Doing the Next Thing

I was in and out in five. The grocery store, that is. Just needed a few necessities to round out the Christmas leftovers. As I stood at the checkout, I noticed the cover of People Magazine . The current issue declares Sandra Bullock to be "Woman of the Year." Hmmm... I thought, I get that. She's had a year in which heartache and joy, success and defeat have all been intertwined . I don't know her personally, but she seems to be keeping a stiff upper lip. I find her to be likable and decently talented. I have nothing at all against Sandra Bullock. But Woman of the Year? Really? Another sad side-effect of our celebrity-obsessed culture. What about the young mother, diagnosed with cancer after giving birth to her 3rd child, finding joy and strength in the Lord as she walks through cancer treatment, struggling to care for her family? Or the devoted mother, still grieving the loss of a son, caring for the special medical needs of another son with the same disease - yet ke...

The Balm of Gilead for me today.... A lovely 3.5mi jog on this trail was the perfect way to reset my mood and my energy level after a busy week. School is in full swing, and we are all still adapting to the new lifestyle. Part homeschool / part classical dayschool ... all making me feel a little bit like I'm perpetually in fast forward . But blessings abound: A(6yo) and M(11yo) are thriving at their new school - a fact that is evident each afternoon at carpool when they hop in the car chatting away, eyes bright and hearts merry. We've had our struggles - A somtimes is a bit teary in the mornings for drop-off; and M is adapting to a rigorous workload and nightly homework. These are very light afflictions, however, when compared to the joy and blessing of having them in such a godly, like-minded school! (gotta love the dead plant in the background. sign o' the times.)

I write like Dan Brown I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software . Analyze your writing!

As I've hinted before , my homeschool journey is taking a new turn. Lord-willing, if all the details (like financial assistance!) continue to work out, M (11) and A (5) will be attending a classical Christian school next year. The Big Boys will attend the same tutorial they did last year: in class one full day, working from home on the other days. And little miss K (4) will be home with me full-time. I'm not kidding myself into thinking this will be an easy year - I know better. It will be a time of transition for us all: getting out the door on time, doing homework, making lunches ... a different kind of stress. But my burden will be lifted, and that's huge. I've been stretched so thin these last couple of years, juggling so many ages & stages, managing our home, and being a helper to a hubby busy running his own business. There are cracks. Big ones. Stuff is falling through. I'm looking forward to knowing, for all four of my students, that education wi...

This is VBS week for us. I'm spending my time with a cute bunch of 2- and 3-year-olds. It's a different pace than I'm used to at VBS, a more physically demanding class, but what a blessing! I'm enjoying it so far. My Mom is here cooking and cleaning for us this week, and I'm so thankful for her servant's heart and cheerfulness. I took little miss KL (4) out in the jog stroller for a short run this afternoon, to work out the kinks and burn off some of my Mom's yummy cooking! It was a sweaty run, and the hills were hard in the 5 o'clock sun with a toddler. But it felt goooood to be back out there. GOTTA find time to run more often! Got in 2.5 miles in just under 30 min. Not a great time, but did I mention that it was hot? And that I was pushing a stroller? Uphill?

Helpful thought for this frustrated perfectionist: If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing badly. -- G. K. Chesterton

Little Miss K just turned 4. Here's a collection of her funny chatter: "Be kind, one and another, peacemakers, and your parents." her answer when I asked her "what does the Bible say about how you should treat your brother?" "When I cry, Jesus cries. And when i don't cry, he doesn't cry, too." "Mommy, if you put my jammies in the washing macleaner, the will get aaaaall clean!" "Mommy! Mommy! My balloon -- it went all the way up to the... sk... sk... sss... the roof!" trying so hard to remember the word "ceiling" in her excitement. Now go visit Not Before 7 for more Tiny Talk Tuesday!

The boys' tutorial ended this week, and I can't even TELL you what a relief it is to have our last assignment sheets for Veritas behind us! Mind you, it's a wonderful program, and their Daddy and I have been very pleased with what they've learned, with the amazing teachers, and with the great group of kids they've made friends with. It's just that it's a lot of work - for them and for me - and we're glad to be able to put it behind us. I say almost finished, because everyone still has math to work on over the summer, and the boys need to finish their science curricula for the year. But we're taking the rest of this week off (except for summer reading) and enjoying being free. Daddy offered to take the kids out last night and let me have some 'alone time' at the house. But I really wanted - no, needed - a run, so we all went to the park together. We grabbed $5 pizzas and had a goofy dinner together, then he watched them on the playground whi...

Nothing exciting to blog about today. Hit library storytime and then spent the day running errands with the redheads while the big boys did school work at the office with dad. One of these days I'll write a post about our experience being in Nashville during the historic flooding. But for now, here are some photos that I've taken recently, just playing around and trying to improve my mad photography skillz. ;)

The weekly contest theme over at iheartfaces is "Smiles." I like the wry smile on K's (3yo) face in this photo. She knows she's cute and she's proud of her amazing upside-down feat. It makes *me* smile. Go visit iheartfaces to see more adorable smiles!

What do those words have in common? They're all floating around in my head as I try to sort out some of the discouragement I feel and adopt a strategy for finishing this school year on a positive note. I think the problem is that I'm legalistic by nature. I'm wired to like organization, schedules, and order. That was pretty easy to accomplish when I only had 2 or 3 kids, and only preschoolers. Wait - let me rephrase that. It wasn't "easy" - it was a lot of work. But you know what I mean - it was more, shall we say, "doable." It was also very tempting to be proud of my accomplishments, of my skills - and forget that it was only God's grace, blessing my feeble efforts. Fast forward a few years - and 2 more kids. Life is far busier. The hyper-organized, scheduled-to-the-minute lifestyle just doesn't work as well. I'm frustrated, burned out. I decide (this was back in 07 or 08, I think) that schedules are out and we'll just have a 'r...

