Blessed

I felt so blessed today.  Blessed that I am able to homeschool my kiddo.  And blessed that homeschooling has changed so much.  When I was growing up, it was pretty weird.  Very few people homeschooled, and they had little to no curriculum choices or social support.  Today I had my kiddo in a beginning science class - outdoors, playing games.  This class only costs me $5 a week, and is taught by a lady who is fluent in Spanish.  I have talked to her at Timothy for the last year and a half, and she is great!  She speaks to them only in Spanish.  While he was in class, I walked around the track 6 times for a total of 2 miles.  I thought the whole time how very blessed I am.  How thankful I am.  How lucky I am.

Soccer spectators

A couple of weeks ago, Robert brought Gizmo out to watch Eric play soccer.  This is a field that allows pets, and Gizmo was thrilled to be there.  He is not a barker, so he just happily watched the kids play.

This picture makes me giggle.  He is such a cutie pie.  It was a very hot day, but we sat in the shade and brought him a bowl of water.  

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are long days for us.  I get up between 3 and 4 to get ready for my class.  E is usually up by 6.  We load up the car, and there is a lot of stuff to load.  E has 7 classes there, and I teach 5.

Sometimes I load everything up while he is in his last class.  Sometimes I have things to do, so I wait til he gets out to load.  This week was one of those weeks.

Here's my super (tired) helper after school.  I had pulled up close to the building to help with loading, so we took turns waiting by the car while the other went in.  I came out one time to find him like this sitting in the back.  

The back of my car loaded.  I need to get a morning picture sometime.  It is quite insane the amount of stuff we have to take each week.  

The backseat.  

Not pictured is the front seat which has our lunch cooler and his decorated cake.  It is a long process loading up each week.  Between his classes and mine, we take a completely full car.  But, he enjoys it.  And I am having fun teaching, although it is exhausting.  I keep thinking it will get easier each week, but it hasn't yet.  

Tyler

There's a boy.  A precious boy that we met shortly after moving to Arkansas.  His name is Tyler Binford.  He was around 9 years old and the son of some people we were becoming good friends with.  My first memory of him was he stood to get my chair for me when I approached the table.  What kid does that?  I could tell he was different.  I could tell he was special.  And I liked it.

We grew to love their family.  They were our very closest friends.  They were the first people we told when we found out we were going to have a baby.  Matt was like a big brother to Robert, and Ellen... I have no words for what Ellen means to me.  I love her dearly!   We watched their precious boys grow.  Caleb has a heart that is bigger than anyone I have ever known.  He loves deeply and unconditionally.  Tyler was easy to talk to.  Funny, mature, thoughtful.

I have never told anyone this, but Tyler is who I model the way I raise my son after.  I saw a boy who had a deep, mature understanding of the word.  A boy who wasn't afraid to lead at church and lead big!  A boy who was observant and cared about what was happening around him.  A boy who could have a conversation with adults and run off and play with kids.  Tyler was different.  Tyler was special.  Tyler loved the Lord.

Because of Tyler I knew that Eric could have a deep knowledge of God's word, and he does.  Because of Tyler, I knew that a young child could preach a meaningful sermon, and Eric has.  Because of Tyler I knew that a child could achieve much, love richly, and care for others.  Eric would not be the kid he is today without Tyler Binford.

Satan knew that Tyler was capable of great things for the Lord.  He attacked Tyler mercilessly.  He will always go after the ones who could do the most good.

 However, he failed to recognize how much Tyler had already done.

You see, I am just one person who knew Tyler, and Tyler had a profound influence on my life.  I can only imagine how many people he touched in his short lifetime.  God always knew the number of Tyler's days.  His passing was no surprise to our Lord.  And though his days were fewer than we would hope, he filled those days.  He used those days.  He lived those days.

He changed me.

People have always noticed that Eric is different.  People have always been impressed with his willingness to lead, his willingness to help, his thoughtfulness.  Now you know why.  It was because his parents were blessed enough to know Tyler Binford.  To watch him grow.  To love him.

We miss you, Tyler.  We hurt desperately for your family.  We were so glad to know you and love you.

Thank you for helping me be a better mom to my son.  Thank you for helping me prepare him for service in the kingdom.

I love you!

Summer Swim Over

Summer swim ended, and Eric had another great season.

Once again this year, he got the MVP for his age group.  This means he earned the most points in his age group at the meets.  So very excited!

The team gave the swimmers medals for participating this year, as well as a small personalized cooler, and a tumbler.  

Eric's swim buddy got the most improved award in their age group.  Eric was so excited for him.  He has stayed after practice a few times to help his friend work on flip turns.  

Last night's swim meet was the hardest one yet.  The other team was very, very talented.  E swam his heart out, though!  

He got third place in the 100 Free, but he swam it in his best ever time.  This is why the place really shouldn't be looked at much.  If you care about the place, you would be disappointed in that race, as it was his first third place of the season.  However, he swam it 3 seconds faster than he ever has.  Wow!  So proud of him!  Can't complain at all about that.  He swam it in 1:15.16.  

He rocked his part of the relays, but the other team just had faster swimmers than we did.  I was crazy impressed with how he caught up a major lead the other team had, but then the next member of the relay lost it again.  Oh well.  

