Our second day in London was by far my favorite! It was still in the middle of a sweaty heat wave and all, but it didn’t matter. Touring the ancient Tower of London was literally a dream come true for me.

I booked these tickets over a month in advance to make sure we wouldn’t miss out. We had 11-1130 timed entry tickets for our family. You can go here to book tickets.

What made the Tower of London such a must see for me? So many reasons!!

#1. It is the oldest castle inside the city of London.

Windsor Castle is older, but it is outside of the city. This one is smack dab in the middle.

#2. The Tower of London has a past filled with tragic stories. Few ghost tours anywhere could boast more tales of historic significance than this place.

The history is why I picked this particular castle to tour. It is one of the many fortresses constructed by William the Conqueror’s Norman invasion. This castle never fell into complete neglect. This place has always been nationally important to England. It is one of the Great Britain’s most famous symbols of power.

The Princes in the Tower is the story foremost in my mind when I think of the Tower. It is such an unfair, sad story. Basically, the heir to the throne and his brother were locked in the Bloody Tower of the Tower of London way back in 1483, by their uncle, Richard, the Duke of Gloucester. He was supposed to be taking care of the boys. Instead, he locked them up for “their protection.” Then he took the throne for himself, becoming King Richard III.

King Richard only ruled for two years before he was killed in the Battle of Bosworth by King Henry VII’s forces. Richard was the last Plantagenet king.

#3. Queen Elizabeth I was even held prisoner in the Tower, when her older sister, Mary, was Queen of England.

Actually, many monarchs have lived, had their coronation, or been imprisoned in the Tower of London.

#4. The Crown Jewels are kept and displayed here.

Photographs are not allowed in there, or you know I would be happy to share those. We did go in there. The line was not bad at all. We saw tiaras and crowns, scepters, and robes. It was definitely worth touring!

#5. The Tower was a military base during both World Wars.

This castle is SO RICH in history!!

We took the train from our hotel to the castle. As soon as we walked up from the railway, we could see the Tower of London. It was much larger than I expected. It is located on the River Thames, and it is surrounded by a vibrant area chock full of food trucks and ferries coming and going.

I told Alan, “If we ever come to London again, let’s stay here, in this area. I love the atmosphere.”

The old cobblestone road is still in place, but these newer tiles also supply a more comfortable place to walk. Cobblestone is no best friend to plantar fasciitis.

We had to walk all the way around to get to the tour entrance. I didn’t mind though, as there was so much to see. In the mornings, my feet were okay. By the end of each day, I could barely walk, especially day two, but that has more to do with our Prime Meridian adventure, which I’ll save for a future post.

JD kept us entertained, walking down these streets doing his best impersonation of a (NPC- non playable character) video game character walk. It is hilarious. We took videos, but I won’t embarrass him by posting them here. Although, he probably wouldn’t care.

Outside those walls, there used to be a moat, but they drained its stagnant waters to combat disease, back in the 1840s.

As it turns out, exploring castles and ancient fortresses, towers, and city walls is the PERFECT vacation for a family of energetic young men.

We visited several places like this, and they did love it. Now, the our Smallest Who of All still managed to complain a good bit. He received several reprimands about griping throughout the day.

I will say though, even our youngest never ran his mouth when we were strolling along a centuries old fortress wall or gazing at displays of knights and swords. Those things were popular with even our hardest to please boys.

In fact, even though this was all my idea, I was the one who got bored first in the White Tower. The White Tower is the central part of the fortress. It is the building inside the walls that you see on your souvenirs.

Why would I get bored in the White Tower?

Well, it was almost the last thing we toured that day, so I was tired. Plus, it was filled to the brim with armor and weaponry. It is basically a medieval knight and armory museum. Obviously, that was more appealing to everyone else in my group. I thought I was never going to get Caleb and Alan out of there.

We actually started out in the courtyard. Overwhelmed with all of the options, we started in the closest part of the walls to where we happened to be standing, which I believe was the Salt Tower and the Wall Walk.

There is so much to tour in the Tower of London, we did not get to all of it!

The fortress walls are like a whole castle in themselves. It is enormous.

