This is the story of 5 people, 3 of which are short, living in Oklahoma. Tom, Phylliese, Raiden, Merry and Joy welcome you to their life...
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Homeschool Blog
I know we have not updated Sawyers Gone Wild in quite some time and there is a good reason for that. P has been focusing her energy on the blog she created to share what the kids are doing in their schooling.
One of the things I look forward to the most at Christmas is receiving cards from friends and family. I particularly like the picture cards and hearing from people we may not have heard from since the previous Christmas. It's a great way to stay at least a little in touch. Of course, the occasional card that holds a newsletter is great. I like to read about what has gone on with our friends in the past year. Each year, I think I'll do write such a newsletter. I never have gotten around to it, so here is my attempt via blog. (I also thought I'd blog more often when I started staying home. Maybe this will become an annual tradition.)
2008 started off with a weekend full of performances of Me and My Girl. All three kids were in the show - so was one ofthe nastiest stomach viruses I have ever seen. The kids (not just ours) were amazing. Each performance had someone different missing and someone else filling their spot. They had a community barf bucket in the dressing room. Talk about "the show must go on!" Merry caught the bug but managed to be mostly over it before the performances. Raiden caught a mild version. He missed one scene because he was throwing up, but he made it back for the next seen. Even mom got the nasty thing. Joy, of course, was just fine. Some would say that she has a great immune system. We like to say that viruses are scared of her.
After things calmed down a bit, we got back into the routine of work, school, and keeping the house near spotless. The house had been on the market through the holidays and had been shown several times - still no bites. Tom was enjoying his new job and the rest of us had grown accustomed to being home together. Raiden and Merry were both enjoying history and science - the two subjects we did all together. They did their other subjects because they had to. All three kids also continued drama classes.
The rest of the winter and spring were spent in trying to keep the house clean and doing school. Tom was traveling fairly regularly for work. We were all tired of trying to keep the house so tidy. There were many times that I would get a phone call to request a showing in an hour or two. We would stop school, hide all the school stuff, and spiff everything up. That got really old! It is hard to homeschool and make your house look like you don't. I was stressed.
When our six-month contract with the realtor was up, we decided to take the house off the market. We had prayed and prayed for the house to sell. We had also prayed for God's will, timing, and the patience and vision to see those things. Well, the house hadn't sold, so we knew God had a reason for us to stay in Edmond.
Then, Jaxon and Kylee came into our lives. These two precious children are now a big part of our life and the story behind it is so amazing that I have to share it.
One day in late spring, Tom told me that he was feeling called to help children. My first response was, "I am not ready to adopt any children!" We decided it probably was not the time to adopt or foster kids, but we would pray and keep our eyes open for something we could do. Enter God. I think it was two days later that our dear friend, Jeny, and her kids came over for a play date. Jeny told me about a family that needed our prayers. They were have some difficulties and were rather at a loss on what to do for childcare. When Tom got home that night, I told him about it. We both agreed that this might be the answer to our prayers. A couple of weeks later, we met with the family and decided that the kids would come to our house when dad had to work. He works a different schedule than most, so that means the kids are here one to three days a week. Now, if you still don't see God's hand in this, let me go on. While we were meeting with this family the first time, the realtor came by to pull the sale sign out of the yard. Isn't God amazing?! Not only did this family who really needed some help find a little, we found a playmate to help keep Joy occupied while we tried to do school, and I got to have a baby in my house again. This was definitely God's hand!
June brought our next major event in the form of another Family Theater musical. This time, all three kids took part in High School Musical. Fortunately, all the drama happened on stage this time. The kids had a blast and did very well. The girls are still singing the songs. Raiden is pretty much over it.
The summer included lots of play time and time with friends. There were weeks when we weren't really sure if Raiden was still living with us or not. It's become quite a task to keep up with his social schedule. Raiden also found a new hobby of making movies - mostly with Legos. His major solo event for the summer was Camp Impact. He attended that with the Edmond church and got to room with his buddy, Greg. We started attending Memorial Road church of Christ as the drive to Yukon was little much. We did VBS at both MRCC and Edmond. We also spent lots of time at White Water Bay. Joy decided that she really only like one slide at the beginning of the summer. We spent a lot of time in that area and in the pools and lazy river. About a week before WWB closed for the summer, Joy discovered that the other slides - even the really big ones - were fun.
The end of the summer also brought Tom's debut at the Family Theater. This was in an all adult cast play called Advice from a Busboy. Tom played sheriff Tex. It was definitely amusing seeing him sporting cowboy boots and hat!
