Seminary Classroom

As I attempt to catch up on the old blog, I wanted to post pictures of the most time-consuming thing in my life right now. That is SEMINARY!! I am teaching 9 high school kids each morning in this little porch on the back of our house. I am doing my best but it sure is super hard. Harder than I thought.
This is the porch from the kitchen. This was taken today, after seminary. It looked neater on the first day of class (a little neater).

This is to record the Scripture Mastery verses they memorize. There are 25 Old Testament scriptures they can memorize this year. They are all doing a SUPER GREAT job so far. All students are 2 for 2!~!~

Each Scripture Mastery memorized, this is their reward. A KING SIZED candy bar. They like this. Parents supplied 25 candy bars for their student.

Books of the Old Testament down the side of the wall. I take a few away each week but ALL the kids already have them memorized (and so do I!).

This is, from left to right, The Plan of Happiness chart, Dry Erase Board and Scripture Reading Chart. Each student is encouraged to read 10 minutes every day. Under the Dry Erase Board is the question, "Where are we going to find Christ today?" They write in their FITs (Feelings, Impressions and Thoughts) book where they saw Christ in the Old Testament and/or we have a SO WHAT (from the third picture) moment which is how they can apply what was learned to their everyday life. How it can change them now! We try to share things from their FITs book every day at the end of class.

This is going to be a challenge for me to keep up the energy each week. I love teenagers and I love the gospel of Jesus Christ so it should be a great year.

Tecumseh - Outdoor Drama

This past weekend we went to Chillicothe, Ohio to see the outdoor drama, Tecumseh. We went with a lady Larry works with named, Sharon and our good friend, Tim. We had a great time but it was too short and I wasn't ready to come home. I think we could have spent another day or two.

I reversed these pictures but this guy was showing us how he jumped from this rock. We did a backstage tour to see how they did some of the stunts - well worth the extra $4.

This guys showed us the guns they fired during the show. I am not a gun person but it was cool.

The Ampitheater with Larry, Tim, and Sharon. Sharon reminds me of my mom in a lot of ways. It was fun to spend the some time with her and get to know her. I hope we can do more of these type trips. I needed the break.

Landon's 7th Birthday Bash

The car trip up was so fun :) Hannah, slept the whole way there, except when she posed for this picture. (I am chuckling as I write this) Miss Cincy on the trip. She is a cutie and, if I ever want to have a picture of me, I have to take them myself.




The Birthday Boy!
The girls got to sit around and do nothing during this party. Such fun.
Porter is almost too cool for parties.
Sarah isn't really planning all the games, making all the food, decorating, feeding Ella, shopping, etc. She had a great relaxing day.
Ender has the life :)
Amanda and Addie posing for Nana.

The guys really did all the work to pull off this party for about 15 kids as you can see in the photos. It is a good thing we have them around.

Tim supervised the opening of the presents.

Party Fun. We are lucky to have Landon in our family and all the other cute grandkids.
Ella made up with Grampy this time. She usually doesn't like men (thanks to Brad and James for scarring her to death).

Happy Birthday Hannah and a little more.

I am sitting here feeling a little sad that Hannah is now 16. Where has the time gone? She is such a great kid and I am so blessed to have her in my life. Sometimes I wonder what life would be like without her here. I would be so alone most of the time. I am grateful that I have her and that we get along so well and she is so amazing.
Not much fanfare on her birthday. She went to school (blah). I baked cookies on Sunday but I saved some dough so she could have some fresh ones on the first day of school. It is 27 years that I have made cookies on the first day of school. That seems like a lifetime. I took her to the YMCA and then to Target to get school supplies. We went to Cici Pizza for dinner where a few of her friends met us for dinner (along with Brad, Jessica and Tim). She got a curling wand for her birthday and a Glee folder for school. She is funny, wanting a Glee folder.
I am ready to start Seminary tomorrow. I have the porch all set up like a classroom. I feel I should take pictures and post them on here like all the 'real' teachers do, but I can't find my camera memory card. Maybe some other time. I am excited for Seminary to begin. I will have 10 students (well, maybe 8-9 will actually come). We will be studying the Old Testament every morning from 6:20-7:10. I need a nap just saying that.
That's it for my bi-monthly update........ maybe pictures next time.