I really, really, really, really, REALLY dislike Algebra. This is now my 4th round with it…have to say, I think I’m finally starting to understand a couple elements <- seriously? DEPRESSING!

• Round #1: me in high school.
• Round #2: me in college.
• Round #3: my son in high school.
• Round #4: my daughter in high school.

As my brother & I discuss how to do a specific type of problem (with the answer book open and completed steps done – each of us wondering, why did they do it that way?). The age-old question always surfaces so quickly – really, do we use this in “normal”, practical, real life? Nope.

I would consider both of my brothers intelligent. One is an Alaskan bush pilot – he flies a Super Cub & 185; the other flies an R44 helicopter. Both of them use math every.single.day. every.hour. in.so.many.ways to be safe in the air, and it isn’t Algebra as taught to high schoolers… enough said.

So, tonight as one of my brothers helped my children with Algebra 1 (9th grader) and Algebra 2 (11th grader) – when my brain shut down due to overwhelm (my defense: we did work on Algebra for over an hour earlier today & honestly, I couldn’t figure out any other ways to try to explain it). I came back to my house, ate a yummy treat, sat in front of my computer and did a bazillion other things (after getting the internet working again).

I am blessed.

**Photo of my brothers was not taken by me, and I don’t know who took it. I believe it was taken back in 2005 or 2006. It’s just one of my favorite :-D.

Day 7 of 31 Days

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The name of this blog is Thoughtful Escapes because blogging is an escape of sorts, yet I don’t want to fall into the trap of just spewing.

I want this place to be thoughtful, encouraging, a place to show Christ to others.

A time I reflect on life and the goodness of God.

As I’ve already mentioned [& am tired of saying] 2013 has been a hard year. We have actually made it almost through February without a new [crisis/big life change], but I’m still processing lots. I’m not claiming this as the word for 2013 – but the word ‘process’ has been a thunderously loud chant in my head, heart, and mind this year. I’ve said before, I’m a slow processor. I’m tired of processing; and these are things I’m not able to process ‘out loud’ in this space. Often enough my thoughts haven’t been a safe place, so it’s been very quiet here. I’m avoiding. I’ve ‘written’ many posts in my head, but none could [or should] be posted here. on the internet. It’s hard to get back into writing, but when I do – it’s easy. But then I say too much.

I believe as a result of all this processing, there is change coming. A lot of it. Good changes. but it still kind of scares me. Again, change is something I’m not overly fond of. In fact, I really dislike change. It means what I am used to isn’t real anymore.

I like routine.

I like slow.

I like watching from the edges.

I like planning.

I’m not big on being surprised. but I do like to anticipate [because, you see, then I’ve planned it & it isn’t a surprise]

God is working on me. I’m learning to let go [quickly] to what I like. But it is taking time. I’m almost to the point where change would be welcome to processing though.

I did have a list of random things to tell you, but I forgot what they were.  –> I do remember this from today though – Algebra just might do me in, at the very least it is causing me a permanent headache these days. <–  ugh! I’ve discovered it’s worse to teach than try to wrap my mind around. ‘Cuz you know, for some crazy reason I thought it would be different – I would actually understand it this time through. After all – third times supposed to be the charm! [I’ve been through Algebra in high school, then college, now as a homeschooling parent.] It would help if he wanted to understand. Why can’t I just show him step-by-step how to do it and he understand what didn’t make sense when he read it to himself? He asks me why?! I have no idea! and Christine still has to do it too. {ugh! ugh! ugh!} if it wasn’t for the fact it actually counts on school records now – I would  so be giving up!

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So much has happened since then: This year has been a bit of a whirlwind. Below I’ve bulleted what has happened in life since landing in the Philippines just 7 short months ago – or maybe it’s been long months. for sure they’ve been full months.

