Yes...I've started blogging again!  You can catch up with me at :

http://www.keepinthecleverconnection.blogspot.com/

Thanks for checking in!

Hannah update

For those of you who have been faithfully praying for our friend, Hannah...

she is currently in Oklahoma City and just completed another round of chemo.  She and her mom will most likely be staying there (at The Ronald McDonald House) until the 16th when Hannah will have another CT Scan.  Please pray that there will be no lesions on her lungs!  As always, if you'd like to follow their blog and have more details click on the picture of Gracie and Hannah on the right sidebar.

Thank you for praying!

A Good Book

Lily and I have been studying about WW2 since the beginning of January and I have a feeling this unit will take us through to the end of the school year! We are not following a specific textbook, but instead are using numerous resources and we keep finding more that are so good. I am learning so much!
A friend of mine that knows of Lily's specific interest in the Holocaust recommended a book that she came across at her local library. I requested it at ours and read it yesterday afternoon. I don't want to give anything away, but it's a quick read, touching, sad, but encouraging at the same time. It's worth reading.

The book is titled "Hana's Suitcase" by Karen LeVine.  I've added the link to Amazon on the left side bar under WW2 Unit Study. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Last night, the youth group from our church held a fundraising dinner.  The goal was to raise money to help pay for summer camp and conference this coming summer.  The teens served a delicious meal provided entertainment as well.  Lily had a table of eight people to serve and was a little nervous especially about pouring the coffee.  (She did well though.)  Lily also played the piano as one of the "acts".  She did a great job!  She hasn't had lessons since we moved in May, and doesn't have a piano or keyboard right now either.  She practiced on a piano at church once or twice over the past week or so and managed to pick up right where she left off.  We were very proud of her!  All of the kids did a great job and it was a fun evening!

Lily gets busy cleaning up after the show is over.

GeoCaching

Are you familiar with Geocaching?  (pronounced geo-cashing)  You can visit http://www.geocaching.com/ for complete details if you're interested.  Geocaching is a form of treasure hunting.  A person chooses a place to hide something, then logs the coordinates on the main website and then others check the website to see where "treasures" (the cache) have been hidden.  There isn't necessarily anything of worth if you find the cache and it has to stay where you find it so it's available for the next search party.  Most have some sort of notebook or paper where you can log the date and your name to keep a record of activity.   You do need a GPS system to be able to locate the general area of the cache.  When you arrive at the destination there will still be searching that needs to be done.  On the website, the locations are rated by level of difficulty.
 
So...last Tuesday, Tim had to switch his day off with another employee and we wanted to do something together for the day as he works seven days a week (other than an occasional weekday off) so we're learning to take advantage of the day when it happens.  (A great perk of homeschooling!)

It was an interesting experience and not as easy as we'd assumed it would be.  We went to 8 different hiding spots and only actually found 2 caches!  The picture above is of one we found hidden in a tree. The container was covered with camoflouge paper. I know we'll try it again...it is definitely something you get better at with experience.   In our search at one site we came across something interesting...the skull of a small animal which Gracie really wanted to keep. She so loves sciency stuff.  "Sure, honey, you can keep it", I said, in a creeped out voice.   As she was investigating it, she noticed one of the teeth was loose and she pulled it out!  Yuck!  See for yourself!  (pics at bottom)

Anyway, check out the geocaching thing.  It's fun, challenging and cheap!