June 16, 2011  7:46 A.M.

Dear Readers,

Happy Summer, everybody!  It certainly is summer at Breezy Point these days.

I am sending out this blog post to my readers via email today.
Since readership has slowed to a trickle, I have decided, at the suggestion of one reader, to create a new public blog that will indicate when a new posting has gone to this blog.  The new public blog is located at: http://breezypointer.blogspot.com/ .  Please go over to that blog and sign up as a Follower (preferred).  Or, subscribe to it by email or any other way you prefer.  It will let you know when a new post has appeared at this blog.  Hopefully that will breathe new life into this blog here.  Thank you ever so much.  I really appreciate the fact that you all check in here.  You all are the best!

By the way, as year round homeschoolers, we are still going at it here.  We hit the books harder in the summertime than we do at any other time of the year.  It is simply too hot to do much else.

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!

<3 Breezy Point Mom <3

March 14, 2011  10:25 p.m.

. . . . . Smokin’!

Readership has gone up a lot in the past month or so, and it is exciting!  I am not sure why, but I suspect it has a lot to do with my membership on the Calvert School blog network and with various inquiries about Calvert on Yahoo groups. 

But in addition, I have met friends through this blog who have other things in common with us besides Calvert, such as music / violin studies.  Whatever the reason, I am glad you are here.

It has been a very long time since I have asked this, so please bear with me, but if you feel inclined, please drop me a comment to this blog or send me an email at billberna     @    bellsouth    .  net     so that I can “get to know” you a little bit.  Maybe you’re a homeschool family, maybe we live in the same state, or maybe we share some other interests.  I would love to hear from you; it helps to have a sense of who my readers are, and approximately where they are from (especially you who are visiting from the other side of the world).

I’ve already made some very nice bloggy friends, and it would be great to meet more.

Thank you!

March 10, 2011 4:54 p.m.

Chips and Sweet Girl went to a friend’s birthday party this week.  They had a great time.  The weather was gorgeous, too.

You can see that a lot of fun was had.  This party was different because it was on a “school day”, throughout the later afternoon and early evening.  But it sure did break up the routine.

November 22, 2010 8:41 p.m.

The van we camp in is a Sprinter, so Self-Reliant Man occasionally checks the Web for websites and information pertaining to Sprinter vans, accessories, parts, and maintenance.  So it was in this way that back in May he stumbled on the website of a couple who was touring the U.S.A. in a Sprinter van that had been made over into a Class B motorhome by Airstream; the Airstream Interstate 3500 housed in a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van.  The couple’s names are Rob and Jan.  They had sold their home in Colorado and hit the road.  Their trip was to cover 50 National Parks in 20,000 to 30,000 miles.

This couple managed to market themselves in such a way that Mercedes Benz was willing to sponsor their once-in-a-lifetime tour of North America’s National Parks, even providing them with the motorhome for the trip.  So Self-Reliant Man was Googling “Sprinter Van” and came upon their website back in early May, on Day 19 of their seven month tour.  This couple now has over 1100 followers on Facebook as they are now wrapping up their adventure.  So I guess it is safe to say that they are somewhat famous.

Since we were one of their earliest followers on Facebook, and since we were also planning a cross country camping trip, we were very interested in their travels, their experiences, their photos, and their itinerary.  It turned out that they and we were scheduled to be in Yellowstone National Park on the same day, so we decided to make tentative plans to meet one another for lunch on that day in September.

Well, this lunch meeting never occurred, as they had to accelerate their schedule and they ended up having to leave Yellowstone the day before we arrived there.  However, we knew that their trip would eventually take them to Florida, so we thought we would get another chance to see them.

The really providential thing, however, was after we returned from our trip.  That week, we had a Kickball P. E. gathering of our homeschool fellowship at a nearby town.  Several moms were interested to hear about our trip, and the lady who leads the group (who I had just recently gotten to know) mentioned that she had good friends who were currently touring the National Parks in a motorhome that they were getting to use for free.  At mention of this, my eyes grew wide and I asked “Are they still traveling?” and she said “Yes.”