• I woke up on my 40th birthday in a foreign country. It was the first day of two wonderful months supporting and being with our family.
• We came home on June 9th. On June 8th a dear friend had a baby, another dear friend’s friend and co-worker was nearly killed in a freak jetski accident; on June 9th just hours after I landed in Alaska, yet another dear friend lost her son to murder.
• We made a room for Christine. She now has her OWN room for the first time (except the two months in the Philippines).
• Vince spent the summer working with my dad on the cabin. This means Christine and I had a TON of time. It’s been a wonderful connect with her since coming home to the States, her getting into her own space, and turning 13. Who would’ve thought?
• Vince turned 16. I can’t believe this. I don’t think my brain has accepted it yet.
• Christine turned 13. My baby is 13? how is this possible?!!!!
• A dear friend went to jail. Hard. Void. Excruciatingly painful on so many levels. No words to express, my brain is still not really grasping this.
• Making a room for Christine meant her space/corner of the world in our room was now empty. For the first time since graduating from high school, I have my own room. (not counting a few months here & there with my parents being gone and when we’ve traveled). In my own house, I have my own room?!
• So I moved my office into this corner. It’s crazy what all was in here – eventually I hope to share the process.
• Which made our living room HUGE. We love it! We can spread out and enjoy hanging out together.
• Vince is now the only one with a desk in the living room. This is the first time my office mess isn’t in the living room in… um, ever.
• Our house is now actually relatively clean *most* of the time. It is so much fun. My room/office/sewing area still needs to be finished up though.
• I refinished a dresser. Man! WHY didn’t I do that back 10 years ago when I got it & it was hideously ugly then?! Because I was intimidated by the idea and I needed it too much to risk messing it up. I’m learning to live differently. I didn’t need it, so there wasn’t risk. I let myself just go at it – not only did I love the process, I love the end product! I will eventually share it. Hopefully, sooner rather than later – why I’m speed fast forwarding to catch you up. 🙂
• I refinished/reupholstered a chair. Again, AFTER it sat ugly at my entry for two years {sigh}. I think I’m learning though. I’m slow, but thorough. I will get there – making art freely in life. If you haven’t, you should read Emily Freeman’s newest book, A million little ways. I’m so relishing that book right now. I also just recently read Jeff Goins’ book, In Between. The concept in these books fit together so well. I believe I’ve been in/still am in an in between space, but I’m learning to keep moving toward God in the process rather than freaking checking out.
• I made a kitchen table. (using the term ‘made’ very loosely) I actually really like what I have in the end. Which is good, considering we’ve lived without a table for a year now.
• Starting August 5th, Vince started to run Cross Country with one of the local high schools. Due to a new state law made effective on July 1st. Running with the team started daily practice. Whoa! Wow, that is a job in and of itself! He loved it. I loved seeing him enjoy it.
• Starting September 9th, I worked nights from 9pm-5:30pm on a temporary job. (first real employment in a year) A bit of income was nice – but, it’s been brutal to get caught up on life and get back into sleeping at night. I found out I VERY naturally stay up all night – never once had a problem with being tired….
• October 4th, job ended. Bittersweet. for obvious cash flow reasons.
• October 5th, Cross Country ended. Again, bittersweet. It was finally not going to be brutal to get him to practice each day.
• Somewhere in September we started school (at an abbreviated level). My kids are old enough to start, work on, and complete on their own. This really does happen! Amazing. All I’d hoped would play out is finally panning out after so many years of not doing things the way so many thought they should be done. This is reaffirming as a mom in a way I can’t express very well yet.
• Somewhere in there piano lessons started. Oh, to hear her play again. She was starting to teach herself songs by listening on YouTube, without ever having seen music or owning it. I had a hard time convincing her it might not be the best idea….in particular if you don’t know the person playing in the video is doing it right. She plays by ear way better than by reading notes. It is important to me she knows how to read music. She is starting to appreciate the value.
• Somewhere in there cello lessons started. Oh, how I love to hear the cello! {for Vince’s birthday gift we got tickets to PianoGuys – so very excited!} He is doing so well, learning Misty Mountains from The Hobbit {sigh}. LOVE that song. He’s even getting to play with another student now.
• Somewhere in there gymnastics started. We actually started back the end of July. She’s working so hard and doing so well.
• Somewhere in there youth group on two different nights started.
• Somewhere in there we started to plug into YoungLife & Campaigners. There went one to four nights/week depending on which week in the month. But don’t regret a moment of it. We are all involved in different areas.
• Somewhere in there we started going to a Connection Group with our church. This is as a family and is only once a month.
• I was going to start blogging again about three weeks ago. But my computer had different ideas, my first mac – the MacBook Pro I got for school four years ago had it’s first hiccup/froze/crashed/died won’t work. I believe the hard drive needs to be replaced. I actually haven’t had time/emotional energy to even think or try to do anything about it for two weeks now. I still haven’t even ordered a replacement hard drive. Thankfully, it’s my secondary computer and my stuff was all on this computer already — but I must say, I’m a bit paranoid now. This mac has already had the hard drive replaced. Anybody know good online storage options? I’d love to hear what you know and what works for macs.
• And then last week the typhoon in the Philippines. So many tears. So much pain. Mind numbing overwhelmed crazy. My brother is one of four NTMA pilots in the Philippines – the other families and some of the NTM missionary families were in areas ravaged by the storm. One of them housed over 100 people in their home during the storm. These are people I’ve spent time with (many years ago in Arizona), but they are more than just a name to us. Please again – I ask, if you are able. Give financially. I know there are lots of places to donate and in the end it is to basically help the same people – but if you don’t know who to trust. Or you want to go through a smaller organization for a more focused giving project, please visit the NTMA website and consider donating through them. I would consider it an honor if you chose to trust them because you trust me.
• Oh. and did I mention it’s a bit much, not-able-to-be-prepared-for, hard to readjust after two months in a foreign country, a missions trip? I didn’t allow enough space for this. Now I look back at my pictures to remind me we did in fact go. My heart has ached and grieved so much in the last week, if I could I’d go back in a heartbeat, especially to be able in helping do something. Even just to find the moms and sit with them. I wonder if this is normal or because I didn’t process their hardships (the ones I saw without ravaging, destructive, ruthless storms) after coming home.

