It's started innocently enough. Rebekah graduated from college. But she stayed there to be in a Shakespeare-ish comedy. Josh and I drove down to see it and then fetch her and her worldly goods back here to the hill. And that's all I remember. The following is what one might hear a sleeping person mumble, and thereby communicate how they spent their summer:
Mmmmph... Clean out the attic? David - are you serious? GARAGE SALE!? (low growl...) I guess we should... OK, let's see what we have here. No one wants this old thing. Hand me that bowl. What's that in the bottom of it? Spices? No... mouse poop! Get the Lysol wipes! ... (shudder, roll over, heavy sigh)... Boxes, boxes, too many boxes. Too many old things.... spinster shoes, broken toys... what's in this box? Not that! No - not them - BEANIE BABIES! They're haunting me...
The subject goes understandably comatose for two hours. Then, she stirs.
All right, now where are all the stickers? Ok, let's price this vase at $3.50. Well, maybe $2.75. Hmmmmm... (writes on imaginary sticker) "Free - no returns!" ... I can't believe we spent a weekend selling stuff and only made $70. And that's only because we offered a free meal if they bought something. So, with the money we spent on the food.... we lost seventeen cents.... now we gotta haul most of it to the Goodwill. (rolling over, kicking off covers)
Later in the night -
When will they get here? We haven't seen them since Abby's wedding! (snore)... Hi! (hug, kiss, hug) How are you all? Feed, serve, feed, serve, fetch this, fetch that. Feed again! Now let's sit and chat. What? You have to leave? (sniff, sniff) ... (low growl)... I'm gonna make David fix the meals next time...(subject flails at husband)
That's all the mumbling a person can do in one night. So I'll wake up.
What else did I do with my summer? At the end of July, I accompanied Noah to Suzuki Institute. This is basically an intense learning camp for stringed instrument students, in which they are in back-to-back classes all day, breaking only for lunch. I chose a percussion elective for him to give him a break. He liked that class most of all. In the end, he was playing his cello 4-5 hours daily, including evening practice at home. He played with a youth orchestra for the first time, and was complemented on his reading skills.
In mid-August, I worked for a week in my step-mother's law office. I filled in for the receptionist. This would have been cushy, but like an idiot, I mentioned that I knew some Word, and was quickly put to task. It was interesting though, to copy out a deed, and I learned some new Word skills from my step-mother along the way.
The next week I spent what I had just earned on homeschooling curriculum. I worked almost as many hours choosing curriculum as I did at the receptionist job.
And now I am happily homeschooling Noah with a combination of Sonlight (History, Geography, and Language Arts), Teaching Textbooks (Math) and A Beka (Bible and Science) I think Noah likes science least of all, and history most. I love that he asks, "Can we read more?" after every history book-reading.
And then - I count this a gift from God - we went to Chincoteague and Assateague Islands, and kayaked, swam, dug in sand, petted island ponies, climbed the lighthouse, biked around Chincoteague, watched fighter-jets zoom about, and generally had a good time. David's aunt and uncle put us up for three nights, fed us, and showed us what to do and where to go. We had a blast!
I swapped out Misty of Chincoteague for Ginger Pye in Noah's Read-alouds. We're enjoying reading about the places we been to!
And it gets better - our Sarah Jane came home for her birthday. It was so nice to have her here. We threw her a party, took her to see Rebekah at the theme park she works at, and worked along-side her as she made Coconut Chicken. And then she flew back to her hubby.
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