I'm happy to report that our house has, for an entire week, been free of any activity that would garner the attention of local law enforcement! This is an improvement...



So, since we are a little low on excitement (thank goodness), I will just give you some thoughts.

Last evening I attended a memorial service for a 53-year-old mother, who has struggled with her health over the last couple of years. Her son, who has autism, came to PCS as he was preparing to enter the ninth grade. Being a devout Catholic family, he had attended one of their schools during the elementary years. Because of his "disability", he was terrified to enter the public high school. He knew that he would be an easy target for bullying, and the classroom situations would be both intimidating and inadequate for his educational needs.

The day I met this boy and his sweet mother, I knew we could solve their dilemma. Those first few weeks were a learning experience for me, as I learned to recognize his way of communicating and became familiar with his abilities. Other students will remember how his attempts to return a volleyball during those first gym classes were mostly a swing at the air, but within just a few weeks, his motor skills improved drastically. His face would light up when he would receive commendation for an academic achievement, and he loved his classmates. Watching him thrive and grow for four years was one of the greatest blessings of my life.

I had a couple of minutes to reflect before the start of the funeral...and I was watching William. So confident, freely talking to his relatives, friends, and neighbors, and so grieving the death of his mother, who had loved and cared for him for 22 years (he lost his father in 2001). I immediately thought...what if? Up until the death of his mother this week, he had been an assistant at her floral shop...taking orders, helping customers, sorting flowers...he had sorted out 100 dozen roses the day before Mother's Day, and when I called to place our order, he answered the phone with the professionalism of a businessman, and correctly placed and filled my order. I was so proud to see that he was really becoming self-sufficient.

We didn't have a whole lot of what the world deems imortant to give William. We don't receive government funds to have a special education department with specialized classrooms, counselors, and lots of assessments and 'intervention'. We brought him into our classroom and into our hearts. We tailored a course for graduation that was both challenging and attainable, and our students surrounded him with the love of God and the bond of friendship. That's the way it is supposed to be, and these years later, William still glows when he sees his PCS family.

Then my mind wandered on...ten days previous, I sat in the same funeral home, same room, for the service of a 47 -year-old mother (she died one day before her 48th birthday). My heart was so heavy for her children. Watching a daughter stand by the casket and adjust her mother's sweater, making sure everything was just right, was about more than I could take.
As moms I think most of us share a common fear: the idea that something may happen to us before our children are grown and settled. It is a scary thought...not that someone else couldn't 'mother' my children, but the fact that God has given them to me, and I want to raise them with the values and ideals with which He is pleased, and I love them more than any other mother would or could because I gave them life. It is an amazing thing.

After the funeral (this is totally random and unrelated), I went shopping at a supermarket on the west side of Lima. After dragging my tired body all over that mega-store, I proceeded to the checkout, satisfied with my bargains and my couponing strategy (yes, it is a strategy). :)
As is typical for that store, ****** (you guess which one), they charged me on an item I was to receive free. It was about a $2.39 mistake, so I felt it was worth worrying about. I snagged an employee who was nearby, and verified that the item was free with the purchase of a certain number of other items, and I had fulfilled that purchase. She then asked another cashier, who said, "Well, she must not have purchased the right stuff." After an explanation, she told me that I would have to go to the service desk (opposite end of mega-store) to retrieve my $2.39. Nearly every time I go to that store, they cheat me out of anywhere from .50 to $1.00, and I usually don't even fool with it because of the extreme hassle. The cashier usually likes to argue about it before finally realizing that the customer is right, and since the transaction is usually already completed, you can't get your money back at the register.
Since this was a little more money, and after all I had spent lots of time clipping coupons to save these amounts, I figured it was worth the effort. Being the non-confrontational sort, I rarely complain about service at stores or restaurants, but since I was already there, I uttered the dreaded words, "Can I speak to the manager, please?" When the manager came out, I explained that I'm not the type to complain to a manger, but that I was there and this was an ongoing hassle. We talked about how these situations could be remedied, and possibilities for making customer service a little more "customer" oriented. He was so gracious, and assured me that he would be working to improve these areas.
Moral of the story...if you shop at ****** located on Elida Rd. at the west end of Lima (near Eastown), watch your receipts closely...you probably aren't getting the savings you have been promised. :)

A few weeks ago, I recieved this...

