Daily Walk

I should be going for a daily walk. Sometimes I do not. It's a combination of mosquitoes and rain, lately, and also that I don't want to go outside some days. I need to keep up with my daily walks, for both mental and physical health. I'm really, really going to get on track with that!

I have five regular walks. 

The pond one is the longest and has the fun of watching birds, both in trees and water. There are ducks, geese, coots, and one day a great egret; there are also a vast number of red-winged blackbirds and many, many songbirds. It also has the most mosquitoes right now. 

The other long walk is along the path above the creek. It has a bench part way along to sit and think, and if I go long enough, I can go down to the part beside the creek. It's also very mosquito filled right now!

The third walk is up to the start of the creek path. It takes me across the creek (and if I want, there's a little "look-out" spot to sit for a bit), and I like to stop and watch the water on both sides as I come and go. 

The fourth walk is through my neighbourhood. I can make it a bit longer or shorter, depending on how I feel that day. It's a shorter walk in general (even the long version), and I take it when I want to stretch but don't want a long walk.

Finally, there is the "I really need to walk but it's probably going to rain soon" walk. It's pretty much across the road, then either down the alley or the side street; either one will easily lead back to my street. It gets me out of the house just enough to feel better and avoid the coming rain.

Today I took the third walk. It's sunny and warm, and it was a nice break from the rain. The creek is high, but lower than it was last week. I watched two ducks rush along until they reached a quite bit near the bank, just before the log and white water. They seemed to be getting up the nerve for the next bit, and then launched themselves into the rapids and shot out past the wild water. I'm pretty sure they were having fun!

Thoughts at Grad

Saturday was Church Grad. It used to be Homeschool Grad because we've always had several homeschool families (more than several now), but for some years now it's been open to every grad, regardless of how they were educated.

There's always a mix of children I know well and children I hardly know. The later are usually families who started when one or more of their children were junior high or older, so I maybe know the younger children but did not spend much time with the older ones. Last year was different; almost the entire group had been in my history class one year. This year, of the 13 grads, I had only taught three of them.

One in particular I had taught for 3 years and tutored on and off for more. I had also been involved with his family when he was in the younger classes and needed more help with focus and behaviour. He's much less trouble now!

I was thinking, as I watched my boy (and the others) get their diplomas, as I listened to their parents talk about them, and we all got a bit teary at points: I have so little time with them. I know that their parents feel the same, but I have even less time. I get them for a year or two in Sunday School (the three years was an anomaly and back when there were fewer students and I could keep some for an extra year); I maybe see them in the homeschool room; I talk with them on Sundays; I may have their families over. Taken altogether, it's a very short amount of time. If I add up the hours, it results in days, maybe weeks in total. 

The questions I was asking myself: What am I doing with that time? Am I doing all I can to help prepare them for adulthood? More importantly, am I doing my best to point them towards Christ?

It merged with my plans for Sunday School going forward. I've always tried to find the best materials, good teachers, everything to make Sunday School enjoyable, yes, but more importantly, to point them towards Christ. Many of my plans and desires for this take time that I don't always have, but that I need to keep finding and using well. 

And absolutely, the biggest responsibility is with the parents. It's their job to teach them, raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord, daily point them to the cross and the biggest, most important truths. Still, while my responsibility is much smaller, it's still there. God has given me a place to serve the church family and the church families and the parents have entrusted their children to me. 

This coming year will (I pray) be a planning year, a time to make sure Sunday School is all that it should be. We have so little time with them; my pray is that we will use it wisely and well.

July Plan

Summer is definitely upon us. We have had so much rain, with more to come. On the other hand, the sunny days are getting hotter. My garden is growing nicely. The little pot of perennials from last summer has flowers just starting to bud, the tomatoes and growing well, I've already harvested some green onions, and the other flowers are bright and cheerful.

I don't have a lot of work in the summer. The happy life of a homeschool facilitator means that I'm pretty much off until mid-August or thereabouts (whenever parents start filling out program plans). I just need to check email once in a while just in case. I do a bit of tutoring once a week, and I'm doing some tech work for a friend, but that doesn't take much of my time.

My plan for July is to read, read, and read more. Specifically, I plan to read children/young adult books. I get piles of recommendations from families, and I like to read the books before passing the recommendations on. It's not that I don't trust my families, only that different families have different rules for what they want their children to read. 

Which means I get to do a lot of light, easy reading next month! I've already started, and now I'm just waiting to get more books from the library. I'll also mix in some deeper reading; I have some biographies, theology, and history in my summer pile as well. 

The main goal for July, though, is rest. Reading lighter, simpler books has a double benefit: I can recommend things to families and I get to rest. It's a win-win!

In Which I Try A New Genre

I have a high school student who is a Very Reluctant reader. Tutoring him is a challenge, as not only does he not want to read the books for his course, his dad agrees that he doesn't have to read all the books. We ran into trouble when the assignment was directly from To Kill a Mockingbird and he had not (and did not want to) read it.

He had to read something. We couldn't do all the assignments from Tom Sawyer (which I'm pretty sure he read at least most of).

He finally agreed to read Leviathan by Scott Westfeld. It's a steampunk novel, and WWI alternate history, and his parents had given it to him for Christmas, and he had immediately tossed it on a shelf and ignored it until recently. And, lo and behold, he enjoyed it. I mean, really enjoyed it. Enough that his parents got him the sequels and he's reading them.

One of his favourite things is that the book describes how things work. One side has been building mechanical beasts and means of travel, and the other has been playing with biology and coming up with their own contraptions and animals. The book talks a lot about how they work, more than just "it flies because it does". My student is mechanically inclined and that appealed to him.

