Still Waters

Whew!  I think the rush of Christmas is over for another year...at least I'll be able to say that when I get my Christmas cards done!  It's the one thing that I just couldn't squeak in, but I'm hopeful it will happen before New Year's.
We had a lovely, lovely Christmas.  It was just the three of us this year, but memorable and sweet.  And yes, we even had a white one!  It was fun to have no schedule and just savor the crackling fire, good tea and good food, play games, and explore our presents.  I got well into Sarah Palin's new biography (well-written!) and worked on our yearly Christmas puzzle.  After a busy month of teas, parties, and special events, it was good to enjoy God's Peace.  I've just been overwhelmed the past few days pondering on the goodness of the Lord to us, how incredible it is to be the object of His love and care.  The Incarnation is still the most staggering thought, the best "Good News" we could ever have received.
Christm…

This week we've read aloud "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"--what a fun book!  We laughed and cried with it, and said to each other how well written it was.  Very good message of how the church has portrayed Christianity, not always in the most clear or welcoming light.  I'm glad for the fresh reminder of Christ's unconditional love.
I remembered we have a very old copy of "The Christmas Carol," annotated for school studies way back when, so we're going to read this aloud as a family in the next couple of weeks.  Who doesn't know this story by heart--with all the many spin-offs we've seen or heard?  But there's just nothing like pure Dickens.  I subscribe to The Writer magazine, and in the most recent issue, one article pointed out how excellent Dickens was at characterization.  So we'll piggyback some writing study along with our Christmas enjoyment.
(Ever the homeschoolers, right?   )

Cold, cold, cold!  Right now it's 6 degrees outside our breakfast nook window, headed for a high of 17.  For those of you who live far away in warmer climes, enjoy it!  We're actually enjoying this wintery weather, though I would like it a tad warmer.
Today is the only day this week we don't have to be somewhere outside of the house, so we get to homeschool all day.  Yay!  So much going on this time of year that it's a treat to be home for a whole day...
- SweetPea's got both math and science tests, as well as editing a story she's submitting to Vision Forum's story contest.  She and I are also planning a Christmas tea for some of our friends next week, so we're finalizing our plans for that.  Seemed like a good year to do this for us, with some good experience in all that hospitality entails.  And she's mad at work on a piano composition she has to have ready for her teacher in a couple of weeks.  It's a duet, which is harder to write.
- We're…

This is one of those things I really dislike--finding a new church.  It's like moving; you leave behind old friends and connections, have to go through the whole adjustment to a new body and how they do things, try to find the right classes for everyone, and forge new relationships.  Sometimes the reasons for leaving a church are unpleasant or hurtful, leaving you aching and cautious.  And inevitably you leave behind some good things that can make you wonder if you did the right thing.
Well, we've moved on to a new church without all that!  It's been an amazing experience, peaceful and full of blessing.  For several years we've gone to a very large church, a wonderful one, but this last year it was becoming obvious that things were changing for us, not the least of which was SweetPea.  She found she really disliked the youth culture/youth group and got involved as a Sunday School helper instead.  While that's good experience, we were concerned at the lack of spiritu…

One of the interesting things I've observed about our daughter growing up is how her changing stages affect the functionality of our home.  Just when I have the rooms of the house organized, and furniture set to meet needs in each room, and shelves, drawers, and closets in good order, I wake up one morning and realize that "we" have moved on and need a whole new 'functionality.'
So today I'm looking in our schoolroom--which only a few months ago was 'set' for the next five years (ha!)--and I realize that SweetPea is hardly ever in here!  With a new desk in her room, that is where she chooses to do school.  Or curled up on the couch.  Or sprawled on the floor somewhere.
I suddenly notice that bins of crayons and markers, stacks of construction paper, math manipulatives, and other elementary-years stuff, won't probably be needed anytime soon.  (Do high schoolers still color?)
Which means that maybe I can put away some of these irrelevant items and move…

A fun week on the way...no school!  One of those privileges of homeschooling.  We started school early in August to be able to take some time off during the year, this week being one of them.  My beloved aunt, who is like a big sister to me, is coming to visit from AZ and we're gonna play.
I'm looking forward to endless cups of tea and some rollicking laughter.  I don't know if it's our chemistry or what, but my aunt and I can laugh till we're crying.  I'm due for some of that!  She is one of the neatest people I know and one of my all-time heroes.  (She was The Agent that introduced my beloved Hubby to me!)  She had a long career in missions, serving in South and Central America, retired now, but still full of the joy and zeal of the Lord.  I'm glad SweetPea is going to have the chance to just soak her up this week and glean some treasures.
And wouldn't you know it...we're welcoming her with SNOW!  We're due for some tomorrow and more later in th…

Funny the small drama that played out around me on my walk yesterday. The wind, though not cold, blew and blustered around me in fits and gusts, no rhyme or reason to its direction. It blew and drove clouds of gold, red, and brown leaves about my feet, rattling and dancing and scuttling and swirling across the road in front of me. Trees bent to its invisible force, releasing their burden of colored leaves in showers about me, looking for all the world like flocks of birds scattering in wild array across the crystal blue Colorado sky.
The scene sparkled with action and color and aliveness. Neighbors raked and tried to keep up with the piles-in-the-making, and in the distance I could hear the drums of a high school marching band practicing for a game...homecoming, maybe? How good to be able to walk and smell and hear and see all the richness about me.  How good to see the Lord's hand everywhere.  He loves fall, too.
A wonderful time of year!

...literally!  We've had a few days of very cold weather, freezing temps at night, and a lot of our leaves have simply fallen off en masse, without the beautiful golds or oranges.  Just a dead, blah, greenish-brown.  For those trees that didn't succumb to the cold, I'm hoping for a few weeks of Indian summer now so we can have some color to enjoy.
Had a fun visit from my sis and her husband this weekend, and though we had to bundle up against the chilly temps, it was cozy with a fire in the fireplace, an old movie, and some fun hanging out.  We don't have any of our families living nearby so it's always quite a treat when any of them visit.
My brother-in-law put me onto a free Bible software program, E-Sword.  In case you've never heard of it--wow.  It's amazing!  You can download it here.  Most of the resources are free:  Bibles, dictionaries, commentaries, graphics, etc., though some require purchase.  It has some great functionality, though; definitely wor…

This was one of those 'satisfying' weekends.  We took a drive through the mountains to see the fall colors, marvelling again at the stupendous scope of God's handiwork.  Smells, vistas, reds, yellows, oranges...wow.  Amazing and utterly refreshing.
Come fall two things always happen to me...I want to cook and I want to sew.  So I had a happy afternoon doing both.  Made Swedish meatballs and creamed potatoes for last night's dinner, (recipe for the meatballs is on my Healthy Living blog), and sewed up a couple of little fleece dog jackets for Sadie the dog.  She's a short-hair and gets cold so easily.  Fleece was easy--doesn't need hemming and I just sewed velcro on for closures.  Fun.
We're well into another of Genevieve Foster's great history books in our school studies, George Washington's World.  We just love these books!  Sonlight's Core 6 had two of them, Augustus Ceasar's World, and Colombus and Sons, and we have yet to read Abraham Lin…