I've just had a few things going on....

My life has been busy the last few weeks....which is my excuse for being the horrible blogger that I have been! It seems to have slowed back down to normal the last few days, which is usually when I start to feel guilty about neglecting my blog! :) So, here I am, back to posting!

Right after returning from my trip to Indiana our little school and church went through a rough time.

Actually, I think that it all started when I was away....

but one by one...people started to get sick.

I mean nasty sick! The worst kind of stomach flu! It was pretty crazy how fast and how much it spread!

Let's just say...my respect for germs grew A LOT!

It was BAD...that is just the best word I can use to describe it!

I am pretty sure about 80% of our church members were sick with it at different times during the two weeks that it went around! Then it was in the school too...Five out of my thirteen little ones had it at some point, as well as many other students in other classes.... :(

Our principal (his entire fam except his wife), our school secretary, 3 out of the 4 elementary teachers and several spouses all got this nasty thing! :( I thought I had made it through without catching it but no such luck...I was one of the last people that did get it and I can definitely testify to it's nastiness!!

It seems to have cleared up though and no one else has gotten sick in the last week! Which is good!

So, we all learned some good lessons about cleanliness, washing hands, and disinfecting and that when you are sick...

STAY HOME!!!! haha, DON'T COME TO SCHOOL!!!!!

Well, we all came from being sick and tried to regain our strength and start last week....

which just happened to be THE BUSIEST WEEK OF THE YEAR for our school!

Yeah, the sickness had bad timing!

Last Friday, March 4, was our annual Spring Academic Competition!

The whole school spends the entire day competing in many different areas!

Let me just say, this being my first year being apart of it.....I WAS IMPRESSED!

At the church I grew up in we did some competing against many other schools/church's at our Preaching Conference every year but NOTHING compared to this! Back home, we competed in speech and music mainly but here they compete in EVERYTHING!!

Math, Bible, History, Spelling, Speech (stories/preaching), Home Ec (cooking and sewing), Art..which includes a TON of things...Photography, Crafts, Needle Work, Painting, Drawing...then of course there was Music (solo's, groups, instruments, piano), and then there were physical things, like running (sprints and long distance) and Chess, Ping Pong and Basketball. Sounds a little overwhelming, huh?!

That's what I thought too...

It was a great day and a lot of fun!! Everyone was involved from 1st - 12th grade!! We spent the last several months getting ready for the different events and the kids were really excited about competing in their events!

My little ones, for speech, all memorized different poems and they did such a great job!! Some of them played the piano or chess and ping pong... and they all took the Academic test and were part of the spelling bee! What a great experience for each of the kids to get to participate in these events!
Let me just brag a minute and say... for being a small school....some of our kids/teens have some pretty amazing talent!!! Especially the older ones....our music department is pretty great!!!

Another great part of the day was the parents participation! Seriously, I love our parents! I feel like I say that every time I do a post about school but they never cease to amaze me!
Many parents came out and spent the entire day at the school helping in whatever way possible!
Honestly, without them there is no way we could have done everything!
They judged different events, helped watch the kids that weren't involved in anything, tallied all the judging forms and got the rewards all ready for the award ceremony, helped make and hand out the hot lunch, graded the test... and on and on and on! It was just really amazing how great they were/are!!!

So, after the super long school day, we all went home only to return that evening for a Choir/Band Concert done by the Jr. High and High school.

It was so beautiful! I love how classy P. Sutton makes these concerts!
They all dress in Black and White and they guys wear a Tuxedo shirt, cummerbund and bow tie!
They looked so sharp!

After the concert we had the Grand Prize Award Ceremony!

Then ended the day by auctioning off the Home Ec desserts that were entered into the competition!

A VERY VERY long day at Bethel Christian Academy but what a great time it was!!!

So, that wraps up all my excuses for not being the best blogger...oh wait, did I mention that I am also Co-Volleyball Coach and we are in the middle of our Volleyball Season right now?!? ... ok, I'm done making excuses.. :)
You will be hearing from me again soon!!