Currently....We
are:
Struggling
with....
- Transition! We were only gone a few weeks (3 for Sophia and Lorraine), but as our kids get older, these times get harder. Connections with kids like them, ability to open up, get real, talk spiritual things. They were poured into by others in a way that only happens once a year! They love the chance to hang with other ex-pat kids (or TCKs, Third-culture-kids, though I don't love the title). They also love being home. Mixed emotions. A lot of sadness, moodiness, and flaring tempers (not just the kiddos) adjusting to our summer grind. But still they would say...There is no place like home!
- looking forward and trying to figure out our fall schedule. I tried to do the math on the time needed to do decent homeschool with all kids while Tobin starts Chinese elementary, and it didn't add up....it still doesn't add up, I have four weeks to figure it out.
Exercising...
- For me, still doing Kettle bells and running on off days, but a glute/hamstring issue has caused a year of pain for me. I used to love mixing up my run workouts, right now I just have to get out the door and make it 5k...
- P.E.! I finally put together a PE schedule while on school break! It involves 3 days of gymnastics/strength and 3 days of soccer/ball touch drills. We are on week 2 and enjoying it!
Studying....
- David and I both are doing some Mandarin refresher studies in certain domains on our own the next few months. After thirteen years, still much to be learned in this language. Always a language learner.
- still loving anything by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones...
- The book...'The Brain's Way of Healing', my dad got me into this. It is no fast read, but I am hooked and in it for the long haul. Fascinating. It puts me in awe of our Creator every time I read it.
Watching...
- David and I finally started watching some of the Avenger movies and actually like them...
- Can't think of a REALLY good movie we have watched lately. The last one we really really enjoyed was 'Arrival'. (ok, and Despicable Me 3)
- Our kids enjoy the "Little House on the Prairie" series, though it can be high drama, I actually have to read what it is about before showing some of them, they can be super-intense.
- David's old college friends, Rhett and Link are as crazy as ever and apparently get like 14 billion views on their youtube channel (Good Mystical Morning). We watched a few and now know why. Our kids REALLY dig this....Sophia and her Best local friend just did their own version of 'Will it....?" in Chinese...it was hilarious too.
Reading
Aloud....
- We finished and loved (though I cried) The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane, just finished The Whipping Boy, and just started 'Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World' (a more kid-friendly version of Endurance, a book David and I read aloud together and loved)
- I also recently bought the Usborne Complete Shakespeare. Very abridged versions of every play, but with character explanations too. We just read twelfth night and it was really well done. Now they somewhat understand the plot as we get back into memorization
Starting....
- We just started full home school back this week! On day two...I think I can I think I can I think I can....
- For the first time doing an on-line history course. So far so good....but internet slowness could pose a problem later in the semester
- CC Cycle 3, which means this is year 6! As I opened up our anatomy books to talk about tissue and organs we got into a great discussion on organ donation, they love the stories I tell of working at the hospital and watching this miraculous process in action!
Still blown away
by...
- This valley we live in this time of year. The mountains tower around and the rice fields are a bright, lush green from the daily rain. You have to see it to understand this simple and absolutely gorgeous place we live! And honestly I don't notice it too much, we just happened to go on a drive through the valley on the new highway and it still took my breath away. That is a good thing.