“What are their names?” I asked.

She replied “Rob and Jan”.

What are the chances?!?!?  In God’s providence, the chances are excellent.  So, after contacting them, and letting them know about our newly discovered mutual friend, we made plans to get together when they passed through our area. 

This past Saturday evening was that opportunity.  Like I said, they had just concluded their tour of National Parks and were just about to head north to drop off their Sprinter.  They had logged nearly 35,000 miles. 

We got together for dinner at a local Pan*ra Bread (W*nter Spgs): Rob and Jan, our family, and the  lady who leads our homeschool group and her husband.  We got to share about our trips and our lives, and best of all, we got a tour of their motorhome which was parked outside.  (did anybody here see it there that night?  You couldn’t miss it!)  This is the neatest motorhome around.

It was surreal, getting to see this vehicle and meet this couple in person who we had been following online for so many months.  Turns out we have a lot in common with this couple, besides camping across America.  And to top it off, after they take care of some family responsibilities up north, they will return to our area and settle nearby, and are even considering coming to our church to worship.  How amazing is that?

Coincidence?  We don’t believe in coincidences.

Here are some of the pictures we took that evening. 

UPDATED: 9:37 p.m.


Photo added and comments at end.


June 11, 2010 4:18 p.m.

Teachers, if you want to win the hearts of your students, don't try to be Mr./Ms. "easy fun" teacher, and don't be an "easy mark".  Instead, love your students enough to push them to be work hard and reach their potential.

Chips had a composition to write this week for lesson 81 of fifth grade Calvert School.  He was to write about somebody he admired.  This is the result:



       Miss Svetlana is my violin teacher.  She is kind, amazing, strict, and is one of the best violin teachers I know.  Miss Svetlana is seventy-two years old.
       Miss Svetlana is very kind, but is really strict.  I have noticed that she does not say, "Good, good!" all the time, or else the student will think he is perfect and stop working hard.  My playing always has something wrong and Svetlana will find it!  She has a good sense of humor, too.
       Svetlana came from Russia at fifty-eight years old and learned to read, speak, and write in English!  She teaches about forty-two students.  My sister, C____, and I both get chocolates after the lesson.
       I admire Svetlana because she came from Russia and learned English, and can play violin so well.  I also admire her because she is so very dedicated to her students.  Svetlana is the best lady I know besides my mother.

As a mom, I must add my own thoughts to Chips' composition.  I recently wrote a letter to this lady to tell her my own thoughts and feelings about what she has done for us.  From the first day we entered her home, nearly four years ago, she set a tone for the duration of the lesson that was all about the business of learning the instrument, very little small talk, and an atmosphere that fostered seriousness during lesson time.  Until this time, our children had never set foot in an environment quite like hers.  Chips was six at the time, and we did have our concerns about him.  He didn't seem to take anything, or anybody, in life seriously.  Not a bit.  Now you might say "he was only six" and while that's true, we noted a marked irreverence and distractibility about Chips that didn't seem typical for his age.  He also had very "busy" hands, needing to keep them engaged in unrelated and exploratory pursuits at all times while awake.  He had already been through three years of violin lessons with another teacher, and it was a good thing that teacher was tolerant of very young kids' antics, because Chips had a million of them to display.

But from Day One of entering under Miss Svetlana's tutelage, all that changed.  There was something about her that commanded Chips' respect immediately.  She wasn't harsh, or mean, but she was quietly serious and focused and kept a subdued tone about her lessons.  For a long time, she even refrained from small talk with me, considering every minute of the lesson as precious and not to be wasted.  She was creating an atmosphere, and it worked.  As Chips grew and matured over the months and years that followed, we were amazed at his level of focus while working with her.  Nowadays, she can keep Chips engaged in highly-focused, intense lesson work that can last for up to, and over, a solid hour.  I marvel when I see him working with her.  She keeps him extremely busy every second.  He hangs in there, listening, doing as she asks, and never even speaking, for the entire time.  This is nothing short of a miracle, and it will definitely serve him well for all his life.  It is this, alone, that is worth millions to us, never mind the violin playing.  She has taught him to focus on a task for an extended period of time, to work hard, and to be truly excellent at something.  For that, I am forever in her debt.

