The Cat's Got My Tongue...

...because another beast--a wild, way-too-enthusiastic, more-energetic-than-the-Energizer-Bunny, rambunctious tiger--has gotten ahold of my schedule, leaving no time for blogging.

Why, oh why, do I think I can possibly accomplish as much as I think I ought to be able to do??  'Tis a mystery...

Well, while we're all pondering that, and before I go check on the canner load of peaches that are bubbling on the stove, and then pick up a pen to add #157 to my to-do list, I'll leave you with this picture--a very unique giraffe, drawn by Shav tonight, just before supper.  It makes me smile.  :)

And now I'm going to try to capture that crazy schedule tiger and put it back into its cage again!  :)

So. The Eclipse.

The first person to tell me about the coming eclipse was Jeff, and that occurred several months ago.  Jeff was so interested in it that he pondered quite a long time about us taking a trip to somewhere in the path of totality but eventually decided that we couldn't pull that off this time.

I didn't *exactly* match his level of enthusiasm ;-) and was fairly lackadaisical about the whole thing, scoffing mildly at all the hype (i.e. "why do they say this is a once-in-a-century event when I distinctly remember viewing an eclipse when I was a child??")...that is, until about four days ago.  At that point, I suddenly realized that it would be kind of nice to have special eclipse glasses to safely view it--provided the weather wasn't cloudy or raining--so since we were running errands in town anyway, I stopped at 7-11 (and was politely told that they didn't have any eclipse glasses, and none of the other 7-11 stores in town did either, and none of them would be getting any more) and then went by the library, having read that they were giving out 250 pairs of glasses, free--first come, first served.

We hadn't even gotten in front of the library when we saw the loooooonnnggg line of people waiting--and it was still half an hour before the library even opened that day!  We could see the queue extending from the lobby of the library, out the doors, down to the corner, and up the block the other way--and growing every minute.  Since our cause seemed hopeless (and our estimate of the line seemed well beyond 250 at that point), we didn't even get out of the car but drove off, still without glasses.

Two more days went by, and we reached the night before the eclipse.  I scrawled on my to-do list for the next day, "Eclipse boxes."  Surely we could raid the cereal cupboard and find some boxes to make the kind of viewers I remembered from my childhood.

Accordingly, David and Tobin headed up the cereal-box-into-eclipse-viewer project this morning; and we were ready.  Josiah and David would take one with them to the library where they were volunteering this afternoon, and the rest of us could use the other one at home.  Problem solved.

My phone rang at 12:20 p.m.  It was my friend Amanda, calling from her workplace to ask if we were remembering the eclipse.  I told her we were ready with our cereal boxes.  :)

An hour later, one of her employees showed up at my doorstep, holding out a pair of eclipse glasses--yes, the glasses that weren't for sale anywhere in our town--for us.

Amanda has done a lot of thoughtful, generous things for us during the past few years, so maybe I shouldn't have been surprised.  But truth be told, I was completely floored.

Completely relieved, too.  My unspoken, lingering guilt about my negligence in this matter was swept away.  Amanda's gift rescued me and saved the day.  :)

We went outside and donned the glasses, taking our first look at the sun and then, for the next several hours, continuing to peek at what was happening skyward.  It was truly impressive--much more so than I had imagined.  I guess Jeff was right all along.  ;-)

Besides the unexpected, marvelous gift of a pair of eclipse glasses for an unprepared mother, here's what I want to remember about this eclipse...

~ The light changed--not only the quantity of it, but also the quality.  I lack the words to describe it, but it was different than "normal" light.

~ Even when the moon was covering most of the sun (something like 85% coverage in our area, I think?), it was still quite bright outside.  I guess I was expecting it to get noticeably darker than it did (although I knew it wouldn't be anything like what was happening in the path of totality), but it was a vivid reminder of how incredibly bright the sun is--that even when almost all of it was blocked, it still managed to illuminate us very well!

~ Watching the eclipse seemed to be a group activity.  From the posts I saw on Facebook this evening, it seemed that almost everyone ended up watching it with other people--either a planned gathering with friends or an impromptu sky-watching session with whoever happened to be around. I like how it united us.  In my case, we weren't outside very long before our neighbor boy, Jason, came over to see what we were doing...and then it wasn't long until my kids migrated to his side of the lane to take a look at the sky through the welder's mask Jason was using (his dad is a welder, which comes in very handy on eclipse day!).  As time went on, we continued passing the eclipse glasses and the welder's mask around the circle, making sure everyone got plenty of time to see the eclipse in all its phases.  When it was close to the most coverage we got to see in this part of the globe, another neighbor, Barbara, walked over, too, and joined our group.  It struck me that one of the special things about this eclipse was how it made so many people stop what they were doing and go outside in the middle of the afternoon, oftentimes connecting with other people, not just staring at the sun by themselves.

