I got up about an hour ago because I couldn't sleep.
4 am. Sheesh! It's gonna be a long day. But having the house to myself for a couple of hours means more time to commune with my Lord. I remember how back when i was a young abult, those few years before i was married, how I'd spend so much time studying scripture, memorizing it, meditating, praying. That changed once I got married, and especially once I had children. My responsibilities to my family kept me from being able to devote so much time to "quiet time", and my mind was so full of mommy things that I now had trouble memorizing two consecutive verses, whereas before I would memorize whole books of the bible. I remind myself that this is a season. A season that will soon change. There will come a day when I have more time each day to spend sitting at Jesus' feet. And one day I will no longer suffer from crazy momma brain, but will be able to spend focused time in prayer and meditation, and once again be able to memorize stuff.
At least that's what I hope. Until then, I take what minutes I can get, feast on the passages of scripture I've committed to memory in the past, and listen to scripture play as I am busy with my work.
Yesterday I bought supplies to make advent calendars for gifts. It's going to be a lot of work, but I hope to make 5 sets by next weekend. I'll post pictures once they're finished.
Margaret, William, and I went thrift store yesterday and each of us found some treasures. I needed some black shoes, and I found some DKNY for $3.50. Margaret was looking for another pair of Vans and found some in indigo for $10. William was hunting for basketball attire for him and his brothers and four two pairs of shorts and two jerseys. Better than the shoes I found, was a pair of 7 For All Mankind vintage wash trouser jeans in my size for $7.50! They're soft as butter and just the right length. How delightful!
We have a Christmas party to attend tonight, the first of the season. Fun, fun!
I just re read what id written, and laughed at all the funny auto corrects. I rarely proof read what I've written anymore, so I've probably written some pretty funny things since I've been blogging on my iPad.
It's later on Thursday morning now. I took Margaret and Samuel on a 5 and a quarter mile run this morning. To be honest, they dragged me along. They are getting so fast! I don't know when I've run a fast five miles! It was such a struggle to keep up with them!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Yesterday was a flurry of activity. I started the morning off with my usual run, then we jumped right into school work. I had grocery shopping to do, then Brian came home to join us for lunch. William and John had a scout meeting where they received some awards, and there was a collecting of gifts to take to the Helping Hands Home for Children. We contributed a couple of Lego sets. The boys den meets at the baptist church school that my childhood BFF's mom has taught second grade for a million years, and she came down to visit us for a few minutes. What a sweetie Nancy is!
Margaret had packed us a dinner of sandwiches, so we munched on those on the way to our next activity: johns basketball practice at the downtown YMCA. He and Tommy are playing on the same team. This is the first sport we've had John signed up for in about two years. He's hated competition so we haven't pushed him. But Thomas called a few weeks ago and asked if John would play basketball with Tommy. We had to get special permission to get John moved down to the 6/7 year old bracket to be with tommy, but we assured the folks at the Y that John was not going to be out there pushing the younger kids around. Well, Samuel must've given John a pep talk before practice, because john was on fire. When the team split up to scrimmage, John's team won and John made every single basket for the team. He was so excited! Hopefully the Y won't change their mind about letting him play with the younger kids. Can't wait to see how things go at the game on Saturday.
I don't know if I have said anything about this, but Thomas and Meredith have separated. Yesterday was the first time I've seen her in nearly four months. We hugged and cried. My heart breaks for both of them. Blog readers, please join me in praying for this family. Foremost I ask you to pray for their salvation.
After we left the Y, we went to a meeting at the middle school that Margaret and and Samuel will be attending after the break. Brian and I both came away from it with a good feeling. It's the best middle school in Austin, but also an older, urban school, just like Maplewood was. I think Margaret and Samuel will feel more at home in this school than they woulda in a more suburban school. We got to visit with the principal a bit, and he game the impression that he is on top of things and takes his job very serious.
It makes me sad that our homeschooling kind of got shipwrecked after such a positive start, but I believe it's for the best. Brian made the decision to put some of the kids back in school, so I can rest knowing that it wasn't me doing it. He felt that to keep them at home was doing them a disservice because neither of us were able to give them the attention they need. They are both very excited, especially now that they've seen the school and walked the hallways. William and John can't wait to start middle school either when their time comes. William is sure he's going to play football. :) No matter that he's a young fifth grader and small for his age. We have said that when we put W and J back in school that we'll hold them back a year, but W is so eager to start middle school next fall that we
may have a real challenge with that plan.
Well, I had better get out for my run before the morning is too far spent. Ok, yeah, it's only 6:30 right now, but this household gets moving early.
Margaret had packed us a dinner of sandwiches, so we munched on those on the way to our next activity: johns basketball practice at the downtown YMCA. He and Tommy are playing on the same team. This is the first sport we've had John signed up for in about two years. He's hated competition so we haven't pushed him. But Thomas called a few weeks ago and asked if John would play basketball with Tommy. We had to get special permission to get John moved down to the 6/7 year old bracket to be with tommy, but we assured the folks at the Y that John was not going to be out there pushing the younger kids around. Well, Samuel must've given John a pep talk before practice, because john was on fire. When the team split up to scrimmage, John's team won and John made every single basket for the team. He was so excited! Hopefully the Y won't change their mind about letting him play with the younger kids. Can't wait to see how things go at the game on Saturday.
