As It Should Be

Do you ever have a day in which every single thing you try to accomplish is a little bit (or much more!) off? That was my day today. Nothing catastrophic happened...just nothing went the way that I thought it would. 

One of those things was a parents' meeting this morning during the Sunday school hour. (Sunday School? Is that capitalized? I don't know these things...please advise.) I ended up only hearing the final seven minutes or so, but what I heard was something that I have tried to put into words, but not been able to before. Jim, our Minister to Children and Youth, was the speaker for this event, and he ended his talk by pointing out Hollywood's movie formula: 

Everything is wonderful in the beginning.
A problem arises and the wonderfulness is broken.
There is struggle. (And more struggle. And the struggle goes on.)
There is a stand-off between the good guy and the bad guy.
The good guy wins.
The ending is Happily-Ever-After.

His point? Hollywood film-makers present the gospel message in (just about) every single movie, and they don't even know they're doing it. And the thing that I have thought about before and never put into words very well is that there is this longing in each of us for that happy ending, and it's there for a reason. It is there because we are designed to long for it, we know how things ought to be, and we want more than anything for the world to be as it should.

I thought that his point was great. It's a great way to enter into conversation with someone about the gospel, even if it's just a start, or something to give them to think about. 

Today my happy ending might include a cleaned-up school room...I suppose I'll have to get busy for that to happen. But one day? Well, either we won't be so messy or we'll be much better about cleaning as we go along. Ha. A light-hearted joke, but, oh, how I long for all of it to be made right...

A Plan...Does That Scare You?

I am considering a new plan. I'm not sure if it's the most brilliant idea I've ever had or scarily stupid.

With Michaela, I need to spend one day each week on a single subject, except math, which we all know should be done every day, first thing in the morning.

But not before breakfast! Eating breakfast is crucial for our brains to function at maximum capacity. Clearly I have not been eating breakfast as I should.

Transitioning from one subject to another takes us so long. I can't explain it. So it just seems to make sense to spend an extended period of time really focusing on a particular area of study each day.

This idea is coming to you a little tongue-in-cheek, but only a little...I really may have to do an experiment one week. (And during that week, we will actually get an experiment done, because science gets Thursday...see? It's a great idea.)

Early to Bed...

This school year is, quite frankly, kicking my butt. I am ready for bed right this minute. At 8:42pm. Do you know me? This is not my normal
m.o.

Do you capitalize m.o.? I'm too tired to look it up.

I seriously do not have an intelligent thing to say. I did start the 30-Day Shred again. I've done it for three days. I would rather be in labor than start exercising. It hurts. It hurts when I sneeze. It hurts when I turn the steering wheel. It hurts when I erase the white board. It hurts when I go upstairs. It hurts when I go downstairs. It hurts when I move my foot from the gas to the brake pedal.

Guess what? It hurts!

I felt like poo tonight after dinner, and I was very close to showering and going to bed, but then I got mad and figured I might as well do the video since I felt cruddy anyway. You know what? I didn't feel so bad once I was done. I don't know what that means, but I hope it's good.

My eyeballs are burning, and so I think I'm going to try to sleep. Who knows...maybe I'm finally turning into a normal person.

Haha...that was pretty funny, right?

What We've Been Up To...

What do you do when it's 100o outside? My children drink hot chocolate.

Apparently it's never too warm for marshmallows.

We also dress up like pirates and go get free donuts. 

What I did not realize is that we would get a dozen donuts for each pirate. We were three. That means...

36 donuts. Which is entirely too many for one family of five to have in the house at one time. 

We put a good dent in them, but didn't come anywhere near eating all of them. 

A great deal of painting has occurred in this house as well. We even made egg yolk paint (much like Giotto used 700 years ago) (probably not very much though, as he was grinding up insects to mix with his eggs, while we used chalk). It was fun for them. (A little stressful for me...do you know me? Raw eggs! Ack!)

I need to figure out how to cover their paintings (read: protect myself and others from egg germs). 

I'm sure I need to lighten up. But hey! I walk around in public looking like Jack Sparrow, not even on October 31st. That counts, doesn't it?! 

Same Old...

While being pregnant is undeniably uncomfortable, looking pregnant when you are, in fact, not pregnant is just as uncomfortable. Maybe in different ways, I'll give you that. But right now, it wouldn't surprise me one bit if someone were thinking,"I wonder how far along she is, and when is she going to tell us about it?!"

Michaela is monitoring my soda intake; I have reached my quota for today, and I am also under orders to do my video. Maybe with her bossing me encouragement I can really get started...it's the starting that's so hard.

And the stopping is hard. Starting a new, good habit while trying to stop an old, deeply rooted, addiction kind of habit makes me cranky.

Hey! Something comes to mind here:

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 

That is from Romans 7. And oh, so fitting...