~ Our friend Todd who was undergoing a chemotherapy treatment at the cancer center in town this afternoon said that the center had eclipse glasses on hand and was taking turns assisting the patients to the window so each one could view the eclipse.  So considerate!

~ Jeff came home from work for a while so he could watch it with us, and it is always a treat to have him here more than he normally is.  This time, I was grateful for his arrival for another reason: I needed to go to the orchard to pick up two more bushels of peaches they had ready for us, but Benjamin was in bed, and I didn't want to get him up for that trip.  As it turned out, not only did Benjamin stay behind, so did Tobin and Shav.  Only Moriah went with me to the orchard; and as we pulled up, the folks who run the orchard said to us as soon as we got out of the van, "Do you know what we're doing?"  I hadn't taken the time to really pay attention to their activity, but it soon became clear that they were watching the eclipse, too--the man with a welder's mask which he handed over to me so I could take a look through it.  As we were transferring peaches from their boxes to my containers, he asked if I was familiar with the verse in Amos that describes an eclipse (I was, having read it that morning, in fact), then told me that their minister had used it in his sermon the day before.  Then Ruby, the older lady who reminds me so much of my grandmother, asked if I had seen the article in our local paper about the eclipse, then went on to describe a Hindu ritual of bathing fully clothed for purification after seeing an eclipse (which her tone of voice indicated was fairly ridiculous, to her Old Order Mennonite way of thinking!).  All this time, hands were working, and my containers were full.  I paid (when Ruby was adding up the bill, she said, "I think I need to turn the light on in here!"--another evidence of how much dimmer the world was than usual) and quickly sped home, hoping to not miss the best part of the eclipse, which was supposed to happen at 2:40.  I got home at 2:36 and was able to watch the period of the most coverage along with the rest of the group assembled on the neighbors' lawn.

~ Besides the thrill of actually seeing the shape of the moon outlined on the sun, I also enjoyed seeing the different kinds of shadows that were visible--the best one being in my neighbors' bathroom where their curtains, which had little round decorative holes in the fabric, were giving off crescent-shaped shadows on the floor.  So neat!

~ A recurring thought swirling in my head today was, "I wonder what in the world ancient peoples thought when an eclipse--especially a total one--happened.  Before there was a basic understanding of what causes it, they must have been so awestruck and probably frightened by it.  What must that have been like?"

~ I didn't take a single picture.  I knew I couldn't get anything worth having if I tried to photograph the sun, but I could have taken pictures of us in the funny glasses (like roughly 99.99999% of my Facebook friends did, as evidenced by my news feed this evening!).  ;-)  I didn't even think of it.

~ From my ho-hum stance a week ago, I have been convicted and have repented.  :)  In fact, I'm already making plans for the eclipse in 2024, which will occur the day before Moriah's 12th birthday--what a way to celebrate, you know!  I know I might be jumping the gun a little, but I really think we need to make a trip to the path of totality.  Ohio is probably the closest place of us to see it, so I'm considering contacting any friends we have who live in Ohio and begging asking if we can come visit them during that time.  I don't think it's too early to start planning, right?  And not too early to pray for good weather on that day so we don't miss it!  ;-)

The Second Time We Had a Lemonade Stand

It had been four years since we had a lemonade stand--long enough that the younger kids didn't remember it at all.  And so, because our church is raising money to provide Bibles to the Shona people in Zimbabwe, it seemed like a good chance to have a lemonade stand again--to give the kids a little experience with business, make a fun memory with them, and best of all, donate our earnings to a very good cause!

