Open your test booklets...

I adore standardized testing. I'm equally sure that I should not admit that. There's something about the 12-30 minute chunks of time so neatly punctuated by "You may begin." and "Put your pencils down and close your test booklets." I like bubble sheets and the butterflies that begin fluttering in my stomach as soon as the test starts. I love how the right or wrong answer almost pops off the page. I love the whole atmosphere surrounded those end of year evaluations. So surely it comes as no surprise that my children do too.

This week we find ourselves surrounded by the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, a comprehensive survey of what Joe and Louisa have learned this school year and a way to measure how they are doing compared with other students in the same grade across the country. Beyond being one of the few hoops to jump through as a home-schooling family in North Carolina, it also provides the much needed skill of performance under pressure, double checking their work, and a comprehensive review of a variety of subjects. In addition to the ITBS we are also sitting for a writing test, ever the weak point for homeschoolers to try and gage what we need to review before public school in the fall. Thanks to Karen who suggested this years ago. It has been and continues to be a wonderful tool. Since Joe finished fifth grade math years ago, (making the ITBS a bit deficient in assessing where he is now) he also completed the Iowa Algebra Aptitude Test last week as well as North Carolina's EOG (End of Grade) practice tests in Math for grades 5, 6 and 7. Did I mention how much we love to take tests??

As the temperature rises and the days stretch out towards summer we are nearing the end of our school year here at the Great American Adventure Academy. With a myriad of summer camps and field trips left to go I think it is safe to say that we have all enjoyed our time together. It seems odd to think that this phase of our lives is coming to a close. Next year, they'll enter into a different world both academically and socially. Kev and I will resign as their primary teachers, handing them over to the school system in New Hampshire. We'll slip quietly into the background, asking each afternoon how their day was and whether they need any help with homework. In truth, we are all looking forward to the change. Louisa is looking forward to a large classroom full of more potential girlfriends, Joe to hanging out with peers who feel that being a smart alack is a worthy aspiration--rather than his parents who see it as a character flaw. I'm sure there will be bumps in the road ahead as we all adjust to new roles and relationships. But as for now, we're finishing strong. Like kids all over the country, they'll ponder their questions, mark their bubble sheets with number 2 pencils and enjoy the warm nearly summer sunshine this afternoon.

Recent Good Reads...

I'll spare you what many would call the romance drivel that I constantly consume. I find nothing so entertaining or pleasurable as a good romance novel. I'm not very particular. I'm not very fussy about good writing, even whether the plot is especially well developed although obviously those things can each be helpful. I only ask that there are clearly good guys, bad guys, and a herione who is gutsy. I demand a happy, everything is tied up with a romantic bow ending, even if it has to be an especially unrealistic one. Kind of the grown-up version of Once Upon a Time... Blah, Blah, Blah.. Happily Ever After. Kevin and probably many of you just despair over my woeful lack of desire for a prize winning novel full of well-turned phrases, complicated characters and plots within plots.

However, on occasion I do read for edification. Not usually fiction, although a few do creep in from time to time. (Usually only when Kev puts his foot down, and hides my other books, or when the kids need a read-a-loud.) Here's a list of the notable ones both fiction and non from the past few months:

the curious incident of the dog in the night-time by mark haddon (lower case- his choice)
Paul, the Spirit, and the People of God By Gordon Fee
Acedia and me: A Marriage, Monks, and A Writer's Life By Kathleen Norris
John for Everyone By Tom Wright (Volume 1&2)
Last Child in the Woods By Richard Louv
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Look at Four Meals By Michael Pollan
Living Gently in a Violent World: The Prophetic Witness of Weakness By Stanley Hauerwass, Jean Vanier and John Swinton
Huckleberry Finn By Mark Twain

Any of which I would reccommend.

New England Bound

In Feb. of last year we left our home in Bundibugyo and came back to North Carolina for a much needed extended furlough time. We have loved this time of rest and reflection, visiting most of the churches who have supported us over the years, hanging out with people who have prayed for us and for our growing family, meeting new friends who have entered right into our lives at this stage and became dear to us. We've home-schooled our kids together. (Joe recently said thanks again. "Mom, thanks for giving me a year to understand kid's culture here before I have to deal with middle school. I think jumping right in would have been awful.") And been amply rewarded in that sacrifice. They are fantastic people, eager to learn and express themselves. As for Kev and I, we have, for the first time in a great many years had the chance to just slow down. To start with a fresh slate and order our days with an eye towards making time with God and quiet reflection a priority, instead of being dominated by the "crisis of the moment." We've each had big chunks of time each week to spend in solitude with God. I really wanted God to have written our future plans in big letters somewhere on our great 10-week camping adventure last year. I think I really expected Him to be speedy and dramatic in letting us know what we should do. Instead, we've been spending time learning more of who He is. The whole process of future decision making/which path to take has been slow and meandering. We've talked with folks we trust, been prayed over, pursued various options that interested either one of us, gotten into heated discussions (fights), and waited to see which doors the Lord would keep open. In the end, we realized that most of our options both overseas and here in Durham had closed.

Two doors remained open and what a gracious gift... both formal offers came in on my birthday. Both wonderful prep schools in the New England area, both beautiful situations for our family and for us. With two good options in hand, Kev accepted a job in the math department at Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. Of the two, this position and location will allow me to pursue a seminary degree at Gordon-Conwell.

We are simply delighted about this new direction for our family. Of course, we are shaking our heads at the nearly polar opposite situations that the Lord has provided for us. Bundibugyo to Exeter is quite the leap. Part of our decision making time has been releasing our need to go to the hardest place possible. To fully unclasp our desire to be back in Uganda and influential in the work at Christ School. To trust God to take care of that and to accept that He could give us more than we could ask or imagine. To trust that He knows the situation and circumstances in which He wishes to place us and our family.

So we are wrapping up our summer here in Durham, as well as our time with World Harvest as missionaries. Both feel bittersweet, a mixture of excitement and sadness as we transition both location and identity.

Beautiful faces...

Just a few recent photos of our beautiful children. This time in the States has been a wonderful blessing for us as a family. We are so thankful for the support both financial and emotional that has sustained us during our extended furlough. As we look ahead to the future we wanted to take one more opportunity to say THANKS!