Monday, July 12, 2010

Hey there! I'm alive! Hahahah

So is it really the middle of July already?  Wow!

Not too much news here, or rather nothing really pertinent.  We're winding down our school year...My son just finished his standardized testing for entrance into Seton Homeschool's first grade next year.  I'm very excited about this program, and pray that my son (and all my children) do well next year.

We found out in June we're having another baby girl:)  Yay!  My daughter, who will be 20 months old when this little blessing is born will have her first sister (to add to her three older brothers:)  Mike and I decided to name her Gabriella - and the jury's still out on a middle name.  So far we both like Sophia.  But she's an active pre-born, she's always moving!  And I definitely have started to feel hiccups...*sigh* I Love pregnancy!!!

We've done some camping this summer, and have had a great time.  This is the first year all the boys are old enough to be a little more independent (at least potty trained) which makes a big difference.  My older boys enjoy bike riding, so it makes camping that much more enjoyable too.  We'll be doing one more trip this month and are planning another one next month as well.  I'd like to take one in September too, but it all depends on how much energy I have left in my third trimester once school starts up again.

I've been doing some "light summer reading": The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, A History of Nazi Germany by William L. Shirer (Simon and Schuster, 1960).  I've always wanted more in-depth details on what led to the Second World War, the politics and philosophies behind it, and just how one man's quest for domination came to be; and this book covers it.  The author actually lived in Berlin, Germany through the first half of the war, so this is a primary source of information on German politics and life in Europe (he did extensive traveling throughout Western Europe upon the start of the war as a media correspondent.)  It's very well written, and I plan to use it to supplement my high school world history courses.  When I'm done with this book I move onto Immaculee Ilibagiza's Left to Tell and her recounting of the Rwandan Holocaust.

We took our home off the market.  There just weren't any substantial offers, and I don't want to be moving when I'm 12 months pregnant (LOL)...Been there...Done that...Got the baby and house to prove it!  Mike and I will continue to pay down on our home, and "tuck in" for one more winter.  We've got a few ideas in the pot right now, but we're going to let them cook a bit longer before bringing them out.  I know God has a plan for us, and I'm most at peace when I trust this fact.  It's just hard to wait, and I'm not a patient person.  But I'm also not a runner, and if I wanted to train, I couldn't just sit on the couch and think about it, I'd need to start jogging, right?  Lesson learned is oh so much easier than lesson lived ! 

Hope your mid-summer finds you well and enjoying the bounty of God's glory!  I'll write more soon, as there's been a lot of political turmoil I keep wanting to comment on, but then I get sidetracked (ah, the life of this "desperate to get stuff done housewife!":)

God Bless!