A Continuation...

Continuing with the catching up theme, the second week of February flew by with extreme busyness!  The first part of the week was spent in prepping for the days to follow and recovering from my birthday get away.  Early Wednesday morning, the Houston family rolled out of the sack, got dressed,  loaded into the van, and headed down to our state's capitol, Olympia.  Craig was asked to speak for the Christian Homeschooler's day at the Capitol.  What an opportunity!  There were several hundred homeschooling families that attend every year.  These families bring home made apple pies and the children, 12 and older, deliver them to our Representatives and Senators.  My children's group was even selected to deliver pies to the Governor and the Lieutenant Governor!  Craig spoke on being "salt and light" as Christian's in our nation.  Little did we know beforehand, but the House chose that particular day to vote on the bill for same sex marriage.  We had the opportunity to truly be salt and light that day!  Craig also was asked to give a short speech in the Rotunda, under the dome.  This is a very public part of the Capitol building where onlookers stopped to listen to what was going on.  He was asked to pray over Representatives and Senators that came to address our group.  It was a full day that ended with registering for a speech tournament that my four oldest children participated in.....

Getting serious about giving speeches! ;-)

Soooo, everyday through Saturday, the older children got up at 5 am to prepare for and travel to Olympia to the tournament.  They each gave speeches in front of judges.  Naomi and Anna performed duos with friends, and all of them did biographical narratives.  Naomi's bio. narrative was about William Wilberforce, Anna did hers on Nate Saint, Samuel's was on Winston Churchill, and Daniel's was on Christopher Columbus.  This time in speech club has been very educational and an all around great experience!  Much work was done, but not at the expense of fun!!!!

What else do you do while waiting for your turn?

Naomi and her duo partner

Anna and her duo partner being silly!

On Thursday, my husband had to have an emergency root canal.  His tooth had been hurting so bad, and the sensitivity to cold, hot, and sweet was intense.  It turned out that his tooth was practically hollow on the inside although nothing was visible on the outside!!!  He finished up at the dentist and went on down to Olympia where he helped in judging speeches.  We are thankful for those who also gave of their time that week to help out!  This would include, Russell Smith, Mark Howe, Brigitte and Derek Hase, the entire Green family (Brian, Sheri, and David), and Erich Heinz. 

During the tournament, I stayed home with the little ones and tackled the humongous job of switching bedrooms.  I took out all of the boys' stuff, bringing it downstairs to put into the green room, which meant taking the little girls' things out of the green room and putting it upstairs to incorporate into the older girls' room.  This was quite a task!  The boys' old room is currently being occupied by a family of 8!!!  This has been quite an adjustment, but is working well.  We are slowly but surely getting settled.  Again, thank you to those who have helped with repairs and "donations" of bunk beds ;-), and the putting together of bunk beds, and the help in moving large pieces of furniture!!! (R.J., Russell, Braylan)

PHEW!  That was quite a week!  Makes me tired just remembering it!  It is amazing how much one can get done in a short amount of time! :-)