We are on our last night of our 3rd VBS and we have one more to go. As usual I am getting tired of VBS's. The next thing on our list is to go to the County Fair. Where we are entering a pygmy goat as a show goat. Can't wait to be done with that project too. Sammi is going to be putting the finishing touches on her clover bud project. Then homeschool starts the 29th. We are going with a new curriculum this year K12. Beth is also starting Spanish but somehow I want to include the whole family in her language class.

There have been many losses lately of people dying, 3 in one week that I knew. So it has been a long week. 2 of them were known Christians, one was not really sure. Though it was known that the opportunities were available for that person to meet Jesus, nothing concrete about whether or not the choice was made. It has made my heart feel very heavy.

Missing my Aunt Teresa even though knowing she has no more pain. And that her and Mom and Grandpa are together again. It seems as though God keeps taking the people but I am having a hard time replacing their relationships in my life. I wonder if this is how Elisha felt when Elijha went to heaven. That the responsiblity of praying for people has fallen into his lap and that it is a heavy mantle/duty.

And of course with any passing I think of my Earl. I had a dream the other night that he was standing in a garden and had a white 3 piece suit on. I laughed and told him that 'only Jesus could get you to wear a tie'. He just kept saying "It's gonna be all right Baby Girl". I was telling him that 'they just keep leaving'. And he would answer me. Wasn't a long dream but in its own way a good one.

My oldest daughter Beth is old enough this year to be in the regular 4-H at the fair. She choose to do a pygmy goat. The picture below is the first picture of when we brought her home. And the picture also explains why there is a $100 goat pen out back with the little "darling" in it. Molly a.k.a."goat pest" decided that the fun thing to do would be standing and jumping in and out of her water bucket.

The fair is a month away and we have been 3x's a day walking the goat (which gets some pretty weird looks from people driving their cars) It seems to be working. She knows when we bring out the leash that it is time to work and I don't make her work very long. Just trying to get her leash trained. Hoping that all the work would let Sammi know that maybe animals is not the way to go for 4-H, she has happily told me that she wants to do rabbits. Thankfully that will be in 3 years, gives me time to save up the money. Sammi is a Cloverbud and is going to build a cow girl and horse out of terracotta pots. We are also making a killing jar for insects and then doing a display of things that we have found in nature.

I am using Ohio Virtual Academy for our homeschooling curriculum this year. Beth is excited about getting to do some of the work on the computer. In the meantime I am trying to get Sammi's IEP updated so that the school will know where to place her.

Suzy is improving with her speech though expressive language is still a problem. We have enjoyed going to our library's reading program this summer. Last week they got to talk about the civil war and what kind of food and medicine was used during that time. The girls were all excited to tell me that if we have bug bites and don't have any medicine for it we can use Mint toothpaste because that is the equivalent to what they used during the civil war. So when we go grocery shopping next month they want to look for that kind of toothpaste to see if it works.