They finished well...

School is out, summer has begun (officially this weekend, I think) and I am here to tell you that my girls finished well...very well. We pulled them out of public school with six more weeks to go, and put them in a Christian
co-op home school. What an amazing blessing! We had already made the decision to home school them next year, but being able to transition them now was such a gift. It was not without it's drama, tears and difficulties, but God just worked through all that in wonderful ways.


These pictures are of the last two days of school. The first group is where the school spends the day at this beautiful, local place with a large swimming pond, sandy beach, palm trees...hard to imagine such a place exists where we live! =) The kids had a blast, swimming, catching frogs, kayaking, just having fun with one another.

The last day of school was for graduation and awards, and for receiving their character quality certificates. This was all new for my kids...they never received character certificates with Bible verses from public school! Grace's character quality was "determination" and Rachel's was "joy" - how special that in just that short time with these teachers, they were able to see these qualities demonstrated in my girls!


Both girls also received Gold Level Honor Roll certificates, which means they each earned 4.0 on their report cards. They were super excited about that, Rachel for finally getting straight A's, and Grace for finally getting letter grades on her report card!


Here's what made their mommy cry, though. They showed a video during the morning's event, and in it, they asked the kids how they wanted to be remembered, or known by others as. Grace said, "I am a very sweet girl." Rachel said, "I am a fierce lover of God." How awesome that God is not only shaping their brains, but more importantly shaping their hearts as well!

(This is how sad they were that school was out for the summer!)

So, now I officially have a 7th and a 3rd grader. How do I feel about that? Ask me in August. For now, I'm going to enjoy my lazy, summer, swimming, reading, playing, loving, silly girls. Thank you, God, for entrusting them to my care. They sure are special!