My kids jumping in the sunset on one of the most northen beaches of the Philippines.

 So. ya….. It’s been a crazy, intense, great life since coming back to the United States – Alaska. I chose to be present with my kids this summer. To feel life.

I have, even when it hurt.

This heart was in the beach like this. I don’t know what the white is, the finger trace I’m envisioning was a Filipino child walking along the beach earlier in the morning before going out to go fishing? This was on a beach walk the day after Mother’s Day. The last full day in the tribe we got to go spend 3.5 days in. This was the morning after I was released from an extreme fear of water, in particular waves crashing over my head. Did I tell you? On Mother’s Day this year I played in the waves for hours, being tossed around and sucking so much salt water. and it was fun! I’ve played in the ocean waves once before, 25 years ago. I was in high school and was so very afraid. I did it anyway because I thought I should. I didn’t enjoy one moment. and I’ve had many nightmares because of the experience. I thought it would help me get over the fear of water. It didn’t. I can’t say the fear of water is gone – after all, the water there was warm. Here, it’s freezing! I still don’t know how to swim – but I relaxed and played in the water. For real played, as in enjoying it, for the first time in my life.

I have shared few pictures of the Philippines seven months ago, so now it’s time for a couple  cold, frosty Alaska pictures from this last week. After coming back we had an amazingly hot summer, then an incredibly long fall with warm weather! Until last week we hadn’t even really had frost – mom’s yellow pansies were still blooming on the deck. The sunrise is the first morning with frost.

The trees with the verse: the trees are my view from my bedroom/office window – what I watched change color and tone while waiting to hear from our family in the Philippines. While I shed many a tear. While I waited for news my brother had made it safely to Cebu and now the relief work will begin for him. The verse I’ve been clinging to.

