#H54F: High Five For Friday

This Friday our family is super happy because...

#1 It's the beginning of SPRING BREAK! Yay! The boys are so excited to have a week free of homework, school work, and busy schedules.

#2 Kris left Sunday night on a trip and returned Wednesday night. That makes for a busy week for him. We are glad to be together as a family for the coming week.

#3 I actually received a copy of Side By Side! I am so happy to get to hold in my hands the product of a lot of work. A dream come true :)

#4 Parent/Teacher conferences this week. I'm happy to report that all the boys are on high honor roll. High Five for the Kelley Boys.

#5 My computer is well again...I think. That's a relief and definitely worth a high five.

What was your week like?

#H54F Christmas 'Round The Corner!

Wow, Christmas is only a few days away! A crazy week ends in a calm weekend. Yay for calm weekends!

#1 S went for Xrays and Dr. check up. His arm is looking great and healing well. Yay! We still make him wear a sling when he's out and about and he still has to be EXTRA careful so he doesn't fall on it.

#2 A went to orthodontist with the dreaded message "My dog ate my retainer." Thankfully the orthodontist likes dogs and more than that, she said it wasn't too damaged, he can still wear it. We all breathed a sigh of relief as A knew how much that thing cost!

#3 I got a new phone! A real phone! It happened like this: on Thursday my son J tried to call me from school. I tried to answer his call but my cell phone wouldn't let me pick up. It just kept ringing. Finally it registered that I was receiving two calls from the same phone and I had put one of them on hold. Then it started playing random music that I'd never heard before...loudly. I finally had to take the battery out to make it stop. That was the final straw. No more of this says Kris. We spent the afternoon shopping for my Christmas gift: a smartphone! Woohoo! My phone even knows BOTH of our names (see T9 You're Killin' Me to see why this matters.) I never wanted a smartphone, but now that I have it, I like it :) Thanks Kris!

#4 A aced all his exams. Woohoo!

#5 We watched The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies today. It was great! Loved it! So thankful for a family that likes to hang out and do stuff like that together.

Now on to the weekend and 3 1/2 weeks of Christmas Break for the boys.

What was your week like?

End of the School Year

How lucky I am to have something

that makes saying goodbye so hard. 

-A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

It's the end of the school year. Just like every school, some students are leaving, moving away, and some are staying. But I think that international schools are pretty unique in that there are SO many who leave, both teachers and students. It is an emotional time for almost everyone, even if they don't show their emotions. Not only is the entire Senior Class graduating and spreading out all over the world, many of the faculty, staff, and other students are moving far away as well. 

Next year will be different. We all disperse for the summer. Many of us will return, but it won't be the same. New people will be here. A new year means more than just new books, new paint, new schedule. New for international schools means new teachers, new staff, new students...all who will be going through culture shock. New is good. But new is also different.

How blessed our family is to have made some good friendships. That's what makes saying goodbye so hard. But it's worth it, and we look forward to the new and the good that God has for us next year. 

If you are saying farewell, be thankful to have had the special friendships that makes saying goodbye so hard.

Hats Off!

Hats off to homeschooling moms! Mostly because the hat will be knocked off anyway. Things can get wild and crazy in a homeschool room. In the past few years, I added homeschooling to my repertoire of school experiences. Whether as a student, parent, or teacher, I have experienced: private Christian school, public school, and homeschool in the United States as well as international, Christian, boarding, and homeschool in several foreign countries. Each situation carries a unique set of challenges and benefits.

Not very far into my first year of homeschooling our kids, I realized that homeschooling is not for the faint of heart or for anyone low on energy. My image of homeschooling moms has never been negative, but it certainly jumped up a few notches once I started doing it myself. I kept thinking, “And all this time I had no idea what all they had to do!” Sure, we get done earlier in the day, but when we are done...I am DONE, you know what I mean? My brain is toast by two o’clock in the afternoon! Emails? Forget it. Dinner? Did we already order pizza for dinner this week? We did? Phooey.

Last year we did homeschool and dorm school (different kids did different things obviously). This semester all the kiddos are homeschooling. Next semester it will be Christian school abroad. See what I mean? We really like to mix it up in our family! Ha!

To all the families starting up a new year of school...HAVE A GREAT ONE!

It's Time

“It’s time, Mom,” said my boy. He stood in the open doorway of the hotel room where we stayed. The light of the afternoon sun flooded the doorway where he stood so that his face was dark and his form was a silhouette outlined in gold. His eyes were not hidden in the shadow, though; they beamed. His backpack hung over one shoulder and he carried a bag in each hand. He stood tall and handsome. When had he grown so tall? His voice was deep too. When did that happen? When did my little boy start talking as if he were a man? In recent days I found myself startled to hear a strange man in the house talking to my children. Then, I’d realize from the conversation that it was not a man, it was my own boy (whose voice seemed to have dropped multiple octaves overnight) talking to his siblings.

