A Little Quiet

We have cruised into the second week of school, and although there are some rough patches they are mostly relational rather than curricular. As far as learning and doing the tasks set before us, I'm pretty encouraged (in spite of the fact that I've been shipped the wrong item--TWICE--for Bud's math meeting book. Two different vendors. Here's hoping three's a charm?). Figuring out what love looks like, while growing (I hope) in patience, kindness, justice, mercy, and righteousness, are things that don't happen very easily in isolation...and we have the four of us around the kitchen table every morning. Great. (I will repeat: great. And again: great. And at some point I will have an easier time believing it when it's been an awful day, and not just on the sunshiny ones!).

OK, enough of run-on sentences and gratuitous punctuation usage. I am writing during our daily "quiet time," that midday siesta when Wombles takes his nap and the other two take some quiet. Pixie is devouring Beverly Cleary books (I've started rationing); I can hear Bud listening to "Little House in the Big Woods" on CD...again. This afternoon window is when I eat lunch (I usually read to them during theirs), clean up, do some reading...and spend too much time on the computer.

So off I go to listen to some New Life Glenside Women's Bible Study lectures, which I hope will help prep me for our local study this year.

Before I go, though, I wanted to share my new find of the day. It was sent to me by a local homeschooling mom (thanks, Barbi!): LibriVox. It's an open-source site where you can download free audio of books that are in the public domain...or volunteer to read a chapter or two!

Also, here are some recent late-night, check-on-the-kids photos. So sweet. Every night completely recharges my affection batteries!! :)






In the time it has taken me to upload the photos, Wombles started yelling. He wanted more books. I went in and decided that naptime books were a bad idea today--no sleep happening, and he's exhausted. He is now shrilly screaming in rage over those books. I even hear beating on something. Oi.

Really, I meant a little quiet. :)

Hot, Hot, HOT!

The weather this week makes me think of that scene in the Wizard of Oz when the Wicked Witch of the West has been doused with water and starts shrieking, "I'm Melting! I'm Meeeeltiing..." which is a slightly disturbing phrase to have running through one's head, if only because those creepy flying monkeys it may bring to mind, too.

When I was growing up in the South, a little thing called "103 degrees on the back patio" wouldn't have bothered me much. I used to think I was so tough...maybe I was, but I think there were two contributing factors to my toughness: (1) I worked all summer at a swimming pool and (2) Our house had air conditioning. Here in SB we have about 14 days out of any given year where aire acondicionado would be helpful, which just isn't worth the investment.

Yesterday to fight off the hot-weather blues we had an epic water war. In addition to the roses and figs previously mentioned, MaII on a recent visit brought a water-bomb set. You know, the kind with the funnel for speedily filling water balloons. All 5 of us got in on the action, sneaking/tearing around the house in teams and pelting each other (OK, Wombles ust popped them on himself). It was GREAT FUN.

There are many, many fires a-burning in California, but none so near to us as to dump ash on everything. We are thankful and praying. I have even heard from family in Spain that the LA fires have made the news there! Wow...it's that time of year again, where the right weather conditions combined with a cigarette tossed out of a window can wreak devastation here. I am finding myself a little raw emotionally now that the sundowners are starting up again and the weather has finally warmed up after a cool-ish summer.

This afternoon J took Pixie and Bud to the beach. I heard all about an epic sandcastle, as well as Pixie's surfing shenanigans!

Happy New Week...

La Escuela, Day II

The main reason I am posting anything today is that Pixie wanted me to show the world the "paintings" she and Bud did this morning during math when we learned about lines of symmetry. I was astonished by how much fun they thought it was to do these.


The conversations about what each of the pieces represented were enlightening, as well.

The only other news I have to report is that Wombles is now tall enough to lock me into the garage. I forgot that door even HAD a lock on the handle, since we usually just throw the deadbolt. I am thankful for Pixie!

Last night I kept the children out too late at the annual get-together for those spouses (and small children) who are left behind by the faculty retreat. It is always easier to tackle the youngsters when there is backup. Last night's fiesta ended with my carrying home a kicking and screaming four-year-old...one of those times I almost wished I could just strap him in a car seat to get him home, instead of walking about three houses down and around a corner. Have YOU ever tried to calmly greet a neighbor you barely know, out walking her dog, while you are doing the equivalent of holding a (very verbal) wolverine? Mmm.

And yet there is something beautiful about living in community, isn't there? Not least of which is knowing I don't have the ONLY wolverine in town.

First Day of School, Part II

School this morning went very well. We stayed on schedule, the children (seemed to) enjoy themselves, snack and recess fell in just the right spot, and we ended all very happy with each other. Great.

We started off the morning with the traditional first-day-of-school photos:














At some points, Wombles was a little distracting:


Bud followed suit with his own variation on a theme:



Bud WAS proud of getting his pattern blocks sorted out though...they can move around a lot!



Pixie figuring out what 5 sevens is...
She doesn't realize it's multiplication, but she knows how to figure how many cents seven nickels make.