Sweet Girl is learning, too, although she is somewhat more wiggly than most of Svetlana's violin students, especially other girls.  Miss Svetlana and I do have our laughs about her level of gross motor activity during lessons, as every little bitty break in the work results in Sweet Girl practically climbing over the furniture and camping out on the floor.  Oh well, she is still growing.

Both children, Chips and Sweet Girl, adore Miss Svetlana.  More and more each year.  Enough said.

 May 10, 2010 4:52 p.m.

A past violin teacher of Chips moved to Ohio four years ago, but she surprised us all by spontaneously flying down to Florida to attend the state music / strings competition back on April 30 and May 1. Her mother owns our local Suzuki school, and is getting older, so she decided to fly here to help her out with the grueling competition schedule.

We were all very happy to see her, and she was proud of her young beginner of seven years ago (Chips) doing so well at state. She was also amazed by how Sweet Girl had grown, and was playing music, especially since Sweet Girl was still in a stroller eating Cheerios when Chips was her student.

This afternoon, she sent us this nice photo taken of Sweet Girl shortly before she played her solo at the competition.  I really like this photo.  Her confidence that day really shows.

 Monday, April 26, 2010 12:27 p.m.

My children bring their friends home with them every day.  Sometimes physically, but most often in their imaginations.  It all began a few years ago when they would make references in their play to the friends they saw regularly at church small group, and then at AWANA, and then at Saints (PE class).  This practice continued on a daily basis, and grew to become more and more elaborate over time.

Eventually, it took on some of the structure they had learned from AWANA.  For instance, Chips had his group of friends, and Sweet Girl had hers; Chips became the Commander of his Group, and Sweet Girl was the Leader of her group.  Both children were in charge over their respective group of friends, but the Commander, of course, was in authority over the Leader.

Soon there were lists prepared on paper of each of the Groups.  Each child's group had membership of between ten and twenty children, identifiable by their real first names (although in the case where there were two children of the same first name, as in Madison, the first initial of the last name would be used).

Since then, the Groups have accompanied our children everywhere: in the car, to meals, to lessons, in the yard, and around the house, even to the bedrooms at night.  I am sure it became quite crowded when Chips had to share his bed with his entire group.  Good thing he has a double bed.

Then the Groups became "National Groups" because children were joining from all over the country.  They began to acquire special characteristics.  For instance, they travel in special vehicles called Sprint Cars, and Sprockets.  Yes, several drawings have been made of Sprint Cars and Sprockets, and each type of vehicle has a description and special uses to the Groups.

The Groups are very adventurous children.  They are able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...... when inside their Sprockets, of course.  The groups are extremely inventive, putting their collective brains together to invent many useful things.  For example, Moving Belts, which they put different things on to transport them, and Dual Rockets, motorcycles that fly with rockets.  One of the boys in the Group races against the space shuttle in a Sprocket and always wins a million dollars each time he wins.  He is up to seven million.  They have superhuman qualities in some ways, yet they, too, are members of our fallen human race as they struggle with their own weaknesses: poor judgment in managing their money, overeating (or eating too many sweets and getting stomach aches), reckless driving of the Sprint Cars, disagreements amongst themselves, failure to heed the warnings of their Commander or Leader, failure to floss their teeth regularly, reluctance to practice their instruments every day, or whatever.

