Baby Amanda Joy

We were blessed to meet baby Amanda Joy Moffett today. She is so petite and so adorable and it is just incredible how she knows and wants her daddy. She has an adorable little smile. She is ... around 10 months (reminder to self, find out her birthday) and she weighs about 14 pounds. Wears 3 month clothes and size 1 diapers, which are actually a little big around the waist. Oh, she is cute and cuddly and we are so excited she is here and not in Tenneessee.

Empty Nest

Ok, I know my nest is far from empty, but it is incredible how the dynamics of a home change with only one or two people gone. It is really weird and very quiet around here. I don't really understand why it seems quiet when it is the big boys that are gone, but it is true, it is oddly quiet.
I have been asked many many times how I felt about Joshua going away for the summer and I answered honestly that I am ok with it. But... I must now be honest and admit that my heart hurt last night when I talked to him after his first full day gone and he sounded ... reserved. He is concerned about things... the people he will be working with, the work, the hours, etc. Any my momma heart wanted to go there and rescue him and make it all better. But, I know that I can not. And I know that I should not. God has Joshua there for a reason, His reason and I know He has great plans for Joshua. It will not be easy for him or for me, but it is needed. I know he will grow. I know I will grow through this experience. I mostly KNOW that God has him covered.
Jonny will be going for another week. The other intern was not able to make it and thus they are short and so he will be working next week. Originally next week was the week of our church camp and so he was not available for that week, but our camp was moved and so now he is available.
Side note: A large turtle came into the yard today. Hannah and Stephen wanted to keep him as a pet, but we just enjoyed him for a while and watched him go on his way.

Miscellaneous Things jumping around in my head.

I’ve been trapped! I went out this morning and could hear the cry of a kitten. Later I went out again and again heard it’s cry. My compassionate side got the best of me and I searched for the little creature that needed rescuing. I found a cute little grey calico kitten up high in a tree in the neighbor’s yard. It was really high up and crying. I got Jonny to rescue it and we left it to go it’s way. It followed us, so we took it back to the neighbors, it followed us so we put it behind the neighbor’s house and ran, but it still followed us. It has been outside the house watching our every move and crying out for us all day. It was all a trap! ….. Now what to do? Will see if it belongs to a neighbor when they get home tonight. My allergies are getting the best of me with the trees and grass, I don’t need, I can’t have a cat! Even if it is a really cute little kitten.

Joshua and Jonny are painting the house. Not an easy task and they need to have it done so they can get the other things they need to do before they leave for camp on Sunday or Monday. The trim was light blue and we have to decide what color to paint it. Darrel wants green (when we stripped the blue off we found that it had originally been green.). Hannah wants pink, that is not going to happen. Jordan wants blue and Stephen wants it to be a rainbow. Jonny thinks yellow trip or yellow house with white trim. We have already painted it white so yellow will not happen. Joshua likes khaki or green.

Daniel had a fever for a couple of days and when the fever broke, he got a rash. It is really bad below his mouth, in his diaper and on his legs. It is also on his arms, feet and a tiny bit on his torso. I have no idea what it is. I have thought it could be yeast, heat rash, chicken pox, poison ivy…… All seem possible, but none seem right.







Joshua finally found his ‘new’ piano keyboard to replace the one that he got for his birthday to replace the one that broke. He found a 2,000. Yamaha at a pawn shop and they were asking 900.00 but he was able to get it for 550.00 Now he has a keyboard to take to camp and one to play. He has been very frustrated that the only thing he could play was our piano which is out of tune.
The pedal had the wrong polarity so Joshua and Darrel rigged it to work. They turned something upside down inside of the pedal and they used a paperclip soldered in place to do something. That way Joshua was able to use it the night he got it to play some songs at the end of the year social for EMACHE (our homeschool group).
Why the picture of Joshua on his 3rd birthday? Because he is cute and because I think it is funny that he had a Barney cake and now he has a Barney car. I know it is not really a Barney car, but it's fun teasing him about it. I have told him that we need to have the interior redone in green. :)

Prince Caspian

We went to see Prince Caspian today. Our family all enjoyed it. Though Hannah was glad to have Daddy and Josh-e-a's lap close so she could jump in them during the intense scenes. She is only 3 and yet she got that Aslan represented Jesus before we even told her that he did. She said "Oh, he is like Jesus and Lucy loves him." "I love him, too." If you go to their official website there are all sorts of educational things you can download to preview or review the movie. (games, etc.) Stephen thinks he is the little mouse Reeceechep (spelling?) Hannah says she is Lucy and Sarah is Susan and Joshua is Peter and Jonny is Edward. That is until the end when the show had it's one "Red X" moment. (Red X is what Stephen calls it when people kiss) And Hannah said "Sarah doesn't kiss boys only her daddy. Right daddy?"

