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On Saturday, Josiah participated in the Southeast Region ACSI (Association of Christian Schools International) spelling bee in Atlanta Georgia. There were 70 spellers from the states of Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The bee was held in a banquet hall. As we were sitting and waiting, Josiah commented, “I’m not sure what the disco ball is for.” Lighting a disco ball during a spelling bee would certainly add some lightheartedness to what is a tense occasion. I think I’ll recommend it for next year. I then explained to him that a banquet hall is more commonly used for wedding receptions and pointed out the wood dance floor and stage. I showed Josiah the program that declared the winner would receive $125. At which point he said, “I should have studied more.” Kids and parents were in all levels of spirit and dress. One boy wore a suit, some wore school uniforms, most were nicely dressed, but a few were in jeans or flip flops. Watching the other students and their families provided me with much entertainment. The Grandma in front of me was so nervous for her two grandchildren, I wanted to pat her on the back. I was certain that one speller was going to faint up there and another rubbed her hands in anxiety throughout. One middle school boy was completely disinterested and read a book when it was not his turn. The children were randomly assigned a number and Josiah was blessed to receive a higher number which proved helpful later on. The first round was a practice round and Josiah spelled the word – ACCOUNT. If you misspell in the practice round, you are not out. Round 1 then started and I had great empathy for the kid who was assigned #1. He looked like an 8th grader and had been to the regional bee the year before. For his word, he got budgie (a small Australian parrot). Now all you Aussies out there would think it impossible for a kid not to know how to spell budgie, but while most Australian words end in ie, most American words end in y. Budgie was on the 5th grade difficult list which I am quite certain this 8th grader did not think he needed to study. He had never heard the word before and spelled it wrong. I felt awful for him and began hoping that Josiah could at least get through the first round. For round 1, Josiah spelled OPERETTA. Round 2 provided his first near miss. Josiah spelled CALLUS. He said CAL and then paused and thought about whether or not it had 2 L’s in it. I had my head in my hands, mentally sending him L’s in my mind. He got it right. In round 3, Josiah spelled ONOMATOPOEIA. When the judge said the word, the audience groaned, thinking Josiah finished. However, thanks to Josiah’s English teacher who made him write a line of a poem in onomatopoeia, the word was familiar to him. In round 4, Josiah spelled COALESCE. In round 5, he spelled SOLILOQUY. At the start of round 6, there were 17 spellers left. In all the previous rounds, the judge had used words from a study list provided to the students. In round 6, she began to give them words not on their study list. In round 6, Josiah spelled COMPREHENSIBLE. In round 7, there were 7 spellers left. Here is where Josiah’s higher number proved beneficial. The three students ahead of him spelled their words incorrectly. Therefore, the remaining 4 students were automatically the 4 chosen to go to the National competition in DC even though at that moment, they had not spelled any more words right than the others. At the start of the competition, the judge told the students that the spelling bee was not fair. It was the luck of the draw. At that moment I realized what she meant. Several students were given words I had never heard before and knew that if Josiah had gotten those words, he would have been eliminated. In round 7, Josiah spelled ECOSPHERE. By round 8, only Josiah and one middle school girl were left. In order to win, he had to spell 2 words correctly in a row. He spelled PATINA and misspelled VENTRICAL (correct spelling: ventricle). The girl then misspelled. On his next attempt, he misspelled GENIE (correct spelling: genii) When the judge spoke the sentence, Josiah was supposed to understand that she wanted the plural form. She pronounced it just like genie and I couldn’t understand how he had gotten it wrong. I was his arbitrator and had the right to approach the table when I thought something unfair had occurred. To Josiah’s mortification, I approached the table and asked the judge for the proper spelling. When the spell off for the final two students began, she had stopped giving them the correct spelling for the words they missed. She informed me it was genii. I sat down. (I do believe that she pronounced it wrong and should have made it sound like gean-ee-i) The girl missed her word and Josiah spelled PERPETUITY. He then misspelled FEDUCIARY (correct spelling: fiduciary) The girl received two words that Josiah was sure she could spell and he thought that he had lost, but she misspelled succumbed. Josiah then spelled METTLESOME and UNTRAMMELED to win. I jumped out of my seat and gave him a high 5 and shook his opponents hand. When I turned around, I discovered that everyone else was still sitting and now looking at me. My only excuse is too many days watching the families of game show contestant winners run up on stage. Josiah won a plaque and $125. He will now participate in the National Spelling Bee in Washington DC on May 10th. So, he is not yet untrammeled from studying his word list.