-My azaleas are finally blooming! And they're beautiful, if asymetrical due to the fact that a couple of bushes died a few years ago. A(5), pictured above with the prolific blooms, was hesitant to smile the day I took the pic. Just before snapping the photo, I had released our eight-legged friend into the woods next to the azaleas. -Spring has sprung! It's finally warm enough in the daytime for popsicles and sprinklers and caterpillars. I found some BPA-free plastic popsicle molds on amazon - by Tovolo. We've had fun filling them with diluted 100% juice and with smoothies. I should've bought a second set - may yet do that... -We spent most of spring break hanging out around home. I needed that kind of break soooo badly! But we wanted to do something fun for the kiddos - something frugal and doable on a weekend. So we went camping in the North Georgia mountains. Of course, the above-average, summer-like temps disappeared the day before we left, and we had freezing t...

We're going camping this weekend, to wrap up spring break. Daddy got our tent out the other day to make sure we have all the parts, and the kiddos have loved playing in it. Until now. A (5yo) came running in to me this morning saying, "Mom! There's a poisonous spider in the tent! It's BIG and BLACK and DANGEROUS!" I told him I'd come check on it, but not before grabbing my camera. If there was a big, black, dangerous spider in my tent, I sure didn't want to miss a chance to grab a picture! One, because I just love spiders; and two, because M (11yo) is studying spiders in her Land Animals class and would love to show and tell. It wasn't black, or dangerous, really. Just a wolf spider. I snapped a couple of pics, then shooed him into an easter bucket and carried him into the woods, where he and A would both be happier. I love spiders. Mind you, I’d rather not be bitten and I’ll kill a black widow or recluse on sight. But wolf spiders are so cool – partly...

salad, anyone?

After dabbling (very casually) in healthier eating, organics, and a natural lifestyle for 13 years, we recently made some radical - and permanent - changes to the way we buy food, cook, and eat. I'm working out a post with more on that for later. And I know I'm not done with the photo series. But I just had some Random Kitchen Thoughts to share and get them out of my system. As if anyone out there cares. But that's ok . It's called venting. Here goes:  “traditional”, “nourishing”, “slow”, “whole”, “ MOKO ” (Meat Of Known Origin) – I don’t care what you call it, cooking this way is all-consuming and makes a BIG mess! Every pan I own, and several appliances are dirty – and the dishwasher is full and running.  When you’re hungry, and in a hurry, it’s sometimes frustrating to look in the cabinet and only find … ingredients . Yesterday I licked a pinch of kosher salt, right out of my hand b/c there were no quick snacks. (and my tamari almonds were in the car) I kid you no...

my firstborn, S (15) i don't know how we got here so fast... because i still remember this like it was yesterday!

"Boys doesn't wear earrings. Only mommys and pirates !" - 3yo K giving authoritative fashion advice. "Ok, so I need a serious nap this afternoon!" - 5yo A on the way home from church last Sunday. (in an excited, musical voice) "Ohhhhh, UNd*rwear! Und*rw*ar is soft ! I like und*rw*ar!" - K enjoying the warm (and clean, ahem) laundry, fresh from the dryer "A.C. doesn't like it, but he's per severing ." - A (referring to himself in the third person and saying his full name) commenting on my latest smoothie concoction, which went a little overboard on the 'healthy' ingredients, I confess. For more cutie-pie Tiny Talk, go visit Tiny Talk Tuesday at Not Before 7.

snow this lovely is a rare treat in the deep south!

got to meet Spot at library storytime today

hill i encountered on my run yesterday evening. the park where i usually run was deserted due to the cold & wind, so for safety i ran on the more public roads - with several hills like this one! the only good thing about running up is that you eventually get to run back down!

playing dress-up (tied the tie all by himself!)

A (5) delightfully entertained by our new popcorn maker, a gift from a friend freshly popped, organic popcorn beats the nuked variety any day!

contemplating the big hill

#2 son. 13. on his way to becoming a man, but still very much a kid.

left my dignity at the skate park-trying out C's (13) rip stick. i think i went a whopping 3 feet before this happened:

my "rose window" - my own little morning gift from God the sunrise comes through the window in the little sitting room next to our room. often it casts a lovely rose reflection on the wall as i'm getting ready for the day. i love that it's the sun. love the colors the Artist paints, just for me. love the geometry. i tried to capture it here - took about 20 pictures experimenting with ISO, aperture, and white balance. I think this one was on an ISO of H1. whatever. it brings to mind Psalm 27. it makes me happy.

this photo is from last spring. i pulled it out today because i'm entering this post in the weekly challenge over at i heart faces, a wonderful photography blog i've discovered. the theme for this week's challenge is texture, and in this photo i deliberately let the texture of the azalea behind KL (3yo) be in focus rather than her face - my amateur attempt at artistry, i suppose. go visit this week's challenge at i heart faces for beautiful examples of texture, and maybe some inspiration. :)

i don't like this picture. wanted to take a better one with my pretty green kitchen wall as a backdrop. but keep forgetting. so here it is, this is my latest thrift store purchase - 95 cents! not sure what i'm going to use it for, but i like the material and i like the shape...

enjoying the surprise of 60* temps in January with my new (free) jog stroller (K (3) does like the stroller, just not the sun in her eyes) *check the sidebar "Nature Walk Update" for a fun experience on our latest Greenway run

enjoying the spring-like weather while it lasts