18 and 32!!!

Today I am the proud and happy mom of an eighteen-year-old daughter.  Well do I remember her arrival in this world, and many are the memories of innumerable special and funny times with her in the intervening years.  I am again so grateful to God that we have been able to have her at home with us all this time.  What a blessing and delight Jessica is!

This afternoon, when Jessica arrived home from her birthday camping trip, (the reported details of which may someday be shared in another post – or possibly on her blog:  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mime4jesus/), she received an email announcing her ACT score.

Scores on this set of exams range from 1 up to 36, with 36 being a perfect score and the national average being about 20.   Only true geniuses and/or people who take the test over and over to improve their scores get a 36.  Jessica took it once and scored a 32!!! That means that she tested higher than 99% of the the students who took it.  Wow!  It also puts her well above the thresholds most colleges use in determining eligibility for academic scholarships.

I am so VERY proud and happy!

Way to go, Jessica!

No more tests

Hear ye!  Hear ye!  Jessica has completed both the SAT and the ACT and she will never take either ever again in her natural life.   Scores on the SAT are expected circa October 31, and ACT scores will arrive by postal mail in “five to eight weeks.”

What a mom she’ll be

O Jessica, my Jessica, an awesome mom you’ll be.

You’ll play with kids and make them grin a lot more times than me.

You’ll cook and clean and organize and all your days will flee

Away with joy for girls and boys; now just you wait and see.

You’re always an encourager and helper so unique.

You offer, then you LOOK for chores.  You serve and you are meek.

The kids all love to be with you.  They know you’re lots of fun.

You laugh and giggle, but “in charge” they all know you’re the one.

You’re born to lead and love and play and teach and mentor, too.

O, what a mom you’ll be some day;  your kids the bless-ed few.

We have an employee

It looks like Jessica may have landed a fairly steady part-time job.  One day a week, she is babysitting 8:30 – 5:00 for another homeschooling family about seven miles from home.  They have two girls, ages 10 and 1, so Jessica is able to experience both the thrill of changing dirty diapers AND the challenge of trying to explain prepositions.  Mom stuff.

I’m really happy that she’s able to earn some money, especially doing something she loves – playing with and teaching kids!

What Jessica said

Jessica sent me this last month, and I keep meaning to add to it and then post it.  However, since I haven’t added to it yet, I’m just going to post it and give her credit for it.  Maybe I should give homeschool hours for it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know you’re a homeschooler IF:

- you go to bed at night with your science text book under the sheets next to you
- when your feet are cold, you sit on the edge of the bathtub with your bare feet in the hot water reading about 1956
- you take catnaps in between subjects
- you watch a calculus lecture while eating lunch
- playing pool counts as academic credit
- when asked when you’re going to graduate, you reply with, “I don’t know.”
- same response as above when asked what grade you’re in
- your family has six library cards with a capacity of fifty books each and at least three cards are near maxed out at all times
- spring break only happens if Mom feels like it
- schoolwork begins at 6:30 A.M. and is intermittently continued till about 9:00 P.M.
- the roads are covered with ice and you’re doing schoolwork
- you do schoolwork on the 4th of July, New Year’s Day, and Christmas Eve, but you have off on your birthday

Amazing recovery

A week and a day ago, Jessica’s wisdom teeth were removed by Dr. Horan in Springfield, who had done Katie’s the year before.  Beforehand, Jessica was quite concerned about the whole event.  We both remembered how Katie had been so groggy afterwards that she couldn’t walk a straight line and had to be helped into the house.  For some reason, Jessica was more uneasy about the prospect of being “loopy” than about the expected pain.

Lots of people were praying for Jessica as we headed to the oral surgeon’s office, and we were both very thankful.  We did have to wait a long time in the waiting room and a longer time in the actual Chamber of Extraction.  The wait was unnerving, and we were both emotional.  (That means we were crying.)

