Okay this is the theme I am thinking of for my upcoming lesson for Morgan’s class. I would like to work basic budgeting into that too. Oh, I need suggestions. Those of you who are teachers, please help!
BTW, if you read the end of the last paragraph of the last entry this one will make more sense to you.
We had a really nice FHE (family home evening) tonight with the kids.
We made a fire in the back yard fire pit and cooked shees-kebabs. After dinner we sat around roasting marshmallows to make smores with and talked about temptation and how to be strong and also about the power that saves us from temptation. We likened that to the fire, ‘if you play with fire you will get burned’, if you tamper with sin, you will also get burned. Scott requested that we sing “Scripture Power” for one of our songs and we just really had fun. Our kids respond really well to lessons with a visual.
I went looking at the Jr. Highs/Middle Schools around us today. I am trying to decide where Kelcie will attend next year. I think she will go to the Middle School that we are zoned for. I was given a tour today by an 8th grade student and I drilled her about the atmosphere at that school, if she liked it, and basics of thier daily schedule. I am not unimpressed.
I have to teach Morgan’s class thier math lesson on Feb. 28th. Some of you know that math is by no means a strong suit for me. However, Morgan’s teacher wants parents to come in and teach a math lesson based on how we use math in our everyday grown up lives. I think I will talk to them about basic budgeting and compound interest – how to earn it, not pay it. I am nervous and I need to start working on this now!! Any helpful hints?
My Aunt Gayle was finally able to talk with a daughter that she had to give up as a baby. This daughter found her and they are now getting to know eachother. I am so happy for her. As long as I can remember Aunt Gayle mourned for the loss of this little girl, always talking about her. She has looked to this day since the day she had to leave her. I was looking at the pictures of this daughter and she is so beautiful and looks so much like her mother and sister. I can’t wait for the chance to meet her.
Thank God for grace, love, forgiveness, healing and miracles such as these!
Crystal and I have an arrangement, she finds the air travel throughout Europe, I find the hotels. I researched London and got a feel for the city, the best I could having never been there, and found what I think will be a nice hotel, in a good part of town. I am now in the process of doing this same thing for Paris. I have to say that I am finding Paris more difficult, don’t know why? The Siene river that runs through the middle of Paris is really throwing me for a loop. Which side of the river do I want to be on? Which is the best side to be on? I got another travel book to consult on the issue, the Lonely Planet book for Paris.
Also, it seems that Paris Streets are lined with buildings, with no gaps in between, and they all go 6 stories up? I shall have to consult my Paris expert, Emily (she spent 18 mo. there).
THANK HEAVENS!!! That was a horrible feeling.
Yesterday Randon and I met for lunch (we didn’t even eat) I just really needed to talk to him about what I was going through and how awful I felt inside.
Randon is a wonderful listener. He listened and offered comfort and reassurance, well sort of.
He told me something that I found rather hilarious. He said that he has lived with me for 13 years and has seen my cycles come and go and observed them. He said that he was even tempted to keep track of them without my knowing at one point, just for his own personal warning, I guess? Anyway he went on to explain to me that this was like a two year old. “You know that when you have a child they are going to go through the terrible two’s. You know it is going to be awful and terrible, but it is okay. Blah, blah, blah….” HUH?!??! Did he really just compare me to a two year old?! Yes, he infact did. I really had to think about that one and CHOOSE to laugh my head off at that, because for just one second this incredibly out of control hormonal wreck almost gave him what for and how to on that one. I had to realize that he was TRYING to be understanding and loving, he really is.
Okay barring that little two year old comment, which really did make me feel better too because it made me laugh really hard, I really did feel better after talking with him. The sun has been coming out ever since.
I am not sure why women are saddled with this trial in addition to the regular ones we face already but, as long as our family & friends can love us through it, well I guess that it’s all okay.
Including wild female hormones!! Why women were given this curse is beyond me and just goes to prove that this life IS a test!! I have been SERIOUSLY out of sorts the past 2 weeks, wanting to rage, cry, die, become invisible, run away, and that is just to name a few. I try not to be a pesimist and I really HATE to listen to the ‘Debbie Downers’ of the world but, sometimes it becomes chemically impossible to be normal and maintain an even keel.
So, I would like to thank my husband, children, friends, extended family and that person I got mad at on the phone, for putting up with me during this time of involuntary chemical alteration. I hope to return to my normal self soon.
