" and has crowned me a saint for "letting" him sleep all night while I stayed up. As if I could have woken him from his coma sleep if I tried. What a goof ball. :)

Okay... last but not least... here are a few more quick notes of our last week:

*We started doing school this week. Tricky with 5 kids in-tow, but after a few adjustments to the schedule and activities to keep little bodies busy at the right time... we had a GREAT WEEK!! Who knows what chaos will come, but at least I am over the "starting school again" hump.

*JB seems to really dig school. Don't get me wrong, he loves to play more, but he comes very willingly to the table when it is his turn for "Mommy time" (one-on-one instruction) and has even taken a couple of the things we discussed this week during story time and applied them to every day (the boys sees every American flag we drive by-- and is sure to point them out to me-- "MOM! FLAG-- America Flag!" Too cute)

*The RiSa cuteness factor continues... this morning AS she was vomiting into her puke bucket, Isaac made the comment, "Mom, I just can't get over how CUTE Selame looks in those new pajamas!" She's even cute when she is vomiting-- at least to SOME of us :)

*I have been able to run more lately. I either run while at the soccer fields during practice-- that is, when Tony comes with us, too; or I put RiSa in the jogger, JB and Sam ride their bikes and I even bring Penny-- the dog-- along. I let Wyatt and Isaac stay home, since I am staying right inside our little neighborhood. I can get about 3 1/2 miles out of the boys, and of course, RiSa is happy to ride as long as I can push her :).

*We found out that both of RiSa's ear drums are perforated this week. We are being referred to ENT where we will determine what needs to be done. Obviously, this happened before we had her-- not sure if the holes will close on their own or not. They must be pretty large to still be open after such a long time. We never received any reports while she was in the Transition Home that she had a bad ear infection-- not sure that we would have-- but still... I'm a little concerned that they won't heal on their own and she will need to have them surgically repaired. None of my children have ever needed to be operated on, yet. When the realization hit me (more like Tony mentioned it-- very casually, I might add-- yesterday on the way to the beach), my heart dropped to my stomach and I almost started crying. Then I knew...

... these ARE my children, given to me by God, Himself for a purpose and a plan.

Grace and Peace,
Shari

You gotta give the boy credit :)

Wyatt had a math test yesterday-- first one in over a month, since we have been off and he has had his cast. There was a problem he didn't know regarding measuring liquids-- how many pints in a gallon... He couldn't remember and I wouldn't budge on giving him the answer, so he got creative. Next thing I know, he comes downstairs from where he is taking his test, he starts rummaging through the refrigerator, pulls out the almost empty milk carton, a one pint container of whipping cream and goes to work. He drank the rest of the milk so it would be empty, then he found a cup that looked the same size as the pint container of cream (thank goodness he didn't drink that, too!!), then he found a funnel with the science experiment stuff (I'm impressed he knew we even had that) and started pouring full cups of water into the now-empty gallon jug of milk... spilling and and sloshing as he went.



I was in the middle of teaching Isaac his Math, but I just had to stop and take a couple pics of my boy at work. I was proud of him for putting so much effort into this one problem! Unfortunately, he still got the problem wrong... but I think he deserves some credit for trying!!

In adoption news... two more families received referrals and several families are waiting to pass court in the next week, so they can go pick up their precious little ones!! I think it is so wonderful that there has been such a rush of activity this month... so many people are praying for children to be brought home to their forever families and Almighty God-- El Shadday-- is certainly working and answering the prayers of His faithful.

My love to you all! Stay warm and praise God for His sweet providing!
Grace and Peace,
Shari

International Night

Friday was International Night with our homeschool group. It is a lot of fun and an easy way to get the kids to learn about other countries. Here is a quick run-down of how it works, in case you may want to start something similar in your homeschooling community:

*Families choose a country to study and create a display of their country on a tri-fold display board.

*The children need to create three questions they would like for people to answer after "visiting" their country. The organizer compiles all the questions prior to the event and puts them into a "passport" book for children to use on International Night.

*The night of the event, everyone brings: a) their project (duh); b)a dish from their country to share potluck style-- with a label so everyone knows what they are eating and what country it represents; and c) some sort of stickers or stamps to keep at their display, so the children can "stamp" their passport after visiting that country.

*After everyone shares in a potluck meal, the children are free to go pick up their passport and begin learning about all the other countries represented. They write the answers to the questions in their passport on that country's page, stamp their passport, and move on to the next country!

