Easter and Birthday and CCCB and Missionaries and.....

We've had a fulfilling week. 

It was full and it was cheerful.

Christy Franke Photography

We went to Easter breakfast that morning. The elders cook for the church. You can't beat their biscuits and gravy. 

Christy goes around and gets pictures of everyone. This is me with Andrea. She and I have been taking our nice sweet time going through a Bible study on Joseph. We're just about to the end (I think it's an eight week study, and we'll have stretched it into a year!). We chat about life stuff as well as study; it's been a lot of fun to get together.

Christy Franke Photography

The young men of church on Easter morning. 

Jonathan is there in the middle in his suit jacket.

Mimi and Papa and our youth minister Mike came over for Easter lunch. Mimi helped cook and the ham warmed up in the oven all morning, so it really wasn't overmuch to do. 

That evening the Dains came over, and Brittany had made me a birthday cake! Sneaky. 

On my actual birthday we had planned a college visit for Jonathan at our alma mater.

And how awesome that we got to sit in on one more Reese Acts class!

This is supposed to be Mr. Reese's last year teaching, for real. 

I've heard that before, but I think it might actually be true this time. 

The DeVries' were at college and Derik preached for chapel. That's the reason we chose that day for a college visit. We haven't seen them for 10 years or so ~ we saw them at the missionary convention before they left to work in Taiwan. 

We saw other friends at the college; Jonathan enjoyed himself and is looking forward to college life; we got a little bit of catching up with the DeVries'. Jennifer had to take the oldest son to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy, so we only got a hug and hello from her. But I loved hearing about the work in Taiwan and talking a bit with Derik and his other kids. They're a hoot.

Mimi had us over for Sunday lunch for my birthday. I'm always glad she has digits for our birthday candles, because I can never remember what year I am! I remember the big ones like 40 or 45, but the in-between ones get all jumbled.

Phoebe just finished up a black skirt. It has pleats in the back but is smooth up front. We need to find a good shirt to go with it, but it is really well made. She used the sewing machine some, but she likes to hand sew a lot too. She feels better about it if she can hand sew; maybe it helps her feel in control. 😀

The homemade tag for the inside back.

Beautiful work, Phoebe!

Detail from Phoebe's sewing desk.

Phillip reading to me about Galileo and how a lot of falsities concerning him have been passing around the history books. 

This is what we do for fun.

Could there be a more beautiful picture of our home place at sunset? 

Harrison and I stopped the truck on the gravel road so I could snap this. 

It'll be a hard one to beat.

 

Phoebe is 16!

 

Phoebe's birthday was on Wednesday, and she passed her driving test that very day! 

We have another driver.

It worked out well ~ the towns around here alternate days they offer driving tests. The town we wanted (close and small and where Phillip had his driving test many years ago) does testing every 2nd and 4th Wednesday. Her birthday happened to fall on 2nd Wednesday, so we were there right when they opened. That was her first birthday gift ~ a passing grade and a license to take home. 

Woohoo! One more kid to go.

She's hand-hemming a garment she's been sewing.

She decided to get 12 inches cut off to donate to charity.

We had a birthday party with a great group of girls from town. Her meal request was Bruschetta Chicken, Cream Cheese Pasta, and Asparagus. With Boston Cream Pie for her cake.

They water-colored while Jonathan asked them discussion questions.

Happy Birthday, Phoebe!

It is spring. It's still cold. But things are blooming and it's beautiful.

Charlotte Mason: The Teacher Who Revealed Worlds of Wonder

This has been several years in the making, and she's finally out there! 

The Charlotte Mason picture biography that I wrote is available on Amazon, or you can visit Blue Sky Daisies for more information. 

Twila and I have had two podcast interviews. The first one is out: Cindy Rollins at The New Mason Jar was our gracious hostess. When the next one comes out, I'll post a link. I am definitely nervous when I do these, but I'm so grateful to get the chance to promote the book. 

My hope is that this book inspires children to love learning, helps parents learn about Charlotte Mason and her ideas of how to raise and educate children, and provides beautiful moments of family reading.

