Its October First!!

I love fall and all of the colors, smells, activities... the list is endless! A great friend of mine shares this love of fall with me, and it spoiled her joyous living in Florida for 10 years... because she missed fall! (She lives in Maryland now!! Happy Fall!)

Well, I realize the Fall Equinox already has passed. But for me I don't feel fall-ish until October. Maybe I live in a constant state of "Oh please... not yet", for while I love fall, I still enjoy very much my summer... and it is waning! But, nevertheless, October comes with all of its golden and russet splendor!

October 1st also marks two very memorable events in my family.

First- October 1st, 1988, my niece Sabrina was born. A beautiful baby girl, 8 pounds, gobs of black hair, and an undetected Diaphragmatic Hernia. She had a collapsed right lung, her heart was on the right of her chest, and her left lung had only developed to be the size of a nickel. When she was 5 hours old, the doctors performed emergency surgery and really thought she was not going to make it. They gave her a 5% chance of survival, simply because she had lived through the operation, but figured it was only a matter of hours.

28 days later, my sister brought her home! It was a long road of meds, broviacs, shaving her hair off in patches for IV lines, :( but God was so gracious and even the doctors acknowledged it was only His miracle of giving her life! Today, she is 19 years old! A beautiful girl, with a generous heart, and a passionate love for the same God that spared her life. She is attending Word of Life Bible Institute, and planning a life of dedication to the Lord in whatever capacity He calls her to.

Happy Birthday Beans!

The other event on October 1st, was the death of my grandfather. It is hard to believe that 12 years have already gone by since that day. While he lived in California all of my life, he moved here to NY 1 1/2 years before he died. It was interesting to get to know this man. He had so many stories to tell, and even more crazy phrases for things. He lived a life full with service to our Country, joy in the little things, and a distinguished air that only Southern Gentlemen really possess! He always wore a hat... that is after he got rid of the hideous toupee!

I remember one story of him primping in the morning. He was a fastidious man, and always made sure he was dressed to the nines. He grabbed The Silver Hair Spray to make "the hair" shine, after which he used the Arrid Extra Dry under arm antiperspirant... only to discover too late he had mixed them up. He met the day with hair that wouldn't sweat, and silver arm pits.
I believe it was shortly after that he accepted his baldness!

While I never really knew him in the sense that I had intertwined my life with his, I still miss what could have been. I never really had a "grandfather" in the cozy, generous, unconditional sort of way. He was a bit of an enigma. He had already lived his entire life when I began to know him. We, his grandchildren, were people he had pictures of in his wallet. Had he left in the ones that came with the wallet when he purchased it, he may have never really known the difference. Except we were much better looking, and had written "To Popo, love..." on the back. I still loved him. It may have been more an idea that I loved, but at least I have a picture of him in my mind... even if I don't have "To Jan" written on the back!

October first... life ending, and life beautifully storing up for the Spring...

So Happy Fall! Enjoy all of the beauty, cinnamon smelling pies, and cool, crisp evening walks! I know I will!

Back to School!

Today marks the first day of school here at the "Jalowiec Academy of Excellence" for the 2007-2008 school year.

It is such a great thing to home school, because people will attach all kinds of SuperMom qualities to me and only I know they couldn't be further from the truth! I would love to be organized, have the unconditional respect and admiration from my children (which must be the case if they actually submit to my teaching them!), as well as an "always clean home" (due to the readily available child labor force I possess), and a divinely contented husband that has dinner waiting for him upon his return home from work served to him on china and crystal. To be sure, I have been meticulously groomed and primped for him, too!

NOT!!!

I sometimes think the real motivation for home schooling is to simply contain the chaos as much as possible. Could you imagine if I had to report to five teachers, three different principals, guidance counselors, bus drivers...! Yikes!

Truthfully, I would not trade these years for anything. There is an inexplainable joy in having my children with me all the time. I have an 12 year gap between my daughters, and even though one is 16 and the other 4, they really know each other! My sons' best play mates are each other- well, most of the time! (I have been told that physical violence play is a sign of affection...)

The kids benefit from being able to take advantage of Dad's free time, too. There are days he doesn't leave for work until 1:00, and the entire morning is spent with him. It totally wrecks the school day, but I need to look at the bigger picture! Dad is a vital part of our family, and he gets to have real quality time with them. If they were traditionally schooled, they would be gone when he is home, and I could have him all to myself... wait, that is supposed to say they wouldn't see him for the entire day!

That does bring up another point, though. We as parents need to be very creative when it comes to time with each other. Kids seem to have the ability to consume everything they possibly can- and I don't mean just the weeks groceries!

So, here we go plodding the course of another year of study. Another year of Biology labs, sentence diagramming, spelling tests, field trips, Algebra and multiplication tables. How the time flies! To think my O. has only two years until graduation! Class of 2009! She will share the pleasure with Dad, who will be graduating from NSBI. Not to let that give me much of a feeling of "I am getting done"- S. is only four... at least 13 more years to go!

p.s. Though the calendar said "First Day of School"- it was less than a successful day!

p.p.s. I don't even want to admit how many times I had to rely on spell checker for this post!

Fall as a Soccer Mom!

So will soon begin another season of Soccer!
We are a very busy family come the fall, but I cannot say I don't love it! Between the "Rapids" and "Happy 5", I pretty much live on a grassy, wet, or muddy field for two months! Its great!
The kids are a fun bunch of players, and I really enjoy the few hours of down time for each game. I forget how much I really like to yell and root for the Home Team! We bought S. a set of pompoms, and she acts as the lone cheerleader. She takes the job very seriously and often continues the "Go Rapids" chant well and long after we are home... OK so there are some down points!