Workers at the Tower, such as the Yeoman Warders do live here.

In fact, the Yeoman Warders offer guided tours around the Tower, included in your admission ticket. When we have little boys in tow, we know we cannot handle a guided tour. We always have to do a self-guided option. I’m sure we learn less, but we enjoy the freedom to goof off and move at our own pace.

Throughout the many towers along the walls, there are displays like the one above.

The photo above is a good miniature of the Tower, though I’m not sure in which time period. It looks like it does not include the Jewel Tower, where the crown jewels are kept. Speaking of which, that was our next stop after walking a good amount of the walls and the outeer towers.

That’s me, excitedly waiting in line to see the Crown Jewels.

We became two groups in there, a faster group, and then Alan and Caleb. The little boys and I waited at the end, and I did notice they did not utter one grunt of complaint about going through the Crown Jewels building. Every single person in the group respected that this was a remarkable thing to see.

The boys were hungry though, and beginning to ask for this and that to eat and drink, so we went to lunch at the cafe inside the Tower grounds.

The cafe had burgers, fish and chips, as well as some gluten free offerings, so there was something for everyone. I had a fluffy little gluten free cake with my lunch, so I think I left happiest of all.

Every day I did keep my eyes out for some gluten free fish ‘n chips. No luck yet on days one or two.

After lunch, it was on to the White Tower.

There must be many cold months in England, because we saw these radiators everywhere. Air conditioning was rare though..

I have noticed they do not admit to loving it. But the thing is, I was the only one who walked through it in two minutes and spent twenty minutes waiting at the other end of the room for the rest of them to finish looking and reading about it all.

Now that I do find interesting. Does that make me morbid?

I thought the sword exhibit was astonishing, for the history to be so well preserved!

This is the oldest surviving artwork of the Tower, dating back to the 1400s.

So if you ever need some metal armor, like a medieval Knight would wear, I know where we can find gobs of it. Haaa!!!

My favorite part of the White Tower’s exhibits was actually this:

In the last room we toured of the White Tower, we found this! It was a room full of interactive exhibits, and I was way too tired to do any of them other than the photo station. I took some photos and waited on the bench for everyone else to finish.

We also thoroughly enjoyed the gift shop! It’s a miracle we made it out of there with only buying that Christmas ornament I’m holding in the photo. They had the best gift shop, full of medieval weapon replicas, royal robes and crowns, etc. We were so entertained. Alan had to drag us out of there.

I knew our time was running short, and we were not going to have time to see all of the things, so I made it my mission to find the Bloody Tower.

That’s where the exhibit was on the Princes in the Tower, which I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

The Bloody Tower starts out with a large display about Sir Walter Raleigh, who was imprisoned here with his family.

The Bloody Tower also contains this still working portcullis, which keeps people in or out of the Tower.

The boys had never heard the story of the Princes in the Tower, and there is a film in the tower that tells the story well. A child’s voice is used to tell the story, while a video to go along with it is projected on the wall. It all has a hauntingly, moving, sad effect on the listener.

Towards the end of our time, we saw a little street theatre going on too, which we enjoyed.

All in all, this was my favorite London outing. I highly recommend taking a tour of this impressive, historic fortress!

For more on our London trip, you can find day one: Buckingham Palace, here.

The post The Best Part of London: Touring The Tower of London appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I recently took my two teenage sons to tour Liberty University. This was so exciting and felt like such a big deal to me. It was my first college tour as the mom instead of as the nervous/excited high school kid.

I still felt nervous/excited to be on a college tour, but now it is for the futures of my sons rather than for myself. Those late high school and college years are such a hopeful time, full of seemingly endless possibilities. I had my turn, and now it is theirs.

My rising senior went on a church trip to tour Liberty University back in the fall, so he started out with a greater knowledge of this school than I had.

We learned a wealth of information about Liberty on this tour, and of course, I want to tell you all about it.

For starters, Liberty is in Lynchburg, Virginia, which was farther from home than I thought. I was expecting three hours for some reason, but I probably missed a turn or two. It took us more like four hours. It felt like a long drive, for sure.