It was delightful. So, why do I feel like I should be done for the week? ;) This week begins J's official responsibilities at the college, too. The faculty retreat started today...but he and a friend managed to get in a surfing trip to Ventura first thing this morning. Hooray!

First Day of School!

We are getting the school year started today! I have been excited for weeks. I am very pleased with our curriculum this year (as pleased as I can be without actually USING it yet, of course) and look forward to seeing how it goes. I will try to post an update or some photos later today.

I actually got the back-to-school butterflies over the weekend. After a late night working on Saturday night, I have had a peaceful morning with time for coffee, solitude and Bible reading. Sometime I'll try to reflect on how the entire-Bible-in-90-days thing has gone. I'm in the final week!

Pixie had her first sleepover party this weekend. That wasn't what kept me up Saturday night, but it was certainly a large piece of our weekend (as was the date night our friends gave us on Friday night. Thank you!)

Finally, I have about 6 weeks until I have to file my private-school affidavit with the state. I welcome (and would enjoy) any suggestions for our school NAME that you have to offer!

Home from Retreat

Posing beneath the bushes after the zoo and dinner out with friends

Well, I am back on the ground and getting ready for school to start on Monday. I can't believe the summer's gone! For the first half of this week, though, it was pure summer retreat--I had a few days down at a nice hotel near La Jolla with a much-loved friend. The drive was fun (no LA traffic--thanks for praying, Bud!), the food was yummy and the time for contemplation, prayer, reading, fellowship and relaxation was priceless. By 11 am Tuesday morning, I felt like I'd already had an entire day off! There was real refreshment (as opposed to mere diversion) and I feel ready to go. And ready to go back again (or somewhere like it). Mmmm.

J held down the fort with the three. They had a great time Tuesday evening with Alister and his three (the family of the friend who was off with me). They arrived at the zoo late in the afternoon and had a blast listening to the lion roar repeatedly and playing on the sliding hill...they pretty much had the place to themselves! Around 5:40 a zoo employee approached the bunch and advised them that the zoo had closed at 5:00. "Just so you know..." :) Pixie and Bud had stories of almost getting locked in the zoo. They loved it. Here are some shots from the zoo trip:

Between the channel Island foxes and California Condors



The "sliding hill" at the zoo

We also had the delight last weekend of a visit from MaII. It is such a pleasure to have her, and to enjoy the bounty of her garden in roses and figs! Thank you!

Nine Months Later

I keep trying to keep up, but it's just not happening.

Summer is drawing to a close for us--school is scheduled to begin August 24th. I am very excited about it! We are using a curriculum this year that I think will work well as something Pixie and Bud will enjoy and may thrive with, and that I will find interesting and helpful. I only hope I can maintain the enthusiasm.

The past two weeks have been pleasantly full for us. We have had the delights of getting together with friends here in town and continuing to put down roots here in Santa Barbara. I feel like we're currently in the midst of a rainy season--i.e., conditions are ripe for roots to go out and grow. Funny that I feel like our life mirrors the seasons here (in type, not timing--right now we're ascending inexorably toward the height of fire season in physical life). Something like feast-or-famine. This weekend we're booked again, and looking forward to it (the time with folks, if not the state of booked-ness).

We also have gotten out for a quick family camping trip to San Simeon. Not surprisingly, perhaps, we spotted a forest fire on the way. :p Here are a few photos (of our fun, not the fire):



















Finally, today we "celebrate" nine months since "our" fire. Yesterday the construction crews put the first stucco layer on the house being rebuilt below us--the last one in the neighborhood to get it. Currently the schedule has everyone moving home November 1st. I wonder what we will do when the streets are clear of "big trucks" and the entire neighborhood doesn't wake up at 7:00am, which is when the construction begins? Recently I was landscaping a bit, moving some of our rocks around to different parts of the yard for borders, etc. I faced a dilemma: do I try to hide the scorch marks? Do I not use those rocks at all (which would seriously have cut into my supply!)? I decided to lay the rocks as best fit the project, scorch marks or no. Much like the scar on my leg, the scorch marks are little Ebenezers (1 Samuel 7:12). While I am not for allowing events to define us, I can use all the help I can get in remembering God's goodness to me...so a little writing "on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (or rocks on the path) seems a great idea (Deuteronomy 6:9). So there they are.

(Yes, that's a sprig of honeysuckle in the corner, making its comeback!!)

Walking outside this afternoon is a bit like putting on sepia-tinted glasses. There is a large fire burning about an hour North/Northwest of us, and smoke filters light differently from clouds. When Justin and Meg were here Sunday, J and I thought the sunset looked like fire sunset rather than clouds. It was weird. We didn't know the La Brea fire had been burning for about 5 hours at that point.

Tonight is my last guitar lesson of the summer. I am starting to play and have the children sing with me! It's really fun. Sometimes they go to the instrument box and grab a tambourine or maracas and get down with me!

Thanks for checking in.