I love being wrong sometimes!  "We could go swimming," I said.  "What about the thunderstorm building up over here?" was Em's reply.  I didn't think it would be long, I predicted it would blow over in less than an half hour!  So!  Once again I am wrong.  AND this instance makes me very happy.  We need the rain desparately.  It has been so dry here this year.  More like the desert than coastal prairie.  No swimming will take place for at least a half hour from now (the thunder keeps rumbling).  Thank you to whoever arranged this wonderful rain storm on my birthday and just for me!

Pool Time!

Everyone has a father, my father was a good man.  I am lucky enough to be married to a good man.  He is a great father.  He is supportive, loving and attentive to the needs of his family.  There is rarely a time when he isn't thinking about what he can do for his family.  My husband is perhaps a one in a million dad.  He doesn't take time off for himself.  He is always thinking about us.  What makes a great dad?  Well, in my opinion it is some of these traits I have just discussed in addition to some others.  A role model that is hard working, sensitive and caring.  A man that volunteers to do jobs that others won't do.  A person who is selfless and giving.  I could go on and on, but I don't think I need to.  I just want to say... Happy Father's Day and I love you to David Watson!

School will soon be out for the summer!  Our schedule will go lax and the children will lose some focus.  I am planning some reading, hiking, and visits to some museums with the boys.   I am sure we will find time to hang out at the pool too!  Jon will be stretching his mind, studying for academic decathlon.  Ross got a job at the local movie theater.  Zachary will hopefully keep busy with swimming, reading and studying the French revolution with Jon.  I know that the summer months will go quickly, I am just sorry that we don't have more scouting activities lined up.  Once we settle on a new troop them perhaps that will change.  For now, I want to make sure that we don't slip into an easy existence of no intellectual challenge.  We all need that stimulation to keep our brains working at a high level.

Our 11 year old has been playing a time management game all year long.  He saves a bit of homework to do in the half an hour after he gets ready in the morning. This strategy has been working  for most of the year.  BUT he hasn't learned how to judge timing for bigger projects.  So, he had a project to work on this six weeks.  He claims that most of his classmates were copying and pasting definitions straight from websites.  He was determined to read all of Edith Hamilton's Greek Mythology (he has read several other Greek Mythology anthologies as well in the last year) and write his own definitions.  He thought what he had left could be accomplished in 2 hours.  Alas!  He was wrong.  I think this is an important lesson for him to learn, 6 hours of work later he still hasn't finished it. He has almost completed 6th grade, so nothing earth shattering is going to occur if he gets a bad grade on this assignment.  The most important thing that he is getting out of this asssignment is not knowledge about mythology.  Instead he is learning an important time management lesson, he says that he has learned that he should start earlier and work on something like this when he knows there is extra time, for instance during all his playtime this past weekend.  So, the mom and me is very proud of him.  I'll keep you posted on his time management skills, because I am sure that next year will be filled with projects and assignments!

Tim Liston's sermon about encouragement helping to keep the Church rooted works for other groups also.  When things aren't going well within a group, some encouragement and acknowledgement that things could be improved on would go a long way to making people feel better about the situation.  Having a good attitude and leaving personal feelings and problems out of the group effort would go a long way to improving group efficiency and effectiveness.  Adults have a hard time doing this and role modeling good behaviors.  Some friends have asked about our disassociation with a certain group.  I have been steadfast in not saying anything directly critical of the adults involved in our disagreement about my freedom of speech, or about the group as a whole.  So, in the end my boys are affected, they are a casualty of my expressing my criticism of a certain event and its resolution in my private blog.  There are several adults involved within this group who have chosen to be unfriendly, discourteous, and unkind.  I refuse to stoop to their level.  I will not mirror their behavior in public or private.  Pastor Tim talked about reconciliation as a way to improve a group.  I am a afraid in some cases reconciliation is never possible because not everyone is BIG enough to accept their own culpability and to work to improve their character.  I know my weaknesses, I know where I erred, so I know that I can avoid being in this position in the future.  I just hope that others aren't hurt by this group in the way that my family has been.