I feel like my one of my children has left the nest

I am going to start with today and work backwards because it was such a bittersweet day. It was sad because we said goodbye in high style to one of our serviceman who is heading out to Afghanistan. He will be there a year I think. We are going to pray for him everyday and hope that God uses him while he's over there. The bittersweet day was saying goodbye to one of my friends' daughters who I have known since she was younger than our Maddie. I was her flute teacher for a number of years and she is probably one of the most talented and intelligent kids I have ever met. She is heading to North Carolina School of Math and Science in Durham. It is only a two hour drive but it feels like it's going to be worlds away. She has been such a blessing to our family. She and her family arrived at  our church I think seven years ago with our newly formed Korean ministry. They are one of the original families and she grew up in our church. I couldn't even play my saxophone during the offering because it was right before it that it hit me that I would not be seeing her every service!! I felt like I was letting one of my children go!! Ha! And her mom is so dear to me. I know she will miss her. But, without further ado, here we are trying to be happy!

Here she is with her Mom!! :)

Here we are acting happy!!

Not sure what Beaker was thinking here but she thought she knew how to use chopsticks!!! Well, she was eating some Korean noodles. I guess that makes sense. 

Yesterday was quite a busy day. We had a birthday party for a dear friend's husband who turned 80!! They are a terrific couple and we think so much of them. In fact, Beatrice thought so much of them, she spent all day finding just the right outfit. With a little help from me, we settled on one that matched her shoes. I know, what was I thinking? MY shoes didn't even match MY outfit today!

Beaker and Beatrice helping open presents!!

Here we are listening to the singing bear. He was very cute!!

Here is our friend opening the presents from the children. Notice the Dollar Tree flip flops under his arm!! And the eraser, which was from me, says "for REALLY BIG mistakes!" ha ha ha ha....

You can just make out Beaker under the blue package. She is shoving the present at our friend. He must be moving too slow for her!!

I love this photo of Beatrice and Beaker helping out. Our friend received a priceless gift; Navy pins from the 1700s given by a friend of his. They were pretty amazing. He was in the Navy many moons ago.

 This is a very important photo! Lindsay made me PULL her tooth out AT the party. Our friends got such a kick out of it, they brought her $.50 this morning at church! My children think that since the mom on "Table for Twelve" pulls her childrens' teeth out, I ought to do it to. I am getting used to it. Thankfully, I have a lot of teeth to pull and the queasiness is going away.

Kristine and Robert relaxing.

The above two photos are Beaker's attempt at abstract art I guess. She used her allowance money to buy playdoh. 

We spent our day Friday shopping for school supplies. We start tomorrow. It was a fun day. It started at 8:30 and we arrived back home at 1:45. Our stops included, but not necessarily in the proper order: Walmart, Kohl's, Used Bookstore, Belk, Staples, Le Target,  Chick-fil-a with our friends, Dollar Tree, and probably a couple others but I can't remember. God blessed us because I was able to get all the children shoes for $53.95 at Kohl's and earn a $10.00 Kohl's bucks giftcard. I was very excited because I don't use their credit card and I got it without using the credit card. We saved $116.00! The rest of the week was spent recovering from minor surgery. I definitely don't like anesthesia. On a good note, I found out after I got home that the Great Oz has  problems with anesthesia so I felt a bit consoled knowing that I inherited it honest. Nothing serious but not very comfortable.

Looking forward to a great week starting school!! The children are very excited to start. I am excited to see how God blesses them this year. We thank the Lord we can homeschool our children. It is a real blessing. I better get my phone ready for first day of school photos.