3 hours ago
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Update. Show all posts
My husband looked at me last week and told me he thought I should seriously consider taking another week of summer before starting our homeschool year. He said he’s never seen me this stressed out going into a school year, and he thought I should take just one more week to do nothing, except whatever would feel inspiring or restful.
Of course I had objections…but then we will have to go another week into May! What if we struggle to get into a homeschool routine before our fall trip to visit friends in a couple weeks? What if we get behind?!
But there was a part of me that knows he knows me best out of anyone. So if he sees that I am a little unhinged right now, he’s probably right. I’d be wise to take his advice.
Instead of breaking out the schedule and books this morning, I slept in, finished reading a book I’ve had in progress for a while, and sat down to write something. You can thank my husband for the existence of this post.
On The Page {Anything I’ve Read}
I’ve been struggling to finish several books this summer, so first on my relaxation to-do list this week is reading those! I just completed this book about personal style, this book on Chernobyl, and I have plans to wrap up this book in the next day or two. For blogs, I’m enjoying old-school posts, and also one with encouragement for homeschooling high school and one warning homeschoolers about vouchers - all linked below.
They Won’t Ban Homeschooling - They’ll Control It Instead
A 2025 Pioneer Woman Writes In Her Diary About July
August’s Letters From The Hearth
I have also been working on having reading time with each of my kids individually, which is no small feat when there are five of them! The consistency is never as good as I want, but it’s a habit I will work on establishing. We’re reading The Hobbit, Little Women, The Swamp Robber, Winnie The Pooh, and The Complete Brambly Hedge.
In My Armchair {Projects I’m Working On}
So many of my personal projects have fallen by the wayside, as we have been running from one activity to another and somehow keeping the house decent and the kids fed in between. However, I did make these adorable beaded fish with my kids this month. They are double-sided, and so much more satisfying to hold than they look.
In The Kitchen {Things We’ve Made}
This has been the summer of me trying to keep my kitchen stocked with fresh fruit - some of which has gone bad because we tried to save it too long, but most of which has been gobbled up almost immediately.
I haven’t done a ton of baking, but my kids have. My daughter has started making chocolate chip cookies (hers are somehow better than mine, though we are using the same recipe). My son has perfected baked oatmeal, and has been preparing breakfast for his siblings every day this week. It’s such a blessing to eat something warm from the oven that I didn’t have to make myself!
I did, however, make pumpkin muffins with fresh-milled grains, and the bags are stored and waiting to be pulled out of the freezer on a busy morning. We also had a “shark week”, and shark cupcakes were in order.
On My Person {Things I’ve Worn}
My heart is starting to turn toward fall fashion, but it’s far too hot outside still. It’s good for me to look through my photos of outfits I enjoyed this summer, since I’ll probably be wearing them for a little while yet!
Despite the temperature, I can’t help eyeing my fall fashion inspiration board. I just finished reading Wear It Well, which talks about picking three words to describe and hone your style - I am analyzing the outfits I’ve pinned and mulling over what my three words should be.
In The Accounts {Money We’ve Saved}
After a July weekend trip, our car started having electrical problems. We took it to the dealership for diagnostic tests, thinking they would have more precise equipment to find the issue. A day later, they gave us a list of fixes that would cost more than we paid for the car! After a little bit of panic, we kept our heads, and took it back to our own mechanic. He replaced one wire, and we replaced the battery, and that seemed to fix the problem. So we “saved” several thousand dollars by not taking the dealership recommendations!
Other than that, I have been saving money by just…not buying things. Instead of doing fall clothes shopping, as I’m always tempted to do in the late summer, I pinned outfits I intend to recreate with my own clothes. I also took my girls window shopping so we could see what the styles are this year, but I didn’t buy anything and thought instead about how I could get the same vibe with clothes I already own.
Out My Window {Beauty I’ve Noticed}
Late summer is such a beautiful time in the mountains. I’m sitting on the porch typing this, and birds are singing all around and hummingbirds keep whizzing past my chair. The sun is shining on the grass, making it turn gold, and puffy clouds float past in a bright blue sky.