Baseball for Breakfast

Friday night of the bookfair, Darrel, Joshua, Jonny and my brother John Mark went to see the Texas Rangers play baseball. They beat the Oakland Athletics 4-0. I think John Mark had wanted all of us to go, but I was unsure if the kids would last for a full game and didn't want to pay for all of them only to have them want to leave. So my sis-in-law and her girls went with Sarah and the little ones to go swimming at our hotel.

We had a good time and I think the kids enjoyed themselves.



Saturday morning while in line at the breakfast buffet, a man asked Darrel how big his crew was and Darrel told him we had seven children. The man seemed pleased that we had a large family. He asked if we would like to go see a Ranger ball game and said he worked for the Rangers and would like to give us tickets. Darrel said sure. Later that day, the tickets came. The man had given us nine 35.00 dollar tickets ($315.00).
So after the bookfair, we loaded up and went to the game. This was the first big game for Jordan on down and it was fun to explain things to them as we watched them play. We got to see a homerun (with fireworks), we enjoyed watching the mph being posted after each pitch and we were in a section where they come and ask you what you would like to eat and they deliver it to you. Hannah and Stephen loved the peanuts and Jordan loved the cotton candy. We all enjoyed watching the Rangers beat Oakland 6-4.

Joshua's new car

Joshua has his first car. 2003 PT Cruiser, Touring Edition. Thanks Grand dad for finding it and helping to get it up here to him. Thanks Nana and Papa for helping to get it up here to him and thanks John Mark and Nicole for driving it up to Arlington for him.
He was all smiles when he saw it for the first time and continues to be all smiles every time he gets in to drive it.

It is such a nice looking car! And gets great gas mileage. He has enjoyed getting an air freshener for it and a CD holder and is looking for just the right trash can and decals to make it personal. (From a mom’s point of view, it’s really cute to watch him.) He took me to run errands in it yesterday and insisted that I drive it for the first time. He is so proud.

Homeschool Book Fair

Why do you go to the homeschool book fair year after year?
1. To see what is new out there. We started homeschooling in 1993 and the choices were very limited. That first year I was homeschooling an 8th grade (my little brother) and my sons were 3 and 1. When going to school to get my teaching degree, although we were taught about different personalities we were pretty much taught that all children could learn the same way…. Sitting in a desk for hours each day with a few hands on things sprinkled in to stretch their legs. I now know that different kids learn in different ways and some have a hard time with just a few minutes sitting at a desk but can learn a wealth of knowledge when you think they are not even paying attention. I have learned that some of the smartest kids have ‘learning disabilities’. And I have learned that I enjoy something new being added to our schooling to keep me going as much as to keep them going. This year there were several new venders and sadly a few I am use to seeing were not there. My favorite new booths:
Generations of Virtue (Got the kids purity rings from here this year.)
Corps of Rediscovery (Oh, what fun, will be doing a unit study on Lewis and Clark this year)
Hank the Cow Dog (Who doesn’t love Hank? Can’t wait to go to the THSC conference and have him read to the kids.)
And my some of my favorite old booths are:
Championship Chess
Jim Hodges Audio Books He reads to my boys most nights
Joyful Living We are loving using what we have learned from Kristy these past two months.
I better stop there because I have lots and lots of favorites (I could mention: Konos, Teaching Text books, Institute in Writing Excellence, Doorposts, Eagles Wings, Grace and Truth Books, THSC, Lamplighter Publishing, Mantle Ministries, Texas Tech, Miller Pad and Paper, Sing N’ Learn, Rosetta Stone, … I better stop for real because the list goes on.) Now you see why I need two days to see it all.

2. To see old homeschool friends that I have not seen in a while. Some, I only see once a year at the bookfair. (It was great to see: Miriam, Janice, Alese, Marty, Kristy, Tim, Cindy, Cappy, Angie, Jeana, Karen (though she was on a mission and was not to be interrupted. Hee hee), Peterson, and more.

