February Happenings

It's been a relatively quiet couple of weeks here at the Campbell house. I think it's the calm before the storm. We officially start recruiting for VBS on Sunday, and that is typically when our busy season begins. Here are some highlights of what is happening in our world:

Ryan has decided to finish the degree he started in 1992. He has worked on it off and on through the years through a variety of life changes and child additions. Every time he has had to put it on hold, it has been a sacrifice for him. But, the Lord has given him some incredible life experiences that rival anything he could learn in the classroom.

He is currently taking 9 hours of online courses from Liberty. I have to admit, I thought online courses would be a breeze. I was wrong, REALLY wrong. That boy is working his tail off. He is getting up early, staying up late, and reading through his lunch in an effort to finish strong. He is doing well and I'm very proud of him. He is hoping to finish in early August. We keep telling ourselves it's a short term sacrifice for a long term goal.

Our children did the sweetest thing for Valentine's Day. My mom had offered to keep the children overnight on the Friday of Valentine's Weekend, and of course we took her up on it. Before we dropped them off, Abby kept reminding us that we hadn't paid them their allowance yet and she was insistent that she needed it for the weekend. So, we stopped by the ATM and paid them their due. Then, we went to dinner. When we got home, we found this:

They had called my mom early in the week and asked her if she would take them shopping while they were at her house. Then, while we were at dinner, they went out and each one bought us something. They snuck back into the house and set it all up before we got home from dinner. We got a box of chocolates, a bouquet of flowers, balloons, and even a singing card. It was so sweet!

In other news, Abe has been sporting some funky hair. We had decided to grow it out and see what it looked like. For a while, it was cute. Then it got fuzzy and we decided the 'fro wasn't the best look for him. I decided that he was beginning to look a bit like the Reverend Al Sharpton. I couldn't stand it any longer, so I got Ryan to cut it tonight. Here are a few before shots:

Here it is, slicked back in honor of Al.

Other than that, we're just busy schooling steadily. We're on track to finish May 21st. Much to my children's dismay, we schooled through our recent snow days. Our next door neighbors were home from school, but we kept pushing. The good thing about homeschooling is that you can have the best of both worlds. That is evidenced by this picture of Lizzy:

There's nothing like Math, on the hammock, in the snow, with your rain boots on. Betcha you don't see that in public school!