I’m especially noticing and appreciating how healthy and full our pine trees look. I’ve noticed alot of beetle kill popping up in surrounding neighborhoods, and I’m so anxious about the health of our trees. We will be keeping a close eye for signs of those nasty pine beetles, but right now our trees look glorious and I’m praying they stay that way.
Out And About {Places We Went}
Yellowstone - We did a camping trip near Yellowstone National Park over the 4th of July! It was a wonderful place to spend the 4th and make memories as a family. There is something special about waking up in a tent.
My grandparent’s cabin - We try to visit my grandparents each summer at their cabin, and it’s always so restful. We just play cards and enjoy their company.
Lots of swimming - The pools have finally closed, but we squeezed in so many swimming days this summer, I feel we really made the most of it!
State Fair - My boys qualified for the shooting competition at the State Fair, and my girls had projects that also qualified. We didn’t go to the actual fair, but we traveled for the competition.
On My Mind {Thoughts To Share}
I sat here for a few minutes trying to decide what to say here. This year has been a difficult one for us, in ways I don’t feel comfortable sharing, and has underscored for us how important the body of Christ is. Nothing we’ve been going through has been worthy of a meal train or more serious help, but we have found encouragement from other believers, in our extended family and our church family. The past few months have also affirmed to us how we ourselves are important in encouraging our local body of believers and building them up. This verse has been a theme this year:
“…that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
Colossians 2:2-3
Paul is expressing his hope for the church at Laodicea, but these verses have become a refrain for our relationships, both within our house and in our local church family. We want to be “knit together in love” with one another, as our hearts are encouraged in pursuing the wisdom and knowledge of Christ, together. That should be the theme of our attitudes and words toward others - love and encouragement to pursue the knowledge of Christ. So I’ve been mulling over how to do that better in the midst of a stressful season.
In My Heart {Things I’m Treasuring}
-Laughter coming from the playhouse, where my little girls claim they are taking a nap.
-A Joe Diffy song (think old-school country) playing on our record player while my big kids work on crafts.
-The way my flowers perk up after a little watering.
-Thunder in the distance, the promise of rain.
-Lighting a cinnamon candle my husband bought for me on a whim.
-Warm laundry straight out of the dryer.
-Trees swaying in the wind.
-The feeling of turning the last page of a satisfying book.
-My oldest quietly settling next to me on a porch chair, cup of tea and Bible in hand.
On The Page {Anything I’ve Read}
This particular morning, I spent a good amount of time reading blogs and Substacks, and I forgot how much I enjoy getting a peek into different people’s lives and thoughts. I have found so much encouragement and refreshment in small blogs that most people have never heard of. This reflection on a passage from The Great Divorce was especially lovely today.
I am plugging away at a sci-fi time travel book at the moment, and I won’t mention it yet because the jury is still out on whether I’m going to recommend it. Aside from that book, I find myself listening to books more than reading this week. On rotation are: Where The Water Goes (about water management in the western U.S., which sounds boring but isn’t), Midnight In Chernobyl (still working on this one), and Old-Fashioned On Purpose (which I just finished).
In My Armchair {Projects I’m Working On}
In the last month I have returned from a lovely trip visiting our friends in Kentucky, then spent two weeks being a little lazy and recovering, then I jumped right into attending our local homeschool conference and VBS at our church. So I haven’t had the space or energy to tackle any major new projects yet this summer…aside from looking at curriculum and trying to think through how I will teach the history class at our co-op this fall. Important things, but not particularly fun to share.
In The Kitchen {Things We’ve Made}
I’ve been experimenting with new recipes here and there, inspired by a high-protein cookbook I rented from Amazon. I made lemon shrimp and pesto noodles; a sweet potato, beef, and pepper braise; and a greek chicken quinoa bowl.
The last one was the biggest hit, and the first time I’ve attempted making quinoa anything. I don’t have a recipe - basically I cooked up the chicken and made the cream sauce using a spice mix from Walmart, cooked the quinoa, and threw it all into a bowl with greek olives, sun dried tomatoes, cucumbers, and feta cheese. It was delicious.
