More Faith Academy

This is Carey - our English teacher

This is Emily - our Spanish teacher.

Don had a picture, but was opposed !

My Work

This is Faith Academy in Iowa.

This is my desk and cabinet. The plant

next to the desk was "dead" in January!

This is the open classroom where the kids study.

I do offer weekly labs to explain the work for the week in each of my classes. They are voluntary though and I do not always have students attend. I am currently creating labs for my courses, and working on curriculum. It is great to have my own computer!

Rain, school and work

The rain is steady today. It brings out the green in everything. I like the sound of it on the windows, on the roof, and on the car when I am driving to work. When you get to work though, everything is grey and dark, and it seems to make things move slowly. A good cup of coffee and I am on my way to more curriculum! Grading, tutoring and curriculum are the topics of the day.

The girls at home get to go to the library today. Wednesdays are fun days for them. Starting next week, they will get to go to piano, the library and the bookstore! What a treat!

The children are better!

Here is a much happier, much healthier girl (somewhat blurry though - thanks Mom), studying for school tomorrow. She has many things to catch up on. She had four and half days of coughing and fever. Lord willing, the rest of us will not get whatever she had!

Here are Kayren and Aleya finishing up school Monday afternoon. Aleya is learning the benefits of getting the work done right the first time!

Yesterday we had a wonderful day with worship in the morning. An older lady who has been with us for some time joined the church yesterday, and Rodney preached on Romans 2. A new couple who recently moved here from Maryland visited a second time and we were able to have them over for lunch. Ben and Sarah have been married for about a year. She plays the harp, and even owns one! How delightful!

Tom will be starting Sunday school next week on evangelism. For now, I need to pay the bills, help Lorien study English, grade some of Aleya's papers, and check in on Kayren. Kyrie has some Calculus questions too.

New Bird, Sick Girl, School Girls

Here is Lorien, missing her third day of school with 102.5 fever. Tylenol makes life as a sicky much better!













These are the two other school girls, who got their books today! They will start on Monday.

Aleya found this bird today, and was so excited because cousin Julia has one just like it!

Kyrie left this morning to go on the high school camping trip. The entire high school goes, and it is supposed to be lots of fun! She will get back tomorrow.

So far, I have about 25 or so students, but 18 of them are Algebra I or higher which means lots of tutoring and lots of grading. It will be a busy semester!

Music - Good and Bad?

To my friends and family - who read this and have the time to answer -

Kyrie's Music Theory teacher asked the question yesterday in class,

"What makes music good, and what makes music bad?"

He used his definition of music - combination of rhythm, harmony and melody.

What say ye?

First Day of School!!

Two very excited and nervous girls, ready to start their first day at Grandview Park Baptist School. Kyrie attended Cono in first grade, and is now a senior, and Lorien is beginning 8th grade and has never been to school before.

My other two girls - Kayren and Aleya are also starting today, but they don't have their books yet, so I'll post their picture when they "officially" begin! Lord willing, the books will come today.

We had such a wonderful weekend back home and got to attend our church in Des Moines. Rodney is preaching from Romans, and his sermon was excellent! It was good to worship with all our church family. We love vacation but there is something very sweet about coming home!

This is Aleya showing her newly pierced ears! She earned the event by brushing her teeth faithfully twice a day for a month. She watched two other girls getting their ears pierced first - one who wailed fiercely! But, determined, she gritted her teeth and made it through!








This is Kayren on her first day of school. She is studying geometry. Her desk is the end of our dining room table. She owns it! If working at the table keeps her focused and working hard - great!








Kesse wrote today and said that she was having a wonderful time at Arne and Debbie's. She is relaxing and enjoying the cousins. It was so good to hear from her!

Tom has enjoyed being back home and chatting with Rodney (our pastor) and praying with the deacons, and working on his Sunday school class. Work has been going well too.

First Day of School

Today is the first day of school for Faith Academy. We have had a steady slow stream of students come in.

I am taking a short pause in the activity to update my blog. Jathan left this morning for Dordt on his motorcycle. He begins his RA activities tomorrow ( I believe). The house seems so quiet without the two oldest around.

Kyrie and Kayren are both babysitting today. Lorien and Aleya are going with Kyrie so that they can play with their friends one more day before they dive into school.

I think that we have all the kids' classes worked out now, and schedules too. We are praying that Grandview is the right decision for Kyrie and Lorien. Well, more students are here! Yea!

This is Jathan's motorcycle. Interestingly, it came in second fiddle to my car while we were on vacation!












This is my "mid-life crisis sports car" (according to my pastor), and my bargain of bargains (according to me!) It has low mileage, gets good gas mileage, was clean, in good shape, and CHEAP! Mostly - it was cheap. It doesn't hurt that it's red, a stick shift (which I really like), and drives so well.

This is Oscar, who was so surprised and excited to have us come home. He was well taken care of by Jathan, however. He even gained weight while we were gone! He misses Kesse in the mornings! She always let him out and fed him, bright and early. Now, he has to be more patient.

Well, we made it home safely, and without any interstate troubles. Usually we have some sort of exciting story to tell, but God was very gracious and we came home without any troubles at all. There is so much to do when you get home - pay the bills, laundry, get groceries, and get the girls ready for school. But - blogging reigns (for the moment). It's quite fun to recount the last few days.

I decided to take a couple of pictures so that the folks we visited could see the vehicles we were talking about. One regular problem with our home however is finding things. It seems like we are always looking for something. I found the camera, and even made the trip to Best Buy to get the right card for it, but then I couldn't find the cord to attach it to the computer. (Where is Kesse when you need her?) So, after searching for some time, I found it (evidenced by this blog!) So, my blogging went from the simple ten minute post to the forty-five minute search, and then the ten minute post. Yikes! I do have much to do.

This week we are starting school, going to orientations for Lorien and Kyrie, and the Network for Kayren. Faith Academy starts tomorrow. Bills must be paid, and piano needs to be arranged. I need to buy books for the girls, and supplies too. So, I had better get going. The laundry is calling. Again - where is Kesse when you need her? (She was my laundry girl!)

Learning to blog

It seems that I wasn't able to get Tom's picture rotated. Anyone know how to do this?

Morning in Statesville

Tom is enjoying Adam's music.

The girls are very attentive to?

The two great friends. Julia is almost exactly one year older than Aleya.

We are enjoying a quiet morning hanging around with cousins. We hope to pack up this afternoon and head to Brevard. The Christiansens are coming with us for a couple of days.

Wednesday in Statesville

Having started in Des Moines about one week ago, we have covered Louisville, KY; Brevard, NC; Birch River, WV; Renick, WV; and now we have settled for a day or two here in Statesville, NC. Of course we choose the warmest week of the year to travel!

Mary Kathryn started her blog several months ago and encouraged us to follow suit. I have so enjoyed her blog and keeping up with her family that she helped me set one up so that we can post our family "doings" as well. I am hoping it will help to cover my serious lack of communication!

We are hoping to spend a couple of days in Brevard before we head back home on Monday.

Lord willing - we will have more pictures as we go.

On Vacation

This is the children singing hymns on Tuesday evening.









On Wednesday the children made a human pyramid! It didn't last much longer than this picture!