One night over the summer, our family went to swim at a nearby gym that has an Olympic-sized pool. We like going after supper because there’s hardly anyone there and nobody seems to mind a 3-year-old who speaks in ALL CAPS. It’s gotten to be a tradition for us all to go.

This particular night, I even had time to soak in the hot tub a while, so I was feeling particularly refreshed, maybe even a little zany. We left right before closing time, and when we walked out into the parking, we saw …

Elvis.

Yeah … a guy who looked just like Elvis! Sideburns and all.

Normally, I would have walked on by with a sideways glance, but I was feeling mighty fine, so I blurted out, “Hey, I think I’m seeing Elvis around here.”

Well, whad d’ya know? It turns out this guy really IS a professional Elvis impersonator, even though he was dressed in a T-shirt and sweatpants after a workout.

“I just moved down here from Nashville, ” he said to us, in his rich baritone voice, certainly meant for greater things than a fitness center parking lot. “You know, Nashville is God’s country.”

I told him we’d been to Nashville back in January, for the Christian Bookseller Association Expo. He nodded his head, his midnight pompadeau staying in perfect place. “People think Nashville is all about music,” he said. “It’s not. The #1 industry is publishing. There are more Bibles printed in Nashville than anywhere in the world. Like I said. It’s God’s country.”

As we chatted, our kids seemed to be in awe of his voice. “I just got finished doing a commercial that’s going nationwide,” he told us. “It’s for Planet Fitness. The Judgement-Free Zone.”

He ended up giving us one of his CDs and a nice professional photo of himself drinking a Coke. He signed it to our family using a gold paint pen.

When we got in the car, we played his CD right away. It was one of those moments you just want to freeze in time. The kids were all quiet — they’d never heard Elvis before. “Love me tender, Love me sweet, Never let me go. You have made my life complete, And I love you so. ” were the first words we heard.

After that, my son wanted to skip ahead to the last one, the 15th. “This is the one he told us was his favorite. I want to hear which one.”

We continued driving home, under the starry night, in our SUV. But we had to have been a little closer to heaven, hearing the voice of Elvis sing this:

It was just one of those nights I had to come home and write it down.

[Edit]:
Thanks, Barb of Tidbits and Treasures blog, for alerting me to the fact that the anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death is coming up this week, August 16, 1977. Perhaps this post may be seen as a tribute to the King of Rock & Roll — a singer who also had an awesome talent for Gospel.

Several people have called or emailed me and asked how our new school is going — so I thought I’d multitask and post my thoughts here. School is going great — except for one problem.

Handwriting.

Ugh! Can any of you relate? I regret that over the summer I didn’t take things more seriously and get my kids working on cursive handwriting. Most Christian schools in my area use the A Beka curriculum, which teaches cursive handwriting from the beginning. Even the 5-year-olds in kindergarten learn to write only in cursive.

Just to give you some background, we homeschooled the first three years using Handwriting Without Tears curriculum, which taught ball-and-stick print. Then my oldest started public school in 3rd grade and learned to write in cursive. But he prefers print, and he wrote in print most of the time in 4th grade and did well in school.

My 3rd grade daughter has never had ANY cursive handwriting before. So she was in tears the second night, while I tried to teach her how to write her name.

“I can’t do it! I’ll never be able to write an ‘a.’ I’ll never be able to write an ‘s.’ It doesn’t make any sense to me. I just can’t do it!” is what I heard over and over again.

I went to a local teacher supply store and tried to buy some supplementary workbooks, but they don’t match with the A Beka handwriting. Thankfully, their teachers have sent home some practice sheets and some handwriting paper, and we’ll be working through these.

So, in addition to all the other things I do every day, I’m now a cursive handwriting coach/cheerleader. And you know what? It’s kind of fun. And it brings back memories.