I’ve broken this Psalm into three basic parts: what I WILL say, what my Heavenly Father WILL do, and WHY.

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I’m feeling the urge to explain my header photo…  Several summers ago (July 2009), my cousins were here for a wedding.  We went hiking in the mountains/valley nearby; we were eighteen bodies and five carloads to get there (I think, if I remember right).  We were not quiet as we walked.  It was a summer that allergies were really reeking havoc on my body.  The dirt trail was killing my feet.  As we walked we came upon this sight.  When I saw how it was a rough path with a smooth spot, then rough again, and how I couldn’t see around the corner; it immediately made me think of how when we’ve chosen Christ to be Lord of our lives, He promises He will always direct our paths, and He will protect us every step of the way.  He will never fail us.  At the time I had no idea what lay ahead.  None.  {It’s a really good thing too!  I could not have handled the knowledge.  He is so faithful.}

Interestingly, just over a year ago I wrote a “post“.  This post was on balance, I was feeling very off-kilter.  In looking back over the last year – it.has.been.AMAZING!  A year like no other, a year I could have never imagined, one probably not soon (or ever?) to be repeated.

That post was written at a time of reflection after having put my kids “into” school.  (In August 2010 I enrolled them into a local charter school.)  It was one of the hardest things I had ever done.  I felt nearly crushed to pieces, hard to breathe type of crushing, every morning I dropped them off. {I did not let them know this – I would hold it together with LOTS of prayer until they got out of the car.  Then I’d bawl my eyes out as I drove home.}  Right after Christmas break, we (the kids & I) decided for them to come back home.  While I do not regret having had them “in school” for those five months, there are at times still issues that come up as a direct result of things learned I would have chosen to protect my children from.

When I wrote the post in February, we were still trying to find our balance; the changes were still relatively recent.  A year later, many adventures later, much family time later, more mistakes later – and when I read that post, it is still as true as if I’d just written it. {sigh} At this point, I’m choosing to turn to the Father and say, “Lord, You’re reasoning is perfect.  I don’t understand why, but it isn’t important for me to understand why.  It is important for me to trust You.  So I am going to.”

I’m in the midst of way too many decisions.  Some big.  Some small.  I’m fighting fear over circumstances – which brings me back to just a couple days ago and “the faith to not have fear“.  All of these circumstances can tempt me to get sidetracked wondering – did I not learn anything over this last year?  As I prepared a recent Captivating post, I was reminded of this truth:

“An intimate relationship with Jesus is not only for other women, for women who seem to have their acts together, who appear godly and whose nails are nicely shaped.  It is for each and every one of us.  God wants intimacy with you.  In order to have it, you, too, must offer it to him. (page 122,Captivating by John & Stasi Eldredge)

Oh, how this makes me thankful.  No matter how many mistakes I make, God, my Heavenly Father, wants simple, intimate relationship with me.  It’s isn’t only for those look like they have it all together.

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I always enjoy seeing a new email in my ‘inbox’ and save it as my treat to read all about homeschooling and life.  😀  

{I have not been compensated for anything stated in this email – but I am signing up for the sweepstakes and thought some of you might like to as well, so I’m sharing what I know.  Have a blessed day.}

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Okay – in reality it’s green somewhere else.  Lots of somewhere else’s, actually-but not here.  We are at 45* for the second day in a row, but we still have tons of snow needing to melt; the snow is pretty rotten and not worth much except to remind us we don’t have green or outdoor growth yet.  This tree is actually in Washington DC, and what it looked like the beginning of last October.

