Spring Activities

~ by Rubia

We have been enjoying a beautiful and active spring this year in Oklahoma! It’s hard to believe we’re less than a month away from our end-of-school vacation to Virginia! It’s also hard to believe we’ve only been here for 9 months, yet have done so much, made many great friends, and are making good memories. We feel very blessed!

This post contains pictures from Roma’s camera roll, so these activities were ones that involved her and me; however there were things that the others recently did without us that I do not have pictures from. For example, Dad went on a business trip to Minneapolis, and Bianca and Ben went on a trip to Texas. Perhaps y’all will see posts from them soon about what they’ve been up to. J

This is a picture from Easter Sunday. Roma dyed these eggs.

The siblings on Easter Sunday. We enjoyed a breakfast fellowship at our church called the “Love Feast” with communion and worship.

A few weeks later Roma and I were invited to a birthday party by a friend from youth group. She turned 13, and is a very sweet girl with a very creative family that threw what Roma and I called, “A pinterest type of party.” J They had a perfect back porch and yard with adorable decorations and *really incredible* homemade chocolate cake with strawberry frosting. We enjoyed seeing other friends from church there and playing fun games that afternoon.

The dessert table.

Look at the cute décor and bright colors! The birthday girl is in the blue shirt closest to the camera.

We learned “The trash can game” at youth group and have had fun with it. J You gather with your friends around a trash can, and then try to pull each other to touch the can and get each other out. The last person to touch the can wins.

Y’all, guess what?!! We finally built a chicken coop and purchased 6 chicks!!

Dad and Josiah worked on the coop together. Now we have an adorable bright red chicken coop!

Next Dad will build a run for them. Right now our 2-week-old chicks are in the garage and doing well! We did have to return 2 that died and one injured, sadly. We’re not sure why they died. They were replaced at no charge. We love having our 2 Black Australorps, 2 Silver Wyandottes, and 2 Buff Orpingtons to cuddle with every day. J This family of egg-eaters is excited for future eggs as well!

Had to put in a property picture. We’ve so enjoyed the recent gorgeous days and our property out here.

Roma and I have had the privilege of serving a couple of times in the kid’s ministry at church. We look forward to continued involvement! We love working with kids. This class has kids about 4-6 years of age. Miss Shawna is the teacher and does an amazing job with them! 

Bianca and Ben have been enjoying their involvement in the college ministry at church. Since our church is in a college town, they’ve had the opportunity to make lots of new friends. A few Sundays ago some of them came to hang out and play basketball at our house. Of course Josiah joined them.

There’s hardly ever a lack of adventure around here. This big tree looked healthy on the outside, but was actually rotted inside and took us by surprise when it fell over the driveway one windy morning. Thankfully, it came down moments before Bianca and Ben were driving there on their way to work…and just before Roma and I returned from our run. God is good! Everyone was safe and no damage was done to anything—the tree just missed the cottage workshop, and the chicken coop.

Now you get to hear about the HEARTS homeschool co-op! It had been years since we were involved in a homeschool group, and never had we tried a co-op before. But Oklahoma is a very homeschool-friendly state with lots of opportunities for homeschoolers. The HEARTS co-op meets weekly during most of the school year at a church close to us. They offer classes that are mostly fun, extra-curricular types, with opportunities to fellowship with other homeschool families. I am so glad we joined for the Spring semester. We loved it so much and look forward to next school year! Josiah especially had a blast and will get to be a part of it for years to come, Lord willing! Since he graduated from 6^th grade this Spring, he got to be part of the graduation ceremony!

I did an art class with these sweet girls and painted my first gourd. There were some awesome creations! The class was unique because while painting was a part of it, perhaps the bigger part was talking with each other, getting to know one another and sharing lots of stories! 

This class of little ones does the Five-In-a-Row curriculum. Roma loved working with these kids over the last semester! 

Roma and I participated in the drama class and had a lot of fun! We had a big, all-girls class with lots of silliness and laughs! On the last day of co-op, we did a short, funny play. Here Roma (as Katie Lean) is interviewing a mermaid.

I was more than just Elsie the cow from Jack and the Beanstalk…I was a Chick-fil-A cow!! J (That was, at this moment, an unhappy protestor.)

On the weekend before the last co-op meeting, the co-op’s secretary and her family hosted their annual end-of-the-year party at their barn & ranch! This was our first time going out there and we had a blast!

The Barn at Gooseneck Bend.

Bianca and Ben were in Texas during this event, so it was Mom and Dad and the rest of us kids. (We were the only ones involved in the co-op anyway.) Pictured here are my lovely parents. Dad enjoyed sitting near the John Deere tractor! J

They had a great barn with a dance floor. I thought the Daddy-Daughter dancing to the left was cute. J

Later, after eating barbecue for dinner, one of the girls asked me, “Do you like dancing?” To which I responded, “Well yes, I did ballet for a couple of years.” But she actually meant barn dancing. I need to do that more! I remember doing it once in our barn in Texas with some friends. I was glad at this moment that I had already learned the Virginia Reel!

Getting started! I was learning slowly…but had a great time! It got way better with the Virginia Reel. I believe here we’re trying to do Cotton-Eye-Joe. It had been awhile since I’d done that one. 

While those were two of the “barn dances” we did, we also stopped at one point for an 80’s throwback and did YMCA. J

Part of our drama class had to get a dramatic picture. (Or two or three.) 

Huge bonfire to end the party!

The next weekend was the graduation ceremony at co-op for the graduating kindergarteners, 6^th graders, and seniors!

The band was youth-led by the praise and worship class! We’ve got some musical talent amongst these homeschoolers.

Our 6^th grade graduate with Mom! (Dad was in Minneapolis.) So proud of Josiah and excited to see how God will use him in the future as he continues to learn and develop his skills. 7^th grade, here we come! 

The siblings.

The next weekend (coming now the end of April) we drove about two miles down our road to the church where Josiah’s basketball coach preaches. They hosted their annual Echo Knights basketball banquet to celebrate the end of the season. Awards and basketball cards with each player’s picture were also given out. The Echo Knights sure had an amazing season! The middle school boys (Josiah’s team) finished undefeated this season for the first time in Echo Knights history. So thankful that JoJo had this opportunity to be a part of it and make great friends and memories.

Josiah and his buddies holding up their basketball cards.

Roma and I spent the next day (Saturday) babysitting our adorable neighbor kids for a second time. We had a wonderful day with Z and L! Josiah was also helpful because he is close to Z’s age and could come play with him. They’ve become good friends since we’ve moved here.

Helping L skate on the driveway.

And that wraps up the highlights of April! So thankful for the milestones, moments, and memories all in just this past month. God bless y’all!