When I was 8 years old, my family moved to a new school system. It was in March of my third grade year. In my old school, we hadn’t even started cursive yet, but in my new school, everyone wrote in cursive. I came home in tears, and I remember my Dad sitting down patiently with me helping me learn to write cursive. He said, “You can do it. It’s just a different kind of handwriting, but you’re smart. You’ll pick it up fine.” Well, I got the hang of it in less than a week.

The choices of handwriting curriculum can be completely overwhelming these days. Here’s a site that gives you an overview, including samples of all the fonts. When I was homeschooling, I remember going to curriculum fairs and feeling seized with panic that I might ruin my children forever if they learned the wrong way!

Many of my homeschooling friends taught their children italic handwriting, which combines print and cursive in one style. Others used traditional print methods, then later cursive. It’s hard to know what to do. My advice to homeschooling moms would be to teach your kids what you both feel most comfortable with, but keep an eye on what your local school system teaches, as well as the private schools — just in case. We have a great teacher supply store in town, and the owner knows all that.

We’re all hitting the books here — dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s. With plenty of loops and swirls.

Yesterday was our first day of school here. What a change! I’d read in magazines how moms are supposed to help kids ease back into the school routine by spending a few days going to bed earlier and getting up earlier.

We didn’t do that. Oops.

So Monday morning came as a shock to us. But last night — WHEW! At 9 pm, we had lights out in our entire house. Everybody was exhausted. That’s what happens when you get up at 6:30 a.m. and go non-stop all day. (Actually, I was up much earlier than that. )

I love it. I love order and routine. In contrast, our kids had plenty of free time this summer to relax, sleep in, and do whatever they wanted. They each attended a couple of short day camps and Vacation Bible School — and that was it. I didn’t overschedule them this summer — so I don’t feel one iota of guilt now that they’re back on a routine. This is life. This is discipline. Our God created order — our universe is organized and orderly. So our lives should be as well.

I read FlyLady all summer — and she’s finally got me wrapped around her little pinkie finger. OK, OK! We’re doing it. We’re doing the evening and morning routines. No more excuses. No more whining. Our clothes are laid out the night before. We’re working on the hot spots — we have a lot of those.

My new rule this year is that all the kids have to be dressed — in uniform, including socks and shoes — at the breakfast table by 7 am. We’ve done it two days now — can we keep it up the rest of the year? This is why I’m blogging about it — if I write about it, you people mysteriously hold me accountable. We WILL be up and dressed and to the breakfast table by 7 am.

This morning, I made buckwheat pancakes with whipped cream and blueberries — and bacon. That got everyone up and at ’em. I can’t eat the pancakes. Have y’all been reading about my major diet change? I’m blogging about it over at Lively Women. The South Beach Diet is working for me. I lost another pound over the weekend — and I had so much energy last night, I swept the entire garage and played baseball and football in the yard. After cooking a huge supper with lots of vegetables and cleaning the kitchen.

Me … yeah me. Y’all just do not KNOW how different I’ve felt the past several years compared to now. I’m getting my life back. I’ll spare you the tears. My life requires a huge push of energy to get anything done around here — and I just haven’t had it because I’ve been too busy stuffing my face with the wrong kinds of food.

It started with me … now this is flowing to my family. Has anyone else noticed that getting in shape physically has a major effect on your emotional, spiritual, and mental health as well? More on this later.

Oh, and I have a new blogging schedule. My schedule is — no schedule! If I have something rambling around in my mind that’s worth writing here, I’ll spill it. But if not, I’ll be out throwing a football in the yard or walking my dog down to the creek. So I may blog often, or I may not. I think this article got to me: Why Blog Post Frequency Does Not Matter Anymore. Read it — you’ll be surprised. It’s by Eric Kintz.

We had school orientation tonight — at the private Christian school where our kids will attend this year. Interesting. A very new experience for me. I actually opened the student handbook and browsed through the rules. We have a dress code of course, since all the kids wear uniforms, but how about this? We also have a strict “hair code.”

