Call Me Ishmael, or The Doggy Paddle

When I was young my mom provided all four of us girls with swimming lessons.  I actually remember them.  But for whatever reason none of us learned to swim.  We were excellent doggy paddlers!  Without drowning, we swam in Aunt Suzie's pool every Summer--in the deep end! So I never understood why my mom would freak out when I was 16 For Crying Out Loud, going to the lake with a boyfriend.  She'd call after us, "Make her wear a life jacket!  SHE CAN'T SWIM!!!"  Oh, I was so embarrassed.
I understand the Mom Freak Out much better now.  I've had more than one scary water experience with my own babies.  And I also understand wanting to make my 16 year old my baby again.  Dadgum.  I want to do that every day and they're only 4, 6, and 8!

But the doggy paddle works.  I've never drowned. And I've never been afraid of the water, because I knew I wouldn't drown.  I wasn't afraid.  I knew I couldn't tempt the current of the ocean and expect to come out on top.  I knew I couldn't dive gracefully into a pool of water and swim seamlessly from one end to the next.  But I knew I could keep myself up.  Whatever the case, wherever I may be, I would survive.  It would take Moby Dick himself to take me down.  I'd keep my head up where the air is, and I'd survive.

My life is water these days.  I want to be in it.  Oh, it is so much fun to be in it!  No matter the sunscreen and waiting 30 minutes after you eat--I want to be in the water!  You can jump in feet first and feel your body softly plunge to the bottom.  You can stream up, feeling the weight of water releasing you and, at last, air filling your lungs!  You can swim and giggle and be half naked and no one cares--because you're in the water.
In what other circumstance do we allow ourselves to be so bare?  In what other substance are we so weightless?  Only in the water.

I'm swimming a lot these days!  The way we girls swim--I'm doggy paddling.  I do not feel graceful  and skilled.  I feel quite clumsy and vulnerable.  My head is above water, my arms and legs strong, but I need to keep close to the edge most of the time.  I need something to hold on to.  And I have got to stop comparing myself to the ones who can swim the English Channel or dive in the Olympics.  Of course I can't do those things.  I was obviously created for a different purpose.

I guess that's what it boils down to on these crazy, busy days.  What is my purpose?  And gosh-doggit, am I enjoying the fulfillment of it?!

Ready Or Not

We are starting our school year on Monday.  I most certainly Am Not Ready.  We entertained the notion of pushing back our start date.  There are plenty of other families and schools not starting until well into September.  But I quickly realized there is no good start date in our near future.  There is always something.  I don't mean that as a jaded I-don't-want-to-be-responsible-so-I've-come-up-with-a-million-excuses self-deprication. (By the way, it is really hard to type hyphens instead of spaces.)
This year we have a construction zone for a living room, a living room for a school room, and a soon to be school room for a dining room.  We also have four major birthday celebrations to be planned and executed, two rounds of delightfully absorbing house guests, and placement testing to complete.  I haven't read through all of our curriculum and meticulously planned the next term. (That's actually my favorite part.  Who'da thunk?!)  And who knows what various obstacles will stand in our way next August.
Herein lies one of the main challenges of home education:  we must supervise our children's education while running our homes.  We cannot stop one for the other.  I cannot stop being a wife, mother, and friend, so I can be a teacher.  We must make it all work as one, which is kind of the whole point of having our kids around day in and day out.  They don't just need an academic education; they need to learn how to live life, how to love, how to rise to the occasion.  Last year I was discussing a similar issue with a dear friend.  Home life was about to get hectic and chaotic, and I was afraid my kids' lessons would be left lacking.  She wisely asked, "What better lesson could they receive than watching you navigate this rocky road with grace?"  I took her wisdom to heart and more or less stumbled over that rocky path.  But grace isn't about me.  It's is about God raising my kids in spite of my stumbling feet.  Most days my hands and knees are bloodied with the effort.  My anger, my worrying, my doubt--they knock me down all the time.  But from my sticky floor I cry out to my Father to have mercy on these little ones and raise them up to love Him.  "And, God, can please make sure they all love to read and don't think I'm completely crazy?"
So no matter how big, I've got to get this ball rolling or else it will roll back on top of me.  I'm not sure what our days are going to look like, or how harried my husband's wife will be every night.  But something tells me we're going to be okay.

A few pictures from last year's education....

collecting cicada shells

painting pottery

catching blue-bellied lizards

singing praises with praise-worthy women

looking a lion in the eye...safely

tearing away the old

small thanks from big hearts

the family that plays together...

the boston tea party--no really. this is where it started!

singing carols to grandparents

dissection

the funnest dad on earth

listening to someone great, painting w/ someone great

nature walk with two awesome mamas and a gaggle of kids

early spring warmth--lessons, lunch...all took place outside

the passover

becoming a man

more painting!

putting the pieces together

with daddy. always.

what? penguins don't dance!?

ice cream in the city

along the shore where grammie was born

babies in our front yard

Learning Curve

Oh, our poor little puppy!  We intend to groom Bruiser all by ourselves, but we've never done this before.  So we're learning.  His hair was getting really long and the Summer heat was not letting up.  Consequently, we decided to give him his first Summer cut.  My Nana and Grandpa gave us some great clippers, but there's no guard.  That combined with Bruisers aversion to ANYTHING coming near his head or face during grooming, and we have a tiny-bodied, big-headed puppy.  Shih Tzu literally means "little lion"; he embodies that definition!  He looks pretty ridiculous, but at least he's not pantingly hot all the time.

In other news B.dawg is still spending every spare moment working on the living room.  It has been quite the challenge!  We planned to simply expose the beautiful ceiling beams, but we knew we'd risk finding unwanted issues.  We had no idea we'd end up redoing pretty much the entire room!
We discovered an ant's nest in one of our exterior beams.  The damage was minimal needing no repair, but work was stalled while we got an exterminator up in here.  The kids were fascinated to observe the ants trying to save the eggs by carrying them out.  Daddy even dissected a few abandoned eggs for them.  Crazy stuff.
On the perpendicular exterior beam we discovered old rot.  I posted a pic of it in my first post about the project.  We found out it was probably from "Powder Post Beetles."  They no longer exist, but you can tell by their name what they did to houses.  The damage just happens to be where the cross beam sits.  B.dawg has tirelessly sought the best solution to that problem, and finally found a way to support the beam and rid us of all worry that our ceiling will cave in at some point.  Yesterday he and a friend tore down all the plaster on the walls, blew in insulation, and hung new drywall.  They tried to update the electrical for the room, but it is a horrible mess.  We'll have to have a professional come and figure it out.
After...
sanding the walls,
cleaning and painting the radiator,
removing the last of the paint on the trim and baseboards,
hanging new trim around the windows, (what was up was not original, and bulky to boot)
and cleaning up all that debris and dust, we'll finally be ready to paint!!
It has been a long, hard project, and B.dawg has done most of it by himself.  I cannot brag on him enough--but I will still try!!
We are very excited to enjoy the finished project!  I will most certainly post pics as soon as there is something worth seeing.