I'm participating in 7 Tools Book Club

This is my first ever book club.  You are invited to join!  It starts tomorrow.

For more information on joining, click here  7 Tools Book Club.

Description of the book:  When you look at your children, do you see only little people making demands of your time? Or do you see what God sees—a landscape of limitless possibilities? Author and homeschool advocate Zan Tyler wants to take you beyond the here and now to embrace a wondrous, life-giving vision for your children’s future. With this amazing book, you will learn to recognize the signs of potential in your children, signs that are easy to miss yet ripe for cultivation. You will begin to see every facet of each child’s life through the eyes of faith and the lens of Scripture, creating a vision of hope and beauty. You will grow closer to the Master Gardener as you learn to use the tools He has given you for tending your family “garden.” Let Zan show you how to help your kids establish a godly identity, discover their purpose, develop a biblical worldview, and build leadership and communication skills. You will come away with a vision of child-raising so captivating and enthralling that you will know, come bedtime, it’s all been well worth the effort.

 Here’s what you need to know:

•   Begins July 9.
•  You’ll read one chapter each week. 
•  Mondays: Reflection post and link up. Get link up details and buttons. 
• Thursdays: Read an application type post from one of the book club contributors. 
• Throughout the week: discussion in the closed Facebook group. 
•  Fridays: Weekly email newsletter with a recap from the week. 

Here’s what you need to do:

•  Get a copy of 7 Tools for Cultivating Your Child’s Potential by Zan Tyler. It’s available in paperback and ebooks formats.
• Sign up for the 7 Tools Book Club email newsletter. Subscribers will receive a link to download the free pdf printable guide/journal. 
•  Request to be added to the 7 Tools Book Club Facebook group. Once you’ve been added, jump in and introduce yourself. 

Why am putting this on my blog?  Because I "have" to?  Ha!  No, because I want to.  This is going to be life changing for some of us.

And, I suggest that you print the guide/journal and don't "cheat" like I often do- try to read the book without doing the work.  I caved in and wrote in my journal and it's been an amazing first few chapters...

Who's going to join me?

We picked up our exchange students today!

For the next three and a half weeks we'll have a 12 year old girl from Spain and a 16 year old boy from France.  

We are so excited!

At noon we picked them up and brought them to our house for lunch- Philly cheese steaks. 

Then to our neighborhood pool....to the Fort Sam Houston Quadrangle to see some free-range wildlife, and to a fire with smores at our neighbor's after dinner.   Whew! 

The Quadrangle- Student from France on the right.

Student from Spain on the left.

Deer, peacocks, roster, pigeons.....swans....

The students are here to learn English (or improve their English).  The intent is to have them join our family in what we normally do.  We aren't expected to be tour guides.  They join our family and learn.  So do we!  They'll go to South Padre Island with us on our week vacation.

We had a boy from France last year with the same organization, Nacel, for two weeks and it was the BEST! 

Have you ever thought about hosting a child from another country?

 

It's nothing, but it's everything...

My New Art Space.

I had kids' art supplies in different rooms all over the house.  So, when somebody wanted to create, we had to "get stuff out" from numerous places....and then put it back when finished.   Or, put it away even if we weren't finished so we could use the space for dinner, etc. 

My neighbor has an "art table" in her house.  The stuff is all together and accessible. 

I copied her.  

Don't worry, I asked first!  I didn't even have to buy anything, just rearrange. 

Here it is.....I promise it doesn't look like much, but it's sooooooo much.  We've used it everyday since I put the space together.  It's nothing, but it's everything....

Hanging on the wall:  colored pencils, crayons, scissors.
On the right side of table:  paper, paint brushes, popsicle sticks, tape, glue, ribbon, etc.
Below in the cabinet:  Play-doh, paint, beads, markers, other supplies.
Shhh, under the table:  trash can, yarn, rubber stamping supplies.

Look what I created the same day that I made the art space!

A nameplate for our house.  I bought the supplies at the end of the school year hoping to finish it this summer.  It took a few hours.  In case you can't tell, the colors are black, white, and BLUE because I love blue.

What's your favorite color?  Do you wear your favorite color, decorate your house with it, or both? 

Crazy. Helpful. Caring. Gap Fillers.

You could have blinked and missed the few posts I wrote about our journey to adopt that started last December.

Two steps forward. One step back.

Somehow in the past few weeks the journey became a sprint. Still the forward and backward thing. But, now at what seems like lightening speed.

 Oh, we had to re-do our entire packet of paperwork after ours was, unfortunately...lost.

At least we have some bragging rights now, "Oh yeah, well we had to do our whole packet twice"!

 About two days ago when we thought we would finally be licensed (allowing us to receive kids) we found out that there is yet another new necessary form. 

We need to have at least one person who is willing to care for our foster kids (they will be foster kids until the adoption is final) in case of emergency.  Oh, is that all?

Hmmm.  Who do we know who would be willing to take in children for an indefinite period of time?

No huge list here.  Okay.  The list is blank.  Not sure if this is a good idea or not, I posted the situation on a few of my homeschool groups' pages.  Almost immediately, no I think it was immediately, I had a handful of ladies saying they were willing to do be our "respite care provider" in case of an emergency.  Although they are in my groups, I didn't actually know most of them.  As I'm writing this the offers are still coming!!

They were sincere.  Caring.  Responsive.  Busy, I'm sure, moms.  Incredible.

Ezekiel 22: 30  "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. 

 These ladies saw a gap and were ready and willing to fill it.  Thank you ladies.

What gaps do you think you were meant to fill? 

 

Summer School

Levi (my 3 yo) had swimming lessons for the last two weeks, so school continued after it's official ending.

 I didn't have to teach, I just had to get in the water and push him away from me in the water (or so it seemed) so that he would have to learn to swim.  He learned.  It was awesome!!  Here's a clip of his teacher teaching Levi by playing with him in the water.

Video Clip of Levi Swimming!

One of the days during the swim lesson there was an International Swim Lesson.   Swim classes from all over the world gave the exact same swim lesson simultaneously.  Fortunately, ours was at 10:00 A.M.  Here are some pics of our local lesson.  The swim school was trying to beat a world record for number of people attending.  I don't think they made it, but the kids will remember it. 

Me and Levi

Caroline and her friend on the right.

My summer school is consisting of getting ready for the next school year.  This week I'm ordering some books and signing Luke up for chemistry and pre-calculus co-op classes.  Oh, and I'm spending time at our neighborhood pool with the kids...and "Levi the Shark!"

What does your week look like?