A Good First Week Back

We had a good week getting back into a routine.  I think it snowed almost every day last week except for Saturday when the sun shone.  Because of that we did find a great sledding hill and took the kids sledding Wednesday afternoon.  The nice thing about homeschooling is that we can choose our time to sled to avoid the busy times.  There were only 2-3 other families on the hill, and we by far out numbered them!  The temperature outside stays so nice that the kids could spend hours outside without getting too cold.  Friday night we hosted a seminary family for supper and fellowship.  The kids actually played outside (in the dark!) because it was snowing.   Sunday we decided to follow our plan to try another church for a few weeks so we attended Harvest OPC both am and pm.  There was a little anxiety among the kids about starting a new Sunday school class again and I felt so bad for them.  But they seemed to settle in nicely and were excited (all talking at once) on the way home.  This also included Russ and I who thoroughly enjoyed the first lesson in a series on the doctrine of adoption in the adult SS class.

I started and finished my crocheted snowman project this week.   I found a $3.00 shirt at Walmart to sew it on for Anna.  There is lots of room for improvement in all areas of this project, but Anna just loves it and that is really all that matters.  I may try another one for Lydia if I get motivated again this week.  It really didn't take that long.

Caleb's violin teacher has been encouraging him to try out for a more challenging orchestra--the St. Cecilia.  The only problem is that practices would be on Monday nights which conflicts with BSF.  We stewed about this all Christmas break and finally just sat down and made a decision the morning after we got back.  We decided that we made a commitment to BSF, and we were going to honor that for the entire year.  Caleb also pointed out that four at-risk youth started attending BSF a few weeks before break and he thought it wouldn't look good to them for him to drop out of BSF for orchestra.  So, I called his teacher to tell her of our decision and she completely understood.  She told us that she was already thinking of starting up a chamber quartet that would include her son Calvin on the cello and she would like Caleb to participate in that as well.  Practices would be on Sat afternoons which poses no problem.  This was a wonderful compromise--still be in BSF and also be part of a challenging string group.

Russ doesn't start class until Jan 25 and is still working through his "to-do" list that grew longer and longer last semester.  He is also reviewing Hebrew regularly as he has an exam on his first day back.  I enjoy having him around--another adult in the house with homeschooling is quite nice.  I will miss him when he starts back to school.

No major plans for this week.  The kids would like to go sledding again so will try to fit that in.  I would like to take Caleb and Nicolas to Bodies Revealed at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, so need to fine a time for that sometime this semester.  The seminary wives meet tomorrow night which is always uplifting and I look forward to that.  I am sure we will make 2-3 trips to the Y as well. 

As you can see, life is returning to "normal", and that is kind of how we like it.