So.... I read the book. It was not a bad story. The characters are interesting, the story moves fairly quickly, and it wasn't too predictable. The steampunk bits were just like any fantasy book, so not that strange for anyone who has read a lot of fantasy (raises hand). I probably won't read the sequels, but that's nothing about the story and more about being the wrong age with the wrong interests. I like my historical fiction a bit more realistic.

I'd definitely recommend it for teen boys who like reading about adventure, war, close escapes, and mechanics and the like. 

On Slowing Down a Bit

Yesterday I had my Sunday School boys over. There were 5 boys and the young man who helps in my class. It was noisy (boys are loud), chaotic, and fun. They devoured pizza, chips, and junk food. They played with Lego and a remote controlled truck. We had planned to go to the park, but there was a storm moving in, so we decided against that. We discussed which of the Torchlighter videos to watch later that evening, but put it aside until a bit later. I prefer movies as a "wind down" time.

Much to my joy, the storm blew over with little rain and the sky started to clear up. They boys were playing happily. Some of them were building a castle and dungeon out of Lego and the rest were playing a board game. I was hesitant to disrupt the peace, but I also didn't know how long it would last, so I finally gave them the option: stay, or head out to the park. The boys voted 4-1 to go to the park, so we headed out. The park is a short walk away; the boys alternated between running ahead and having pinecone fights.

At the park, they grabbed the basketball and all the males headed over to the court. I stayed at a picnic table (happily sheltered so not wet from the rain), taking care of the other sports equipment they had brought, along with water bottles, jackets, and whatever else got tossed my way.

And for half an hour, I just sat. I watched the boys play, I watched the children on the playground, I listened to the sounds of the park. I just sat and enjoyed life. Officially, I was taking care of the boys and keeping an eye on the stuff. Really, I was just enjoying getting to stop and rest.

I'm trying to do that this summer: Slow down, stop working, stop thinking about all the things, enjoy the moment, let the peace settle over me. I've been walking down to the creek to stand and watch the water. I've been sitting in front of the balcony window and watching the rain pound down and the wind whip the trees. I've been standing by the pond, watching the waterfowl and listening to the birds in the trees. I've been getting coffee and sitting outside in open areas and reading or people watching. I've been letting my mind slow down and I've been relaxing.

There are so projects that I could focus on, but I've been remembering that it's okay to slow down, to stop for a while, to just let things go. Summer is my quiet time, and I'm allowed to enjoy the peace and not think about all the things I could do. There is a time to stop and watch the rain, listen to the birds, enjoy coffee, and then be ready for the next task.

This summer is about slowing down.

The Last Sunday

Yesterday was the last Sunday School for the year. It was a wild year; we had some illnesses go through in February, making things more complicated. Then a wee, sweet, very early baby came in March, leaving us short two teachers as his parents were more focused on him than on the students (go figure!). But we all survived, 33 weeks of teaching, and now we get a break!

This year I taught my kids theology, focusing on Bibliology and Theology Proper, with some Christology and Pneumatology thrown in. We covered everything I could fit into the time we had and looked up piles of Scripture references. We also had 2 missionary weeks, taught by my helpers.

The kids did a good job on their memory work this year. They got a prize for every 10 verses, for a potential total of 3 prizes. Most of my class received at least one prize, and 9/15 received all 3 (and to be fair, 2 of them stopped attending part way through the year, so really it's 9/13). I was very pleased with them.

The last week is always more relaxed. Some teachers do a short lesson, most of us do review or trivia, and everyone has snacks. 

My class of 11 and 12 year olds had some excellent cupcakes and some acceptable juice boxes. There was a rousing game of Bible trivia, followed by ocean trivia because we had time and it was the first box I grabbed. The Bible trivia winners had first choice of a pile of treats; for ocean trivia, answering a question correctly and first meant I threw a candy at you. I did eventually make most of the class stop answering so the quieter students had a chance for prizes! We ended with me throwing the remaining candy at them and the wild scramble. According to one student, that was his favourite part, completely overshadowing the 32 hours and 45 minutes of Sunday School leading up to it!

And now it's summer, and we all get a break. I'm resting for three weeks, and then I'll start to think about next year.

I Might Be Old...

Yesterday the Sunday School girls were over for an end-of-year party. There were crafts to make, pizza and junk food to eat, movies to watch, and things to discuss.

At one point we were talking about books we've read recently. I told them that I'd just finished a autobiography, but they probably wouldn't know the person. It was about Alex Trebek. They didn't know who he was, no problem, but it turns out that they'd never heard of Jeopardy!

They knew the theme song, given that I sing it to them frequently during quizzes and trivia time; in fact, they said that everyone knows that. They had just never heard of the show.

When I was younger, I'm pretty sure everyone had at least hear of Jeopardy! I showed them a short clip of final Jeopardy (teen tournament), but they did not recognize it.

One day I'm going to make them watch a full episode, but an older one with Alex Trebek.

Cooking in Summer

Summer is rapidly approaching, unless that week of very hot was it; in that case, fall is rapidly approaching! I think, though, that we'll get more summer soon enough.

I don't like cooking much in summer because my apartment gets hot quickly and cools off slowly, and turning the oven on is not helpful. I have the stovetop, microwave, toaster oven, and air fryer to help (the air fryer is new; it was a Christmas present). Still, I prefer not cooking much.

The normal plan is to have things cooked and ready to be heated up or added to salads or something simple like that. 

The challenge right now is that the freezer is full. Some of it is for the kids (frozen juice boxes and treats for Sunday School and parties; as a side note, the fridge has a case of pop for the kids as well). Some of it is about 20 cups of rhubarb, several small bags of partly cooked potatoes (to be spiced and thrown in the air fryer), and some of it is just stuff: bread, meat, large bags of frozen fruit, general stuff that can be found in the freezer. Also, I don't have a deep freeze in my apartment, just the fridge freezer.

So cooking ahead, beyond what is already done and in the freezer, is out for now. 