3. To see extended family that I haven’t seen in a while. Is it terrible that sometimes it is months between seeing family and we meet up at the bookfair. It was great to see Michelle and what a surprise to see Sherry. And wonderful to have my first Homeschool student, my little brother, John Mark and his wife, Nicole and daughters there.

4. To be reminded yet again, why we are doing this. To get excited again about another year. Do you not love the two 9 year old boys who run the registers for Lifetime Books and Gifts, completely by themselves for hours on end. Amazing!

5. Because my amazing and wonderful husband got us a hotel room with a pool so we could spend a family weekend away and they kept the baby so I could go to the bookfair! Now that is amazing and wonderful! We loved the baseball too!
So I guess I will see all of you homeschool bookfair junkies next year! Because it is not all about what you need.

Do you ever have one of those ADD "If you give a mouse a cookie" type days. You know the kind, you go into the kitchen to get a glass of water and note that the sink is full of dishes so you do the dishes. You remember that you needed water and so you go upstairs to ask Joshua to dry and put up the dishes and you notice some undone laundry, so you get Jonny to help you and you get carried away and end up doing some cleaning, that is until you find a dirty spoon. Then you remember that you were doing dishes downstairs. (an hour and a half has passed and all you wanted was a glass of water.) You go into the room to ask Joshua to put up the now dry dishes and he is working on the webpage for the Red Hen Sister's bread and you look at a few things and then think.... hmmm we should make some bread, so you go to the kitchen and start to grind some grain, while it is milling you notice that the floor needs to be swept so you start to sweep and you sweep near the water cooler and remember that you haven't gotten that water yet. So you go to get the water and think "I guess this is what mom feels like when she chases rabbits and doesn't catch anything." So you pick up the phone to call your mom and when she gets on the phone you forget what you were calling about..... I am sure it is just hormones and the fact that Daniel decided to stay up last night and so I finally got him to sleep at 3:38am. And the little ones were up at 8am wanting mommy to play a treasure hunt game with them.
Now since it is one of those rambling type days, I certainly hope this post makes some kind of since, though I can't remember if it does.

Red Hen Sister's is up and running, not with out it's falls, but it is baking.

Finished my April Family Newsletter. It is a little different than the one posted when I first started blogging.

Russell Family News April 2008

Here is a picture of Joshua and Jonny in front of the entrance to the camp they will be working at this summer. Joshua will be on staff for the entire summer and Jonny will be an intern for 5 weeks. It is near Crosbyton.

"PT Purple"!

We have looked and looked for a car for Joshua, to no avail. So we put Grand dad on the job and in one weekend, he found the car.

He will be making payments on the car, but he hopes to pay a majority of it off this summer with his summer job earnings.

It is called the Touring Edition Wagon. Joshua says he won’t call it cranberry, he will call it Royal Purple. I said just say it is the color of royalty and don’t say purple at all. Grand dad says it is ‘Barney’ colored. Joshua did like Barney when he was little, though he is a little embarrassed to admit it now. And he finds Barney more than a little scary now.

PT Purple! When the PT Cruisers first came out and for a couple of years we played PT Cruiser sort of like you use to play love bug. The kids would say PT and then the color of the cruiser for points. The one with the most points at the end of a trip was the winner. They got points for PT’s, love bugs and the little car that looks like a box, I can’t remember it’s real name, but I remember “Box car Red” earning them a point. Now Joshua will be driving a PT purple!
Not bad for a first car and it has room to grow with him. It will set 5 people. He is most worried about whether it will fit his piano keyboard in the back.

Random Bread Thoughts

Sarah and I have made a little bread this week. 2 batches on Monday, a batch consist of 6 bread items. A bread item can be: a loaf, dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls or garlic cheese rolls. The easiest being a loaf and the hardest being the cinnamon and garlic cheese rolls. They are each made by kneading the dough, rolling the dough out, covering with butter and then with the secret ingredients, rolling it up into a spiral log, cutting it into slices and then topping with a little extra of what is on the inside. On Tuesday we only had a little yeast so we made one 1/2 batch (all cinnamon rolls) on Wednesday we made one batch and today we have made one batch. (2 cinnamon rolls and four garlic cheese rolls.) In a little bit we will make a meal to go with the garlic cheese rolls we made for a friend who had a baby and take it to them along with cinnamon rolls for in the morning. We will make a batch tomorrow to sell at First Monday's in Weatherford. Depending on how that goes, we may make a batch on Saturday. Then on Monday we have one batch sold and due Monday night and Tuesday morning. And 1/2 batch sold and due Wednesday morning. Perhaps we will fill that batch up before Wednesday. Then we go out of town from Thursday through Sunday.

