March Updates~

If I tend to ramble during this quick update, blame it on the Dayquil-induced fog that I've been in since I was hit with the flu last Wednesday.  Since it's been quite awhile since I posted, because of our Lent inspired internet break, I'll just hit the highlights.

* Survived our Daniel Fast and we all learned alot about reading labels and carefully choosing our food. I think I even lost a pound or two. We ended it by celebrating with a Girl Scout Cookie binge-fest!  (I know- we're bad!)

*  We attended the South Dakota Special Olympics Basketball tournament in Yankton to watch Tanner play basketball.  He did a wonderful job, and as usual, watching these enthuisiastic athletes play was nothing less than inspiring!  I was very proud to watch Tanner feed the ball more than once to a player on the other team with Down Syndrome so that boy could make a basket.  Tanner is as compassionate as he is chatty! Afterwards, they were picked up in a stretch limo to attend a dance held for the athletes that night.

Armed with a Mountain Dew, ready for the night!

* Spent a week without internet or TV as our Lent "offering" and I was really proud of the girls!  They hardy complained at all, and we found so many other things to keep ourselves busy that we didn't miss the TV much.  What I DID miss was the sit down time- I ended up keeping busy many nights until 9:00, then I would wonder why I was so pooped!  Even if I'm not watching TV with the kids, if it's on at night, at least I sit down and do something, so I did miss my down time.
We were also painfully reminded of how much I rely on the computer anymore, from checking my bank balance to looking up a recipe- it has become the quickest information source, and it was missed for that purpose during the week.

* Foster care update- we will continue to have Little Man stay with us, as social workers begin working on reviewing homestudies submitted from relatives.  We would gladly keep him on a permanent basis, but we will do our best to be patient as his caseworker does her best to find him a forever home.  He is a very special little guy, with alot of wonderful qualities and a joy that hasn't yet been stifled by neglect or abuse, so we pray that he will be placed in a home that will encourage him to continue being the happy little guy that he is.  (And if that would happen to be here with us, we will consider it a blessing :-)

* Homeschool has been less "inspired" this spring and more "task" orented, with us plowing through the required readings and assignments with our eyes on the end, instead of meandering through this rich curriculum as we have done with others at a more enjoyable pace.  I think back fondly of the Greek meal and dress-up night we had, our Statue of Liberty costumes, Native American crafts made from nature, and have to hope that we will have time to fit in some fun activities yet this year before summer consumes us and our time.  We are currently studying India, and I'm hoping I can figure out how I can either locate some true Indian food, or how I can magically whip it up in my kitchen.

* 4H- our recent community service project was to go the Nursing Home and play Bingo with the residents.  They LOVED having the kid play with them, and the energy level was infectious!  We hope this will encourage our 4H kids to always think of ways to make other people's lives better.

*  Church update- we had a Family Fun Night with kids at our church.  We served pizza and had families bring their favorite games to play.  It ran from 6-8:30 and everyone seemed to have a great time.  I think this is one activity that we will want to do again.

*  House update- we've been working hard on the basement, trying to tape and texture it ourselves, with Loren and Bri doing most of the work so far.  The more walls that we do, the bigger the basement seems to be!  We are hoping to get done with it by this weekend so we can begin painting the rooms and maybe putting on trim and doors.  Handy men we are NOT, so we'll see how this goes :-)

With all this early spring weather, and the incredibly long list of projects that need to be done, I'm sure I will have less and less time to post family doings for awhile. 

But we can always post pictures of cuteness!!