Monday was spent teaching music classes, helping to supervise lunch duty, and a few errands in the afternoon. Emma and I went to visit one of the elderly ladies in our church. She doesn’t get out much, and my friend, Allison, had mentioned that this particular lady was lonely. I don’t know her very well, but it was good for Emma and I to visit her. We didn’t stay very long, just about half and hour, but the lady seemed like she certainly enjoyed the visit. Truth be told, I don’t feel like I “have time” to visit with people, but if ministry is about touching people’s lives for eternity than I firmly believe that each believer has a responsibility to “make time” for visiting with others. My dad is one of the best people I know about making time to invest in others so I grew up with a great example of that. It’s also important to me that our children see us make the time to invest in other people’s lives be it by having them over for dinner, visiting them in their home, making a blessings basket, or just simply trying to meet some of the needs of those around us. Hmm...that was a bit of a rabbit trail, but oh well!
The boys also had soccer practice on Monday afternoon, so that made for a bit of a long day. However, it so nice to be outside just playing with the other children during this week of beautiful weather. Tuesday morning was spent visiting with another mama and her little ones. Roger was working so after dropping off the boys at school Emma and I headed to a play date. It was a good morning spent enjoying Bethany’s company and watching the little ones play. We didn’t stay very long as I needed to get home. Emma and I puttered around the house the rest of the day working on laundry and getting out clothes for the colder weather.
The boys were very excited about school on Wednesday, well at least the older two were excited! Their teacher had a field trip planned for Wednesday morning, and the boys were looking forward to it. Roger had the day off today, so he was able to join the boys on their field trip. The class went to a Transportation Museum in our area. The class has been studying about Orville and Wilbur Wright, so one of the volunteers at the museum spent some time discussing them. Then another volunteer showed the class around the museum. I don’t think the volunteers see a whole lot of action/people at the museum, and this particular guide was a bit lengthy with his words. However, the class did a good job of paying attention and trying to participate. This particular guide also seemed to have a very small personal space bubble and he didn’t mind being in other people’s space. It was actual a bit humorous as he would ask the kids a question and be standing about eight inches from their noses. It gave me a laugh and it’s a memory from the field trip. The kids seemed to have a good time, but of course they would, after all it was a morning spent outside the classroom! After returning the boys to School and picking up Emma, we decided to take a walk on one of the local trails. It’s been such unseasonable warm weather that we have been soaking it up as much as possible. We had a good walk together and then returned to the school. We had brought two vehicles into School that morning so that one of us could stay for soccer practice while the other went home. I took Emma and Travis home with me to prepare supper and get ready for the next day, while Roger waited for the boys to finish practice. Travis must’ve had a rough day as he was a basket case on the way home. The day before he had spent some time after school cleaning out the truck. He had done a great job, and Emma had dropped some trash on the floor by the time Wednesday afternoon came around. I could not grasp why Travis was having such a meltdown over a few pieces of trash that could be easily fixed, but eventually I realized that this was actually just the straw that broke the camels back. He realized today that he wasn’t getting very good grades in class and that he wasn’t on the same reading pages as the rest of the class. (It’s not something I’ve been hiding from him, I just haven’t felt the need to remind him that he is struggling in school.) And also he wasn’t chosen to help with anything special for his class chapel on Friday, and he didn’t understand his Bible verse, and the truck was a mess, and he didn’t really like School! Oh dear! That was a long list of struggles for a small boy! After sorting through many of his struggles and listening, he moved on with his afternoon. He spent much of the afternoon out in the back yard just playing in the sandbox and playing with his farm stuff. My heart hurts for this little boy, but I know that God understands Travis’s feelings and emotions far better than I do. I’m just trying to be a mama that encourages him, listens to him, and points him to Jesus.
Thursday was spent working on a variety of projects with Roger. He had the day off so we spent some time clearing out stuff that needs to be taken to the dump. It was a productive day of hard work, but we both felt like we accomplished some much needed chores. We took several trips to the dump, and got rid of a lot more stuff than we would’ve had the kids been around. And so far, none of them have mentioned that anything is missing. In the afternoon, before picking up the boys, Emma and I went to visit Mrs. Welch. She is a local pastors wife, and a friend of ours. I try to visit at least once a month, but sometimes time gets away from me. We enjoyed a good afternoon talking about many topics. After school we took the boys on a hike. One of the big cruise ships was in the bay today, so we hiked out to one of the lighthouse perches to see if we could get a better glimpse. We didn’t get to see the cruise ship...we could not see it at all actually. However we had a good time hiking, finding sea glass, and enjoy8ng a beautiful afternoon. When we returned to the truck, we realized that although Roger had locked the vehicle, one of the doors as left wide open! Thankfully, nothing was missing, but it was certainly a reminder to be a bit more careful! Thursday was also the day that I prepped for hot lunch and made haddock chowder. Roger was given haddock at work, so I made a chowder with it. It must’ve been good because everyone had two helpings. I didn’t bother to mention that the broth was puréed cauliflower and cottage cheese, and those “potatoes” were actually radishes! No need to mention anything about the nutritional value to them, but I certainly took great delight in their lavish reviews of the chowder!
Friday is always a long day. No matter how prepared I try to be, or how much I try to plan out the days it’s still just a long day. Hot lunch today was meatballs, garlic bread, noodles and sauce, salad, and cookies. I brought my nesco for the meatballs, and my crockpot for the sauce. Pastor Mark has been lighting the stove for me on Fridays as I’ve become a bit intimidated by it since I almost lit my hair on fire a few weeks ago. Overall hot lunch has been going very smoothly this year. We are staying in budget, the kids and staff are enjoying it, and it’s becoming part of the Friday routine. After cleaning up from lunch, Emma and I took lunch out to Roger, picked up another gallon of milk (something we do often!) and returned to the school. I spent some time in the afternoon working with the older class on some of the music for the Christmas program. That thing (the Christmas program) lurks in the back of my mind on a daily basis, and I find myself thinking about it often. I’m glad for the opportunity, but I’ll breathe a sigh of relief after December 8th! After school, two of the boys had piano lessons so the rest of us just waited and played outside in the beautiful sunshine. We do need some rain though, so that is a prayer request also. It was a long day, but a good day. We were all thankful for come home, eat supper, and watch a movie together. Well, Roger and Emma fell asleep during the movie, and I ended up working on a grocery list, but it’s nice to be home all together without any plans.
Saturday dawned as another beautiful day here in Maine. Roger and the boys gathered up things in the yard to put away, and then Garett and Roger had the opportunity to go fly together for a bit. Flying is Garett’s all-time favorite thing to do, and I’m thankful that the opportunity presented itself. After their flying adventures, we met up at a fall fastival at one of the local churches. How things have changed in a year! A year ago, we were still adapting and adjusting and trying to make friends, and this year we attended the fall festival at another church with the opportunity to see many of our friends from School. We didn’t stay real long as Saturday’s tend to fly by. Roger took the kids home, while I went now grocery shopping...by myself! Hooray! I certainly don’t mind taking them with me, but it’s soemthing that I can think better about when I go by myself. This week the kids will be having plenty of yogurt in their lunch boxes as that was on sale!
We spent Saturday evening taking a hike up Beech Hill. The Philbrook’s invited us to climb up the hill with them. So we both packed up sandwiches and kids, and we enjoyed a beautiful hike in this gorgeous fall weather. The evening was a good mix of fun, exercise, fellowship, and enjoying God’s creation. I’m thankful for these opportunities and we need to make these informal outings happen more often...but life is busy!
No comments:
Post a Comment