I used the above picture though because it kind of represents life — the single tree is like each of us, all the branches are representative of all the things we are involved in and the leaves are the activities or to-do list of all that has to be done for each part of our life.  For example:

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We had an amazing 2011! There were so many highlights I can’t possibly make this short. God was greatly gracious to us and we were very blessed this last year, with minimal hardships and frustrations. I’m sorry to say those hardships and frustrations have threatened to extinguish the overwhelming truths of God’s promises and love for me. There is so much more I could say, but won’t. After all, this is the world wide internet and it includes others. I’m sure as time goes on, I get things better sorted in my head, and I’m understanding the wisdom gained from the experiences and memories you will eventually hear about it. 🙂

This was also a monumental year for me personally. There are so many things I learned, I don’t think I could even put it all into words. There are times I read something and think – “yes, that is exactly it!” Maybe some day I’ll do a post of quotes to try to describe some of these ‘personal growths’. The year 2011 signifies the fact I have been out of high school for 20 years! This seems unbelievable to me. I don’t feel old enough to be out that long. The year brought opportunities I have dreamt of for much of my life. I understand better the saying of others, “I feel younger now than I did 15 years ago.”

{warning – this will be really long and may not be very enjoyable to you, but it is a trip down memory lane for my kids & I. If you want to just skim it – I highlighted the main parts :-D.}

January: I made the decision for our family to return to home schooling. It was for the best.If anyone has questions and I am happy to answer them via email. I’m just not comfortable with posting specific reasons world-wide. We did one week of out-of-the-home-school after Christmas break. The next day, Tuesday January 11^th, I un-enrolled the kids from the school they were going to, then finished the process of un-enrolling them from the home school program we use and in the same hour re-enrolled them into that same home school program. We had the privilege of watching my niece several hours a week. The kids loved having her come on a regular basis.

February and March: I was in my last class. A programming class. I HATE coding, I’m fine with using code and learning what to change for appearance changes, but please, please, please don’t ever make me write code for a program from a blank slate to follow through with all the possible errors! The first programming class I had was May/June of 2010. I was very close to quitting school at that point. I had a horrible teacher for that class and barely passed. At least the teacher I had for this last class was WAY better and I got a high B. For these months I was in the programming class, home schooling, part-time job, and being mom. I was tired, didn’t feel well, and living in a blur most of the time.

April: On April 10^th I turned in my last final! I was done with the associates degree in Information Technology and Web Design.I was done – 20 months after starting. Unfortunately, after starting (I realized during the above mentioned first programming class) that I didn’t really want this degree, I wanted Graphic Design. So, while I’m excited I’m done and happy I have a piece of paper to prove I did some college, I am looking at teaching myself what I really wanted to know…as soon as life slows down a bit. In April I bought one way tickets out of state to the cheapest location I could find…{yes, I realize that is a very backwards way to do things, as well as being very uncharacteristic for me :-D. Regardless, God blessed me in this moment of insanity anyways.}. I was just done with feeling yuck all the time, being confined to the computer (doing school), and the lack of sun we had the previous summer (and what sun we did have I missed because I was inside on the computer doing school), and the wind! I was so weary of the wind; and one morning about 10am I heard it start again. When I heard it everything in me went nuts. I got online, searched found a really cheap ticket, called mom (in Juneau at the time) and said “I’m going with the kids, you want to join us? I don’t have any more of a plan, but at the very least we can go for a few days, staying in a hotel, and fly back.” Shockingly, she agreed. Within 3 hours of the wind starting I had tickets out of the state. “Real life” seemed really far away and I was trying hard to recuperate from full-time school, part-time job, and home school down to “just” home school and part-time job. So…why not ‘run away’…it was logical at the moment; and I haven’t ever regretted it. I bought tickets to Denver, Colorado for $150 each! Just so you can understand how good that is – today tickets to Seattle are $530 one way/person! (granted that is no notice – wait a couple weeks and it’s $230 for one way/person). All I knew for sure was we’d go to Focus on the Family and see Whit’s End. Something I’ve wanted to take the kids to see for years. I knew the Air Force Academy was across the road and the Garden of the Gods was near as well. (I went to Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs for a session the summer I graduated from high school).