I think we have decided to change the name to 'RED HEN SISTERS'. The bread part of the business will be Red Hen Sisters Bread, but it will leave room for if any of them decide to make and sell something different in the future, like quilts or cheese or..... who knows. Joshua has lots of neat ideas for the website and the new graphics for the flyers and such. It will be fun to see what he comes up with. I have a ton of ideas jumping around in my head! I wonder which ones will make it out alive? :)

Joshua is working with Pastor Vince today on some sound equipment instillation and Jonny is working with Danene on the Ranch. Makes me think of how it will be this summer with Joshua gone all summer and Jonny gone for 5 weeks. Could be very interesting. :)

OH, I had something funny happen to me. I went through a drive through and the lady at the window, when she saw me said "We had a grandbaby." I said congratulations. She said, yeah Stormy did good though she was mad as a goat because they took it C-section. She said you would be mad she didn't go natural. But she tried. After two days of labor she was at a nine and the doctor said she wouldn't go any further, so they took her. The baby was 8 pounds 2 oz." At this point I thought, hmm she thinks I am someone I am not. Do I want to embarrass her? So I just said, how is the mom and baby. She said oh they are doing great. Gilbert was there, and actually so were two other x's. I had three x's all there during the labor. Isn't that a hoot. I said yeah that is a hoot. (thinking and it is a hoot that you are talking to a stranger thinking I am someone you know.) We talked about other people for a few minutes, people she assumed I knew but I had and have no idea who they or she was. Then I said well, congratulations on that Grandbaby, you love on her and I'll pray for God to bless her. She looked at me a little funny and said.... I sure will. And I drove off. As I drove off I thought, she is going to go tell her daughter she saw... so and so and they will wonder why so and so never contacts them about the baby. It's because I am not so and so. :) I laughed and laughed as I drove down the road. I'm sorry, I really thought it was funny. ....... Then I thought.... hmmm, maybe I do know her and it is me that has forgotten!!!!!!!! Now that is not funny, or is it?

God bless!

Knowledge is power.

A friend called this morning a little shaken up by a knock at her door this morning. (To set the stage, her husband is out of town and she had been working on curriculum that morning trying to figure out what to do next year.) At the door was a man from the Sheriff’s department. Some neighbors had been complaining about their dog who is big and friendly and loves to dig holes under the fence and roam around the neighborhood. The man reprimanded her about the dog, gave her the law about dogs, fences, leashes etc. He then mentioned that he had also received a call that she homeschooled. She turned to her son and said “Well I guess we should start with this, Bob*(name changed) tell the man how old you are.” Bob* said “I am four years old”. She then told the man that Bob* was her oldest child and was not old enough to be required to attend school. The man said something like, oh, I’m sorry we must have some wrong information. She was a little shaken up when she shut the door. She was partly frustrated about the dog and all that that encompassed and party that her rights had been infringed upon with the questioning about homeschooling at her front door by a man in a uniform. She called me and asked what she should do. And what she should do once her son was old enough for school. I told her and now I am going to post it here as a good reminder for all of us. Caution: Do not let this scare you. God is not a God of fear. Knowledge is power and so I am just reminding us of some knowledge.

If someone questioning shows up at the door.
Be polite and friendly. Smile. Stay calm.
Get his name and business card.
Ask what prompted his visit or call.
Tell him, "My children are privately educated at home."
Answer other questions with, "I will be glad to cooperate as far as the law requires, but you will need to give me your request in writing."
Repeat the above statements as often as necessary. Do not be afraid of silence.
After he leaves, write down everything that occurred.
If you are a member of THSC call THSC Association, (806) 744-4441, as soon as possible to report the contact.

Do not allow him to enter your home or to speak to your children. The only legal ways into your home are with your permission or a search warrant. If you receive a written request, respond with a letter of assurance. If you do not respond to a written request in a timely manner, the school district can file truancy charges against you for lack of cooperation.

Reminder of the State Law for homeschoolers in Texas…
In order to be a legitimate home school, you must have a curriculum which teaches reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship, and you must pursue that curriculum in a bona fide (not a sham) manner. This curriculum may be obtained from any source and can consist of books, workbooks, other written materials, or materials on an electronic monitor including computer or video screens, or any combination thereof.