However, the actual surgery took only about 40 minutes, and after I paid the slightly staggering bill and went into the recovery area, there sat Jessica, looking and acting as normal as could be!  She was holding an ice pack to her cheek, but around the two lumps of gauze, she could talk and answer questions.   She didn’t remember or feel any pain, she could see me and focus her vision, and she wanted ice cream.

We left and got her a Frosty at Wendy’s and she spooned Frosty (mostly into her mouth) and talked all the way home.  At home, she walked into the house unaided and went to her computer.  No big deal.

Yes, the pain did begin some five hours later and for a few days she took a narcotic pain reliever.  She started with applesauce, but rapidly progressed to macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes.

Her recovery has been much faster and easier than Katie’s was.  The swelling and bruising are about gone, and she’s no longer taking anything for pain.  In fact, right now, she’s out sledding with the neighborhood kids.

Thank you, God, for such an amazing recovery!

Three cheers for Jessica!

In honor of my toe and cold/asthma situation, Jessica went above and beyond to help me today.  In addition to frequently saying things like, “Is there anything I can do to help you, Mom?” she

1.  Took Andrew to piano lessons

2.  Dropped a pair of dress pants at the cleaners

3.  Did (with Andrew’s help) our grocery shopping at Country Mart

4.  (with Andrew) Brought the groceries in and put them away

5.  Collected library books to be returned

6.  (with me) Removed the back seat from the van

7.  Did the Wal-Mart shopping in Ozark

8.  (with Andrew) Did the Sam’s shopping in less than 20 minutes, start to finish, including loading it all into coolers in the van

9.  (with Andrew) Did the Aldi’s shopping

Then, after church, she helped unload the van of all the Sam’s and Aldi’s and helped put it all away.  She probably did other things, too, that I just haven’t discovered yet.  THANK YOU, Jessica!

Uncommon statement for a 16 year old

It’s a Tuesday in July, and Jessica said, “I’ve GOT to find something to do.  I am SO BORED!  I’m done with math and science, and today I finished my academics before 2:00 PM.  I am so bored!  Maybe I need to find a math course to do or something.”

Most 16 year olds would not say such a thing in the middle of the summer.  = )  I clearly do not have “most 16 year olds.”

And we have a winner

I am proud to announce that Jessica drove us home from church in the Honda. And you say, “so what?” The woman’s been driving for a year-and-a-half, got her license six months ago, and is an excellent driver. The significance of the 36-mile jaunt tonight is that the Honda has a manual transmission.

She did great! The trip home included extricating herself from a parallel parking situation, traveling in stop and start traffic for a few miles, stopping at a gas station and at the library drive-thru, cruising on the freeway for about 25 minutes, and parking at home under the boxelder tree. All these were accomplished in a fairly smooth manner, with only minimal jerking (on the part of the car, not Jessica). And no, we did not have to start in first on any uphills, but we all know that the parking brake is our friend!

Those in the know will be pleased to know that I did not wear my “crash helmet” or even miss it and that Jessica did far better than I did in my early stages of standard-driving.

Jessica will make a super mom someday

For the past two days, while I have been either in bed sweating and coughing, in the tub trying in vain to get warm, inhaling various prescription drugs to open my lungs, sleeping in a stupor, or taking Josiah to his doctor appointment 1.5 hours away, Jessica has single-handedly run the show, and she has done it with aplomb!

She has dealt with Andrew, and that alone merits at least an Olympic bronze – I guess the event would be brother-bossing – and they are both alive. He even has some academics and piano practice to show for it. Even with all the challenges he brought to the scene, she managed to . . .

» do science with Josiah

» cook supper two nights in a row, including a new dessert recipe last night and a new main dish recipe tonight – yum, yum, yum

» keep her own academics going

» rehearse with Josiah for AIM

» finish the family ironing

» do her own piano practicing

» send out the AIM announcements

» and many other things about which I would be impressed if I were aware of them

WHAT a wife and mom she will be! But let’s not be getting any ideas, gentlemen.  There’s a time for everything, and now is NOT the time.