Saturday, October 17, 2009

Me and My House

This blog category is named for one of my favorite Scripture verses, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15

A little news about everyone:

Rebecca enjoyed her soccer games this week. She ran about her tiny field (U-6 plays three on three), focused on the ball and SMILING!

Marianna and a friend have "moved up" to a higher dance class. It is challenging, so we struggle to remember to practice throughout the week. She'll begin wearing hard shoes around Christmas.

Joseph, I think, wins our award for the most activities: homeschool soccer, violin lessons, youth orchestra, Boy Scouts, ConQuest (Catholic boys' club), and tae kwon do (though we haven't been much lately). His birthday party (12!) will be next weekend.

Daniel is enjoying playing soccer on his school's team. The game and practice schedule is the biggest reason he and Joe aren't making it to tae kwon do.

Dan's braces will be off as soon as the latest rubber bands reverse the over correction of the previous set.

David has submitted his first college application, to Christopher Newport University. He sent it in this early so he can participate in a leadership event being held there on October 30--during fall break, and on the same day our family was planning to be field-tripping in nearby Jamestown. Talk about an alignment of the stars!

After my urging (keeping the Sabbath holy), David requested to work Saturdays more often than Sundays, and his boss has honored that as much as possible. An added benefit is that Saturday's shift is 3 hours longer, giving David more money to spend on music and food save for college.

Although I thought I had permission, Lauren was chagrined to find I had emailed pictures of some of her classwork to more family. I guess you're never to old to be embarrassed by your mother!

One of her professors has made the Wednesday before Thanksgiving class optional, so we'll be able to drive to NY that morning rather than traveling through the bleak night with the innumerable masses (traffic rather than TRAFFIC). Hurrah!

While his partner is on holiday, Len has been working more days and hours than usual. Before Dr. B left, he blocked out an appointment for Friday and told Len that someone was coming to "see about some cages." The homeschoolers and I surprised him with lunch and a batch of brownies. The air crackled with excitement, whispers, and giggling as we hid in the office waiting for him to appear. It was a nice break in a long (8-8) day in a long week. Added bonus: science class consisted of observing a real veterinarian neuter a dog. Cool.

Me? My news is up here most days. I feel a bit frazzled lately, as though I'm spending too much time cooking and cleaning rather than planning and schooling. Here's something Jennifer at Conversion Diary wrote (one of the 20 things she learned after a computer-free week) that speaks to me:

"Planning is a critical element of having a peaceful life. I realized that it's almost impossible for me to make optimal choices once the chaos of the day has begun; if I don't have a plan, I drift into survival mode where I just do the bare minimum to get by. Preparing for each day in the evening before by getting things ready and visualizing my goals makes a huge difference in my life."
(emphasis mine)

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