Friday

Sarah, Bekah, and Alex all came home for Christmas break yesterday ~ but then Alex turned around and went back to his apartment on campus for the weekend. He realized that there wasn't going to be a car available for him to use anyway, since Mark and I have pretty busy schedules this weekend, so he might as well spend a few more days with his college buddies before everyone leaves campus and he graduates!

Amanda sings in the Raleigh Homeschool Girls Choir, and last night was their Christmas Concert! It was a quick 30 minutes, but they sounded wonderful! Afterwards, we met up with the rest of the family at Taco Bell, where they were eating after Eric's basketball game at Franklin Academy. It was one of those "divide and conquer" evenings ~ mom & dad couldn't be at both activities at the same time.

This morning was our TOG Co-op. We moved locations ~ we had been meeting at a small house on our church property which is used for Sunday School space. It was wonderful to have that place to meet, and we didn't have to worry about bothering anyone or making messes, so long as we cleaned up after ourselves. Well, the house's water and septic systems aren't doing so well, so we had to move into the main church building. We really appreciate that we were allowed to do that, since the church is very descriminating in allowing anyone to use the facility. We moms are a bit nervous about the new arrangement, but I think it went fine today. The first question the boys asked when we told them we were moving to the big church was "where are we going to play football?"!!! They have a weekly contest during our lunch hour, and had been playing on the house lawn. But all is well, because there is a small playing field adjacent to the church building as well. It is getting a bit difficult for all of us to get through the TOG reading and assignments at this time of year, with so many holiday preparations and activities going on. We will meet next week, and then take a 2 week break. We are expecting to get back into the groove after the holidays!

After Co-op, we headed to Creedmore for JV basketball games. Amanda's team played a tough game, doing much better against the Christian Faith Center team than during the previous two meetings. Amanda played great, although she is being bothered by a very sore foot ~ I think she might have a strained tendon or something like that on the side of her right foot. Mark wanted to stay and watch the JV boys play, but we had to get Amanda to our children's pastor's house where she was babysitting 9 children for the evening, while the parents enjoyed fellowship downstairs!

Sarah was planted in front of the TV tonight watching her college team, the Appalachian State University Mountaineers, win the NCAA Div. I Football Championship against the Delaware Blue Hens, 49-21!
CONGRATULATIONS, ASU!

Oh, and we finally got the ornaments on the Christmas tree tonight! We HAD to wait for Sarah to get home from school....I'll take a picture tomorrow!