Spring Break 2014~

It has come and gone for the year.  What a blessing it is to stay home with my little people for an entire week without the responsibilities of my occupation.  I left everything related to work at work, and I committed myself to spending the last 9 days focused on recharging and enjoying my family.  We had a great week, and I feel like I can end the school year in a healthy frame of mind;-)

So, what did we do this week?  Well, here it is...

Zoo x2
Ice Cream Outing
Discovery Center x2
Park
Picnic
Ride Bikes
Library
Shopping
Clean House
Declutter I got rid of a good amount of stuff this week that was cluttering our home.  That alone made my heart smile;-)  Just don't tell Big Al.
Laundry
Grammy and Poppy Visit

Lazy Mornings!

Picnic with Friends

Happy Artist

Little Artist

Brother Sister Love

Isla built and built and built

We caught a volcano demonstration at the Discovery Center

Alex is leaving this week for a conference.  He will be gone two nights, so I'm going to do this gig solo.  Say a prayer for me this week.  I rarely sleep when he is gone which makes me susceptible to migraines.   Hopefully, it is uneventful, and stress/migraine free;-)  Have a great week~

Goals Update~

Spring break is winding down, and so is stress-free lifestyle;-)  With that, I figured I should update my goals here, so I can track where I'm at.  Spring is always crazy in our house, so I'm guessing this one will be no different.  It feels good to mark progress when it is had, so here goes.

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1, 2014
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when we made the goal, we are now down to 81% 70% of the loan left.  Progress!

2. Establish a will
Nothing done on this one yet.

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
I've not been the best at keeping up with this.  I won't lie, the old testament about sends me into a nap every time.  It is challenging to read, and I'm not enjoying it.  I don't mind the new testament, but unfortunately we are reading both.  I'm not giving up, but I must reestablish my motivation to really finish this goal out in 2014.

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read 5 9 books so far in 2014.  I read two over spring break.  Woot!  I feel like I am in good shape on this one! 

Carry On, Warrior

The kids and I ventured to the library yesterday, and I grabbed a book that I had seen online.  This particular book was a memoir ( I love those) about a mom who was also a recovering bulimic and alcoholic.  She has written on the blog, Momastery since 2009.  I have never followed this particular blog before, but I am now;-)

I finished this 265 page book in less than 24 hours.  Don't worry, both children are still alive and have been fed;-)  The book was fantastic.  No, it was better than fantastic.  It was exactly what my heart needed right now.  The author, Glennon, blends honesty with her faith in God and his perfect plan for our life.  Obviously, Glennon has seen rock bottom, but she is one of the most genuinely faithful authors I have read.  She is real. Her life isn't perfect, and she doesn't try to sugarcoat it.  

One of my favorite lines is early in the book.  She says, "Life is brutal.  But it's also beautiful. Brutiful, I call it.  Life's brutal and beautiful are woven  together so tightly that they can't be separated."  We all have our own brutal and our own beautiful, but you can't take either one of them independent of the other, although life would be so much more pleasurable without the brutal;-)  

She has many quotable pieces in this book, and she was incredibly easy to relate to.  I laughed, I cried, I smiled.  It's just genuine, and I liked that.  

Sickness~

In the last two weeks, Isla and Rowan have had the stomach flu twice each, and I caught it this last week.  Ugh!

It has been short lived each time, but this is still not on my calendar!  I think Isla was the initial culprit probably bringing it home from daycare, and she sweetly spread her germs to Rowan.  Then in the wake of Mom duties, I clearly caught the bug.  I spent Tuesday home from school, but I made myself go on Wednesday, even though I still felt horrible.  Lucky for me, the kids at school seemed to miss me as I had been gone Monday as well for Alex's grandma's funeral, so they were well behaved.

This morning Rowan now has a 102 degree fever.  Oyy!  So Alex and Isla headed off to church, and Rowan is laying on the living room floor watching Despicable Me.  This is not a typical Sunday morning for us, so it feels odd to be home.

Hopefully, we can shake this bug quickly and keep it from spreading, so we can actually enjoy spring break. (The washing machine is currently running at an urgent speed to alleviate as many germs as possible).  There is fun to be had over spring break as the weather looks like it just might cooperate with us this year!!

Bible in a Year-March

 

 The month of March is days 91-121. At the end of this month we will be almost one third of the way through the Bible.  How's that for progress!

I'm going to number them according to the days in March to help you track your progress.  We get to start Proverbs this month, and I am excited about that one!

1~ Deuteronomy 5-6; Proverbs 1
2~ Deuteronomy 7-9; Proverbs 2
3~ Deuteronomy 10; Provers 3; Psalms 37
4~ Deuteronomy 11-12; Proverbs 4
5~ Deuteronomy 13-14; Proverbs 5
6~ Deuteronomy 15-16; Proverbs 6
7~ Deuteronomy 17-18; Proverbs 7
8~ Deuteronomy 19-20; Proverbs 8; Psalms 128
9~Deuteronomy 21-22; Proverbs 9
10~ Deuteronomy 23; Philemon;  Proverbs 10
11~ Deuteronomy 24-25; Proverbs 11; Psalms 49
12~ Deuteronomy 26-27; Proverbs 12; Psalms 19
13~ Deuteronomy 28; Proverbs 13
14~ Deuteronomy 29-30; Proverbs 14
15~ Deuteronomy 31; Proverbs 15; Psalms 139
16~ Deuteronomy 32; Proverbs 16
17~ Deuteronomy 33-34; Proverbs 17
18~ Psalms 1; Joshua 1-2; Proverbs 18
19~ Joshua 3-5; Proverbs 19
20~ Joshua 6-7; Proverbs 20
21~ Joshua 8; Proverbs 21; Psalms 33
22~ Joshua 9-10; Proverbs 22
23~ Joshua 11-12; Proverbs 23; Psalms 149
24~ Joshua 13-14; Proverbs 24
25~ Joshua 15; Proverbs 25
26~ Joshua 16-18; Proverbs 26
27~ Joshua 19-20; Proverbs 27
28~ Joshua 21-22; Proverbs 28
29~ Joshua 23-24; Proverbs 29; Psalms 115
30~ Ruth 1-2; Psalms 129; Proverbs 30
31~ Ruth 3-4; Proverbs 31

Goals Update~

We are about 2 months into 2014, so it is time to check the progress on the goals.  So here they are...

1. Pay off Jolie's undergraduate loan by October 1, 2014
If I said we had 100% of the loan left to pay when we made the goal, we are now down to 81% of the loan left.  I have made good progress on this goal working at maybe not gazelle intensity but more like deer intensity;-)

2. Establish a will
We have met with the financial adviser in 2014, and he gave us another name.  This kind of thing is really a Big Al initiative.  I might have to provide him some encouragement to get some progress going.

3. Read the Bible in 1 year
I have been fairly religious.  I'm a few days behind right now, but I am still plugging away at the goal. 

4. Read 30 books by December 31, 2014
I have read 5 books so far this year.  I'm probably going to need to put a little more energy into this goal.  I didn't account for the whole Bible reading thing into my time commitments when I made this goal.  I failed to realize Bible reading would take time away from my fun reading;-)

The Bible in a Year-February

Another month behind us on the 365 Day challenge.  I've kept up, but January was much harder than December Perhaps, it was the reading of Leviticus.  Ugh.  I really think my life could have been complete without knowing exactly how I was supposed to sacrifice various creatures!!  I just can't fathom that people actually did that.

We are moving on, and I'm posting the schedule for February.  I'm thinking maybe this will be the month for rainbows and butterflies in the Bible;-)  I have numbered it according to the days of the month. I found it really hard to keep track of the reading when I was following the total number of days in the 365 day challenge instead of just the date of the month.  Happy Reading!

1~ Numbers 3-4; Psalms 134
2~ Numbers 5-6; Psalms 61
3~ Numbers 7; Psalms 99
4~ Numbers 8-10; 2 Timothy 1
5~ Numbers 11-12; 2 Timothy 2
6~ Numbers 13-14; 2 Timothy 3
7~ Numbers 15-16; 2 Timothy 4
8~ Numbers 17-18; John 1
9~ Numbers 19-20; Psalms 90; John 2
10~ Numbers 21; John 3; Psalms 135
11~ Numbers 22; John 4
12~ Numbers 23; John 5
13~ Numbers 24; John 6
14~ Numbers 25; John 7
15~ Numbers 26; John 8
16~ Numbers 27; John 9
17~ Numbers 28; John 10
18~ Numbers 29; John 11
19~ Numbers 30; John 12
20~ Numbers 31; John 13
21~ Numbers 32; John 14
22~ Numbers 33; John 15
23~ Numbers 34; John 16
24~ Numbers 35-36; John 17
25~ Deuteronomy 1; John 18
26~ Deuteronomy 2; John 19; Psalms 22
27~ Deuteronomy 3; John 20; Psalms 133
28~ Deuteronomy 4: John 21