It is nearly impossible to visit all the countries, but we sure have fun trying!!

I bet you'll NEVER guess which country Team Dragovich studied and displayed-- ha!! I am SOOOOO proud of my boys for all the work THEY did on their own-- finding and printing pictures from the net, printing MULTIPLE maps, until we got just the right ones, doing ALL the writing (if you knew how much my oldest hates to write, you would be falling out of your seat right now), cutting, pasting, painting and arranging on the display board and coloring Africa-- okay, they got worn out by then, and after coloring in 9 countries, they turned it over to Dad. All I did was guide the organization of the facts, paste the two middle maps and do some minor labeling of pictures once glued onto the board. And all on a week that we took off of school since it was Daddy's last week home with us.

AND, of course, to make it even cooler... we borrowed the GREATEST stuff from our friends the Coen's who have already been to Ethiopia and graciously trusted us with their sweet treasures. It all just made this whole adoption process more real to us. Which I don't know if that is good, because now my heart is aching a little more that it was before :).

Grace and Peace,
Shari

Team Dragovich's country-- are you surprised? If you look closely, you will see some flap books see my post on Live & Learn

The boys with some of our props-- Don't ask me why Wyatt has that bag on like he does-- it is a cloth bag you carry stuff in. Isaac is holding an eastern orthodox cross, and Sam is wrapped in a shawl made by the women who carry wood on their backs for a living.

Look at all the neat things the Coens loaned us! The boys' favorites were the toys for Silas, a book and his Ethiopian outfit... wow!

Isaac in Columbia-- this one is for our dear friends whose daddy is Columbian!!

He looks pretty natural in that Russian soldier hat, doesn't he :)?

Live & Learn Press

This one is for all you homeschool mommies. Last week at our homeschool support group meeting, we had the owners of Live & Learn come present their idea of Live 'N Learn folders. This is another name for a Lap Book. NOW, before you roll your eyes, groan within and click to read someone else's blog-- STOP!!! I know your pain! I have three boys! I know what it is like to do the dreaded-- P-R-O-J-E-C-T (insert climax music... take your pick). And I also know that I have looked on longingly at the lap book idea wishing if only I could figure out how to make one of those... without having to for-go laundry, dinner and cleaning the house... just so I can create a cool lap book project to go with our latest unit study!

What Live & Learn does is take all the hard work and do it for you. They a) teach you HOW to make these "mini-books" which go INSIDE your folders (e.i. lapbook) that you present your project information on; and b) they have created tons of unit study projects on cd-rom with all the templates for every "mini-book" you would make to go with the study and directions for how to assemble-- DIRECTIONS YOU CAN UNDERSTAND!! AND... they just started working with Apologia Science, and are creating Live 'n Learn notebook "folders" to supplement ALL of Apologia's curriculum. So... for those of you using Apologia Science, you can go to their website, buy the cd rom for your particular series (e.g. Team D. is studying Botony this year) and then have ALL the templates for answering ALL the questions in the form of these "mini-books", attaching them to 3-ring hole punched cardstock and stored in a lovely binder. So, at the end of the study, you will have a great "Lap Book" full of information on your subject, presented in these little "mini-books" that your child created (even if you do all the cutting and s/he does the writing-- or maybe for the littles, you even do the writing as they dictate to you the answers!).

Our first mini-book w/ Botony... pull tabs down-- they have to define "biology" and "botony" on the pull-tabs and give the roots of each

Let's discuss these "mini-books", because that is the heart of what Live & Learn does. Imagine flap books and origami rolled into one. Remember when you were a kid and you folded paper in all those funny ways and wrote 1,2,3,4.. red, yellow, blue, green, then did the little jingle as you manipulated the folded paper "thingy" to find out who you loved? (Rrr.. this is hard when you can't be "hands on"). That is what mini-books are. You fold paper in all different ways and then your child writes information in the flaps, or pull-ups (not the diapers!), or whatever sort of mini-book you made about whatever the topic is s/he is learning. Then, you attach your folded mini-book into a folder, decorate the outside of the folder and voi-la! You have a cool presentation that your kids can be super proud of!

This is the same mini-book with the tabs pulled up so you can see the answers. Isaac(7) did all the cutting and assembly himself-- I helped a little with getting the tabs in their inserts without ripping the paper.

