The Great Explorer

This was a FABULOUS story on 60 Minutes last night. I appreciated his candor. It encourages the dreamer and explorer in all of us.


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Random Thoughts

1. Christmas music and five hands of Uno.
2. Mamma won two.
3. That's a first. The boy's temp is down, but the coughing is up.
4. Outside Christmas lights in full swing.
5. The elves have been busy. My joyful Christmas elves.
6. Worship leading tomorrow.
7. The first Sunday in Advent.
8. A day of rest before heading into our last week of classes leading up to our Christmas break.
9. We still have math, reading, spelling and writing exercises but a lot less driving to classes.
10. A lot more time to prepare our hearts for the celebration of Jesus' birth.
11. Hello family I love you and miss you. Hope you all had a great weekend of Thanks.

Thanksgiving 2009 x2

Em is tucked into her bed. I walked and caught her silhouette against the window as she "oo-ed" and "awed" at the Christmas lights. "Walking In A Winter Wonderland" was playing on the radio. Snap. I took a mental picture. She turned, looked over her shoulder at me with a huge grin on her face and told me the first two songs she heard on the radio when she woke up this morning. "Feliz Navidad" and "All I Want For Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth." Snap. Another mental picture.

J is back in his bed too. His fever is still high, and he aches all over. My "man-boy" wanted to snuggle with his mommy. I found myself rubbing his temples and forehead like I did when he was a little boy. He was dozing off to sleep, and looking so much more like the four year old little guy than the young man that he is. Snap. A mental picture for my Jman file.

I walk out from tucking the kiddos in and find that Jeffy has turned the TV to a "girl" movie, "Love Actually." Aww...what a nice boy...always looking out for me and looking for ways to help me chill. He had also disinfected the area where the man-boy had spent most of the day, so that we could sit down without the fear that we would pick up what ever sickness he has. We are planning on doing nothing this evening but relaxing. Feels decedent. Yet another thing to be thankful for. I can freely sit here and not have to do anything for a while accept praying for a good night's sleep, and that our family stays healthy.

Thanksgiving 2009

I've been snuggled in with Em watching the Macy Day's Parade. For a couple of weeks now she has been talking about waking up on Thanksgiving, tuning her radio to Christmas music and then watching the whole parade. Jeff just finished making the area outside of Em and J's windows into a winter wonderland. He made it back inside just in time to see Santa arrive in Herald's Square. (Did anyone else notice Santa's lips weren't moving when Santa was talking?) Jman is nursing a high fever. Looks like he has that he has the same kind of flu Miss Em had a few weeks ago. Poor guy. So, it'll be a tag team kind of Thanksgiving.



I am thankful for...
340. That we have a place for J to lay down and sleep it off.
341. That we have Tylenol to take to help lower the fever.
342. Ginger-ale and crackers to feed our sick boy.
343. The ability to take care of J.
345. My two Christmas elves, Jeffy and Em.
346. My whole family.
347. Great books to read.
348. Special friends who laugh and cry with me.
349. Our "co-op" that helps out with the "extras" in our home school journey.
350. The fact that we have that today we have the traditional thanksgiving food to eat.
351. The freedom I have to worship God.

Feeling better today. I drank a lot of water last night and I had a great night's sleep. I woke up well before the kiddos got up, so I was able to get my morning cup of coffee in me, start my morning journal entry, and get mostly dressed and primped before we start into our fast forward mode. Tuesday is our long day, and this morning Em and I decided to finish up her book work at home so that I could do a couple of other things while we wait to pick up J from his morning class.

My mind is set on getting a couple of project finished up this by this weekend. I have to sew up that baby blanket for my friend's new little baby. I also want to finish up a dress I've had cut out for Em for over two months now. I also want to find a tree branch to prep as the base of our Jesse Tree for our Advent devotionals. It shouldn't be difficult to find a branch after last night! I came across a cute idea for a "thankful tree."
You could use the Jesse Tree as the base for that, and a few days later start hanging your Jesse Tree ornaments on it.

Wind Storm

Big wind storm tonight. A big fir branch fell near the rabbit hutch. It blew the back door open and a drainage spout off the back porch. I thought that it was calming down, but its appears to be picking up again. Hopefully the big cedar and doug fir will be just fine. Lord, please keep us safe.

It hit me this morning. My caffeine intake has doubled. My salt intake has quadrupled. I want to sleep a lot. I'm needing SUN. The dark weather is working it's little hooks into my skin, so I'm trying to fight hard against that SADD feeling. Tomorrow I'm getting up and walking first thing. Green tea instead of coffee. The half marathon is in May, and I don't want to lose any more ground in my walking. So...count down to May begins...as soon as I get a good nights sleep. :)