Fad hairstyles are not acceptable. Any applied color that is not normal … is NOT acceptable for girls or boys. Hair is to be cleaned and groomed. Hair length for boys should not touch the collar of a standard dress shirt or cover any portion of the ears. “Rat tails” are not acceptable.

Rat tails? I had to think about that one. Oh yeah. Those things.

But the real music to my ears was this: Piano lessons during the school day. The piano teacher actually comes to the school, and if your kids are signed up, they’ll slip out of the classroom for a half-hour lesson, then go back to class. DURING SCHOOL HOURS. I don’t have to haul five kids to somebody’s house and keep up with energetic toddlers during lessons. All I have to do is become a kyoiku mama and tell them to practice at home.

Now THAT’S what I call an unexpected blessing.

Have you heard of Stone Mountain? We’re quite proud of it here in the South. If you ever get a chance to come to Atlanta, you should add a visit here to your agenda. I hadn’t been in years, but Mom and I got the great idea that it would be fun to take the kids there for a day-trip, and end our summer with a picnic while watching the laser show.

Well, God had other plans for our day.

First of all, we did have a wonderful time at the park. And this place is a true bargain. For around $20 each, we enjoyed guided tours by riverboat, cable car, and train. There’s an extraordinary new treehouse exhibit that has two 3-story treehouses, and it’s a boys against girls game that requires kids to think and work together. My oldest wanted to spend all day there because he figured out how to get points, and the boys were way ahead.

We also watched a couple of shows — the 7th Generation Flying Wallendas about gave me a heart attack. Watching two people hang upside down on 50-foot poles, with no safety net, was too much for me. And when “The Amazing Henry, Master of the Sky” missed a step while jump-roping on the wheel of death, I thought I would throw up from fear. I don’t know why in the world people do things like that — I had to look up the Wallendas to figure it out. (It’s in their genes, I guess.)

We had a much better time watching the Schmacko Dog Show, where we saw “Flying Fiesta,” the fastest frisbee dog in the world. Now we’re all full of ideas of tricks to teach our poor unsuspecting dog, Jasper. (Good thing they gave us a free sample of Schmacko Dog Treats.)

But the highlight of our day, the grand finale, was the build-up of the laser show. It’s held every night at 9:30 p.m., and I couldn’t wait to see my kids’ faces as we listened to Dixie and watched Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and Jefferson Davis come to life and gallop across the mountain by laser.

We were all prepared, picnic basket and blanket spread on the lawn, along with hundreds of other people when … BOOM. Thunder.

“Mom, do you think it’s going to rain?”

“Nah. I think it will just blow over.” CRACK! A lightning bolt lit up the sky over the mountain followed by shrieks from the crowd.

We still thought we’d sit it out. Only one more hour until the show! But then we felt a raindrop. And another. Followed by BOOM! CRACK! More shrieks. And the masses began running toward cover, as the sky fell out.

So, here we were — two adults and four kids on a granite mountain. In a rainstorm. Soon, the power went out. The music stopped — and we were all crammed in under the overhang of the Skylift. Then the most amazing thing happened.

We all stood there in awe as we watched God’s Laser Show. Every time lightning hit the mountain, you could see giant rivers of rainwater streaking down the granite. People were ooahing and aahing and taking pictures. Everyone was happy. A crippled man next to us leaned on his two canes and laughed. An elderly white man pushed an elderly black man in a wheelchair through the crowd — both smiling. Kids stomped in puddles. None of us could go anywhere, with no power to see, and the torrents of rain hitting the earth — but we all had a great time.

Without power, the laser show was out of the question, but the park staff gave us the fireworks show anyway — to the cheers of everyone. When it was time to go, Mom reached in her pocket — and oh no! Her cell phone was gone. We searched everywhere, then realized it must have slipped out during our mad dash up the hill. But a few seconds later, my cell phone rang, and a voice said, “Hey, my name is Scott, and I’m here at Stone Mountain, and I’ve found this phone …” Can you believe it? He and Mom walked toward each other, strangers in a crowd. “I’m wearing pink,” she said. “I’m tall and talking on a phone,” he said. And they found each other. Amazing.