I know, this still seems random and not very well explained. It is sort of a hard idea to explain without being able to give you a visual. My pictures aren't so great, but I tried to give you just an idea-- we just started our Botony folders yesterday. I will continue to post pictures as we make progress. In the meantime, go to their website and check them out! Download some of their free samples, print them out and start folding paper. Once you do that, I think you will get the idea and then the wheels will start turning. The possibilities really are endless!

And the real test??? My boys LOVE IT!!! They made their first little book yesterday and granted, it took a bit more time than I expect it to once we get the hang of what we are doing (I could have done all the cutting for them in advance-- you know, in all my spare time!)... Here is the real clincher for me. They were engaged the ENTIRE time (45 + minutes), they ENJOYED their Botony time (which has been gag before this!), they were SUPER proud of what they had done-- first thing they had to do was show it off to Daddy; AND they DIDN'T EVEN MIND WRITING!!!!

Go check them out: Live & Learn Press

Grace and Peace,
Shari

Hanna and other Happenings

We survived Hanna but not completely unscathed... can you believe that??? At about 7:30 this morning, Isaac pointed to the ceiling from the second story and said, "Hey Dad, what's that? Water just dripped on me." That was all it took to make Tony move faster than lightening. The next hour was a a flurry of, "GET ME FLASHLIGHT!!! I NEED A BUCKET!!!!! WHERE IS THAT FLASHLIGHT!!!!" Note to self, make a list of supplies that we MAY need in a hurricane and put them ALL together in ONE PLACE! I had all that stuff, but it was scattered all over the place. Not helpful. And my brain wasn't firing on all pistons at that moment either. Also not helpful.
Turns out, a venting pipe which goes out the roof of the house wasn't sealed properly, allowing water to seep down the sides of the pipe and down onto the ceiling. Fortunately we caught it early and it was a minor drip. It will also not take much to fix. No problem. I like high pressure situations in the morning-- wakes me up. You know I am not serious. The sad truth is, I have been secretly looking forward to Hanna's arrival for a couple days now. I knew she wasn't going to be strong enough to inflict real harm, but definitely mighty enough to cancel all our Saturday responsibilities.
The drippy ceiling was not our only injury. Our power never did go out, but did surge a few times-- again, early in the morning. Apparently, it got the best of our home computer. Tony can't get it to do anything but flash a blinking question mark at him. Hmmm... I don't think it is supposed to do that. We are going to take it to the Apple store tonight to have a diagnostic done on it. Fortunately, we have our computers covered as part of our USAA home owners policy and I am pretty sure we will get at least part of a new computer covered through them.

So, that is it for Hanna. It is gone. Quick mover, that Hanna is. Except now, I have no excuse for not doing a run this afternoon-- oh wait, yes I do. I have to have my computer "diagnosed". Besides, it's hot and sticky and still windy. And I'm on a low-mileage week, so I don't feel bad not running. Guess I'll have get back to business tomorrow.

In other Team Dragovich news, yesterday the boys and I were up at the crack of dawn driving to Spencer, NC. There is a pretty awesome Transportation Museum there and though it took us two hours to get there, it did NOT disappoint!! The boys had a FABULOUS time, learned a lot of fun NC Railroad history, and had LOTS of hands-on experiences-- of course, culminating in a REAL train ride on an old-fashioned passenger train. That wasn't their favorite part, however. Their favorite thing was playing Star Wars in the factory-turned-museum. They apparently turned the entire building into a Star Wars spaceship and ran from station to station turning knobs, pressing buttons, flipping switches and rooting out evil in-between the railroad cars. And in case your wondering what kind of mother lets her boys run wild in a train museum playing Star Wars... well, I could go to great lengths describing how the museum was really designed for such freedom of investigation- whether you are playing train conductor OR Star Wars... but, instead I'll simply say...I am that kind of mother :D

Enjoy the photos!
Grace and Peace,
Shari

Before the train, came the canoe


Can you imagine racing in this???

Wyatt and Isaac on the turntable... they aren't so sure yet.


Climbin' on the caboose

Getting on the Train


PS. BTW, we have been officially waiting over 3 months for our referral. Only 4-6 more to go ;)!!

The little things that make Homeschooling fun

Earlier this week the boys and I were engaged in our Unit Study on Lighthouses. I was reading a story to them from the book: Lighthouses for Kids. The story was an example of how lighthouse families had to become resourceful with their medical care. It told of a family who lived at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse station and the fun that the siblings would regularly have running up and down the iron spiral staircase of the lighthouse. Now, we walked up those stairs during our trip to OBX, and Wyatt was NOT impressed. He is not fond of heights in the first place and just the sight of those winding, open stairs which looked as though they were floating in space was enough to send him running the other way. He overcame his fear and eventually climbed to the top, but it was not without its drama. Isaac, on the other hand, looked as though some secret "Isaac language" had just been spoken and he lit up, exclaiming, "WOW! That would be fun!" Wyatt looked at him with clear disdain and just shook his head.
On with the story... One day, while the children were running up and down the stairs, one of the younger brothers FELL down the stairs and bit his tongue so hard that only a small piece of the tongue was barely hanging on. "Daddy took the scissors that he used to trim the wick and cut it off" recalled Vernon Gaskill-- the older brother. "It didn't affect his speech any but he had a little less tongue than he had before."

Isaac immediately clapped both hands over his mouth and all you could see where those big brown eyes of his, wide open with shock and horror. Wyatt sat grinning in his chair with a look of total triumph over his rightness to be concerned about even being on such dangerous stairs. When the story was over, I looked at Isaac, waiting for his reaction. Finally, after several seconds, he barely uttered, "I like my tongue just how it is, in my mouth." He slunk down in his chair, a bit dejected and that was the end of that.

Grace and Peace,
Shari

Books, books, books!!!

Well, here they are. THE bookcases. I am so pleased. They look very nice in our new homeschool room; and I actually had to pick them out from a book and NOT in a showroom-- yikes! The new home school room is supposed to be a formal dining room, but we are just not formal dining room people, and I would rather have my school room on the main level of the house, next to the kitchen, rather than off in the far reaches somewhere. When we first moved into the house I could never imagine the room being a school room-- it was just too fancy!! But, low and behold, piece by piece, we are making that "too fancy" room into a sweet place to do school. Next week I will order my desk and a side-board (for baskets, more storage and displaying projects, plants, etc) to complete the room. Never in my adult life have I been able to order more than one piece of furniture at a time-- it feels so indulgent! Last month, Tony gave me a set amount of money to spend on furniture for the rest of the year, and I feel such a responsibility to stretch it as far as I can. It was a complete surprise to me, as he had told me at the beginning of our adoption process, that it would push "probation" back for another year (for those of you who don't know-- "probation" is the code word for NO BUYING FOR THE NEW HOUSE for the first year we lived there. This was the condition we had for when we moved down here). I also have to purchase the rest of our curriculum and books for this next year on that money, so you better believe I'm doin' my research and constantly examining the "needs" v. "wants" and trying to prioritize accordingly.

I have also been looking for material for curtains, for all the rooms, but first for the homeschool room and kitchen-- I think it would be fun to do a nostalgic school-house print of some kind (in the home school room). Did you know you can order material by the yard on-line now??? I'm sure this is old news to any of you who sew, but I had no idea!! This makes the task of getting material SOOO much less daunting! And the prices for great material are great, too!

So, there ya go. Bookcases. Just a funny sidenote... do you know how many rooms had to be re-arranged and re-organized in order to turn the dining room into the homeschool room? Five. Yes, you read that correctly. My husband would say that only I could make a one room project turn into Five... I say it is my God-given talent for creative organization :D!!

Grace and Peace,
Shari

School's Out, School's Out, Teacher Let the Monkeys OUT!!!

Finally!! I can close the books and take a breather-- at least for a month or so :D! Yesterday the boys officially completed another year of homeschooling and their first year of schooling in NC-- testing and all!! We celebrated by going to the gym (so Mommy could work out), eating out at South of the Border (I don't really like their food, but the boys LOVE nachos and their palate isn't as fussy as mine), then shopping at Old Navy for some new summer digs-- I even splurged on myself and bought some much needed nighttime attire and 2 swimsuits (now that we live surrounded by lakes and swimming pools, I am finding that my meager swim wear wardrobe can't hang here in Carolina Lakes!!) Of course, after it was all said and done, I began feeling guilty for spending money on myself for such things as nightgowns and swimsuits-- oh yeah, and three tank tops; which is all I live in during the sweltering Carolina summers! Just about the time I had myself convinced I was going to return it all the next day (just my stuff), Tony brought up the mail that evening and-- lo and behold... there was a check in the mail, addressed to ME for almost the exact amount that I spent at Old Navy. Wow. At first it didn't dawn on me what sweet gift God had just deposited into my life. And then I started to realize how once again, He is such a personal Savior. It's not about the money. Honestly, we would have been okay if the check hadn't of come-- it would have been a long week until next pay day, but we weren't going to NOT eat-- we just would have just eaten a lot of rice, pasta and beans, and I would have not gotten in the van... all next week! :) It's about Him teaching me to not live in guilt-- over anything! Even when I do mess up and over-spend or yell at my kids or worry about stuff I have no business worrying about, His GRACE is sufficient and His mercy and forgiveness washes anew. Guilt only squelches God's Spirit which lives in me. And if my daily prayer is, "God, let me live AS Christ did with You-- in me and through me; let me live as ONE with Christ as Christ lives as ONE with You," then there is no room for guilt. Only forgiveness and faith that He makes all things NEW, and that He will finish His perfect work in me... and it is good.

