The Big Reveal

Les Mis-madness

The soundtrack of our home is currently Les Mis- it all started one night with spotify over dinner, which quickly turned into an emergency run to the Krugers' house to borrow the Nick Jonas 25th Anniversary DVD of Les Mis. For 3 hours my children sat silently watching and waiting during each song, anxious to understand all that was unfolding before them.

Since then we have heard the following....

Camilla singing Lovely Ladies.....a little scary. thankfully she doesn't understand she's singing about a brothel. Let's keep it that way.

Bennett demanding to be the young Cosette. She doesn't want to be the "teenager Cosette because she has to kiss Marius. yuck."

Celia scheming about how she will convince her musical theater teacher to let a bunch of 8 year olds perform Les Mis where she will bring the house down as Eponine.

Its been a month now. Les Mis---all day every day. Its been incredible to share with them my love for musicals and fascinating how much they can grasp. Its led to many conversations about prison, parole, freedom, injustice, oprhans, adoption, love, forgiveness.

At CC last week they each did their class presentations on Les Mis- watching their retention of the material was staggering- this unintentional education they received by exposing them to this show... eye-opening. I can't wait to see what show we'll cover next- who knew adding Broadway to our homeschool curriculum?

Do yourself a favor, sit down with a pot of coffee and linger for 3 hours with the Master of the House. You'll be glad you did.

An Excellent Wife, And some pretty wonderful kids too

Today was the Kulp girls family presentation at Classical Conversations. I took the morning off to see them present, and check out Celia, Bennett and Mary's classes. It was great to hear the girls in class and hearing Mary teach was very fun. But by far the best part was seeing the girls recite Proverbs 31 for their family presentation. Mary has been working with the girls for MONTHS, and seeing it all come together was perfect. It is such a blessing to have an excellent wife as well as some pretty wonderful children! Check the video!

Sleeping Beauty

DISNEY 2012

So we had a fun night this week and gave the kids clues to a trip we were taking.
1. 2012
2. pictures of E and Hunt, and the Jackson clan
3. a small picture of the world

Then they raced to the mailbox to find 3 envelopes with their "tickets" to Disney World!

Its hard to believe its been 4 years since we last were there and I was VERY pregnant with Camilla. January 2012 won't be long!

"Mom, you've been to too many funerals..."

That was Celia's response.
Bennett: "That's 5 people I know who've died."
Camilla: "Everyone always dies."

Today I'm trying to count the number of funerals I've attended- to remember the names of those lost....

here's what I came up with:

John, Grandaddy, Papa, Barbocka, Allison, Jenny, Amanda, Michael, Mr. Cochran, Quentin, Elizabeth, Gran, Scottie, Jeremy, Aimee.

Those are the only funerals I can think of in the span of a minute. The names of friends lost is much longer. Some of those names include acquaintances, some friends who moved on in life, some friends of friends...


Thursday, Dave came home and added to the list, Lyndsey.
My closest cousin in age; we grew up together. The memories flood....

Birthdays. Christmas. Carpool. Cain Drive. Hobcaw. East Cooper School. Ambrosia. Porter Gaud. Savannah. Cheerleading. Isle of Palms. Bozo the Clown. Hunter. Jesse. Jasmine. Jossie. Chloe. Even Mugsy. Shampoos and Conditioners. Sweet Sixteens. Camp. Choir. Holly Hill. Semi-formals. Prom. Parties. Rehearsals. Weddings. Family.


Since highschool our lives have not intersected very much. Always the class behind me. She let me take her place, wear her cheerleading uniform my senior year to cheer for our boys basketball team played for the state championship. Life had been too much for me and I'd had to stop for basketball season. We joked it was "my coming out of retirement..."

Spending the weekend in Charleston with my family remembering Lyndsey- who she was, who she became. It was painful. There is much to grieve- the loss unbearable for her husband, children, parents, sisters....my prayer is that the gospel will transform this loss.

I wanted to stand up and clap as the priest proclaimed Jesus amid such darkness. The name of Jesus needed to be spoken. Loudly. Again and again- that there is Hope. A Savior. A Rescuer.

Camilla is right. Everyone always dies. The loss experienced will continue to happen again again as we live in this broken world. Its too much to look ahead and imagine the pain awaiting.

Yes we do grieve with hope, but with pain.