31 Beautiful Things, Day 9: Writing Group

I mentioned a few days ago how much I love our new church. So one of the things I love about it is the emphasis on small groups, and imagine my absolute delight and amazement when I saw that one of the new small groups for this small was a writers' group! I cannot even believe that I'm part of a church that values the arts so much that they have a group for writers and have opportunities for visual artists as well.

Our group is an eclectic bunch of people, from a 25-year-old to several folks in their late 60s. We have different writing styles and different focuses, but we all love to write. It's been fun over the past few weeks to watch the dynamics change, as we go from complete strangers to possessing an intimacy reached through reading one's own stories aloud. We know a lot about each other already.

It's a beautiful thing to be with others who share a passion for writing, and it's a beautiful thing to open up to others in this unexpected way.

What beautiful things are in your world today? Take a minute and blog about them, or list them on your Facebook status.



Day 1.
Day 2: Morning Coffee
Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs 
Day 4: Supper and Cards 
Day 5: Running with Randy
Day 6: At Cataloochee 
Day 7: A Brand New Thing
Day 8: Alma Mater 
Day 9: Writing Group

31 Beautiful Things, Day 8: Alma Mater

My college's mascot, the buffalo. In days of yore,  he was often found in buildings or in the middle of a lawn. He appears more sturdily anchored now.

Today's beautiful thing: being reminded of how incredibly blessed I am/was to have gone to college at a small, liberal arts college where everyone does, indeed, remember your name. I graduated almost 25 years ago, but when I returned today with my daughter and her friend on a college visit, I saw professors who hugged me and said, "I heard you were coming today!" Professors who asked about my parents, know exactly where I live and what I've been up to. I wouldn't trade my small college experience for anything. My daughter is just a sophomore, so she has a couple years to decide, but wherever she goes, I hope with all my heart that she finds community. Because community is such a beautiful thing.

Day 1.
Day 2: Morning Coffee
Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs 
Day 4: Supper and Cards 
Day 5: Running with Randy
Day 6: At Cataloochee 
Day 7: A Brand New Thing
Day 8: Alma Mater

31 Beautiful Things, Day 7: A Brand New Thing

This morning at our church, a beautiful thing happened. We became members. One year ago, I would never have predicted that we would join another church. We were so deeply grieved at what had happened at our former church. In fact, I think it was just about a year ago this week that I received an anonymous letter from someone at that church. I mean, really—an anonymous letter? But enough said about the old.

We have, for the most part, put that behind us. One of my favorite verses is from Isaiah 43:9: "I am about to do a brand new thing! Look! I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness for my people to come home. I will create rivers in the desert!”

Today, a brand new thing. And I couldn't be happier.

Day 1
Day 2: Morning Coffee
Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs 
Day 4: Supper and Cards 
Day 5: Running with Randy
Day 6: At Cataloochee 
Day 7: A Brand New Thing

Field Trip Review: The Tomb and MajiQuest in Pigeon Forge

We live in an extraordinarily homeschooling-friendly area. Between our own historical Blount County, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Knoxville and the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge areas, opportunities for field trips are endless AND so many of the attractions extend generous offers to homeschooling families.

Recently we were offered a fabulous deal at The Tomb, a new attraction in Pigeon Forge. My friend and I took our boys, both 6th graders. At first we drove by the building because we were expecting something big, like Wonderworks. The Tomb turned out to be just the end building in a strip mall, so we honestly weren't expecting much.

We didn't really care if it turned out to be lame, since we got in free.  But you know the old adage: never just a book by its cover, or a Pigeon Forge attraction by its showiness. The Tomb was fantastic!

The adventure takes about one hour. You are with a group of about 8-10 people, and your tour guide/archeologist takes your group through a series of rooms with all kinds of challenges that you have to figure out together in order to solve the mystery. That's really all I can say without revealing too much. Our tour guide was enthusiastic and managed to stay in character throughout the challenge. I would say this adventure is best for kids between 7 and 12 years old. Younger children may be frightened especially in the first room—this is a mummy's tomb, after all. There was one little girl of about 6 in our group who screamed and cried hysterically.

