Ligonier Conference

As mentioned in a previous post, Russ and I attended the Ligonier conference in Orlando early in March.  When he graduated from seminary four years ago this coming May, he and his three amigos--Ian, Stan, and David--decided that they would meet up in three/four years at the Ligonier conference.   Unfortunately, David's wife was unable to make the trip, and Stan and Juliet cancelled at the last minute because Juliet had fallen and broken her wrist which required surgery that week.  So our group was a little smaller, but we enjoyed a sweet time of fellowship.

The theme of the conference this year was "Awakening" and the topics considered the idea of "awakening" in the areas of the power of God's Word, through suffering, as seen in Scripture, in hospitality, through church history, through the Holy Spirit, in evangelism, in prayer, in personal holiness, and to the glory of God.  We had a wonderful time of refreshment with good friends and great teaching.

The one reason I like to fly United in the morning😋😋

Merritt Island Nature Preserve

Canaveral National Seashore

Joni Eareckson Tada speaking on suffering.

Spending time with sweet little Julia was so much fun!

Dordt Indoor Track

Since we are well into the outdoor track season, I thought I had better post a few pictures of indoor track.  Both Caleb and Nicolas are running track at Dordt, but I was only able to snag pictures of Caleb.  Almost all the pictures are from the conference meet or Nationals, and Nicolas did not run either of those meets--pretty normal for a freshman. 

Conference

Indoor Nationals

 4x400 relay team that ran at Nationals

February Activities

We didn't receive much snow in the valley this winter, especially as compared to last winter.  When it snowed late in February we knew we had better seize the opportunity to have some fun in the snow because it would more than likely be the last we'd see until next year.  Even Zoe enjoyed a "frolic" in the snow.😄

In February our homeschool co-op toured the local fire station.  Having grown up in a small town with volunteer fire fighters it was interesting to hear how our full-time fire fighters spend their day.   Since they are all trained as paramedics they go out on every 911 call in their area which can be greater than twenty calls a day.  When not out on a call, there is always training to complete.  At 5:00 the fire station becomes like a "home" where they can cook supper, watch TV, and have down time until the next call comes in.  But between 8-5 it is like any other job.  I think they said they have 48 hours on and then four days off.  

Anna Grace

This sweet girl turned sixteen the last day of January and I thought it would be nice to acknowledge that landmark with a blog post of her very own. 

She is officially driving on her own as she passed both the written and driving tests a few weeks ago.   It has been nice for us to have another driver in the family as she can take herself to school, organ practice/lessons, piano lessons, track practice, etc.  It was especially nice when Russ and I were in Florida for the Ligonier conference as she could taxi her siblings to the library and even to Culvers for a night eating out!  You have to understand that driving in busy Boise and Meridian traffic is no small feat for this non-aggressive, shy, introvert!  She has done awesome, and we love watching her gain confidence with each milestone of independence.

Although she has played the piano for years, Anna has found a new love with the organ.  She has had lessons just over a year and has played in church 3-4 times.  Currently, when she plays in church it is mainly for the prelude and offertory, but she has accompanied congregational singing a few times.  She is working towards taking the entire service, but hasn't quite gained the confidence for that yet!

Anna found another new love in the subject of accounting.  As some of the family may remember, Anna spent much of her Christmas break in Iowa working through an accounting book for Business Professionals of America (BPA).  BPA is a club at Cole Valley Christian that allows students to compete and gain experience in various aspects of the business world.  Nicolas was also a part of the club while at CVCS and participated in a group marketing competition.  Anna wanted to be part of another extracurricular and decided on BPA, but wasn't sure what area to participate in.  Since she loves all things numbers, we encouraged her to try accounting.  CVCS does not offer an accounting class, but the BPA supervisor found a CPA to mentor and advise Anna through an accounting book--basically completing a course in Fundamental Accounting via self-study.  In January Anna competed with a written test and finished first in the district/region.  A couple of weeks ago the state competition was held at BSU and Anna finished 6/30, just missing qualifying for Nationals (which are to be held in TX in May) by one place!  She is excited to move on to the next level of accounting next year.

 National Honor Society Induction

Other loves of Anna:  Math, snuggling her pets, playing games (especially any fast game that relies on pattern recognition--we are all toast if she is playing), yummy food, and books (especially biographies--her most recent favorite is Elisabeth Elliot).  Things she does not love:  Social media, ridiculous phone texts, cleaning and/or doing dishes (unless it's emptying the dishwasher because the dishes are clean and not gross), running long distances, Russ' dad jokes, her contact lenses, and driving on the interstate.

No Technology = Creativity

Although we have always put restrictions on technology, Russ and I noticed a few weeks ago that things had gotten a little lax, especially with the homeschool kids (one in particular).  Even though what they were doing was not bad (listening to music, playing trivia games with each other, etc) it was sucking a lot of time.  It seemed that whenever they had free time, they picked up their iPod and did something for 5-15 minutes.  Well, those few minutes really add up in a day.  So, we decided that at 8:30 the iPods go in the basket, and they don't get picked up again until 4:00 in the afternoon.  Mom's phone included!  

We might make exceptions to listen to music while doing lunch dishes, or allowing mom to check her texts to make sure nothing important was coming her way.  What we found in those few weeks was that an amazing amount of creative activity took place!  Can you tell we are studying the medieval times--castles, knights, Robin Hood and King Richard stuff?  There is also a little Harry Potter and astronomy thrown in the  mix.

So good to see the 1-2-3 draw books out again!

It did make for a much messier house, but I'll take creativity over technology any day!

Sun Valley/Ketchum 2018

We missed the McCall Winter Carnival again this year because I had an all-day continuing ed class.  Instead we decided to take a trip to the Sun Valley area with the kiddos because we so enjoyed the beauty of the area last year.  We tried to ice skate again this year, but it had just been too warm the weeks prior and the skating rink had closed.  Maybe next year?   We drove to the scenic look-out up near Galena Summit and just explored and enjoyed the beauty of the day.