The Sargents are Back to School!

Happy Sigh.

When the last two years of your life have utterly and completely worn you thin and it's almost summer and you know you won't have much to give your sweet home-schooled children come fall if you don't take a really really long break...

You take that break. In the middle of graduating your second son from high school and throwing him two goodbye parties and celebrating three special birthdays and having two cars bust in the most expensive ways so that you are a serious Taxi Mom for many days...

You take that break.

And so then, when the end of summer rolls around, and you are pulling out those wonderfully familiar history books and math books and science books, and you are piecing together schedules and lists to give your bee-hive some sense of order, you find yourself being very glad that you took a break.  Even though your kiddos were certainly almost *bored* some days, although we aren't allowed to use the word *bored* in this house...because boredom is not an option.

And then...when that first day of school does roll around (TODAY!!) you find yourself happy sighing through the day.  Because you love what you do.  You love your children. You love the books and the new school supplies and the lists.  You love the simple questions that turn into complex conversations.  You love the sweetness of your younger ones and the growth in your older ones. You love giving them God's Word as seeds in their hearts.  You love actually planning your meals again (yeah, not so good this summer on that one....) You love order, even when some may not think that what we do is orderly, to us it is. You love the fact that while you are still learning, you are not a newbie anymore.

Oh yes, you definitely love that one.

Thankful for this sweet day.

Happy sigh.

No, I did not give my children bags full of candy to celebrate the first day of school.
And no, they did not eat all of that candy in one morning.
And no, we did not have hyper-activity issues this afternoon. 

Not sure why Pictionary Man is in this picture, but the kiddos enjoyed their goodie bags nonetheless.

Ready to Learn

Ellie was pretty excited to be starting some kindergarten work!

And another tooth lost to boot!

The Last of Our Summer Days

Summer is winding down around here...Grandparents arrive tomorrow morning.  The temperatures are heading toward the 70's. And the children and the school books are itching to get re-acquainted.
Soon we will be switching from salad to soup.  From free time to study time.  From T-shirts to hoodies.
Once more, one season gently lessens and another takes its place.
Once more, we get to see the handiwork of God.  In the yellowing of the leaves.  In the cooling of the breezes.  In the falling of the apples.  In the routine replacing the romping. His invisible hand amazes me.  Every season, it amazes me. 

August 2 was our One Year Anniversary for buying this home.
We celebrated with tres leches cake and writing more blessings from the last year to fill our jar.

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To Camp or Not to Camp?

Last weekend was our church camping weekend up in the Rockies.

I grew up camping. My husband did not.  And he still wonders why we would want to subject ourselves to all that stress just to see some trees.

So, we have never gone camping.

I am a firm believer that a wife should not nag her husband.  Not a perfect example, but a firm believer!

However...I really wanted to go with the church.  Because when your children get invited each year to go with other families and you just sort of...stay home...it's not very fun.

So...Kenny was kind enough to take us down for an afternoon, to check it out. To see if he even liked it one bit.  To see if he would even think it might be possible to load up our crew and head down for a few days next August.

Man, the drive was amazingly beautiful.  Pike's Peak on our left, trees all around, 75 degrees, bright blue skies.  God is amazing!! Therapy for this Mama.

We spent the day fellow-shipping and playing cards and walking around.

And perhaps, just perhaps, we might be back next August.  With the church.  And a camper.  And all the hassles.  And all the beauty.

Because my husband didn't hate it.

I'll keep you posted.

Emma took Sarah and Ellie up to the Dragon's Eggs.

Love the hands in the pockets. And the rubber boots.  Michael lives in those boots!

He Has Wings

 It's a strange thing, saying goodbye.  Part of you wants to put it off just a little longer, most of you wants to get it over with.

Last weekend, we drove Joey out to Kansas City where he will attend a ministry/music school for the next four years.

You don't really know how much you love someone until something changes.

As he is looking forward, his Mama and siblings spent some time looking back.  Back to his childhood, his growing into manhood.  Back to where all the children were younger and things seemed simpler. Back to the time it seemed nobody would ever really leave home. Because when you home school, you are just about always together.  Kind of like one giant living thing.  With many, many mouths.

We got him settled into his wonderful new place.  He has a family to live with.  A warm family. A family with eight older children. A family who home schooled. 

He has a roommate.  David is kind and happy and quiet.

He has good neighbors.  He has a good school.

He has the Creator of the Universe.

He has wings.

Joey at his High School graduation, complete with two cool bro's.

Joey and Sarah, climbing the Castle Rock, on the 10 siblings' last full day together.

Kenny and I, heading down our driveway, taking Joey to school.

Little Mikey, waving goodbye.