All Star Game

November 5, 2020 | Stacy

Marie was invited to play in an All Star Game for SK. This was a treat. They haven’t had one in years and years, I am told, but because they’d lost so many OTHER opportunities this year (Thank You Governor Clown Shoe) they decided to have one. Seven or eight players from each of the local homeschool teams who were in the top three for the league split up into two teams and played a game.

I had to watch from my car as I pulled my back on Wednesday and I’m gimping around.

Thankfully other parents took some photos.

End of the season

October 22, 2020 | Stacy

End of an era?

Marie’s shoes

September 30, 2020 | Stacy

There is so little to blog.

Marie painted these shoes she got at Goodwill. She decorated them for her favorite movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas.

BECAUSE ….

September 10, 2020 | Stacy

Because being a Scarlet Knight is too cool not to remember as the years go by.

First game of the season

September 3, 2020 | Stacy

It’s hard to describe how grateful we are that our homeschool soccer league is able to play this year. With so many other activities stripped off our schedules this year, it was such a wonderful blessing to have this remain intact, particularly with schools in our region not being afforded the same privilege.

Marie is a defensive starter again this year. This is Tabitha’s first year on the varsity level, and with such a large team, she is a pool player. We were glad she was able to take the field this gorgeous September day.

One of the biggest pick-me-ups is that the other parents seem wholly like-minded in terms of protocols. It is delightful to just be ourselves and feel like we are totally doing something normal again!

Camp Cherith Day three

July 22, 2020 | Stacy

We made it through breakfast without rain.

And then in CAME with a vengeance.

I momentarily considered calling it a day and heading home, but we decided to just wait it out, and I’m so glad we did.

Amidst just a drizzle, we did our nature activity. Our leader for this was the director of the camp.

She was such a delight to talk with. We had a number of friends in common.

We examined some pond water, and Katriel found a tadpole! Someone found a snail!

Our last activity was hiking. First we found some quotes and scriptures about being in nature.

We had our last meal – a lovely lunch.

And then we went to the Tuck Shop and purchased some souvenirs and ice cream for our trip home.

IT WAS SO AWESOME!

Camp Cherith day two

July 21, 2020 | Stacy

We woke by 7 to a glorious morning and headed off to breakfast by 8AM. We came back to our cabin to do our devotions, and then we went to our first activity, which was swimming. I didn’t take my camera. I sincerely enjoyed, to the core of my being, my conversations with the two women who are swim instructors/life guards. One was from FL and one from IL. I was so soothing to talk with them and find they felt the same way I do about this “pandemic” and the lockdowns. They also were so encouraging to my reluctant swimmer and they played with Katriel and their cool toys. Our family had the WHOLE POOL to ourselves.

We headed back to the cabin to prepare for our next activity.

ARCHERY!

Our wonderful archery instructor does this FOR FREE every summer as a ministry. God bless these leaders. I am just in awe.

My girls are naturals!

Tab shoots left.

I even took a turn.

WE WERE HUNGRY!

Then we went outside for our post-lunch devotional activity.

This one focus on how we need people in our lives to support and encourage us.

We had cabin quiet time. Here she is reading her Bible storybook to me.

Finally we had a craft period.

Again, we had a lovely adult leader who met my girls where they each were at for crafting. Different than at home, where mom is all about calculating the mess, our leader was all about helping them see their vision come to be.

We hurried back to the cabin for swim suits and we were at the Tuck Shop the moment it opened for our daily ice cream.

Tab used free time to read while we hit the pool again.

Dinner was delicious.

We played on the lawn a bit.

Then a game before campfire games.

Our family was the only group to finish the map relay race on time. Tab is an expert mapper. (It runs in the family.)

Devotions and treats.

And SLEEP!

Camp Cherith

July 21, 2020 | Stacy

NY has a lot of Christ-centered camps that operate year round, with a special emphasis on youth camps in the summer.

Covid stole that from most of them.

Camp Cherith, in Western NY decided to offer family camp for units traveling together. Each group got their own cabin and their own dedicated bathroom facilities and dining table. We also got to rotate between activities over six times slots on three days. They also provided us with post-breakfast personal devotion material, post-lunch family devotional material, and after dinner songs and campfires with testimonies and games.

We left our house around 8:30AM to be at Cherith by 10AM.