Summer Day? or School Day?

A couple of weeks ago, we drove up to the closest IKEA and Kelsey found a loft bed that she thought would be perfect in her room. She even told me she had enough money to pay for the bed herself. We didn’t buy the bed that day, but she did come home and she did take all the measurements necessary to see if the bed would fit in her room.

This morning, we measured the area in my car (a Saturn Vue, not a huge SUV) to see if the bed would fit. We decided to take the chance, make the drive, and do our best to fit the bed in the car.

Once we arrived at IKEA, we saw that the bed came in two flat boxes, so we were not sure if they would fit. Since we made the drive, we decided to go ahead and buy the bed and take the pieces out of the box to fit everything in the car.

The best part of this was when we went up to the register and Kelsey handed the clerk a wad of cash that she had saved up to pay for the bed. A gentlemen at the register next to us was impressed that she was paying for the bed herself.

IKEA loft bed in my car

Yay! Everything fit!

Once we arrived home, we got right to work: moved out the old bed, vacuumed, and got started putting the new bed together. It took quite a bit of work and coordination, but we were determined to get it done!

new loft bed

So, goodbye to the picket fence bed and hello to the new loft bed!

So if you ask me, I love these kind of summer/school days. I am a big believer in that every lesson does not need to come from a textbook. We had a great day together, overcame some obstacles, and persevered. It is hard to see her growing up so fast, but I love to see the young woman she is growing up to be.

Capture Your 365

A few Capture Your 365 photos to share with you this week:

delicate

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/50 sec

Day 217 – Delicate: My nana loved her tea cups, they are one thing I have at my home that are a reminder of her.

personable

ISO 1600, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/80 sec

Day 218 – Personable: This is Horsey, my daughter’s much loved stuffed horse. She has had him for about 12 years now. I remember when he used to travel with us just about everywhere, and there were times we had to turn around and head back to someone’s home because Horsey was accidently left behind. He doesn’t leave the house as much anymore on daily trips, but you can be sure any time we are gone for more than a day, Horsey will be travelling along with her.

abstract

ISO 400, 50mm, f/2.0, 1/20 sec

Day 219 – Abstract: We acquired this spinning wheel from a sweet lady who used to be part of our Civil War Reenacting group. Kelsey took an interest for a while. Over the past few years, the spinning wheel has been collecting quite a bit of dust. So just last week, I gave it to another sweet lady who was really excited to add it to her home.

camera love

ISO 800, 50mm, f/3.2, 1/30 sec

Day 220 – Camera Love: The first time I used this camera, I was in the fifth grade and I took it with me to a week of Outdoor Ed at Mt. Hermon. My mom liked the pictures so much that she had them matted and hung them up in our home. I believe I still have those pictures in a box somewhere. It would be fun to pull them out some time. Now the camera sits on a book shelf reminding me of simpler days.

dress to impress

ISO 800, 50mm, f/3.2, 1/15 sec

Day 221 – Dress to Impress: This stay at home, homeschooling mom stays pretty comfortable running around in capris, T-shirts, and barefeet during the summer. Very rarely though, there is an opportunity to dress up for some event. Not too long ago, I found a couple of great dresses for just about $20 each to keep on hand for those dress up type of events.

It is not too late to join in the Capture Your 365 challenge! Let me know if you do, I would love to see your take on the daily photo prompts.

Compassion Around the World

Quick! How many countries does Compassion work in?

If you said 26 countries, you are right! And the Compassion web site has a great spot for you to learn more about each one of the countries where Compassion is working to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name.

Where does your sponsored child live? Does your sponsored child live in Colombia like our Lina?

By visiting this link (Colombia facts), you can find out when Compassion started working in Colombia and the number of children currently registered in Compassion programs at local churches in Colombia. But that is not all, each country page has information on the country’s history, education, religion, culture, holidays and festivals, sports and games, typical foods, greetings, and country facts and figures. Here is an interesting fact about education in Colombia, the school year runs from February to November!

Maybe this would be a great year for you and your family to learn more about the country where your sponsored child lives! Maybe find a recipe or two, add a craft project, learn a few phrases, find the country on the world map and you have yourself a great unit study!

Buenos dias!!

A little of this and a little of that…

Today, I am just going to share some random things with you, I hope you enjoy them!

Hello Mornings

I have decided to join in on the Hello Mornings Challenge again. This is a great way to start my morning off the right way. Spending time with God, making a plan for my day, and taking time to exercise a few times a week. This fall, the group is doing a inductive study on the book of Ephesians. My book is ordered and I am looking forward to the lessons God has for me.

last homeschool book

Quite a few schools out here have already started and I believe many more will be starting in the next week or two. At this point, our plan is to start at the end of August or right after Labor Day (one of the benefits of private homeschooling!). We have most of our books, but we are waiting for this one last book to arrive. Just got an e-mail that it should arrive just in time for us to start. We have already gone through the first three books in this series and I have been waiting for this fourth book to be published and ready.

Mexico countdown

And I can’t believe that when I first started the countdown for our Compassion trip, the number was 203 days! Matthew’s passport arrived yesterday and I am still making things to fundraise for our trip. Take a peek at my Facebook page, you might find something you like!

Happy Friday, enjoy this summer day, and have a great weekend!

Capture Your 365…or not

Usually on Wednesdays, I share with you a week worth of photos that I have taken from the Capture Your 365 photo prompts. Well, the past couple of weeks have been crazily (not sure if  that is a real word or not, but it fits!) busy and I did not take any pictures with my Nikon! Tragic, I know! What was I doing you might ask?

homeschool conference

I was able to set up a Compassion table for two days at our local homeschool conference and we found sponsors for three kids! In addition to hanging out at the table for two days and talking with a lot of people, I presented a workshop on the this title, “How One Mom Transitioned from Career Mom to Homeschool Mom”. This was my second time speaking at this conference, but the first time speaking on this topic. The topic is very personal to me because I was that career mom many years ago. Once I have time to enjoy some of my summer, I might just share with you some of what I shared in my workshop.

Spirit West Coast

The other event that keep me busy and away from home was three days at Spirit West Coast in Monterey. I could have taken some pictures with my Nikon at this event, but my focus was on finding sponsors for a lot of Compassion kids. Once I arrived home on Saturday night, I did learn that 165 children were sponsored over those three days! Praise God!

So I finally printed out my August list of prompts and will do my best to share a set of photos with you next week. In the meantime, why don’t you print out the August list and join me for some photo fun?