Life at our house lately...

I bought recorders for my boys and we've been playing with them today. They both have learned how to play the song "Mary had a little lamb." I keep forgetting what its like to be a kid and how hard it is to learn how to do something new. Both of them would get quite frustrated and my youngest was nearly in tears trying so hard to "get it." But after a little more practice his fingers began to get accustomed and he was able to make them do as he wished. He just asked me where his recorder was and ran off with it upstairs, where I hear him making up his own tune and also trying to belt out Mary had a little lamb. Ahhh. Is this what homeschooling will be like, I ask myself? Will we begin with moments of tears and frustration, but eventually end up with an "I get it!" ? I expect much of it will be that way.

I explained to my oldest this morning that we'll be doing lots of reading. His response was "Oh, no!" and to hang his head. He's also repeatedly been telling me that he hates math. The reading part definitely bothers me, but I am confident that Math U See will win him over. The reading, though. How do you get a child to like reading? (An almost 11 year old boy?) I hope that school at home will help with that attitude. Whatever has happened at school to cause such a dislike of it will hopefully turn around at home.

We had Bible study at our house this week. What a blessing that was! We usually have our group study at someone else's house, but they are on vacation in France. There were about 12 people present and we finished our study on Jeremiah. We'll be off now for the rest of the summer. Ingemar, an elderly Swedish gentlemen, brought me an orchid. Its my first one and I haven't a clue how to take care of orchids. Are they real needy? I have pretty good luck with plants that aren't real complicated.

That reminds me of what happened to my pansies last month. I had just planted some pink, purple and white ones outdoors. I was all excited about gardening here because, unlike Texas, we have rich, dark soil and lots of rain. We must have had an early frost, which only targeted white pansies for some unknown reason, because all my white ones keeled over and died. I replaced them with pretty new white ones. Several mornings later, I peeked out my front door to have a look at my little flower garden. What I saw amazed me. There were NO flowers there, just green stalks, all that remained of my poor pansies. Several of the plants had actually been dug out and lay there lifeless and puny looking. I didn't know whether to shake my fist in anger or cry in despair... Apparently, my pansies were a delightful snack for some bunnies (or deer) passing through our yard in the wee morning hours.

On Wednesday we found out that a dear Christian friend of ours, Odette, received word from immigration that she must leave Sweden within 3 weeks. She's been here the past 2 years as a refugee, presenting her case and hoping for Swedish citizenship. She wants to put in an appeal but her lawyer is gone on vacation and won't be back for a week. It's July in Sweden. Everyone's on vacation or preparing to leave. Don't expect to get anything done during this whole month. She is from Uganda and escaped a life threatening situation there. She doesn't want to go back but doesn't have many other options. We can do nothing but pray for God's will and protection for her. He knows what He's doing even though we sometimes don't have a clue.

May you find many reasons to
Rejoice -
Marla