On the way home from church, sometimes we'll stop for something to eat at this mall. (The Shops at Southpoint) We dont do it often as generally we just want to get Jay, my husband, home so he can get to bed and to sleep after working all night the night before. This past Sunday, we stopped there for a few minutes ....and saw this. I just happened to have brought my camera that day. What was sort of silly to me, was that these sculptured kids are in shorts, swimsuits etc, as if it was a thunderstorm summer southern day as opposed to a very cold day in the middle of winter. Here they are covered in ice!
Another...
Lastly
Well dinner is in the crockpot, due to be finished in about an hour or so. I sit here catching up on various things...email, surfing, going to ebay to make sure I am still winning a book we need for Hannah's Algebra lessons. It has three days , and knowing how cut throat some of those that bid on homeschooling things can be....a lot can happen between now and then.
Hannah volunteers at the local library on Thursdays. She loves it. She said today she sat there with the librarian while she ordered books for the library. Generally she gets to shelve books, straighten books....and cut out things for the storytime hour...activities for the kids.
We also are at the time here in NC, where in a week, she will be legally old enough to take drivers ed. I sort of thought she might be a bit hesitant, but isnt. We're looking at our options. Usually there is a homeschooling class of them, where if they get so many gathered, it's free. That would be nice. Free usually is Ü
I could dive into "where have all the years gone", but I know where they went....and they have been fun. I am enjoying this part of my kids life right now. They are old enough to really understand responsibility, and also see first hand that their choices do have consequences. They see again and again that life isnt always easy, and that we do not always get our way. They both have personal relationships with Christ. They are interesting people, both with interests that are not always directly from me and their dad. Its fun to talk to them, and to ask them questions to see what they might say. They are fun to share things with, things from our past (tv shows, music, pictures) as well as things that we can all do together. They know how to do housework, and so are also very good to work with in order to get something done. I think I am constantly amazed at what comes out of their mouths as well as what they may do in reaction to a situation. I am glad too that this stage still has a few years....and that it isnt over yet!
Im still looking for more than a "dusting" of snow. Maybe if I spread splenda all over our yard, it might call some on?
You know those car bumper stickers that speak of a resort or a favored place that people put on their cars? I saw one like this yesterday....so came home and made a jpg in my graphics program...for fun.
I want to introduce to you my daughter Hannah who is 14. She will sign her work "Mud Pie" . I tried to add her as a member, but it didnt work for some reason. Perhaps another day. She writes creatively daily as a part of her schooling. Here is today's journal entry from her. We thought it might be fun to post some of these here for now..perhaps until she has a blog of her own.
January 19, 2005
It snowed today! Maybe we do need to count the days, because then the snow will come more often. We only got a dusting, but as Mommy says, we have over 10 feet of snow in length. I like that idea a lot. And it looks so pretty out there in the yard, especially with our Christmas trees. And Bayley gets to wear his new sweater we bought him yesterday.
And speaking of his sweater, that was fun yesterday. We went to the pet store with Bayley and we bought a harness (we took it back later) and a bright read sweater he actually kind of likes. Then we drove on to walmart with Bayley in tow so we could buy ihim an inexpensive retractable leash. We had bought him a new collar a few days ago as well so I think he is set clothes wise!
Mud Pie
It's snowing here at my house in NC right now. We have a light dusting on the ground and the street. It's not suppose to do much...but sure is a welcomed treat after the unseasonably weather we've had up until last week. Its not suppose to feel like summer and spring in the middle of winter! Its suppose to be cold and snowy and different. The feel of the season is snow, and cold and bundle up, not warm and muggy and air conditioning. Perhaps there is a lesson though in that. We go by what we have read and know is true, not by what we feel. It may feel like spring or summer-but we KNOW its winter. We may feel its muggy...but we KNOW its January. It may not always feel like winter, but we know it is because it is that season and the calendar tells us its so. Likewise, we may not always feel things ...towards God, or feel close to God...or we may feel he has moved-but in reality, He is right there beside us because we KNOW-because in Gods word it says so. I am thankful that my feelings do not dictate truth...and that there is a difference between what we feel physically (the flesh) and what we know in our soul (the spirit)...and that we are not ruled by what we feel, but by His spirit living in us as we KNOW he will always be by our side because of His word....and God ALWAYS keeps His word.
Our kids gave our dog, Bayley a container of dog biscuits for Christmas. I kept looking at them, thinking it would be fun to take them into PSP and play with a scan of it for a bit. So tubed the biscuit, then played making frames and assorted other things with it. Here is the result, with our dog's picture in it. Sad to say I had to crop the kids out of this picture...especially since they were not too crazy to be in a dog biscuit frame (LOL) Bayley is a 5 and a half year old cocker spaniel. We affectionately call him "furball".
