"Oh, One Of Those."

A Customer (leaning conversationally against our vegetable stand): "So, do you help work in the garden?"
Me: "Oh yes. My sister and I actually do nearly all the work."
Customer: "Really! And how many siblings do you have?"
Me: "There are ten of us."
Customer (either before or during astounded gasps and exclamations): "Ten! Wow! Oh my! And do you like having a big family?"
Me: "Yes. It's a lot of fun and a lot of work too."
Customer: "I guess. Do you go to church around here?"
Me: "No, actually. We are home churched."
Customer (with a surprised look): "Oh. Really."
Me (smiling sweetly): "Yes. And we are also home schooled."
Customer (a more tolerant look with signs of a returning polite smile): "Oh, that's nice. That's really nice. How do you like being home schooled?"
Me: "It's great. I really like it."
Customer (gathering up purchases and preparing to go): "Well. I never would have guessed you were one of those families."

Yes, you probably wouldn't guess, just by looking at us, that we are one of those. We look pretty harmless, really. Not until you get to know us, do you find out just how those we really are.

Since we get classified in the those section for three different reasons--our large family, our home church, and our home school--I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk a little about all three of them. And maybe I'll throw in a few other things that make us even those-ier then some of the those families you may know (or be).

First, our big family. In this culture of 2- and 3-kid families, everybody seems to want to know what it is like to have 9 siblings. I always smile and politely say that it is fun and nice and all that. But what is it really like?

Honestly, I don't know much about having a big family. Most of my big family are scattered around the United States. There are only seven of us left on the home place, and you can't call a mom and dad and five kids a big or those family, can you?

There was a time, I know, when this family was big AND those. I was just teeny-tiny then, and have few memories of all of us being at home. Actually, there never was a time when all ten of us kids lived at home together. Jennifer was at college by the time Timothy was born. Now we just have an average family and I think there are enough average families out there for you all to know about them.

Always time for some good, old-fashioned fun. Caleb and Timmy twistin' themselves up with Twister. Photo by Mom.

So, what about our home church? If you've been a reader long, you know lots about our home church already. I've talked about it in a few articles. I think a lot of people don't really know what home church is. I don't know what goes through most people's heads when they hear 'home church', but I do know that the response when I say we are home churched is not quite as friendly as when I mention 10 kids and other those aspects of our life.

Our home church is very laid-back. Dad is the pastor, with the rest of us acting as choir, Sunday-school teacher, musician, music leader, Master of Ceremonies, hymn-book-hander-outer, dictionary-fetcher, map-getter, and any other occupations that come along. Sometimes if there is a lot to do, our attendance hits rock bottom: there is no congregation at all, just staff!

I really like our home church, despite the fact that the head musician sometimes rests her feet on my lap throughout the sermon, the Master of Ceremonies often draws horrifying caricatures of the assembled congregation and staff during the Sunday-School lesson, and that most of the choir ends up laughing too hard to sing during some of our brave but not altogether successful attempts to sing some not-so-well-known hymns at times. We learn tons about more than just the Bible, though we do learn lots about that to be sure (can you give all ten of the commandments?). We also learn about geography (locate Galilee on the map in five seconds), history (tell me all about the fall of the Roman Empire, or, better yet, have Timmy tell you), archaeology (did you know that archaeologists do a lot of their work with soil?), and just plain Christian life (forgiveness isn't as cut-and-dried as it may seem).

And then we have home schooling. I don't like that as much as our home church, I'm afraid. It's not half so fun.
In our house, Mom doesn't do all of the teaching. Once we are in third grade, everything is done by the computer, except for occasional marking of essays and skipped problems. Mom has been very glad to hand much of Caleb's teaching to Beka over the last few weeks. Beka knits, sews, and reads while Caleb does his schoolwork with her, freeing Mom up for other things.

Home schooling tutoring session in process. Beka giving Caleb the basics on his very first day of computer school! He was so excited! Photo by me.

I regret to admit that we are not only those but we are kind of strange too. For example, our living room looks like a schoolroom, although it's actually a sanctuary. On the wall where there used to be a window but there is now just glass, there is a large map of Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. Dad is using that during church and devotions to show us different places on the map in relation to the Bible stories we are learning about. Currently we are reading in Joshua in our devotions, and we are all getting pretty good at finding the Jordan River, etc. Above the map is an old time-line, with the Biblical times above and secular history below. That is so Dad can show us where the different characters and events we read about fit into the big picture. I don't understand most of that time-line, but I can place Jacob when asked. We also have a globe and an American flag, adding to the schoolroom look. Mom was very sad at first to lose her pretty living room, but since the rest of us were so enthusiastic about it, she sacrificed her nice pictures and draperies.

Sometimes I really wonder what people mean when they call us a those family. Many of them say, "Oh, one of those" the same way they say, "Oh, an escaped convict." But I guess if being a those family means loving and serving God, following His calling, and doing life His way, then the those-ier the better for me.

The Weekly Bible Verse

1 Chronicles 16:31-32: Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, "The Lord reigns!" Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them!

Bits and Pieces

So, Christmas is over and done with for another year. I was glad to get back to the normal routine and finally get all those presents out of my dresser. I haven't had any room in there for weeks.

"Christmas puts me to sleep!" Buddy sound asleep on Christmas Eve. Photo by me.

I hope you all had a great Christmas. We had a very nice one. We didn't get any snow, but had a deliciously spring-like day, much to Caleb's disappointment. To give us cooks a break, Mom decided to have Chinese food for Christmas dinner instead of a large, traditional one. Beka made egg rolls, and boy, were they good! After lunch we went on a walk, built a giant, working roller coaster and Ferris wheel out of K-nex, watched a movie, and had a lot of fun.

Happy New Year, everybody! By the time most of you read this, it probably will be 2008. Wow! Where has 2007 gone? For this New Year, we are making a big dinner complete with turkey and pie (since we only had egg rolls on Christmas) and Caleb is getting excited about the party crackers Mom bought. He can't wait to see (or hear) who can make the loudest bang!

A Word of Wisdom

When opening the last of five jugs of milk in the fridge, it is generally a good idea to check the expiration date. If you don't, you may end up with a bowl of wasted cereal and sour milk. (Timmy recently was having his bedtime snack when we heard coming from the kitchen: "Yuck! Gross! Don't drink this milk, guys, it's sour! Oh, this is so disgusting.")