Our boys loved it. I don't say this often, but I would actually pay the full price of $10.99/kids, $13.99/adults for this attraction. It was very well done and different than so many touristy places.

If you happen to be studying ancient Egypt and will be in the Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge TN area, this is a must do!

Part of our freebie day included playing miniature golf at Firehouse Golf, right outside of The Tomb. I haven't played miniature golf in years, and I must say this was tons of fun, especially since I beat my friend Diane by one point. She's very competitive. I think the price of this golf was $8/game. I don't know how that compares to other places, but it was fun. I probably wouldn't pay $32 for a family of four to play putt-putt, but I'm kind of a cheapo.

 Also included in our educators' discount day was MagiQuest, across the street from The Tomb. I know! Can you believe all this good stuff we got to do? The MagiQuest building actually contains four different adventures: Pirate Golf, the Odyssey Mirror Maze, the Vault, and MagiQuest itself.

We started with the Mirror Maze, which was really, really difficult. Basically, Diane and I followed the boys around until the figured out how to get out. I was getting a little nervous, to be honest!

The Vault is a laser challenge in which you are supposed to jump over and crawl under beams of light in a small, dark room to get to the other side. The boys liked this. I cheated and ran through, having figured out that nothing was going to blow up if I chose to ignore the whole purpose of the game.

The boys did the Pirate Miniature Golf and enjoyed it, mostly because it was a blacklight course filled with Pirate-ish things.

But MagiQuest is really the main attraction here, and WOW! This was absolutely amazing. Any Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings fans will love this "world within a world" journey, where each person is essentially on his or her own, equipped with a wand and a guide book. The object is to embark on a series of quests, each one requiring that different riddle be solved and treasures found. I think I finished 3 out of about 10 quests in one hour. After you finish all 10 quests, you can embark on adventures, which are even more complex.

MagiQuest if not for little kids unless a  parent plans to partner up with them; however, you are only given one hour in which to solve your quests. At almost $20/hour, this could be a pricey attraction. I was just getting warmed up when my hour was up, and I could totally see paying another $20 to solve more puzzles. It was really, really fun and extremely well done! The staff was plentiful and super helpful. The boys liked this, but I think they would have liked it more had they been a couple of years older. We saw lots of teenagers and young adults at MagiQuest, and some looked like they were coming back to embark on more quests. I would absolutely do this again!

This was an awesome day in Pigeon Forge, filled with all kinds of problem-solving adventures. I would highly recommend The Tomb and MagiQuest if you have Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg in your vacation plans!

Here are some more local attractions that I've reviewed:

• Museum of Appalachia (Norris, just north of Knoxville)
• Titanic Museum (Pigeon Forge) 
• WonderWorks (Pigeon Forge)
• Ft. Loudoun and more Ft. Loudoun (Vonore, just south of Maryville)
• Sam Houston Schoolhouse (Maryville)
• Children's Museum of Oak Ridge
• Things to Do in the Knoxville area

31 Beautiful Things, Day 6: At Cataloochee

We've wanted to do this for nearly a decade, and finally, finally we made reservations for a campsite. Every fall the elk at Cataloochee in the Great Smoky Mountain National Park put on a show, producing an eerie bugling noise that is reminiscent of the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Watching these huge, majestic animals was beautiful, as was being out in the valley at 7:45 a.m., autumn just coloring the leaves and fog creeping in and out. More on this adventure later. For now, I'm just reveling in—and recuperating from— this beautiful weekend.

 

Day 1

Day 2: Morning Coffee

Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs 

Day 4: Supper and Cards   

Day 5: Running with Randy

Day 6: At Cataloochee

31 Beautiful Things, Day 5: Running with Randy

I cannot lie: I don't love running. Running, to me, is not a beautiful thing. I feel no sense of freedom, no exhilaration, no thrill in the way my body works. I feel clumsy, sweaty, clunky, and slow. I do not run like the wind.

