Keeping It Simple

Now is the time to prepare for our big trip. Now is the time to simplify other things so that we can enjoy the anticipation of traveling to meet our son. And so we can enjoy the time with our precious children before we leave them for nearly a week. We are keeping school really simple for the next couple of weeks. We are concentrating on our memory work, speeches, and paper writing for Classical Conversations. Also, I decided to take a break from Saxon math for a little while here because Peter was getting discouraged and needed more help than I can give him at this point. So for 2-3 weeks Peter and Kate are doing some fun, colorful math workbooks that I got awhile back at Sam's Club. I think this will help to build their confidence as they are pretty much reviewing things they already know. The other thing we're spending extra time on is our reading aloud. We finished The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe a few days ago and are several chapters into The Horse and His Boy. I just love our read aloud times as the children find a spot on the floor to draw while they listen. Usually Ella will take a break from her drawing to come cuddle with me. Then back to drawing she goes. Our scaling back on things will also allow the children to continue "doing school" even while I'm gone. Peter is staying with friends who also attend CC so he will be able to do that with them, as well as the math and other assignments I send along. And my mom will have a list of things to go over with Kate each day. Mainly I think the girls are going to enjoy lots of crafting with grandma, having their hair done in "princess braids," and reading stories. I'm so thankful that we have people in our lives that we can trust to lovingly care for our babies while we are away!

Happy to be on the ground again

This girl just wasn't made for flying. Which is funny to say because when I was very young I remember standing outside and thinking if I just waved my arms up and down fast enough I could lift off the ground and soar like a bird. And I used to have recurring dreams about flying. Now I'd rather have a root canal done than get on an airplane. Today's flight to Miami did not help that feeling at all. As we were gaining speed to prepare for take off, just when I thought we'd be going up, the pilot hit the brakes. hard. It was not pleasant. As my heart pounded and my sweaty hand just about squeezed the circulation out of Pete's hand I wondered what in the world was going on and could I please just forget about going to Miami and spend a few days in Chicago instead. After a few minutes the captain explained that a warning light had come on when we were at 100 knots. At 112 knots there's no aborting take off, but since we weren't going quite that fast yet he determined that the safest thing would be to head back to see what was wrong. The crew kept us informed as we sat and waited, but it was slightly unnerving. Atleast I accomplished something during the wait- I decided to once and for all admit that sock knitting is not for me- but that's a different post. The mechanics did their job running some kind of computer test on the plane, figured out what the problem was, and fixed it. Then we refueled and we headed for the runway again. That only took two hours (sarcasm here). They had said from the beginning that if this test didn't locate the problem or if it wasn't something they could fix quickly, we'd be getting on another plane. So by the time we were ready to really take off I fugured we were on one of the safest planes around. Well into the flight, I was feeling okay, just antsy to get here. Pete was looking out the window and I just kind of leaned over for a minute to look and what did I see but a PLANE cruising past us. WHAT!? Pete and I looked at eachother with huge eyes that were silently asking, "is it okay that we just saw a FED EX plane that close to us?? We'll never know. The rest of the trip I had to force myself to stop imagining a mid air collision with another plane. And I sang hymns in my mind and kept thinking about the fact that there is peace in the providence of God. Seriously, I jest about the stress I felt today and how flying makes me nervous and uneasy and I REALLY don't like it, but the one thing that keeps me grounded (hee hee) is the FACT that the events of EVERY second of my life have been orchestrated and planned by my FAITHFUL and LOVING God.
Well, today was practice. Flying to Africa is going to be really interesting!