I don't know if I have said anything about this, but Thomas and Meredith have separated. Yesterday was the first time I've seen her in nearly four months. We hugged and cried. My heart breaks for both of them. Blog readers, please join me in praying for this family. Foremost I ask you to pray for their salvation.
After we left the Y, we went to a meeting at the middle school that Margaret and and Samuel will be attending after the break. Brian and I both came away from it with a good feeling. It's the best middle school in Austin, but also an older, urban school, just like Maplewood was. I think Margaret and Samuel will feel more at home in this school than they woulda in a more suburban school. We got to visit with the principal a bit, and he game the impression that he is on top of things and takes his job very serious.
It makes me sad that our homeschooling kind of got shipwrecked after such a positive start, but I believe it's for the best. Brian made the decision to put some of the kids back in school, so I can rest knowing that it wasn't me doing it. He felt that to keep them at home was doing them a disservice because neither of us were able to give them the attention they need. They are both very excited, especially now that they've seen the school and walked the hallways. William and John can't wait to start middle school either when their time comes. William is sure he's going to play football. :) No matter that he's a young fifth grader and small for his age. We have said that when we put W and J back in school that we'll hold them back a year, but W is so eager to start middle school next fall that we
may have a real challenge with that plan.
Well, I had better get out for my run before the morning is too far spent. Ok, yeah, it's only 6:30 right now, but this household gets moving early.
Monday, December 3, 2012
I'm sitting here in the living room, lit only by the Christmas lights. It's 5 am. and everyone else is still in bed. I love this hour because I have the house to myself for a little while.
Advent began yesterday. This is my favorite season of the church calendar. So much expectation, so much encouragement from looking back to what our Lord has done and promises fulfilled. Margaret and I made an advent wreath at church last Saturday and we have that in the
middle of the table. The church gave us a little booklet with scripture readings and hymns to work on each week of the season. We're also doing the Jesse Tree as we do every year.
We bought a cute live tabletop tree from central market instead of a big tree. It's so cute and makes me happy because it doesn't take up so much room that we have to take furniture out to the storage. We decorated it rather simply with some round, colored LED lights, retro looking glass balls, and those cinnamon applesauce ornaments cut in the shape of large stars. So between the real greenery from the wreath and tree and the ornaments, our house smells really good!
We attempted a Christmas picture yesterday before church. Everyone but John cooperated. He was pouting the entire time, and no manner of threatening made any difference. Oh well, I guess we'll just use what we have and call it 'real'.
I've been getting in a lot of running lately, averaging about 35 miles a week. Pretty good for not yet training for a marathon. On Saturday Brian and i ran between 7.5 and 8 miles. Yesterday afternoon Margaret and I went running and she wanted to do the same route, so we did. She's fast, and it was a challenge to stay with her. I think she and Samuel will really enjoy having the chance to run track when they go back to school.
Hazel has been such a handful lately! She is into everything! She still doesn't sleep through the night. She'll go down in her pack-n-play at night, but wakes up at least once. She usually ends up in our bed for the rest of the night. She had her one year check up the other day. She's still average size, though to me she seems small. She weighed 20 lbs. her weight gain has slowed since she started walking in October, but I guess that's normal. She doesn't talk a lot, at least not real words. Just "mama", "dada", and what we think is "mine". She understands everything it seems. She has no fear of strangers, and walks right up to people and stares at them. It's really funny. She's a very girlie girl, and carries a purse and takes a baby everywhere. Margaret wasn't that way. She was more into animals and nature, not dress up and playing mommy.
Advent began yesterday. This is my favorite season of the church calendar. So much expectation, so much encouragement from looking back to what our Lord has done and promises fulfilled. Margaret and I made an advent wreath at church last Saturday and we have that in the
middle of the table. The church gave us a little booklet with scripture readings and hymns to work on each week of the season. We're also doing the Jesse Tree as we do every year.
We bought a cute live tabletop tree from central market instead of a big tree. It's so cute and makes me happy because it doesn't take up so much room that we have to take furniture out to the storage. We decorated it rather simply with some round, colored LED lights, retro looking glass balls, and those cinnamon applesauce ornaments cut in the shape of large stars. So between the real greenery from the wreath and tree and the ornaments, our house smells really good!
We attempted a Christmas picture yesterday before church. Everyone but John cooperated. He was pouting the entire time, and no manner of threatening made any difference. Oh well, I guess we'll just use what we have and call it 'real'.
I've been getting in a lot of running lately, averaging about 35 miles a week. Pretty good for not yet training for a marathon. On Saturday Brian and i ran between 7.5 and 8 miles. Yesterday afternoon Margaret and I went running and she wanted to do the same route, so we did. She's fast, and it was a challenge to stay with her. I think she and Samuel will really enjoy having the chance to run track when they go back to school.