We parents continue to marvel at the level of imagination that Chips and Sweet Girl exhibit when playing with their Groups.  I just when I am driving and I overhear Sweet Girl say to Chips: "Let's talk about our Groups." Self-Reliant Man and I cherish it, and we see that through the National Groups, our kids are able to safely and securely process the realities of life in the real world with the assistance of their friends ---- each other.

November 16, 2009 11:10 a.m.

I wish I had gotten this up on the blog sooner, but God is not limited by linear time. Prayers help, even after the fact.

Please pray for our friend, Darcy, age 40, who this morning is undergoing a bilateral mastectomy. Her surgery was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.

Thank you.

November 11, 2:58 p.m.

I have wanted to post for several days, but believe it or not, there have been more important things in my life to do than blog. Hard to believe, I know.

In the past month, I have learned of three people I know who have been diagnosed with cancer. One of these is a friend and homeschool mother of six children who was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is only forty years old. She recently moved out of state, too.

So I have been spending some time this week writing letters to some of these folks or their family members. Please keep them in prayer.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Other than that, we did return from our camping trip this Sunday, and it was an especially memorable trip for one reason that will be covered later in this post. The weather was exceptionally gorgeous throughout the trip, and we were thankful for that.

The name of the state park this time was Silver River State Park, near Ocala, in our great state. I have to say that when they designed and laid out this campground, they really did it right. It is a newer campground, and very popular, which is why we hadn't made it there sooner. The campsites are wooded, spacious, and private! There is plenty of distance between sites, which I love. The facilities are newer and well-kept, with convenient laundry and outdoor sink, that made life much easier for us van folks. This campground has perhaps dislodged Anastasia State Park from first place in our list of state campgrounds.

Every time we head to a new place, I always wonder... are there enough activities there? Will the children enjoy this park? Will anybody be bored? I honestly don't know why I still wonder about this, because they always find something to pretend about when they get there.





Matchbox cars and gravel always make for several periods of uninterrupted campsite play, as the children always make a new network of "roads" wherever we camp.





Other diversions included:




the snapping turtle that the children befriended for two days.







Then there were the chickens that the children discovered at the Cracker village museum.















Although fishing was not allowed at this park, that did not stop Baby Girl and Little Son from making their own "cane poles" out of sticks and pine needles (fishing line). They used these poles to "entertain" the snapping turtle with bits of bread.














Baby Girl was always keeper of the "Feed the Fire Store", selling us from her stash of firewood and tinder. Friday, she announced, was "Free Friday" so we snatched up all the merchandise we could while it lasted.









The children found a clearing in the woods behind our campsite, which they dubbed their "Exploring Office". Baby Girl wanted to make sure that I got a photo of the all important Exploring Office into the blog. So here it is.













And lest you think that camping is all play and no work for our children, never fear. They do have their campsite responsibilities, besides helping to pack and unpack. Baby Girl often has table-setting duties to tend to.














Little Son chipped in with some of the less challenging cooking tasks.















Self-Reliant Man is always the champion burger flipper.














One thing that we can do really well while camping is EAT!














One favorite evening snack continues to be Jiffy Pop...













... but hot cocoa, pound cake, and cookies filled in those spare idle moments around the campfire very well. As did "read alouds" by Yours Truly. Right now, we are reading Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze ~~ a very entertaining campfire read!















And before I forget, we continued to hike whenever we could. The first hike we took was the River Trail, where we obtained a lovely view of the pristine Silver River.














The next day we attempted to hike one of the other many trails: the Swamp Trail, which would provide another fine view of the river, and some baby snapping turtles to observe. We really wanted to complete this trail...








but....




about a hundred yards or so down this trail, we were moving along at a good pace, Baby Girl in the lead, but thankfully within grabbing distance of Breezy Point Mom (that's me). Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I noticed, lying in a straight line alongside the left edge of the trail, a five foot long Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake! The most dangerous rattlesnake in North America. This was a fat one, too, with approximately three inch diameter around the middle. At once, I yelled, "Oh my God, a Diamondback" and reached out for Baby Girl, who hadn't noticed it. When she saw the creature, she panicked and ran to me (mommy!!!) and I turned to Self-Reliant Man, who said "Run!" and the four of us darted back to the beginning of the trail, hearts beating a mile a minute. Self-Reliant Man got the best look at this snake, and reported that he had noticed the rattler, and that the snake had turned its head to see us off as we ran away.

