Every morning the little girls climb into my bed and ask me if its a Movie Day. Their little voices quiver in hope. And every day, except for Monday, I say, No. No No No. A thousand times No. It is a School Day, or, on Saturday, a Reading Day, or on Sunday, A Church Day. And then they say, “aw” and whine until I chase them out to go find themselves some breakfast. It used to be that I... Read more
In a major stupor this morning, not completely unexpected, including a sore throat, hurty ears, and wool between the eyes, as it were. The words I am probably groping towards are Common Cold. Have been lying here thinking I could just not get up, but that possibility sounds ghastly. It's probably better to shuffle around in a circle at least pretending to cope, rather than to lie here waiting for death. Mercifully and wonderfully, as a veteran, cough, homeschooler, I... Read more
In a couple of minutes I'm going to roust the children out of bed so we can be on our way down to Landsdale, PA, for the funeral of my great aunt. I'm praying against ice and snow and all manner of catastrophe. And that I'll be able to extract Matt and the boys from bible study without trouble. I have still to buzz around gathering placatory snacks and amusements. I only got through half my list yesterday, having overestimated... Read more
Well, I did it again. I did all the laundry. To have this happen twice in my life, and in such a short span of time, is shocking, Shocking! I was lifting up my phone to take a picture, a beautiful golden instagrammed picture, and then I remembered that it was Ash Wednesday and that very morning I had lain in bed for nearly half an hour begging God for a measure of something. Strength? The ability to face the... Read more
Don't worry, I haven't given up blogging for Lent. I'm just in a fog of tired and grieved and am trying to pull the house together into some kind of order and function. Yesterday I managed to reorganize all the children's clothes and beat back some of the chaos of the laundry room, a task I hope to finish today. And the children mucked out the chaos of their rooms. It is all our intention and desire today to vacuum... Read more
My Great Aunt Kathryn went to be with Jesus this weekend, on Valentine's Day. I know she must be happier beyond even her own imagining, first to be face to face with her Lord, but also to get to sit beside her sister, my grandmother, as she is doing here. Gramma is on the left, in the picture, Auntie Kay on the right with what looks like the crossword from the paper. They are sitting in the old Corbett house,... Read more
The question mark is on purpose. Do I even have anything to say about this week? Certainly I didn't keep daily notes. But we did have a really good week. We finished Treasures of the Snow and started Frightful's Mountain because of having loved My Side of the Mountain. The writing is pretty choppy, as seems to be the modern American way, so I smooth and change it a lot when I'm reading it out. But the story is pretty... Read more
Perhaps I’m the only person in the universe who gets caught in mental loops, where the same set of insanities lug themselves through my mind over and over. I justify myself by taking real enjoyment in thinking something to death before moving on to another idea. As a way of burying it I “share” it with Matt, repeatedly. He loves that. I think blogging sort of breaks the endless loop. So not blogging, or so I’ve been telling myself, is... Read more
Meant to blog both yesterday and Saturday (so much for Learning Notes, sob) but got caught up in a vortex of cleaning and birthday partying and general catching up. Some fair idiot, assumably me, made dentist appointments for three children for 8:50 on Monday morning. And Alouicius had to go too because be knocked his fake tooth out in some kind of altercation with his sister late Thursday night after the office closed for the whole weekend. “Tell her it... Read more
I said yesterday that Motherhood is discovering every day the capacity to do more work, like a long protracted endless boot camp. But that's only one half of motherhood. The other half of motherhood, assuming that you can divide motherhood into two halves and why wouldn't you, is that as soon as you've figured something out and gotten good at it, the child undergoes some kind of radical change and you are faced with new unknown territory. The rule is,... Read more
Preventing Grace
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