Grasshopper Days

Grasshopper Days

For today, April 30, 2012

Outside my window...  I love laundry on the line :D

I am hearing...  silence.  Should I be worried?

I am pondering...  what will it take to get three boys to share a bathroom, and brush their teeth without fighting over whose turn it is to spit?

I am praying...  work for Kerry (sound like a broken record?), Tate's upcoming surgery (he's so calm!), and a good finish for our school year (seven weeks!)

I am thankful...  we had a good (if unexpected) visit from my MIL, Kerry's step-mom.  We rarely see her and she flew into town for a few days.

I am wearing...  crop jeans, white t-shirt, grassy green long-sleeve shirt, socks and slippers.  So fanceeee.

I am creating...  hmmm, debating putting all the sewing stuff away (creating clean surfaces?!) or starting another project.

I am going...  to clean off my desk and pay the bills - the start of a new month, y'know.

I am reading...  with the boys - finishing Little Britches and starting Grandma's Attic, for myself - still chewing through Weapons of Mass Instruction.

I am looking forward to...  tomorrow I'll be able to say, Tate's surgery is this month!

In the learning rooms...  just a couple of ongoing science experiments.  This first one has to do with the desalinization of water (condensing it from the upper bottle into the lower bottle.)  Not a lot of sunshine lately, so this is taking longer than I had hoped, even with our homemade reflectors.

And, in keeping with Gunnar's study of crustaceans, he's raising brine shrimp.  They're kind of tiny.

In the kitchen...  out of fresh stuff again... back to the grocery store.  Dinner?  Chicken and rice.

Around the house...  after an afternoon driving through fields and fields  of tulips...

 (Gorgeous, but too bad the clouds were obscuring the mountains.)

(Yes, for real.)

I needed some at home :D

The Mother Load...  the mail man must think I'm opening a library - all the books I ordered are trickling in :D  Now to sort them and find an organized home for them.  Also, must work with boys on tidying their bathroom and reallocating space, as Tate is going to need more when he gets all his new CI equipment!

Noticing that...  Tate is supposed to do "call outs" for CAP (calling a few of the cadets before the meeting and reminding them of what's going to happen this week).  With his hearing loss, it's really hard for him to hear and understand on the phone and I realize how very little he's ever used the phone.  I think he's kind of self-conscious about it.  When he calls his cadets he wants me sitting Right Next To Him in Perfect and Absolute Silence.  Hope the CI will make this easier, but I think a text phone is in his future.

Something I want to remember for later...  while we were walking through the tulip fields Tate reached over and took my hand.  Not self-conscious about that!  I kind of wonder if he wasn't homeschooled would he be "too cool" for that?  (He's not a little boy!  I don't make him hold my hand.  He was just being sweet.)

Something fun to share...

Tate, flying with CAP.

A favorite quote for today...  Pastor Bert's sermon reminded me of these words from C.S. Lewis,
Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement, he is a rebel who must lay down his arms.

One of my favorite things...  all three boys being productive - one is doing a math test, another is working on his science, and the third is ironing his uniform (serious inspection by real live Air Force officers tomorrow night!)

A devotional thought...  have been mulling over yesterday's sermon.  In my own reading I've been going through The Law (you know, Leviticus) and honestly, it's hard to pay attention sometimes (don't boil a kid in its mother's milk? okay...) but something was niggling at me and Pastor Bert explained it.  You see, in the old covenant, under the law, there were all kinds of sin offerings people had to bring, based on what they'd done.  And it was all for unintentional sin.  But intentional sin?  Defiant sin?  There was no provision for that - no offering that could cover that.  They were to be cut them off from the people and/or executed.  His point was that Jesus came to provide forgiveness for those 'unforgivable' sins.  Amen.

A few plans for the rest of the week...  busy!  Taking Gunnar to the ENT today.  We had his nose cauterized last summer and it helped tremendously, but he's been getting more bloody noses lately and wants it done again.  Taking Tate to Seattle tomorrow for his pre-op, although surgery is four weeks off.  Church skating party tonight, CAP tomorrow night, a PTO day Friday, and a missionary friend staying with us Saturday to Sunday.

A peek into my world... 

The deer haven't gotten these yet ;D  I love forget-me-nots, and these ones are just volunteers.