7 Quick Takes

1.  I am finally calming down and relaxing and settling into the rhythm of summer...always a challenge for me!  I have made quite a few to-do lists and have succeeded in doing almost everything that needs to be done for now.  And, so I rest....and read....and relax....Yesterday I worked until 2 and then read the whole rest of the day.  I finished a wonderful book, Broken for You by Stephanie Kallos.  It will forever be one of my favorite books.  It centers around two "broken" characters, Margaret, and old woman dying of brain cancer who has lived much of her life alone and her boarder, Wanda, a young girl with many issues.  It is a beautiful story with a happy ending.  Now I'm reading a book I picked up at the library the other day after vowing to get no more library books until I read the ones I have at home--It's called the Enchanted Life of Adam Hope and I couldn't not get it.  It's a weird story and I'm not sure what I think of it yet....

2.  On my to-do list today is to watch the last two episodes of Season 1 of "Once Upon a Time."  Joe and I have been watching this together so he and I have a date to watch these last two episodes.  He's already seen them but has been faithful to watch again with me.  I am also reading The Borrowers to him and I want to finish it in the next few days so I plan to read to him for a while too.

3.  The girls are at a youth conference in St. Pete, they left yesterday and get home this afternoon.  I have been praying that God would open their hearts to Him and to a commitment to serve Him.  Having grown up in a christian home, I often fear that it's all too familiar to them and I want to see them make their faith their own.  I want to see them make moral choices not because of our family rules but because they want to live their lives to honor God.  I'm eager to hear about their time there.  I've seen some pics on FB and it looks like a great conference with some great music.

4.  I discovered a new blog written by Jen Hatmaker.  I love her writing style and her beliefs about christianity and serving God.  She's got a bunch of books and Bible studies and I want them all and the library doesn't have any of them.  Boo!

5.  I haven't even begun the process of putting away and organizing last year's school and prepping next  year's school....that's my July project.  I'm excited about next year and eager to get organized but the thing holding me back is that I have to deal with this past year first.  Not fun.  The kids are doing theatre summer camp from 9 to 2, 5 days a week for 4 weeks starting the second week of July.  I'm hoping to be productive during those hours, at least for an hour or two a day.

6.  The show this summer is "Little Mermaid, Jr." and all of my kids are excited about it.  Joe is hoping for Flounder, Hannah wants to be Ursula, and Grace is not sure who she wants to be.  She'd be thrilled to be Ariel of course but would also like to be Flotsam or Jetsam or maybe one of the 6 sisters/princesses.

7.  I spent many, many hours over the last 2 weeks burning DVDs of pictures.  I now have all of our digital pictures on DVDs all the way back to 2002.  It's been a long arduous process, I was 3 years behind...but now it's done.  I told Ollie if we have a house fire somebody just needs to grab that case.