May: May was spent continuing to recuperate and learn to live life again without daily check-ins into class and no homework assignments. Doing “normal” things like cleaning, laundry, and planning possibilities for our summer trip. In late May I was told I needed to make the lifestyle change of going gluten free and dairy free. There were several health issues we were looking for answers to; one of which was to change my hypothyroid medicine. For the next three months I was to be very diligent about being gluten free and dairy free. How fun – switch to a totally different way of eating when heading out on what had become a six week trip to span Colorado, Wyoming, Minnesota, and Wisconsin … oh joy.

June: On the 6^th mom, the kids, and I flew from Anchorage to Denver. We left the car rental lot at 8:30am; went to a restaurant nearby for breakfast then headed to Colorado Springs. We went to Focus on the Family and visited Whit’s End. It was so much fun to “see” Whit’s End and the location of Adventures in Odyssey. The kids got one of Mr. Whitaker’s World Famous Chocolate Soda (Wod-Fam-Choc-Sod). After Focus on the Family, we went across the highway to the Air Force Academy. It was amazing to see the chapel – I haven’t seen it since 1991 and it was just as amazing as I remembered! Then we went exploring a bit in Colorado Springs (drove a bit in town), including the Garden of the Gods. It was so much fun to show the kids monumental things I saw so many years ago – plus, it is where mom grew up. After the Garden of the Gods we drove back to Denver – we returned the car at 8:30pm! My cousin and aunt were at the car lot to pick us up, we then went to my cousin’s house for the night where my uncle (mom’s brother) was waiting for us. I haven’t seen my cousin since 1991 either…It was fun to see her really cool house! I will be enjoying pictures ofher house and yard over the next cold, wintery months for sure! On Wednesday morning all seven of us loaded into her jeep and my aunt & uncle’s truck; we headed to Steamboat Springs, Colorado. What a gorgeous drive! My cousin had a photo shoot for her job and we got to join her. It was so cool to see a bit of her life. Mom & I got to go for a couple hours and see the end of their magazine photo shoot – for real! Oh, it was so wonderful. My creative thoughts started to thaw and there was a trickle of a desire again. The kids stayed with my aunt & uncle – in the pool – where else :-D. Friday morning we packed up and my cousin headed back to Denver while the rest of us climbed into my uncle’s truck to head to Cody, Wyoming. We drove for 14 hours – six of us in a truck – and it was so much fun! We got to drive along the Oregon Trail and see the ruts (still!) from the covered wagons, and into South Pass City & Atlantic City. They knew so much history – it was like we were on a personal narrated tour! It was so amazing to see the countryside and the truck was so comfortable we weren’t even desperate to get out when we got there. We spent the next week in Cody and it’s surrounding areas. The last time I was there was about 30 years ago for Christmas, so for all practical purposes it was my first time. It really was a history rich, enjoyable week and wonderful start to the summer. On the 16^th we went to the airport in Billings, Montana. The kids & I were flying to Minneapolis (via Denver?!) and a couple hours after our flight left mom flew back to Anchorage.

… to be continued later. I forgot how much went into this last year. This is just the timeframe from January to mid-June…. Wow, 2011 was a FULL year!

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This thought process is based on a post from a few years ago, interestingly I find I’m still asking some of the same questions and have added more.  At the time I wrote the first post, I was just three months into school {thankfully I had no idea how many more why’s would be popping up!:-D}  You know there is a reason we don’t know the future, that He gives us the strength through Him we need for each day – not for yesterday or tomorrow, but today.

This morning I was thinking about the article I read and wrote about then.  That is why I am kind of re-posting/re-writing that post.  So much is the same, yet different.  Like I said, I have many of the same questions still unanswered since that day; just over two years later the only answer I can come up with: We are human.  We are flawed.  We make poor choices.  God made us in His image, but gave us free will.  It is our journey of life.  I’m so thankful for a patient, merciful, gracious, and loving Heavenly Father.

