From the Desk

The last few days have been desk days for me. Things had piled up. The California trip scrapbook lay 90% finished. E-mail had piled up (again). Lists of what I needed to order for homeschool were in a heap. My pages of notes on Malachi lay untouched. My iPod lay, gathering dust, waiting for new sermons to be downloaded onto it. The desk just needed me. I wasn't really feeling like I needed the desk, but I finally just sat down and started.

One small pile remains. This is most excellent news.

The scrapbook of the California trip is done.

Non-California pictures are sorted and ready for scrapbooking.

The 10 pages of nearly-completed scrapbook pages from December are now complete and in a scrapbook. Somehow, I had almost completed 10 full scrapbook pages, then lost them and forgotten I ever did them. Who does that?

Most of the curriculum I need for homeschool is ordered.

The recipes I wanted to copy are copied.

E-mail is looking better. Not great, but better.

I have written up some more of my notes on Malachi, although it's not done.

I have entered a new world of lapbooks. Pure and simple, it's a homeschool thing. For $10, I was able to download a really amazing teaching tool known as a lapbook so that the boys and I could study presidential elections in-depth in the fall. There is quite a bit of prep work for me, but it will be a great tool. The lapbooks are not quite ready to go. I need some more desk time for that, but at least I've made a start.

Our basic homeschool calendar for next year is decided and printed. Plenty more planning and preparation is needed on my part, but it feels good to have started.

The iPod is still lying in one place, lacking any new sermons. I guess need some more desk time. Listening to sermons while I do housework or sit outside or exercise is a great way I've found to learn, be challenged, and just keep turning my eyes back to God throughout the week.

Aside from desk time, I thoroughly enjoyed a heavy rain we had here yesterday. Such an answer to prayer. So amazing to have humidity out of the single digits for awhile and to see our grass looking slightly less crunchy. We need lots more rain to deal with our drought and wildfires, but it was a good, drenching rain.

My family really made my night last night. I served homemade refried beans, homemade Spanish rice, and homemade cheese enchiladas. They told me they liked my dinner better than a Mexican restaurant. Cooking is not my favorite activity. I do A LOT of it, but it's still not my favorite. To have them so obviously happy with their dinner really made all the prep worthwhile last night.

Physical strength has not been on my side this week, but as always, in the shadow of weakness and uncertainty and fatigue, every time I reach out to grab onto my shepherd, I find he's already holding onto me.