anew

anew. -adverb. 1. over again. again. once more. to play the tune anew. 2. in a new form or manner. to write the story anew.

august. summers’ lease winding down. yet it is still so hot. everyone is getting to bed a little earlier. short lessons replace non-stop fun. a skeleton of a schedule is scribbled on notebook paper. stacks of index cards and colorful post-it notes grace the inside of a creamy white crate on the bookshelf next to my bed. promising that i’ll “get it right” this year.

this is the homeschool song.

it is the tune we’ve played for eleven years now.

a very big part of the story of us.

i won’t go into details about books or curriculum. it might overwhelm you.

heck. it overwhelms me!

and besides. this experience is unique to every family.

i don’t have all of the answers. every year is different. every child different.

and i don’t do this with the hope of being that family anymore.

you know that family. the one with the traveling band. wearing matching/color-coordinated outfits. bringing in millions of dollars of revenue every year. they read the bible six hours a day. cook fine french cuisine. the children speak eleven different languages and have already been accepted to harvard.

nope.

we are this family.

unique and precious in the eyes of God.

we struggle. and succeed. and struggle again.

it is the same story anew.

the story of the cross.

the story of the christian: family. homeschool. etc.

so that table didn’t get painted quite yet. and the books haven’t all arrived on time.

but the enthusiasm is fresh. the crayons are still sharp.

sort of.

and there is a new black kitty who loves: to be snuggled. eat broiled salmon. plain greek yogurt. and sleep in the bathroom sink.

so deep down i really don’t expect we’ll ever get it right.

but tone-deaf or not i keep on listening.

’cause i really love our song…..

around here

i know i’ve been kinda quiet. sometimes a retreat from blogosphere does me good because i actually accomplish the things on my “to do” lists. i say lists because i usually have 4 or 5 running lists. which is the reason i needed to back away from blogging and insert every area of my life into a NOTEBOOK. crafts. bills. household. school. etc. i have to admit that actually seeing my life in black and white-and even a little bit of color-scares me. but avoiding it any longer was scaring me even more. so i worked on lists friday nite. master housecleaning/chores lists. lesson lists for each child. and a daily/weekly household list. it will probably take me a while to iron out the kinks. things change with every move. we gain and lose pets. some people get older and can handle a more responsibilities. and so on and so forth.

this weekend we stayed close to home. i battled ants in my kitchen most of saturday. i hate ’em. i don’t like to say that about any of God’s creatures. but when such creatures enter the realm where i prepare and store OUR food i immediately begin to dislike them.

anyway, whilst perusing the blogosphere on saturday i noticed a trend in “bad days”. that darn devil is having a back-to-homeschool blast. shame on him. my prayers are really going to focus on the homeschooling mamas that give their lifes’ blood to do the right thing. i don’t know why it has to be so hard. correction. i do know why. because it is just the way of the cross. the path of the christian. the agony and the ecstasy.

i am finally reading the screwtape letters by c.s. lewis. GREAT READING it is. and i really could not have stumbled upon it at a better time. it was as if the hand of God dropped that book in my lap and said, “read”. so much has been revealed to me in those conversations between wormwood and screwtape about how the devil works. he is not really so clever. he just takes our own fears, vices, annoyances and weaknesses and uses them against us. he doesn’t really use his own material. so the less we pray and arm ourselves, the easier it is for us to fall. hmph!

i am also reading the mysterious stranger by mark twain. which is an awfully good read too. between these two books, the confessions and all of the things i am reading with the kids, i am really feeling like we are a literary family.

that saying is funny to me in an inside-family-joke sort of way because my great-aunt-God rest her non-catholic soul-used to tell my grandma, her sister, that she really wished she’d come from a literary family….

what does that mean i wonder? it sounds so silly because i would think any family that enjoys books and reading the way we do could be considered a literary family. 

what about stalking amazon. com to track my order? watching it leave the warehouse. palms sweaty. thinking to myself hat nevada isn’t thatfar away. the books will be here soon. phew! the first of the month never looked so good. even though they aren’t story books, just the THOUGHT of crisp. brand-new books makes my heart skip a beat.

speaking of heart beats i am really going to have to lay off of the caffeine. it is doing funny things to my body and i don’t like the way i felt today. i decided, after discussing it with my husband, that it is a drug. and i think i first knew that i was addicted when even the smell did something to my brain. it was like…”hello wonderful! where have youbeen all day?” i get so nervous and fidgety. scattered and flighty. and i am all those things anyway, so it’s back to green tea for me. so watch out for mrs. hyde…she might be back again sooner than later.

i guess i should get off this thing. i have to finish the rosary.dishes. read bedtime stories and plan some meals. oh, and ponder what happened to my black chicken….something fishy went on in the yard the other night. one chicken was dead on the porch and my black pearl is gone without a trace. i get so tired of this animal roller coaster that we seem to be on.

well, that’s it for around here. my word count is at 756 (just for you shelly!). that’s alot for a monday, eh?

ps. i spell-checked and i’d spelled warehouse wrong. guess what the first replacement word was? whorehouse……..what is this world coming to? 772. g’nite. or good morning. depending on when you read this! 791.