All that to say, it was an exciting end to our summer. A laser show we’ll never forget.

It’s hard to believe our schools begin in a little over a week! We’ve been going through some major family decisions and have decided to follow our hearts and enroll our three older children in a private Christian school this year.

I’ve blogged a little about our educational journey, which has included homeschooling and public school. Yet we’ve always said we’d take things year by year. Back in June, we attended a marriage retreat, and our speaker was a pastor from Wisconsin. He showed us slides of his family and said, “We’re very blessed that all three of our children can attend a Christian school.” When he said that, I felt this tugging on my heart — wishing our children could also be educated in a Christian setting.

Well, this dream became a prayer, and that prayer stirred my heart to start making phone calls and knocking on doors. I talked to so many people, gathering various opinions, checking out websites. And we’ve taken this first step. By faith.

We went shopping for school uniforms last week, something I’ve never done before. I was in complete awe as a polite sales girl brought me all the items we needed in the proper sizes. When my son told her, “I don’t need to try anything on; I can just tell if it fits,” it was wonderful to hear her say, “Oh no. You have to try these clothes on because some run big and some run small.” He went through several sizes and brands before she said, “Those are perfect.”

I had to stop myself from doing toe touches in the fitting area when I saw the transformation of my children from sloppy summer T-shirts and shorts to crisp, pleated MODEST school uniforms. The girls will wear cotton polos and skorts or jumpers. My son will also wear collared shirts tucked into neat shorts or pants. There are special colors for mid-week chapel, as well as field trips.

I watched other kids come out of the dressing rooms as they tried on uniforms, and I was amazed. A young teen girl wearing a halter top and typical shorts disappeared into the dressing room, emerging as a beautiful, modest young woman. If I were a teacher, I would take her much more seriously. She looked intellectual instead of … trampy.

Modesty is beautiful. The simplicity of school uniforms is beautiful.

When I brought everything to the cash register, I asked the clerk, “How long will it take to get the school logos sewn on?” I was embarrassed we were so last minute, wondering how much express postage would cost to have them mailed to us. But she looked over her shoulder at a teen girl busy pressing some things and said, “I think we’ll have all these done for you in about five minutes. Ten max.”

So we got all of our school shopping finished in less than an hour! I read in a magazine that the average parent will spend $483 per child on back-to-school clothes. We spent well below that — for clothes my kids would NEVER have picked out. But they’re so proud of their new uniforms!

We’re heading into a new adventure this year. My older daughter’s teacher already called us and said, “Our theme this year is F-R-O-G. It stands for Fully Relying on God.”

Fully Relying on God.

I wonder if she’d mind if I sat in the back of the room, taking a few notes.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Miss Teresa!

I took the kids to the library yesterday, desperate for a new load of books. I’d just found out the unhappy news that our house is not a candidate for cable TV. I was finally exhausted from three years of the same half-dozen fuzzy local channels, and this week we’d decided maybe it was time to branch out and allow a little more variety into our home.

But the cable company came out and informed us our country home sits too far back from the road for cable. Our only option is satellite, which I don’t want. We had satellite several years ago when we lived even further out in the country, and the satellite company was always giving us free “sneak peeks” at upgrades. Our kids were toddlers then, but now that they’re old enough to handle the remote, I don’t even want to take the risk that they might flip to something that would become permanently etched in their minds.

No can do. So we’re back to the books. Which is fine. Better even.

So I walked into the children’s department and asked our librarian, Miss Teresa, what she recommended for our kids’ ages. “I’m especially looking for chapter books for my rising third grade daughter,” I told her. And I added with a whisper, “She still likes checking out picture books, but I want her to move on, you know?”

Miss Teresa smiled at me. “I’ve got the perfect books for you.”

