The J6 Journey: Year 4, October 28th-31st, 2019: Reformation Week

Let's just skip all the Halloween garbage (I don't even like capitalizing that word, because it's not a holiday to me) and focus on Reformation Day! I started to look up some activities we can add to our reading of Martin Luther nailing the 95 theses to the door of the church, which named his grievances against practices in the Catholic church. And, it so happens that we are studying that exact lesson this week! Woot! Woot! I'll be sure to share those with you on Thursday. This month has FLOWN by and that's a good and bad thing. It's great that we are almost done with the Halloween stuff and bad because it's now the holiday season and we have to prepare and plan for Christmas and traveling. Eek! I actually am on the ball this year and have started purchasing some things in the past week, including picking up an item this evening for a wee one. And because I'm thrifty, I got it and lots of accessories that don't usually come with it for the same price as it is brand new. So, we're getting there. But first, more school, hiking, and Thanksgiving.

School went well today, although I was twiddling my thumbs waiting for kids to wake up and get some done so I could correct it. I had a foggy fibro brain this morning, but managed to get a few things done like thoroughly vacuum the sunroom and fireside room. And I made a hot wheels trick track project with Abishai. I still haven't cracked open any books lately. Sigh. The kids got their work done, I went over history and science, etc. with Keturah and that went ok. Then I sent them outside because it was 65 degrees today and sunny with just a little breeze. Justin mowed the lawn, probably for the last time. It needs a trim again, although he thinks that the cold temps will kill off the rest. He doesn't realize that the stuff will be dead and still have to be cleaned up eventually. Sigh.

Then I had to run out to a counseling appointment and pick up said item above. It was all the way in west Greenwood. I always forget that the town offices and mall are all on the east side of Greenwood. There's a lot more to Greenwood than I realize! Then I had to get a couple of groceries because little man is out of animal crackers and other crackers just won't do. #spoiled The kitchen was still a bit messy and that threw me off. Kids needed their teeth brushed, too. It's 9pm, all of this is usually done by 8, what have you been doing? Sigh.

After 4 1/2 years of ministry at the Creek, Josh Howerton has moved on to a church in Arizona where is brother is preaching. We will miss you, Josh! Lots of tears by the youth I've heard.

#seniordog #angelpuppy

Abishai put my hood on my head and said I look like Ava. Ok. Sort of.

Such a special person to so many.

Sunbathing again in his old age.

Abishai said, "This is the bad guy's jail. He put the good guys in prison."

Note the paper in between the cars.

As the first car hits the paper, it's energy is transferred to the second car. So if the box is closed then it seems likthe car changed completely like magic. Abishai thought it would really work. Sorry bud, it's an illusion. But it did work well for many cars. Sometimes the second car is too heavy for the first car to push it.

Abishai thought he needed a blanket.

No more snow in the forecast, but with two days of rain previously, will make the trail very slippery. We are going to try aynway.

He put all the pieces in before pushing it down with some of his cars on top.

I texted Benaiah and he said they were two hours away from Ozark Christian College. So I randomly backtracked for two hours on the route I assumed they ok. I freaked Benaiah out because he thought I was tracking him some how. Nope, just using math and map skills.

Joplin, MO is approximately 50,000 people just like Charlottetwn.The CFA near the campus is still 10 minutes away by car and 1 hr by foot. Also, CIY head quarters is directly next to Ozark's campus. I'm thinking they have a close connection.

Benaiah's already thinning about how he can transfer down that CFA or one that is a few blocks way and across the highway. Crazy! I hope he enjoys seeing all the Indian Creek kids there and learn something about college life.

Everybody had to be outside for 1 hr. Keturah choose to read in her pj's on the front lawn. What I really meant was that you had to be physically active for 1 hr. That obviously didn't work, eh? At least she got her CC memory work right, today, at least parts of it. Crazy thing!

Tuesday I again tried to stay busy. I think it's a bit of a detriment physically because I'm starting to feel more tired and sore. I need to take some more short rest breaks. It took me over an hour to use the "swiffer" mop on all the exposed laminate around the house. Praise God for a single story house! Then I went into the shed project, getting out different toys for Abishai. Then it was already lunch time and school time. I finished school with Keturah just as Jared walked in home early from work so he could finish the termite project. I got dinner made, the house picked up, and email caught up on while I waited. Ate supper, cleaned up, rested while the guys at their chat, and then wow, it's bedtime already. Sigh. Normal full day. Tomorrow is a little mixed up with Abishai staying overnight at Grandparents house tonight, Justin has the PSAT 8/9, and he has D group and Keturah has dance. It will be the last night for Rooted, and I'm glad. No more back and forth driving. D group is somewhere new and I have to go past our house to get there, so I will leave the boys home while I transport Keturah. That way, Abishai doesn't get car sick. I'll be a tad late picking her up, but it should be fine because there's a class after her. Tomorrow is a new day! And this day went well, too. Yeah for good days!