On My Person {Things I’ve Worn}
It has been a cooler start to the summer, so I haven’t fully embraced my summer wardrobe yet - I also have been not the best at taking outfit photos over the last month, so these few will have to do.
In The Accounts {Money We’ve Saved}
Alas, I have done a terrible job of saving money this month. June is always one of our worst months of the year for spending. We have multiple birthdays and events, and we spend more in gas than usual. But…
-I did a decent job of packing us lunches or scrounging for snacks instead of eating out.
-I received free food items through app promotions.
-I started using Upside again to get cash back on gas purchases, and I’m well on my way to earning enough for a museum membership.
-My eyesight has apparently devolved to the point that my contacts are now considered “medically necessary”, and hence are covered by insurance! So instead of paying $400 for a six-month supply, I now pay $15.
-I got a drawing book I have been eyeing for my birthday, so now I won’t be tempted to buy it myself.
Out My Window {Beauty I’ve Noticed}
Our lilac bush bloomed for the first time in several years, and it’s completely loaded with blossoms! Unfortunately, pine tree pollen season has also arrived in the mountains, and everything is coated with pollen now, giving the blossoms a greenish yellow hue. I am looking forward to a couple rainy days next week to hopefully clean off my beautiful lilacs. Do people cute lilac blossoms for vases, and if so, do they last indoors? I am contemplating researching this, because I would love to bring them inside.
The wildflowers are also in rare form this year.
Out And About {Places We Went}
Homeschool Conference - We attended our state homeschool conference, and I was not very excited about the speaker list this year. However, I sat down in my first workshop session, and the speaker was just chatting and giving little freebies before really getting into her talk, and one of the things she said spoke straight to me heart. It was exactly what I needed to hear, and I felt tears spring to my eyes. Several speakers after that providentially addressed things I had already been contemplating, and I was reminded that the Lord knows what I need better than I do. I was so thankful for all of these faithful homeschool speakers that most people have never heard of.
Vacation Bible School - This post is brought to you by my church’s VBS. Last year I volunteered, but it was exhausting right on the heels of attending a 3.5 day homeschool conference, and I was such a mess I implored my husband to forbid me from volunteering for VBS the next year. He kept his end of the bargain, so I find myself with a couple hours to myself every day this week, and I don’t feel sorry about it. Sometimes we homeschool moms are with our kids so often (and that’s on purpose), we forget it’s okay to sometimes intentionally not be with them, just for a little bit to refresh. It’s been helpful for me to have some alone time this week to reflect on the conference and my hopes for the coming year.
Swim Park - This activity is on the calendar. Don’t tell my kids, it’s a surprise.
On My Mind {Thoughts To Share}
About halfway through the year now, I can confidently say that the thing the Lord is prompting in me is becoming more faithful in prayer. I will write more about this soon, but prayer has been a struggle for me for years now, unless I am having some sort of crisis, and I know that this should not be the case. Last week, speaker after speaker spoke about the importance of prayer, and one of them said that as our kids’ parents, we should make sure no one is praying for our own kids more than we are. That’s saying something when you have faithful praying grandparents in the mix! But it was a good challenge for me to be more intentional in praying for my kids, and our homeschool, and my husband, and our church.
In My Heart {Things I’m Treasuring}
-Warm weather and sunshine
-The occasional rainy day to hold off wildfires
-A house I love, even when it needs cleaning
-Kids who would rather play outside or make things than stare at a screen
-Friends who care enough to check in or smuggle your birthday present into the homeschool conference
-a free drink for downloading the Dutch Bros app
-Happy music
-Hearing baby birds hatch from their eggs outside our bedroom window (it was at 4AM, which was not appreciated, but it was still sweet to hear the chirps).
On The Page {Anything I’ve Read}
{Bits of many books.} I’ve finished a decent number of books in the last month, and the end is in sight for several more…and none of them have been reviewed or shared yet! Despite my best intentions of sharing books more often in 2025, it just hasn’t worked out that way. Keep an eye out for a reading wrap-up coming soon, but I’ll briefly mention that My Dear Hemlock will be making this year’s favorites list.
