Finished the day off by watching Amazing Grace, about Wm. Wilberforce. Quite a fascinating and moving story. We read aloud the account by Elouda (?) Equiano last year, but Kendra insists she remembers nothing of it, and had a hard time following the movie. I, however, thoroughly enjoyed it, and followed everything (phthththt!) I even paused the movie a couple times to explain what was going on (teachable moments, you know...), so I know she at least got the gist of it, if not more. I'm convinced that she understands far more than she lets on. Phooey on 16 year olds. She'll thank me someday.
It was quite the week for trying to get school done. Tuesday the girls and I, along with all of Kendra's Econ. class, went down to downtown LA to the Federal Reserve Bank. Another instance in which I appreciated the experience far more than my ungratefully wretched children (may God have mercy on their souls!). Kendra DID enjoy playing the "find the counterfeit bill" game at the museum on the ground floor, and they were at least sort of impressed with the football field size vault of money we got to peek into, but you would think I was purposely out to bore their socks off, the way they talk. Now see, I thought it was really cool to see the bags and bags of money, see the machine that scans incoming money from banks for old bills to shred, etc. On the other hand, GETTING to downtown LA is never a pleasant experience. So once I was there, I was thrilled to be doing anything other than driving! Anyway, in a nutshell, it was a cool field trip, traffic was horrid and stressful, I forgot to eat breakfast and had NO blood sugar by the time we got back at 2 PM, and no one was in the mood to do any schoolwork after that.
Wed. had 2 highlights for Ben......1: his piano teacher was sick, so his piano lesson was cancelled (postponed actually), and 2: he got to watch the homeschool taekwondo class, and we signed him up. Suffice it to say he is thrilled, and Dad is now happy to know that in the future if someone tries to beat him up, he'll at least know something to do. Actually, it is a great class. Many of his good friends are in it, and the teacher is both someone we know & trust, as well as being a phenomenal instructor. He should quickly learn how to yell, kick, say "YES SIR!!!!", and brush his teeth twice daily (they have to fill out a "good habits" chart every week). A happy coincidence is that this was the last week of the girls' writing classes till Jan. so even though I added one trip to the schedule, I lost 2. Yay!!!
Looking forward to busy day tomorrow. Church, then piano recital right after (about a 20 min drive), Oliver rehearsal from 5-7:30. Mark has happily volunteered for rehearsal duty this time. Church is having the annual turkey/testimony/pie contest tomorrow night, and traditionally there are testimonies interspersed with music throughout. Mark is the music traditionalist in the family, and not being entirely warmed up to some of the more contemporary worship styles, he often abstains when he knows that "THE BAND" is playing. Lets just say that the arrangement will suit us both, and there it is. No worries. Hopefully they'll be back in time to get some pie, for Ben's sake. Oh....and I need to make sure he watches the Victor Borge video before church ( I know....a real spiritual way to begin the Lord's day). His piano teacher wants him to be inspired to be his funniest when he plays his "Fly in my waltz" piece at the recital, and he forgot to watch it today. She did say that he cannot bring the fly swatter *this time*. She said maybe she'll let him if he does this piece for the Christmas recital.
Tried to do some "power shopping" this afternoon. This involved a fairly short list, and a couple of shopping bunny trails. I'm a slow shopper, so bunny trails are never short, but Kohls did have an excellent sale going on....ah well. I did actually get everything on my list, it just took awhile. And Ben was ticked off when I got home because he has $10 burning a hole in his pocketses, and he was determined that Dad or Mom *should* take HIM somewhere to shop. Being somewhat thwarted, he was NOT a happy camper that I took so long to get home. It was a "tough-darts-hombre" moment.
Thus endeth the day. God is still good.
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