daybook

february 15

outside my window...harkening back to last week's impromptu Czech lesson, "Jedna vlaštovka jaro nedělá " which loosely translated means that seeing one sparrow doesn't mean spring is here, our temperatures have dipped severly and blizzards have struck again. High winds and cold temps means that type of blizzard where the snow is like sand and doesn't stick, but instead pelts your face like mini-daggers. Right now it is cold and eerily calm. We will see what the day brings.

I'm listening to...heavily loaded logging trucks gallumping down the road through the forest by our house on their way to the wood yard across the bridge. They are loud and going much too fast for such grossly unmaneuverable vehicles.

   

I'm wearing...an A-line denim skirt and slouchy 80's inspired long-sleeved dark gray sweater and black knee high high-heeled boots. 

I'm pondering...  1 Corinthians 13:7-9

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

   Love never gives up.
   Love cares more for others than for self.
   Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.
   Love doesn't strut,
   Doesn't have a swelled head,
   Doesn't force itself on others,
   Isn't always "me first,"
   Doesn't fly off the handle,
   Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,
   Doesn't revel when others grovel,
   Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
   Puts up with anything,
   Trusts God always,
   Always looks for the best,
   Never looks back,
   But keeps going to the end

I am reading...(still reading) "'Salems Lot" by Stephen King. He is one of my favourite authors and this book is fabulous. It is not very often that I eagerly race home to read a book. So far it is intriguing and well written. And long. I loooove a good book that is long, so I can savour it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/'Salem's_Lot

from the kitchen...homemade doughnuts. I came home after work yesterday to find a note on the counter saying "I love you" only instead of the word  "love" there was a heart shaped doughnut. (why, oh why was my camera at work???)Dan makes awesome doughnuts with a little cinnamon in the batter making them a bit spicy. YUM. Some were sprinkled in powdered sugar, some in cinnamon sugar and some were glazed. The girls and I were stoked to see this outpouring of Valentine's Day 

love. He had also made dinner and it was in the fridge. 

 
I am creating...a post office in my classroom so the children can learn about writing and sending letters and how a post office works. The post office is a big hit. My kids love making the cards, addressing them, stamping them and then donning Postman gear and sorting them into the mailboxes. Yesterday we celebrated Valentine's Day by making special post boxes and making valentines for all of our classmates and dressing up like a postman to deliver them. Very cute...

towards rhythm and beauty...the girls and I have spent some time looking at our priorities and listing out the ones we would like to have, the ones our lives should reflect. Then we talked about what needs to change in our lives for these new priorities to take hold. Our prayer for the next couple of weeks is asking what God wants us to change or give up during Lent to draw us nearer to Him.

Our memory verse this week...

Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  Matthew 22:37-39

I am hoping...for wisdom in parenting.

  

I am praying...for the strength to change. Lent is coming, the time of Bright Sadness. A time to feel the heaviness of our human condition and long to be forever changed. 

around the house...no heat...we are cold (Danny has even been seen climbing under a blanket while sitting on the couch). The heater is broken...sigh...

one of my favourite things...laying in bed with freshly washed kids in robes reading the Chronicles of Narnia together. We are currently reading the last book. After this one we begin the Little House on the Prairie series.

a few plans for the rest of the week...celebrating the birthday of the girls' dear friend at a local pizza place,a field trip to Vienna with the school, Bible Study group (topic: the Beatitudes), my friend, Anna, coming over on Sunday.