Fall brought a lot of changes. We switched curriculums to a more unit-study type called Tapestry of Grace. It is history driven (follows a historical path) and points out how God works through everything. It has been great. I have lots of stuff to post on that very soon. We also stepped outside our norm and became part of a co-op. We are doing the Prairie Primer which is based on the Little House books. We meets for classes once a week and have a field trip almost every week. The field trips have been very cool - a bee apiary, a water treatment plant, the firefighter's museum, and the state capitol to name a few. It keeps us very busy. Raiden has continued drama (watch for Newsies in January) and the girls have gone back to gymnastics.
Fall also brought Merry's 8th birthday. For some reason, she really likes horses. I'm not sure why, since she really hasn't been around them much. Nonetheless, Tom arranged to have her party at the house of one of his friends from work - complete with a real, live, full-grown horse. Merry also really wanted a pinata. We couldn't find a horse pinata that we liked in town, so she and I made one together. Everything turned out really well. Even the clouds cooperated long enough for all the kids to get to ride the horse.
We had all our usual Halloween fun and went to Frontier City fairly often. Again, Joy avoided all the things that most of us find fun until the park was about to close for the season. Our very last trip of the year, she tried the Steel Lasso and loved it. We hope she remembers that next year. We enjoyed a nice Thanksgiving (not white this year) as well.
Joy celebrated her birthday with a bunch of friends at the house. Her theme was the Backyardigans. International Super Spy to be exact. I am a fan of nickjr.com - they have the party all planned out for you. Of course, we had to make a pinata for her as well. It wasn't quite as elaborate as Merry's. She had a good time though. I have to admit, it was a bit hard for me though. My BABY is now 5.
The last few weeks have been spent gearing up for Christmas. That means lots of time in the kitchen. I am almost done with the last batch of cookies now! It has been a very good Christmas day in our house. We are so very blessed. We have three wonderful kids (who keep me on my toes), Tom has a terrific job, and we are surrounded by wonderful people. The list goes on, but I won't.
We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year.
Since there is ice everywhere, I thought that this would be a great time to share some pics and video from Thanksgiving. We travelled to Abilene and was greeted with about 4 inches of snow! Needless to say it made the day more exciting that it would've been.
So when we last left the Sawyer family, Phylliese said "SO LONG!" to the man and began staying home with the kiddos. Tom was taking care of a small network and loving life. Raiden, Merry, and Joy were beginning preparations for "Me and My Girl."
In this episode, things have changed. BIG TIME!!!
As I typically like to do, I updated my resume and put it out on Monster to see what I could find. Not thinking I would change jobs or anything.
After one week of my new resume being active I had 3 recruiters contacting me about jobs. One recruiter got my attention by telling me he had the perfect position for me. He also stated that the location was REALLY close to where I was currently working. He wasn't lying either. The company is right next door to Mercer.
I went over to Lopez Foods for my interview. It was a Monday afternoon. Meet with the IT director and their system support dude. They asked me to come back and and test for them on Thursday. I took the test on Thursday. It absolutely kicked my booty. Apparently I did pretty well. After reviewing my test, the entire IT team came into the conference room to do a "Firing Line" interview with me. Five people were firing questions left and right to me. I answered them all and had some fun with it too. I left thinking I did well but wasn't so sure they were going to offer me.
Come Friday morning, I am driving to North Texas, which was a regular occurrence for me at Mercer. At 8:30am I received a phone call from the recruiter offering me the position at Lopez for a lot more pay and an AMAZING benefits package. I accepted it immediately.
So I started this past Monday at Lopez Foods and just finished my first week. I am now responsible for portions of a MUCH larger, MUCH more complex network. I finally get my hands on Cisco equipment. Plus I am part of a team. Although I prefer to call them "people I can now blame." :)
IN OTHER NEWS - The house isn't moving. We have a realtor now and have not been overly impressed. However, we understand that November/December is not the best time to sell a house.
Raiden, Merry, and Joy are in the production of "Me and My Girl"at the Family Theater Warehouse January 4-6, 2008. Raiden will be on stage for all four shows. Merry and Joy will take part in the Saturday night and Sunday afternoon performances. If you want tickets let us know.
We turned off our home phone and now are entirely mobile.
You can now go to www.sawyersgonewild.com to get here. :) I bought that domain and a bunch of others.
