Where have you been?

Matthew LOVES to play chess!

Yeah, yeah. I know. 

It's been pretty dead around here lately. Before you smack me around, listen to my perfectly good reasons.

1- We had a bit of drama with a fire. (And that's a bit of an understatement.)  Have you ever cleaned up from a fire? The soot is ridiculously difficult to get off, and it covers everything! More about that later (whenever I can find my darn camera cord and upload the pictures. Then I'll share the story.).

2- The state DI tournament took up so much time and energy. (I even spent my birthday doing dress rehearsals with the team and packing my van for the trip to Houston for the competition) When we came home,  I needed to chill-ax for a couple days. Actually, I've been trying to single-handedly tame the voracious CHAOS monster that has been reigning in our home the past 2 months. It's a slow battle, but I'm surely winning. 

And I'll share more about our amazing (and humbling) experience at state....we were totally the small fish in the ocean! But we learned so much about how to improve, so we are already revving up for next year. More about that later....when I get pics uploaded. 

3- Taxes. Need I say more? Really? Okay then. The state competition was only a day before the tax deadline. As a coping strategy, I filed an extension to buy more time.....and now it's time for me to catch up. 

4- Projects, projects everywhere. 

Nathan and I emptied most of our garage contents into the attic, and have been working on refinishing it into a living space. The second wall is up, thanks to a particularly generous friend who volunteered to install it for free. We were floored by his kindness, but he shrugged it off by saying, "Hey,  you helped my kid all year in your DI team, so this is a way I can return the favor." I was really humbled and filled with gratitude for his help. He didn't know that this help was actually a direct answer to one of my prayers to the Lord this month. Never forget we are often the Lord's hands in answering other people's prayers! 

My other project has been our garden. Ever move a dump-truck-load of compost by small wagons across a large property into a garden bed? No? Well then, you've never lived! There's nothing more fun than getting dirty carting soil around and getting blistered hands from shoveling dirt all afternoon. Actually though, I'm doing my little happy dance over this garden. It's worth every bit of the work. I must be sick and twisted.....but in a good way. 

5- Not content to sit back and relax after the state DI tournament, we immediately launched into new activities. In the hopes of continuing my mother-in-laws unique after-school snack tradition, we started hosting Waffle Wednesdays:  a day when kids can come over and enjoy a fun after-school snack with our family. Last week I cooked six batches of waffles and fed 10 guests. Whenever my camera cord is found (it's currently held hostage by the terrifying monster mentioned in item 2 of this post), I'll post pics and do a full post about it. In a nutshell, it was very fun and we made new friends. And I cooked waffles for over an hour. Not my preferred method of 'fun', but I feel like it's an important service.

My view is this is one way I can serve the Lord by blessing the families in our neighborhood. I'm hoping the experience will prove to be a positive, encouraging time for everyone. My goal is to invite people to enjoy a light-hearted, positive experience. The world is overwhelmingly too depressing and dark, and this is one small way I'm combatting that. Everyone said it was a hit and asked to be invited to the next one. 

Sarah and Matt deliberate their next moves in Grandma's library.