David’s chubby little fingers are patiently pointing out the letters, “A,B,C” as he sings along, slightly off key.  He can independently read consonant-vowel-consonant words.  Occasionally, he messes up the vowel, but I just ask him to “check his vowel,” and he usually figures it out.  I remember this stage with Ana.  Fluent reading will not be far behind I think. 

Ana is patiently waiting for me to pick up On the Banks of Plum Creek from the library. She has stormed through the entire American Girl series and is now plowing through the original Pioneer girl stories.  Four books (with chapters) have been read this summer…four more and she can get her free book from Barnes and Nobles. 

Jim is now rising at 4 AM in order to have quiet time to work before he begins his duties as Super Dad while I go to work.  He is a “night owl” so I know this isn’t an easy change for him.  Unfortunately, it is necessary as he just wasn’t able to put in enough work during regular waking hours.  At least he might now have an hour or two to play with his photos, a much beloved hobby, in the evenings. 

Mike is finishing up his second week at Antiochian Village Camp, at the behest of someone who provided a scholarship.  He was originally only supposed to stay one week.  But, he was having such a good time that he called and asked if he could stay one more week.  Scholarship money was found for him and so there he remains until Friday when we will go to pick him up.  I saw a recent picture of Mike, taken by a parish member who picked up their kids on Sunday.  He looks like he may have had a shower recently.

I continue to homeschool, work, and pretend to do housework.  The Russian language learning is coming along slowly and I’m not writing any new stories, though few ideas have run through my head here and there.  I remember, all things returned to me in the fullness of time.  The kids and I are reading, The Odyssey and The Hobbit.  Ana is enjoying The Hobbit so much, I think we might just keep going with The Fellowship of the Ring, or at least the chapters which contain Tom Bombadil.

And so, we chug along, one foot at a time.  Hope you’re chugging too…