This is a great screen shot from the first day it came out ~ we were number one in several highly specific sub-categories! 😅

And then we don't want to forget this little one as well. She's kind of getting overshadowed by her big sister. This is a copybook for mothers. I collected together some of Charlotte's wisdom and insight for the mom to copy and assimilate. It's also full of beautiful artwork. Charlotte Mason is a good mentor for moms, so I consider this a great companion book to the Teacher Who Revealed Worlds of Wonder. 

 

Harrison and his friend Silas playing around.

And then, the usual family stuff has been going on. Phillip works from his home office (in our bedroom; great view of the front yard though). The kids and I do school. We have 5 weeks of homeschool left! I'm starting to think about what to plant outside and what to Spring Clean inside.

Jonathan took a month to help out in an elementary Sunday school class at church. He taught the lesson the last Sunday he helped. Good job, Jon!

We went to some friends to play with their puppies. They breed and raise golden doodles and golden retrievers. They (the puppies) were full of fun and energy and lots of kisses. 😀 

We want to get an outside dog at some point ~ to go along with our millions of cats!

One of our Texas neighbors sent us a picture of her and her kids being baptized at the church they started attending since we moved. All our neighbors back in Texas are being prayed for here in Missouri. It is joyous to catch a glimpse of them seeking God and growing in their knowledge of Him!

 

Visiting the State Capitol in Jefferson City

Lo-o-o-ng and Lovely Day.

We did a little homeschool trip to visit Missouri's Capitol with the Dains. Shirley lives near the Capitol and took off of work to join us.

Phoebe photography

Last time I was here to visit Shirley, the Capitol was behind orange netting, the ground was bare dirt and there was a lot of restoration going on. It is back to its stately self.

We ate at Arri's Pizza first. Busy place! Which must mean it's good.

Thomas Jefferson welcomes you in. 

Harrison dabbing. This will embarrass him one day.

The Grand Staircase.

The oldest and youngest kids of the group.

We visited the museum part first.

Shirley!

Jonathan took a selfie at this display and then made it their screen background.

This is Thomas Hart Benton. 

I had to take this picture of him since we were not allowed in the Thomas Hart Benton mural room for dubious sounding reasons about the pandemic.

Looking up at the bronze chandelier. 

We went up there, by the way. Up behind that banister.

Sitting in the gallery of the House of Representatives listening to our tour guide.

Out to Central Dairy to get ice cream.

Then we went back to the Capitol to find Ed Lewis. 

We had seen his wife earlier that day. Mr. Lewis taught Brittany (Morris) Dain in high school, and he taught Phillip and I in college. He and his family were members at First Christian Church here in Vandalia for many years. Anyway, years pass by, and now he is a Missouri State Representative.

We went back to the gallery, this time to watch the representatives in session. 

Some action!

This is the board that tells you who voted how. We found Ed's name so we could see if our votes lined up with his. 😄

They voted on 5 or 6 things. They moved pretty quick, so I can tell a lot of work takes place off the floor. Phoebe was especially interested in the issues being voted on. Jonathan just thought there were "a bunch of bills that shouldn't exist and shouldn't be passing because it is none of the government's business" which he texted to let me know he was ready to go home.

It was a long day. I don't blame them for being tired. But I kept telling mine that we probably wouldn't be back here anytime soon, so we were going to get everything out of it that we could.

Mr. Lewis sponsored legislation pertaining to substitute teachers which passed while we were sitting there observing. Kind of neat! 

Representative Mitch Boggs was a homeschooler himself, and he came up to see us and take us around to some off-tour areas of the Capitol. He let the kids sit in his official chair and shared soft drinks from his mini-fridge.

We are up in the Whisper Room. 

You can hear someone whispering from far away. We are high up, above the Bronze Chandelier from a previous picture.

Then we went up, up, up some more to the tippy top and stepped outside to see the rest of Missouri! (We're gonna feel that climb tomorrow.)

Do you see the top dome with a statue on top (Ceres, the goddess of agriculture is the statue)? We were right below those columns. We walked all around the rotunda with fresh wind on our faces.

One view from the top. 

The governor's mansion is in the near distance. The Missouri River on the left.

Whew! What a fun day. My favorite part was watching the representatives in session. The kids might not have a favorite part right now because they're pretty exhausted. It was fun to go with friends! Thanks, Dains and Shirley for being part of the day!