On the Fly

 The last 2 weeks have been tough ones for us school-wise. I found out two weeks ago that my cousin passed away due to a motorcycle accident. She was just headed to work and a car backed out of a driveway. She was just 22. That's how quickly it can all end, and of course it hit everyone in the family hard. It's difficult to think about death when we know so little about it. Only faith and love can hold us through. I didn't know Quin that well as she grew into an adult, but I was privileged to get to organize and hang all of her artwork for the funeral services back in Tennessee. I had no idea she painted and was so creative. I heard she had always wanted a gallery showing, so we set it up just like a little museum. Her mom said this was an old glass door they had replaced. Quin wanted to salvage it from the trash and make something out of it. Even the funeral home staff kept commenting on how much they liked this window with all of it's 3-dimensional elements.

 This screen was really beautiful. She also had some clever and funny paintings as well as plenty of black and white sketches.

 This was also done on glass and probably my favorite.

 Here is Quin playing with my niece and nephew. Listening to everyone speak about her made me proud to be part of her family. It sounded like she had made a positive difference in so many lives.
I'll pray for her always and will be reminded of how she took care of people and made so many smile.

I returned to Texas to start rehearsing this!! There are so many beautiful moments in this musical. I get to play alongside old friends. And to see the audience so happy and uplifted when they leave is such a reward! So that was a very busy and emotionally up and down start to last week. We decided to take a break from school and resume the next week when our schedule had settled down.

Chloe got to visit her new classroom and finally be an official student in Mrs. Weber's class. (Hannah's teacher from 2 years ago and we love her!) That was last Thursday.

 Then this happened!!! Without going into all the details, basically half of our house flooded. There were almost 30 fans drying the house for 4 days.

 All of our stuff was unceremoniously dumped everywhere.

 And left quite a bit to cleanup. Nana graciously allowed us to live in her house for all those days so we had some nice family time. However, the insurance/restoration folks are having a hard time deciding on numbers and although we are back in the house and it is certainly liveable, we do need many major things replaced such as most floors and cabinetry. It's costing quite a bundle (which we don't have of course) but we pray God will provide what we need to put the house back at least to the value it was before.

 So the next week, we began school again at Nana's house. Hannah works on flash cards while Chloe has an assignment to make various shapes with Nana's thread spools. Use what you have, right?

 Contemplating math...

                                                While we goof around with the camera.

                                                                   Shah Rukh Khan

The kids got a little unexpected education when Nana got very interested in Bollywood. They all know some pretty fun dance moves and much more about Indian culture than I do. And this is their first movie star interest. Chloe has apparently looked up plane tickets with Nana so she can visit him and "follow him around."  Apparently he's the most major star there is, and quite a great guy in real life. I've heard he doesn't ever kiss the leading ladies in his movies because he is married. Now that's something you don't see every day!

 In the meantime, we focused on the Book of Creation project from the Garden of the Theotokos curriculum. I had the idea of painting the "days" on a large canvas I've been saving for the girls' room instead of making books. I thought wrong. We got off to a great start and the kids were very interested in learning about what God has created. We don't focus on how for now, but focus on looking around our world in wonder. Here they are painting light.

We also painted angels. The next day we added the firmament, then the waters. This is where it ended. I had envisioned something similar to what I painted for Colin's room a couple of years ago. I had forgotten it took me many weeks, by myself, and with the help of an art class to complete that. This wasn't looking so hot. The kids didn't know any different, but I could tell it was not going to come together in the end or be something I would like on the wall. In the meantime we were trying to move back into the house and it was Chloe's first week of school so we just couldn't focus very well. We may come back to it in the future, and maybe I shouldn't have given up- that's the trouble with schooling on your own- it's not a collaborative effort and so "right" answers on what to do are hard to come by!

 Back at home we were able to keep studies lively. Hannah chose do math in the bathtub.

 She came up with her own superhero whose powers are making colors, flying fast, and being invisible.

 I've had the idea for awhile to have a popcorn reading party. It's always associated with movies and a good time, so why not shift it to something I'd rather have them do than stare at a screen. First we had a popcorn pop quiz. I introduced them to Ramona the Pest. It was just as good as I remembered it. Beverly Cleary really knows how to capture the mind of a child. After we read a chapter, they all sat on the couch and if they answered a comprehension question right, I threw popcorn into their mouths. It was pretty fun :) And after that they were super pleased to grab their own books and bowls of popcorn. And I got to read my own book for 5 whole minutes! haha

Now we are at home with a clear week ahead of us- we hope! We're heading into the culture of Japan : )