My boy. He was going to move into a dorm and attend school far away from home. We planned for this day for years. We talked about it, read about it, and dreamed about it. But now it was time to do it. Were we really ready for this? Was my son?

He thought he was. But he didn’t know about homesickness and broken hearts, about mean teachers and selfish friends, and...and...

“I’ll be there. Trust me.” It was not the deep voice of my son who’d grown up too fast, it was the Holy Spirit in my heart. The same Holy Spirit Who was in my son’s heart too.

We raised our son to love Jesus and honor His Word. But, would he keep on the path to life when he was out from under our watchful eyes? What about bad influences around him and temptations and...and...

“I’ll be there. Trust me.” It was that Still Voice that my son would recognize too.

I remembered the words of my father, “You and your husband have raised him well, Dear. Like an arrow, he will fly straight.” I remembered the conversation I had with my father the night before...

“I keep trying to tell him last minute advice, Dad,” I complained, “and he doesn’t hear a word I’m saying. He’s so excited to go that my words seem to bounce off his head like ping pong balls off a wall.”

“He doesn’t need to hear them, Dear,” my Dad replied, “He doesn’t need to hear them because you’ve already taught him all the things he needs to know. But you need to say them for your sake. So it’s OK, just say them and let them bounce away. He’s going to be just fine!”

I know my dad was right. I knew this day was coming, but can it possibly be here already? So soon?

“Mom? Mom, it’s time to go.” I jump and look back at the doorway with the silhouette of the young man that somehow I am old enough to have borne and raised. “The dorms open in twenty minutes.”

“Well then,” I reply, “Let’s do this!” I flash a smile at him. Gosh, I am so proud of him. He’s gonna do great. I grab my purse and follow him out the door. Before closing it behind me, I reach back in and snatch the box of tissues off the entry table. I’m gonna need it!

Visiting Our Son

Last month we got to visit our son at boarding school. WOOHOO! That made this momma's heart very happy!  He had a lot of homework but I didn't mind. I just sat beside him and watched him!  I also learned very quickly that school nowadays is VERY different than school thenadays...that is, school "back in the day"...that is, school back when one just had a textbook and a notebook and a pencil.  Our son was whizzing around on his ipad emailing his homework in and accessing virtual flashcards and who knows what else. It was crazy and I was loving every minute of it because we were together again, even if I didn't understand half of what was going on during homework time!

It was also fantastic to see the brothers all back together again. I think they really enjoyed it too.

We enjoyed dinner at Chilis...Y...U...M! I promise we let our son choose where to go eat. I promise I had nothing to do with it. Of course, I didn't argue with his choice...I'm just a giver that way! 

The family together again after a month a part. The weekend went by fast, but it sure was fun. And the best part was...only another month until we would get to see him again. And the best part about THAT is that, since it took me three weeks to post this...it's only a week until we are together again!

Adventure Trip to Penang

 This week we went on an adventure!  We flew to Penang, an island in Malaysia.

Penang is famous for it's hawker food (street vendors) and one day we hope to partake.  But for this trip, we were more interested in Chili's (bottomless tortilla chips, who can resist?)...  

And Burger King!

We enjoyed this beautiful guesthouse...

And the boys enjoyed basketball, ping pong and badmitton...

 The guesthouse dog, Bailey, was a great hostess!

  Some day we'll take a real tour of the island, but for this quick trip, we just enjoyed the things we saw as we went from point A to point B (namely things like the airport, the mall, the orthodontist and the school the Aaron will be attending next year).

We were so amazed by this second bridge connecting Penang to the mainland.  It is being built by a Chinese company.  When finished, it will be 24 kilometers long!  You can barely see it in the distance in this picture below...

 Aaron has been accepted to attend high school at Dalat International School in Penang.  In February, he and Kris got to come visit the school.  I got to have a quick look at the campus while we were there this time.  The campus used to be a British R&R base during WW2.  It overlooks the ocean!  Here are a few pictures I took just as the kids were getting ready to begin school...

And this is a sneak peak inside one of the dorms where the boarding students live.

It was a quick (2 night) trip, but we had a great time and it was good for our whole family to see where Aaron will be living when he begins high school NEXT YEAR!!

Middle School Basketball

Here is the Middle School Basketball team!  Kris coached and Aaron played.  They practiced once a week and played three games.  They played well in all the games but came up short in the first two.  The last game was a nail-biter.  They fought hard and won the game 36-35!  Go Eagles!

Aaron shoots a goal.

Our team and their competitors after a game.

The Spelling Bee!

Recently the elementary school hosted a English School Community Spelling Bee.  Seth tried out for the 5th grade competition and made the team for our school.  He competed against 3 other schools.  There were 7 contestants.  The last two "standing" were Seth and his fellow classmate.  His classmate missed a word, so Seth had to spell that word correctly and one additional word.  It was nerve-wracking for all of us!  Seth spelled that word and the following word correctly and won the competition!  He won a certificate, gift and a trophy!