Sorry, I did NOT take up my camera to get a shot for the blog, important as the blog is and all. Actually, the idea didn't enter my mind at that moment, not that it would have made a difference. So the above snake picture is just one I pulled from elsewhere.

The photo above of the children by the trail sign was taken only about two minutes before the snake sighting. How naive and innocent that moment was. Wait ~~ isn't that something slipping through the leaves in the distance behind the kids?? Yikes!

We reported our sighting to park personnel, and to other visitors we saw approaching that trail, and any families we noted with young children.

We learned anew why it is important not to let your little ones get far ahead of you on the trail. Baby Girl had developed a habit of running out far ahead of us, with us unable to keep up with her at times. I don't think she will be doing this again any time soon.

And yes, we did go back a little later and hike.... the River Trail again. Don't know if we will ever brave the Swamp Trail now.

Nevertheless.............

We love camping!

And we can't wait to do it again.

The pastor at the church we attended for five out of the past six years received shocking news last week. After suffering some unexpected injuries and symptoms before and while serving in the mission field, he got checked out medically and learned that he has a very serious form of cancer known as multiple myeloma, a cancer of the blood plasma cells. He learned that without treatment, he has months to live, while if he seeks out the best treatment available in the U.S. he can extend this out for between a few and a handful of years, depending.

This man is 52 years old, married, with no children. He has a vivacious personality, extremely articulate, full of energy, wit, creativity, and passion for the Lord. He was in the middle of transitioning calling from being pastor of the small church we attended to working full time in the mission field, overseas.

Now his energy, thoughts, and prayers are directed toward the many decisions that must be made ~~~ quickly ~~~ regarding his treatment options.

There are, perhaps, thousands of folks praying for him and his wife right now. Please join that number if you can; I'd appreciate it very much.

Also, amidst all of this, he is choosing to gift us with his thoughts, prayers, and daily reflections of this journey through the valley of darkness. If you would like to read his daily meditations, you can find them here. As I said, he is an incredibly articulate and prolific writer and preacher, and I am sure you will be blessed by his writings. I know there isn't a big "crowd" of readers of this blog, but if you can, please pray for his church as well, as they are in the midst of making some big decisions regarding their future, too.

Thank you!

My heart is full this week. In a good way.

It's a bit complicated, but I will try to keep it brief.

Last summer, I wrote a post in praise of my children's violin teacher. She is a mature, fairly recent immigrant from Russia, who is perhaps one of the finest violin teachers in our state.

Lately, as we have been looking at our expenses, the extreme cost of our violin lessons has been staring me in the face. Our teacher is contracted to teach us through our local Suzuki school, and the Suzuki school is the middle man, taking quite a chunk of money off the top for our lessons. To keep this post as short as possible, I will speak of apples instead of cash. As I explained it to our children (by analogy), each week, we pay 5 apples for violin lessons. Our teacher, Miss S., who does all the work, gets 3 apples, and the Suzuki school pockets 2 of the apples.

Our dear teacher, in addition, teaches independently of the school, charges her students just 4 apples, and gets to keep all 4 apples. But we cannot go to her directly, as I will explain below.

I told her this week about another music conservatory I researched nearby that offers violin lessons for just 2.66 apples. She asked who the teacher would be. I told her it would be Miss K., a teacher who she also respects as a decent and competent teacher. However, this teacher also teaches for the Suzuki school.

Now here's the catch. I cannot go to our teacher, Miss S., directly, nor go to Miss K. either, at the other music conservatory, because they both have an agreement with Suzuki school not to teach any of the Suzuki students privately apart from the Suzuki school. Not unless the student leaves the Suzuki school for an entire year and goes to some other teacher before coming back to them.

