Summer

We set the pool up last Saturday, and the boys have spent every minute possible out in it. Andrew has been wearing his swimming shorts all day, and he keeps asking if he can go out now. Chores and school get harder to do every day, with the swing and the pool both beckoning.
It's 91 today, and it will be in the 90's all week, so it is good weather for swimming.

We are painting the upstairs hallway. Whew! Caleb and I just did the coat of primer and it almost took us all day. Why do people build such high ceilings? We both got covered with paint, and so did the stairs and woodwork even though they were covered with sheets and newspaper, so we ended up spending the last forty-five minutes scrubbing white spots off the woodwork. It was exhausting and I wish we didn't have to do another coat.

Painting the stairway is just one of the projects on my to-do-before-I-leave list. Even though I have roughly a month and a half before I actually do leave, I feel like time is swiftly fleeting and I won't have time to do all that I need too. I am going to be starting a email list to use for updates on my ministry and learning experience in NC, so if you want to get email updates from me, just let me know. I figure if you don't already have my email address, I don't want to you to know more than I will be posting on my blog, so that shouldn't be a problem. I am planning on putting more personal information in these emails than I will be putting on this blog. Also, I am going to get a new email address soon(before I leave!) so I will be sure to send that out to you close friends as soon as I get it.

Health

The boys caught the flu today, the end result of hanging around too many cute girls. So we are all trying to keep taking medicine to stay healthy. I want to be in good health when I leave for Ft. Bragg, so I've been taking some steps to improve my health, which is alright overall but could be a lot better.
I've changed my morning routine so that I am now taking(daily):

• One spoonful cod liver oil- it's really not that bad.
• One acidophilus pill-supposed to be swallowed whole but I just can't do that.
• One tablespoon chlorophyll in my water- chlorophyll is actually almost tasteless, and therefore easy to take.
• One tablespoon apple cider vinegar in my water- not very tasty, but I can take it.
• About half a cup unsweetened healthy yogurt- it's really pretty sour, but you can get used to it.

And that's my breakfast. It is very filling and takes awhile for me to finish. In the next few weeks I'm hoping to a regular doses of Vitamin C, per the chiropractor's orders, and bowel cleanser, along with a parasite cleanse. That all sounds pretty disgusting, I guess. The one thing I ought to do but just really don't want to, is exercise.

The Adams family

I have been reading a book of selected letters of John and Abagail Adams that were written from 1762-1784. Because of his duties, John Adams was away from home for very long amounts of time. These letters are written in the good kind of romantic way, with Mr. and Mrs. Adams calling each other "my dearest best friend" etc. I really have enjoyed it, but as I am so rushed I only have time to post this quote from a certain letter:

"This wandering, intinerating life grows more and more disagreeable to me. I want to see my wife and children every day, I want to see my grass and blossoms and corn every day. I want to see my workmen, nay, I almost want to go and see the boss calves as often as Charles does. But above all except the wife and children, I want to see my books."
John Adams to his wife Abagail in 1772

It's recital season

Some of you may know that my sister is nearly the best ballerina in the Mid-west. Her ballet recital was last week, and we have more ballet activities next week. Her ballet is very beautiful, very inspiring, and very expensive. So running off to ballet events is what's keeping me busy these days. This photo is of her group's pointe dance.

An update on my cactus

Some of you may remember I brought a plain old cactus(plucked at a great physical price from the dusty earth) home from Texas a year ago. It flourished and then we thought it had died; but now it is growing again. I tell you, I am not touching that thing again. It can do whatever it wants, I am going to leave it alone now. The thrill of owning a Texas cactus has vanished. But here it is in it's current state, with its newest branches.

It's a beautiful day

Every morning I wake up to the sound of birds outside my window- almost right next to my head. Sometimes, when the loud, ugly-sounding birds are in residence, this can be annoying. Some birds really sound like monkeys. But most mornings I hear birds chirp and sing- this considerably helps my mood when getting up in the morning. Sometimes at night I hear owls, raccoons, cat-fights, and other strange rustling noises. I am so thankful that we live where we can enjoy God's nature so easily.
While we are on the subject of birds, the other day on the way to work I nearly hit three vultures that were eating a dead animal on the road. We don't often see vultures. Then a little ways further a pheasant ran across the road. I am proud to say that the only creatures I have ever run over and killed are a squirrel, a cat, and a snake. No deers or skunks yet.


Last week we had Dad's students up for lunch, and this week we are having more guests as well. So in the course of two weeks I will have met people from Korea, Japan, Lithuania, Tajikistan, Columbia, and Afghanistan. Of course we can't serve pork, because the Tajikis and Afghans are Muslims. At one pot-luck we had a while ago, we cautioned everyone not to bring pork, just in case they didn't already know that Muslims don't eat pork. And guess what one lady brought- a nice, big, ham.
And then when we had students from Korea stay with us, a lot of innocent and apparently uninformed people would ask us, "So are they from North or South Korea?"
It was hard not to laugh at that.

Random bits of info

It was 91 degrees on Monday, and breezy. I did two loads of laundry and the first load dried in just an hour because of the hot weather and wind. Today it got up to around 70. Fluctuating weather!

I rubbed my hands raw yesterday trying to hack up a piece of cardboard for my younger brother- he is making a raised map of the USA using cardboard and salt-dough for our upcoming home school fair. We always seem to wait until the last minute to finish our displays.

From the ever talkative Jeremy, while discussing what to become when he grows up:
"Who's the person who brings us mail?
Oh yeah, the mailman."

And on the way home from a dinner after observing the sky:
"Look, the moon followed us home!"

Ahhh, so cute. I did remember to do his reading lesson with him today, and he wiggled all the while. For some reason, it wears me out to watch him use so much energy; maybe it's just wearing to have to exercise so much patience on my part! Today we read about the "the dog will eat his small car." It's definitely better then "See Jane run" right?