Dear Family and Friends,
What a wonderful year we have had serving the Lord in our home and community. As always, He continues to bless our lives, filling our days with the responsibilities and joys of parenting, teaching and serving.
Michael continues to teach high school Spanish. We covet your prayers for him as he labors among a complacent generation. We are praying for a revival among the churched teens of our community and for the salvation of the many unchurched students in his classes.
When not at work, Michael spends his time playing with the boys. Their favorite activities are playing games together and tennis. Michael gave up his position as tennis coach at the high school because it required too much of his time; however, he and the boys still enjoy spending time on the court. He also serves as our church's catechist, teaching a Wednesday night class for the upper elementary children.
BT is in 4th grade. He takes piano lessons from Nohnie, plays golf and takes tennis lessons. Earlier in the year, he received first prize in the HER science fair, elementary division, for his project "What Makes the Red Spot Red?" In it, he demonstrated the science behind Jupiter's famous spot.
He and his brother are avid bird watchers. They compete with two of their friends from church in the Youth Birding Competition each year. In last year's competition, their team won first place in their age division for the most species identified in a twenty-four hour period, first place for the most money raised in their age division for conservation and the most improved award. Each member of the team came home with a new pair of binoculars, a new field guide and a new spotting scope.
Bruster is in 3rd grade this year. In addition to birding with his brother, Bruster plays soccer and golf. In the last few minutes of the soccer season, he scored his first ever goal! He is also the artist in the family. He draws non-stop and loves to paint. If I don't watch him, everything becomes a canvass, including his school desk! He painted a picture of a ruby-throated hummingbird for the Youth Birding Competition's Art Contest. I also entered this piece in Crayola's on-line art exhibition. His painting was awarded 4th place among the 3rd grade entries nationwide and will be included Crayola's Children's Art Exhibition book, due to be published in March.
My responsibilities are many. I spend most of my days teaching, cleaning, cooking... all of the typical homeschool mom duties. I also drive the taxi to soccer, golf, piano, birding events, church and field trips. In the evenings, I enjoy blogging. This is my new pastime, and the Lord has blessed this endeavor and brought friends from all over the world to my blog. Through this new hobby I have also had the privilege of reuniting with many of my dear friends from college. How glad I am to have you guys stopping in here at HSD! I pray that through my writing other moms will be encouraged in the Lord.
I have also taken on two new responsibilities within our homeschool community. I am coordinating our annual Spotlight Night, an event at which our children give presentations pertaining to their school accomplishments. I am also coaching our Mathletes team. There are seven super-smart kids in my group, and we meet monthly to take the International Math Olympiad exam. What a blessing it continues to be to serve my fellow homeschoolers in this capacity.
One last bit of news... over the summer, my parents moved from Tennessee to our hometown. They now live a mere 15 minutes away. My dad even teaches at the same high school as Michael. What a blessing it is to have Papaw and Nohnie nearby and apart of our church and community!
Thanks for taking the time to stop in and catch up on our family. We pray that you are having a wonderful Christmas season.
In Christ,
Michael, Dawn, BT and Bruster
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