In The Refiner's Fire

Wow - this week ends September.  I don't think I'm ready for that yet.  Didn't we just start school? Anyway, we have a fairly calm week this week for us.  John only has one evening meeting and I don't  have anything in the evening yet this week!  I am teaching an extra Jazzercise class but that's early enough I can still get the kids from school if I need to.   I'm hoping to use some of the time in the evenings to finish getting the furniture tidied up, the artwork hung and all that stuff.  We decided to completely re-arrange our family and living rooms this year using furniture we already had.  We did end up buying one new chair because one of ours was in pretty rough shape and fixing it was not worth is (it would cost way more to fix it than it's worth in any way, shape or form).  We had some IKEA credit from a returned purchase and used that to purchase a chair for the living room.   I'm excited to see how both rooms function now th...

Hello everyone! We had a very good week shopping-wise and a week the rest of the way that John called "a very bad country-western song."  You know the kind - the car broke down, the dog died, and the guy's favorite girl won't give him the time of day.  Ours wasn't that stereotypical - it included car repairs with a four digit price tag, my computer completely dying (we don't know the price tag on that one yet), and John getting a scan to find out if he had kidney stones or not (thankfully he does not).   We ended the week with Buddy losing his glasses in the partly mowed wheat field we had a hay ride in last night - after dark of course.  By the time we went to bed last night, we were all about ready to call it quits - on what I don't know, but we were all ready for the week to be over! Today started out much better with the children and I getting to sleep in and attend the second Worship service today and then actually finding Buddy's glasses whe...

Wheat Berry Salad - my lunch one day last week.  Wheat kernels, mixed greens, walnuts, dried cranberries and a vinaigrette dressing.  Tasty and filling!  This is my go-to when we don't have leftovers to take. It's Monday again and that means it's time to share what we're eating this week! We have a week where John has evening meetings Monday through Wednesday and I have something Thursday evening and then we have a pot luck on Saturday evening.   John will be home for dinner every night but Wednesday and I'll be home for dinner every night so we need things that are easy or already cooked (hello crockpot!) so we can eat quick and go to our evening things.  Here's what we're eating: Sunday, September 21:       Breakfast: Smoothies       Lunch: Baked Eggs, Cinnamon Biscuit Twists, Sliced Peaches       Snack: Rice Krispie Treats       Dinn...

Well, hello there! Sorry for the time off!  We've had strep and various other illnesses running around our house and I've decided sleep, rather than things like blogging and grading papers, was the more important thing!   Thanks for your patience! In spite of all the sickness, we're firmly settled into the "new" routine, at least for the most part.  John takes the children to school in the morning and I pick them up most days.  This is a complete switch from our previous years and it still feels just plain weird.   We're making it work and the children are enjoying the change!   Missy is now playing the trumpet and Buddy is playing the clarinet through their school.  Yes, our house gets loud but they are enjoying it and I firmly believe you can never have too many books or too much music in a house!  Between the trumpet, clarinet and piano it seems like there's always someone practicing something.  I have to say I absolutely l...

Aren't these cute?  A friend got them for us last week to celebrate John's first week of Internship! This is a busy week - first week of the semester! I'm not sure who it's busier for, the teachers or the students!  Anyway, the children and I start this week and the church switches from summer programming to fall with Rally Sunday (our big kick-off for school-year programming) on the 7th.  Some of the children's activities start this week, some start next week.  I'm not sure if that's easing into things or not.  Either way, I *think* we've come up with a reasonable plan to get through the semester without overspending our grocery budget!  A couple of quick notes about this week:   We have a tradition of serving doughnuts on the first day of school - this started when the children were 3 years old so I don't think we're going to quit any time soon!  We also meet some friends for ice cream after dinner that evening and we will be usi...