Hello, Banana phone!

Ignore the people in the foreground. There are stipulations to the $1,000 Tuesday Tour scholasrship. Thankfully, based on first quarter grades, Benaiah still qualifies. If it was me, I would have easily qualified for the $5,000. I didn't pay attention to all the little scholarships I received during the four years I was in college, but to come out of school only $20,000 in debt when both of my schools cost $25,000-30,000 a year means yeah, my grades counted for something, plus income based since we were married for the last two years. My debt was mainly from my first two years which were on my parent's FAFSA. Anyway, maybe this will help Benaiah see why he has to study and do well on these tests.

60 degrees, and all of them are in their pj's, but they were starting to get cabin fever already. Out they go! Even for 10 minutes and it helps!

Jared brought home a new history book. It's 2 inches thick and 11x18. And I LOVE it! I can't wait to use this with school! I dove in and found a lot of significant dates and events. Here are some of them below.

Death of President Lincoln.

End of Civil War

(I kind of skipped the World Wars and Depression, oops!) Men Walk on the Moon.

Teacher from New Hampshire dies in shuttle explosion. One of the only field trips I remember going on in public school was to the planetarium that honored her name. Surely it was already built and they just changed the name. I don't know, but I will always recognize her name because of the planetarium in New Hampshire.

Operation Dessert Storm, I was in 4th grade. I looked for Princess Diana's wedding, but they didn't have it.

Oh how I remember this. I was just becoming aware of the outside world. I remember hearing about it on the news and following the story.

I remember this too. I've been watching documentaries on her life this week. Crazy!

Won't forget this one because Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant flew out and sang at the memorial service. It impacted Michael W. Smith so much that he wrote "This is Your Time" and he still plays it often in the concerts.

Of course this one.

Hurricane Katrina, the whole reason Aaron's family is there and not here.

I remember this, too! And looking up information about it!

And of course a magnifying glass for those first pages from the 1800's!

I didn't take photos of the more modern times because it was mostly mass shootings, political uneasiness, or sports or something. I did see an noticeable change in how the paper seemed to favor Obama and every headline for Trump is negative. EVERY news outlet is biased! No one can write without having their worldview and bias having an impact on their writing. No one. Pretty cool book, though!

Went to look for #2 pencils in Benaiah's bag for Justin as he is taking the PSAT 8/9 test tomorrow. Instead, I find all the other essentials including drumsticks and three rubics cubes. Apparently, we favor mechanical pencils in this house. I'm going to have to pick up some plain #2 pencils and label the box "for testing only!" Good grief!

I also found baby shark in one of Benaiah's little boxes. Hi, little guy!

Grandpa asked if Abishai could come for a sleepover tonight since he was home. Abishai again wanted to pack for 4 nights. But we convinced him to just pack two fruit snacks. They built with tinker toys and then watched Paw Patrol and ate blue moon ice cream. Sweet!

Abishai finally got his wish and we switched out toys again from the shed. And he was elated! And jumping for joy! "New toys! New toys!" Well, if I don't have the heart to get rid of them, at least I'm using the rotation method to keep things fresh and interesting. But this is quite the loft bed, isn't it? I didn't think he would be that interested in the Dulpos since he plays with regular Legos, but here we are, building away. He was so excited to find Lightning McQueen car pieces, too. I still want to thoroughly sort his cars and trucks and balls, and make ONE misc. box. But that can be done on a rainy, cold, or snowy day in the next month. For now, the shed is closed up for the winter. The termite project is done. The lawn has been mowed one last time. The winter gear is ready. Bring on the cold temps starting at the end of the week.

Justin and I got stuck on one of his science experiments, so we waited for Daddy to come home to help us. Daddy came up with a solution of tying the strings we were trying to hold on to two knives so that it would be more steady.

And it worked!

The needle that was laying on the thread...

....was now laying on top of the water showing water cohestion and tension. Then we added a drip of dishsoap and it immediately sank because the surface tension was gone.

Well, I waited too long and missed the "storybook" moment that Jared told me about. The men were over for their weekly discpling chat, so Jared had a nice fire going. I lied down on my bed to stretch my back and nearly froze back there. I had lowered the thermstat to 70, which is too cold because the ends of the house is typically 65.