Life is full of so many “Why?‘s”.  Life hurts.  Life doesn’t go the way we think it should – in so many ways.  Life can be fun.  Life can be easy.  But it isn’t always.  We have no promise of easy or fun – so why do we think we need more?  I have had several “Why?” questions in many aspects of life.  My life. Other’s lives…

Even though so often our Why’s are more life determining, often we won’t ever know the answer.Why? I have to believe all of my Why’s? sound like an awful lot of whine to my Heavenly Father – but He still listens and He hears me. Unlike me, I tell my children, “I can’t hear whine”. I’m so glad my Heavenly Father listens to my “whyne”.

I am going to write out the beginning of a particular article, and a couple phrases from the ending. It is written towards homeschool parents, but is so true for any one – parent, child, adult, single, married – it doesn’t matter. Our relationship with Christ is ours alone – not for anyone else, ever. It is our responsibility to make time for this relationship. He is always there.

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Be present is a phrase that has been going through my head quite a lot lately.  It has been a convicting thought for me. 

I am physically present.  I am physically present with my kids all day, almost every day – 98% of their life is spent with me.  However, I am not always emotionally or mentally present.  This is my conviction.  It is not good enough, right, or okay to not be emotionally or mentally present for my children.  After all, God entrusted them to my care here on earth, and as humans created in God’s image we crave relationship.  When the mental state of our home is me just being there (as in adult on duty) for too many days in a row, it starts to show in my childrens’ attitude and outlook on life.  I start to get frustrated with the kids, until I realize, once again, it is my fault.  It is my fault because by my not being emotionally or mentally available leaves them feeling left unattended, which they only know to respond to negatively.  I can’t help but compare this to myself: When I “feel” like I don’t feel God in my life, I get cranky.  {The difference, this is my fault too!}


Thankfully, it’s never Him, my Heavenly Father, who isn’t available to me; it’s the result of me not making my appointment with Him.  I have learned over the years in my single parenting walk – I don’t function without daily time with my Heavenly Father.  Some see my “dedication” and are impressed.  When someone says this to me I always feel really awkward.  Usually, this statement is in a moment of the person who is speaking not feeling good enough.  I often say, my daily time is not really is not a result of my dedication, but of my desperation.  My desperation for my Heavenly Father to carry me through each day.  I am incapable of getting through each day {some days it is each moment & hour} without leaning very heavily on He, who is present. Always, He is present.  He doesn’t ever leave us or forsake us {Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous.  Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you.  He will not leave you or forsake you.”}.  He promises. 

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I love that because we homeschool the kids get to take full advantage of the snow and sunshine. Spelling can wait! 🙂 After all, this is the day we spend a lot of hours in the car waiting for each of the kids’ activities – so Vince did his spelling between cross country skiing and youth group, while Christine went into gymnastics. We started a new math curriculum a few weeks back – one that Vince finally likes. By his choice he spent over two hours doing math today! I’m so thankful we have the flexibility to do things in a different order and on “weird” time schedules.

Besides that we want the dog worn out so he’ll sleep and not bark at night. That is so much easier to accomplish when it’s beautiful out. Because of our homeschool schedule, the kids can choose to go out to play when it is days like today. They love it.

Hickory is trying to climb in the hole with Vince. It is so sweet, Vince has his hand on Hickory’s paw – is that to hold him back from climbing in front? Christine is building her own fort on the right side; I believe the plan is to meet and go straight back to under the trampoline that is behind the snow pile.

I know today was windy, but thankfully for a couple hours this afternoon the wind did not hit this portion of the driveway. The kids were only going to go out for a half hour, cause it was cold and windy… Two and a half hours later, when it was time to leave they wanted to know why I was calling them in. Couldn’t they “pleeeeeease stay out longer”? “Please, can’t school wait. We’ll do it later, when it gets dark. We promise!” … AS IF I would call two happy kids in from playing well together, outside, in the fresh snow, with the dog, to do school. I think not! 🙂 When I said it was time to leave for skiing they couldn’t believe how much time had gone by.

What a perfectly wonderful day!

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