LIFE around these here parts...

The weather is hot, Hot and HOT!....Craig is the most sick of it, but that's because he still insists on wearing layers and long pants/shirts with close-toed shoes for all work-related activities, which is most of his activities! The rest of us have been coping by spending copious amounts of time hanging out at the pool. It's been a great season, but as of today it will only be open on the weekends until the end of September :-(. We are SAD!

Most of the planet outside of the realm of homeschooling has started up with school again (Lutheran High here started 2 weeks ago!), so we're back to receiving questioning, sideways glances from the general public whilst running errands and going about our lives as 'rogue' citizens..... We resume school the day after Labor Day, AS IT SHOULD BE!

We've had our '3' happen to us: First the belt around the drum of the dryer went and needed to be replaced; then we had a repair on a part of the motor of our downstairs a/c unit; and lastly Craig went to hop into his truck one morning, only to find one of his tires flat! Not catastrophic repairs, by any means, but enough to put a kink in our lives...I'm going to repeat, for whatever might think of failing that WE'VE HAD OUR THREE! No more, PLEASE.

The kiddos began a new season of Sunday school today, with all 5 enrolled.

• Claire is extremely shy, so I wasn't sure if she was quite ready yet. She exceeded my expectations, and my fingers are crossed that we have a repeat of this week next week! (It also really helps that she knew all the other girls in her class. Of the 2 boys, 1 always comes to see the organ after church, so she was at least familiar with his face :-).




• David lucked out as his teacher moved up a grade, so his 'anxiety' over having a new teacher who might not provide snack (that boy and his stomach!) was forgotten almost immediately.




• Grace likes her new teacher, even though "she has a really hard to pronounce name." She was comforted in knowing her teacher knew of her dyslexia, as she is anxious about being pressured to read aloud, especially now that she is at the 'compare' age and sees how much further along her friends are in that regard. (more on her new homeschool year later)




• Natalie is an official guinea pig, as this year marks the first of our youth ministry combining the 5th &6th grades in an attempt to ease the transition into Confirmation. She is LOVING having her own Youth Group, and is looking forward to the activities outside of regular Sunday meetings...like the pool party in 2 weeks!




• Ella is still involved with the H.S.Youth, and appreciates that all 5 girls band together to support one another in the mass of 17 boys. (They all make a point to stick around for events/studies/Sunday class if they know another female will be present....).

Craig officially begins his job as Music Teacher for grades K-5 starting tomorrow. It was his transition into this aspect of ministry combined with his present duties and SMP that has caused a change in his employment status at FedEx. He will complete his last day on Aug. 27, and I'm not quite sure how I feel about that! The kids are sad about not being able to play in his trucks anymore; I'm sad about leaving a really GREAT company in an Obama economy; Craig will miss driving the big trucks and being on the road, but we will ALL ENJOY having Craig home on Saturdays!

So...that is LIFE around these here parts...we'll keep ya'll updated as new, blog-worthy events take place. (hmmm, what IS blog-worthy, anyway?)

Love Much,

The Meissler 7

P.S. All of my TEXAS friends, (born & raised), spell You-All as ya'll, though the way I have always seen it before, it was spelled y'all. (even spell check wants to correct it!) How do you think it should look? Take our poll and let us know!