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In the great outdoors...winter has arrived. I think the ice on the puddles and in the ditches did melt at some point today. They won’t by Wednesday.
Within our four walls...winding down from our first full day back in routine.
A heart of thanksgiving...for this…
I probably should have tried to get a picture before we got it all dirty!! But, I’m too excited to care – and I’ve been waiting over two weeks to share!
We’ve been praying over our vehicle situation for a while. Nearly twelve years ago, God led us to the van that is now 14 years old and has 230,000 miles on it. We figured He could take care of leading us to the next perfect vehicle.
And He did! We really intended to start looking in the spring. But He had other plans…plans that led us to this 2012 Dodge Durango.
We spent a good portion of our anniversary at the car dealership getting this purchased. Then we surprised our kids. They had no clue we were going to buy a new vehicle. It was SO much fun.!
The next weekend, we went to Judsonia and surprised my family.
This past weekend we went to Monroe and surprised Doug’s parents.
And now we get to share the excitement all around! Here’s to another twelve years and 200,000 miles. (Of course, the van hasn’t given up the ghost yet, so it’s still trucking along with us, too!)
A heart of prayer...for friends needing to sell their house; for a church member recovering from surgery and dealing with perpetual health issues; for dear friends facing many tough decisions and needing much provision.
Random observations...if I type and write 2015 every single time I have to type or write a date, I might get used to it!
My sweet children...have jumped back into routine beautifully. I’m so proud of and thankful for them!
Thoughts from the kitchen...leftovers today. But we did have cookies, too.
On my bookshelf...another review book – Beyond All Dreams by Elizabeth Camden. Yeah, they really had to twist my arm to get me to take that one.
I also have a stack of non-fiction to read. I need to put a plan in place for that. Although there are many great non-fiction titles I enjoy, it is a harder genre for me to read. I am much more naturally inclined to both enjoy and learn from stories. But I’m looking forward to making time to read through that non-fiction stack this year. I just have to decide where to start.
Projects...blogging through some of the fun times we had last year. I have a writing schedule in place now, and a real plan. My Scrivener is loaded full of post starters for The Joy of Writing, which means I have to spend less time trying to figure out what to write and can spend more time actually writing for both blogs.
Sounds of the moment...quiet, as the kids have just turned out their lights. Music is playing while Doug and I finish up some evening writing.
From Hibbard Academy...getting back into the swing of things. I was most excited about getting back to our read-alouds: Witch of Blackbird Pond, Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze, and The Sherwood Ring. They are all such good books!
A favorite thing from Christmas break...family time and downtime.
The planner...pretty routine the rest of this week. That’s a blessing for the first week back from Christmas break!
Because visuals are fun...page one of my blog planning for 2015. I cannot tell you how much it helped me to do this! And how wonderfully helpful it was for Doug to pitch in with ideas as well.