Actually, I went to college three and a half to four hours from home, so this is pretty much the same as my college experience.

Liberty University campus tours are super simple to set up.

They give group tours every single day of the week at set times. Tours are typically at 9am and 2pm, Monday-Saturday. Sunday tours are at 2pm. Go here to see their schedule. It does change when there are football games or special events on campus.

Our boys are considering Liberty University, among other options.

I am especially intrigued by the Christian atmosphere and classes. Plus, I like that the school is so big that it has so many options for choosing a major. I feel like there is nothing they cannot pursue from here.

Plus, I think this school could be an excellent fit for my oldest son, so I was eager to check it out. He seems to like it too, but he has not decided if he wants to leave home for college yet.

Our tour group had two tour guides and about twenty prospective students with their parents.

The first half of the tour was all on foot. They took us to two different types of dorm rooms. We also got to go into a couple of different academic buildings and sit in a real classroom. Of course, it was summer, so the campus was very quiet and the classrooms were empty.

Our tour guides were current students at the university, and those kids had memorized book loads of information about their school. We learned an exhaustive amount about life at Liberty University. I left the tour exhausted but with all of my questions answered.

Here are just a few things we learned about student life at Liberty University:

-Professors do not get tenure. They gave reasons for why this was a good thing, but it made me feel a little bad for the professors. Job security is a valuable thing.

-There are three different styles of dorm rooms. One is the traditional type that I had back in my college years at the University of Alabama, where you have the good old fashioned community bathrooms. The other two styles are more luxurious.

-They have a cadaver lab “open to select undergraduate biomedical science students.” One of our tour guides was able to work and learn in the cadaver lab while she was still in her undergraduate years. That was impressive and shocking to me. That is a rare privilege for students at that stage.

-If you put in your application using the bar code they give you on your tour, within two weeks of your tour, you get to waive the $50 college application fee. So yes, our son already applied. I do like to save $50.

-It is an all walk campus, and there are buses that bring kids from the more distant dorm buildings to the center of campus.

-There are accountability rules governing student behavior, way more structure than at a public, secular university.

-Students must be back at the dorms each weeknight by midnight.

-Students must attend weekly convocation.

-Liberty has over 15,000 students on campus. This is almost as big as the University of Alabama was when I went there twenty years ago.

-All admittance to sports games and gym membership is covered in your tuition and fees, so you feel like you are going to major NCAA football and basketball games for free. (That’s the privilege of being a student. Parents still have to buy a ticket.)

-The Liberty University gym is incredible. I am not sure there is anything you cannot find in there. It is humongous. It even has its own food court.

-There is only one library. It is very large, but I found this odd for such a big school.

-The library has one of those robotic storage systems. Many of the books are still on the traditional library shelves, but many are stored in this robotic system. We got to see it in action, and my mind was a little bit blown. You can even check out miscellaneous items like a shop vac or a sewing machine.

-Sorry to keep going on about the library, but I was also impressed and feeling old to see standing/exercise desks in the library too. Things have changed so much in twenty years!

-The tour guides did speak frequently about the importance of Liberty being a Christ-centered college. Their mission is to train champions for Christ. That was really encouraging to me. I loved that.

-There are so many scholarship opportunities! With four kids to help through college, that is a big deal to me too.

-One of the scholarships is for Virginia domicile residents, and it is a good one. Of course, that depends on us actually staying in Virginia, which I cannot promise to do…

Altogether, I just loved this school.

If I were the student instead of the mom, I would be like, “Where do I sign up???” I know I would have loved going to school there.

But the question is, did the boys love it?

They definitely liked it. I think either of them could end up enrolling at Liberty. Neither of them complained about anything, but neither of them was like, “Yes! I have to go here!!” Also, neither of them have toured any other schools yet. That makes a big difference too.

So this process has just begun for us. One college down, and several to go. So far this one is my personal favorite, but I know it is not my decision. I promise I will behave and let them choose their school for themselves.

The post We Toured Liberty University & This is What We Learned. appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

***When you purchase through links on my website, I do collect advertising fees from the Amazon.***

Best of all, these books each have a different character-building lesson in them. They are beautifully illustrated too.

