Last Friday, I was able to sneak away in the afternoon to have lunch with my friend, Allison. Since I am working every day and teaching music classes, we just don’t have time for coffee dates as often. It definitely makes me treasure and soak up any time that we do get to have together. Allison is a good friend to me, and one of the many gifts God gave to me when we moved to Maine. We enjoyed lunch together, did some window shopping and just enjoyed a short afternoon of food and fellowship.
Saturday found Emma and I, along with my sister, Hannah, out on a shopping date together. We took a trip to the big city of Portland, and we went to Sam’s Club as well as a few other stops. Per my typical shopping excursions, I ended up buying mostly food! I guess thats what’s exciting when you have a large family. I have to admit I was pretty excited about finding raspberries for $1.00! Emma ate her own container on the way home. I bought twelve packages of berries, and by Sunday night, all the berries were gone! Oh well! I had a good time with Hannah, and Emma was thrilled to come along on a “girls” trip.
While I was gone on Saturday, Roger and the boys were busy! They are working on setting up an ice rink in the back yard...I know...It’s what every mom dreams about, right?! Oh my goodness, they have been hard a work setting up and getting ready for the liner. A gentleman that is a good friend of our family, donated money towards the boys project. He told Roger that he feels like some of the problems in our society stem from the fact that kids do not go outside enough and have enough active play. Well, we don’t even have the liner or water in the rink yet, but they have certainly been enjoying the enclosure. They’ve used it for soccer, basketball, airsoft, and everything else!
We did not have school on Monday as it was Veterans Day. It was nice to spend the day at home working on projects and catching up on laundry. Roger helped me with several projects that I’m working on for the preschool class. Each class makes a project to sell at the auction, and I always like to try out the projects ahead of time! Roger painted clay pots for me, helped me paint pine cones.
Emma enjoyed helping with the salt dough ornament projects, and it was a fun time for both of us. I’m excited to do these projects with our preschool class!
It was the end of the first quarter last week, so that meant that we had parent-teacher conferences this week. I was pretty impressed that I managed to get to all the right appointments at the right times! With having five kids in the school, that means that we have at least one child in each class in the elementary school. I did a few in the mornings before school and one in the afternoon. All of the kids received good reports from their teachers. Not all of our kids have amazing grades, but it was encouraging to hear each of their teachers say how much they enjoy having our children in their classroom. Each child has different strengths and weaknesses, and they are not all academic struggles. I would wager to say that the biggest struggles in our lives will not come in the form of academics, but rather in the testing of our character. I’m thankful for each teacher that works with our children, and I know that God has given them to be in our children’s life to help them in their spiritual walks.
In my spare time (haha!) I’ve been helping to coordinate the fundraising auction that will take place next Friday. My friend, Claire, took Emma home with her on Tuesday afternoon, and I chased down donations for the auction. There comes a time and a place where I am just tired of asking, but this is the biggest fundraiser for our parent group for the school year. We use the funds from the auction to
help provide weekly hot lunch, field trips, technology needs, teacher appreciation week, and many other things. God has always blessed our efforts, and He has shown Himself strong and mighty every year. This year God provided a kindergarten mom who offered to ask many businesses for me. I just don’t have as much time, and God provided Kaitlin at just the right moment. She asked many businesses, followed up with them, and she has been a great blessing to me. The auction takes the working together of many, many people and businesses. I am thankful for each person who has worked to help this endeavor! And I am very, very thankful that we are coming down the home stretch on this!
I’m starting to dream (i.e. have nightmares) about the Christmas program, which is typical for this time of year. I feel a bit farther behind than I normally do, but I also don’t have the same amount of time as in years past. I’m thankful that Allison’s daughter, Emma, was able to load the music for the program into my ipad. Then I went to use the music on the sound system at church and nothing happened! I know it’s just one more detail that God is going to work out, but oh how my mind is full! Emma’s verse for this week is Isaiah 26:3, which is probably more fitting for me at the moment! “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in Thee.” It’s just a good reminder to keep praying, keep working, keep trusting, and keep on trying to encourage
the students to put forth their best effort. How do you encourage kids to find passion in the things that matter?! God is good, and I will trust Him.
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| These harps have been both a delight and a pain! If anyone knows how I can help them stay in tune longer, I’m open to suggestions! |
Roger’s car bit the dust for a few days this week, so that meant some very early morning for me. I’ve been driving him to work in the morning, (at 5:00am.) and then coming home to get ready for the day. It’s given us some time to visit together in the morning, but it sure has made me tired! Roger was able to fix his car, so hopefully it will run a little longer.
It was a busy and full week, but God provided moments of rest, fellowship and fun! God brought us safely through another week, and I’m thankful for family, memories, and challenges that all point me to Jesus.
Love,
Sarah
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