Which enabled me to spend an evening with some very special mothers/daughters like Mary and Angie...


LuRhe and Fayrene....

Esther, Brianna, and Rachel...

While the rest of my family spent time at Steps (an incredible ministry outreach center) with Daniel, Jonathon, Titus, Tyler, Trenton, Timothy, and Luke, and at the Edwards Farm doing things like this..

This (Trenton's adorable little bunnies, Twix and Butterfinger)...

And this (Trenton's new turtle was probably thrilled that we didn't stay any longer!)...

Thanks, Dan and Angie, for the great evening, and for being such great friends!

Thursday's Excitement...

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we recently added a dog to the madness at our house. I'm not sure why...dogs don't like us. We lovingly feed, water, and house them, and then like ungrateful teenagers, they break the chain and venture off looking for freedom!

When we arrived home from school yesterday, Teagan was gone. I wasn't surprised...we're getting pretty used to this! Anyway, I knew Greg wasn't going to be home real soon (his work truck broke down before he arrived at his first stop that morning, he had to stop at the viewing for his boss's father on the way home), so I was going to send the boys out on their bikes for a what has become a tradition for us...a dog hunt.

About that time, our friend Jason pulled in with a dump truck containing 12 ton of gravel we had ordered for our driveway. We waited for him to empty it, then the kids headed off to ask neighbors if they had seen Teagan. I sent a text to our friend Charles (a cop), just asking if he had seen her.

A few minutes later, Charles was knocking on the door with a very sheepish look on his face. He said that the dog warden had been called, and a cop came out to get our dog. They took her down to the Wastewater Treatment Plant (just down from our house, remember?), where they were holding her. He said that we could come and get her without being fined (she didn't have tags yet), but that a cop had told the dog warden that she was part pit bull, and that we would have to follow all of the rules that apply to pits (a muzzle, kids can't walk her, higher insurance rate, etc.). I told him that she was a full-blooded Chesapeake Bay Retriever without papers, and he said that even if I did have papers all it takes is two cops to say that a dog is part something dangerous, and it applies (not sure how that works, but anyway...). I told him that Greg would be home soon, and we would deal with it then.

Greg came home around 4:30, and I told him what was up...remember, he had 12 ton of gravel to shovel into place, and also had to drive the bus for Good News Club in less than an hour...not to mention hauling tables for my garage sale, etc. :)

He decided to tear into the gravel first, since today was supposed to bring rain. As he was shoveling, Charles drove up and tried to explain the whole issue to him. I'm sure Greg's blood pressure had already reached toxic levels, and he told Charles he would be down in just a little bit to get the dog. He needed to drive the bus and finish the driveway.

Before he could do either, the dog warden pulled up, unloaded our dog from the cage in the back, explained that the dog had been ruled not part pit bull (duh), and charged us $35 for driving the dog 300 yards.

"I will bless the Lord at all times."

Burley's Blockwatch :)

Lately we have been seeing way too much of this at our house...

It goes without saying that we live in a small community...a village. There isn't a stop light, but there is a 4-way stop at each "end" of main street. It's a small town. We live close to the west end of town, and the best thing about our location is the fact that there are only three houses on our street...if you travel north on our street, you quickly dead end into farmland and then the Wastewater Treatment Plant. Basically, if someone is on our street in the evening, they are either lost or up to no good.