We followed her back to the “L” section, and she showed me Christian author Bevery Lewis writes a children’s series called The Cul-de-Sac Kids. We checked out Pickle Pizza and a few others.

“Look,” she whispered. “These are published by Bethany House. All of their books are Christian!” Her eyes lit up with excitement. “I try to buy as many as I can. These are wonderful.”

I wanted to reach over and give her a gigantic hug — but with a wiggling baby on my hip, tote bag overflowing, it was not possible.

She started pulling more books off the shelf. “Here are some good mysteries your son might like,” she said to me. “The Bloodhound series by Bill Myers are also published by Bethany House.”

Am I the last person in the world to discover Bill Myers? Wow! I looked him up, and his books and videos have sold over six million copies. He’s published with Zondervan, Tommy Nelson, and Bethany House, among others. So we brought home The Ghost of KRZY. I was a little concerned it looked too easy for my almost ten-year-old, who plowed through The Lord of the Rings trilogy this past year, but my son loves this book. In fact, he’s finished it, ready for another.

What a relief to know my kids are reading books by Christian authors, whose faith will be woven into the pages of the book. And it’s pure joy to know my children’s librarian is a kindred spirit. Miss Teresa also told me she bought the Landon Snow books, which are published by Barbour. I reviewed Landon Snow and the Auctor’s Riddle last fall.

So I ask, does your children’s librarian know what kind of books you want your children to read?

P.S. Another great series for kids is the Wilderking trilogy, published by Broadman & Holman. There’s a new interview up with author Jonathan Rogers over at Gina Holmes’ wonderful blog, Novel Journey.

Since I haven’t been blogging here the past few days, I figured nobody was coming here. I hadn’t checked my webstats lately because I didn’t want to see the number “o.” But I checked this morning, and I discovered that people are coming here anyway. Weird. I’m absent, but people are still coming to visit.

Guess what my #1 most read post is this month? My review of 90 Minutes in Heaven. I still highly recommend this book. I checked the ECPA Christian Bestseller list and found out some good news. Are you ready? This book is a bestseller, ranked #21!

Psssst … I’ll just whisper this — I got my Dad a copy signed by Cecil Murphey, who wrote this book in the words of Don Piper. It will be a late Father’s Day present because I forgot to give it to him the last time I saw him.

I hope you’re all having a great summer. I’m swamped with kids everywhere. And I do mean everywhere.

What are you doing for Father’s Day today? It gives kids security in this crazy, mixed-up world when they see you loving their Dad. My husband and I went on a marriage retreat last weekend and were reminded once again that “Love is an Action.” Saying you love someone is nice — but showing it through your actions is even better. For me, that means staying off the computer and hanging out in the real world with my family.

Nobody says it better than FlyLady, who tells us, “Love means making sure there’s clean toilet paper on the roll and extra ones within reach. (ahem.) Love means making sure your family has clean underwear folded and put away in their drawers.”

I gotta get off the computer — bye! 🙂

We had a victory in our house yesterday when we found a MISSING library book. Huge cheers from Mom! But when I was just about to close the lid of the drop-off container at the library, I noticed … a torn page! In one of the picture books!

What to do … what to do …

I had two kids in my car, and our dog, Jasper. (He gets excited about riding in the car with us.)

What would Jesus do? I know. I know. But Lord, I’ve got kids in my car, and I’ve got three more errands to run. And a million things on my mind. And it’s just one torn page. And they may not even notice. What would Jesus do?

OK. So I didn’t leave that book in the drop-box. I drove to the Dollar Store, bought a roll of scotch tape, taped the page back on both sides (Man, did that thing look shiny and sharp). Drove back to the library. Left the book. And no guilt! Whew.

Maybe God smiled on me because later in the day when I brought in our mail, there was a surprising check addressed to me. But oh no — it was from the church that is sponsoring a marriage retreat I’ve signed us up for this summer. I’ve always thought marriage retreats sounded dorky and boring, but after 12 years of marriage, the whole concept seems fascinating to me. We’re moving to a new season, a new chapter, and I’m excited about all the things God has in store for me and my husband as a couple.