Eric also enjoyed helping the tall fella in this picture.  He is a runner who wants to do an Ironman, so he needed to learn to swim.  I was very impressed with his positive attitude, determination, and willingness to learn.  Eric enjoyed helping him with his turns, starts, dives, etc.  

He has had a great season, and I am so proud of him.  

I think he has a few trophies.....

Swim meet

I am not a frequent blogger anymore.  I will try to get better at that.

Eric rocked his swim meet last night!  He swam hard and fast!  He didn't achieve any personal best times, but he got very close on a couple of events.  His team lost by 3 points.  What a bummer!  But he definitely contributed greatly to the points of his team.

4 First Place  and 1 Second.  Woo hoo!!!!

He swam up with the 13/14 relays, and they won first both times.  

He got first in backstroke and butterfly.  

He got his second place in IM.  

The fella in the yellow cap is who he swam against.  You can see he is a head taller than Eric.  E rocked it and almost caught him.  The boy was only a stroke or two ahead at the end.  I was super proud!

Here are some other pics of the super swimmer.  

Warming up.

Here is his backstroke.  I have a hard time posting videos because the quality has gotten too high.  However, the low lighting and length of this one worked.  :) 

Renaissance Festival

One thing that amazes me in Atlanta, is how long traveling programs stay here.  For example, the Renaissance Festival - in Arkansas they would set up for a week, maybe over two weekends.  Here it stays for two months.  We had gotten a couple of free tickets from a friend, so we decided to go yesterday.  

We really enjoyed the Barely Balanced show.  It was an acrobat/comedy routine.  It is hard to snap pictures without being noticed, so this is the best I could do.  

Eric took a bunch of pictures during the act.  Here is one from his camera.  

Eric got to hold this beautiful goose.  It didn't even look real.  It was a lovely cream/tan shade that almost made it look golden.  

When he was finished holding the goose, he thanked the lady for the opportunity to hold it.  She was a little overwhelmed by his manners and insisted on giving him a hug and went on and on about it.  

There was a man inside that giant tree behind us.  I bet he was scorching, because it was a very hot day!

Our caricature.  

CNC and Tidal Waves

Yesterday our friends called and invited us to a homeschool day at the Chattahoochee Nature Center.  We have never been before, so we went with them.  (Plus she had guest passes to get us in free.  Yay!)  Eric had a great time at the center.  We packed a lunch and ate first, then explored a little before class.

Exploring the center with his friend.  

In their first class, they talked about cells.  The boys peeled the outermost layer of skin from a red onion and made a slide.  Then they viewed it under the microscope.  

I was able to get a really cool picture of their onion cells through the microscope.  

Then we played a life cycle game outside.  Eric really enjoyed that.  (the fella loves games!)

I took this one because he is looking so big.  He is growing so much physically, spiritually, and in maturity.  I am constantly in awe that I get the privilege of being his mother.  

And summer swim team started yesterday.  Go Tidal Waves!!!  The boy could not wait until summer swim started.  He loved the feeling of being an amazing swimmer, and summer swim definitely reminded him of that.  When you are with amazing swimmers every day, you forget just how good you are.  It is nice to be with average swimmers and stand out.  

He loves his new swim cap.  He said it is the most comfy one he has every owned.  Robert picked it up for him at the Google store when he toured the Google headquarters recently.  

Lots of smiles with friends from last year.  Glad he is so excited.  Can't wait to watch him swim!

Girls' Night/Boys' Night

Since GA shuts down for Spring Break, or at least everyone seems to think it should, we had a night out last night.  No church during spring break.  How crazy is that?

I went to a paint class.  I have wanted to for years.  I loved it.  I went with a girl here that I have really enjoyed.  She is a Christian momma, and I have yearned to have some strong Christian friends here.

The start of my painting.  

My completed picture. 

Our works of art.  

My completed work at home on its current resting spot - my mantle.  I was very pleased with it.  I have about zero artistic ability.  

So, while I was there, Robert and Eric and another father and son from church went to the Braves game.  Robert also took our friend, Ellis, from LTC.  It was his first baseball game, and he was mesmerized.  They had a great time!  

No swim this week either.  I'm telling you, GA shuts down at Spring Break more than any other holiday.  We swim the days around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But Spring Break?  No way!  That is a sacred holiday around here.  

However he did have soccer today. 

Bible Bowl

LTC was fantastic!  This boy...

Yep, this one...

This ball of craziness...

Completely rocked Bible Bowl!

I mean he was just shy of a perfect score.  

He missed two in the first round.  One of those, however, was incorrect.  I approached them between the first and second round and showed them that it was incorrect.  They then decided to give everyone credit for that question.  So, just one there.  

In the second round, they asked that same question in a different way.  It is the only question he missed in that round.  Since I had rocked the boat so much on the first round, I just let that one slide.  Shouldn't have, but I did.  I didn't want to start out as a crazy coordinator in my first event ever at this LTC convention.    

He missed none in the third round.  

So the boy missed two.  And really only one.  

One.

He rocked it!

Amazing!

The other fella on our team did not get an individual medal.  However, Eric's score was high enough to pull their team up to GOLD!