Crossway Homeschool Spelling Bee 2007

Madisyn particpated in the spelling bee at our church on Friday, October 26th. We worked hard all month on her words to be sure she knew them. It paid off, because she got 2nd in her grade level.

I was so nervous when she was called up for the tiebreaker. It was between her and another girl named Abigail. Most of my pictures turned out blurry because I was shaking so much from being nervous! ha ha ha

I was very proud of our little girl. She kept cool under pressure and even was a little animated when she spelled a word correct that she had no idea how to spell.


At our last spelling bee, 2 years ago, she also placed 2nd. I know in her heart she really wanted 1st place, but she was such a good sport by embracing and congratulating Abigail who took 1st place. One of the moms, who was a judge, stopped her after the spelling bee to tell her how she was blessed by her congratulating the other girl and that her humility pleased the Lord. Madisyn truly has a heart for people and it's times like these that it is evident.

Mike and I are the ones who have taken 1st place, for the Lord to bless us with a beautiful, caring, loving child.

Madisyn proudly holds up her certificate and her 2nd place ribbon. Way to go Madisyn!


This is a picture of all the 1st and 2nd place winners in their grade levels. Grade levels 1st-8th grade participated.

Pumpkin Pickin Time!

It's that time of year again! The last couple years we went to a quaint old country store to get our pumpkins. They really enjoy going to this place to get their pumpkins. The store didn't have as many pumpkins this year, but that is probably because of the drought. But they still had some nice looking pumpkins. We picked out our pumpkins and then went inside to look at the items they have inside the store.

But I would say the biggest highlight for Michael was the Big Rig in the back of the store. Those of you who know Michael well, know that he is completely enamored with trucks. In fact, he can tell you the names of many different types of trucks and construction equipment. He has been in love with trucks ever since he was less than 1 year old. So to see this Big Rig up close, well let's just say, he was in awe!

















My sweet little pumpkins!

Science Project

We have been using Exploring Creation with Astronomy this year for science. I absolutely love this science curriculum. It is an immersion approach, therefore, we will be studying astronomy all year.

The author, Jeannie Fulbright, discusses throughout each lesson how God created everything and gives facts on how our earth did not JUST happen. For instance, we learned what thermonuclear fusion was. Because of thermonuculear fusion, the sun gets brighter and brighter each year. Therefore, if we were to go back in time, we would see the sun getting dimmer and dimmer. So...if the earth were created billions of years ago, the sun would have been so dim that could not have provided enough warmth for life on earth.

We studied Venus a couple weeks ago and did an experiment about how radar works. Because Venus has such a thick layer of clouds that covers it, spacecraft cannot see the surface. So they have to use radar to see what the surface looks like. This project used a method something like how a radar works.

I first used newspaper and paper mache to create mountains inside a box. But Madisyn was not allowed to see the inside. Then I covered it. She then drew a grid to put on top. We used a skewer and color coded it. She then proceeded to poke the skewer inside the box through a numbered square. When the skewer hit something she would see what color the skewer stopped at. Then she would color the square with the corresponding color. By using the color coded skewer and the grid, she was able to tell if she hit a flat surface or a taller surface within the box. It was a really fun project!

Madiysn's 10 Year Birthday Party

We had Madisyn's 10 year birthday party at Northcross Lanes in Huntersville. It was a really good party. All the girls had a great time. I especially enjoyed the party because our host, Doug, did all the work. I was able to enjoy the party and take lots of pictures and video. It was great watching the girls bowl and encourage each other. It was really cute to watch each girl try to perfect their form while they were there. Madisyn did a great job of trying to help all the girls.

Michael even had a great time watching and making sure the electronic scoreboard was working.

My mom and I were impressed with Kayla Dahl. It was evident she had bowled before. Her score was a 98! We were also getting the fever and wanted to go out there and join the girls in a game or two. We used to bowl in a league in OH, so to see the girls bowling gave us that itch to get out there and do some bowling ourselves!

Poor Zada dropped the ball behind her once, but I confessed that I have done that myself before. But she picked up the ball and tried again. What a trooper!

Once again my mom did a great job at the cake. It is our tradition every year to have my mom make the birthday cakes. Saves me a ton of money! Several of the moms in the bowling alley kept admiring the cake and asking where I got my cake done. I proudly answered, "my mom made it". Even Doug our host said she should open her own cake decorating business. I agree! She just gets better and better every year.

Madisyn was so excited about her presents. She was really surprised at getting Heeley's. She actually was saving her chore money to get some, but we surprised her. She had no idea she was getting them.



What a bunch of adorable girls, wouldn't you say?! I think the party was a "strike"-ing success!

Race for the Cure

I thought this blog might be the easiest way to let everyone see the events from Race for the Cure.

It was a rather drizzly day, but at least it wasn't pouring. When we got there we went to the booths to get all the great freebies! We didn't have a chance to take advantage of this last year, so we made a point to do it this year.

The lady in the pictures with me is Sandra. She is a 7 year survivor, my personal training client and now a very dear friend. If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't be participating in Race for the Cure. I have avoided going for so many years mostly because I simply wanted to ignore the fact that I am a survivor and I wasn't ready to deal with the emotional part of it. So thank you Sandra for being there with me to hold my hand and be my support!

After our walk we went to the ceremonies. This is the emotional part for me. Especially when they introduced a lady who went through breast cancer and chemo, had a baby and just found out in June that her cancer has returned. But she stood on the stage with a smile on her face.

They also introduced 7 women who were survivors for 25 years or more. To give a little background information, as survivors we get 1 pink balloon for every year since our diganosis. One of the ladies was a 52 year survivor! She looked like she was going to float away holding her 52 balloons!

Then we went out to an open area to release our balloons. This is the most emotional part for me. So much so, that I can't put into words the emotions I go through. There is sadness because of the fact that I am there as a cancer survivor, but yet joy because I AM a survivor! All the memories of being diagnosed, going through it, making decisions (which was the hardest part), and recovery come flooding back. But to see all these ballooons being released in the air at the same time....well....you just have to be there. A friend of Sandra's came along with us, and even she got emotional at this time. And she is not a survivor. I'm glad she came, I think she did a great job of taking pictures and capturing the moment.

To close, I just want to say THANK YOU to all those who contributed to the Komen Foundation. I would also like to encourage everyone to continue or start doing self-examinations. My early dectection saved me from having to go through chemo or radiation. I also want to add that cancer is non-discriminatory. I was 34 when I was diagnosed, in great health, and no history of cancer in my family.

During the ceremonies a gentleman got up to speak about 'his' breast cancer. Statistics for women are that 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed. Now 1 in 800 men will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Again, cancer is non-discriminatory. Please do your self-examinations!

Thank you for supporting me and thank you Jesus for healing me!

God bless you all!