We are the Emerson family. We are a Christian family who teach our children at home.

We live in the Piedmont of North Carolina. That means we are just an hour or so from the mountains, and a few more to the ocean. We are out in the country, where you still see farmers on tractors, hear song birds all day and the night sky is marvelous! It's beautiful here!

We are very thankful for all that the Lord has given us and done for us. We have two wonderful children that we teach in our school, which we call the School of Hope and Joy.

Home Education has been a blessing to each member of our family. It gives us the time we need to "grow in grace and knowledge of Our Lord", as well as time for our family ministry, and time to enjoy EACH OTHER!

Just because we live under the same roof doesn't mean we are automatically friends with each other. It is easy to believe that kids are children and we are adults, and the two groups can't be friends. Or that the children are almost five years apart so that they can't relate. Well, through the blessing of school at home we share very special personal relationships (and yes, you will see the thirteen year old playing with the eight year old , as friends.) Because we all have accepted Jesus' free gift of salvation, we are family of the TRUE kind!

8/98 Update

Our children are now 14 and 10. Our family is still home schooling. This has been a trying year, homeschool or not. The times have just been a little bit difficult to live in. I am thankful for the hours we have to reason through the big issues that have been coming up.

We have had a lot of change in our family and I still sense more on the horizon! The ages of the children have introduced us to new 'experiences' as parents.

For the 14 year old, we would have to call this past year "the Year of Volunteering." Hope has worked in several ministry opportunies this year which are:

• Babysitting - helping out a mother with young children so she can get her household chores done

• Tiny Hands - babysitting and teaching easy sign language songs to children who are starring in a sign language teaching video series

• Therapeutic Riding - teaching handicapped children skills and horseback riding

• Worth the Wait drama team - performing skits promoting purity in the public middle school classrooms.

You hear so many bad things about adolescents today. Sure there are emotional moments due to emotional changes in the growing teen, but for the most part, Hope has been a pleasure to guide throught these years of physical, mental and spiritual development.

I forgot what parenting a 10 year old was like. Al is reminding me! It seems the questions jump quite freely from childhood to budding adolescent and this kid keeps getting lost in the middle. Isn't God gracious that we only go through the different developmental stages once?!

As always, Al remains intrigued with studying nature and building things. I have to keep reminding myself that the disarray in the livingroom is a learning experience. Al will be attending Lego University I think!