I recently found my collection of old blogposts from back when I was on xanga and was inspired to get back to blogging. How sweet it is to go back and read about our day to day activities. Those days were long and exhausting but I would go back in a heartbeat to taste them one more time.

I'm sitting here in the kitchen with Olive while she does her weekly homework packet. Hazel went to after school Bible study with friends and the boys aren't home from the high school yet. Margaret still lives here about half the time. The rest of the time she's either staying over with Claire who lives with her grandfather, or with our friends the Koplins who have a ranch on the other side of town. We don't see her much these days with all the stuff she does: college classes, nannying, Bible study, church, and friends.

Brian and I fly out to see Sam on Friday. It will be about two months since we last saw him, which by military standards is a very short time, but we want to visit him before he gets sent to his permanent duty station which should be next week when he graduates from School of Infantry. There's a strong possibility that he'll stay stateside, but there is still a chance he could be sent to a base outside the US for the next year or three. We want to be prepared. He sounds like he's doing well. We get to talk to him every weekend, usually for several hours. He's happy enough. He goes over to the music stores near base every Saturday and Sunday and spends hours playing guitar with other Marines.

I watched Sawyer all day today. He's the 10 month old that I've been watching a few days a week since August. He's a cute little fella and his parents are super chill for first timers which makes my job a lot easier. The weather was pleasant so we spent a good amount of time outside today.

I'm trying to get back in the saddle with running since the Austin marathon a week or so ago. After walking the girls to school I ran five miles. I'm not sure how often I'll plan to run now that marathon season is past. I pretty much ran all year round after last year's marathon, but I'm not sure if I want to do that or not.

Brian and I are leading a group in the ReEngage marriage class at church again this year. This is our third time through it. We joined about two years ago when our church did a pilot program for those who might be interested in leading a group the next time around. Brian and I needed some marriage help so we jumped in thinking maybe we could get help and in turn help other couples. We have been so encouraged and challenged each time we've gone through it. One of the most difficult parts is that Brian and I have had to share our testimony each semester. It's hard to share a testimony when your story isn't finished and you're still in the thick of things. We are scheduled to share on Monday. There are about 70-80 in this semester's group and I don't LOVE public speaking. I'm glad Brian and I will have our weekend together in Cali to practice.

Well, William just got dropped off by a friend and John's bus just drove by, so I'm going to wrap up so I can get dinner made. Hopefully I'll be more diligent to keep up with this blogging thing this time.