On the other hand, it's still cool enough to cook regularly. Today I made a stir fry for this week's lunches. It was beautiful: yellow bell peppers, orange carrots, red onion, green celery and tomatillos, and white mushrooms and chicken. I've been trying to eat vegetables regularly and I love the variety of taste and colour. Pretty food makes eating even more enjoyable.

For summer....well, we'll see. I tend to rely on salads, anything that can be cooked in the toaster over or air fryer (the benefit of living alone is that I only need to cook one serving at a time), and maybe more stir frys. Basically, easy and not too much extra heat in the apartment. 

Another Young Teacher

Another one of my former students has joined the ranks of Sunday School teachers. Officially, he's a helper as he was unsure about teaching this year. I spent the summer trying to recruit him (while the music leader was also trying to recruit him); I was sure, from teaching him, that he had the makings of a good teacher. He learns well, thinks well, and communicates well.

For most of the year, he's been taking care of the attendance chart, keeping score during quizzes, helping children find Scripture passages, and once or twice getting things started when I was called away to deal with various Sunday School issues.

In April, I brought up the final missionary lesson of the year. I gave him and the other helper the option of teaching it if they wanted to; otherwise, I would make it a homework lesson. My young helper said that he wanted to teach, and I was very pleased.

He taught this past Sunday and did an excellent job. He was clear, engaging, and linked ideas from the life of Adoniram Judson to what we've been studying. With more practice, he's going to be an excellent teacher.

That gives me 4 young men and 2 young ladies who were in my Sunday School class once upon a time and who are now involved in teaching Sunday School. I'm quite pleased that the next generation is stepping up. 

May

There were so many things I wanted to do in May, and instead I was tired and didn't accomplish as much. I did finish work reports and my professional growth plan and emails and all things work related, so that's nice.

The best part of May was one lovely Saturday when one of my former Sunday School students got married! It was a wonderful wedding and the bride was radiant. 

We finished women's ministry near the end of May. We're looking at doing renovations at the church, so there won't be regular Wednesday ministry next year (the renos are to the classroom area to add more room for students, but that means no childcare for the first part at least). It works nicely so we can all get a break. The leaders are planning some events -- maybe our regular fall/Christmas/spring teas. They will also be encouraging other people to do some practical sessions in baking, gardening, whatever they like. It will an interesting year.

The very end of the month was more painful. One of the men at the church, one who has been there for at least 15 years, passed away yesterday. He has had health issues for as long as I've known him, but things pretty much came to a head this spring. I'm happy for him; he's free from pain and illness, and he's with the Lord. I'm sad for the rest of us, and especially his wife and son.

So it was a mix of a month. 

Summer Already?

Spring seemed to take forever to get here. April was nice, then snowy, then nice, then snowy... Winter just kept coming back. Spring finally came at the end of April, but it still felt like forever before the leaves were out and the grass was green.

Now here we are, the end of May, and it's suddenly summer. The weather report keeps promising thunder storms this week, but none have made an appearance. Instead, it just keeps getting hotter and hotter. It feels more like July than May.

I don't enjoy +30 any more than I enjoy -30!

On the other hand, the trees are in leaf and the one by my building is in full bloom of beautiful pink flowers. My plants are growing. The birds are singing loudly. It seemed like almost overnight everything started to grow.

It won't be "summer" hot for long; the heat is set to drop a lot next week. Maybe the rain will finally come. I'll enjoy that.

Spring Fever

Spring fever has struck Sunday School!

The little ones have been excessively chatty. One wee girl who hadn't said a word to her teacher all year has suddenly found her voice and become rather voracious.

Many of them have become more forgetful and can't remember the lesson by the end of the hour. This is probably in part because of the constant interruptions from children who have something very important (and irrelevant) to say.

One young student took up whistling during the lesson. 

Even the older kids are affected. They seem to be forgetting how to think. We read a verse, ask them about the verse, and they have either forgotten what they just read or heard, give an answer that has nothing to do with the verse, or just read random words from the verse.

We spent the entire hour talking about glorifying God, and they took turns reading a verse (or a couple verses) followed by the question "How do we glorify God in this verse?" Many students answered some version of "worship Him" regardless of what the verse said and had to be prompted to look at the verse.

The 12th student read 1 Peter 4:10-11: "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 11 Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God; whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

When asked how we glorify God in this passage, she did not say "worship Him". No, she tried "the manifold grace".

Three more weeks until we break for the summer. We can do this!

Garden Time!

It is spring, and getting warmer, and time to garden!

My garden is a row of planters on my balcony. It's smaller this year, although that may change if I get more soil for the other boxes (and the plants for them as well). 

I have a small pot of perennials. I grew them last year and left that lot to see if they would return this year. There are several seedlings that are growing well, so that answers that question.

Next is a box of Cosmos plants, grown from seed. They sprouted quickly and are growing well; I've already thinned them once. They likely won't bloom until August.

I have a long planter that I sowed with Pink Queen Spider Flowers that I got at a bridal shower last summer. They took longer than normal to sprout and I was about to give up and buy some plants when some seedlings appeared. Only I'm not sure if these are the seeds I planted (they're not all in the nice row I tried to plant) or some of the perennials from last summer. I mixed some of the old soil with the new, so you never know. Time will tell what's growing there.

The end of the row has a round bowl of tomato plants. They are also coming along nicely and just getting their second leaves. I'll have to thin them when they get a bit bigger.

Today I was shopping and purchased a small pot of purple Balloon flowers. They're pretty and already blooming. I like having some colour while I wait for the others to grow! Also, they're perennials, so they should keep coming back.

I quite like my little garden.

An Update

 Hello world (or as much of it as reads this)....

Why yes, I am still around and writing sometimes! I've just come out of my Very Busy time and spent some time catching up on things that were neglected over the past couple months. And it's finally time to get back to blogging again!