Oops, that was an unexpected sermon-- ha, ha!! All I wanted to do was share with my 3 adoring fans that Team Dragovich is done with school :D!! Oh yeah, and to show you our growing garden and our "first fruit", too-- although I think in my excitement, I may have picked it too early. Tonight we must build an alter to the Lord and sacrifice our jalapeno pepper with fire and prayer-- Just KIDDING!!! We'll sacrifice it in the next batch of homemade salsa :D


Grace and Peace,
Shari

Conferences and Camping

Wow!! I think it has been way too long since I have last blogged. Part of that is no news on the adoption front... other than I THINK our Dossier is headed over to Ethiopia, but not sure. For those of you in the adoption circle-- I know that sounds ridiculous. How can I not know!! I mean, most people can tell you where their dossier is minute by minute as they watch it fly across the ocean and make all its stops before finally resting safely in ET-- thanks to Fed Ex and the invention of the "tracking number". Those of you NOT in the adoption loop, you may not understand that my lack of knowledge about the exact location of our Dossier is strange-- maybe you think that is just how adoption works... and I think in our family's case, you are RIGHT!! Last week, a lot of communication "break-down" occurred within the ET program and our agency. Some of it was NOT the fault of our agency... and some of it was. So, in light of the communication "drama"; I decided not to add to it by asking if our dossier made it out the AWAA door and onto the ET airplane. Our coordinator said it would be shipped off early last week and I am trusting that it did. I had other things which needed to be done before leaving town, anyway and trying to manage our dossier-- which is out of my control at this point-- would have been a fruitless adventure.

Did I say "leave town"? Why, yes I did. What I didn't say is that I left town... ALONE!!! It is hard to believe, I know. But, it finally happened. I left town and every man in my life (all 4) at home!!! I will not tell you the last time that happened, but I WILL tell you that it was the FIRST time that I have left home with Tony in charge-- for more than a day!!! And the funny thing is, he was the one who encouraged me to go! So, what was so important that my husband even recognized the importance of me leaving all of them??? The annual homeschool conference for NC was being held in Winston-Salem. HE is the one who saw that it was coming up, and encouraged me to get a room and go. Then I started talking with a couple of homeschool friends here and we decided to all go together. I felt so special and important as I packed my bags to leave home and go meet other "professionals" in my field of work!! I heard some fabulous speakers, spent time sharing with wonderful friends, investigated a dizzying array of curriculum, ate food that I would dare not order with my family around and even squeezed in a run through the historic Old Salem on Friday morning. Oh yeah, and I bought boat-loads of beautiful, inspiring, thought-provoking AND educational books!! Most importantly, I believe that God graciously revealed to me the heart of my boys, our family and His calling on our lives. He opened my eyes to the fact that I let my fears guide "how" I did school this past year and this was why it never seemed to "flow". It also explains why there seemed to be so much conflict, resistance to learning and just general "attitude" toward all things school-related. For those of you who live by "faith" and not by "sight", you know that "fear" and "love" cannot live in harmony together. Our past school year is proof of that-- there was a definite "lack of harmony". But, praise be to God whose love never fails and shows His mercies new every morning!! He will never leave His children where they are at. He is faithful to draw us ever closer into relationship with Him-- if we will just allow Him.
All that to say, I came away from the conference with a renewed spirit and sense of purpose and direction for each one of my children and school in general. I am super excited to teach this next year-- from a position of faith AND NOT fear!!

And if that were not enough, all my boys came and picked me up when the conference was over and drove me back to our campsite which they set up the night before in Boone, NC. We spent the rest of the Memorial Day weekend exploring the western part of NC, hiking, playing at the campground and just having some great fun-- Team Dragovich style :D!!

Grace and Peace,
Shari