Random Thoughts

Random thoughts:
1. Jim Carrey throws the best tantrums. They are the kind of tantrums that at certain times I wish I could throw. There is the one in Bruce Almighty where he repeatedly says that his life is "ERODING! ERODING!" Then there are the tantrums he throws in Liar Liar. Sometimes it's such a fight against my flesh to not throw a "three year old" tantrum. I wish I could kick and scream and call people names.
2. I usually don't feel very good after I allow myself to throw a "three year old" tantrum.
3. I feel really good after I get a moment to sit quietly after a morning at church. It's great to have our Sunday afternoons free.
4. I laid on my bed this afternoon and wrote up some emails, zoned out some, and knitted a few more rows on that baby hat.
5. I almost want to make myself a hat out of the same yarn.
6. How much yarn do I need to make Jeffy a sweater? Shhh...don't tell him.
7. Should I use wool, or a light acrylic? Hmm... wool.
8. Jman went to the high school group barn dance in shorts and keens. The boy has not said goodbye to summer. He is trying to wear his flips as long as possible. His rainbows I should say that he got from Alex to wear for Alex and Emmy's wedding.
9. I would wear flips all the time, but something has happened as I've grown older. I find myself getting colder more often.
10. Paul Wright's Flip Flop song is still one of my favorites.
11. Summertime in the City is our new favorite song. Jman still cranks that as we ride over to Homesource.
12. Mmm...breakfast for dinner. Hashbrowns, turkey sausage, and eggs. Warm...good substitute for the Fall/Winter Sunday night meal of tomato soup and hot tuna sandwiches.
13. Jman probably ate tuna on crackers 3 times a week as a little guy. It's still one of his favorite kinds of sandwich.
14. Em ate a lot of rice as a little one, and it's still one of her favorite things to eat.
15. I ate a lot of m & m's as a child. I don't eat them as often as I would like not only because I shouldn't eat as many sweets but because I DO NOT LIKE THE BLUE ONES ONE BIT!!!
16. I do like blueberries.
17. I love my blue blanket from Sistah Kim.
18. I'm needing a Sistah Kim fix. How's goes Nebraska you Cornhusker you?
19. Corn is a good starch to add to my jungle stew.
20. We have a vat of Jungle Stew in the freezer and corn bread too. Oo! Oo! Oo! Tomorrow night's dinner taken care of!
21. I love having those kinds of things taken care of. It's all part of that gaining margin in my life thing.
22. I love cracking open our fresh eggs onto the griddle.
23. I wonder if I'll ever end up getting a mini-cow. Or would a goat be better?
24. I wonder who in my family is rolling their eyes as they read number 23.
25. I was hoping the Jim Carrey Christmas Carol would have been live action and not animation. Maybe the idea will grow on me as we get closer to Christmas.
26. It probably won't show up at the $1.50 movie theater until Valentine's Day. Will we wait to see it next Christmas on DVD?
27. "UP" is out on DVD. I LOVE THAT MOVIE! Would like to see it again with Skip and Kim. There I go again...
28. Guess I need to chat with Kim.
29. Sistah OK is going in for surgery on Wednesday.
30. Guess I need to chat with OK too.
31. Started this list yesterday (Sunday) so I should probably post it.
32. Today I don't want to be the teacher.
33. Today I would like to be somewhere else.
34. But today I will finish up errands: banking, gas, grit & food for the animals, planning the next two weeks before the start of Advent.

A Nice Saturday

It was a Saturday where we didn't have to be anywhere. We did set up "playdates" for the kiddos. Jeff made us wonderful pancakes. He also built a chicken yard for the chickies. We are trying to regain the yard. The chickens have done a great job of rototilling the grass, so we'll throw out some grass seed and see what happens! I did some research on line, prepped a baby blanket and knitted a few rows on a baby hat. I also was able to get some grocery shopping in and baked a few muffins for the worship team to enjoy in between services.

The kiddos and I are enjoying the newest "I Carly" while Jeffy is enjoying some time with his daddio at the Duck game. I think that this show is hilarious. When we watch it we laugh pretty hard together. Its a great release of endorphins. Tonight's episode is particularly funny.

I've been taking a break from Facebook. It can be such a time sucker. I do like being able to send a quick note to people, but ultimately it's not the best use of my day. I have some deeper ideas about FB, but if I share those there is a pretty big chance these days that I'll get an intense message back. I'm not up to that right now. So, I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. It has been a freeing experience knowing that I don't have to check in. I've been collecting as many emails and contact info as I can so that I can still keep in touch with folks. We'll see what happens.

One of the big goals of our fall has been to put margin into each day. It's that time you have around activities that gives you the opportunity to sit down and breathe deep. It allows for plenty of time to get places, to fix meals, and to do acts of services. I feel that after two months of school we're accomplishing this. This big test will come during the first few weeks of December as we head into the Christmas program at church. One of the biggest things I've noticed about having margin is that we seem to laugh a lot more, even when we are dealing with a situation that is less than perfect.

I get the privilege of leading the worship team tomorrow. Pastor Wayne is guest preaching while Pastor Ben is over in Israel. He is doing some teaching at various historical places on the tour. Pastor Wayne is going to share about journaling, and we will have journals available out in the lobby between services. I'm picking one up for me and my mentee. I've journaled for almost a decade now. WOW! That's a long time. I've switched back and forth between the One Year Bible format and the Life Journal which is basically the same thing. I tend to write on multiple verses at a time, so I like the freedom of using my own journal. I'm looking forward to journaling with other people. The rest of my fam is actually using the Life Journal. I have the kiddos journaling as part of their curriculum and Jeff is journaling and meeting with a friend once a week to discuss what they have learned. It should be a good morning.

Here is the worship set for tomorrow.

Hosanna
In The Secret
We Adore Thee
I Give You My Heart
Draw Me Close (Offering)
Nearer My God To Thee
The Power Of Your Love (Closing)

This is my friend Cheryl and I at the end of The Amazing Race that our daughters were part of as 4th and 5th grade activity at church. Pretty decent cell phone pic, huh?


Here is Miss Em's group.


This was the hottest activity at camp back when I first started there back in 1985, a simple tire swing that had a huge line of kids by it from 3-5 every afternoon during free time.