In my spirit
- I totally don’t have it all together. I tell myself I’d love to have a mentor or mentors to help me navigate my roles (motherhood, especially). But then someone offers some totally great tips on what worked for her? Defensiveness rises up. Oh Lord, help me to have a teachable heart!
- I had the honor of teaching on my favorite passage this morning. Abraham’s almost-sacrifice of Isaac reminds me again and again of our blessed hope: a substitute lamb, provided by God to satisfy God’s demands. May God lead each of my 3-year-old students to put their faith in the Lamb He has provided.
In our family
- Prairie Elms preschool continues. The little girls managed to both take long naps Wednesday morning – so I got out the pinto beans and measuring cups on the kitchen floor. Tirzah Mae and Louis had a blast – and I got some food prep done. Win-win.
- We all got our flu shots this week, with much weeping. Tirzah Mae threw a fit when the time came for her shot, but it took 2 hours or so at home for her to be giving everyone else duplicates. This girl is OBSESSED with medicine. (In the picture below, she was “charting about the lights that take care of the bad bilirubin in Beth-Ellen’s blood”)
In our home
- I finally got around to potting up a sprouted sweet potato that I’ve been keeping in water to root. Between that and the rosemary that I just brought in and the houseplants my mom rooted for me, I’m suddenly inundated with indoor plants. We’ll see how long I can keep them alive!
- Speaking of bringing plants in, I’ve been thinking maybe I’ll try to bring my in-ground basil in for the winter – but first I wanted to dry one last big batch. So I did!
- I’ve discovered that smoothies (made in a big batch using my immersion blender) are the perfect breakfast for in the car on days we need to be somewhere early. So we do smoothies on Sundays when we’re rushing to get to church to set up mama’s Sunday school room, and on Tuesdays when we’re rushing to church to prep mama’s Sunday school craft before our Bible study, and every other Thursday (or so it seems) when we have an early appointment. ALDI had bananas for $0.19 per pound last week so I got three bunches to freeze for said smoothies. They were finally ripe enough early this week, so I got to slicing!
On the homestead
- I planted late and we had a weird spring and I’m actually a pretty terrible gardener. But my tomato plants set on tomatoes at last – and we ate some this week. Oh, the delicious acidity and unmistakeable texture of a truly ripe tomato! I will keep planting them however many times I fail if only I can eat ripe tomatoes even once a year.
- We got new tires for the Expedition after a few episodes of super-low air pressure (aka flat tires). As per my habit, we brought the old tires home to avoid paying a fee for disposal – and to use for my herb garden. This time, though, I got right to cutting off the sidewalls (with my awesome hooked utility knife blade – if you ever need to cut tires, it’s totally worth getting one of these). So now I just need to fill them up with soil and get things planted.
- I love this season on the prairie. Yes, it gets dark and depressing. Yes, the allergies are terrible. But the prairie, oh the prairie. The rippling grass, the wildflowers, the sunrises and sunsets. Daisies (or chrysanthemums of some sort) have joined the Indian grass on our Prairie backyard and I’m LOVING IT!
In the library (currently reading)
- For Loving: Glimpses of Grace: Treasuring the Gospel in Your Home by Gloria Furman
- For Growing: Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot
- For Knowing: The Importance of Being Little: What Young Children Really Need from Grown-ups by Erika Christakis
I only had to go one week without before a new copy came in for me to check out – so I’ve read another chapter. This is really an excellent book (that makes me feel a lot better about how little explicitly “academic” work I do with my littles.) - For Seeing: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
I’m planning to finish the last chapter before bed tonight :-) I love Austen. - Picture books by Eve Bunting, John Burningham, and Donald Crews
- Picture book versions of fairy tales
My son’s family drinks a lot of smoothies. My grandson is not big on eating veggies but he’ll drink them. I am not at all a good gardener. My husband gardened a bit years ago – he grew up with a garden. But it was too hard to keep up with around his crazy work schedule.
Funny about Tirzah Mae’s obsession – maybe she’ll be a nurse some day. Timothy’s obsession is lawn work – his toy tractor is a riding lawn mower (he provides the motor sounds), the trailer for it is a push lawn mower, my “reacher” is his weed whacker. His favorite day is when Granddad brings the riding lawn mower over to his house.