Special Vision Sunday at Harbins

On Sunday we had a very special worship service at church. To quote Steve, our Pastor of Preaching and Vison, "we've been blessed in many ways, not the least of which is the land and money to build, that was given to us. But even more wonderful than that are the people God has brought to Harbins, and the passion He has placed in our hearts to do great things for His glory. Collectively we have many dreams, hopes and challenges that await us as a church. Our desire this Sunday is to catch a glimpse of what God has planned for Harbins, and joyfully commit to His mission and vision for our church, a church where generations converge to enjoy God and change the world." Steve gave an awesome re-cap of how Harbins came to be and after a sweet time of worship, we headed to our new building for a little more worship time together. We also shared in the Lord's Supper and then we spread throughout the building, Sharpies in hand, to write scripture and prayer on the doorposts and framing of our building. Deuteronomy 6:4 - 9 says, "The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." The sheetrock will soon be going up in our building. How precious to know that underneath will be our messages and dedications to God.

What a blessing it was to walk around and witness the hearts of this congregation. Children and adults went throughout the building, Bibles in hand, writing dedications, scripture, and commitments to the Lord.

This land and structure going up at 1522 Harbins Road has been given to us by God debt-free. We know that God has done that for a reason, and we know that our mission is not to build buildings but to build God's Kingdom. So we joyfully acknowledge that this building is simply a tool, owned by God and entrusted to us, to advance His purposes in Harbins.

Dee gave a little tour and explained what was what so we'd have a better picture of what the building will look like when it's complete.

To quote Steve again, "We have been called to a vision and a mission. O how we must beg for God's grace to protect us from losing our focus and forgetting our mission. The fact that we have a nice new building on a nice piece of land is not what makes us a healthy church. What makes us a healthy church is whether or not we are going hard after God day in and day out and are sharing His good news with the world in our deeds and words. Then, and only then, will we be the type of "fishermen" that God desires."

Kids test results

Well, the kids test results came back today. I was surprised by my reaction when I saw the envelope. My stomach flip-flopped and my heart dropped. I felt nauseous. I went against Andrew Pudewa's advice to leave the envelope sealed up for 16 years because the results don't matter anyway. I had to know. Maybe I care more than I'd like to what these results say. I know some of you are curious, so I'll share the overall scores.

Jacob - just completed 6th grade
There are several different scores here, so I'll give you the Grade Equivalents because that's easiest for me. :)
Reading on a 10th grade level (I was so pleased to see this! Reading comprehension is one of those things I have no idea how to judge, so this was encouraging!)
Language Arts - 10.8 (That means 10th grade, 8th month)
Math - 8.6 (Yay! He scored off the charts in Geometry, Algebra and Measurement!)
Social Studies - 11.1 (Wowie!)
Science - 8.9 (Really? I always feel so inadequate with science, but I guess I'm doing okay)
Reference Materials (includes maps, diagrams, dictionary & encyclopedia skills, etc.) - 10.5
Total Composite Score - 9.7

Caleb - just completed 3rd grade
Reading on a 6th grade level (Awesome! Caleb was a 'late' reader (by public school standards) but I wanted him to LOVE reading, so I didn't push him. And now he loves to read!)
Language Arts - 3.6 (remember the portions on Listening Skills that had both the twins in tears? This was included in LA...I was not surprised at all to see the low score here. Now that we know about Caleb's APD, we can help him.)
Math - 4.4
Social Studies - 4.9 (I wonder what kinds of questions these were)
Science - 5.0 (Very high scores in Physical and Life Science - low in Earth Science and Space)
Reference Materials - 5.1
Total Composite Score - 4.6

Abbi - also just completed 3rd grade
Reading on a 7th grade level (I was surprised (not disappointed) that this score wasn't higher)
Language Arts - 5.5
Math - 6.5
Social Studies - 5.2
Science - 6.3 (same results as Caleb)
Reference Materials - 6.5
Total Composite Score - 6.0

