You Don't See That Every Day

I am often in search of a good book to read. And it often depends on my mood and what is happening in my world at the time. Occasionally I will pick one up that I think I am not going to like, and then I am pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoy the book. " The Virginian" was a book like that. My friend recommended it to me, and trusting her opinion, I checked it out from the library and read it. Slowly. Savoringly. Imaginatively. It was that kind of book - an old one and a good one. This past week I was in need of another good read. I don't have a lot of time to read, but I like to ponder a few pages before bedtime. So I grabbed a book by Melody Carlson titled "Finding Alice" . And I could not put it down! It follows a college-age girl down her path of increasing schizophrenia. The author writes from Alice's viewpoint and gives the reader insight into the mind of someone with this mental disorder. Because I have a relative whom I care a lot about th...

In my corner of the world, life goes on despite the illness in the house: --the basketball team from my high school is playing against our son's high school basketball team this weekend. I really wanted to go watch, but due to health-money-travel-time-commitments, we won't be going this year. It's not like our son is playing .. if he was we would definitely be there! Maybe next year. --My husband started a new job! For years we were praying for a change, and we thought we had a chance at a job last summer, only to lose it at the last minute. Looking back, we see what a good thing that was, because this job the Mr. has now is exactly what he needs and what he wanted. It's pretty exciting when he comes home at night in a good mood, looking forward to actually going to work the next day. --Our girl Dot was in Awana Bible Quiz this past weekend. She didn't place this year, but she actually stood up and answered a question - which itself I find hard, because you ...

It has been 2 weeks and one day since my last run. 2 long weeks of coughing and sneezing and headaches and naps. It was sunny outside yesterday - glorious day! So I took the girls out for a walk. I figured a little walk around the neighborhood would do all of us some good; plus it was a little measurement of how my lungs were doing. I had hoped I could start running again this week. But after walking less than a mile, coughing half the time, and then needing a nap later in the day, I figure I won't be running yet. Last night I made it through the night without coughing - that is a plus! But I still think I am going to wait a little bit until I hit the road again. It's hard not to - knowing I am getting behind in my training, feeling my muscles atrophy. On the other hand, our boy is running again. Track season starts up next week, and he went out after school with some of the kids, for a 2 mile run. Makes my heart sing.

I try to do this each year, and I finally remembered this time around. My mom did this back when we were growing up. Of course there were more shoes by the time I got there ... but our 7 pairs works just as well as 12.  At some point my pair are going to be dwarfed by all of them ...

Banging pots and pans around in the kitchen can lead to all kinds of inspiration. The other night I was a *little* miffed with certain family members and I took it out on the dishes while I was making supper. And that is when inspiration struck. Instead of me doing all the cooking this week ... I 'm having the minions make dinner each night (well except for Wednesday, that's my night because of the activity level of that day!) We're done with sports practices for now; school gets out early enough for them to prep; and hey, they all need to cook for themselves eventually. (My niece had dinner made for her on Valentine's Day by her boyfriend and I thought, yes! someday my boy needs to be able to do that!) So Monday night Stripes made spaghetti, beans and homemade rolls, followed up with ice cream. Lovely! Tuesday saw Dots in the kitchen for hours, making homemade pizza, green salad with carrots, almonds and craisins (yum!) and even a chocolate picnic cake made from sc...

There were many different options to title this post. The title is such an important piece of the writing. Get the wrong title, and nobody reads it. Most English teachers might tell you the opening sentence needs to be the grabber, but I think the title needs to grab you first. And this is why I didn't put one on this post. Because there are so many I could have used! Here's a few for you to pick from: Transitions; Ch-ch-ch-changes; Wonder twins - activate ! Transformers! A New Life Goodbye 15 And there was much rejoicing . So can you tell we're going through something big around here? Did the titles tell you anything? For two years or so, we have been praying for a change in job for the Mr. His weeks and weeks of traveling for work were getting really old; along with some other headaches that his job brought. We had a taste of a possible new job last summer, but that one fell through and we really wrestled with accepting God's will at that point. But we kep...

The week started out like any other, the two older kids off to school, one with the sniffles. The other 3 at home, doing school and such. And then Tuesday's weather got the kids all excited. We had some snowflakes! None that stuck, but the 3 at home had a heyday playing out in the snow, dreaming of what could be. And because it was such a fun thing happening outside, we decided to have a fun picnic inside, under the table. Two days later here is what the deck looked like in the morning. Schools were cancelled due to the impending snow storm, and when the flakes finally started to fall Thursday morning, all 5 kids went out and played in the snow. And it kept coming.  The next morning we looked out to this:  --a lot more snow, which meant a lot more sledding possibilities. Unfortunately, the sled didn't go down the hill as well as they wanted, but they all still had a great time in the plethora of snow. Not something we see everyday around here.

This past weekend was a unique one. I had one child with me for over 24 hours. And it wasn't the Littlest one either! " Dash " and I were the only ones at home this time around. All the girls spent the 2 days at my brother and sister-in-law's house making cookies, decorating cookies, eating cookies and watching movies, and having a lovely time getting spoiled by aunt and uncle. Meanwhile Dash and I spent a very cold but fun morning volunteering at a road race. It was the first time either of us has done something like this. We've helped at cross country meets, and this was a little bit similar but on a larger scale. He got to stand and help keep traffic out of the shuttle area, while I helped out wherever I could, eventually winding up at the finish line, cheering on the runners, and handing out water bottles. It was so much fun to see all the different runners, all ages, all sizes, all types. I thought it was great to see little kids - like 8 years old and yo...

So, I am making a little change here on this blog of mine. Because we have children who have similar initials, and because I don't want the whole world to know their names, we're going to be using nicknames ... "code names" sounds much cooler. I've already updated them over on the " characters " page, but let me tell you a little bit about them here.  Our Boy is now Dash - yeah, he is more of a long distance runner, but ever since he was born he has been on the go, never wanting to be late to anything! When he first started going away to school he would dash to class in order to be the first one in. Our second born is now Stripes - she wears her emotions on her sleeve, like stripes of character. It's pretty easy to know what she is thinking or feeling. The next one is Dots . She has to have the i's dotted and the t's crossed, if you know what I mean. Following her is sister Squiggles . She is one who likes to move. She and her ...