The 2011 Christian Home Educators Conference

Thanks to this guy... and to this mother, we have several pictures from the weekend that we will all be sharing some of, I'm sure....

The above picture was of Mom behind her used-book-sale tables... She also took signatures for the Parental Rights cause there and got a couple of pages full.

Below is a picture of when the sale was going on. We were pleased with how many books of ours got sold!

Jacob and I drove over on Friday morning, and arrived just at the end of the main speaker's first session of the day. We were able to go to the (non) evolution talk that morning yet and learned a lot about sea creatures, so that was really neat. (Did you know that when a sharks' front teeth get dull, they just fall out and the back ones push forward to fill the gap, while new teeth are made in the back of their mouths so they're ready for the next move up?)

When we'd just finished our noon meal that day, we were pleasantly surprised to see our neighbors come around the corner! They sat with us...

...and on us for a while. :) (It was good to see you there, Tamera, Olivia, Sophia, Josiah & Mariah!)

Olivia and Sophia sat in with Jacob and I on a workshop by the main speaker and, I think, enjoyed it. The talk was mainly about the beneficial or adverse affects that different types of music has on our brains... Very interesting! (Playing classical music is still the best....) Oh, and by the way, if you're interested in listening to a great teacher, get some of Mr. Andrew Pudewa's lectures to listen to!!!

Andrew took this neat picture before the convention got started, while vendors were just starting to set up their displays...

After the afternoon sessions were over, Mother stayed at the Civic Center (she was still on the Master Cleanse) while my brothers and I, and Mr. Bartlett and his son, Jonathan drove to Jamestown's Pizza Ranch for a delicious supper of, yes, pizza. :) I'd never been to a Pizza Ranch Restaurant before, but the boys had and they've been wanting to go again for some time now. The great thing about going Friday for supper though was that a portion of each of the proceeds for the meals there that evening went to support the ND Home School Association!

We all enjoyed the talent night that was held Friday evening, and once it was over, Mom and Jacob went to visit with our friends, the Saylers, who we stayed with during the convention, while Andrew stayed to practice the choir song and to jam with friends and I stayed to visit with friends I haven't seen in quite some time... We left the Center after 10:00 and drove to the Saylers' house. The boys went to bed not long after that, but Mother and I stayed up and visited with Mr. & Mrs. S. until past midnight! Then we decided we should try to get some sleep. Neither of us slept very well, as we're not used to city noises, but we made up for the lost sleep this morning, which was a blessing.

Saturday was spent mainly in attending workshops, one of my favorites being Mrs. Heppners' talk about how they keep a large houseful of children in order (she's a mother of 16 biological children and 1 adopted child!). It was also a joy to sit there with the new friends we got to know better at Sams' Club a few weeks ago, the R. family. :) ... And then there was the great session about how to "Study Like A Genius", which I listened to while sitting with Hannah Dagley. :) ...And I got a few minutes to visit with Hannah Kenney, which was also a delight!

That evening, when the convention was all over with, we helped several vendors with packing up their boxes and the boys helped haul the boxes out to the vehicles when needed.

There are many more pictures I could share from our refreshing time, but I'll let my family share some of those with you... I do want to post one more though of myself with two of my dear friends, Crystal L. and Miranda G.~

I praise and thank God that I was home schooled and that he's blessed me with many sweet, Christian friends who share similar views on important issues of life!

Also, I thank my dad who stayed home and did all the chores for us so we could thoroughly enjoy our time in Jamestown!!!

I thank too the Bartlett family, the Kenney family, the Geiger family and all the others who planned and worked so hard to get a convention together for the families of ND (and MN, SD,...) to attend!

Now I can hardly wait for next years' convention to come...... :)