The twins both scored off the charts (literally) for Word Analysis, Vocabulary, and Reading Comprehension. They both struggled with the punctuation part that included apostrophes, quotations, colons and semicolons...probably because I haven't taught that yet! The boys both need help with capitalization. No surprise there.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the results. I think the kids did an OUTSTANDING job, and I know they did their very best. I'm also a bit discouraged though, looking at the National scores. Of the 65 categories the kids were tested in, Abbi scored 100% in 24 of them, Caleb scored 100% in 9 of them, and Jacob scored 100% in 14 of them. Most of their other scores were in the 80's and 90's, some were in the 70's and just a few were below that (like Listening, Capitalization, and Punctuation). The National scores are mostly in the 50's (19) and 60's (36), with a few in the 40's (or lower) and a few in the 70's (7). The highest National score is 79...on the 3rd grade test that's in Spelling, and on the 6th grade test it's in Comparing Quantities.

When the kids were taking these tests, I couldn't help but think about the episode of Little House on the Prairie when Laura Ingall's took her graduation test (at the age of what, 14?). There were no fill in the dot, multiple choice tests back then. She had to KNOW dates of history and what happened on those dates, and how to solve math equations, and how to spell. I know that my Caleb is a very poor speller (he spells phonetically), but he was able to do very well on the spelling portion of this test. Why? Well, when you read as much as we do, it's probably pretty easy given a list of 4 words to pick out the one that is spelled incorrectly. That doesn't mean if you told him to spell that word he could do it correctly. Which is just one reason I believe standardized tests don't really tell us anything. As I've said before, it's just a comparison game.

I guess this whole thing makes me very thankful for homeschooling and the assurance that I can give my children a good education at home (and seemingly a better one than the government is doing). I don't have to 'teach to the test' as I hear so many parents and teachers talk about in the school system. I can go slowly when needed and pick up the pace when the kids have mastered something quickly. I can take my time with Caleb and not push him. I can let Abbi fly through her books. I can plug along with Jacob, not getting behind, but also not doing more than needed in one school day. I'm so blessed to be a homeschooler. And I'm so thankful for families like the Berreth's, Booth's and Cobbs', who led the way for us to begin this adventure. If not for their commitment, faith and example I'm pretty positive I would not be homeschooling. And of course, I am so thankful to God for leading us here, and for supplying my every need in teaching my kids at home.

Jon's Stay-cation

So, Jon had to take some vacation time or else he was going to lose it. We talked about going to Illinois to visit his family (which we usually do over the 4th of July holiday), but I said, "Pretty please can't we stay home and do some fun things in Georgia that we haven't been able to do yet?" So, I talked him right into it! One of the things I really wanted to do was drive down to Lumpkin to see Providence Canyon State Park. It's also called the Little Grand Canyon of Georgia. I took over 100 pictures, but I won't bore you with all of them. Just my very favorites.

There are 9 canyons to explore and they're all numbered. Numbers 1, 2, and 3 were very pretty (see above), but nothing really spectacular (I think growing up in the Northwest has raised my standards on natural beauty). The park website said the path is usually wet and muddy, but it's not normal mud. It's sand. But not the kind of sand that sinks. It was very pleasant to walk on and we didn't end up muddy at all (which I envisioned when I read that). We were the only ones at the park (truly) so we let Toby off his leash for awhile so he could investigate with the kids. He had so much fun! When we got into canyons 4 and 5, we were 'wowed.' Every corner we turned one of us said, "Wow! Look how beautiful this is!" It was really incredible. Just gorgeous! The kids and I needed a short break and Jon got bored...We explored in the canyons for over two hours and we still had to finish the 3 mile hike. It was extremely hot and muggy this day and we were all pretty gross, but it was well worth it. We ended up taking an unintentional detour that threw us off over a mile. Ugh. By the time we got to the last 4 canyons, some of us were ready to be done. Canyons 6, 7, and 8 were very pretty, but I think 4 and 5 were our favorites. The path to number 9 appeared to be washed out, so we didn't see it. But I don't think any of us cared by then.Clap your hands all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy! How awesome is the Lord most high, the Great King over all the earth! Psalm 47:1, 2For God is King of all the earth; sing to Him a psalm of praise! Psalm 47:7It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Psalm 48:2Like I said, we still had to finish the 3 mile hike after spending a few hours exploring the canyons. We were each almost out of water and little Abbi was just done in. So Jon scooped her onto his back. The last few pictures are of the view as we hiked out of the canyons. Beautiful! We all had a great day and couldn't wait for our beds...especially Toby!