March was mostly meetings, meetings, and more meetings. Such is the life of a homeschool facilitator in the spring. I also started more work for a friend. She does websites and marketing stuff, and I'm learning to run reports for her. It's new and interesting work. It's also fun to tell people that I do tech work now, because no one sees me as a computer person!

The only other event was a baby shower for a wee bit of adorableness who appeared at the beginning on February. She's a sweet, lovely little thing, and growing rapidly. 

March also brought the very early arrival of another sweet baby. He's spent his life in the hospital, but is getting stronger and better and we're all pleased with how he's doing.

April was mostly meetings, meetings, and more meetings! And then, on May 1st, the meetings ended. April was also spring - then winter - then spring - then winter.... But now it's nice out, definitely spring, starting to be summer. 

There were two events in April: baptisms at the church, and a bridal shower for one of my former Sunday School students. I think I'm getting old; the children are all getting married!

Oh -- and one of my former students published a book in April! Miss A. Frose, When All Isn't Right in the World: Letters from Golden West Farm. While it is technically fiction, the stories are based on the real-life adventures of her family. You should go read it.

That's pretty much it. May is moving along rapidly. Every week I tell myself that I'm ready to get back on summer schedule, but there's always something that comes up. It's good though, and I'm starting to feel rested and ready to deal with all the summer stuff (starting in June).

Books

I did not intend to disappear for almost a month! Facilitator meeting months are extra busy and I've been working and tired. Three more weeks and things will settle down again.

For now, two books for the younger generation (preteen age, maybe a bit younger even) that I've been introduced to recently:

Beyond Mulberry Glen by Millie Florence

This was on a list somewhere! It's a lovely story, well-written and engaging. 

From the back: "Eleven-year-old Lydia Green doesn't want anything to change. She lives happily in Mulberry Glen with her mismatched family of a fairy guardian, a philosopher, and twin troublemakers known as the Zs."

Of course, something happens to cause Lydia to leave home and head off on an adventure to rescue the Zs and save her part of the world. The characters are real, the story flows, the danger is growing, and the ending is satisfactory.

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

One of my homeschool students told me about this one; he loved it, so I thought I'd give it a try. It's a fun story about 12-year-old Kyle Keeley and a group of friends and/or classmates who are chosen for a lock-in at the new library. The next morning, they learn the the library is also an escape room and they're welcome to stay and try to find their way out.

Some of the characters seemed a bit one-dimensional, but most of them showed some growth through the adventure (others did not, but really, how much growth can you reasonable expect from someone over a 12 hour period?). The children face challenges that could only be solved in the library stacks and, eventually, by working together. It was fun, and full of little bits of book-related trivia.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the story, enough that I'm planning to try the sequel as well!

Spring Meetings

It isn't quite spring yet, but I have completed one fourth of my "spring" meetings as a facilitator. I know that many homeschool boards do their second meetings a bit later in the year, but my board has us do them in March and April (and those of us with many families inevitably go into May for various reasons: sick kids, vacations, injuries, etc.).

So far the meetings are going well and only two families have had to rebook because of ill children.

Highlights:

Small siblings who want to be involved and show me their books or how they are learning letters and sounds.

Children's writing assignments, full of humor, suspense, and fun. These include book narrations, stories, essays, plays, and graphic novels.

Children who are so pleased with how far they've come in math or reading.

Sharing favourite books with children and finding that we like some of the same stories.

Getting more book recommendations from children.

Being able to encourage parents who are doing a great job teaching their children.

Long bus rides that are perfect for reading!

I am very thankful for my job. I really enjoy it, I get to hang out with children and hear what is exciting them, and I get to help parents as they teach their children. I also like the flexible schedule so I have time for other work and to serve the church family. I am so very blessed.

The Correspondent

Once again I return to the list of "I have no idea who recommended this book" to talk about The Correspondent by Virginia Evans.

Seriously: I have so many recommendations from so many people and websites that I'm not sure where I heard about this one or how it made it on my list. It obviously looked interesting enough and it's very popular; I waited a long time for it to come in at the library and there are currently 712 holds on it (I'm returning it this afternoon so the next person can read it).

I really enjoyed the story. It's told in letter form (with some emails) over about 10 years. The main character, Sybil, is in her early 70s when the novel opens. She has written letters all her life and is not willing to give up and make the switch to email completely. Most of the letters are ones she writes, although some are written to her.

As the story unfolds, we learn more about Sybil's life, her past, and her family. We see her interact with other people: old friends, her brother and children, her friend's young son, a customer service rep whom she manages to befriend, and other characters. We start to get a picture of what type of person Sybil is and what influences in the past have shaped her present.

As a bonus, Sybil is a reader and often writes about books, either writing to the authors or sharing "what I'm reading now" with a friend.

The story is not action and adventure, but character and life. It held my attention and I read it quickly, over a couple days of riding the bus (my best reading time right now). I'm very glad that I picked it up and happily recommend it to others.

Reading to the Kids

Today is Wednesday, and Wednesday mornings are for taking care of the homeschool kids while their moms are in the Bible study, and one of the best parts is reading to the little guys (5-6 years old).

Today was a very good day because, after a month of various illnesses, most of my littlest lambs were back. Also, we read 4 books, so they were very happy.

Our books for today:

Ol' Mama Squirrel by David Ezra Stein

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Diane Goode

ish by Peter H. Reynolds

My Daddy is a Cowboy by Stephanie Seales, illustrated by C.G. Esperanza

The children were full of energy, questions, and comments this morning. There were a lot of requests to see something in the picture, to know who the person was, to know why someone did something, to know what was going to happen.... I finally asked, "Do you know how books work? I read, you listen, and then you'll find out!" But I wasn't actually feeling impatient with them; I was more amused at their chatter.

