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.

Odds and ends {meals and school}

{ sorry for all the picture-less posts of late.  our camera is broken! }

Meals
I've been terrible about making meals lately.  Lots of breakfast for dinner or quesadillas with beans.   Or grilled cheese.  Does anyone have any great meals they want to give me a link to?  Or just tell me the last three meals you've made.  It'll give me some inspiration!

Tonight we're trying this one: Slow Cooker Parmesan Honey Pork Roast.  Except that I took the roasts out of the freezer halfway through the day, thawed in hot water for about 20 minutes (so, not enough), and then threw it all into the crockpot on high.  I think it should be done in four hours.  It sure smells good.

School
Yesterday for school we only did Bible and narrations.  [Since the rest of the day was taken up in doing Adelia's hair, which everyone loved because they got to watch videos.]  Anyway.  School:  We read in Joshua about the divisions of the land for each tribe, so for narrations I handed out blank maps and re-read where each tribe settled and the kids each completed a map including a compass and a color-coded key for the twelve tribes.  (So that's geography, too, right?)  Right.

A friend of mind told me recently that her impression from reading my blog was that I was so organized and that we have these complete school days.  Or something.  Um.... no no no.  If we have anything on our schedule for the day, school is basically shelved.  We take the day off when Mark has a day off.  The other days we do a few things off of our schedule (which is pictured at the top of this post).

On school days we usually always cover Bible, narrations and chores, most of the time we try to hit Math and piano practice, and reading aloud.  And all the other stuff?  Well, we tuck other things in when our days are running smoothly.

Today we did the following:
-Bible and narrations (15-20 minutes, during breakfast)
-Chores
-Storytime (picture books with the girls) (10 minutes)
-Poetry: I read our two March poems (3-5 minutes)
-Memory work (we reviewed the OT & NT books of the Bible- I quizzed them by calling out a book and they took turns calling out the next one.  We also reviewed our family ways.)  (20 minutes)
-I read Shakespeare's Macbeth- (the Charles & Mary Lamb version), while the kids drew pictures. (30 minutes, but only because I had set up the younger girls with embroidery needles and thread and burlap in hoops and I kept having to tie knots and thread needles during Shakespeare!)
-The older three did Math at the table (20 minutes)
-I then did Dictation with Ella and Isaac (the same passage, and from another Shakespeare play.  Macbeth was so depressing and the kids (well, Ella) disliked it so much that I pulled a passage from their favorite play so far (A Midsummer Night's Dream) to make up for it.  (20ish minutes, maybe 30)

And that was a really full day.  We maybe have one of those each week.  Tomorrow morning we'll go to Bible study at church.  And after that, the kids have piano lessons and so I know we won't do any school tomorrow.  Thursday and Friday we're back on.  And my guess is that NEITHER of those days will be as full as today was. 

Now they're all playing outside until lunch.

***

I'm wrapping up this post after eating.  [The roasts took nearly 5 hours on high, due to the partially-frozenness of them].  Our dinner (link above) was really tasty.  I served it with basmati rice, caesar salad (made by Ella), and homemade sourdough.  ALSO: lemon bars for dessert.  Which are basically the best dessert ever, in my opinion.  I told the kids they could each have one and I was going to help myself to the rest of the pan later.  That's an exaggeration, but I will likely have a couple (few?) more.  YUM.

For the rest of our school day, the kids played outside, except for practicing piano and quiet times.  I played a game of UNO with Adelia, reheated leftoevers for lunch, cleaned the kitchen, had a dentist appointment, worked on Precept (Bible study) homework, and made dinner.

Mark and the kids are cleaning the kitchen, and then Mark and I will likely correct math.  When the kids go to bed, we'll probably watch a little of The Voice while we eat lemon bars.

How was your day?

Good books for boys (aged 10)

*There are affiliate links in this post.  

The following quotes are by my Isaac (10).  I have not edited them.

The Jungle Book, Rudyard Kipling

"It was weird because in a book it's usually one big long story about one thing, but this book was all different books about different things.  The chapter about Mowgli is the longest one, but there are other stories, too."

"It wasn't interesting at the first part because it was just Shere Khan the tiger talking to the wolves.  That whole first chapter is just him talking about wanting Mowgli when he was a baby.  But the rest of it got really interesting when he grew older."

"I liked the book much better than the movie.  The movie added a LOT, and also in the book Kaa the snake was helping the good side, and in the movie he was helping Shere Khan and just wanted to eat Mowgli, which wasn't how it was at all in the book."