Hazel has been such a handful lately! She is into everything! She still doesn't sleep through the night. She'll go down in her pack-n-play at night, but wakes up at least once. She usually ends up in our bed for the rest of the night. She had her one year check up the other day. She's still average size, though to me she seems small. She weighed 20 lbs. her weight gain has slowed since she started walking in October, but I guess that's normal. She doesn't talk a lot, at least not real words. Just "mama", "dada", and what we think is "mine". She understands everything it seems. She has no fear of strangers, and walks right up to people and stares at them. It's really funny. She's a very girlie girl, and carries a purse and takes a baby everywhere. Margaret wasn't that way. She was more into animals and nature, not dress up and playing mommy.
Sunday, December 2, 2012
I'm so sorry that I've neglected you so, my blog! I really want to write, I just really have a hard time carving out the minutes to do so.
November was a stressful month, no doubt about it. The bottom fell out of our homeschooling, and Brian and I began searching for other options. We had three different groups of short term renters stay at our house in two weeks. We celebrated Hazel's birthday, and we went on a couple of camping trips. We celebrated thanksgiving with my mon's side of the family, as we usually do. Thanksgiving night my mon took the cousins (minus Hazel)
out to her house for a long weekend of cousin time. Brian and I stayed in our camper out at the Farm. It was cold and cozy, just the three of us out in that hill overlooking town. He and I cleaned up after renters twice that weekend, did a ten mile run together, read books, and ate at several good restaurants.
A few weeks ago we found out that Margaret and Samuel automatically qualify to enroll in a very good middle school across town and can even ride the bus. It's because the school we're zoned for is a No Child Left Behind school, whatever that means. What a relief and what we see as an answer to prayer. We don't have to scramble to try to move right away. They will either start school in the next week, or after the Christmas break. I'll continue to homeschool William and John and see how things go. I'm hoping they'll be more cooperative since I'll be able to give them more attention.
I may have written about this in a previous post, but in October i just broke down and got really depressed. I felt so overwhelmed! That's when Brian decided we had to make a schooling change. I scheduled a doctor's appointment to see if I might need suffering from some sort of imbalance. It was great to see Dr. Love again after a year. I just seriously love that man.., in a patient-doctor kind of way. He gave me all the time in the world and ask lots of questions. In the end he concluded that I was probably suffering from PMS, and prescribed progesterone. On a side note, I weighed five pounds less than I did before i got pregnant with Hazel. And that's without trying to lose weight, just running every day and doing some weights. We eat healthy, but I don't deprive myself of anything, just use common sense. I even eat bagels and pizza sometimes, drink my coffee with heavy cream, and have wine every night. Well, I do nurse all day and half the night, so that too burns a lot of calories, but still, I'm kind of amazed to be at 105, the weight I weighed when I was Margaret's age!
We were blessed with a new dishwasher free of charge, thanks to a GE recall. This one runs like a Cadillac. I feel so spoiled!
Must get going. Gotta get in a run before church. Have a blessed Lord's Day, y'all, and happy first day of Advent!
November was a stressful month, no doubt about it. The bottom fell out of our homeschooling, and Brian and I began searching for other options. We had three different groups of short term renters stay at our house in two weeks. We celebrated Hazel's birthday, and we went on a couple of camping trips. We celebrated thanksgiving with my mon's side of the family, as we usually do. Thanksgiving night my mon took the cousins (minus Hazel)
out to her house for a long weekend of cousin time. Brian and I stayed in our camper out at the Farm. It was cold and cozy, just the three of us out in that hill overlooking town. He and I cleaned up after renters twice that weekend, did a ten mile run together, read books, and ate at several good restaurants.
A few weeks ago we found out that Margaret and Samuel automatically qualify to enroll in a very good middle school across town and can even ride the bus. It's because the school we're zoned for is a No Child Left Behind school, whatever that means. What a relief and what we see as an answer to prayer. We don't have to scramble to try to move right away. They will either start school in the next week, or after the Christmas break. I'll continue to homeschool William and John and see how things go. I'm hoping they'll be more cooperative since I'll be able to give them more attention.
I may have written about this in a previous post, but in October i just broke down and got really depressed. I felt so overwhelmed! That's when Brian decided we had to make a schooling change. I scheduled a doctor's appointment to see if I might need suffering from some sort of imbalance. It was great to see Dr. Love again after a year. I just seriously love that man.., in a patient-doctor kind of way. He gave me all the time in the world and ask lots of questions. In the end he concluded that I was probably suffering from PMS, and prescribed progesterone. On a side note, I weighed five pounds less than I did before i got pregnant with Hazel. And that's without trying to lose weight, just running every day and doing some weights. We eat healthy, but I don't deprive myself of anything, just use common sense. I even eat bagels and pizza sometimes, drink my coffee with heavy cream, and have wine every night. Well, I do nurse all day and half the night, so that too burns a lot of calories, but still, I'm kind of amazed to be at 105, the weight I weighed when I was Margaret's age!
We were blessed with a new dishwasher free of charge, thanks to a GE recall. This one runs like a Cadillac. I feel so spoiled!
Must get going. Gotta get in a run before church. Have a blessed Lord's Day, y'all, and happy first day of Advent!
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