There were also judgements of the characters ("He's not being nice to his sister"), misunderstandings ("Why did he throw out her pictures?" "He didn't; he threw out his own pictures and she rescued them"), and random thoughts ("I'm going swimming today!").

The best was when we got to the last book, My Daddy is a Cowboy. They had so many questions and comments about the people and the horses and the people who weren't even in the story and the cake in the shop window. Every page elicited more questions and comments.

Then we got to the line where the little girl talks about her daddy telling her stories about his childhood and says, "I listen closely and only interrupt five times to ask questions." 

And my sweet lambs thought that five times was a lot and that she shouldn't interrupt. I just laughed at them and kept going.

Wednesday morning story time is one of my favourite times.

Stories About Coffee

Story 1

Many years ago, I was visiting friends in Niagara Falls one New Year's. My friend's husband was a very important person in organizing the Niagara Falls New Year's festivities, and since one of the sponsors was Tim Hortons, he had a pile of coupons and we drank a lot of coffee. The thing is, until then I hadn't really ordered coffee anywhere that I didn't put in the cream and sugar myself, so I really didn't know exactly what to order. I did know that "double-double from Tim Hortons" was properly Canadian, so that's what I got. I liked it and I've ordered my coffee like that ever since.

I have no idea if I'd like my coffee any differently; someday, I should try a single-single or something. Or a double-single, but I don't know if the cream or sugar comes first.

Story 2

At my previous job, I used to walk part way to work. I was about twenty minutes or so and cut a pile off my bus time (it would be a more circular route otherwise), so if the days were nice enough, I chose to walk. The walk conveniently took me past a Tim Hortons, so I would usually stop in for coffee -- often enough that they knew my order, although the changing seasons would switch it from hot to cold coffee, or vice versa. 

Anyway, one winter day I had my coffee and was walking the rest of the way to work when I hit an  icy patch and down I went. I landed on one knee and one hand, but I held the coffee up with my other hand and didn't spill a drop.

My knee hurt and my hand stung and I was a little wet, but I saved the coffee.

February

January dragged past, and then February flew by! February is not my favourite month; it's cold and grey and I'm tired of winter (even more tired now that it's March and cold and grey). 

February was fairly quiet. There was a Very Important Baby born in the wee hours of February 1st. She is the first grandchild for some very close friends of mine, and she is all sorts of adorable.

I had a couple families over for dinner in February. I've been getting closer to each family and this was a good way to get to know them better -- especially the dads, since I'm usually with the moms and children. 

I spent a very happy afternoon with a family from the church. I don't know them as well, except the older children (there are 5 children and I had only spent time with the oldest three). They had been sick for a while and had a major vacation planned, and things were getting a bit overwhelming for mom. I went to help with whatever and ended up taking care of the children so mom could get some work done. I loved being with the children! The older ones raced Lego cars down the basement stairs to see which ones broke most spectacularly while the two littles and I cheered them one, then we had story time, we built puzzles together, and we made all sorts of Lego creations. We all had a lovely time!

My major accomplishment for the month: I finished the first draft of the first year of the Sunday School curriculum I'm writing! The next draft can't be finished until I finish teaching it in June; then I can finish the corrections and adjustments so it's ready for another teacher next year. Over the summer, I will start on year 2 and teach it next year.

That's about it for February. At the end of the month, I started booking homeschool facilitator meetings for March; things are going to be much busier for the next while.

The Woman All Spies Fear: a book review

My local branch library has moved across the road. The space is larger and brighter and nicer, and I think there are more books. Especially when it's very cold, I tend to hang out and browse the shelves for a few minutes before leaving in time to catch the bus and not have to wait outside.

In my perusal of the 900s, I came across The Woman All Spies Fear by Amy Butler Greenfield. She tells the story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, a code breaker who worked for various U.S. government and military branches during, between, and after both World Wars. I had read a children's picture book about her and was interested in getting to know her more. (Just as an aside, her parents spelled her name with the extra "e" where and "a" would usually be.)

The book was excellent and I enjoyed it very much! I didn't realize that it's officially a young adult book, and I don't really care who it was written for; I just care that the story is good. I enjoyed reading about Elizebeth's life and work, and that of her husband, William (also a code breaker). Elizebeth cracked codes during both World Wars, including being part of cracking the Enigma code in the U.S. She also helped decode messages from rum runners during Prohibition, smugglers, and spies. She also helped various people and institutions develop codes; as a master cryptologist, she knew how to make sure codes were virtually unbreakable.

Interspersed in the book are short sections (2-3 pages each) teaching about various types of codes and ciphers. I found those bits equally interesting and had fun thinking about types of codes I could create, despite having no real need for codes!

Overall, it was a very good, very well-written book. It discussed Elizabeth's challenges as a cryptologist, some of which were because she was a female in the early 20th Century doing "men's work", but also of her triumphs and joys. It also told of her family: her husband, William, and his own work and mental challenges, and their two children, Barbara and John. 

I would recommend it for anyone interested in that particular period of history or codes and codebreaking.  

Sunday School

The Sunday School curriculum I'm writing does 5 lessons, then a review, in the hopes that they'll remember something. Each review focuses primarily on what they've learned in the past 5 lessons, along with some general questions, and then some sword drills also focused the past few weeks. For everything after the first review week, I also include some "if you have time" questions at the end from previous review weeks.

We have fun on review weeks. The whole thing is set up as a quiz with different teams trying to win the great prize of having won (the competition and glory of winning are enough for them). Some of the questions have one answer, some have multiple answers and more than one team can get points, and some of them are done as hangman or fill-in-the-blank.

Yesterday was a review day in Sunday School. We had a lot of fun and there was a lot of laughter, especially when they were trying to name everything that proved Jesus was human in their attempt to get the ones on my list ("He had birthdays parties and presents and went to the bathroom!") They remembered most of what we learned over the past five weeks and some of what they learned before then.