Wednesday, Justin and I had to get up a little earlier than normal so I could get him to Lutheran High School up the street to take the PSAT 8/9. If you remember, Benaiah took the regular PSAT there last year. Super friendly staff there. I walked in today feeling confident instead of nervous, knowing that no one is judging me for homeschooling and they are more than willing and able to accomadate us and others. In fact, there was a several small tables full of homeschool students, including a friend of ours who was taking the regular PSAT today. Justin took the 8(th)/9(th) grade version of the test, therefore, the math, for example only covers Algebra 1. He said that it wasn't as hard or confusing as the examples in the PSAT workbook he studied from, which was based on the regular PSAT. If it hadn't felt so chaotic coming back from PEI, I would have had Benaiah take it as well. But I've learned from my mistakes and here we are, doing it the way I did it, by taking all three versions of the PSAT (which you can only take once) and then eventually taking the SAT/ACT. Justin is NOT ready for those since we have barely scratched the surface on Algebra 1. Benaiah has to retake them next year. I'm happy with the PSAT for now. Justin said he finished one section 20 minutes ahead of everyone else. He also said that having done the scantron tests at Bible Bowl competitions helped it get through the material today. He did go back through and answer all the questions and checked some answers. I always finished most of the tests early. So, we'll see.

These standardized tests are the only tests we take and we only take them for scholarship purposes. We don't take them to prove competence or intelligence. I think Benaiah's eyes were opened a bit this week while he was visiting Ozark and realizing just how much college costs and what he needs to do to make it work. Ozark: $20K, private school in state $50K, and public school in state $30K (numbers that Ozark claims). Alrighty then. Based on my private schools, which cost $25K a year at the time, I came out with only $20K in debt for a full 4 yr BS degree. How? MERIT based scholarships the first two years (where most of that debt came from because my FAFSA was based on my dad's very high middle class income) and merit and need based aid (because Jared was making under $30K a year) for the next two years. I graduated Sum Cum Laude with a GPA of 3.85 as a newlywed with a 11 month old on my hip. Just like my mom did at a local state school, I busted my butt and earned every scholarship I could. My dad's family had money, so he didn't have to get good grades and he was able to go to a private university without debt. My point is and always will be that GRADES AND TEST SCORES MATTER when going to college. That's the ONLY time they matter.

Ok, now that I'm over that discussin, we can discuss the "holiday" that comes tomorrow. Or not, because I put up my annual "Why we don't do halloween" post and of course it got flack. That's because they feel convicted, right? Anyway, driving around tonight doing the kids' activities, I saw way too many fake graveyards, ghosts, witches, scary creatures, etc. It creeps me out and is all so unnecessary. Death isn't to be celebrated. We honor our dead loved ones, sure, but we don't glorify the process. Yuck. Today, I even started indoctrinating Abishai with my views on it. He does see some halloween episodes of his favorite shows and of course they portray it as innocent, but eventually he will understand like the other kids do, about our views on it. The End.

So, I dropped Justin off to take the PSAT, Keturah got up and started her homework and Abishai came home his sleepover from Grandma's house. I played with him for a bit and then it was time to pick up Justin! We came home, had lunch, I showered, and Justin showered. Soon it was time for Keturah to go to dance. Jared stopped in for dinner, too, and his Rooted shirt. Tonight was the last night for Rooted (besides the celebration on Saturday). That means I get my two drivers back next week! No more worrying if Abishai is going to puke or not! I left Justin and Abishai home while I took Keturah to dance. Then I came back and picked up the boys and dropped Justin off at his small group. I immediately drove over to pick up Keturah. Abishai fell asleep just minutes from picking her up. Ugh! Well, I brought them home, and Benaiah was home from his trip. He got home a few minutes before 7. I putzed around for a bit and tried waking up Abishai. Eventually I got his coat off, and he just wanted to sleep in his bed, so I tucked him in and he's been there ever since. Daddy was sad that he couldn't have snuggle time with Abishai and didn't get to have it last night either because he was at Grandpa's house. Then I went to pick up Abishai.

