The Month in Review -- January

For being a slow month here, it sure went fast!  We have had company, special meetings at church with late nights, and all manner of schedule-interrupting activities. We are having a terrible time getting back into school, and we never really got out.  Every day I am asked if we can skip this or that, and it's never anything like computer time, lol.  It's usually geography or chores.  Or the entire school day.   Well, here's our summary:

We went grocery shopping.  Who didn't??  Our local store had this cute stand set up, and Elisabeth pretended to be a farm girl selling apples, so that Amy could take her picture. 

Dad got in on the hammy fun and did a Kroger's pizza commercial for us.  (No, we don't always dress up to do our grocery shopping. This was a Sunday night, after church, on our way home.)

Alison learned how to do some bicycle maintenance, from the best cycling teacher ever -- Monocogman.  Here she is changing her tire.  Goatheads love innertubes, and we have lots of flats here. Personally I think anyone who likes cycling in the desert is a little bit crazy.  Who wants to fix a flat every time they go on a ride?  Well, Monocogman does. That explains that.

We had fun at the park, of course.  The photographer is Amy.  She has been connected to her "new" camera ever since her birthday.  I can see I pasted all these photos in the wrong order.  See Amy's birthday, coming up.

Amy made sock monkeys, one for her, and one for a dear blogging friend.  These monkeys appear to be part squid, as I accidentally purchased knee-hi socks!  (How was I to know they are normally made from crew socks??) 

Mom, what's this thing?  A typewriter.  What's a typewriter??  Below, Elisabeth types a story on this fabulous antique.  Way more fun than the computer, you know.  Too funny!

This avocado had already begun to sprout when I cut it open.  The pit was split in half, and roots were growing through the flesh.  I love a head start on a seed!  (This happened here not too long ago with an apple.  Are our fruits being fed hormones or something??)  We definitely do not  have the climate for growing avocados, so this project will go into the round file whenever I get tired of seeing it in my kitchen window.  Some questions for homeschool scientists: Will the plant flourish if it is watered with filtered soft water?  And, will it survive on half the nutrition it normally gets from the pit?

The girls fed wild burros.  This one is apparently not very wild.

We started Kings Kids at our church. Alison and Amy, while too old to be in the club, are not to old to be helpers, so we keep them busy making snacks and listening to the younger girls recite their memory verses.  And no, we are not saying the pledge to Obama. 

And, we celebrated Amy's twelfth birthday!  Grammy and Grampy spent a few days with us for the occasion, and that is where the camera came from.  Dad decided his nice Canon Powershot S1 was too awkward and bullky, so he bought a new, smaller one and stored the Canon away on the top shelf of his closet for .... someday.  He decided Amy would probably like to have it, and he was right!  It has become attached to her.  She is the resident staff photographer, and most of these photos are courtesy of Amy.  Just so you know, the print Amy (Booklover) is holding was on her birthday wish list.  Breezy Tulip, at A Bowl of Moss and Pebbles, did this.  Breezy is such a talented young lady and quite an inspiration.   Amy is busy working on a fun Breezy-inspired project, to be featured here next month.

The girls served and honored their dad by washing his dirtmobile.  (That doesn't qualify as work -- it's way too much fun!)  Actually, they were doing this so that our visiting preacher could have a clean car to use while he was here.  It would have been embarrassing to let him use it in the condition it was in before this photo was taken.  As it turned out, he didn't want the car after all, but Daddy sure was happy to have it washed!

As for me, I played the part of the pastor's wife given to hospitality.  Yes, I know that is a qualification of the pastor, not his wife, but since we are one flesh, I figure that applies to me, too!  I'm working on it.  Over three days during our missions conference, I attempted to have all of our church members at the house for lunch.  We did sort of an organized pot-providence meal each day, so I had lots of help. Mind you, this sort of thing is not my forte, but it could be if I did it more often, right?  It was great fun!  I was exhausted when it was over, but thankful to the Lord for stretching me.

Later in the month  I spent a couple of hours whipping together some of these cute oven door kitchen towels for hostess gifts.  The big blessing was that I already had everything on hand to finish them, and I didn't have to spend a cent!  I will be giving these away in the month of February. I know you will be waiting with baited breath to find out where we went and who got them, but I can't tell you until next month's Month in Review!

This afternoon Alison had a fun "jam session" (can you call it a jam session when it's just classical?) with her old violin teacher.  We'd love to start up lessons again... but the girls need braces... and utilities are going up... and incomes are going down...  God will provide our needs.  (Maybe music lessons aren't a need.)   But the Lord does have a way of blessing us with more than we think possible.  It never works out on paper, but we always end up with more than we give him. We've "proved" him (Malachi 3:10), and he is always faithful that way.


Be sure to join us again next month for The Month in Review!

Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse,
that there may be meat in mine house,
and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts,
if I will not open you the windows of heaven,
and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
  And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes,
and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground;
neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field,
saith the LORD of hosts.
Malachi 3:10,11