Summer fun

With Eli deeply immersed in his seminary class the past two weeks, the kids and I have been keeping busy. When Eli's home and needs some quiet to read and study, the boys and I go on adventures. We looked through every book the library had on trucks, motorcycles, and airplanes, played on the train set at Barnes and Nobles, played at the playground, rode around the neighborhood on bikes, and their favorite thing so far - our pool.

An afternoon in the library

To keep life even more exciting, Joshua started potty training this week.

Highlight of the Week

Evan is happy as a clam in Lake Murray

The Fun continues...

The ultimate highlight of our week was going out on a pontoon boat all afternoon on Monday! We went with our long lifetime friend Jessica Carr and some new friends. We took food to grill and ate out on the boat and jumped off the boat, swimming in the lake to cool off. It was so perfect. We all had a great time and definitely wore ourselves out.

I attended my first homeschooling conference!

I spent all Friday and Saturday at a wonderful Christian homeschooling convention. The main speaker was Paul Tripp who was phenomal and spoke on parenting a child's heart. His brother, Ted Tripp wrote the great book called "Shepherding a Child's Heart". Each day we had several sessions with the main speaker, several workshops to pick from and a vendor hall full of different curriculums and books with their representatives.
I attended workshops like:
1. Seven steps to picking the right curriculum for your children.
2. Help! I'm a new homeschooler!
3. How to plan your whole school year in advance.
4. Have fun homeschooling
I made a few new friends and got to listen to different styles of teaching. It was helpful for me to realize what kind of a teacher I am and what teaching styles I feel comfortable with and I'm in the process of figuring out what Isaac and Evan's learning styles are.
I'm really excited about the Sonlight Curriculum. As I talked to Sonlight's representative, she explained that Sonlight was designed with missionaries in mind. So you can buy "packages" that contain all the needed books and supplies and the fun thing is that I can do most subjects with both boys together and then just do math and language arts separately.
I'm definitely learning a lot. The conference was a good boost to my confidence and very encouraging for me to find something that fits our family and situation well. I'm also very encouraged and freshly inspired in my parenting. The Lord convicted me in several areas so I'm praying I can begin to put into practice what Paul Tripp taught us.
If any of you would like to hear more about this conference or how you can possibly attend one in your state, email me, or google "Christian Homeschooling Conference" and your state. That's how I found this one!

More fun...

We are really enjoying our time here! We are definitely getting rest but we have at least one fun thing every day. The best part has been seeing friends again and spending time together and giving the kids opportunities to get reacquainted with their friends.
The South Carolinian summer is here so the weather is in the 90's every day. It feels comfortable to us (we're not even using our air conditioning in the house) while everyone else is complaining about how hot it is. We've found fun ways to keep cool: the sprinkler, a new pool, and the slip'n'slide. We also live close to a community playground so we cut through the woods on a fun trail to get there. I'm telling you, our neighborhood is perfect and we're loving it!
We are heading to Tennessee this weekend to visit friends. This will be our first road trip so we'll see how it goes!

A picnic we had today in our backyard!

Settling in

Welcome to our new home: 1325 Noble Avenue, Columbia, SC 29203
Spacious house, great yard, and in a neighborhood full of other families with young children
One of our first major purchases: bikes and helmets for Isaac and Evan. Joshua's borrowing his bike from a friend.
The back yard has a perfect slope for a slip'and'slide so that is a regular afternoon activity. We are all enjoying the perks of life back in America.

Internet is coming to our home soon!

We just want to ask you to be patient for a few more days. We'll be getting internet in our home this Friday and then we can show you new pictures and update you more regularly. For now, I just want to report that we're all happy and having a great time in the States. Evan, joshua, and Bethany all came down with colds over the weekend. I guess we have to adjust to the American germs. But otherwise we're really enjoying reconnecting with friends and catching up on three years away!