We decided to set up outside Jeff's work; and as a result, Josiah could do his regular Saturday work at the shop (sweeping hair, as well as various other tasks) and occasionally pop out to see us.  That's why he doesn't appear in these pictures, in case anyone was wondering.  ;-)

 The sun was bright, so we scrounged around in the van and came up with enough sunglasses for everyone.  :)

 One interesting thing we did was take note of where the shade began on the sidewalk, then lay an object there to mark the spot, then check a little later to see how far the shade extended out from the marker.  The sun seems to move across the sky so slowly that we never really get an accurate feel for its motion; but by doing this simple thing, we could see that the sun was actually moving quite quickly (of course, the earth was moving quickly, but you know what I mean).  We were very grateful when the sun rose high enough in the sky for us to be completely in the shade!  :)

 Most of our business came from customers and workers at the shop, but a few people came by just for a drink and a sweet.

 On such a hot day, lemonade was welcome; and we were glad the day didn't dawn cool and rainy!

 Between the fudge (smores fudge, the kind David made for the fair and won a blue ribbon for) and the lemonade (and the generosity of some of our customers who gave over and above--sometimes, WAY over and above--what the cost of their items were), we were able to raise $72.19 for our Bible project!!  I had hoped for $50, but we were all delighted when we saw the total.

Not a bad way to spend a Saturday!  :)

Our Typical Last-Minute Dash {The Fair of 2017}

Some families put a lot of time and planning into their preparations for entering items in the fair.  Some, so I've heard, even prepare up to a year in advance; and some homeschool families combine their learning with making fair items all through the school year.  That's marvelous, isn't it?

Then, on the other extreme, there's us.

The kids and I have made such a habit out of entering something in the fair that we can't imagine NOT doing it; but yet, it always creeps up on us, and we suddenly find ourselves at the beginning of fair week, not knowing what we're entering, not having the ingredients, and certainly not having anything made.  And despite my best intentions, that's exactly what happened to us again this year.

In the end, however, decisions were made, ingredients were purchased, and items were prepared; and even though we didn't get much sleep since we stayed up late cooking, we still woke up excitedly on Monday morning, eager to take our baked goods to the fair to see how they would do in competition.  :)

But besides baked goods, Tobin and Shav entered a few other things--in Tobin's case, a colored-pencil drawing of a horse (of course), and in Shav's case, a LEGO structure and a fused bead star.  I had told the boys that this would be a learning experience for us; since we haven't been in the practice of entering in those categories, I wasn't quite sure of the details of it all.  For example, in the fused bead category, I had no idea that any materials other than beads could be used (or that more than one item made of beads could be entered as a set); but as it turned out, the winning entries in Shav's age group as well as the one above him used decorated cardboard to put the bead projects on, and that greatly enhanced how they looked (for example, one child made characters out of beads to represent each person in his or her family, then attached those to a board that said something like "My Family").  In comparison to those projects, Shav's beautiful star looked quite simple.  So we learned.  But back to baked goods...  :)

As it turned out, Moriah entered heart-shaped mint brownies (her first time ever entering something in the fair!).  :)  Shav entered cookies-n-cream fudge (seen below)...

 ...Tobin entered almond joy cookies, David entered smores fudge, Josiah entered salted caramel Oreo bark, and I entered peppermint Oreo bark (seen below).  Those last three recipes all came from an amazing website with gorgeous pictures of the food in the recipes.

 Our box of goodies to take, bright and early on Monday morning...

 ...and the cheerful crew who made the treats!  :)

We entered them with no trouble, and then...

...came...

...the...

...wait.

We were originally planning to go to the fair on Tuesday afternoon, which isn't such a long time since Monday morning; but because of a weather forecast of rain and even thunderstorms on Tuesday evening, we decided to delay our visit until Wednesday (which, to eager competitors, feels like A VERY LONG TIME since Monday morning!).  ;-)  A little birdie had told me the results for Moriah's mint brownies, but that was the only item I had heard about, and I didn't tell a soul.  :)

Finally, finally, we got to the fair on Wednesday afternoon and rushed to the exhibit hall to search through the shelves for our items.  It always takes a little bit, and the suspense is delightfully agonizing.  :)  And then we started spotting ribbons.  :)

 Tobin got first for his almond joy cookies!

 Moriah got second for her mint brownies!

 David got first for his smores fudge!

 Josiah got first for his salted caramel Oreo bark!

 The only one of the children who did not place in anything was Shav; and so, at our fair, kids who don't earn a higher ribbon in at least one of their items get a green participation ribbon.  We were a little disappointed to see this on Shav's LEGO project...

