What have we been up to since Mum and Ashleigh's visit???

Good question. Here I am, still blogging Mum and Ashleigh's visit and it has been over a month since they left. We loved our time with them and were sad to see them go. We tried to talk Ashleigh into being home schooled and staying in America but she missed her family too much, aye Ashleigh :-).



Well, for the last month we have been trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer. We went for several more trips to Kentucky Kingdom before the water park closed and have been able to spend time outdoors as we have had a very mild summer.



Rachel and Joel have started cross country training which has been going very well for Joel. He has been running 5-6 times a week sometimes running as much as 3 or 4 miles, (5 to 6 km). Rachel, however, has been having trouble with her knees. It has to do with the rate that she is growing and her tendons having trouble catching up with her bones. She is resting it at the moment and we are unsure at this stage whether she will be able to run.



We have also been busy getting to know a precious family from Canada, whom we met through our blog. They were looking for some information on Dorothy Sayers Classical School, where the girls went last year, and found our blog. They had just come back from 6 months travelling around New Zealand and were about to make the move down here to Southern Seminary so we became instant friends. It has been great to be able to minister to them in the same way that we were ministered to when we first arrived. We helped them move into a house today, our children get on really well, and we have a lot of fun talking about their time in NZ.



Talking about school, both the girls and Joel are attending Dorothy Sayers next year. Over the last few weeks we have been getting uniforms and sitting Math tests in preparation, stationary shopping still needs to be done and so does some more organising here at home. Matthew does not seem to mind the idea of it just being him and I for two days a week. He is looking forward to Mum time. I'm so blessed.



Mark however has not really had a summer break. The day after class finished in May he started working on his summer classes for his England/Scotland trip. He worked hard at the pool or for the housing department at seminary, or on class work until he left; and when he got back from the trip he had a huge amount of work to do. He worked hard but in the last week he still had 85 pages of books to read a day (not easy books to read), two book reports, a 7 page paper and two exams to do. He completed all this by 10pm on Sunday night and started fall classes at 8:00am on Monday morning, poor guy. He is looking forward to being done now and really does need a break from the books. He should be able to graduate in December, thank you Lord!

This semester Mark has a slightly lighter load than in the past, which is a nice way to finish. He has three classes; Systematic 3, Old Testament 2 and Applied Ministry. Applied Ministry is a class where he has to do at least 4 hours face to face ministry a week. He is going to do this by continuing to teach a Sunday School class on the family and by visiting the people in the class. I am excited about this as I get to be a part of it. We have always loved serving in this way in the past and it will be nice to be able to do it again.

Well now to the kids. Anna-Marie continues to do well. She had a pacemaker check not long ago and all is well. God still graciously provides for her health care needs through a foundation here. She is still riding horses and volunteering at the stable once a week. Her riding has really improved and she looks like quite the pro now. Anna-Marie enjoyed school last year and did really well, winning several awards for academic achievement. She is excited about school starting and loves to do homework. Her and Rachel also are having lots of opportunity to do some babysitting for several families in the church which they enjoy. She still reads a LOT and is best to live with when she has a good book. She did read several more theological books this summer, including 'Why Christians can't trust Psychology', 'Emotional Purity', 'Soul Searching' and 'Unveiling Islam' which was good for her.


As I mentioned earlier Rachel is having problems with her knee which is slowing her down physically. This is a little frustrating for her as she is still very athletic and enjoys being on the go most of the time. She is also enjoying the opportunity to babysit and is very good with young children. We sometimes call her the kid magnet! She is very patient and sweet with children and they enjoy her. We have a little girl next door who is eight and she has five brothers so Rachel sometimes invites her over for some 'girl time' and they watch a movie or bake together. She is not shy and will often introduce herself to someone new at church and chat away, we love that about her. She loves to read and we also asked her to read some more theological books this summer. She read 'Lies young women believe' and several others including the Left Behind series for teenagers. She also did really well at school last year and is looking forward to school but mainly to see her friends, I think.


Joel is looking forward to school. It will be a very new experience for him but he already knows several boys his age there through friends of the girls and through cross country. He will have a wear a tie which makes us laugh as unlike Matthew, he does not like to dress up. I will post some pics when the time comes. He is also great with little kids and him and Matthew get on most of the time and still enjoy lego and star wars. Their play has also become much more physical and they are often having stick fights out the back yard. Joel mows the lawns for us and is growing in responsibility, something that school will help quick start. He is a good runner and swimmer and we look forward to seeing how he does in the cross country meets. He also loves to read but as this summer was not too hot this year and we have 5 boys next door to play with he did not do so well with his summer reading.


Matthew continues to be the little boy who lights up many peoples worlds. He is still a chatter box and will chat away to anyone about anything which can be dangerous sometimes. He still makes us laugh a lot and comes out with cute sayings. He is also growing up though and is now quite the boy and really looks up to his Dad. He loves to play outside also but still loves to be the leader and for everyone to do what he wants to do, at all costs. He is really great with children younger than him. We had a family with three young boys around a few nights ago and he got the children's bible out and read stories to them and then explained them. I hope his theology was good. We decided not to put him into school this year as he is so social we could not imagine much work being done and he is at a great age academically for some one on one time. Even though he can not run with the team as he is not enrolled in Dorothy Sayers he has been training with them and has been running between 1 and 2 miles. He runs like he talks, with lots of bounce and energy.


I have been helping in a ministry at seminary this summer called the Attic. It is a place where people can drop donations, clothes, books, furniture, kitchen stuff. You name it, it's there. We sort through the donations and organise it, no easy task. It has been good and the children have been really helpful but I am not going to continue doing it through the semseter with still having all four children home to school three days a week and Matthew all five. I am enrolled in seminary wives again this semester and am taking Dr Mohler's class on Worldviews. I am excited about it but I am hoping that I will understand it. Anna-Maire is able to attend the class with me which will be good. Worldviews is a good thing to learn as a teenager.


Well that's our update, it has been awhile coming, I am sorry about that. Look forward to hearing what's going on in your world's. We would love to hear from you.