River Ice

 Early this month Ralph & I took the boys for an outing, just a walk along the frozen riverbanks.  Seems we were starved for fresh air, I breathed long and deep the sunshine.

We drove for a change to a nearby park and walked South toward the sloughs filled with bird life, quiet and open.

The frozen ice on the riverbanks was a treat to discover.  Treasure for us all, something to collect, something to crush- a boys' delight.


February has been winter warm.  I've said it before, I'm certain.  Seasons are a constant reminder to me.  A reminder that though change is a guarantee, God's faithfulness is behind it all.  He will be the same, and life will continue to change right before my eyes.  He is steadfast, God is faithful. I'm so thankful.

School is going well, we're nearly 2/3 of
the way through the year.  This year is so very…academic and different.  A steady, almost predictable kind of day each day.  I didn't ever think this day would come, our routine is set and easy to keep.  Some days we have glitches.  A few weeks ago I spent the morning mopping more than 10 gallons of water out of our flooding basement instead of teaching.  The boys helped me with disaster recovery…call that life school?  Our journey with Latin has been a delight, and we're seeing it everywhere these days.

I recently spent the afternoon with my sweet friend and her 4 kiddos, all 7 and under.  I was shocked to realize just how far away I had come from being a mama of little ones.  When did my life get so quiet?  Well, a new sort of noise litters my house.  Giggles from a far off room.  Boy noises, (need I say more?) silliness, Oh, the silliness.  I had NO idea about the silliness!  Lord help me with that!

The realization of how quickly it's all going serves as a reminder that my days of speaking in to the boys lives are few.  I'm waking up to the present again- I have today with these boys and I'd love to just spend it on educating, and snuggling up on the couch, reading to these boys and laughing with them at their own silliness.  Teaching them God's Word, being transparent in a way that allows them to see that I desperately need God is all these days are for, right?

It's easy to get caught up in the hubbub.  What you couldn't know is that for the last six months I have been doing the hard, hard kind of heart work that sucks the very breath out of a girl some days.  I've been counseling and journaling.  Workbooking and praying through very old heartache, and some that's not so old.  But this season has been so good, so rich and vital to my life.  I want very much to live with a heart of flesh.  It's God that does this work, now isn't it.  Try as I might I just cannot heal myself.  It's amazing how in a quiet hour of prayer God can draw pain and hurt out of me and replace it with peace.  I've a long, long way to go.  But I'm going.

Alrighty, I wanted to spend more time
writing, but time to get to life again.  For now, more pics: