Me and My House

"As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."

This is one of my favorite mottoes. It's part of Joshua's speech to the Israelites before they renewed their covenant with God in the Promised Land:

"Now, therefore, fear the Lord and serve him completely and sincerely. Cast out the gods your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve, the gods your fathers served beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose country you are dwelling. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:14-15

Every day we decide whom to serve: the Lord or the gods of today: money, food, entertainment, power, popularity, SELF, etc. I don't always choose well, but at least I can try again each day.

None of which explains why I call my occasional family news feature "Me and My House." Oh, well.

• Len and his partner signed the papers on Tuesday and are now the proud owners of a building! In a few relaxed, effortless months (ha!), it will be renovated and their veterinary practice will move in. (They've been renting a former bank for almost five years now.)
• You know enough about me. I don't blog when I'm frazzled or depressed, so my recent regular posting must mean something good. On the other hand, I am ALWAYS tired! I get up when I'm supposed to, so I'm convinced the problem is bedtime. This is a seemingly simple decision/area of my life. Do I serve God and my family by getting enough sleep or do I serve my time-wasting, dilly-dallying self? Not proud of the answer right now . . .
• Lauren has sent us a few glowing emails from Italy. The villa has no internet, but she grabs a keyboard now and then on a daytrip. Anyway, she loves the food, the countryside (rural Tuscany), the people, the travels (Pistoia, Prato, and Florence so far), the art, the local wine produced by the monastery up the road, the busy-ness, and on and on. She has threatened to not return home!
• Short, cheerful emails (and rarer calls) indicate that David is also loving the college experience. His German books cost more than all his other texts put together, I know from an early email that he was up in time for an 8:00 sign language class, and he thanked me for the big BLACK mug that was one of his "sursies."
• Daniel is playing soccer on his school team and is a youth leader in the Catholic boys' club at our church. When rehearsals of the extracurricular choir begin next week, so will Dan's routine of spending the night at Grammy and Grandpop's every Monday. That tradition started with Lauren and includes much spoiling, only some of which (trips to 7-11, cash, short order catering for dinner, breakfast, and packed lunch) I even know about.
• Joseph auditioned this afternoon and was accepted to another year with The Youth Orchestras of Fairfax. I wonder if they know his violin teacher is working with him on "The Devil Went Down to Georgia?" :-) Most of his homeschooling this year will be on his own. He'll have coaching from and interaction with me, but the girls are sharing history and science texts rather than the big kids. Joe is taking physical science at a local co-op, has a higher level history book, will be taking Latin with Daniel's guidance, etc. I hope we ladies can stay on track without Joseph nudging me through the schedule . . .
• Marianna is eagerly awaiting Irish dance class, which begins next week. SOMEONE has procrastinated (I loved Mary's comment last week: "Don't rush me! I'm waiting for the last minute!") the ordering of new shoes. Is partial credit available if it's been on a list several times?
• Rebecca recently lost both top front teeth, and has a magnificent, gap-toothed grin. She's reading beautifully for a first grader (Len started phonics early with this one) and after some, shall we say, "intervention", is beginning to fuss less about piano practice.

There you go--consider yourself updated!