Birthday Raincheck

Thirteen years ago, I gave birth to a tiny human of 6 lbs. 12 oz.  Today (well, yesterday was her actual birthday), we celebrate the young woman  she is becoming.  She's spirited, feisty, carefree and confident.  She doesn't take much too seriously and loves to laugh...especially at herself for doing silly things.  She's a social butterfly and fun to be around.  She's adventurous, always looking for fun and excitement.  In other words, my opposite (ha!).

Her 13th birthday is one we are sure to remember.  Not just because of the age but her toothless circumstances.  We didn't plan for it to happen this way, but she ended up having oral surgery 3 days before her birthday.  She had ten teeth extracted!  (Eleven, counting the one she lost the day before surgery).  My kids are so stubborn they don't want to lose their teeth and they have tiny mouths.  X-rays show 3 teeth trying to fit into one spot under her gums.  We waited almost 3 years for change to come and for her to lose teeth naturally, but that didn't happen.

To make a long story short, we met the surgeon for a consultation on Thursday.  For insurance reasons we needed the surgery done by the end of the month (husband's contract is changing hands which means new insurance, which means a pre-existing condition, etc.) and the surgeon was booked until the end of June, aside from the one cancellation he happened to have for the next day, Friday.  So I took it. They assured me she'd be eating regular foods the next day.  I don't think any of them have ever had 10 teeth extracted at once.

Needless to say, she's been pretty uncomfortable for the past few days and has eaten more tapioca pudding and mashed potatoes than she has her whole life!  She's got quite a few stitches and a lot of gums! Her requested steak birthday dinner at her Mimi & Poppy's had to be re-scheduled for a later date and instead we had (as per her request) chili and cornbread.  And for her birthday dessert, strawberry shortcake.

Happy 13th Birthday, Jenna!

Wrapping Up

We're coming down the home stretch of another successful home school year! I can hardly believe how quickly this school year came and went. 

One of the definite highlights of our year were the wonderful pieces of literature we read in our condensed year of American history put together by Sonlight.  It was my intention upfront of buying this core and reselling it, which I still plan to do, however, I wasn't prepared for us to become attached to many of these books! 

What a great way to learn about our US history through living books, where we laugh and cry along with the characters that seem to come to life, as opposed to reading a dry, boring history textbook!

Some of our top faves were Johnny Tremain, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, By the Great Horn Spoon, Cheaper By the Dozen (minus the language),  Little Britches, and The Wright Brothers. I have promised Jared to keep our favorites and add them to our home library.

Another one of our favorites was In Search of the Source.  If you haven't read this book, I highly recommend it!

This is the story of the Wycliffe Bible Translators (Neil Anderson and Hyatt Moore), who take the Word of God to Papua New Guinea.  What an adventure, as these men not only translate the Word to the Folopa people but they also must become accustomed to their culture in order to properly translate and bring understanding of the Word. 

One of the most touching parts of this story for me was when they worked their way through the gospels, explaining the death and crucifixion of Jesus. As this had never been taught to the people, they really had no understanding of what took place. The concept of being crucified is something they were totally unfamiliar with.

After the translating of the book of Luke they decided to show them a film of the gospel story, to give them more of an understanding.  As they watched the film they came to the part where Jesus was nailed to the cross. The Folopa women "erupted into excruciating wailing".  They never understood that he was still alive while being nailed to the cross and, furthermore, how He could possibly say "Father, forgive them.  For they know not what they do."

Get yourself a copy of this one! :)

Now, it's time to finish planning what curriculum to use for next year.  I'm already looking forward to digging into the stack of reading books I've selected (Sonlight's Core G of World History).

I hope everyone had a great school year...