At the end, I was going to tell them what the next week's lesson would be and realized that I had no idea! I've been trying to finish the full year's curriculum before I get busy again next week (barring interruptions, it should be done within 2 day). I could tell them what we're doing in May, since that's what I was working on last week, but that was it!

After a bit of thought, I told them I was pretty sure we were starting name of God. I checked when I got home and I was correct! 

Barley Bowls

In my on-going search for inexpensive, healthy, tasty meals, I stumbled upon barley bowls. There are piles of recipes online for pretty much any taste. I sometimes us a "proper" recipe for breakfast and lunch barley bowls, including a grilled chicken barley bowl, a barley salad with lemon dressing, or an apple-walnut barley breakfast bowl. I haven't tried the carrot cake one just yet, nor have I tried "overnight barley" (just like overnight oats, another favourite of mine).

Often, though, I just make "whatever-I-have-on-hand" barley bowls. It's pretty much a mix of barley, vegetables, some form of protein, and a dressing. I make enough to last 3-4 days and can either warm it up or eat it cold.

Today's barley bowl recipe:

1. Cook 1 cup of barley in 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, turn it down and simmer until you can't hear it bubbling. It's about 30-45 minutes, depending on the type of barley.

2. While it cooks, peel and chop the cucumber that's been in the fridge for a couple weeks (the peeling part is only because the peel looks less lovely, but the inside is fine). Also chop up 3 green onions and a red pepper.

3. Earlier in the day, take 3/4 cup of corn and 3/4 cup blueberries out of the freezer so they have time to thaw.

4. Find the leftover already cooked pork stir fry meat and chop it up a bit.

5. Yay, the avocado is ripe! Chop that up too.

6. When the barley is cooked, add everything you've been chopping and thawing, and let it sit for a little while so everything warms up and the flavours merge nicely. 

7. Add some maple Dijon dressing (Dijon, maple syrup, lemon juice, seasonings, apple cider vinegar), and mix well.

8. Remove from heat, put some in a bowl, and enjoy!

Bonus: There is enough for at least 2 and maybe 3 more days. I may heat it or eat it cold; it really depends on my mood each day.

Also: I didn't thing time, but hard boiled eggs are also good in a barley bowl.

Esther and Bad Jokes

I get together with a group of friends every couple weeks for a Bible study. This year we're going through Esther with Lydia Brownback's study guide (it's a very good guide; I definitely recommend it). 

I love Esther. It's so full of God's plans and how He's working all the bits together for good, even if Esther and the others couldn't see it until the end. It's one of my favourite books of the Bible, and I plan to use it to teach the children about God's sovereignty and providence later this year.

But: We were on chapter three on Sunday, the part where Haman gets all upset because Mordecai wouldn't bow down to him, and responds by plotting to kill not only Mordecai but also all the Mordecai's people (the entire Jewish nation). 

And the whole time, all I could think was, "That's a bit of overkill."

Sunday School

I've been working on a curriculum for Sunday School on theology/doctrine. This is the first year, so our focus was first on bibliology, to lay down the basics of where we get our authority, then theology proper. Over the past few weeks, we've talked about the existence of God, the Trinity, and the hypostatic union. Next week is about the Holy Spirit: He is God, and He is not an impersonal force.

I'm enjoying writing the lessons and digging deeper into doctrine and Scripture. I have three main resources: Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue; Reformed Systematic Theology by Joel Beeke, and Basic Christian Doctrines by Curt Daniel. I also have piles of old lessons that I've developed over the years that sometimes overlap with what I'm writing.

It's a pile of work, but a lot of fun, both writing lessons and teaching the kids. This week I asked them how we would prove that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and they answered, "By looking up a lot of verses in the Bible!" That pretty sums up what we're doing!

The goal is to have a 4-year program, taking the children through as much Biblical doctrine as we can teach in 4 years. There is so much I have to leave out, partly because of time limits, and partly because they're children and not quite ready for everything I could throw at them.

My main concern is that I'll enable a generation of Pharisees who have knowledge without faith, or zeal without knowledge. I don't want to raise a group of children who know all the right answers and can argue theology, but who don't know God Himself. 

My biggest goal is to teach them to know God and to desire to know Him more. It's a lot, but it is my prayer for them. 

Crafts with the Kids

Yesterday was fellowship week at women's ministry and therefore fellowship week in the homeschool room, and that means games and crafts. Last month was crazy in the craft room with way, way, WAY too many children, so this month I changed some things. All of my craft kids were from the two middle rooms, so they were all 6-9 years old. The littles had their play time and the oldest two groups were games groups. That way I only had 14 craft kids and it was manageable.

We made rockets and shooting start. They were coloured and cut out, pasted to construction paper to make them sturdier, and then cut out again. Then we attached a bit of a larger straw (covered a the top with a bit of paper) to the back, gave them a bendy straw that fit into the larger straw, and all they had to do was blow through the bendy straw to launch the rocket or shooting star! They were a mostly simple and remarkably popular craft.

We also tried making rockets out of toilet paper rolls, but those were more challenging. I had to teach them how to make a cone out of a circle of paper, then triangles for fins. And then we had to attach them to the decorated toilet paper rolls, and they could not grasp "leave it alone for the glue to set" and were upset because things didn't just stay in place! Also, we ran out before we could add the tissue paper streamers to the bottom. Oh, well; they had fun decorating them and had the first craft to take home.

It was a pretty good craft time. I not only kept the numbers down, but I also managed to find something that they could all manage (okay, one youngster wanted me to do the cutting for her, but I refused because I knew she could do it).

Added to that, the young man who was helping was very helpful!

January

January was a month of cold and snow, followed by a January thaw, resulting in slushy and then icy sidewalks, followed by cold again. 