When you shop online, it is hard to know what exactly is in any book you have never read before. That can be problematic as a parent, with so many weird, competing messages being blasted out to our children.

So I’m here to tell you exactly what you will find in these new books for kids!

All opinions here are my own. I did read each book, and I even asked the authors to provide a giveaway copy for my readers! So I am extra excited about that. Giving fun stuff away is my favorite.

Now let’s see the new books!

I have read every page of each of these, from digital proof copies, supplied to me by the authors.

#1. Lincoln’s Big Adventure

There is so much to tell you about this one! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

In Lincoln’s Big Adventure, you follow a $5 bill on his way through life, changing hands many times. In fact, we begin the story with Lincoln (the $5 bill) hanging out with some other money in a piggy bank. So cute.

What is great about this book is that it teaches giving, kindness, saving up money, charity, and helping others in a way that is a story and isn’t preachy at all. In the end, Lincoln gets to feel like he made a big difference.

It’s a heart warming story with a good message, and your kids will definitely learn a lot from this book.

Plus, I have noticed kids often have a fascination with money and how it works. This book will teach them more about that too.

A neat bonus here is that the book includes both English and Spanish. The Spanish is right below the English on the page. You can practice your Spanish while reading this book.

I also like that it is written by a Christian author and school teacher, Jordan Saez. You can find more of her books here.

#2. Fred The Oversized Watermelon

This is a super sweet, deep, and emotional book. It has an awesome, rarely heard message in children’s literature these days.

Fred is larger than all of the other watermelons. No one will befriend him, not the watermelons nor the other animals and fruits. For a minute, things are looking real bleak for Fred.

Children’s books do not often go this sad either, but life does, and that’s just facts. But do NOT despair!! That is one of the key themes of the book, the not despairing.

I hesitate to tell you the ending because it is a total spoiler to the story, but I know as parents you need to know the message.

So here’s the spoiler. Scroll fast to the next book if you don’t want to know. Ha!

This completely took me by surprise because books so rarely mention this aspect of God, the not being alone because you have someone watching over you.

Towards the end, Fred meets Duck. Duck represents God in the story. He shows up with a message of pure HOPE and love.

Duck has been watching Fred all along. He brings up the little good things that happened amongst the sad times and how he sent those. He reassures and loves Fred when no one else will. It is excellent. It reminds me of a Max Lucado book.

This book is written by Kendal Clawson. In the front of the book, Kendal dedicates the book to her nieces or nephews and reminds them that there is always a God in heaven watching over them. That is a vital thing to teach our children.

#3. Swinging for Joy

This is a sweet, heart warming story about a little girl and her dog and how they help a little boy in distress.

The dog is named Joy, and he is sort of a magic dog. Well, maybe he is magic, and maybe he isn’t. What he does are all things dogs do. He finds things with his nose, he comforts his girl, London, and he is her best friend.

Our dog does that too. In fact, that is the reason I insisted on buying our boys a dog even though I have never been a dog person. (Yeah, I know, crazy cat person here.)

I LOVE how in this story London sees a boy crying at the playground and heads straight over to help him.

This is EXACTLY the sort of behavior I want my kids to display, caring about other people and acting on it. It is also what we want others to do for us in our time of need.

This is a story of faith. You can use the way she believes in her wishes to her dog to encourage your kids to look to God to help them with their problems.

Another thing I liked about this story is this line, “All you have to do is believe..”

Kids are often not taught to believe in anything. This book teaches believing in something bigger than yourself. Just make sure they know the thing to believe in is God. If he can create a world, he can help you find your keys.

There is also a cool reference to some historical heroes from Alabama in the book, that I especially enjoyed. But since I’ve already let out so many story spoilers, I will let you discover that one for yourself.

The author of this book, Aishah Hight, focuses on writing on themes of kindness, hope, and overcoming challenges. That is exactly what kids need.

Now let’s give away some new books!

Our winner will receive one copy of each of these three books, in the mail, directly from the author. If you’d like, the author will even sign your copy!

To register for the giveaway, click on the tabs in the Rafflecopter below. You can comment below, or you can visit my new Facebook page and click like.

