*Please pause the blog music on the sidebar before playing. This is the first time the kids sang in church – just the three of them.  Next time I am going to have to emphasize with Samuel that he needs to look up, smile a bit and make some eye contact.  All week he had told me that he didn’t want to sing in front of the church but I kept encouraging him.  He does not like to be in front of people...

I often ask myself this question: ” What will Samuel, Sarah and Sophia remember about their childhood?” I just read something a friend of mine wrote – she said that she remembers her mom having a bubble bath ready for her after school one day. How sweet!! Just that simple thing she wrote caused me once more to evaluate what kind of memories I am making for my children. Yesterday was a big...

Well, I ordered all of our upcoming school curriculum for this next year!!   Thanks to my friend, Jill, I got a lot of good ideas and was able to do a lot of research before buying.    Last year I used Abeka with my kids.  I started off with the DVD program but it was just not our thing.  So, I taught them traditionally but the kids just did not thrive with this curriculum.   Samuel was bored.  Sarah...

Last Saturday, June 27th, Bob’s brother, Jesse FINALLY got married!  : )   Jesse is stationed in Hawaii with the Air Force as a first Lieutenant.  He met Leah at a church where she was a teacher in the Christian school.  Leah has an identical twin sister named Rachel.  ( How funny both Bob and Jesse married twins – I have a twin brother. )  I am so thrilled that Bob was able to fly to Hawaii...

We spent the majority of the morning and afternoon at a castle called Rakvere a little over an hour away from our home.  It was such a wonderful family day.  We woke up to the sun shining which is why my husband said, “Let’s go to the castle today!”  It is very out of the ordinary for my husband to suggest something out of the blue because he is an extremely scheduled person … everything...

My girls are best little friends ( but that doesn’t mean they don’t fuss with each other every now and then – I just want to keep it real with ya’ll!  ) and I have been hearing them talking to “Kellin” quite often.   I just thought it was a doll they named Kellin but the other day Bob and Sarah were talking and she told her daddy, “Kellin is my imaginary friend! ...

Your family and your love must be cultivated like a garden. Time, effort, and imagination must be summoned constantly to keep any relationship flourishing and growing. – Jim Rohn Bringing up a family should be an adventure, not an anxious discipline in which everybody is constantly graded for performance. – Milton R. Saperstein Family and Friends are hidden treasures, seek them and enjoy their...

Spring is here in full bloom and I cannot tell you how refreshing it is!   After months of limited sun and darkness and cold,  things are looking so bright and beautiful.  The sun does not set until 10:30 pm and it is just going to be brighter and brighter,  later and later each night.    It starts getting light around 3 am, too.  On June 21st, the sun will not set at all.  It is one of the biggest...

The other day after the kids finished their school work for the day, I decided to take them down the road from us and explore the woods.  There are some wonderful nature trails and even a lake and river mingled with the forest.  Samuel packed up his dinosaur backpack with baggies for collecting anything interesting we might find and water bottles and a few snacks.   I brought along my big camera bag and...

We were able to have a group of four American college students over to our home for dinner last week.  They are a great group of Christians.  In the next few years they will be learning Estonian and evangelizing on the university campus here in Tallinn.  Their names are Megan and Josh ( married for a year and a half ) and Andrea and Shara. I decided to put the school books away for the day.  I put three...