Open house: Monday, April 28th

We finally got a new camera-- we've been without a camera now for over four months!  Crazy.  So I thought it would be nice to show you some pictures I snapped this morning.  Except our laptop is in the shop.... again.  And for whatever reason our very-old laptop (the one we're using in the meantime) isn't too keen on me posting pictures, so I'll have to take a rain check on the pictures, and post words instead.

Outside my window...

...the sun is shining, skies are blue, and it feels like spring.  I'm loving it.  The perennials are happily growing, the garden is ready for rototilling, the lilacs are just beginning to bloom.  (As in- a *few* open flowers on each bunch, but that's quite enough for me to have already cut two bouquets for the house this morning.  They are so fragrant and I love them. 

I am thinking...
...that my plan for Audra to spend part of her quiet time in the bathtub was brilliant.  If she weren't in the tub, she would be checking in with me every 3 minutes and now... she can't.  But I can hear her and she's having a blast!

I am thankful...
...for a fun school day with the kids- much of it outside.

In the kitchen...

I actually planned meals for this week, so that's fun.  Minestrone soup tonight.  And bread.

I am wearing...
Long, knit, black Target maxi-skirt, with a brown v-neck tee.  Bare feet.  Hair up.

I am creating...
Well.  I sewed four new pillow covers yesterday- for our living room pillows.  Cute new fabric.
And this morning I drew some flowers that are currently blooming in our yard/garden during nature study. (Pretend I'm inserting a picture, here.)

I am going...
....to read my book when I'm done with this blog post.

I am wondering...
...why my computer won't let me delete that "I am wondering" line.

I am reading...
I Shall Be Near To You, by Erin Lindsay McCabe- about a woman who disguises herself as a man and joins the Union army so that she can be near her husband.
The Living Page: Keeping Notebooks with Charlotte Mason, by Laurie Bestvater
The Boy on the Wooden Box, by Leon Leyson- (read-aloud to the kids) a memoir about a Jewish boy living in Poland whose life was saved by Oskar Schindler.

I am hoping...
...for a good nights sleep tonight.

I am looking forward to...
...Mark coming home from work.  Always.  I love that husband of mine.

I am learning...
...that waking the kids earlier in the mornings makes for a more productive (and smoother) school day, that I love setting aside one chunk of time each week (with Mark) to plan school for that week, that every.single.year when spring hits, I want to launch right in on planning for our next school year.  (I am reminding myself to slow down (on the planning) and finish *this year* well.)

Around the house...

We just finished painting our living room!  It was a dark red with cream trim, and now it's a blue-gray with white trim.  We love it.

I love school. {School for us on a Monday}

We just wrapped up planning for tomorrow.
Here's what's on the docket:

Bible
Psalm memory work (Psalm 19)
Chores

Individual math time w/ me in my room for the older three- drill work, correcting and review next lesson while the other kids have buddy time.

Then: the older three will head to the table to DO their math lesson while I work on a little project with the girls for the letter N.  (N is for Noodles.  We'll be gluing noodles onto giant letter N's.)  And they will love it.  They will like it WAY better than last week's letter M project which was off of the If You Give a Moose a Muffin book and was a very specific glue project and ended in me doing a lot of it because it had to be done just.so, and Audra telling me it was "too hard, mommy"  (Scroll down on this post and you'll get the gist of the project that was sort of a preschool fail for us.  Like that except for my moose's antlers were way cooler.)

Then we're going to do a drawing lesson.

Then science, with coloring pages and a quiz.

Then spelling with Isaias.

Piano for Ella and Isaac.

And daddy wants them to clean the chicken house and nesting boxes.  And I want us all to get two huge hampers of laundry folded.

Now if I can just figure out what we'll be EATING tomorrow.  Then we'll be set.  An email from my dear friend Amy ended with this line the other day: "Well, everyone is hungry here so I must go and get breakfast.  It would seriously be so much easier if we could quit all meals!"

Seriously.

Hope your Monday is wonderful...
~Stacy

Patience

I'm doing a word study on patience today for my Bible study, and I thought I'd share some of the definitions here.  I've been jotting down notes and thinking just how MUCH patience is necessary in motherhood!

***

Patience, makrothumia (Greek)  is literally long-temper, long-suffering (KJV)

- a long holding out of the mind before it gives room to action or passion

- a state of emotional calm or quietness in the face of provocation, misfortune, or unfavorable circumstances

- the capacity to be wronged and not retaliate

- the opposite of anger (thus: a lack of patience often leads to wrath or revenge)

- Restraint.  "The capacity for self-control despite circumstances that might arouse the passions or cause agitation." (Richards)

- not to be easily offended (Calvin)

- "The ability not to lose patience when people are foolish, not to grow irritable when they seem unteachable.  It is the ability to accept the folly, the perversity, the blindness, the ingratitude of men and still to remain gracious, and still to toil on..." (Barclay, italics mine)

- "The ability to put up with other people even when that is not an easy thing to do.  Patience in this sense, of course, is preeminently a characteristic of God, who is "long-suffering" with his rebellious creatures.  He is the loving Lord who in the face of obstinate infidelity and repeated rejection still says of his people, 'How can I give you up, Ephraim?  How can I hand you over, Israel?' (Hos. 11:8).  Paul's point is clear: if God has been so long-suffering with us, should we not display this same grace in our relationships with one another?  This quality should characterize the life of every believer, but it has a special relevance for those who are called to teach and preach the Word of God.  As Paul instructed Timothy, 'Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage- with great patience and careful instruction.'" (2 Tim 4:2), (George)

[all notes taken from the Precept Austin site, which is my favorite Bible study resource.]

***

Don't we all just need a whole lot of patience?  I'm thinking of all the times during every.single.day I could use a "state of emotional calm or quietness" in the face of often foolish and unteachable kids. I can think of several instances just today where I was wronged by a child- be it disrespect or emotional outbursts or disobedience, and my response was not one of long-suffering. 

Oh, I am thankful for the Holy Spirit in me.  And I am thankful for Jesus' intercession for me.  And I am thankful that I can trust in His work to transform me.  And I am thankful for the unmerited favor of God.