3 more days

5 more days

I guess it depends on how you count. I prefer the method with the fewest days. If I count today and Saturday, it would be 6 days. If I don't count either Saturday or today, it would be 4 days. We leave really early on Saturday, so how many days is it really?

By the way, my island choices are Barbados, Martinique, Aruba, Jamaica. It is suggested that if you have children to take Martinique because it is nearest to the play area and beaches. Barbados is noisy because it is nearest to the custom house where you check in and find the restaurants. Hopefully, if I get to choose, I can get a quiet room overlooking the garden (our choice is either garden or parking lot in our standard room).

9 more days

Well, we have finally reached the mark of below the double digits. Yippee. Vacation cannot come soon enough. We will stop first in Mobile Alabama (if we get there in time for the church service) for a service at Christ Fellowship Baptist Church. It will be our breath of fresh air before we arrive at Pensacola Christian College. Then on Monday I hope to spend an entire day at the beach. Ahh, the thought of wiggling my toes in the warm white Pensacola sand and feeling the sun and hearing the ocean waves. That is the one part of living in the Midwest is the sound of ocean waves (though we lived 6 hours away from the Pacific, still it was nice to know that it was not too far) that I miss.
I am not sure what we will do on Tuesday yet as I do want to do a little sight seeing. Wednesday is the graduation from PCC and the college events surrounding it.
Then on Thursday we leave for beautiful Orlando, Florida. Home of the Happiest Place on Earth -- Walt Disney World.
Hmm, which island should we choose (if we get to choose) in our Caribbean beach resort? Now that is the question.

16 more days.

17 days to go

18 more days to vacation.

Tea Anyone?

There was this great opportunity here in Rockford and I took advantage of it. As you all know, I am a very political person and I make every attempt I can to be involved.

In 1773 there was this great American event called the Boston Tea Party where, any American should know, is where the colonists dressed as Indians and went aboard the English ship in Boston Harbor and threw all the tea overboard in protest of the high taxes that the English King George III had put on the American colonies.

In our country today we have high taxes. Our own government wants to tax us more and more for their new programs to rob from the rich to feed the poor. Today, here in Rockford, we said "enough is enough". We had a tea party here and it was great fun. We met by the river and walked along one of the busiest streets in town, where they collected all our tea in a barrel (the environmentalists asked them not to dump it in the river and they complied) to symbolize the dumping the tea in Boston Harbor those two hundred thirty six years ago.

We then walked to city hall and chanted "no more taxes" hoping for the mayor to show his face, but we learned that he was out of town, oh well, better luck next time. There were several waving people in the upper windows of city hall. Then we marched back by the newspaper offices and chanted "tell the truth". No one was anywhere visible. I wonder what they will print tomorrow!

I was amazed how much support we got from passersby. So many horns honking, thumbs up, and cheers from them. Even the police were having a good time with our PEACEFUL protest. Our local Senator and our U.S Representative showed up to show their support. Thank you, Senator Syverson and Rep. Manzullo for what you do for us and the cause.

Above are a couple of pictures that I took of the event. To see more you can also visit the website (above).

In Continuum .....

This is a continuation of the previous post about the school.

Because we have school choice, a friend and I studied, toured, prayed over what choices we should put on our request form. I narrowed it down to 4. These were the top 4 choices in the city that were within 10 minutes from me. Because of my central location, I am near several and thankfully 90% of the schools that would qualify in the 10 minute diameter from me are in the top 10 in academic scale for this particular city (which does not say much, unfortunately, but I think it is getting a little better slowly).
Anyway, back in February my kids and I toured three schools in anticipation of this day. We toured 1 school that had uniforms, a large Hispanic population, around 600 students, and a very nice large playground; we toured another school that was really small (my neighborhood school), in a nice seemingly quite neighborhood, high test scores, and a special education class (which does not matter too much to my needs); and we toured a school that is the most coveted school in the city and is really hard to get into. The grades there are the highest with exception of the gifted school, the atmosphere seemed to be really great, and the library was awesome.
We were awarded the first school that we toured, the great big one that I mentioned first (I hope this is not too confusing for you to follow, I am trying to keep all names etc... private). Being awarded this school was a great blessing from God as I mentioned in my previous post. I am excited about the uniforms, as it will make dressing my kids easier and less expensive. It will also help reinforce our modesty rules because as I read the information packet that I wasa given I found that the clothes have to have complete coverage as well as the skirts have to be the same length on all girls--to the end of the fingertips when standing/kneeling.
Another thing that I really liked was that the principal is observing all recess times as well as the classes only go out a grade at a time so there is not a 5th grader (for example purposes only) picking on a 1st grader. I really liked that. The school also seemed really secure and the staff was the friendliest of all three schools that I observed. It is only 7 minutes away (which may come in to be very important as every minute counts for me in the morning). And finally, the kids favorite part -- the gym has a climbing wall. The bonus is -- one of my kids' friends will also be attending Kindergarten there, so there will be a familiar face though they may not see each other often as they are in different grades.
I am really looking forward to seeing school plays, school band performances, and all the stuff that comes with the public education as well as just being home and being Mommy for a while and seeing what that is truly like. I am looking forward to picking them up and doing homework with them, while asking them about their day. I have been teaching them for two years now and I am just exhausted, stressed, and missing the formative toddler years of my youngest.
Now please pray along with us as we use this opportunity that God has given us to be a small light, but a light none the less, in the public school system.

Finally Over!!

After two long months of preparing, praying, and wondering, it is all finally over. Today was school registration day. I was up and at em (okay, maybe not at em, but I was up), at 7:00 and out the door by 7:35 this morning. I arrived at school registration office at 7:45. I can count at least three ways that God worked for me specifically today. The first is my number -- 11.
The registration was not scheduled to start until 9:00. I had put it all in God's hands, but still a little nervous as what if all the schools on my list are full and I have to scramble for another school that I know nothing about. As I sat down, I found the list of "closed" schools and found that only one from my list was closed to 1st grade. I thought "so far, so good, still three to go".
As time got closer the more nervous I got as I heard through converstions in the room that the majority of the parents in the first 10 parents there were looking for 1st grade and at least two of my schools were on most of their lists.
Finally, 8:45, the time came. About 10 minutes later my number was called, my required ID papers were approved, and my paperwork was issued. I hurriedly filled it out, keep in mind that unlike most of the other parents there I had to fill out paperwork for two children. I also had to find the same school for two kids in the same grade.
As I made my way through the registration tables, everything was great until I got to the last table before the meeting with the specialist who would issue the school. A small snag was found in my paperwork. I did not have the right form of ID and it was missed back at the first step. Thankfully and Providentially, she let me through anyway after I persuaded her that I called in February and was only informed of two forms of ID, not specific ID (the sign in the office confirmed what I told her). That is the second way that God worked.
The third way is the most miraculous in my mind (though they are all miraculous works). I waited for my name to be called for my school assignment. Finally the big moment and I went back to the desk for my meeting with my assigned specialist. She looked at my requests and said that my first choice was full (it had filled up at person #5). So that is two of my choices full. That was the best school in the city that everyone wanted and I just had it on my list as I figured that I could ask and the least they could do is say "no".
She looked at my second choice and said "I think that one is full too." My spirits sunk as I thought, "now what #4 is only on the list as a fall back school.". The specialist said, "well, let's see what we have at school #2" as she poked at her computer. "We do have two seats available in school #2," she said, much to my elated joy. I replied, "I will take them." So either God opened up those two seats for my kids, or she had gotten them confused with another school. Either way, I saw him intervene on my behalf, clearly. Praise the Lord for his mighty power and Providential work even in the little things like where I school my kids.
This is also the school that my kids liked after our school tours and one of their friends will be in Kindergarten at the same school, so they would have a familiar face. God is so good. Now it is over with and there is so much peace in my mind and heart.
In a future post I will describe the reasons why I like this school and the more I read, the more I like it.