You have two weeks to enter the giveaway. I will let you know via email if you win, so you must provide a good email address that you check regularly.

Rules: You must live in the United States and have a valid email address so I can notify you if you win.

Your kids will love this! Good luck!!

The post 3 New Children’s Books for Summer & A Giveaway! appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

These are all quotes about being a boy mom that anyone raising a boy, or two, or seven, will enjoy. I created fun pictures for some of them too so you can save them on Pinterest. I tend to save more funny quotes than I do helpful articles. Ha!

Or I save the helpful content on Pinterest, but I do not actually ever get around to doing them… So these are just for fun and encouragement.

#1. Mark Twain and his struggling mother….I guarantee you he was right, and she enjoyed it very much. I know I adore raising these children, no matter how hard it is.

#2. No one is as indestructible as a boy in a Batman costume.

Who knew Plato had jokes?

#3. This one sounds exactly like my life and is from a fellow mom blogger:

You’re going to miss this someday – I whisper to myself as I’m shot in the butt with a Nerf Gun while unclogging the toilet.”

~Lauren @https://simply-well-balanced.com

#4. Princess Diana:

#5. I actually said this one, and I stand by this statement:

But “somewhat?” No. I feel seriously accomplished!

#6. Embrace the messy. This one came from a blogger friend named Julie, who actually has five sons.

#7. I get to focus all of my fashion efforts on my OWN wardrobe

You can read more about the benefits of boy momhood here.

#8. Okay. THIS one from Kenny Rogers is one of my ALL time favorites, and it sums up most of my problems from the past seventeen years. Ha!

#9. I found my son skateboarding on the trampoline, and I feel like that sums up how dangerous raising boys actually is.

#10. Pure wisdom from Proverbs:

#11. This next one!!! I mean because it is like shoveling snow in a blizzard sometimes, especially when they are little.

#12. “Raising boys is a lot like raising lion cubs.”

I said that when I took all of them out in public together one time when they were all little.

This was the whole story:

The manager gave us a tour (of a rec center). Of course, the boys couldn’t keep their hands off each other, not in a mean way. It’s just that boys are very physical.  Raising boys is a lot like raising lion cubs.  At one point, all three hunched over JD, making googly faces at him. They were all smiling, and JD was whacking them in the face, just as happy as he could be. They loved it!

Don’t worry. I don’t condone toddlers smacking people in their faces…

#13. The sand, the kids running in opposite directions, the exhaustion, the safety concerns, I will never forget, one does not simply take four little boys to the beach by yourself.

#14. I left him alone for five minutes to run upstairs and grab something. When I came back downstairs, he was covered in chocolate and was laying upside down, asleep, half on the floor, feet in his chair.

That carpet never stood a chance.

#15. This one is so sweet, and it is the truest of true boy mom quotes. They will be heroes in our eyes!

“You don’t raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they’ll turn out to be heroes, even if it’s just in your own eyes.” – Wally Schirra

#16. Amen to this:

“I used to give my friends who have kids advice all the time, and they would look at me like I had three heads. And then, when I had two, I literally apologized to all my friends.”

-Jennifer Lopez

#17. I found this quote on Pinterest from another present day writer. It is such a good reminder!!

“The only part of their childhood that lasts forever are the memories, so we better not be too busy to make them.” –Casey Huff in this post at Her View from Home

#18. Being a boy mom is all about wrestling, cookies, video games, and endless energy. The endless energy is theirs. You will gradually have less and less.

#19. You have boys. Congratulations! Your toilet will never be clean again.

#20. I will end on this one because it sums up my life from 2005-2013, when I was having one baby boy after another. My oldest son, around age seven, actually said to me, “Wait. If we go inside, we have to stand still and be quiet? Oh, I can’t go then. I am not made to stand still.”

“If it requires my child to sit still and be quiet, I can’t come.” -Unknown

This was also how we picked churches in the earlier years. No nursery for church service? Then we will have to attend a different church. Sanity matters, y’all.

I hope you enjoyed these boy mom quotes.