 ...(and I will admit to feeling a little extra guilt because Shav really makes some incredible LEGO structures, but because he was literally doing it at about 11:00 the night before, he ended up with something much more simple than he usually builds...besides that, the motorcycle which was supposed to be upright got knocked over, and the truck he built wasn't straight on the road like it should have been...anyway, it wasn't his best work, and I couldn't help but think that if I had been more organized and given him more time to do it, the outcome might have been different...but then today, we found out that one of his friends won the blue ribbon in this category, so we were very, very happy for him).  :)  But I will say that Shav did an incredible job of not letting his disappointment sour his attitude.  He rejoiced with those who placed in their categories, and he had a really fun time at the fair.  He's a winner in my book, let me tell ya!  :)  One other thing about his entries...the category that he entered his fudge was cooked candy, so that included a wide variety of items.  When he gets old enough to compete in the next age group, there are (I believe) three categories just for fudge!  If he had been competing in that age group, I'm sure he would have gotten a ribbon for his cookies-n-cream fudge; but that's just how it goes, and learning to deal with disappointment is an incredibly valuable lesson--even if it's not the most fun one to have to learn!

After we found all the kids' items, I scurried over to the cabinet with the adult entries and was delighted to see a blue ribbon on my item.  :)

Besides the ribbons (which are such a joy to receive!), we're also really glad we entered these items because we've been eating the leftovers of them all week--and maybe that's the best part of all!!  :)

Sunday Snapshot #9

~ Tobin hugging his grandma goodbye, at the end of our precious visit with her this evening ~

No One Can Say He's Not Ambitious!

I hesitate to use the word "behind" to describe either how we're doing in homeschooling or how I'm doing in life.  Why?  Because in homeschooling, my basic philosophy of education is that learning is something fun that should be happening all the time (and is, in a natural state of things), not something that needs to be artificially prescribed to happen at a set time, or else.  (Who gets to make the call about what math must be studied in fourth grade and when world history should be learned, anyway??)  And in life, if I get started on the "I'm behind" track, I will never, ever, ever get off it...because I will never, ever, ever be able to catch up.

With that in mind, I rarely let myself apply the "behind" label.

But if I ever did, it might be used to describe Josiah's school situation here in the late summer of 2017.  ;-)

You see, his 9th grade year was more challenging than ever before; and the two subjects that took the vast majority of his time during the traditional school year were biology (that he took from a wonderful teacher at a local homeschool high school group) and NCFCA (the speech and debate group he's part of).  Between keeping up with assignments for biology, and preparing speeches for NCFCA, and being gone at tournaments, and being involved in the Shenandoah Valley Children's Choir, and volunteering at the library, and all the other things that are part of life, Josiah got a little behind (oh no! I said that word!) in his math, American history, and American literature--the math being delayed in part by some computer troubles that prevented him from using his Teaching Textbooks (oh how I love Teaching Textbooks, so I don't have to teach math!!!) CDs to move along as he had intended.

As the school year went by and we watched this predicament develop, Josiah and I talked it over and realized that, especially because of the time demands of NCFCA, he would need to end up using this summer to complete his 9th grade work.  He understood the situation and wasn't bothered by it.  It's just how it was.  No biggie.

The summer began, and he did some of his school work, but then July hit, most of which was taken up by Josiah's week away at Speech Camp and then the busiest fortnight of our summer.  When August began, there was still a pile of week remaining that Josiah wanted to accomplish before we officially start school again.  Let's finish 9th grade before 10th grade, shall we?  ;-)

And so, Josiah came up with a plan.  To accomplish the completion of his math and history and literature for last year, all he needed to achieve was doing three math lessons and reading two books every day.  Piece o' cake, right??  ;-)

I knew he could do it--after all, math comes pretty naturally to Josiah, and reading is almost as easy as breathing for him--but I wasn't sure he would do it.  I didn't know how tough it would be for him to stick to that pace, and I wondered if he would falter.

He hasn't.  :)

Every night, after the younger kids are in bed and the house is quiet, he sits down at the computer and cranks out three algebra lessons (unless he's feeling particularly motivated, and then he does four).  And every day, he reads.

And reads.

And reads.  :)

It's not as if the books are War and Peace or Anna Karenina; but even still, to read two a day is quite a feat.  The only one that he discovered that he just couldn't plow through was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, so he set that aside for now and will pick it up again when he finishes the rest of his (diminishing-every-day!) pile.