However, I do love running with my husband in the mornings. I run because I need to exercise. Keeping thin and fit was a simple thing 10 years ago; now, at 46, it's a struggle to keep fit. I left my personal "thin" behind in my mid-30s.

I run because the mornings are beautiful. I love seeing the mountains awake and running across the pretty red bridge of our city.

I run because Randy and I have 45 minutes of uninterrupted time, just the two of us, to talk about our yesterday, our today, and what's happening tomorrow.

Three times a week, we run and talk, me gasping for breath and clunking along. It really is a beautiful thing, in its own weird way.

 

Day 1

Day 2: Morning Coffee

Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs 

Day 4: Supper and Cards   

Day 5: Running with Randy

31 Beautiful Things, Day 4: Supper and Cards

One of the greatest blessings in this decade of my life is having my parents live just down the street. Ideally, we have them over for supper and cards each week. Realistically, we do this about twice each month. Tonight was one of those nights. My parents are the most grateful dinner guests. At 85, my mother cooks only simple lunches now; supper for them is almost always yogurt and cereal, by choice.

After we eat, we play cards—Randy, my parents, and me. We have a long tradition in our family of playing a game called 500. I learned to play it as a little girl by watching my older brothers, parents, and grandparents play. In my family, playing 500 is considered an expectation, as is playing ping-pong.



I cherish these beautiful evenings, sharing a pot of decaf coffee, watching my parents' familiar hands deal the cards, laughing at our losing bids, exclaiming over victories.

What beautiful things are in your life today?

Day 1
Day 2: Morning Coffee
Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs 
Day 4: Supper and Cards

31 Beautiful Things, Day 3: It's OK to Break for Bugs

This moment? This is one of the things I love most about homeschooling. In the middle of a math lesson (or 5, actually), Duncan sees something spectacular: a praying mantis hanging onto the carport roof. A really big one. We rarely see praying mantises, so this is a treat. And so, in the middle of math, we stop. He grabs my camera, watches the praying mantis as it eats a stink bug, and takes pictures. It's just a little moment, just five minutes out of our day. But he can do it! He doesn't have to raise his hand and ask permission to go outside and see this wonderful creature. Understandably, few classroom teachers are going to let 32 kids go outside to see one insect. Five minutes would become 25 minutes of chaos.

But my boy can break for this, a splash of bright green beneath a blue sky. And that is a beautiful thing.

Are Homeschooled Kids Weird?

Admit it. Somewhere deep in your heart, you’ve wondered, especially if you’ve ever heard someone say, “I know a homeschooling family at my church. Those kids are weird!”

Haven’t we all asked ourselves: are my kids weird?

Weird. Normal. We all have our own definitions. You might say, “I don’t want my kids to be ‘normal’ by today’s standards!” And you might also say, “But I don’t want my kid to be labeled as a weirdo!” So here’s the thing…

{Read the rest of my article "Are Homeschooled Kids Weird?" on Simple Homeschool!}

31 Beautiful Things, Day 2: Morning Cup of Coffee

Beautiful things come most often at unexpected times. Two friends in pajamas, waiting for our boys to be picked up for a field trip. The boys leave, and we realize we have two gifts that need to be used: coffee and time. We could be doing a dozen other things in 30 minutes; instead, we sit at the table, catching up on yesterday's events. October streams through the open window; the breeze is redolent of yesterday's rain—wet leaves and acorn caps.

When I was a little girl, my mother and our next-door-neighbor had coffee together nearly every morning in the kitchen. My mother would get out an ashtray for Pat Natti, and I'd play nearby while they talked—Mrs. Natti in her deep, raspy smoker's voice, my mother with her sympathetic "ummm-hmmms."

Morning cup of coffee with a friend: It was comforting then, and it is comforting now.

What's beautiful in your world today? Take a deep breath, and notice.