FaceTime Cello Recital

Sylvia's teacher, Dr. Ransom, has kept up lessons via FaceTime during the COVID19 shelter-in-place order, and today she hosted an end-of-semester FaceTime recital for her students. 

It was quite a bit less nerve-wracking than a recital in-person, I think.

 Sylvia played Bach, which I love to hear.  I just cried watching and listening to her, thinking of all the things she has missed out on these past couple months.  

I'm so glad Dr. R made sure this recital happened. 

I just love to watch and listen to Sylvia play. 

I love hearing this girl play.

As she finished practicing today, I begged her to let me record the Bach Suite (no. 2).

Caeden got his phone today.

We were getting ready to watch a movie tonight, and Caeden made us watch  Bad Lip Reading High School Musical first.  All 3 of our children find this hilarious.

They sing along and crack up the whole time!

Goofies!!!

 

I apologize for the lack of posting over the past many months. Sometimes I get to busy and get behind and post a month's worth of posts at a time.  Sometimes (like this time) I have trouble with Blogger.  I finally figured out that the trouble I've been having with Blogger for the past year and a half is from having too many Google accounts signed in on one device!  If I sign out of all accounts, then Blogger works just fine!  Of course it gets confused with 10 different accounts wanting to be signed in!  Anyway...hopefully with that figured out and my being home and nonessential during this pandemic, I will get caught up.  Not that I will have that much content now...since everything is canceled.

It is such a weird feeling of waiting. 

Jeremy took advantage of a BOGO iPhone deal through Verizon last week, and yesterday my new phone arrived.  Here is a photo I accidentally took with it while I was setting it up.  Annah is working on getting my "old" phone set up to use as hers.  Caeden's first phone will arrive in a few days.

This morning it was absolutely gorgeous outside, and Caeden and I went for a walk around the village.

Love this teenager!

This afternoon, Sylvia spent some time with her skateboard.

While she rode in the road, I pulled last fall's leaves out of the flower beds in front of our house and filled a whole trash can.  It was such a beautiful day to be outside!

This evening, as Caeden was getting warmed up for his guitar lesson, he played a few songs for me.  I love how slow and mellow this one is!

Jeremy came across a BOGO deal through Verizon last week, so Sylvia got her own phone this week. She was about the only high schooler without one until this point.  She is pretty glad to have one now.

Snuggling up to watch some tv before bed.

Wrapping up spring

My current project: trying entrelac tunisian crochet, making a big tote bag.  It's really fun, and time-consuming, but actually a lot easier than it looks.

Tuesday evening, we went to DQ after Caeden's guitar lesson. The youth group was having a fundraiser there, and DQ gave a portion of sales towards the youth trips this summer.  It was fun to see about 30-40 people from church there!

Sylvia took selfies in the car on the way home so she could play with my Pic-Tap-Go app.

Today was the last full day of school for the kids!  (They will go back Friday morning for a half day.)

This kid hopped up on my bed this morning and stole my phone for a minute.

Annah brought home all her folders and notebooks.  I'd say she learned a lot this year!

8th grade promotion was this evening.  Sylvia is the top student in her class academically, so she was one of two 7th grade honor marshals who led the 8th graders in and out of the ceremony, and helped them down from the stage as they received awards.

We are super proud of our Sylvia Claire!!!  She is such a hard worker, detailed organizer, creative thinker, and kind heart.  

7th grade has been trying for her socially/relationally, but she is finishing this school year with joy.  I am so thankful!  

One day this week, a teacher pulled Sylvia aside for a moment and told her that a girl in her class gave a speech about the "wisest person she knows," and it was all about Sylvia! That was a beautiful blessing from the Lord!!!

I think one of the most important lessons Sylvia has learned is that being kind even [and especially] when others aren't showing her kindness will always be the best option. I am so proud of the way she shines the light and love of Jesus.

Had to take a picture of these pretty friends as they chatted in the hall after the ceremony...

Project Life App approach update

I'm doing fairly well keeping up with the Project Life App digital scrapbook pages, and documenting our photos and stories in this way [that is somewhat new to me] so far this month.  At one point I did change the design/theme/cards I'm using, so on the blog posts, the new ones don't match the first few I posted.  For years I have admired the Cherry Edition I started out with, but I decided the new Everyday Edition would be more neutral and fitting for our current photos, and since I was only a few pages in, I changed.

There are pros and cons for me about this new process, but I'm going to try to stick with it at least for this year and decide which outweighs the other. So far...

Cons:

• I'm having trouble thinking about journaling/card placement in relation to a 2-page spread while I can only look at 1 page at a time on my phone.
• I'm keeping it photo-heavy, because it will cost $1.99 per page to print, and it's making me feel limited to bullet-point journaling instead of story-telling like I usually do here on the blog. 
• I'm not sure if it will cost me more or less than printing pics and buying physical product in the end, and I keep reading Becky Higgins' social media posts and buying little $1.99 things like more page layouts in the app, and an awesome photo editing app that is worth the $1.99--PicTapGo.

Pros: 

• I am using "extra" time (riding in the car, waiting at kids' lessons/appointments, etc) to scrapbook!
• I'm "keeping up!"
• Blogging is quick!
• I'm enjoying a new challenge and goal.

I got off track towards the beginning of what will be our "book," so I put a bunch of the uplifting images I collect together for one page.  I always have a bunch of these kinds of things on my phone, computer, and digital folders...keeps me thinking!

The swim team practiced this morning--the first time they've been in the pool since Monday.  

It was still pretty cold, and they were all shivering and had blue lips.  But they were glad to be in the pool!

My iPhone 6 Plus konked out on Wednesday.  The Touch ID had stopped working about 6 weeks ago, which I guess should have been a sign that something was going wrong.  I was trying to get the newest iOS update this week, but kept getting error messages.  I successfully updated the iMac, the iPad, Sylvia's iPod, and even my old iPhone.  After about a 2-hour chat conversation with apple on Wednesday night, it was determined that it was a hardware problem that needs repaired.  They shipped me an empty box with instructions, which I both received and returned with my phone in it today.  A new phone should be shipped to me free of charge in 5-8 business days. 

Last week, the kids and I were talking about preparing for the school year, and Sylvia showed me something in her planner from last year.  Apparently I hadn't seen inside her planner before, because I had no idea she used it like this.  I thought it was pretty awesome to see that she uses her highlighters to color code assignments for each class!  She started it at the beginning of the school year and continued it all the way through to the end of the school year.  

She said some kids made fun of her when they saw her get her highlighters out, but she loves to be organized.  

 So now we're working on getting planners together for this fall!  Annah chose this one, and Sylvia is going to try it out too.  Only 5 weeks until school starts!

Fall in Arrowsmith

We had a beautiful, crisp morning here in Arrowsmith--31 degrees and radiant autumn colors!  I decided to go for a walk around the village after the kids got on the bus.  I took these pictures just after sunrise with my iPhone.

hard frost last night

our house in the light of sunrise

neighbors' gourd birdhouses and windmill

at the corner of the cornfield

beside the church

  

 A Time for Everything 

"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: 

 a time to be born and a time to die, 

 a time to plant and a time to uproot, 

a time to kill and a time to heal, 

 a time to tear down and a time to build, 

a time to weep and a time to laugh, 

 a time to mourn and a time to dance, 

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, 

 a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, 

a time to search and a time to give up, 

 a time to keep and a time to throw away, 

a time to tear and a time to mend, 

 a time to be silent and a time to speak, 

a time to love and a time to hate, 

 a time for war and a time for peace. 

What do workers gain from their toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him. 

Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account." 

- Ecclesiastes 3:1-15 (NIV)