So! Why did I get this check? It was for over half the cost of the retreat! There wasn’t a note of explanation with it, so I emailed the pastor right away and asked if the retreat had been cancelled. He wrote me back and said, “No, we’ve just decided to lower the price, and we’re sending out refunds to those of you who have already paid.”

Wow — so this is really a great deal. Thank you, Lord.

Here’s what else is going on in my life. My kids are out of school tomorrow — summer is here! Today is my kindergarten daughter’s SIXTH birthday (got that, all you aunts and uncles who read my blog?) She’s growing up!

This morning, my fourth grade son is going to receive an award at a ceremony at his school. Here’s a child who hated doing his phonics with me. We homeschooled him three years, and I didn’t know if a more reluctant reader ever existed. Today he’ll receive an award for having won the “Readers Digest Word Power Challenge” for the whole fourth grade. And he said, “Mom, I may get another award for AR points — I think I was pretty close to finishing first, but I’m not sure.”

Yeah. I’m proud. God’s been good to us lately. Sometimes a mama just has to brag. Ain’t that the truth?

[Edit: We just got home, and what a good blogger I am. This is for the grandparents, who are allowed to brag without having to blush: Your grandson got awards for earning All A’s the whole year, 3rd highest average in Language Arts, 2nd highest average in Math, 2nd highest average in Science, Silver Medal in Math Olympics, Top Accelerated Reader points, Super Lion Award, Readers Digest Word Power Challenge, and (my personal favorite) Most Dependable Award. The “most dependable” honor is going to come in very handy when it’s time for him to feed the dog and cats.]

This morning I listened to Focus on the Family on the radio, and once again I’ve got to blog about it. There are so many great things going on in the world! Why is the news always so full of negative stories?

I learned about an organization called HANDS, Helping Americans Needing Disaster Support. Leisha Pickering spoke. She’s the wife of Congressman Chip Pickering (MS) and lives in Mississippi, along with their five children. She talked about the ongoing needs of Katrina victims.

There were nearly 70,000 homes destroyed when Katrina hit last August. Say that number slowly. SEV-EN-TY THOUSAND. Homes. Think what your home is to you. These homes were wiped out — completely.

She said at first there was so much help, as volunteer organizations mobilized and drove over to help with immediate relief. But now reality has sunk in for many of these victims, and they’re struggling with getting on with their lives. Many have lost hope.

So she founded this organization, HANDS. I hope you’ll be able to visit their website and watch the introductory video with your kids. There is so much we multi-tasking moms can do. Mrs. Pickering said her volunteers have compiled data on thousands of families, so there is a detailed list of their needs. She encouraged radio listeners to consider partnering with a family and seeking ways to bless them with whatever you feel led to do.

She talked about how one group had come down and actually built a new home for a woman who had lost her family, home, everything. Another time, her organization knocked on the door of a man, and when he opened the door, all he had in his apartment was a mattress. Two kids and a mattress. They offered him things he needed and came back the next day.

This time when he opened the door, he said, “Yesterday, I had nothing. Today I have hope.”

So, I started thinking — maybe there are some of you out there in Sunday school classes or other organizations, and you might be interested in helping out in this way. I mean, here’s where our faith goes into action. It’s important to read the Bible and learn the principles of Christianity, but an active faith also serves others.

Here’s my idea: I think this is something that would be wonderful for teens to get involved in. When I was a teen, I just wanted to hang out with my friends and do fun things to relieve the stress of school. What if teen groups partnered with families victimized by Katrina? There’s plenty they could do. Beyond the tangible donations, they could use their knack for understanding technology to give people hope.

Our church takes teenagers on mission trips every year, and they come back changed. Go look at that HANDS website. We don’t have to fly overseas to find a third-world environment. It’s right in our own backyard. What can you do to help?