This Week's Joy Moments

I think I've mentioned how despite a very difficult time in our lives -- just overly challenging in more ways than I can count -- the Lord has really been working in me to Seek Joy amidst every day.  Those words, "Seek Joy!" are the banner on my cell phone.  I have a piece of carved word art in my kitchen in bright red that reads: "JOY."  I try to visually remind myself in every way to seek joy no matter my immediate circumstances.

Weekly Wrap-up

Yes, those are supposed to be sharks.  I've been working with J and O this week, learning about water and doing some water experiments (sink or float; condensation) and so I thought I'd finish up the week reading a book about a favorite animal of the kids': sharks.  Then ... shark craft.  They loved them so much, their sharks sat by them at the table while they did their math worksheets and J even explained each math problem to her shark.  I love it when they can teach others what they're learning (to reinforce the lesson) so this worked out well.

Thoughtful Thursday: A Riot

While my husband and I were away on our WWK, we kept seeing all these fun wildflower patches along the road.  Randomly, C said, "I think large groups of wildflowers should be called 'a riot'."  He explained how wildflowers just kind of do what they want and grow where they want ... so they kind of riot against order and structure.

The idea stuck with me and I like it.  I love riots of wildflowers myself, because they are so unruly with all their colors and wildness.  Wildflowers don't really match my "in the box" comfort zone, but I can't help but love them.  Go figure.

Weekend Without Kids (aka: WWK)

As I mentioned in a prior post, last week I celebrated my 38th birthday.  My husband's gift to me was so awesome!  He planned a weekend without kids for us.

Tuesday Talk

I totally allowed Monday to fly by (unfortunately it wasn't in the "time flies when you're having fun" kind of way ... but I'll get over it) and didn't do my Monday Mastery post.  Maybe next week.  So instead, after another very tedious Tuesday, I'm blogging about a fun little chat I had with J on the way back from the grocery store this evening.

Thoughtful Thursday: Turning 38

My birthday is this week. I'm turning 38. So I decided to answer 38 questions about myself (for the record). These questions are all from this blog site. Don't mind the varied fonts and spacing ... I did this in Word and then pasted it ... so yeah. Deal.

Wednesday Walk Update

So I've walked twice a day every weekday except one since last Monday the 12th.  Some days have been lengthier and others are just a quick stroll around the block -- it depends on weather and energy and how late a start we're getting.  Overall, though, I'd say that I'm starting to actually look forward to our walks.

Monday Mastery: Taking Breaks

Parents all know that their job is 24/7.  But I have to think that for homeschooling families, that is even more so the case.  I'm not saying it because I'm trying to brag ... I'm just saying that much of the time, I'm pretty well tired.  Plus, it doesn't help the fact that I'm a bit of a control freak (my sisters would confirm this ... though, they may argue with the *bit* portion of the statement), so I find it really difficult to take a break -- to hand off the care of our children to someone else just for the sake of taking a deep breath now and then.

Good Message & Fun Video

I don't always post a recap about our pastor's message at church because I don't feel I can do them justice usually. Today though, I found the lead-in video that he used (he doesn't always use a lead-in video either, so it's a little treat when we get one) to be a really great illustration about holding onto our hurts, hang-ups and habits ... and our need to first decide to hand them over before we can begin recovery or further our Christian walk, etc.  Of course the pastor says things way more eloquently than I do, so instead of giving a long drawn out recap of why we don't give these HHHs up easily, I'll just post the video and call it good. 

Enjoy: What Gorilla?

Happy Sunday.

Fun on Friday

Some funny conversations I had with our kids said this week...