1) The kids are no joke this year. I mean, between the two of them, I'm out of breath. Of course, it's all been good things. It's just that this is the first (school) year that we have really been engaged in several extra curricular activities. In the past, I have let each of them pick one thing at a time. Meaning, if The Girl was doing an activity, it was The Little Man's "off-season" and vice versa. It kept me sane. This year it just wasn't going to work out. The kids have both found things that they really enjoy, and it just so happened that their "seasons" overlapped. Right now, we are in the middle of basketball season for The Little Man, but we also have Jiu Jitsu and AWANA.
2) Going along with number one, The Girl is currently preparing for the school's talent show with a friend of hers. They are going to sing Avril Lavigne's "Skater Boy". Don't ask. Actually, I did ask. Their response was, "It was our favorite song on the karaoke machine." Awesome. I told them that next year, we could all work together to find the best song. Thankfully, they've agreed. You might be asking, "Why didn't you stop it before they tried out?" Well, friends, if I am going to be honest, I really didn't think they would make it in. I know. You all hate me. I don't really like myself for thinking it either. However, can I say, it made me all the more surprised to see just how cute they were. Even if they were singing about their skater boy heart throb. We'll see the grand performance tomorrow night. In the meantime, I've been shopping for the perfect "Skater Girl" outfits with two girls who would rather wear sequins because, after all, they are going to be on stage, and learning how to edit music digitally. Turns out that each performance can only be three minutes, and when those three minutes are up, there up. Well, the girls had some definite opinions on which parts of the music they wanted to keep and which had to go. So, there I was learning how to cut, split, combine, and fade music. I've impressed even myself.
3) Speaking of The Girl, I finally got some 10 year old portraits of her. Here are a few of my favorites:
5) While I haven't been writing here, I have been writing "old school" style, you know, in a journal. God has really been working on my heart and teaching me tons about "Faith". I am loving it, but some stuff just has to be kept private. Maybe there will be some summary at some point, but right now, it's just my brain emptying as much as I can, as fast as I can.
6) The Girl's team for Battle of the Books won the school wide competition. That means she and her team will compete once a week against different schools in the district, and eventually they will compete for top school in the district. We L-O-V-E Battle of the Books. It is such a fun way to encourage reading. It also just happens to be the only form of competition that The Girl will engage in.
7) The Little Man has been sick more this school year than the last two school years combined. When he came down with some sort of funky flu like virus a few weeks ago, I looked back at the calendar and realized that he's been sick and had to miss school every single month this school year. Crazy. Here's to hoping that February will be different. Even if it is just because it has less days.
With all that has been going on, I'm really having to work hard on not getting too overwhelmed. I overwhelm very easily (if you haven't figured that out). God has really been good to me, showing me that, while there may be a lot going on, it's all good stuff. It's also all stuff that has been prayed about and for. We are living out our days full of answered prayers. He is showing me that instead of being overwhelmed and shutting down, I can be overwhelmed and full of thanksgiving. When I choose to pick the latter, it makes life so rich. That is my prayer for February.
"Lord, let me see the way you are filling our lives with blessing and answered prayers, and let me respond with praise and thanksgiving!"
