Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Monday, February 18, 2013

In the great outdoors...a storm’s a brewin’. Our chances for severity are slight, but you never know what’s going to happen with such unstable weather. Hubby’s in Little Rock this morning. Praying he gets home before storminess hits.

Within our four walls...happy children as they get the week off school.

A heart of thanksgiving...for flexibility. I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll continue to be thankful for it. Many homeschool by simply transferring the classroom into the home. For us, though, the greatest treasure of homeschooling is the fact that we can make learning fit our lifestyle rather than having to work our schedule around school. What a blessing!

A heart of prayer...for healing. A premature baby and a young woman from church are both in the hospital with critical health issues. But, even more than physical healing, there are hearts that need spiritual healing, restoration, or awakening in both situations. How thankful I am to serve and pray to the Great Physician who is the ultimate expert in both physical and spiritual health!

Random observations...It’s the latter half of February and I haven’t even looked at new curriculum for the coming school year! Oh my goodness! Usually by this time I have a huge list that I’m trying to whittle down to the necessities while I drool over a slew of other things that will never even find their way to the list. Fortunately, because I usually have the list ready VERY early, leaving me chomping at the bits to buy before we have any ability to do so, I do not at all feel behind right now. But, I should probably make plans to get started on it sometime soon!

My silly children...have suddenly stopped their hyperactive racing through the house. Hmmmm…wonder what happened. No crash, boom, or crying, so I guess they’re okay. Oh, and here’s Steven. He decided to come calmly read in the library so he can be close to me while I work (such a sweetie!). So, I guess everyone’s okay!

Thoughts from the kitchen...yeah, I haven’t gotten that far yet. Although I haven’t made chicken ‘n’ dumplin’s in a horribly long time. I think that will have to go on the menu for sometime this week. Not today, though. I’ll figure something else out for today.

Something yummy did come out of the kitchen this past weekend. Weekend before last we needed some challah dough for sticky buns, but the water temperature was not watched carefully, so the dough didn’t rise properly and another batch had to be made. Rather than throw out the first batch, I decided to try to turn it into loaf bread this past weekend. I shaped it, left it to rise much longer than usual, and then baked it. OH MY GOODNESS! We are not typically very fond of white bread around here, but that was GOOD STUFF!

On my bookshelf...Finding God in the Hobbit is this week’s read. I’m really excited about it, even though I have not yet read The Hobbit (that’s coming in April when Olivia and I read it together for school). I also am working through a couple of new Sue Edwards Bible studies. I have done two of hers and really enjoyed them. I’m enjoying these as well, even if it is a quicker paced work through for the purpose of a review.

Projects...the knitting project is coming along nicely! Although I still need LOTS of practice, I’ve learned to knit and purl in both the English and continental style, and I’ve learned some of the more basic combinations like the garter and stockinette stitches, ribbing, and the cable pattern. I’ve read up on knitting with four needles and with circular needles, but I don’t have the supplies to practice that yet. I’m about ready to progress from the basic stuff in the Boye “I Taught Myself Knitting” kit to a bigger book that is more of a knitting course. I don’t quite have enough yarn to tackle one of the patterns I want to make, but I’ll get to that soon. For now I’m enjoying the basic practice, even if I do just pull it out and start all over again.

But, this week other projects come ahead of the knitting. School planning for the next six weeks, continuing to prepare the minister’s wives blog for launch next month, and writing projects all must come first. Those are fun too, though. Mostly.

Sounds of the moment...A lot of quiet. The kids must either be reading or playing with Legos. Steven disappeared from the bean bags near me, so I’m not sure what he’s up to.

Well, I was wrong.

Steven is building a rodeo.

The girls are playing with paper dolls.

I’m sure Steven will need some interaction time very, very soon, either from the girls or Mommy. He can’t handle playing all by himself for too awfully long!

Last week we learned...just how hard it is to teach concepts of discipleship and spiritual growth to those who have been church members all their lives yet have no idea what is actually in the Bible. Christians, we MUST learn what God’s Word says and we MUST teach it to our children!!

A favorite thing from last week...seeing God restore our home to peacefulness after the chaos of the previous week.

The planner...the aforementioned projects will take up most of the week, working around art classes and church. Then on Friday Doug and I will be attending a social media conference. I think I’m going to be exposed to aspects of Facebook, Twitter, etc., that I’ve never even contemplated. Deep breath.

Because visuals are fun...

“Dear Olivia,

You are free to do anything you want or need to do as long as you give me what I want first. (insert maniacal laugh)”