Therefore, as I and my children love Miss S., we are stuck paying 5 apples a week, with Miss S. only getting 3 of those apples. No, we can't go to the other conservatory at 2.66 apples, and no, we can't go directly to Miss S. for 4 apples (all of which she would get to keep).

It is a stinky situation, but that's the way it is. We've been putting up with it for several years.

Fast forward to yesterday. The phone rang, and it was Miss S. She had a proposal. We currently log in 75 minutes of lesson time with her a week to the Suzuki school. She wants us to reduce the registered lesson time to 45 minutes. Yet, she will continue to work 75 minutes with us anyway. In other words, we get the same instruction for 3 apples instead of 5. Of course, this means she loses 1.2 apples each week, but she is not concerned with that.

I am flabbergasted.

She also tells me that the time will come when she will have to pass Little Son on to another violin teacher, her ex-husband; that he is a "more professional teacher" than she is, and that he can teach by demonstration the more difficult concertos (like Mendelssohn's). Unfortunately, Miss S. cannot play violin for longer than five minutes due to arm pain; likely the result of a mastectomy of years ago.

Miss S. has taught and led many students right up to college. Many have received scholarships on account of their violin skills. Through the years, though, she has decided to pass a few of her students on to her ex-husband. They have gone on to win large scholarships and even become soloists. She does this for the good of the student, not for her own self-interest.

By now I have tears in my eyes.

By the end of the conversation, after much insistence on her part, we make a compromise. We settle on registering our kids for 60 weekly minutes of instruction, with her actually providing 75 minutes at no additional cost. In effect, this removes the price of the middle man for us. We will now pay 4 apples per week, instead of 5. But she will now only get 2.4 apples per week for her efforts, instead of 3. The amazing thing is that she was willing to work for even less.

No matter to her. She does it for the love of her students. She assures me the sacrifice is insignificant to her. And truth be known, she will probably teach our kids for longer than 75 minutes on many days, too. She will teach them right up until the next student shows up at her door. That's just her way.

So that is why my heart is full today. We are truly blessed to have Miss S. in our lives. Her integrity and selfless dedication are outstanding. I hope that we can find an opportunity to be a blessing to her someday, too.

The young lady who commented on my previous post gets the Ancient History prize today, folks, for taking my mind back to 1977 to Ms. Evin's French class when and where we met! That's right, I have a friend of thirty one (31!) years reading this blog. I would happily post her high school yearbook picture here but she would undoubtedly flame me for it. Here is a lady who truly knew me when.

Stacey reports that she would have her own blog if she had anything worth blogging about. Let's see -- last I remembered, you were jumping out of airplanes, and hang gliding. Sounds pretty blogworthy to me. You always were a thrill seeker, and always knew how to have a good time.

Stace, I am here looking at a scar I have on my right pointer finger. Do you remember the day when I was visiting you at the tennis club that you belonged to (where are the right emoticons when you need them?) and...

... I had had a boyfriend at the time who thought he was pretty cool,



So, I, too, thought I was cool, like him, and proceeded to tear apart with my bare hands a soda can that I had just emptied,



just like my boyfriend had done in front of me the prior weekend,



except that my hands began too close together at the center of the can? Therefore, I did end up that day with what the tennis club employee called a "semi-serious" cut. That cut probably could have used a couple of stitches that day. Except I ignored it, and wrapped it up, (it was a Friday afternoon) and kept it hidden from my parents that entire weekend, lest they ask what happened, and I would have to explain how I got the cut, which, for me, would have been impossible.

By the good grace of God, it did heal uneventfully, although slowly, from the inside out, as it is supposed to, and today I am a happy healthy well-adjusted adult. A fact to which all my more recent, Modern History friends can certainly attest.

