Family Life

Hello Friends and Family,
Life has been one busy season after another. I thought summer was busy with youth camp (where 3 of my kiddos got baptized), family trip Missouri for a wedding and Wisconsin for a family reunion, and trying to catch up with home school. But now we are in full swing of our home school schedule with something new for us added in this year. Our oldest, Liberty, is attending a christian school for Junior High. It has been a big adjustment for our family with my ups and downs, but I think we have the hang of it now.

She is adjusting great to all the new things that come with transitioning from the home school environment to the traditional school routine. She loves volleyball, even though she had a major accident at the last practice. The knee of a teammate collided with her mouth and her lips got stuck in her braces :( It took a whole hour at the orthodontist to get them unstuck. (major swelling and cuts) One of her teeth was pushed back so we'll have to wait and see if it survives, but she is back to school after missing 2 days.

Liberty wasn't the only one with a recent boo-boo. Isabella tripped and fell and hit her head on our fireplace (again!). So part of her birthday celebrations included a field trip to the ER where they glued her forehead closed (again! did I mention that already? She already did this once about 5 months ago!) Above is a picture of her celebrating her 4th birthday, Hello Kitty :)

Our family recently took a quick vacation to Niagara Falls. It was a new experience for all of us to be in another country, but we love an adventure, so off we went!

We spent a whole day just walking and enjoying God's magnificent creation, creating memories to last a lifetime.

We were even able to Journey Behind the Falls where we could go to a lower observation deck (and get wet!). There was also a tunnel that went being the falls with two peep holes where you could see the massive amounts of water that go over the falls.

And no trip to the falls would be complete without a trip on the Maid of the Mist. Bella loved the boat ride, but was not a fan of getting wet again.

After all the walking and late nights spent at the hotel pool, we were all ready to head home and thankful for being back in our own beds again. But I'd have to say that my favorite memory of the weekend was waking up to my little 4 year old singing Jesus Loves Me in the dark hotel room. I love that the first thing she did was sing praise to the Lord, and I asked Jesus to help me to be more like that! Too often I hurriedly get up because there is so much to do that day, I bet it would go smoother if I had taken a little time to praise the Lord!

God bless you friends :)

It's been awhile, but we haven't fallen off the planet :)

Hello Friends and Family,
There has been a lot going on in the Kendrick household. The best word to describe this past season of our life would be "crazy-busy" (is that two words?) So let me fill you in.

Lyle and I have spent this past school season as Senior class sponsors for our churches Christian boarding school that is just down the road. This has been a huge responsibility as our goal was to raise enough money for the class to take a trip to Washington DC. Well, we did it :)

Our kids have also been crazy busy. They successfully finished up another year of Awanas.

And Shayna has been busy with dance. She was asked to join the competition team this year and has LOVED every minute of it. She is constantly doing back walk overs and splits.

Liberty and Levi are also playing softball and baseball again this spring with their cousins.

We even made a quick trip to Iowa in May so Lyle could perform a wedding and baptize a friend. It was so good to see every one that we miss from there and we hope to make it a yearly thing to visit. While there Liberty also decided it was time for her summer haircut, and as a bonus she was able to donate her beautiful think hair again. So we met up with our dear friend Katie!

 We also have a new addition to our family. Everyone's cries were finally heard and we decided to find a furry friend to add to our family. We found a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, and we named him Harley. He is only four months old and still in full-on puppy mode for sure, but he is a great addition to our family :)

We are hoping that life will slow down a little now that the school year is over and our sponsoring responsibilities are over. We are planning a trip in a few weeks to Missouri for a wedding and then on to Wisconsin for a family reunion. We are really looking forward to seeing loved ones we haven't seen in a while.

Also if you would, could you please remember our family in your prayers over the next few weeks? Lyle was unexpectedly called to Illinois for work and we don't know how long he'll be there. It is a blessing to have the work, but we really miss our daddy and husband when he is not here! And we can't wait for him to come home!!
God bless you all :)
Hope

New Year, New view and birthday news.

Happy new year!!
So the whole reason for this blog was to record the lessons that I continually find myself learning while on this home school journey. I have reached a new conclusion that seems to be both emotional and freeing for me. I am not equipped to meet all of my children's learning needs! But I can find ways to make sure that their needs are still meet. For our family that has meant a pretty significant change in our home school curriculum over the winter break (all made possible by the additional income of Lyle working in New York!)

Ever since we have started I seemed to just have a hodgepodge of different workbooks to go through with the kiddos, which worked well for the most part, but I also observed definite lacking. As the demands for the higher grades became more, the less adequate this method seemed to be. I couldn't make up for the slack myself, and it was very difficult for me to feel like I wasn't giving my children the best education I could. But I also had to realistically look at what I had to work with and face the fact, I needed some help.

So I started the search. I found an awesome christian home school program with streaming video that would actually instruct my children in English, Reading, and History, taking our schooling from a "filling out a workbook" style to "receiving instruction and working on an assignment" style. I've always wanted it to be this way, but just couldn't do it by myself. So I could either continue to struggle and feel bad, or come to the conclusion that I needed help and get it! We have tried it for the past few days and I am so pleased with it, my kids are excited about learning again and I can't wait to do it with them.

So here's the new view: Getting the help I need to teach my children makes me a good home school mom, not my ability to actually do the instructing.

On the family front, Lyle is still home and it looks like he may be staying, but no official word yet. Also Liberty turned 12 on the 29th (enjoy the pictures) and we have been down and out with the flu for 2 weeks. I am very ready to get back to our routine and have a healthy family again.

She got her ears pierced for her birthday.

Birthday pie with horses :)

Birthday girl getting ready to blow out the candles.

Present time :) With little sister onlookers.

Getting a pedi as part of her present from Aunt B