In My Armchair {Projects I'm Working On}
{Writing more again.} More on this further down the page, but after months in survival mode, it is time to develop my writing habit again. I miss blogging, but I also have an urge to experiment with other types of writing. I have no solid projects to report, it’s just something I’m thinking about.
{Sorting through clothes.} We are fast approaching the time of year when I need to switch out the kids’ winter clothes, and it’s always a ridiculously large project. I have been putting off donating some of the kids’ cast-offs, so that will be happening in the next couple weeks.
{Pushing ahead in our math books.} Alot of my extra energy lately has been spent on pushing my kids to finish their math books early. Math has truly been the bane of my existence this spring, and I’m ready for us all to be done with it. We can hopefully use our extra homeschool time on art projects or something before summer break. Final math exams will hopefully happen this week!
In The Kitchen {Things We Made}
{Sourdough starter in my fridge.} Technically, I haven’t actually made any sourdough yet, but a friend from church gave me some of her starter, and it is waiting in my fridge until I do something with it this week. I’m not going to lie, I’m scared! But I’m also excited to see if sourdough is something I can add to my repertoire. I’m not expecting immediate success, because baking at high altitude creates a lot of variables.
On My Person {Things I've Worn}
{Spring-ish outfits.} Spring outfits are always a special challenge to me, since it could be 70 degrees and sunny one day, and six inches of snow the next. Here are some recent outfits.
In The Accounts Book {Money We Have Saved}
{Things I didn’t buy.} I don’t have anything amazing to report here this month, except perhaps a brief list of things I was tempted to buy but didn’t:
-Countless books I resisted (for school and otherwise).
-A swimsuit I added to my cart but never purchased.
-Multiple dresses and shirts I admired in the store without feeling an urge to even try them on.
-Jumpsuits and sweaters and pants I tried on, and then talked myself out of.
-Candles I smelled and then put back on the shelf.
I’d also like to give honorable mention to the self-restraint I showed when checking out Forever 21’s going-out-of-business sale - I bought things that my kids or I would actually use or wear, without going overboard just because an item was only going to ring up to $1.10.
Out My Window {Beauty I Noticed}
{Blooming trees and other signs of spring.} The flowers decorating the trees are really all I can think about this time of year…I find excuses to go to town so we can enjoy them. Up in higher elevations we don’t have flowers yet, but the grass has been poking through, the birds are loudly back, and we’ve spotted several robins pulling worms from our dusty ground. We actually need a few more snows or rainy days to avoid fire risk later, so I’m hoping to see some gloom in the forecast, but the sunshine has been truly glorious.
Out And About {Places We Went}
{Sheep Camp 2025}. The most exciting outing lately has been going to Sheep Camp at our friends’ ranch! I’m going to share more details and photos in a different post, so I’ll just include a couple here. The kids were each assigned a sheep to take care of during the two days we were there, and it was a lovely glimpse of what ranch life is really like. It was hard work, but satisfying for them, and full of more than a usual share of fun too!
{Homeschool Day At The Capitol.} I took a couple of my kids to a homeschool event at the state capitol. We had never been before, and it was pretty amazing to get to see the opening of a legislative session, explore our capitol building, and make our faces seen and voices heard to our representatives.
On My Mind {Thoughts I Want To Share}
{On taking a break from writing.} I feel the need to address the elephant in the room (at least it’s an elephant for me) - I have not been writing very much this year.
Our family has been going through alot that I am not comfortable sharing online, and while I know this season will pass, it has sucked all the creative inspiration out of me. I have found myself increasingly disconnecting from the online sphere and anchoring myself more to the real, physical world around me. Chores like vacuuming or folding laundry have a rhythmic comfort to them, batches of sugary cookies or warm loaves of bread help release the tension from my shoulders, sitting in the sunshine does wonders for my mood, and encouragement from friends or family members in a coffee shop or over the phone has been the refreshment I really needed.
So I’m not exactly apologizing for prioritizing those things over my blog, because time spent on the real world is never wasted. But I am sad to be so rusty in my writing habit, and I do miss some of my online connections - which actually are real too when there is a real person who cares to read on the other side. I can’t promise to have alot of high-quality writing at the moment, but I can say that I will get back to at least writing something regularly again, and that is, after all, half the battle.
