Not Quite Ordinary Observations

For Today...Monday, August 5, 2013

In the great outdoors...it’s dark. I can’t see. Yes, I’m barely sneaking this in before bedtime! I guess I can say that I’ve heard a few rumbles of thunder out there, but I don’t think it’s going to produce anything for us.

Within our four walls...bedtime. I love bedtime. It’s not so much that I want to get rid of my children. But, they are such a blessing to me in that they go to bed easily. They enjoy winding down with book time. I enjoy a couple of hours of either uninterrupted productivity or some wind-down time of my own. Yes, bedtime is a nice time at our house.

A heart of thanksgiving...for my job and the incredible people I get to work with. I had my own ideas of how and where and to whom I wanted to minister. God knew better. I never could have imagined or intentionally sought the things God is opening up for me right now. Wow. So very thankful!

A heart of prayer...for the Choates as they overnight in Fiji and wait to continue the next leg of their journey.

For extended family – just because I pray for them regularly.

For many homeschoolers getting back into school right now. (We’ll all be ready for a break about the time public and private schools get ready to start back!)

Random observations...it would probably be a bad idea to stay up all night and read my book, wouldn’t it?

My silly children...have contracted a serious disease. We call Angela’s specific strain cowheadititis.

We have yet to determine the cause and are frantically seeking the cure, as it seems to be very contagious. Steven has exhibited symptoms of two strains: pupheaditits and penguinheadititis. As of yet, Olivia, Doug, and I have remained immune.

Thoughts from the kitchen...leftovers today. Need to come up with something better for tomorrow.

On my bookshelf...Grave Consequences, sequel to Glamorous Illusions, a book I reviewed a while back on Home Educating Family.

It’s purely a fun read, and I’m thoroughly enjoying fun fiction after a very, very long fiction hiatus!

Projects...well, since there’s a birthday coming up this weekend, I probably should be focused on getting a birthday present made! Fortunately, it’s an easy project.

Meanwhile, for those of you not on Facebook, here’s a project Olivia finished for her brother. A new pillowcase for his birthday. Start to finish on her own. Oh, how happy and proud that makes this mama!

Sounds of the moment...the tapping of keyboards as Doug and I finish up work for the night.

From Hibbard Academy...fun stuff! Angela continues to work on decimals and prepositions while Steven learns about pounds and ounces and continues with sentence structure. This week’s history focus is on the early centuries of Christianity, and we just finished reading about dinosaurs. For the rest of the week, we get to take a Magic School Bus journey inside the earth!

Olivia is learning square roots and interjections. Her history is focusing on the progression from nomadic life to life in towns and cities, and we’re still working through the foundational concepts of evolution in science.

A favorite thing from last week...the way God worked. Nothing really went the way it should have last week. The schedule didn’t work. We didn’t get everything accomplished when we were supposed to. Interruptions were constant. Yet God was so visibly in control every step of the way. He kept me calm and joyful and worked out every detail of the week. He even topped it off with a fairly relaxed weekend instead of the full plate I expected to have. Oh how much better days go when we let Him be in control!

The planner...routine doctor’s appointments tomorrow, and then a “normal” week after that. In fact, most of August looks similar, at least for now! I think I could learn to like this!

Because visuals are fun...I’ve already given you a couple, but let’s see if I can find one more. Oh! I don’t think I’ve shown this one yet! Olivia has learned the delight of watercolor pencils. She’s learning to mix her colors in beautiful ways. Here’s a peach…