Happy New Year!
As the boys get older, there are
just so many new opportunities; though most of our homeschooling lives remain
the same filled with Classical Conversations Co-op, FHE Sports, CBS Bible Study
and Youth Group at Emmanuel and Two Cities Church. Joel is 13 and in
7th grade, while Jack is 15 and in 10th grade! Mike changed jobs last
December and is still enjoying working at Honda Aircraft (Jet) in Greensboro
and being the treasurer at Trail Life (the Christian “Boy-scout” group). I
tried to eliminate some activities to be less busy, but I am still coaching
track and have helped with the swim team and cross-country, the sports the
kids are involved in. Homeschooling is still busy, though they are more independent.
Track started in mid-February and
life was pretty busy until May. Jack throws the shot and discus and runs the
200 meter race. Joel loves to run hurdles and mid-distances like the 600
meter race. Maybe this year since doing cross country, he will run a
longer race!
In March, Jack got his learner's
permit and already has all the hours he needs to get his license, he just has
to wait until March 12th! By the end of April , Joel finished Foundation,
Jack finished Challenge I and I finished teaching Essentials with our
homeschool co-op called Classical Conversations. After Challenge I was finally
over, Jack had the opportunity to go to Washington DC with his co-op class. It
was certainly an adventure to bike around DC.
Every summer, for years, the kids
have participated with a summer swim team. This past summer was the only
summer in the past 7 years that Joel didn't swim with the summer swim team.
June was so cold, even Jack, who always wears shorts, said the water was so
cold and it was definitely too cold for Joel. Jack swam with Willow Run
pool until literally the day before the championship meet when he dislocated
his shoulder for the 2nd time. During and after the swim team, Jack went away
for three different trips, one with Emmanuel and two with Two Cities. His
favorite was to Mendenhall, Mississippi on a mission trip and plans to go
again. Joel did the trip to camp with Two Cities, but is planning to do
the mission trip this coming summer to Virginia Beach!
In mid-July, Yuta, our exchange student
from Japan, came to stay for three weeks. He experienced day-to-day things with
us, but we also took him to Vacation Bible School at Emmanuel, swimming at the
pool and Lake Norman with our neighbors, Pilot Mountain, Korner’s Folly, Old
Salem, Rockin’ Jump trampoline park, Appalachian State in Boone and to the
beach Kitty Hawk. Of course, while in Old Salem we got a Moravian sugar cake
kit that the boys got to make!
Once Yuta returned home, our former
neighbors, the Quiros family came to Boone to visit and we enjoyed hiking with
them at Price Park. School also started and life has been busy ever since with
Jack starting Challenge II and Joel starting Challenge A. We all began doing
Community Bible Study again studying I and II Samuel, and I am also doing BSF
(Bible Study Felllowship) but not leading this year. I’m grateful for a wonderful leader, Rhonda
Lockhart!
This fall, Joel became a
serious cross country runner thanks to a great coach, Mark Hanson,
and a great bunch of middle school boys like Kylor Williams, Abe Hancox,
Matthew Speas, and Dom Hanson! I am so grateful for their
positive influence! Joel's cross country season ended in October with his
middle school boys team winning the Homeschool State Championship! What a
blessing to see them work as a team! Even before cross country finished, FHE
swim began for both of them.
During Thanksgiving, we went for
our second time to Eagle's Nest Children's Home in Solola, Guatemala. We were
all actively involved working with the children, but Mike also worked with a couple
of other guys and made a room that will serve as a “hospital” room there to
help with the cost of children that have medical needs. Jack and Joel worked
with VBS a couple days and with the teenagers a couple days in the mornings,
and in the afternoon they were with the teenagers doing Bible study and playing
games. Jack led the intro games during the teen time every day. I led the
Vacation Bible School crafts every morning and sewed with the teenage girls and
their house mom every afternoon. Our days were certainly full, but our time
there is never long enough! Jack did dislocate his shoulder again while on
the trip and is trying to strengthen it to be able to swim again.
In God’s perfect timing on December 9th at 4:30AM, I had the excitement of seeing Sylvie have 4 puppies, one boy and three girls. She is the best mama! Seeing her give birth was a wonderful reminder of Jesus’ birth and what a miracle new life is. So is a new life in Christ such a miracle. 2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. . ”
May this coming year you be filled with the joy and peace of being a new creation in Christ,Caroline, Mike, Jack and Joel Fleischer