In My Heart {Things I'm Treasuring}
{1} Snuggly dachshunds, forever puppies.
{2} The end of the homeschool year in sight.
{3} Finally having peace to make some summer plans.
{4} A trip on the horizon to visit dear friends.
{5} My mom, who took me out for coffee and a good talk when I was feeling overwhelmed.
{6} No real car troubles right now (we have been getting car troubles ever spring for several years now, so this feels like a reprieve).
{7} Woodpeckers - they sound like a jackhammer every morning, and they are causing damage to our house, but the fact that they are back is a signal of spring.
{8} Church friends to share encouragement - and gardening tips, and deals on produce, and sourdough starter.
{9} The right to homeschool, representatives who support us, and advocates who keep a watch over legislation.
{10} Resurrection hymns and songs on our speakers this week, as we look ahead to Sunday.
January is a time for evaluating and tweaking. I’m not so much for making grand New Year’s resolutions, but I do think the New Year is a good time to take stock and see what things need adjusting. I saw this post format on A Gentle Defiance, and I liked the idea of thinking through what I’d like to continue from the previous year (it’s important to acknowledge successes), and what things I wish would have been better.
What Worked
Adding a little more to my proverbial plate.
When my kids were little, it was all I could do to take care of them and my home. I found myself overwhelmed and stressed with too many outside commitments, and I came to the realization that I needed to ruthlessly cut them out. It was the best thing I could have done for my own mental state and my family in that stage of life, and I regret nothing. However, over the last couple years I found myself with more space to take on new projects - and as I’ve added more work to my metaphorical plate, it hasn’t seemed overwhelming, but motivating. Overall, my being ready to take on a little bit more has meant more meaningful community and experiences for myself and the kids. I think it’s so important to know your limits - and that involves knowing when to cut back as well as knowing when to add things in.
Waking up early.
This year I bumped my wake-up time back another hour, and I’ve been more consistent than ever in having quiet coffee and reading time before my kids wake up. It’s been a game changer for me in providing time for meaningful Bible study and letting me get through some tougher books. It is definitely something that I will be continuing in 2025.
Changing our homeschool history curriculum.
This school year I decided to jump into a Charlotte Mason style with both feet, especially when it comes to teaching history, geography, and literature to my kids. I am by no means a purist, but I have always loved the idea of teaching history through living books, as opposed to textbooks. With my oldest starting 8th grade, this seemed like the year to figure out if this style of education was for us, and it has been a rousing success so far! I will give a more complete opinion once we have finished the school year, but we are doing this curriculum (with some adaptations), and everyone is enjoying it.
Being more aware of how I’m spending our money.
I wrote last year about starting a short no-buy project, and even though I don’t feel it was a total success, it kicked off a full year of being more conscious of my spending. I watched Youtube channels about no-buy journeys and no-buy advice, I am slowly reading books about contentment and shopping habits, and I’ve set various limits on my shopping and spending from month to month. Developing better habits isn’t a one-year project but something I’ll need to continually tweak. Just keeping these topics in mind has changed the way I think about the things I buy, and it’s been positive. I’m excited to keep working on this and hope to write more in 2025.
Figuring out my own style again.
I’ve always enjoyed clothes and taken enjoyment out of developing my style, but after taking a nearly 8 year break from normal clothes when I was pregnant and postpartum, I started floundering when it came to shopping and getting dressed. Somewhere along the way my style had become merely buying whatever I thought looked good on someone else - I had lost my own sense of style. I spent this year sorting through my closet and cleared out many things that don’t make me feel my best, considering what makes a certain outfit or item of clothing feel like “me”. Putting the effort into this has helped me avoid buying trendy items or being influenced to buy things because I saw it on social media. This process is just starting for me, but I’m more excited about my closet and more satisfied with my purchases since trying to figure this out.
Satisfaction in the kitchen and learning new things.
