It's been awhile since I was really able to put down how I've been doing. Summer was pretty busy with the road trip to Boise, some back and forth to moms, and planning/preparing for our first year homeschooling. Our final trip to the Spokane area was really pretty awful with the forest fires and the thick smoke that was outside. I love spending time with family but that was NOT ideal. Also with trying to line up a fall schedule of rotating therapists for everyone it was just. . .a lot of stuff to handle. There have been a few situations that came up the end of summer that caused extra stress. It's just been a hectic fall and now I am staring down the holiday freight train coming at full speed!!! Fall hasn't been all bad though, I saw a concert poster at the BBQ joint we were eating at and couldn't believe my eyes, it was for a Shawn McDonald concert at a local church. It was a fundraiser for a child sponsorship program. Of course I always want to grab another child at events like that but we already have two so I contented myself with buying lots of merchandise! lol. This concert was acoustic so it was a unique way to hear all of my Shawn favorites. They guy who opened was a little rough vocally but had some good lead guitar skills. I wondered if he was classically trained. Then the second guy is better known for his dance music and he has some really unique stuff. I didn't remember that I knew him until he introduced one of his songs and I realized it was a radio favorite of mine. His voice was mind-blowing in that setting. My friend Diana had come with me and we were in the front row of at SVA, which has some impressive high quality sound equipment. and we kept looking at each other like "is this for real? we paid fifteen bucks for this??" It just kept getting better. I seriously thought I was at a Sam Smith concert his voice was so sweet and strong. He had a crazy testimony too. You'll have to read his bio on his website. His name is Jonathan Tulien. When Shawn McDonald got on stage with a friend, who might I add, swapped between violin and bass/guitar; it got really intimate. Basically, he was exhausted. He kept apologizing for playing his slowest songs and he even forgot the lyrics of a new song, He shared about how he is on his own for the first time in like fifteen years with a major label and how it is at once freeing and terrifying, It was just such a real, honest time with him. Music speaks to my soul like nothing else and that evening was a stand-out for me. I'm so glad I have friends I can call up too since no one else in my family enjoys concerts. Ha!
Also exciting, I FINALLY got tickets for Trinity and I to see the Nutcracker in Dec. Can't wait. I've held off for years because of price and then I wondered if I had made a mistake because last year was the final year of the Seattle Ballet's Maurice Sendak version. Not that I am attracted to his stuff, I don't even really care for where the wild things are, but it was exclusive to our city and always had been for like twenty-five years. I was pleased then when I looked into it and the new version is supposed to be closer to the classical presentation and all the new sets are done by the artist of the Olivia (the pig) series. MUCH more up our alley, yay!
Homeschooling: wow such a learning curve. I have to tell you though, I'm loving first impressions. Is it easier with Blake at SES? Yes. Do I still hope to add him to the mix? Yes. Classical Conversations has been a good fit for us, I don't know if it will be what we do through high school and I'm trying not to panic several years in advance about that decision but it has given me the structure I needed and been a great jumping off point for Trinity. I love the Institute for Excellence in Writing stuff. On any given day it takes an hour to do foundations with both Isaac and Trinity and a good two hours to really dig into Trinity's english language arts. Of course that doesn't include choir, parkour, and free reading time. I like that there are all these moms every Tuesday that I can bounce things off of.
Here is a little breakdown of things I love and loathe about homeschooling:
-I love that our home is a place of learning. The kids don't come home and use it as an escape from learning but know that everything they desire to be and do begins RIGHT HERE.
-I love spending time with Trinity and Isaac. This does NOT mean I am hands-on with them every moment of the day, but the kinks they put in my daily routine are not a bad thing. It reminds me people first.
-There is TIME for a little extra love and play
-Having an eleven year old in the house is actually pretty helpful, even if you have to ask ten times and put up with the eye rolls.
-I thought I had to be good about time management BEFORE we started this but with six hours of therapy a week between my two homeschoolers and just a couple of extra-curriculars you can see why I'm scrambling to use every minute of the day wisely. I fail at this a LOT but I have lot's of grace for myself as well.
-I haven't seen near enough of my friends since this all started. I used to think I was excellent at maintaining friendships (wow, detecting some pride there) but having to silence my phone at appointments and for the most part decline calls while schooling it's amazing how a week can go by and I've only talked to like one friend. I am not enjoying that.
-my days are always very fragmented. It's a breath of fresh air (and nearly unheard of) when I have nowhere to go on a weekday.
I am working on a re-write of one of my songs. I haven't felt inspired to do it for a couple of years even though I knew I needed it. Feels great to have some creativity flowing. REALLY want to make it a priority. I have goals to spend more time in my worship preparations for Sundays and to learn a few of the technical aspects, like how our church keyboard works. I'm terribly disappointed with many things I said to myself that I would do and have not done but I suppose those failings can stay between me and the Lord. I'm so thankful that He loved me first. Anyway I was going so strong but all focus has suddenly died a swift swift death. Why does it always happen that way?
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