I started this day off by finishing an audiobook while I walked to the mailbox, then I decided to make some salted caramel sandwich cookies. If this post ends up being a little disjointed, it's because I'm jumping up every 8ish minutes to take a batch of cookies out of the oven!
Just Life
She spends most of her day following the warm spots around the house, as you can see from the photos.
Our mailbox is empty this morning, as it's often been lately because apparently they can't get a mail carrier for our route. If I want my mail, I have to go down to the post office so they can give it to me. I made a couple trips down there last week to pick up Valentine's Day packages. Derek and I often skip gifts on Valentine's Day, but this year we both ended up getting each other something. I got Derek this shirt, and he got me a new Chi hair straightener because my old one was desperately old, and was also probably the reason that my hair stylist had to cut two inches of broken ends off a couple weeks ago. Though I'm told only two inches over the course of a year is pretty good for our dry climate here.
Derek made me a really wonderful Valentine's dinner, and decorated the school room and everything. It literally felt like a going out to a restaurant without even leaving the house. It was so sweet of him to go to so much effort, and really unexpected since we usually don't do much for Valentine's Day!
Aside from Valentine's Day, we also celebrated my oldest son's birthday in the last couple weeks. He is twelve. That feels so grown up - I remember being twelve and wanting to be included more in adult conversation at that age. I can tell he is at that point as well, and it's just hard to believe he is growing up so fast. He likes to remind me that he'll be driving in a mere four years. I try not to think about it too much.
On his birthday we went out to a local pinball arcade and let the kids have an unlimited hour of play - it was such a fun outing! My mom has been telling me about this arcade for a couple years, and I'm so glad we finally made it happen. I think Derek and I might make a date night out of it soon. We didn't pay for ourselves to play, and I was a little sorry we didn't, because I really want to try some of the games!
I have not given an update on Lulu here for a while, and she has grown quite alot since we got her. She definitely looks more like an adult miniature dachshund now (which, let's be honest, is still pretty small). Her favorite part of the day is right after Derek lets her out in the morning...she charges in the door and up the stairs, trying to catch me before I get out of bed. If I'm not getting up early, Derek gives her a boost onto the bed, and she races over to me, darts under the covers, and then squirms up until she is laying on her back with her head poking out of the covers right next to my face. Then she'll tilt her head over to me and snuggle for a while, until I sneakily tuck the covers around her and roll out of bed. We don't let her sleep on the beds at all at night, so this one little morning snuggle is the only time she gets. I have to say, having a soft, adorable little puppy dog tuck herself right in next to you is a nice way to be awakened in the morning.
Happy Mail And An Instagram Break
As a mini update on my New Year's goals: I did not paint last week, and I did not work on Ancestry.com. I did, however, receive a lovely letter from a childhood friend, and I wrote a letter, and plan on writing another today if I have the time. I highly recommend letter writing if you can find good people to write to. Since starting my letter-writing project, I've been keeping my own letters rather short so that it is manageable for me to write one per week, and I'm proud of the amount of letters I've stamped and mailed so far. I also forgot how nice it can be to receive a personal letter in the mail back. There is something really special about this form of communication - maybe it's easier to be honest when you are handwriting a letter, and maybe having to wait so long for a reply makes it a little sweeter when you spot handwriting you recognize amidst the junk mail.
Since we're talking about different forms of communication, I also decided to give Instagram another break. I was reading back through some of my old blog posts regarding social media, and remembering how lovely that year was when I wasn't on any social media at all. Even as I dipped my toe back into Instagram last year and have been using it more rarely, I still find myself rather sick of it again. One of the lasting benefits of being off Instagram for a whole year has been that it's much easier to recognize when the algorithm is messing with me, and when Instagram itself is bringing out negative feelings in me. I was feeling that way again recently, and decided to give it a break, until the end of the school year I think. Perhaps you'll be seeing more posts on the blog now! I also still post an occasional Bible verse or article on Twitter if you want to join me over there. Twitter just doesn't suck my time in the same way Instagram does.
Disjointed Thoughts On Wisdom Online
Speaking of Twitter, I saw this tweet over there last week, and it's been swirling in my mind since then:
I think the sentiment here is very true, whether we're talking about marriage or some other aspect of life.
I think it would be better for everyone if more young Christians had the wisdom to recognize when their experience is too fresh, that maybe they shouldn't offer advice until they have more years under their belt. That perhaps they can't have learned any real lessons until the experiences have marinated a bit.
Though age doesn't guarantee wisdom and there are plenty of foolish older people, a real depth of wisdom comes with fearing and knowing the Lord through the storms of life. Wisdom is a potential that might come to fruition as we walk with Christ through a variety of life experiences, good and bad, and those experiences can't all happen in only the amount of years that you can count on two hands. If wisdom comes, it comes with time.
On the flip side, I also think there is a derth of mature, wise Christian women actually sharing advice online - or in person either, for that matter. I wish older women would speak up sometimes, but then I see how they are sometimes poo-poo'ed or shot down when they do. Perhaps they don't speak because there are so few young women who want to hear what they have to say anymore. The gray-headed are not honored in modern America, often not even among Christians, and it's a shame on us.
All these thoughts are very half-baked on my part, but it's something I've been mulling over for a while. I'd love to hear what you think!
I've been severely neglecting my salted caramel cookie dough while typing that out, so I'll finish up now and get back to it!
How was your Valentine's Day, friends?
Have you been baking anything as winter starts to wind down?
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