Wed., Sep. 5

No new pictures today, again.

N & J played outside and played with Legos here at the house today.

N made pb&j sandwiches :) :) :) , in preparation for our first day of 'work' at the building; we had lunch at the building before coming home. My 'work' today was to make a bunch of phone calls to the local congregations regarding our upcoming seminar. We stayed there two hours. It was pleasant, but during the time there Jeremy and I determined that I will actually be more effective as both mom and church secretary working from home since there are computer issues at the church building, and it doesn't have long distance phone service. SO. Happy day. We expect that the children and I will hang out at the building with Jeremy only on Fridays, to do copying work. Nice!

Natasha and Justus had taken backpacks of things to do while at the building. There were stuffed animals, a floor US state map puzzle, and other sundried items around the building for them to clean up when it was time to go; they seem to have had fun and they did a GOOD job of letting me do my work almost completely uninterrupted. 8 & 5! Time's marchin'....

This afternoon Natasha helped me build our barley/veggie/hamburger soup supper for the Crock Pot. She chopped all the carrots and celery and opened the can of corn! Hamburger and onion, garlic, can of tomatoes, bay leaf, basil, salt and pepper. YUM. It's a fave.

While at the building this afternoon Natasha wrote and illustrated a new story. This is our current favorite way for her to discover for herself which words she still needs to learn how to spell. :) Of course, the list is long, but this method is very motivational for her - which at this point is far more important to Jeremy and me than spending painful hours and days and weeks drudging over spelling lists she cares not about. So, for now it's great. In her four-page story we plucked out sixteen new spelling words such as "decided," "friends," "answered," etc. So she and I practiced them at the table for a while and then I pulled out the homemade contractions concentration game I made many moons ago; I don't remember if we've ever actually DONE it before. Mostly I remember feeling frustrated, every time I come across the game, that I HAVEN'T done it with her yet! It was a suggestion, I believe, I heard on the COCHsers Group to print "The List" (of contractions) on card stock, far apart enough that when the words are cut apart they are a good size to be cards. (was not, wasn't; has not, hasn't; should not, shouldn't; ETC.) The first time through, Natasha was getting used to the game. I beat her five pairs to three. The second time we used a different, bigger stack of cards. She beat me TEN PAIRS to THREE!! You should have seen her smile!! Shooeee.

We had our Bible class this evening and it was fine and normal, including Mr. Ugly's strange contest-like comments. V showed up. That's a long story. The short version is that the police found her van that had been stolen but she hasn't been able to afford to get it out of the place where it was being stored, so she owed $300 to get it out. She felt she HAD to get to our church meeting this evening because tomorrow is her deadline to find a different place for her worldly goods which have been stored in the church's storage shed, free of charge, since May. However, since June V has not kept up her end of the bargain, which was to submit a letter every month letting the leadership know where she's at with her life situation. I guess today she started at the top of the list of our church directory calling everyone to ask if they could help her with her $300 problem. One of the members did help her, so she got her van and came to the church meeting to meet with the men after class to request a one-month extention, which they granted. Very little has changed with her life situation. [Ha - I just accidentally typed 'lie' situation ... THERE's a Freudian slip for ya; in fact, Jeremy caught her in a lie during the meeting this evening, and exposed it! She told them she was working for Target. He said, "Last night you told Sunny they haven't even called you in for Orientation yet." Hmm ... truth is difficult for some.] The only news is that she has decided to divorce Jesse, I guess, in part because she is under the impression that staying married to him is slowing down her process of getting her girls back. (blink, blink) She doesn't seem to put it together that it might have something to do with, oh, a.) she doesn't have a job, b.) she doesn't have a place to live, you know.... (hands thrown up) (sigh)