There is nothing that has brought more joy to my adulthood than being a boy mom to my sons. Now listen, I would also have LOVED to have daughters. I tried to do so, in fact. So please don’t troll me about that because I wanted a daughter very badly. Who knows? Maybe someday God will still give me one.

But I would not trade a single boy in this house for any daughters, puppies, or quiet time. Raising these boys is the greatest blessing we have ever had, and I know you feel the say way about your own, both daughters and sons.

“Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”

Psalm 106:1

The post 20 Boy Mom Quotes That Will Make You Smile appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

July 4, 1863 Telegraph from President Lincoln:

“The President announces to the country that news from the Army of the Potomac, up to 10 P.M. of the 3rd. is such as to cover that Army with the highest honor, to promise a great success to the cause of the Union, and to claim the condolence of all for the many gallant fallen. And that for this, he especially desires that on this day, He whose will, not ours, should ever be done, be everywhere remembered and reverenced with profoundest gratitude.”

President Abraham Lincoln, July 4, 1863

Day Trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield

One of my favorite things to do is to drag my entire family out on day trips. Gettysburg was just such a trip. It’s close to our house, and it is all outdoors.

Gettysburg is such a humongous historical battlefield that it is actually a driving tour. It was a good thing too because we went in freezing weather. The wind was howlin’! But you know I’ve never been one to let a little hostile weather lock me in. It was my birthday, and we made the most of it.

Four Key Facts to Know About the Battle of Gettysburg:

#1. This national park protects the very land of the 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, from the American Civil War.

#2. The Union Army won this battle, and it is considered the turning point of the Civil War.

#3. Gettysburg was the Civil War’s bloodiest battle. It effectively ended Confederate General Lee’s invasion of the North.

There were over 51,000 casualties.

#4. It is the site of President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg Address, which he made at the dedication of the Gettysburg cemetery dedication.

A lot of that you may have already known.

But did you know that Lincoln was deeply disappointed in the end game performance of General Meade at this battle?

You see, Meade allowed the Confederate troops to flee the battlefield free of pursuit. President Lincoln thought if only Meade’s forces had given them chase, they could have finished off the war altogether. At this point, the Civil War had already dragged on for two years, and naturally the President was anxious to see it end.

Lincoln actually wrote a letter of reproach to General Meade but then did not send it to him.

Tips for Touring:

#1. There is a museum with gift shop.

Visit the museum first instead of last! We goofed on that by waiting until the end of our tour. The gift shop and the museum all closed up shop just five minutes before we finished up our tour and were ready to enter. Sad.

#2. Use a self- guided tour app!

They have bus tours you can sign up for, and horse tours, and all sorts of things. We just downloaded the app on our phone and toured in the comfort of the minivan. There are actually several apps to choose from. The apps work with your GPS. They know where you are and will give you the history as you drive.

I think we used this app.

Unfortunately, we were still figuring it out at the beginning and completely missed the cemetery area. This was disappointing because the cemetery is where the Lincoln statue and information are. Don’t skip the cemetery! See, you really do learn more from your mistakes…

Otherwise, the app was awesome. It told us history about each place we visited and explained many of the monuments. We used Bluetooth on my phone to play it through the van speakers, so everyone in the car could hear well.

#3. Plan for this whole tour to take a few hours.

You will stop and get out a lot. There are even tall look-out pavilions to climb and get views.

#4. Devil’s Den has lot of rocks that children like to climb on.

My kids passed on the climbing when we went though. It was too windy and FREEZING.

#5. If you have access to ancestry.com or family history, look up what grandfather you may have had that fought in this battle.

I was surprised to discover I had many grandfathers who fought in this battle, and so did my husband. Try to find which unit they fought with and if they lived to tell the tale.

The Gettysburg Address

“Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

“Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. “

“We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.“

Alan says my brooch looks like a sheriff’s badge. Ha!! I still think it’s pretty. Long live the brooch.

“But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate — we can not consecrate — we can not hallow — this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. “

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. 

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion —

“…that we here highly resolved that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.“

President Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.

For more information, check out the Gettysburg website.

I hope you get to go. It was fascinating. I have one last group of photos I MUST share with you. This isw my favorite picture and sighting from the trip. How cool is this?

