Monday, September 15, 2014

Grasshopper Days


Grasshopper Days

For today, Monday, September 15, 2014

Outside my window...  a beautiful, sunny autumn morning, with fall colors beginning to show in our neighborhood.  *happy sigh*

Hearing...  birds chirping and Kerry talking to himself in his office.

Pondering...  I should send one of the boys over to the garden to pick tomatoes.  Again.

Praying...  our pastor's mom died this week - it wasn't unexpected, but it's still a loss.  Also, Wyatt starts classes tomorrow.  He's over at the college picking up his books today and scouting out where all his classes will be held, so he'll be more comfortable tomorrow.  Praying that he continues to grow in self-discipline.

Thankful...  hallelujah for the book-loan program!  The CC is loaning him the texts for all three classes (saving us HUNDREDS of dollars) - all we had to buy was a solutions book for pre-calc, and we found it used :D

Wearing...  shorts, t-shirt, and flip-flops.  Forecast for today says... 80F.  Sheesh!

Going...  to take a shower.  Gunnar and I had our walk this morning and I came home dripping with sweat.  (TMI?)

Reading...  Preparing Your Teens for College, by Alex (Alec?) Chediak.  About half-way through and so far, two thumbs up.  Of course, I'm not going on the assumption that all our teens are headed for college, but the principles are good no matter where they're headed.

Looking forward to...  the ladies from our church are invited to join the ladies from another church (that our church planted) on their annual retreat up at the Firs Chalet... just a stone's throw from where this photo was taken.

My mom and her cousin and spouse, visiting from So. Cal.

Yes, you can take this photo from the road.  And it's even more beautiful when the lake (aptly named Picture Lake, but officially Highwood Lake) is perfectly calm and more fall colors are showing.  But heck, it's beautiful all the time! That's Mt. Shuksan in the background, the ninth tallest mountain in the state (9131 feet, I had to check), and I climbed it once.  Long before children ;D


Anyway, I haven't decided yet if I'll go on the retreat, but is sure sounds appealing!

In the kitchen...  leftover turkey dinner tonight!  And of course, there's this...


Ya gotta love Dave Barry.

In the learning rooms...  Gunnar and I have decided it's the most efficient to do math and science (his most difficult subjects) first, which we did.  Then we break for a walk, and come back for language and history.  Tate should be rolling in the driveway any minute now.  He's been riding his bike to school with the good weather :D  He's very focused, and will undoubtedly settle right in to finish any homework he has for the school and then complete his homeschool work.

Around the house...  my houseplants go live outside for the summer, but I just brought them back in.  It's still nice, but the nights are getting kind of cool. AND... I brought some pumpkins over from the garden and put them out on the porch :D

The Mother Load...  my main goal this week is ROUTINE!  As in, find it.  Get in the groove.

Noticing that...  what is it with little, yippy dogs?  How do their owners not HEAR them?

A favorite quote for today...  from Spurgeon, called That is Dying

I'm standing on the seashore.  A ship at my side spreads her white sails to the morning breeze and starts for the blue ocean.  She's an object of beauty and strength, and I stand and watch her until, at length, she hangs like a speck of white cloud just where the sea and sky come down to mingle with each other.  And then I hear someone at my side saying, "There, she's gone."

Gone where?  Gone from my sight, that is all.  She is just as large in mast and hull and spar as she was when she left my side.  And just as able to bear her load of living freight to the place of destination.  Her diminished size is in me, not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says, "There, she's gone," there are other eyes watching her coming, and there are other voices ready to take up the glad shout, "Here she comes!"

And that is dying.

One of my favorite things...  after spending Saturday cooking turkey and Sunday cleaning two ovens (mine and my neighbors... long story), we came home from church yesterday and...
... had pizza delivered :D  Thanks, honey!

A Bible verse...  Psalm 19:1-2, our Sunday School memory verses,

The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of His hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they display knowledge.

A few plans for the next week...  well the good news is that Sunday School went a lot better, now that I'm preparing for the age group I actually have!  (Funny how that works ;D)  But it will go even better if I put something in the crock pot before I leave for church, because I can guarantee you that I'll still come home tired, and we won't be ordering out for pizza on a weekly basis.

A peek into my world...  or my yard.  Same thing.

Love my dogwood tree :D


1 comment:

melanie said...

It would be pretty hard to resist a retreat *there* And they will probably serve chocolate. Sooo?