Meanwhile, Benaiah and Keturah had their screen time. Benaiah didn't feel great from his trip, but he was able to give me a quick briefing. He still has a lot of homework to get done, and now he does feel a bit of pressure to keep up his GPA, which actually isn't that bad this quarter despite his complaints. He definitely wants to go to Ozark and at this time, given the current climate and condition of the small Christian schools, Ozark is his safest bet. The school that Jared did his master's through announced on Monday that they will be shutting their doors for good. They had been in bankruptcy for awhile and in a last ditch effort, the bank had taken over and changed some of the programming for this semester and made the school a liberal college, and not a Christian college. I am talking about Cincinnati Christian University. Johnson University is too expensive. And we really don't have great ties to other Christian schools, except for maybe Lincoln Christian University. I think Benaiah will be happiest with Ozark and knowing that he will have some friends there already. The leadership there has been solid and in place for a dozen years or more. He said he's thinking about either majoring in youth ministry and minoring in organizational leadership or vice versa. So, he still would either work for a church or for Chick Fil A. Oh and speaking of CFA, he did get to go to the one there, and it is the #1 CFA in the nation. An employee noticed he was nosing around too! And they knew that they beat the Southport store 5 months ago in sales or something. SO, that was fun! Benaiah also got to tour the CIY headquarters! How cool is that!? He saw the new president of CIY and their tour guide was one of the main speakers on the videos. And yes, it's just over a creek and through the woods from Ozark and was started by a graduate of Ozark. I'm happy with what he saw and got to do. I'm happy he has a plan in place and it hasn't changed much. This was an awesome college tour to go on and only served to confirm his suspicions. Sign me up, coach! I'm ready to play! If only I could go back to school! I LOVED college. Ah....

(This is a little TMI for some, so skip it if you don't want to talk about a woman's monthly cycle). And then back to reality. Sleepy baby, nerdy teens, and a girl who started who period today. That's right, we have fully entered the last stop of puberty for girls. Keturah was a good girl and told me right away without a fuss. It had happened right after dance class, so we came home straight away and took care of it. We both calmly talked about it and I reminded her to keep me informed of any changes or strange feelings. Basically, I did 100x more than my mom ever did in this area for me. She didn't warn me about the changes and just gave me one of her things to take care of it. I didn't know the ins and outs of it. Thus Benaiah happened, lol. Therefore, to my kids, it's not embarrassing. The boys know as much about it as Keturah does. They will not walk into a marriage not having a clue about the feminine physical normal functions. Nothing is taboo here. So I told a few key people and then mentioned it here because it's a big deal for me. This will hopefully mean her hormones will fall into a pattern now and maybe she won't be so grumpy anymore. And funny thing is, I started mine as well. This shall be fun! A bonding experience! But wait a minute, is it going to affect our hike on Friday? I hope not! We are still going no matter what!

And now it's really late. Teenager is doing homework, the other three are in bed, and Jared seems forlorn a bit from being unsure that the work they do actually makes an impact, not getting t snuggle Abishai, and in general, we find it so hard to connect right now. Tomorrow is a new day, Reformation Day. We are going to read about the 95 these and tape them to our front door. Maybe I'll try a recipe or two. I'm not sure what else. I need to check the links I saved.

Time to bring out those hats and mittens! Yeah!

Dave Ramsey was talking about how Sallie Mae, the biggest lender of student loans, sent 100 of their employees on an all expense paid trip to some far off land. Yeah. your student loans are helping them, not you. Don't do it.

Although I can't lift things, I thought hey, maybe there's something else I can do. I didn't see a minimum age. I'm guessing 18, but we'll see.

Here it comes!

I rebuilt the Duplo Cinderella castle and Abishai played with it all day! Lots of stories about the mommy and the daddy. Daddy going to work, both mommy and daddy handling kids and cooking meals, mommy and daddy giving each other hugs and kisses. So cute!

We moved it to the living room and then he started to restructure it. He moved the Dad's bed downstairs. I think that means they just can't sleep together. Hm,...

Awww, my boy is all the way on the left! So much fun visiting Ozark Christian College!

Because Justin couldn't do Bible class today, Keturah got to spend more time talking to Everly and Nora when Grandpa got off of zoom. Yeah!

Multitasking like his mama and Grandpa. Drinking ater and cutting chicken nuggets at the same time.

Twinning!

He vacuumed the whole floor, including moving the cord to a new outlet so he could Keturah's chore, too!

He knows to push down the red thing to stand back upright.

The Scriptures are a little lacking, but the sentiment is true.

Gorgeous trees and tree tunnel on the propoerty of the church Keturah's dance class is.

Blurry, but tree tunnel!

Indescribable!

Nothing camers!

Keturah, one grumpy baby. Chubby cheeks though. So cute!

However the halfway mark thanks to YouTube HQ matching 1,000,0000 donations.