Last Friday night, we bought a new dvd at the Christian book store, and decided to watch it after the kids went to bed. I think we started it around 12:15 a.m. At about 1:30, just as I was deeply involved in the plot of the movie, we heard a car outside our house. After a couple of minutes, Greg noticed that the driver had backed into the drive of the village garage, which is just across the street from us. He turned off the vehicle's lights, and then they sat for a little bit. Pretty soon both of the passenger doors opened, and two people went around and opened the trunk. Greg told me to come and watch where they went (there are some woods directly behind where they were parked), and he got dressed and got his gun. As I watched, more people started piling out of the driver's side, and they carried bags and boxes from the trunk, across the street, through our front yard, right along our bedroom window, on into our backyard. I told Greg that there were several of them and they were in the backyard, so he went out on the porch, loudly racked a shell into his gun, and hollered at them. They didn't answer and he couldn't see them, so he came back to the bedroom, gave me another gun, and told me to call the police. He figured it was drug related, since we have a relatively quiet neighborhood without a lot of kids that hang out. You would have had to seen me to understand how freaked out I was at that moment! I went in and checked on the kids, and called 911. I couldn't tell how many people were in the car because it was a little foggy, but I told the operator it appeared to be 6 0r 7. She kept me on the line until the police arrived. Fortunately, the cop from our church, who was working second shift, had stayed over to talk with the 3rd shift cop, so he recognized our address, and they both came. One of them went over to the car to run the tags, and the other took off through the backyard to find the intruders. Within just a couple of minutes Greg came in laughing and said, "Well, those kids just had their fun ruined!" To my relief, the "culprits" were four young adults (one was minor) from one of the local Bible Believer's churches. They were toiletpapering some friends from another Bible Believer's church, whose property borders our backyard. If I could have seen long hair and skirts on a couple of them, I would have felt a little less threatened, but with the mist and the fog, they all looked like men! Anyway, to conclude the story, they had already dumped about half the toilet paper on the trees, so the cop told them they would need to come back the next day and clean it up. Greg told them that if they had just answered when he hollered, he would not have called the police. They said they didn't hear him. What made it a little more interesting was that one of the guys was unknowingly driving on a suspended license because of some misfiled insurance paperwork from a previous speeding ticket he had received. Because of that, he has to appear in court, and could not drive home that night.

Moral of the story: teach your kids that it is not safe to cross private property in the middle of the night...especially right by someone's bedroom window! Some trigger-happy maniac (or scared homeowner) may just blow them to bits! :) By the way, Burley's Blockwatch is recruiting new volunteers, if you're interested!~

Mixed Vegetable Bake

Here is the "long-awaited" recipe! It is an old one from Pampered Chef, but one of my favorites...the only thing I ask is that none of you bring it to the WOW Mother/Daughter Banquet in Lima, cause I'm making it! :)

3 bags (16oz.) California Blend (I buy at Aldi because they now only use broccoli crowns)
1 can (10 oz. or so) cream of mushroom soup
1 cup mayo
1 clove garlic (I just use the powder and do it to taste-I know that makes some of you cringe!)
1/4 tsp. pepper (or to taste)
8 oz. shredded cheddar cheese
1 can French fried onions (cheddar flavored are really good on this)

Spread the 3 bags of veggies in a 9x13 dish. Mix the soup, mayo, garlic, pepper and cheese. Spread them over and throughout the veggies. Cover with foil. Bake @ 350 for 45 minutes. Top with onions and bake for another 5 min. or so, until onions look brown and crispy.

***The first few times I made this, I was really frustrated. The veggies were not at all tender, and the rest of my meal was ready to put on the table. Now I usually thaw the veggies, then bake for at least an hour. Don't let it get mushy, otherwise it will taste like a bowl of goo. :)
If it retains some firmness, the dish will keep its shape, and the leftovers will be even more delicious. Enjoy!

Not A Care In The World!