This barn was there before the battle, and it still stands. It STILL bears the cannon hole from the Battle of Gettysburg!

Closing Thoughts from Lincoln

If you are a history lover like me, there is nothing better than reading commentary from the people who lived it and lead it.

Lincoln noted in his second inaugural address that he believed the war dragged on so long so that our country might pay for every drop of enslaved blood that had been shed. Here is his exact quote:

Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’

~Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address

The post How To Take an Easy Fun Car Tour of Gettysburg appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

I thought this day might not even come this year, but here is it, on a rainy Monday. The boys are back in school!

Last night, I thoroughly combed through the newly revised school supply list, making sure both of my elementary school boys have everything they need. It probably took us an hour to get it all ready, but it was a glorious feeling.

Today it was easy to get them up in time because there was the excitement of the first day of school.

One boy was more excited than the other. That’s okay.

My heart swelled with joy to see the line of kids, with their parents, at the corner bus stop. That is actually our bus stop, but I have decided to ease them in as car riders this year. The school is literally one street away, but it is a major highway, not a walking route.

Normalcy! I mean, almost normalcy.

Maryland is way overdue for it, I think. I mean it feels like everyone in the country is already back in school and sport except for us.

Lately though, change is in the air. I don’t care what the neigh-sayers say. Ever since they rolled out the vaccine the COVID rates have been dropping like a car at the top of the roller coaster, and we are thrilled!

Church was suddenly a different place yesterday. We have had several weeks cancelled or altered due to ice and snow in February, but this week we had plain old rain.

And in spite of the rain, people were in church! We have two services, an outdoor drive in service and an indoor service that has been running at about 10% capacity. It was open for more than that, but each week that looked like all that was coming to me. But yesterday! Y’all! Yesterday! There were people in the balcony! Many barriers had been lessened or removed, but most of all— there were people!!!

There was even a singer! We have not had special music in a year.

It was water and bread and balm to our souls. I was so happy to experience it all. Yes, we still wore masks and stayed apart from our neighbors, but we were there! It felt like church again.

We belong to an active church that gave out both food and clothes to those in need during the pandemic. When everything was hard shut down, we met online and then in the parking lot in our cars, listening to the preacher on our car radios. Now that Covid case numbers are down so much, people are getting to come back inside.

I know this isn’t over. The masks, cancelled activities, and plexi glass on the boys’ school desks are an ever present reminder that the rona is still among us. But the deep decrease in cases, the continuing roll out of the vaccines, and the return to life outside our home is all so promising and refreshing.

Spring is really coming this year, and spring is my favorite.

We will have two days/ week to send the boys to school. If you can picture what you would expect a house of four boys to look like after a YEAR of being home 24/7, your picture is accurate. There is so much cleaning that needs to be done. I came home not sure where to even begin! I worked on the kitchen for a while. Then I have myself some time to do this.

Next I will probably tend to the laundry and lunch. It feels exciting to have time to write again too! I missed my blog!

I know some people are more careful to play it safer than others, but my hope is that if we open at least partially, in as safe a manner as we can, that is a very good thing.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Romans 15:13

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The post Finally Going to Our First Day of Hybrid School on March 1st appeared first on Stories of Our Boys.

A month ago, COVID case numbers were down, and they announced that we would gradually start sending the children back to school. The funny part is that it was only for one day a week anyway. Around half the county signed up for this, and the other half elected to just stay full time virtual.

Wow! There were so many people who were not so terribly desperate for a quiet day that they actually chose to stay full virtual. All people are different, y’all. We really are, and that is okay.

Me, I was disappointed to hear it was only for a day because I have always thought of home schooling as a nightmare, and I do not like feeling this overwhelmed.

I will take what I can get, so I signed the boys up for the their one day/week.

Our second grader went back three weeks ago, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. He hates virtual school. This child was made for running wild through open fields, digging holes, and showing off all that he knows. It is hard to do any of those things while doing school on a computer. He is free-spirited and uninhibited. I admire his spirit. That was never me. I was much more uptight.

I wrote all about the hilarity that is our second grader doing virtual school here. He is actually quite adorable.

