Random update

I am so thankful for the little moments each day that bring me joy. Today it was this picture of Joseph. He was trying SO HARD to 'do home school' with Sarah and Matthew. He had quietly watched them do writing assignments this morning, and was eager to join the fun. Everyone thought it was super cute to watch him concentrating so hard on holding a pencil and drawing. I love chubby toddler fingers, they practacly beg me to kiss them!

Life is so busy lately, it's hard to snatch time to sit and update a blog, or even my journal. Here's a perfect example. My traditional book-version journal has this as the most recent entry:

Ah HA! I found it! Despite my best efforts, I had lost this pesky book again, and so very much has happened in the meantime. I'm afraid I'm just not much of a record-keeper. 

And that's it. The rest of the page is empty, with the pen resting on the page, waiting for me to finish.

I fully intended to write a full description of my week or even just my evening......but I didn't. Life called and I answered, then never finished the entry. The preceding page was dated Feb. 8.....so.....yeah- I am not doing a very good job on that front.

Here are some random updates, in whatever order they come to my mind:

This weekend is a BIG DEAL, because Daniel is getting baptized! Grandparents and uncles are coming to celebrate the day with us, for which we feel truly blessed. We really love spending time with family, and it's such a treat to have them here for a weekend. We really appreciate the sacrifice they make to travel here for Daniel's special day. Daniel has been looking forward to his baptism for years, so we are very happy for him that it's finally arrived.

My house is a disaster due to DI. In the art studio there are projects sprawled everywhere from team meetings, abandoned in various stages of completion at the end of the previous team meeting. One side of the room is filled with a monstrously large wooden book stand, primed and waiting for paint. The art tables are covered in newspaper, and giant paper mache mushrooms are waiting for the next layer of glue. It looks like we were visited with a mischievous tissue paper fairy, exploding bits of color everywhere.....this table is covered with remnants of projects to make giant 4-foot tall blossoms.

My formal parlor has DI posters tacked up on every wall, reminding kids of training techniques such as team rule reminders or sayings like: Remember to SCAMPER!

The parlor is also still a donation center for my neighbors (Yikes, I just realized I haven't written about that episode of life  yet!). My next door neighbors suffered from a devastating house fire that destroyed everything, so I offered to run a donation drive to help them get things like clothing, toiletries, and food (and evidently whatever else people thought of donating.) So yeah....there are still boxes stacked high against the walls. I'm hoping to get that relocated tomorrow before relatives arrive.

I also helped with a donation drive for Soles 4 Souls, and collected about 10 boxes of shoes from my neighborhood.Just this week I unloaded all those boxes to the charity. Since we live in an equestrian nighborhood in Texas, I shouldn't have been surprised to see so many cowboy boots in the collection boxes, but it still tickled me anyway.

I'm so happy I was blessed with so many opportunities to serve.

My DI team is competing at the state competition in 2 weeks....and I've discovered that I think of little else these days. My mind is filled with brainstorming on how I can be a better coach, how I can teach a concept or improve teamwork, or figuring out logistics for the competition, or thinking of fun ways to celebrate together.

I find myself also doing deep breathing exercises every day, just because I start to feel so stressed anytime I think about the huge list of things the team still needs to finish before the competition. They were very ambitious in tackling improvements for their performance.....and we're running behind schedule on some things.

I've been reading Mark Twain's The Prince and the Pauper as a bedtime story to the boys lately, and they really love the story. Sarah has already read it, so I read to her from Pride and Prejudice.

Today in world history, we discussed (among other things) Martin Luther, Galileo Galilei, Copernicus, and the Gutenberg Press. I'm so thankful for good people from history and the valuable contributions they made to humanity. Once again I pondered my own life, and questioned how I am making a positive difference in my little sphere of influence. Once again, I resolved to improve.