This year I was much more consistent in my bread-baking. I bake bread in a bread machine with fresh ground grains, and it took me years to perfect the recipe for my particular altitude. I made bread nearly bi-weekly for much of the year, and it is wonderful to be using a skill I’ve worked on for so long to benefit my family.
The new thing I learned was how to water-bath can - as in preserving food. I have a generous friend from our church who took me under her wing this last summer and taught me how to safely can at home. I’m thankful to her for giving me the courage to try something new! On her recommendation I’ve read the safety guidelines from this book, and I’ve made and canned blueberry jam, apple pie in-a-jar, apple butter, and candied jalapeños. Hearing the pop of the safety lid on my jars is so satisfying.
What Didn’t Work
My reading was all over the place.
I found myself in a reading rut multiple times this year, and it’s going to take some evaluating to figure out exactly way. I read barely anything in the first quarter of 2024, and I was disappointed in my progress in the books I was reading. I suspect I was trying to read too many “stiff” books at once. Stiff books are challenging books, and I learned from personal experience that reading all challenging books means that when I am lacking the mental energy for that kind of book I just won’t read at all. Karen Andreola recommends having one “stiff” book, one moderately easy book, and one novel going at a time, and I think this balance is something I’d like to incorporate into my reading life in 2025.
I lacked the consistency to complete projects, especially in the summer.
My goal for the summer was to organize the ridiculous stack of papers stuffed into my nightstand shelf, and to print photos from previous years and get them into albums. I did neither of those things, and it was out of pure laziness. I need to figure out a way to consistently work on these multi-part projects in a manageable way. My current pattern is to spend one or two exhaustingly tedious days trying to complete everything at once, not finishing, and then avoiding continuing that project for months because the last time I worked on it was so tiring.
I didn’t save enough money.
In 2024 my focus was on being more aware of my spending habits, but toward the end of the year I decided to translate that into also saving more money. I have done much better at designating money for savings in the last couple months, but I could have helped the family out with various expenses if that had been a focus for more of my year. So in 2025, I am intentionally saving for some very specific things, and doing that will help me not only with shopping habits, but will bring more tangible benefits to my family as well.
I wasn’t consistent enough with vitamins and drinking water.
There are a few supplements that I need to be taking, per my doctor, but my consistency leaves something to be desired. I also have a tendency to reach for the coffee pot more than my water bottle, and I’d like to be better about hydrating in 2025.
Wasting too much time consuming media.
I often find myself turning on a Youtube video or a podcast “just while I clean the kitchen”, and before I know it I’ve wasted a couple hours fiddling around the house while I listen. That time could be used reading, or learning to crochet, or writing here. And don’t even get me started on scrolling on Instagram - I’m much better at controlling my consumption of social media than in the past, but there is still much improvement to be had. My goal is to spend more time creatively producing, and to have that outweigh time spent consuming this year.
As I look at this list, I’m excited to see what 2025 will bring. I hope this will be a year of more meaningful reading, getting myself organized, managing money more wisely, and enjoying my time with loved ones and friends. And I hope the same for you!
Leave me a comment!
What is one thing that worked for you last year, and one thing that needs to change?
Note: I wrote this newsletter to send with my Christmas cards, and I decided to share a modified version here as a nice little summary of our year. I'm sure you are all busy with your families on Christmas Eve, but maybe sometime in the next week you'll have time to read this, and you'll know I was wishing you all a Merry Christmas!
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As I sit down to write this, our house is dark. There are no twinkly lights, no ornaments or garland. After throwing together our Christmas cards at the last possible moment last year, I thought I better get an early start if a newsletter would happen in 2024, so no Christmas decor graces our home just yet. But my oldest is building up a fire in our woodstove, it’s the week before Thanksgiving, and our speaker is playing Psalm 100 put to music. Gratitude is our atmosphere this evening, and despite a year that had it’s share of disappointments, there are so many things for which to thank God.
Our year started off rather dreadfully, but also with a spontaneous bit of fun. For me, this will ever be known as the year that I had the worst dental procedure known to man, aka: a gum graft. The fact that I have previously worked as a dental hygienist made the procedure especially excruciating, since I knew exactly what they were doing each moment! I lost the ability to smile for two weeks (literally, couldn’t move my muscles properly all through January), but a new little puppy brought a smile to my heart at least.