Last Friday, I got to see my buddy. (that's her in the picture, wearing black. I'm in pink). We will call her L. My kids call her TTL. Sometimes I even call her U/B, but that's a story that is not for this blog. L and I met over 12 years ago, during a past phase of my life, when I was an electrical engineer for the utility company of a very large and significant MAJOR TOURIST ATTRACTION and WORLD FAMOUS THEME PARK in this part of our state. Anyway, we became friends rather quickly, not so much due to MY great personality, but mostly do to L's amazing ability to connect with people on a level that is beyond superficial in a short time.

It wasn't long before I knew from her, and from another work associate there (remember Susan H?), that L and her dh were very committed Christians who were searching out the Lord's purpose for their lives, and trying to live it. This resonated with me, because I was at a point where I was seeking to "put off the old [wo]man and put on the new" in my life as well. We clicked and got to be really good friends. Within weeks, we were meeting during lunch time to study the book of James together. This mini one-on-one bible study eventually grew to include others at our workplace, including my own supervisor. It was pretty neat to have this spiritual refueling in the middle of the work day. I know I really needed it there.

While I was working there, before I became a MOM, L and I had offices right next door to each other, and we were able to share so many of the details of our everyday lives, and the lives of our families together. Fast forward 12 years later, and we still do that, as much as we can on an extended phone call every week or two, but it is impossible to be aware of all the details that working together provided. I do miss that aspect of working, although I don't miss working there that much otherwise (L is still in that office part time now) since it could be very stressful.

L has two sons. One is little yet, like my dd, and the other son is medium going on big (very soon). Let's say, when L and her husband came to our home for dinner for the first time, back in 1996, her oldest son was 6 months old, and I remember L having to clean out his messy nose with Q-Tips! I still have a vivid picture of that.

Back in those days, she shared with me all she was learning about being a parent of an infant, then 1 year old, then 2 year old, etc. And I was going through the whole entire infertility / adoption saga that can span many long years, and she walked, with compassion, with us through that valley.

Well, my friendship with L is one of the big joys of my life. We have a good level of understanding and appreciation of each other that falls not far short of family. In fact, we have met, and gotten to know, each other's family and extended family, and they are a part of my heart, too, especially L's beautiful and wonderful parents (who I always would like to see more frequently!).

I can count on L to point the way to Christ in any situation that I share with her. In fact, when our children were baptized in our previous church, L and her dh were our sponsors, which means that we parents are accountable to them for bringing up our children as Christians. L has taken this role seriously, bless her, and to this day she has sincere and loving interest in the spiritual wellbeing of our kids. When our son "turned his back on sin" and trusted in Christ, L was the one to really celebrate that event with us.

I could go on and on about L, and this post would be way too long, but hey, it's my blog, and I can post endlessly if I want to! She is the person I have called when bad things have happened. When I was in New Jersey with my dad in the hospital, and he was in the process of dying from chemotherapy, L was the person I called and cried to on the phone for an hour. When I thought my son was missing, and a search helicopter was hovering over our neighborhood, L was the person I called asking for prayer. And L knows that when bad things strike in her life, I will be there to uphold and support her, as she upholds and supports me.

When I become a shameless bragger about my children's successes, she really and truly rejoices and shares heart to heart in my thrills and my pride. Not very many folks can do THAT!

As far as pointing the way to Christ, L has the ability and desire to speak the truth to me in all things, and has challenged me on several occasions to do the right and responsible thing. Whew! Scary!

So, last Friday was an opportunity for one of our summertime visits where we go to her house and she treats me like a queen giving me a delicious lunch and chatting about our families, our churches, current events and politics from our "enlightened" point of view, and well you get it. She even celebrated three of our birthdays with us, all at once. It does my heart so much good to see how excited my children get when they are going to her home and playing with her sons. Perhaps their family holds the central place in their hearts that it does in my heart. Time flies at TTL's house. Now, I hope that they can make it to our place on August 7th like we discussed, because it would truly be a double treat for us.