January meant life starting up again after the Christmas break. Sunday School started again, and then women's ministry and my homeschool kids. There was a birthday party for a dear friend and a baby shower for a young lady. I was invited to visit a Bible study for their monthly fellowship dinner and to share my testimony. I started practicing hospitality again and had a lovely family over for dinner.

One of the best delights in January was a new baby granddaughter. She's all sweet and squishy and tiny and adorable! It also brought news of another grandchild due in the summer.

One of the most important parts of January was starting to pray with the help of 31 Days of Praying Scripture by William Varner. I'm not quite done yet (I started late and I'm not using it every day), but it's been a huge blessing to me. I'm praying more and with more thought. God has also been using it and other circumstances to deal with some deeply rooted and sometimes hidden sins in my life, which is painful but then good.

I finished two baby blankets in January and bought yarn for a two more. I also started a blanket for a young couple getting married in May. I read a pile of books and started a pile more. I wrote several Sunday School lessons and am doing well enough that I think I'll finish this year's curriculum by the end of the February.

January was a good start to the year.

Turnips

Earlier this week I made a variation of shepherd's pie. It was actually cottage pie as I was using a ground beef/pork mix instead of ground lamb, but the only recipe that used turnips was for shepherd's pie, so that's where I started. I hadn't made either type of pie and I wanted some idea of how it should go together; also, I had turnips and carrots this week.

The recipe said that it feeds 6, but all it called for in terms of vegetables was one turnip and one parsnip, which did not seem enough.

Although I realized that I don't know how big a normal turnip is. I get my vegetables from the Odd Bunch, a company that rescues produce that isn't good enough to be sold (generally because of size, shape, or minor defects) or overstock. Since that's where my turnips came from, they might be smaller than normal. My only other knowledge of turnips is from Jan Brett's book The Turnip, and that turnip is bigger than any of the animals!

I added three turnips, one giant carrot, and three very small beets. It made enough for five servings and turned out very good.

I still don't know how big a turnip should be.

Books So Far

I've been reading regularly this year. January/February are my quiet months, so I regularly set aside time to read more. I'm also aiming at reading more nonfiction this year.

So far, I have read (or finished reading):

Fiction

The Secret Book Society by Madeline Martin. I really enjoy her historical fiction; this one taught me about the trials of upper-class women in Victorian London.

A Man Called Ove by Fredrick Bockman. It was pretty good. The concept was fairly standard: A grumpy old man is changed by the family who moved in next door. It was well-told and not too predictable.

Non-fiction

Finding My Way by Malala Yousafzai. It was interesting to read what her life was really like after her earlier story in I Am Malala.

Biblical Counseling in Practice by Martha Peace. I had started it in December. It's very practical and looks at many of the challenges that women face.

Notes From the Tilt-a-Whirl by N.D. Wilson. I have to say, this was different, but in a good way. He looks at God, theology, and various issues, from a very unique perspective.

The Twelve Monotasks by Thatcher Wine. I'm not sure how I stumbled upon this one. It's about the importance of doing one thing at a time and doing it well.

Unplug by Richard Simon. I found this one while browsing in the library. I don't have a smartphone that I carry with me (I use one primarily at home for a few apps); I prefer to use a flip phone. The book didn't quite relate to me as it was about detoxing from smartphone addiction. It was still a good look at how to keep my phone from taking over if I ever switch to it permanently.

Picture Books

How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. It was a fun read; the illustrations really made the book.

Sam and Dave Dig a Hole by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen. This is short and simple: Sam and Dave are digging for something amazing and keep missing diamonds. The kids felt bad for them, but happy that the dog found a treasure (a bone)!

Lighthouse: A Story of Remembrance by Robert Munsch, illustrated by Janet Wilson. This is quite different from Robert Munsch's regular books. It's a gentle story about a father and daughter remembering her grandfather. The kids enjoyed it, although I did have to explain to some of them what a funeral is.

Interrupting Chicken and the Elephant of Surprise by David Ezra Stein. The kids love Interrupting Chicken (this is our second story about him). The youngest ones didn't quite get the idea of "element of surprise", but they loved the elephant popping up in the story.

Cooking Lessons

I have been working on cooking a greater variety of food. I received an air fryer for Christmas, so I'm having fun with that. I also get a box of produce delivered once a week, and there are sometimes things I'm not as familiar with or that I've never cooked with (tomatillos, persimmons, squash). 

I've learned some things along the way:

Butternut squash is very good in soup. I don't generally like squash (it's a texture thing), but I like it cubed in soup. I may try roasting it and then blending it to make soup.

The carrot soup is good. I used a pile of carrots, a handful of tomatillos, half an onion, and a small red pepper, all cooked and blended together. It likely did not need the ginger, as the other spices would have been enough. It's a bit spicy, but not too bad.

Pretty much any vegetable can be turned into a stir fry if you try hard enough. I made an eggplant and choy mue stir fry with some pork strips that I had cooked in the air fryer and a couple packs of udon noodles. It was a pretty good stir fry.

Pretty much any fruit can become baked oatmeal. So far, I've made blueberry/apple, blueberry/banana, blueberry/rhubarb, plain blueberry, plain apple, and plain pear baked oatmeal. I haven't tried blueberry/pear yet.

Most leftover veggies can be made into soup. Some can be added to scrambled eggs or used to make an omelet. Other's can join a barley bowl or pasta sauce.

Most fruit makes a good smoothie. My basic "recipe" is milk, some sort of frozen fruit (or fresh, in the case of the persimmons and sometimes apples), and a frozen banana. I often add some combination of peanut butter powder, yogurt, and spinach. I might add some honey or maple syrup if I think it needs to be sweeter.

Having a mix of fruits and veggies has forced me to be creative and search out new recipes. I'm enjoying learning about new ways to cook things and trying new flavours.

On Changing the World

Once I thought that I would do great and amazing things and change the world. 