So I am recently back from the store where we bought a muzzle for the dog. My hopes are/were to buy one so that I could cut his fur without fear of being bit. The muzzle was too small, though it said it was for cocker spaniel sized dogs...up to 45 lbs. Must fit like baby clothes....where you have to use a size larger to fit something smaller.
Its raining. Its messy...lots of puddles-but fortunately, I didnt fall in any of them ;)
Hoping this rain and wind usher in the cooler weather they say it is suppose to. Im somewhat weary of the spring time temps we've had the last 2-3 weeks! I am ready for a good snow in kind of snow. We surely do not get enough of it around here.
So decided to give the free ipod thing a try. Here is my referal link-so you can sign up and be like me ;)
http://www.freeiPods.com/?r=13477903
We are now done with phone books ...for now. 16,525 books later-all routes turned in, all books have a new home....and we are ready to hibernate for a bit.
There is a certain bittersweetness when we are done...no matter how much we were ready to be done. Everything comes to a sudden halt, our extreamly busy days stop suddenly, and we find ourselves somewhat restless in the tiredness. Its hard to switch gears into what we were doing, and back into what we usually do. We often miss the fun and the books....and the family times working together in the van as we talk, sing and just enjoy one another and the Lord's blessings on the day. Its a sense of accomplishment , yet it is mearly a season of our year. We joke we dont have holidays, but phone book days.
As we pulled away from the warehouse one last time yesterday , there was a since of sadness as well as excitement. Change usually is like that, as is growth. So we look forward, to what today holds-even if only a day of rest as we shift into schooling again in a few days here.
I give God glory for my days and the accomplishments of my days, for He is indeed Holy.
In 1999 we started delivering phone books. I had a friend that did it, and so I asked one day how she got into it. I went to the meeting with her, filled out an application ...showed up the next day and the rest is history. What started out to be a way that first year to make a bit of "pocket change" for our family for the week my husband was scheduled to have off, turned into so much more as God blessed our efforts and remembered that we were indeed working for Him and not for man.
Here we are several years later-still bagging up our books and tossing them out the window. We have done the Greensboro books for six years now, The Burlington books for 5, and the Winston Salem books for 2. Its hard work, but the blessings far outweigh the cost, not just in money, but in the lessons and ways we have learned to work together as a family. Our kids love it! The memories they have that surround this time,(and that I do as well) are priceless. We started out in a station wagon, and last year invested in a used cargo van. Its all God that we do this at all. Thought I'd share a piece of my life known as the phone book days. Its a journey into something I never imagined myself doing with my kids.
This is a view backwards of the van. You can see my son back there as we get set to go. This van holds 864 of the big six pound books for this particular area. When we do another town to our East in the spring, the van can hold 3000 books at at time because the books are MUCH smaller. It is certainly an experience using the van, vs using the car (which we do at times, especially for some of the smaller dirt roads) or using the station wagon we no longer have (our first phonebook mobile), that we started out with.
This is my daughter Hannah. She usually rides in the back bagging books. If my husband is driving, then I am back there with her bagging. We get very goofy if we are together back there.
View from the back of the van looking inside. My son appears to be searching for a drink before we take off from the cooler. My daughter is still getting things set on her end.
At the end of the day-Van empty of books, yet full of trash! Always the feeling of a job well done when this is the view we see!
One of the challenges of delivering phone books often is the quality of the map provided. A good map, with most of the roads and a direct path of how to get where you need to be is very valuable in what I do with phone books. Here is what the directory paperwork gave me for the route we did today. This is all I had to go on. This was not enough, especially in an area I am only vaguely familiar with. So I went on mapquest and made my own map as you'll see below. If I have this route again next year...I'll be glad I went through the time and trouble...goodness, today I was glad I went through the time and trouble to look up the 30-40 roads that were actually on this route and chart it out. Otherwise, I would have gotten lost, and became fustrated.
The Map I did for today's route via mapquest.com.
I now have a "new to me" monitor. Hopefully this ends the fustrations of smacking the side of my monitor just to be able to see...not to mention ending the days of all day pinks and blues when the color was off. $10 later, Im a happy gal. My guess, given the size of this thing...is that someone took their monitor and went with a flat screen monitor and donated this one to the second hand store. Their trash was my treasure! It is a 17 inch monitor-mine was only 15 inches....I'll need to somehow rearrange my desk a bit...but I thin it will work quite nicely for connecting to all my invisible friends out here through the wires, as well as for doing my digital artwork (I am long overdue for a good day or so of just diving in my graphic program and not coming up for a long time). Ü
Also on a related note-we took the speakers off this monitor and put them on the small CD player that was pretty banged up. Now my husband has a cd player for the van. His radio had two volumns, off and really loud. That will be nice for him and those drives to and from work.
Still have the other computer troubles-but God willing-it will hang in there a while longer!
Praises to God for the provision.
God bless!