(Feb. 2008)
Hope this makes you smile! It's Friday!!!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

Mother's Day 2009 was a wonderful day! Greg and I are blessed with Godly mothers, and grandmothers. Although his grandmothers are now in Heaven, he cherishes the memories of the times he had with them, and their influence on his life. Mother's Day lunch was held at my house. I read a funny card that said, "It's Mother's Day - relax and enjoy 24 hours of peace and quiet...surrounded by 364 days of chaos!" I'm still waiting for the 24 hours of peace and quiet!
We had a wonderful lunch. Greg grilled his "famous" marinated chicken breast (during the last few minutes you put a slice of tomato on each piece of chicken and cover in with a thin slice of provolone cheese - yum!), I made a mixed vegetable bake (recipe to follow), ranch flavored pasta salad, seasoned red potatoes, corn, cottage cheese, and dinner rolls, and my mom brought grape salad and banana split brownies. It was wonderful to have both of my grandmothers together again!
The kids love getting me presents, and since my birthday and Mother's Day always fall within the same week, they really get to enjoy it -- it does provide some high pressure for Greg, though! This year must have been gift card mania (which I love!), so I'm now armed and thoroughly prepared to shop!
I hope the rest of you had a wonderful Mother's Day!!!

What 91/2 years has brought!
Supposed to be giving momma a kiss, but I think Ryan is ready to take a bite out of my cheek!

Precious girls...
Thank you, God, for allowing me to be a mother! It is an amazing gift!

A Nugget Of Truth...

Happy Birthday, Mama Yount!

At the mention of Proverbs 31, many women throw up defenses. I've heard comments ranging from, "Yeah, whatever," to "No one could live up to those expectations!" Although the Proverbs 31 woman is an incredible example, I'm thankful to say that I know some women who are there...they are that woman!
One of them is my Grandma Yount. Through her life, I have learned many valuable lessons that will eventually be passed down to my children. I can't even begin to describe the memories that we share. From my earliest recollections of the "huge" 3-story (plus full basement) house on Erie Avenue in Hyde Park, to the apartment on Josephine in the heart of Mt. Auburn, to the sprawling ranch on Arborcrest in Amberley Village, to her current, smaller home in Deer Park, the scenes of happiness and family warmth envelop my mind.
As a child, my favorite place was grandma's house. When I was in late childhood, grandma took me on several road trips back to the places of her childhood. We visited great aunts and uncles, distant cousins, and landmarks from the past. Grandma was always up for something fun and out of the ordinary. One time, when I was very young, she said, "Let's hop a city bus and go down to the river." This was back when "Riverfront Stadium" was a splendid sight. I had never ridden on a city bus, and thought it was so cool that my grandma, who was 51 years older than I, would hop a bus just so that I could have the experience.
Although grandma has experienced heartache (she lost the love of her life when he was just 56), she has become stronger and sweeter. Her beautiful spirit and shining example of Godliness is such a blessing to her family. She is still in the workforce, still takes road trips, still cooks up the best meals around, and still loves to be with the over 60 children, in-laws, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren who make the trip to her home at least once each year. I'm thankful to be able to share her birthday, but I'm even more thankful to share in the priceless memories that we have made together.

Baking with Kaitlynn...

Always embracing her great-grandchildren (last week she became a great-great grandma!)


Not the greatest pic of either of us, but the most recent I could find.

My grandma loves hats, and she loves to have fun!

Happy Birthday, Mama!

Busy, busy days are here!

