Koala in a Tree

Monday morning the early risers were on the move, Amelia’s bedroom door stood open the inside dark. The sight was a reminder that Amelia was gone. My heart pinched a bit. We went on with life. School, work, dinner, music then wash and repeat. Thousands of Americans were fired over the weekend for inflammatory rejoicing over Charlie’s death. Surprise! Freedom of speech does not mean you can say whatever you desire without consequence. This week for Digital Citizenship we talked about cyberbullying, the current events fit perfectly into our conservation. My heart was heavy as events spiraled around the assassin, the vacuum left by Charlie, the swell in Patriotism, and the inability to really talk about with students. Justin sent me a commentary by an ex-seal about how his team was denied approval to assassinate a top-level terrorist because he was not doing anything unlawful at that moment. How an angry leftist thought he could take matters into his own hands is unthinkable. He spoke about how our youth are submitting to propaganda on a daily basis with 15-30 clips or reels ripe with emotion groomed to sway young minds. He cautioned us to be aware of the conduit of propaganda we carry around 6-12 hours a day with an algorithm tailored to keep us seeking electronic emotion leads to radicalization. We locked down all electronic devices even further. Well, that gray area in America is quickly disappearing, you are either one side or the other. 

Phillip is struggling with Social Studies. His teacher is not very helpful, seems like he doesn’t really care if students succeed. The struggle is that most of his assignments require writing a paragraph. Phillip struggles lightly with writing. He is a very smart human, just getting what is in his brain onto paper is a challenge. I have a hard time understanding this struggle, writing comes easily to me. Phillip struggles to understand what he reads, comprehension is a struggle. We spent a more than few hours over the weekend working on three checkpoints about American history. He knows this stuff! Just write it out. He has reason to celebrate because Phillip finished the online driver’s education book study. As of last week he was at 40% of the course completion, he was able to finish the rest in 5 days! That is amazing, way to go Phillip. Brother Lochridge called Phillip to be Seminary President this trimester for his seminary class! The students all got to give parent presentations last week for Seminary. Sara said the student presentations were awesome. 

Everett is having a struggle lately. He almost looked up some porn but hesitated and deleted the words. We got an alert about the search words he used, watching him type and delete the words. It was a testament to my heart that he closed his device and left it alone. He wants a friend, he feels lonely. He loves to play imaginative games, no one his age is interested in such drivel. I love how he walks in his own path. He needed some Mom and Dad reassurances. Life is a little brighter for him now. 

The kids are sending Amelia several “Polos” (video messages) each day. Evelyn is the queen of sending Amelia messages. She misses Amelia so much. Josie finally named her arm snake Jean, she wore it all week to school. Josie is thrilled she finally earned her Owala after completing 4 full practice charts for violin. Over the weekend Wings of Fire stickers came in the mail. Josie decorated her bottle with about 15 stickers She is obsessed with dragons right now. I caught Josie hanging off the stairwell window like a koala watching TV with Justin. She is a funny girl. Everett hyper-extended his knee in social dance class on Thursday. The kids opted to do a spa night to treat their tired feet and rejuvenate their hearts. Everett’s knee is feeling much better today. I had an MRI Saturday morning as preventative measure against breast cancer. Gotta make sure my dense breast tissue is just that. The MRI made my bowels dance in a very funny way, I really had to poo afterward. Gross. Josie got to hang out with Kara and Lucy Saturday afternoon. She enjoyed an hour of riding horses followed by playing in the barn, swimming, and other fun activities. She loves learning about horses from an expert like Kara! Kara is a rodeo queen in training.