Hello February

 

 

 

We are busy, my same story. I Instagram (new verb) here and there trying to record a little bit of life. I'm not on Facebook (yet). I tweet a little. My favorite is blogging, but it requires sitting and thinking. For whatever reason I am finding it hard to carve out the time for this. This is just the season I guess. So, for the record I should be folding laundry. But if I wait until all of the laundry is folded, I will never blog again. I'm not sure how this little post is going to turn out so I'm just going to start rambling.

We have been having a not so bad winter here so far. It's a little bit colder today but the sun is shining and it is making me very happy. I'm getting all spring feverish and having thoughts of gardening. I am starting to make a list of seeds that I want to plant this year. I'm going to place that order soon. Last year I kept a gardening journal and I am so thankful I did. For example, I know I'm going to start my seeds indoors a couple of weeks earlier. I missed out on a lot of lettuce and greens last year because I got everything started just a little bit too late. I also kept a diagram of my garden layout. This will come in handy for crop rotation. I am going to be a little more detailed with recording my planting dates. Towards the end of the spring planting season I started to get a little lazy. I would have loved to have known the dates for harvest times and such. 

We celebrated three birthdays in January. Julia turned 16! John Paul turned 6! My dad turned....I'm sure he wouldn't appreciate me broadcasting his age! John Paul had a family/friend birthday party. We would like to have a bowling party or something fun like that for Julia and her friends because, SIXTEEN!! We celebrated my dad also, it was so sweet watching my dad, surrounded by his grandchildren, opening all of his handmade cards. We are so blessed that he is here with us. 

We are prayerfully considering different options for school for the children next year. We have been homeschooling for about 13 years now. The trend in the education of our children seems to be that we send them to school around seventh or eighth-grade. Which is a really yucky time to send a child into school but for Joseph and Julia we found good options for them. Julia started a new school this year that has been a really great fit. We really like the curriculum, the teachers are amazing, The class sizes are small. We are  really praying about sending all of the kids there. I have always always loved homeschooling and having them home with me but I feel that we are being called to something else and God is giving me the grace to look at it. I could really write a book about my thought process on all of this and the things that I'm feeling right now. It is really too much to blog about. Let me just say that things/dynamics change when you have a couple of your children in school and the rest home. I just can't pull it all together like I used to. It is just a different season I guess.  I have to admit I'm struggling with this new season. I'm sure I will write more on this topic as time progresses and we get closer to a decision. I really don't like change!!

To close I'm going to share a link with you all.
Remember the pope and the rabbit comment? AHHHH....This mother articulates everything that I felt inside when I heard our Holy Father's comments but couldn't articulate. 

 Also, could you please pray for dear Lindsay and her mom.? They are dealing with so much right now. Lindsay is expecting their sweet baby girl soon and her wonderful mother is facing an illness. I pray and think of them so often during the day. I have met Lindsay once and felt like I had known her for years. I have met her dear mom a couple of times and I feel like I could sit and talk with her all day. She is praying for me and I am praying for her. She is such a saintly woman.

Comments

[mary]

Hello my friend! You are missed here in central Florida. Pam told me about your blog last night. It had been so much fun peeking through this window of your life!

[Kirsten Butler]

I wish we could sit and chat also!! So much swirling in my mind! I miss those days when the kids were little and life was simple!! I miss you Julie!!

Sent from my iPhone

[Julie]

Keep blogging, I miss you! I wish I could sit and chat with you about all these things (especially the school options) while drinking tea and folding laundry!