Ah! Stay at home day, but busy all the same. I've been trying to just push through and not take naps or have too much downtime because I know that once I start taking those phone calls for the IAHE, life is going to get crazier! Jared and I need to do the training for IAHE but between activities and appointments, we haven't gotten to it. I think I'll just watch through them myself and see if there's something that I don't know and then have him watch them and we can discuss it if necessary. We are both smart, training is training. I'm so super grateful for the professionalism of our ALL VOLUNTEER organization though. Anyway, being halloween, I had to make sure we were all settled down in a back room during trick or treating time. I kept peeking out the winodw and I saw maybe one car with one trick or treater. Why you say? Well, it's 33 degrees, 40 mph winds, and it's snowing. That's why. Our kids know the drill and we all actually hung out in the same tiny room for once. We ate supper as a picnic (veggies and pizza), I read a little bit about Martin Luther (need to finish that up on Saturday), and Jared made a roaring fire. Oh, and we roasted marshmallows, too, of course. Hot chocolate will have to be another day. It was the first evening since Saturday I think that we were all home at the same time. Ok, Benaiah went to a halloween party at school and then is staying over a friend's house. His costume is lame. He's just wearing his first CFA uniform. I guess you have a built in costume when you work for a company like that, lol.

Otherwise, I fixed some computer things, got the Reformation Day stuff printed, did school (lots of fun Algebra! I WISH I could do the math book myself! I love algebra! And I'm NOT joking. Black and white answers are my favorite!), started preparing for the hike tomorrow. We need waterproof shoes, hats, mitts, and winter jackets. I'll be putting warm tights under my jeans, and Abishai will wear pj pants under some track pants. It's going to be 44 degrees, slick from the rain/snow we had today (yes, SNOW!) but sunny and very little wind. Can't wait to show the kids! I might be flat on my back on Saturday, but we are going to make some memories! Jared is coming, too, of course. Anyway, back to today.....

Uh, I hate that I get to 10:30pm and I can't remember all the cute stuff. Oh, yesterday, when we went to drop off Justin at small group, Abishai said he just needed to "car sweep" aka car sleep aka take a nap in the car! He must feel worn out by 6:30/7pm every day but has FOMO (fear of missing out) and makes himself stay awake longer. Now, cue up the pics!

Ah, the original photo of the Creek gang that went to Ozark this week. I'm still really excited for what's in store!

True! I'm on my phone A LOT but I use it like a mini laptop.

Timehop: 10 years ago when Nora was born. That's 2 1/2 yr old Everly in the green dress. Awwww

Southside's halloween dance/party thing.

I found some cool stuff to put up on social media for Reformation Day.

My favorite one!

Our elderly neighbors, Trina (mom of the twin men, whom one lives next to us and one lives behind her) and Floyd (long time live in boyfriend, they are in their 70's I think), made us some treats! Floyd brought them over for Trina, who doesn't get around too well. I am very stringent about not celebrating halloween but, how sweet of them. It's chocolate caskets with white chocolate skeleton inside and the red "glass" is some kind of candy and the red is supposed to be blood I suppose. It's the thought that counts. They love Socks, too. I think they miss having their grandchildren be younger. Anyway, that's what being a neighbor is all about. Trina asked if she could put a streetlight in the backyard, and if it would bother us. Of course we said that was fine if it makes her feel more comfortable. I'm the only one awake and really looking out that direction in the evening. Neighbors being neighborly.

Catching snowflakes! We had quite the snow shower this afternoon! Big flakes, coming down quickly. We were trilled!

Check out the hand on the hip action! And he's outside with short sleeves but he doesn't care. He's Canadian.

Snowflakes!

Brrrr

Winter has arrived.

Starting to cover the back deck.

Fall and winter are having a fight here....

He's doing a challenge to wear shorts until the New Year. Which is silly!

Snow on the trampoline!

So what do my kids do? Bundle up and jump with their boots on. Keturah is wearing my boots I got on PEI at their version of Goodwill. She better not ruin them. I want them to last my whole life!

Keturah and Abishai got the biggest gigles when they slipped and fell. Abishai was wearing only pj pants and shirt under his coast. And he didn't complain about being wet!

Keturah is sick with a headcold, but she managed to have fun outside and not finish her homework. Hm,...

Daddy's home!

Time to "chop" some firewood. Ahem, or use the electric hand saw. In his good shirt. Sigh.

Picnic dinner in front of the fire.

Roasting marshmallows.

Yummy all over his face. I love the smell of freshly toasted marshmallows!

"My marshmallow looks like it had zits that popped!" - Justin, 5th grade geek humor. Socks wants some, too.

So big it won't fit in your mouth!

A favorite of ours since it was Benaiah's at age 3 or 4. Now it's Abishai's turn to learn the rules and actually bide by them. The middles played a few rounds too. You have to flick your ball up and into a hoop that then sends the ball to your opponent. The first one who has zero balls remaining is the window.