Daybook

Outside My Window

An absolutely perfectly gorgeous autumn Sunday: bright blue sky, just a few clouds, no humidity, and about 78 degrees. Perfect soccer weather.

I am Listening to

The “soundtrack” that Mary Beth has created for the ballet class she will teach her little sister…and 13 of their friends.

I am Wearing

A cream-colored lightweight, longsleeved t-shirt with a  ruched neckline, a purple boyfriend sweater (that I ended up tying around my waist about noon) and not my daughter’s jeans (which I got for a steal on Amazon--there was a coupon added at checkout).

I am so Grateful for

~ an unbelievably fun time in a friend’s van while it poured rain our sons’ soccer practice. Eleven kids total in the van. They all voted on a movie choice and we watched Pride and Prejudice. It was even more darling to note that both my children and hers had many of those lines memorized. Those homeschooled kids just don’t get socialized well, do they?

~sweet, subtle changes for the better in a child who had me worried. And for the friends who are influencing those changes.

I'm Pondering

The soul which remains attached to anything, even to the least thing, however many its virtues may be, will never arrive at the liberty of the divine union. It matters little whether a bird be fastened by a stout or slender cord -- as long as he does not break it, slender as it may be, it will prevent him from flying freely. -- St. John Chrysostom

I am Reading
Choosing to SEE by Mary Beth Chapman. Quite a book. Quite a testimony. I’ve long been a huge Steven Curtis Chapman fan. I was hesitant to read this book, because I knew that the story of how the Chapmans  5-year-old daughter Maria died  would be gut-wrenching.  I read that part first so that I wouldn’t be dreading it throughout the first half of the book. Mary Beth writes a compelling story of lifelong  surrender to the will of God.

I’m particularly grateful for her honest accounting of the trials of depression.

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I am Thinking

That God has heard me plea for kindred spirits to befriend my children and me. And, despite the overwhelming busyness of our fall schedule—actually because of it-- there are moments of grace-filled friendship abundantly sprinkled throughout the week.

I am Creating

Lists. Before we leave town. I always make lots of lists when I pack. We’re taking a three day trip. Seems like those kinds of lists should be committed to memory by now, but that’s not the point. The point is that the list lets me maintain the illusion of having control.

On my iPod

A History of US, Volume 3. Our listening on the way to Williamsburg this week for homeschool days.

Towards a Real Education

We’re taking a little diversion from our Medieval Studies to skip across the pond and visit Colonial Williamsburg.

Towards Rhythm and Beauty

The schedule works. It works beautifully. There’s no time to kick back and do nothing and I can’t deviate from the plan even a little bit, but the schedule does work…

To Live the Liturgy

We’ll celebrate the feast of Padre Pio this week..

I am Hoping and Praying

~for Mike, who is badly in need of a vacation. Or maybe just a few hours off.

In the Garden

The roses rock. Really.

Around the House

The house is quite pulled together now.  We shall have to see whether the new maintenance schedule keeps it that way. In other, much more interesting news, it is definitely time to paint the walls. I chose our current colors on the way home from the midwife’s office five and a half years ago, after learning  we’d suffered a miscarriage. The painters had been scheduled and I didn’t want to cancel, so I just went to Home Depot, totally numb and not at all there, and picked out colors. I remember asking the guy to darken it three times before I left the store.

It’s time for lighter and brighter

From the Kitchen

Gluten free pumpkin muffins from this new cookbook. Jodi wrote and told me about it a couple of weeks ago and I took a chance. The muffins are the first things we’ve made using her gluten-free baking blend. They are so good. No weird bean taste; no starchy falling apart consistency. Just pumpkinny yumminess.  I’m looking forward to trying other things.

One of My Favorite Things

My icon wall.

Sarah Annie this week

She loves our new “after school” routine. It’s a playground for several hours every day of the week. I’m really happy to have playground time, too.

A Few Plans for the Rest of the Week

We have a new friend visiting . She came to see Michael, but Karoline is pretty sure she came to see her. We’ve loved having her. She’ll be here tomorrow when Mary Beth transforms the main floor of our house into a dance studio and Mary Beth and her friend Mary Kate introduce a whole bunch of homeschooled little girls to the wonderful world of ballet.

Then we’re going to get away for a few days. Mike has been working 18 hour days getting ESPN’s Washington shows ready to launch in HD from their new studios at ABC. We’re ducking out and leaving him to yet another week of that. We’ll go to Homeschool Days in Colonial Williamsburg and stay at Great Wolf Lodge. We’ve never been there, so we’re all eagerly anticipating our time.

And, next  weekend, we  will return with Sarah Anne to the NICU for a reunion. It just makes me smile so to think about taking my relatively big smiling girl back to the people who cared for her so well in those early days. I can’t wait!

Picture thoughts: