I promise that I see!!

I often wonder in the fullness of our days together if I thank you older children enough for all you are and all that you do. Dominic, you sit at your school perch day after day diligently working on your Challenge work.  Your course level is full this year, but you have stepped right up to the plate taking such pride in the work you do.  You are learning and diagramming Latin sentences.  You are studying literature so in depth that your grasp of the English language is something I am envious of. I think we both delight most in geography.  I love teach it and you love learning it.   I am often jealous of all the goodness filling your brain with God's truths.  The world is so beautiful to you right now.  We continue to thank God for the calling to homeschool as the time we spend together everyday is worth more than any material possession I could ever want.  EVER.  I would sell it all to buy more time together. 

I told my friends once that you were a once-in-a-lifetime experience.  Being a mother to a son like you really is something I could have only dreamed of and prayed for. 

We are now in our 8th year of homeschooling.  How that is possible I will never know.  I feel as though we are at such a wonderful spot seeing our oldest turn 13 next year.  We only have five years left together.  FIVE.  FIVE.  I am so grateful that we continue to march through each day that we are together.  The conversations we have together, the books we read together, the figuring out of math problems, the delicate conversations, the delighting in the little ones together, laughing hysterically at Kapaun's ways, and all that we do everyday together are the trophies that line my motherhood shelves. 

Lillie, you clean the kitchen like no other.  You wash dishes so perfectly and neatly.  You sweep the floor with such precision and wipe the counters off so meticulously that it is hard not to ask you everyday to be on kitchen duty as it is a delight to watch you work.  You really enjoy the kitchen. You leisurely take your time making sure all is in its proper place.  I am grateful for your good example.  Last year, your school work exploded to a whole new level.  You really took hold of your own work and take such pride marking off each day's assignments.  You began the Essentials course in Classical Conversations this year and have just blossomed. I love sitting in class with you learning each week.  I love that you love writing your papers and surprising Mrs. Essink with your completed work way before deadline.