I love to see him reading, and I love it even more when he shares tidbits from the books with me.  If I had all the time in the world, I would sit right down with him and read all of these books, too; but since I can't do that, hearing him read aloud to me or tell me in his own words what especially captured his attention is a lot of fun.  :)

Josiah's plan, ambitious though it may be, has been working out splendidly for him; and I'm so proud of the focus and determination he has shown!

While I'm at it, let me share two other examples of his ambitious nature.  :)  First, we have kept a reading record for him since he read his first book long, long ago; and earlier today, when he was writing down the latest books he had read, he added up the total number of books he has read in his lifetime and discovered that it totaled 1,500!!  Actually, to be precise, when he first calculated it, he had read 1,499; but he had another book to read today, so when he finished that, it was exactly 1,500!  I'm pretty sure he's actually read more than that--Kindle books especially are hard to remember to write down--but to be 15 years old and have read 1,500 books is amazing, in my opinion.

Second, Josiah is on a quest to learn how to solve a Rubik's Cube blindfolded.  When he gets tired of reading these days and wants to take a short break, he grabs a cube and practices it, and I hear him muttering strange things as he reviews the combinations and the memory tricks he uses.  He hasn't mastered it yet, but I have no doubt that if he keeps working on it, he'll be able to solve the cube with his eyes closed.  I can't even come close to solving it with both my eyes wide open!!  ;-)

When God was mixing up the unique combination of characteristics that would make Josiah who he is, I think He might have shaken a little extra on the saltshaker labeled "Ambition!"  ;-)

A final note about Josiah: he had a mishap on a water slide yesterday (someone collided with him), and is in a significant amount of pain in his right hip.  If any of my readers think about it, we sure would be grateful for some extra prayer for him--that the pain would diminish and healing would come and that we would have wisdom to know how best to help Josiah.  Thanks so much!

Crazy Late Nights and a Crazy Muddy Day

For the second year in a row, Josiah and David decided that they wanted to participate in the Dayton Muddler.  I mean, why not?  Doesn't everyone want to brutally push themselves through tough obstacles and a grueling race in order to raise money for a good cause?  ;-)

Tobin wanted so badly to run it this year; but since the official cut-off is age 10, he'll have to wait for next year.

Josiah and David were joined by three of their friends from church--Hannah, Dean, and Abby.

And speaking of our church...we manned a water table which was situated right after a big long mud pit.

When I say "we," I mostly mean "they," since my sole contribution to the project was filling one or two cups with water.

But I did bring my kids who weren't running the race, and they were more helpful than I was!

Benjamin did a pretty good job of keeping his stroller occupied and his pretzels eaten.  ;-)

And Moriah got a little tired of watching the runners go by, so she enjoyed some fun with coloring and stickers.

Like last year, we were eagerly awaiting the sight of our group coming through the course.

Abby was the first one we saw...

...followed by David, Dean, Hannah...

...and Josiah.

After they went through this portion, I hurried back to the finish line to welcome them in.

We were so proud of them!!  :)

They were a lot more tired and a lot more muddy than when they started, but their smiles were bright.  :)

And then we went to the backyard of Abby's home which is nearby; and while the runners used the garden hose to wash at least a little of the mud off themselves, Moriah got to play.  :)

Everything went really well with the Muddler, including the weather which was absolutely perfect for it.  I'm thinking that Josiah and David aren't going to stop with two of these under their belts.  Next year will surely find us there again; and when that occurs, we'll bring even more mud home with us since Tobin will be old enough to join in!  :)

That evening, for some strange reason, Jeff, Josiah, David, and I all found ourselves in the living room after the younger ones had gone to bed; and we thoroughly enjoyed the chance to talk--just the four of us.  We enjoyed it so much, in fact, that we stayed up until about 1:45 in the morning talking!!!  Now staying up that late isn't unusual for me, but it IS for certain other members of the family.  ;-)  It was a really unusual, really special time.

The next night was Sunday, and we were trying to figure out what movie we could watch as a family while we ate our Sunday evening popcorn.  Jeff came up with the idea to watch the old show Highway to Heaven, so we started that and ended up watching three episodes, which kept us up later than we normally stay up as a family.  We're having so much fun with this show (that first aired when I was eight years old, by the way!) that each evening, we try to get our necessary stuff done so that we can watch at least one episode before bedtime.

Ah, summertime!  We sure are enjoying this last month of it, when we can be a little crazy before the "normal" schedule of life resumes!  :)