After working for seven years as a software engineer, I have traded that title in for the title of "domestic engineer and educator". Yes, I have quit the job that draws a paycheck to stay home with our three precious children. In about an hour, it will be exactly one week since I walked out that door for the last time. Tom keeps telling me that he'll draw me a paycheck if I give him some paper. I don't think it would be any good at the bank:)
We have stayed very busy during the past week. Just hours after I left work, we headed to Dallas so Tom could attend a conference. The kids and I spent all day at a museum while he was working. On Friday, we drove to a small Texas town where my aunt and uncle live. The kids and I spent the day playing on their ranch. Tom continued to work. Saturday, we drove on to Abilene. My grandmother is currently in the hospital and we wanted to visit her. We were also able to help my sister and B-I-L move some stuff into storage so that they could have an open house on Sunday. After about 24 hours in Abilene, we started for home. Fortunately, all the driving was uneventful and the trip was very good.
Monday was our first day with me officially at home. The kids and I are trying to get into a school routine. Unfortunately, I had put most of our school books and supplies in storage while we were getting the house ready to sell. Most of the stuff I am wanting to work with now, as at the very bottom of the stacks of boxes. If we don't sell the house soon, I'm going to have to dig them out. That will NOT be fun. We do have some books we are working with and I will be fine working with what we have for a month or so.
If you are reading this blog, you are probably a friend of ours. Please pray that we sell our house and are able to move soon. We feel very unsettled at the moment and we are so ready to settle down in a new home.
We have limited the kids to one extracurricular activity for the fall. They have all chosen to do drama. Raiden has really enjoyed the three plays he has done thus far at the Family Theatre Warehouse. Merry also liked her camp this summer and is excited about being part of a full-length play. Joy just thinks she is really cool to get to do what her brother and sister are doing. The play they will be in is Me and My Girl. It's an English Musical. It should be very entertaining. The performances will be the first weekend in January. Put it on your calendar now:)
Speaking of drama, the FTW has a production of CLUE! the Musical showing this weekend. This play has an adult cast and is supposed to be absolutely hysterical. Tom and I will be attending this weekend. If you want any more info, let us know or call the Theatre.
Time to get one down for a nap. Now that I am home, I hope to update more frequently. Don't hold your breath for every week though.
That's right ladies and gentlemen, your favorite five-some are back. Phylliese and I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and support over the last several months. You all are AWESOME!!! Now onto the good stuff...
Raiden Update: Raiden is a Wiz? Yes he is for two reasons. First, in May, Raiden took his first ever Standardize Test to see how well this homeschooling thing is working. OH MY! It's working really well. After taking his scores and the placement that those scores indicate, Raiden is currently on an 11TH GRADE LEVEL!!! He scored college level on 5 areas. Needless to say the possibility of him EVER going to public school has almost evaporated. The second reason Raiden is a Wiz, is because he is. Next weekend, August 3 and 4, Raiden will be the Wiz in the play "The Wiz". (For those unaware, "The Wiz" is an urban version of The Wizard of Oz.) He is really excited because he gets to wear his hair high and act like...well...himself. Plus he has a solo. If you are interested in seeing this performance you can call us for tickets. They are $8 a piece and well worth the entertainment.
Merry Update: My Merry, My Merry has had a fun couple of weeks. Between Chicken Pox and losing more teeth she is doing great! Unfortunately she had to miss all of Edmond CofC'sVBS. She got to make that up last week as we attended the VBS at the South Yukon CofC. Their theme was "Let the Spirit Be With You!". She got to meet several new friends and has really warmed up to being at that church.
Joy Update: Joy-Joy got a present from her sister of Chicken Pox the same week Merry had hers. Needless to say, that made the work week really interesting for Phylliese and I. Joy has also REALLY started to enjoy White Water Bay. We have gone several times this year and she is doing more slides each time. She missed the 2nd half of Edmond's VBS. She was able to attend Yukon's VBS and she had a blast! I am currently trying to get copies of the pictures they displayed on a slide show that shows Joy dancing on the front row.
Tom and Phylliese Update: The house has been on the market for 3 weeks. We have had a few nibbles but no bites. We did learn that some realtors like to disguise themselves as buyers and come in. Pretty weak. We REALLY want the house to sell soon but we know it is not in our hands when it will sell. We have also started attending the Yukon CofC more frequently. Richard and JeannLynn May have become really good friends of ours. They are a fantastic couple that has shown Phylliese and I that no matter what you have done in the past, you can move forward...if you want to. Their ministry is such a blessing to us. Phylliese and I hope one day to be able to help others who have endured what we have. We have also reconnected with several people that Phylliese went to school with. Its a fantastic church that has opened their arms to us.
Pics will be coming once I get all of the house pictures off the camera.
We will be looking for help once we move. I am already planning a rib-sticking dinner for those who help. :)