The Mad Scientists' Club, Bertrand R. Brindley

"This book is a bunch of stories.  What I liked about it is that the boys had these ideas of doing things to different people or to the town and their ideas were kind of funny.  They ended with funny results.  Sometimes they were mischievous or naughty and other times they were helping someone."

"My favorite character is a boy named Henry Mulligan.  He was kind of scientific and he would be the one to figure out different functions on something or figure something out.  He kind of reminded me of myself, because I'm kind of like that in a way, so I liked him."

The Big Kerplop!: The Original Adventure of the Mad Scientists' Club, Bertrand R. Brindley

"This is the book that came before the Mad Scientists Club.  The main character of this book is the boy I liked, Henry Mulligan.  It also was funny, but in this one the boys were never mischievous.  They were trying to help someone."

The Tower Treasure (The Hardy Boys No. 1), Franklin W. Dixon

"I like it because when they have all the clues, the author doesn't make them just find it and solve it right away.  They have to keep searching for it, so it doesn't just end."

"It's kind of different because I wouldn't usually really read a book like that, because one of the boys' friends was going to high school, so they're older.  Usually I like to read books about people my age, but I liked it."

And he's since read two more Hardy Boys books.

What are your boys reading?

Book recommendation: The Light Between Oceans

I loved this book. It's the best novel I've read in a long time.

{summary}

Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia after four years serving in the war, and takes a job as a light house keeper on an isolated island. He marries the young and vibrant Isabel and they live together on the remote island, keeping the light. They try to start a family, but Isabel loses three babies; her last, stillborn. As they are yet reeling from the grief of their stillborn child, a boat is washed upon the island rocks, carrying a man who has died, and an infant who lives.

Tom wants to report the incident immediately, but Isabel desperately wants to care for the baby. The decisions they make on the day the baby arrives, and the months and years following- impact Tom, Isabel, their marriage, and- they later discover- someone on the mainland who is praying for the safe return of those in the boat.

***

This was such a well-written and compelling story. So much so that I was reading through my tears in the final pages.

My first thought when I finished the last word was: "What ELSE has this author written?"- because I was ready to gobble up all of M.L. Stedman's other books.  But alas: this was her first novel.

One NOT to miss, though.

A threefold cord

Last night Mark and I had this conversation:

(me)  Honey, do you realize that I get asked a question every four seconds?

(Mark)  Yes.  I do.  When will you figure out that you should just adopt my strategy, which is just NOT TO ANSWER their questions?

It's kind of true.  Sometimes he'll just delay answering and they'll either
a) give up and go away, or
b) figure it out for themselves, or
c) persist, and then he'll answer

I personally don't want to hear the same question (or the persistent, "Mommyyyyy!") four times before I answer.  I might literally go crazy.  So I just answer right away.

I love them.  So much.  But all the talking and questions, it's exhausting sometimes.

***

Today Mark had the day off.  I had Bible study this morning, and the kids had piano lessons afterward.  Mark told me to go to Bible study and then take a break, so I did. 

And this is what I did for my break:  I lingered after Bible study and visited with the ladies there for about half an hour. 

Then I went to a nearby scrapbook store and bought some fun new paper and some washi tape. 

Then I went to a cafe and had coffee and lunch and just sat there and journaled. 

As I drove from place to place, I was able to listen to the Valentines CD Mark made for me.  I was able to listen through an entire song without having to turn down the volume to answer a question or respond to someone chatting with me. 

Then I went to a bookstore to pick up the British Country Living magazine, which is my favorite.(About twice a year, I'll splurge and buy one.)  But they didn't carry it, so I just browsed.  I walked around and jotted down some book titles or authors to check out at the library (because I'm cheap that way). 

Then I wandered around another shop that has mainly cards and gift items. 

And then I drove to the consignment store and tried on a few things but didn't get anything. 

I did all of those things all by myself.

No one asked me a question that entire time. 

The quiet was refreshing.

And then I came home. 

***

One of the songs Mark put on my CD is a song by Josh Garrels called Bread & Wine.  I love that song.  This verse is my favorite:

And if I fall, I fall alone
But you can help to bear the load
A threefold cord is hard to break
And all I have I give to you
If you will share your sorrow too
Then joy will be the crown upon our heads, my friend

You really have to hear the song to appreciate it.  It reminded me of how grateful I am for Mark.  I'm thankful that he's my best friend, that he shares this life with me; that he weaves his heart into mine (another phrase from that song).  I am so thankful that we are a threefold cord: God and Mark and me.  And that we're strong because of that.  I am thankful that we share sorrows and joys.  I'm so thankful that God has given me the gift of someone to share it all with.  I am married to a fine man, and I love him and I am grateful for him every single day.