Our Suburban was hit by some anonymous driver, who decided not to reveal his identity while visiting Grandma in December. It was a bit of a hassle to get the damage fixed but, it is finally fixed and after 2 weeks of driving the jeep, I finally have the suburban back!!
I have taken for grantid the comforts of this car. Forinstance, having windows that roll up and down at will rather than the zipping windows the jeep has. The radio is another big issue for us, as the one in the jeep does leave something to be desired. Having room to haul kids and groceries, another plus for the suburban. It seems that a woman driving a jeep with a lift kit and huge tires is of intrest to many as I got a lot of sidelong glances. I prefer the invisibility that my suburban provides. Yes, I did say invisibility, I know seems like an oxymoron but, when you are a predictable person driving the fitting, predictable vehicle you do become largely invisible to the rest of the population. I like that. And I won’t even start on the finer points of exiting and entering this vehicle if you are a short woman, especially while wearing a skirt. The one plus for the jeep, the heater work well, winter and summer.
I am so happy to have my Mom car back!! I was driving it back home rejoicing, and yes, thanking God for something so seemingly insignificant in the big picture.
In March my friend Crystal and I will be traveling to Europe to visit a dear friend who has been living there for 3 1/2 years now. We are stopping in London for 4 days and then heading to Brataslava, Slovakia with Sharon and her family. I am eager to explore this exotic (to me) place that they have been living. I think it is so brave of her to agree to move so far away from home for all of this time. Sharon and her family will be making thier much anticipated return to the US sometime this summer. This has been a motivating factor in our visit. How can we pass up this opportunity to travel abroad while we have her family there offering to host?
We are then heading to Paris for 3 days and then back again to Brataslava where our hostess will be taking us to tour Vienna, Austria and Prauge, Czeck Rep. Planning this trip has been so fun. It still feels somewhat unreal to me though. I will probably be logging some additional plans and such here over the next few weeks as we prepare for this trip.
Time to write again. I was feeling the urge to purge (information that is) yesterday as I was doing dishes. I was thinking of all of the things that have recently happened in our family. I was thinking of all of the cute things that if I do not write down, I will forget. Like the other day when Charis came to me wanting to play a game. She asked me to play with her and I replied asking her what she would like to play? She went and thought about that and then came to me saying “do Mom’s jump on trampolines?” Yes they do, I said, and her face lit up as she jumped up and down and said “I want to play that game!” And like yesterday when I found a church shoe (as we call them) that our whole family has searched high and low for for a month now, in the lemon tree as I was picking lemons to give a friend. Why did we not think to search for a shoe, that is worn by our 4 year old, in the tree?!
I was thinking about Kelcie and how she is almost as tall as I am now and is wearing make-up (part time as she is not allowed to wear it to school) and growing up so quickly and is engaged with her parents in the classic adolecent battle for independence. Which from the writers point of view is exhausting and exhilerating all at once. How she loves her iPod and how she became the ‘Queen Bee’ of her slumber party a few weeks ago, lighting up with the delight of companions to give attention to and get attention from.
And Morgan who is endearingly sweet and self sacrificing, especially for the right cause. How she lives a bit quieter than her oldest sibbling and how still waters, like hers, run so deep. How she seems to just want to take life much more slowly and deliberately. How she struggles to keep tidy and organized, prefering her things a bit less orderly.
Scott shares this , hopefully, childish tendency to not mind things especially tidy. He also loves to have friends over but can easily entertain himself with any number of legos, sticks, dinosaurs, and any prop that is helpful in creating some character he is choosing to be. He seems to favor soldiers, hunters, motorcyclists, and mechanics at the moment. He had formerly enjoyed being a cowboy, a sailor and a prince when admonished to be so by his sisters. He has a lovely imagination.
Addison is always in search of cuddles and one on one time. She seems to have ‘middle child’ issues of feeling lost in the crowd so her father and I make a special effort to frequently fill her ‘love bucket’. With the right motivation she is a hard worker and a natural wiz at math. Equations come naturally to her. She loves to be read to.
Charis is her mothers day time companion going here and there and helping at every chance. She and I have enjoyed more one on one time than with any of her sibblings, merely because of her situation of being the last born child. She also exhibits some stereo typical youngest child behaviors, such as serving as the family entertainer. She can easily mingle with any of her siblings at any time, as most of them do baby her. The exceptions to that rule have been Scott and Addi who many times desire Charis free playtime together, we simply give her another task to attempt to take her mind off of what she percieves as rejection.
Michelle
Randon
Kelcie
Morgan
Scott
Addison
Charis