Yes, Derek talked me into another dachshund, the full sister or our other dog, Lulu. We named the new puppy Dot, and she’s been a ton of fun, and also trouble, for the whole of 2024. Thankfully she is turning out to be a “kid dog”, and she loves snuggling with any of the kids before we tuck her in each night.
Our five kids have grown so much this year, not just physically, but in all the other ways you can think of as well. Our oldest three signed up for 4H in the spring - for woodworking, sewing, and leather-working. They each submitted projects to our county fair and won various ribbons, and two of them even got to send projects to the state fair and won ribbons there! I am so proud of the diligent work they put in, and for how well they each did. My little girls have another year or two before joining 4H, but in their spare time they keep each other busy with imaginative games, forts, baby dolls, and drawings that I find all over the house.
In May we took our annual vacation to Arizona - mainly to see the Saguaro cacti in Saguaro National Park, which were just as impressive as I thought they would be. Apparently Phoenix is not a popular destination so close to summer, but the weather ended up being just perfect for our warmth-starved selves. We took a side trip to Joshua Tree and Palm Springs - it was the first time I’ve ever been in California. The wind and solar farms in the desert were a little jarring, but our destinations ended up being well worth venturing into the land of $7 gas, just for a day. Of course the hotel pool will always be the kids’ favorite part of vacation. We could take them to see the wonders of the world, but it wouldn’t be vacation without a fun pool.
Our favorite summer experience was a day trip to a small mountain town to see wildflowers. While we hiked around the trails, we counted 21 different varieties of wildflowers, and seeing the colors bursting over the hills was glorious. God is so creative, isn’t He? We are casual hikers; we never were the type to backpack our toddlers into the mountains, so it’s fun to be able to get into nature more as the kids grow.
As a summer project, Derek and our oldest son rigged up a makeshift greenhouse and started a garden. We have grown things in a small porch greenhouse before, but it was exciting to have a more substantial vegetable garden, and we enjoyed a crop of squash and tomatoes as the summer stretched into fall.
I am still homeschooling the kids, and they each have been progressing very well. It’s such a blessing to have them home with me and to get to see them learning and growing, not just academically, but in their knowledge of the Lord. I am still involved with several other ladies in running a homeschool support group at our church, and this fall we also joined a co-op one day a week that has been a blessing for all of us.
Derek is working for the same government organization, most of the time from home. Even though he is locked away in his office, there is something special about having him under the same roof as us each day.
Time and space fail me, and newsletters that try to cover everything get tedious. I will only briefly mention that many books were read, many hikes were taken, kids jumped off diving boards for the first time, we went to the movies, we went on field trips, we taught all the kids how to roller skate. We had more doctor (and orthodontist) appointments than typical, plans were cancelled because of the cost of broken appliances, we had to buy a new (to us) car. We attended the state homeschool conference together, we spent time with both sides of the family, we saw our dear friends from out of town, and enjoyed weekly fellowship with other believers at church. Somewhere along the way, Derek and I passed our 16th anniversary with not a ton of fanfare, but with the quiet, solid kind of love that makes this stage of life so special.
So it’s been a good year. Any trials seem minor, and the blessings glitter like the Christmas lights that will be going up this weekend. It’s a lovely thing that each year ends with Thanksgiving and Christmas - what better way to close the year than by remembering all our gifts, and then contemplating the greatest gift of all, our Savior Jesus Christ!
There’s an old hymn line that describes Jesus as the “Light of light” coming to earth “as the darkness clears away”, and I’ve been contemplating that phrase as we approach the Christmas season. The Light of the world was born to us, clearing the darkness of sin and death away for all those who repent and trust in Him for their salvation. That God our Savior would be born a little child is a mystery too great to comprehend, but He was. He came to defeat our sin and the curse of death on the cross. So as I close this letter, I pray that you would know Him, and that in knowing Him, the light of Christ will shine on you and your family this Christmas season and always.
“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name…And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” John 1:12, 14
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