Then I thought I might do good, still amazing things, and change a smaller part of the world. 

Now I do little, ordinary things, and don't worry about changing the world. 

I encourage children to learn, to think, to know God. I encourage parents as they teach their children and come along side them as they endeavor to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord. I listen to friends when they need an ear and try to reach out to know people better. I do my best to love the people around me even when I'm not sure I'm doing it right. Sometimes I share my thoughts on books and people and the world for a small readership. I write Sunday School curriculum, and I try to get students to read and write, and I edit papers for friends, and I write articles about women of church history, and I watch over children while their moms fellowship and learn and study the Word together.

Perhaps I won't change the world. Perhaps that isn't my job. What I will do is be faithful with what God has put in front of me and trust Him to change the world.

Just a Bit of Something

 In going through an old notebook, I stumbled upon this beginning of a story:

Max the Smallest Truck

Max was the smallest truck n the whole yard. Every morning the bit trucks would head out to pick up loads of dirt and gravel and rocks, and Max would wait... and wait...and wait. Every evening the big trucks would come back, dirty and tired, and talking about all the things they had seen that day, and Max would still be waiting. Every night he fell asleep sad and lonely and wondering if tomorrow would be the day. But there was never a load for a little truck.

I have no idea where I was going with this, or if I even had any idea beyond the introduction of Max. Poor Max, doomed to be forever waiting and sad.

Well, It's Something

Sunday School started again yesterday, after a 4-week break. 

My current curriculum is set up so we teach 5 lessons, and then do a review lesson. The review lessons are in a quiz format, and I break the kids into teams. The questions sometimes have a single answer, so only the team who is "up" answers; sometimes have many answers, and we go around the room with the teams taking turns getting as many answers as possible; and are sometimes turned into hangman, where each team takes turns picking a letter and guessing the answer.

Yesterday was a review week and I wasn't sure how much they would remember after the break. They did pretty well. Their main retention, though, was saved for my lesson on how to best guess letters for hangman from the last review week! They did much better this time; the man was never in danger of being hanged.

At least I have evidence that they listen to me! 

It's Just a Little Thing

Yesterday, we had a birthday ladies' tea for a dear friend. She took the time to talk about when she met each of us and something she really appreciates about us.

She did not mention anything related to singleness or children when she talked to me.

It's not a huge deal. It's just that often I feel like people at church see me as the single lady who cares for the children and that's all. 

It was nice that someone sees something else in me as well. 

December

December was long and busy and good. 

I finished my last fall meeting on December 1st, which was the earliest I have finished ever. I try to finish by the end of November, but that never actually works. I was pretty pleased with not going past the first.

Once that was done, December was all about the Christmas concert. There was the challenge of making enough angel costumes for our 16 angels (all of them at least 9 years old, none of them short enough for the "long men's t-shirt" costumes). Then there were practices, the dress rehearsal, and the concert itself. It was a good concert; the children were wonderful and the parents enjoyed it. Plus, I finally broke the 1 hour mark, so that was an accomplishment. It always seems like a lot of work for a concert that's done in 45 minutes.

For several weeks I had felt almost sick on and off, and informed my body that if it must get sick, it had to wait until after the concert. It listened, and two days after the concert I came down with a cold and spent the week inside trying to get better! I wasn't terribly sick; if I had still been working my previous job, most days I would be expected to take some cold meds and go to work. I was thankful for a life where it was okay to get sick, no one would get angry, and no one expected me to work.

Then it was finally Christmas, which is always a good time. I have spent Christmas with the same family since 2018 (except one year I was with another family, and we missed each other and we decided to never do that again). It was quieter as some of the children were sick and there wasn't as much company as there would normally be. It was also very happy and I was very loved and able to demonstrate my love for them.

There has been a pile of snow this winter, mostly on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. It's lovely and I love looking outside at the mounds and drifts and the falling snow.

The month (and year) ended with breakfast with a friend, lunch and shopping with my brother, and dinner at another friend's house with a family I hadn't seen in quite some time (not all on the same day!). 

It was a good month. It was a good year.

2025 in Books: Picture Books

It is time to give some loving to the world of picture books! I read a LOT of picture books, but I only track the ones I read to my Wednesday morning kids with a goal to see how many years I can go without repeating a book. So far it's three years! I read some other picture books, occasionally to other children (although there's some overlap with the Wednesday books); other books I read and decide aren't right for my children.

Some of our favourites from the past year....

• Many by Mo Willems, including:
• Leonardo the Terrible Monster
• The Pigeon Will Ride the Roller Coaster
• Knuffle Bunny Too
• Sam the Most Scardy-Cat Kid in the Whole World
• That is NOT a Good Idea
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
• Knuffle Bunny Free
• The Pigeon Wants a Puppy!
• The Pigeon Needs a Bath
• Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late

• By Jan Brett:
• Annie and the Wild Animals
• The Turnip
• The Umbrella
• Mossy
• The Snowy Nap

• Amos McGee Misses the Bus, written by Philip C. Stead and illustrated by Erin E. Stead
• Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein
• The Dodsworth books by Tim Egan
• The Trial of Cardigan Jones by Tim Egan
• Snow by Uri Schulevitz
• No T. Rex in the Library, written by Toni Buzzeo and illustrated by Sachiko Yoshikawa
• Dragons Like Tacos Too, written by Adam Rubin and illustrated by Daniel Salmieri
• Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing, written by Jude Barrett and illustrated by Ron Barrett
• The Many Problems of Rochel-Leah, written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by Felishia Henditirto 
• If You Give a Pig a Pancake, written by Laura Numeroff and illustrated by Felicia Bond
• Blizzard by John Rocco
• Cold Snap, written by Eileen Spinelli and illustrated by Marjorie Priceman
• Don't Trust Fish, written by Neil Sharpson and illustrated by Dan Santat