Our fourth grader began his one day of in-person school just this week. He got to go ONE day and reported that it was WAY better than virtual school. Then the announcement came that night.

The Announcement

This week our county announced a return to full virtual school. Even the children enrolled in learning centers were sent home. All hybrid hopes are over.

I am surprisingly okay.

Something has happened in the last couple of weeks in my spirit. I believe it is called acceptance. Kicking against the goads has been my default. Things are not how I want them to be. Who wants a world like this, filtered through a mask, isolated in our little huts?

But these are the cards we are dealt. These are the years, yes years apparently, we spend with our kids full time at home. Rooms are less tidy. Social calendars are emptier, and yes, sometimes it is lonely.

Keeping little boys paying attention to a computer teacher is sort of a joke.

I am so done constantly fighting against that. Actually, I will not be done for a while, but internally I very much WANT to be done. It seems like when I go off to other rooms and leave them alone with their computer screens, they actually get more done and listen BETTER than when I am in the room with them. If I am with them, they feel the need to keep me involved, ask me for snacks, and tell me stories.

Good news: It looks chaotic, but learning is actually going on just fine.

I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day while I cooked lunch. Daniel had asked me to make baked potato soup that day. Normally, I do not talk on the phone during school hours because it is too distracting for all three boys who do school downstairs, but that day I did it anyway.

Daniel was beside me, peeling baked potatoes. John David was trekking in and out to show me the story he was writing. Caleb strolled by to show me his latest drawing and say hello to Nana.

I joked to my mom, “As you can see, they are all working very hard at their school work.”

Mom and I got a good laugh out of that. Were the boys all at recess? I mean I hope so, but I am not totally sure. They are usually on task, but we do still have all of these interactions like this during the day. It feels very much like a home school situation. There are home school programs you can do where the kids have teachers teach them on videos, just like this.

The boys are getting time here to explore their interests. Caleb would be drawing in class whether he is at school or at home, but Daniel would not be squeezing in extra cooking time. This is a bonus. John David probably would not have extra writing time either.

The virtual schooling has also helped me make peace with Alan remaining in the Army.

Remaining an Army family is another life circumstance that my spirit has bristled against. There is this deep longing in me to gather up our family and worldly goods and move to a nice piece of land in Alabama. I have written about that many times this year.

Several things about being in our nineteenth year of military service have bothered me. First and foremost is watching our older children be so strongly affected by changing schools over and over again. Our high schooler is now on his FOURTH school in FOUR years. That is ridiculous. We are not talking about moving every FEW years. No, this is far more drastic than that. He has changed schools four years in a row.

Stressful does not even begin to describe it, and I have guilt!

But wait. With half of the country thrown into virtual school with no options, it has ushered in the idea of another path. Our teenager says he rather likes virtual school. Tennis has kept him active and interacting with the world, and with church starting back, I am hoping that will too.

I suppose we actually could move teenagers during high school if they opt for a home/virtual school type option. That might be far less stressful for them.

Plus, my oldest son does not need my supervision the way the younger boys do. It is not a drain on me at all. Home and virtual schooling feels much easier to me with older children than it did with little ones.

But these younger two, aughhhh!!! At the moment they are literally chasing each other around the house, and I can still see a second grade math class going on in the living room.

Okay. I got both little rowdy buddies back in their virtual classes. Ugh. How I love my new role of “hall monitor.” (Not.) ….And now I am a math tutor….for common core…..

Today I have peace though. Acceptance has occurred.

This is our lot, and it is not so bad. Yes, it is busy, and I will have no energy left by three or five, depending on the day. I am okay though. No one is coming over– it is a pandemic. So the house needs to be clean, but not necessarily decluttered.

There will always be a list full of things to do, but isn’t that a good thing? That makes me feel useful and fulfilled. God has given us purpose here, a whole ton of purpose.

We are going to make the best of this.

What else can we do? This is the lot that God has given us for 2020/2021, and we will graze in this pasture and feed on this soil. We are in the palm of God’s good hands.

“I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.”

Ezekiel 34:15-16

God is good all the time, and all the time, God is good.

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