Boyd Bear Tracks

Yes, we're still plugging away at school. This is the time when it seems to get most tedious. We've happily taken vacations earlier in the year, but now it's time to get down to business and finish! We have seven weeks left! Whew!! I am shocked that we may actually finish in June! I didn't think we could do it!

Lucas has made so much progress this year! He just finished reading "Green Eggs and Ham" and now he's reading "Little Bear". I still don't think he fully realizes that he can read now. He seems hesitant to pick up books and read them. Other than school books, which he has to read. I guess he just enjoys hearing someone read to him rather than taking the time to figure out what it says :-).

Ellie loves to be a little helper. Tonight she was helping me sharpen the colored pencils. She would try to do anything if you asked her, just to be a helper. It's really cute! She's looking forward to starting Kindergarten in August. I just ordered our curriculum for next year, so school is uppermost in her mind right now. Lucas just wants to finish school, and is not too thrilled about a whole new year starting. He might feel differently after a couple months of vacation :-).

At the beginning of the month I got to go on a ladies retreat with the other missionary ladies. We had a great time together! And, Jon and the kids survivied! I did come home to a royal mess though. Jon had let the kids go out back with their boots and umbrellas in the rain. That wasn't enough fun, apparently, because then they dug in the mud and got it all over. Then, they proceeded to swab it up with my (indoor) mop. Needless to say, it was a mess! Neither of us parents were too happy! The kids were, until they were apprehended :-)! I guess when the cat's away, the mice will play!:-)

Shortly after I got back from the ladies retreat, Jon left for Barranquilla. So, it was good that I had a chance to relax before he left :-). The week Jon was gone went quickly though. It was pretty routine with school and all. And, one of the days, Laura and her kids came and spent the night. So, we were able to have some fun too!

I'm still having a little difficulty finding enough Sunday School teachers to put into effect my 3 month rotation plan. I'm back to teaching two classes, but I'm hoping that soon I'll find someone to take one. Karina is back, so it's likely that she'll be the replacement :-)!

I started a new series for the first hour of Sunday School. It's "The Alphabet of Biblical Truths". Each week I present an animal (beginning with that letter of the alphabet) and teach a biblical truth. It's been a lot of work (not really any material to work off of), but it's been a lot of fun. Last week we did quail (codorniz), and we talked about complaining. I told them the story of the Israelites and the quail.
I'm really excited about this week because we're talking about the Doberman (a watchdog), and I found a cool verse to go with it--Psalm 141:3. "Set a guard over my mouth, O LORD; keep watch over the door of my lips." I think it's going to be a really fun lesson! We're going to talk about the tongue, and bark at each other if we hear bad things coming out of each other's mouths. It will be fun to carry over the lesson into our life at home :-). Any whining. . . woof, woof, woof. Any unkind words. . .woof, woof, woof. Hmmmm, I guess I could get barked at too :-). Oh well, it's something I need to be reminded of too!