We attended the neighborhood Easter Egg hunt today. Spring is taking off with the forsythia, quince, pear trees, and magnolias in bloom. It felt like Easter should be arriving soon. In Australia, I had to constantly tell myself that the holidays were still in the same month. Because the seasons are opposite, the holidays never felt like they were at the correct time. When you live 39 years in the Northern hemisphere having Easter in Autumn, the 4th of July in winter, and Christmas in summer is difficult to get used to. Easter Egg hunts were a major part of Dale’s childhood memories. His Mama was a children’s pastor for years and they would hard boil and dye countless eggs for the church’s Easter Egg hunt. Dale will have to comment with the number of eggs they dyed each year. He told me the number once, but all I can remember thinking is…”how can you possibly boil that many eggs?” I love hard boiled eggs, but am hopeless at cooking them. I know it is supposed to be a simple cooking task, but for some reason I only occasionally do it correctly. The Manrys would have a massive egg hunt at the church and eat hard boiled eggs for a week. I, however, grew up with the tradition of hunting for my Easter Basket. My Mom would hide our baskets throughout the house and we would wake up Easter morning and search for them. We would attend sunrise service and then the church would host a pancake breakfast that the men would cook. When we returned home, we would continue searching for our baskets. One year, my Mom hid mine in an old cigar box that was piled up with a bunch of junk stacked next to the steps. That one took a long time to find. I know I am getting old because instead of always wanting to celebrate holidays differently, I am now quite nostalgic for traditions of my past. I want to wave palm branches on Palm Sunday, I want to attend Good Friday Service and contemplate Christ’s death on the cross, I want to wake up for Easter Sunrise Service and stand outside singing the praises of the resurrection. I want to hear the same passages read on those days year after year because they are the most significant reminders of why we follow Christ. I admit that Easter Egg and basket hunts are not as important as the other celebrations of Easter, but I find them fun none the less. In a combination of traditions, our kids usually attend both an Egg hunt and an Easter morning basket hunt. The egg hunt for years was provided courtesy of Army mandatory fun. Some units still hold Egg hunts and Christmas parties. In Australia, we attended the egg hunt on the grounds of the American Embassy. The challenge during that hunt was avoiding the magpies that would swoop down, crack the plastic egg, steal the lolly and fly away. Being Australian magpies, they thought of it as a lolly not a candy. Todays Easter Egg Hunt had separate areas for different age children, a large decorated white chair with an Easter Bunny sitting in it for pictures, and a table of cupcakes that someone cleverly made look like baskets using a piece of red licorice. I considered it fairly self explanatory, but it did not stop a kindly woman from attempting to inform the crowd about what to do. She of course could not be heard over the wind and the children, but she was not deterred. Zeke ran about jumping over various eggs and picking up others at random. Josiah was trying to determine why Zeke was jumping over the eggs. I told him that it was impossible to figure out the thought process of a 3 year old in the midst of an egg hunt.

We are in turn the rugs over mode as my parents are scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I started the kids cleaning their rooms over the Presidents Day 3 day weekend. Josiah cleaned his room quickly and efficiently. Abby, who loves a mess, cleaned her room quickly because I allowed her to sleep over at her friends house. Awhile ago, I had helped Abby clean her room and put everything away in its proper sorted order. When we were done I said, “See, doesn’t your room look much better?” To which she replied, “No. It doesn’t feel very homey to me.” Zeke cleaned his room with a little help from Mom. Gabe, well, it’s actually painful for me to watch Gabe clean his room. How Gabe plays and how Gabe cleans has such a randomness to it that it can not be comprehended by his right handed Mother. I have cleaned along beside him and instructed him in how to break down a large task (clean your room) into smaller tasks (put away stuffed animals, put away costumes, put away legos, etc). Instead, Gabe picks up one lego, looks at it for awhile, attaches it to another lego piece, puts it away, picks up one stuffed animal, looks at it awhile, finds a costume dresses it up, and puts it away, picks up one dirty sock, runs to the laundry chute, puts it in. The other possible cleaning method of picking up every piece of dirty laundry, so that you only have to make one trip to the laundry chute completely escapes him. He was not allowed to watch tv, play the computer, ds or wii until his room was cleaned. It took him all 3 days. When he was done, nothing was actually put away neatly in the myriad of assorted bins that I have given him. It was a hodge podge of unique creations piled on his shelves. Part way through this cleaning attempt, I called my left handed friend for a consultation. “Can you perform a single task to completion before starting something else?” “Rarely,” was the answer. She told me that when the deadline arrived, he would be done. On Monday night he was done. All I then needed to do was accept a left handed standard.