It was a great day!

It started out “on time” (smile) with our devotion. Of course well all know Thomas Edison invented the light bulb and we know we can’t live without them in our homes today. We should also be needy for God’s word like Psalm 119:105 says…“Your word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.”

Then we moved to the Purpose Driven Life reading. I asked JD if he liked the book or would he rather read his own book. He said, “I like that book.” (Yes! I can only hope he will love God forever. Those teen years can be scary you know?) Have I already mentioned this is the third time I’ve read this book? (This coming from someone who HATES to read.) I read it Feb 06 when I was on temporary duty to Alaska, again from Aug-Sep 07 when I was deployed to Iraq, and of course now. Today’s reading was “Developing your friendship with God.” I particularly love this day’s reading too. I relearned we have to be honest with God about all of our faults and feelings. Then, we should choose to obey God in faith. Jesus set the tempo with His example towards His Father. Next, choose what God values. I find it hard to like what Jeff likes (sports, cooking, etc…) how in the world am I going to like what God likes. (Oh “value” …okay, I get it.) Lastly, I must desire a friendship with God more than anything else.

Math was extremely long today. Mostly because of my extensive note taking for later review. He had a minor “brake down” if you know what I mean. We learned (when I say “we” I mean we. He passed me up in math in the 3rd grade.) Anyway, we learned multiplying and dividing decimals. We go the multiplying thing down, but that dividing decimals was confusing for both of us. All those zeros and such. He was trucking along telling me what to write and spitting out multiplication facts until…I asked him to solve one solo. He was unable AGAIN to tell me what he was “feeling” so I could try to fix it. **Note to self, maybe if I show him pictures of emotions he’ll be able to identify what he’s feeling. I’ll try that tomorrow.

It was a sunny day here but still chilly. JD took a break outside on the porch exercise thingy. It’s half cycle, half stair stepper, I guess. He loves “working out” on this. I love that he gets excess energy out. So I agreed to move that rickety old faded thing in the house. We applied WD-40 to noisy parts and he then focused his attention to “working out” like crazy. (Whew…get some turns in for me…smile)

Our word bank words were erratic, combative, and coherent. He likes learning new words but does not like looking them up in…what’s that thing called again?…oh yeah the dictionary. His sentence for combative was, “I become combative about homework assignments. (Um, you don’t think he’s plotting something against me do you?)

Okay, after that sentence I switched gears up for journal writing. Today I picked the topic. It was called “My favorite teacher?” (Hey…I didn’t think he’d write about me…smile) So I dictated for him and this is what he came up with. My favorite teacher is my mom. She makes my lessons fun. She does not give me that much homework. She is not that mean. She lets me watch Animal Planet at lunch. She sits beside me during my lessons. She’s loving and kind and cares about my education. (Being an adopted Southern woman I have to ask you…Do you want one of my tissues? I only used it once.) And to top it off I started my shower and home hair trim at 12pm. At 12:30ish I walked back to his classroom anticipating a “combative child” but instead I heard, “Looking for me?” “Um, yes (as I’m looking at this perfect cursive writing completed! (I nearly passed out.) Of course I told him how proud I was of him. Now for the cherry on the top. I followed the voice and found him in his room carefully selecting his school picture clothes ON HIS OWN! (Seriously, if you don’t see a blog for a couple of days…no I’m not allergic to any medication.) Now I’m wondering, “Did an alien spaceship come during shower time and take my child and replace him with a clone?”

Tonight was school picture night. We had to drive into Fayetteville in order to get a portrait studio. I specifically requested a somewhat close portrait for my package because somehow they always take a “good” picture at first for your package and then WHAM! these close-up cute pictures come streaming through. After looking at the receipt it’s unclear when I can pick them up. I’ll call in a couple of days.

Since math was so long today I just turned on classical music from another blog and JD wrote his journal entry while listening. I have tried music in the past at it does seem to help. It’s just so hard to keep up with all tricks to entertaining an ADHD student.

We did history on the road. Jeff had a documentary called Warriors of Honor, the faith and legends of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. So we popped it in on the way to the portrait studio. It was very engaging and JD loved it.

Side note…up top (on the dark blue bar) you will see “next blog.“ I click on that every now and then and it takes me to someone else’s blog. I saved one of the sites because it crafty and I loved the music on it. Turns out classical music and classical soundtracks are very relaxing, calming, and Z…Z..z…z…