God was so good to us this day! It had rained the day before and rain was in the forecast again. I prayed and prayed He would hold off the rain so we could enjoy the canyons. Because of other scheduled activities, Monday was the only day we could head to Providence Canyon. I had packed a picnic lunch for us to eat at the park before we started our hike. We could hear thunder in the distance the whole time we ate. By the time we were ready to start, the thunder and dark clouds had moved out. As you can see in the photos, the sun and blue sky came out for us! And then when we stopped for dinner on our way home, it was in the middle of a huge thunderstorm. Thank you Lord, for waiting to send the rain until we finished enjoying what You created for us!

Are you wondering what we're doing with the rest of Jon's stay-cation? Well, Tuesday we went tubin' down the Chattahoochee and had a wonderful, relaxing afternoon. And yesterday we went back out on the boat with the Barr's. Today Jon and some other servant men from church are laying cable in our new building. The sheetrock starts next week so this week was their last chance to get it done. And tomorrow we'll be preparing for Jon's parents, 2 sisters and their 5 children to visit for a week. Never a dull moment around here!

Bike riding at Little Mulberry Park

Remember a few posts ago when I mentioned that we got a bike-rack so we could now start riding bikes at some of our favorite parks? Well, today we did! Last Saturday, Jon drug us all out in 98 degree heat to ride bikes. Needless to say, I was not exactly a happy camper. I kept telling Jon it was TOO HOT to go ride bikes, but he wanted to go anyway. So we did. Well, today it was only 82, so after breakfast we headed out to Little Mulberry Park. I think this is our new favorite park. We went there last weekend, but today we used a different entrance and it was so much more beautiful!

Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before anything was created and is supreme over all creation, for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see - such as thrones, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities in the unseen world. Everything was created through him and for him. He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together. Colossians 1:15 - 17

This is what most of the path looked like...isn't it wonderful?!

There were several docks along the way and we took a short break here.

Is this not beautiful?

I rode 4.5 miles, Jacob rode almost 7 while Jon and the twins rode almost 10. While we were all resting and drinking water before we loaded up to head home, Caleb was riding circles around us (literally). He has boundless energy!

Have I mentioned how much Jon loves this bike rack? He is especially proud of it! So honey, this is for you!

4th of July on the 3rd

We were invited to go to Stone Mountain with some church friends for the 4th of July fireworks and laser show. The show is going on Friday, Saturday AND Sunday evenings this weekend. We were glad we decided to go to the Friday show. We didn't have to worry about being out late and trying to get up early for church. And boy, were we out late! The show ended around 10:30. We got to the van at 10:50 and waited about 10 minutes before getting in line to get out of the park. It was after midnight when we got home.

We'd been to Stone Mountain several times, but we had never stayed for the laser show. We were warned about some Southern...uh, propaganda in the laser show and it wasn't a joke. There was no doubt we were in the South. It's supposed to be the world's longest running laser show and it was pretty good. But the fireworks were fan-tabulous!

My beautiful Abbi

My handsome boys

The Evans Girls

The Evans Men

I asked Abbi to take a picture of Jon and I. Just as she was pushing the button, 6 year-old Ethan walked by and we both started laughing. Ethan's mom, Dana, stopped just in time. Since my camera has such a long delay, Abbi got this shot right after Ethan passed and right before Dana was about to. I love it!

Above - Caleb and Ethan wrestling around. We got to the park shortly after 5:00 and the show didn't start until 9:30, so the kids got pretty restless waiting. At one point the kids made up a human ring-toss game with the glow-sticks Caroline brought for everyone.
Below - the kids found a cool rock wall to climb on.
The four moms thought it would be great to gather the kids for a photo. This is probably the best shot we got (thanks, Natalie). It was quite comical trying to get them all to be still and focus.