It's a Birthday

Happy Birthday Grandma!!!

Merry Monday!

It's been a great day for me already and it's only twelve o'clock! Sometimes, I'm hardly even up by now. (Not very often, but more often than I'd like.) I've accomplished quite a bit too...

I got up around 7:20 and hurried to get out the door. I've been helping Mrs. Short with her knitting class the last few weeks. It's a lot of fun! I realized that I really do like teaching people how to knit. I taught knitting one day for a big group of girls when I was maybe eleven or twelve and it was a disaster. Way more people showed up than I expected and I wasn't really comfortable talking in front of a group at that point and no one brought needles or yarn and I just went crazy. It was traumatic. But that's in the past. I just wasn't ready for it back then. And when it's a couple people working together, it's not so bad. I'm enjoying it a lot!

Then I came back, had a waffle with some cherries and devotion time with everyone. Then Anna and I left to take Stephen to work and on to the library. I found four books besides the three I had on hold, so if you're wondering where I'm going to be this next week, I'll be reading. Mary Ann had about ten books on hold too, but she's fast and they were all young Nancy Drew books. 

After that, we went to Dunkin' Donuts, and I bought a mocha iced coffee and Anna bought some blueberry munchkins. And now I'm here at the computer. It's like a magnet...

It's really quite nice out today. Not as nice as Saturday, but still. I did have to scrape the ice off the windshield before I left this morning, but the part I couldn't reach melted pretty quickly and I didn't even wear a coat to DQ/the library/DD.

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." ~Romans 5:6-8

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us." ~1 John 4:7-12

What's Up, Wednesday?

The younger kids were talking about King Richard in history today. He spent most of his time off fighting wars in Jerusalem, taking his people's money and leaving them. Kristian said, "God never leaves his people." History class just got deep, people.

Both of our cars are having trouble (maybe they got the same virus?), so I wasn't able to go to work like I was planning. I thought about taking a nap instead. Because if I'm not getting paid, I might as well be napping, right? Instead, I did some Algebra and spent some time on the internet. (What a shock.)

I finished a shrug today that I started back in May. I haven't been very prolific lately, so it was nice to finish something. Gives me a nice sense of satisfaction.

How's your Wednesday?

Volleyball

I mentioned volleyball a few weeks back. I didn't play that day. I chickened out, and later tried to deny it. :) I played the next week and it was the first game that our team had won! And I've played every game since. I'm getting better. Today I finally made a serve-though that was in a pick-up game. And during our "real" game, I got the ball over the net for the first time!!!! Most of all, I'm starting to have a lot of fun, which is the whole point, right?

I wasn't planning on mentioning anything besides volleyball, but I was reading an article of quotes by Francis Schaeffer and I had to share some (emphases mine):

"Christians . . . ought not to be threatened by fantasy and imagination. Great painting is not "photographic:" think of the Old Testament art commanded by God. There were blue pomegranates on the robes of the priest who went into the Holy of Holies. In nature there are no blue pomegranates. Christian artists do not need to be threatened by fantasy and imagination, for they have a basis for knowing the difference between them and the real world "out there." The Christian is the really free person—he is free to have imagination. This too is our heritage. The Christian is the one whose imagination should fly beyond the stars."

"The ancients were afraid that if they went to the end of the earth they would fall off and be consumed by dragons. But once we understand that Christianity is true to what is there, true to the ultimate environment—the infinite, personal God who is really there—then our minds are freed. We can pursue any question and can be sure that we will not fall off the end of the earth."

Happy February!!

Yesterday was a gorgeous start to February. It was so balmy out. For winter anyways. The air smelled so fresh. It almost felt like...well, I don't think I can say it. I'm not sure I should say that about a day in February. I don't know why I have such rules about weather and seasons when in Illinois they're broken all the time. But I do...

Today is sort of the opposite. It's not that cold, but it's rainy. Very rainy. It makes me want to take a nap. I haven't gotten to it yet. We'll see if it actually happens.

Katherine, Johnathan, Anna, Mary Ann, Grandt, Kristian, and Julia started a new homeschool co-op this morning. Joseph and I were the only ones left since Stephen is working and Josiah's at school. Since it was the first day, I thought Joseph and I should do something special. He did too. He told me this morning that he wanted to watch Super Friends and eat popcorn. I was already planning on taking him to Dunkin Donuts. So we did that. I bought him a strawberry frosted sprinkled donut. He has good taste. :) When we returned home, he decided he wanted to watch Justice League instead. I knew he was allowed to watch Super Friends, but I wasn't sure about Justice League. We watched it anyway. I hope he doesn't get nightmares. It wasn't that scary. I would've turned it off if it was really frightening. Still, I feel bad; I should've checked first.

As we were driving home from Dunkin' Donuts, I thought about the fact that when little kids ask you questions, you learn too. Because if I'm going to answer Joseph's question, I have to think about why there are two windshield wipers too. "One would be too big; it might break. And I suppose two are better at keeping the window clear. It would take too long with one."