Just when we think that things are slowing down, something else comes along and interrupts that plan! Spring has definitely arrived in Ohio. The budding trees are a beauty (although a beast to my allergies!), and the lush grass is as green as it can be.
Things have been pretty exciting over the last few weeks! You may remember that we brought home a kitten in the fall. We were told by the seller that it definitely was a female, but recently found that...it's a boy! You probably think we are either blind or completely ignorant, but quite honestly, we never had a reason or an opportunity to doubt it! Fortunately, his name (Sunshine) isn't gender specific!
This week we added another member to the "family". She (yes, we're sure!) is a 4-year-old Chesapeake Bay Retriever, and is working out well so far. The kids love her, and have spent lots of time walking "Teagan" in the last few days. We would like to change her name, but since she is 4, we're not sure how that would work out. Let me know if you have any suggestions!
Greg and the boys have had a few opportunities to put their carpentry skills into use during the last few weeks. My parents bought a house to rehab, and have spent a considerable amount of time this month returning it to its former beauty. Eric has been here working, as well, and we are looking forward to the rest of his family joining him next week.
The countdown has begun...16 days are remaining in the 2008-2009 schoolyear! I can't believe it! The next few weeks will consist of 2 Mother/Daughter Banquets, a yard sale, Awards Program, Graduation, 2 graduation parties, field trip, school picnic, Peeler sales day, yearbook luncheon, daycare observation, and probably a few more things of which I am not yet aware! I'll miss my Juniors and Seniors as they are away for their trip to Branson, MO next week, but I know they're gonna have a blast!
That about wraps it up for now...hope the rest of you have a great week!

One of the things I enjoy most about my life is my job. Sure there are those days that are tiring, frustrating, and just completely overwhelming, but they are usually more of a combination of stressors (kids, job, housework, outside commitments)than just related to the job. I consider Christian education one of the most important fields in today's culture.
As traditional American and Christian values slowly (these days more quickly) fade from society, it is encouraging to me to be able to enter a haven of learning that specifically and unapologetically trains students by weaving Biblical principles, moral values, and a Christ-centered worldview all through the academic curriculum. A Christian environment is very important, but even more important is the transfer of accurate information (not some politically correct revision of history and diminished absolutes) into the hearts and minds of our kids. In addition, we have the flexibility to give the students experiences that are interesting, fun, and practical.
This semester I have been guiding a Home Economics course for our high school girls. Keep in mind that Home Ec is a little different now than it probably was 25 years ago. :) Although not part of the ACE curriculum, this Home Ec course is set up in the same individualized format, which is really nice. We have lock stepped their pages so that everyone is together (not something we usually do), and then we do group activities throughout. Our most recent venture was a trip to Kitchen Aid headquarters in Greenville, OH.




Jennifer, Emily, Ashley, Kerri, and Sharree...

Our first stop was the Kitchen Aid retail store in downtown Greenville. We participated in a cooking demonstration...Texas Roadhouse Rolls and Cinnamon Butter...mmmm!

A kitchen to die for!

Mom went along to help with Alli & Kait who were too young to tour the plant (they went shopping instead!)...

Our friendly hostess and cook...she told us how cooking had become her passion. At first, she didn't realize that it was a God-given talent, but she now uses her ability in ministry, and understands that it is her passion...her calling.

Mixer # 1,000,000! Gold plated...

Every Kitchen Aid is made in Greenville, OH! They now produce 7,000 per day, as compared to...

The Original 1919 Kitchen Aid model. All attachments are still made in the same exact size, a universal fit...

We had so much fun checking out all the colors! Their textile line is unbelievable, as well as all the other tools available.

Having fun in the "basement" of the retail store. They had a small museum area, as well as an area with refurbished items for sale...

I have high hopes for Kaitlynn in the cooking dept...she loves to be in the kitchen, and does a pretty good job! When she gets in a play kitchen where everything is her size, she reminds me of my Grandma Yount, who is a very speedy, incredibly awesome cook. Kaitlynn flies around just like her! Fortunately, there isn't any flour to fly!

Getting ready to tour the plant...headsets and safety glasses! We were able to watch every single piece of a Kitchen Aid go together...even the tiny little motor! The colors are awesome. Some of the colors are only sold in Europe or other places, so we won't get to see them on American shelves.

Definitely a good day!

It has been such a joy to watch Kate and Alli's relationship blossom. Since Alli has become old enough to participate in Kate's activities (playing dolls, singing, etc.), they have become good little buddies!


Alli, our little hunter in training, shooting, "Bang, bang!"

Caught in the act!

Kaitlynn being a "good" example...

Oh my!