She calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me…” (Luke 15:8)

I guess you all would be my ‘net-neighbours’ so I will call you to rejoice with me.

  

The Bible commands us to rejoice alway. (1 Thess. 5:16)

Isn’t that the command we so often fail to obey?

Maybe you’re a very optimistic person who can smile every day and find something to rejoice about in every situation. If so, I have something to learn from you.

But, today the sun is shining and I am finding it easy to be optimistic.

Today was my end-of-the-year Piano Recital.

It went well (thanks to the prayers of my family) but it implies something that I am more glad about…

The Piano Lessons are over for a summer! 

Rejoice with me!

I feel like I’ve learnt a LOT.

Mr. Shandro was a good teacher and I appreciate his ‘not-being-satisfied-with-less-than-your-best attitude’.

It was something I needed as I had become a bit ‘lazy’.

I finished school the beginning of this week!

Rejoice with me!

Being enrolled in CLE’s Homeschool Plus program has taught me some of the same principles.

I wasn’t very accountable and it made me quite ‘lazy’.

Now that I have to do every writing project and some extra subjects, I find it a bit challenging.

But rejoice with me, Grade 11 school year is done. (I am planning on doing some projects throughout the summer.)

I told Mama that once I would be done with school, I would have to learn to think all over again.

My mind has been so busy with school that I don’t know how to think if I don’t have school on my mind.

I also have to learn to use time wisely.

What do you do when there’s hardly any school to do?

I find myself squandering time and it frustrates me.

(Don’t worry, I don’t have to look far to find work otherwise. 🙂 )

Our basement is all painted!

Rejoice with me!

I feel very accomplished because I did most of the rolling and that is quite accomplishing as it is.

But we finished painting last week, and what a difference it’s made!

We girls are exploring the whole basement as sleeping quarters through this renovation but it’s actually quite fun.

Hanging up a clothing rod in the family room and hanging dresses on it for privacy.

Moving furniture.

Bare walls.

Light fixtures hanging like ‘planets’ above your bed because there’s no drop ceiling in.

Washing your hands in the wet bar because the bathrooms just not quite done.

It’s been a long process, but it’s been fun!

I’ve especially enjoyed sleeping with all my sisters.

First of all, I’ve never liked being alone.

And secondly, late-night talks are way too much fun.

Some things that have made this spring exciting are as follows:

Leandro’s 6th Birthday.

Our swim suits came!

We had ordered modest swim suits from ebay and are very impressed.

We haven’t tried them out in a swimming pool yet but they are so much more comfortable.

They are like a long shirt (elbow length sleeves and a high neckline) with leggings underneath.

After looking ‘high and low’ online but all I could find was very expensive ones that took long to ship, etc.

Finally I decided to check ebay and I was very glad I did.

Compared to those at $100 or over, these were cheap ($45).

All five of us ordered one and were we ever eager to check the mail!

(Search ebay’s website for ‘modest swimwear’ and look at the ones labeled “NEW WT Turkish Style Islamic Hindu Jewish Cover Modest SWIMWEAR” for pictures.)

We’ve done some cleaning and organizing already, our garden is growing well, and summer is here!

Rejoice with me!

~Yesenia~

Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In every thing give thanks:for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. (1 Thess. 5:16)

P.S. Thanks goes to Bianca for a lot of these pictures. (Anybody want to guess which ones I took?)