Words and more words

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
C.S. Lewis

Awesome. Epic. Outrage. Champion.  Hero.  Genius.  Love.  How many words do I see/use/hear everyday that are loosing their meaning?  How can Webster keep up with how diluted our words get?  Do other languages have the same problem?  We all are subjected to 12 years of English in school so why is our vocabulary so poor?  How can we instill in our kids a knowledge of words and the wisdom to choose words wisely, not just for tact's sake but in order to be appropriate as well? This all comes from my inclination to write that my past week was awesome.  But was it?  Did it invoke awe or wonder in my consideration of it?  No, not really.  My week was a jam-packed collection of work, fun, and insight, but as Confucius said, "Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated."  It was a good week.  I think that's the appropriate word.

We are still getting used to homeschool.  Theoretically we should be done each day by around lunchtime.  Gwyn and Celee may have a few post-lunch things to do such as instrument practice or a history lesson that's over Lyla's head.  Generally though these should be winding down after lunch.  Yeah.  I'm hoping that the lesson of using your time wisely is learned soon.  One day this past week we finished school at 5pm.  Lyla did have a nap in the middle, but the time was ill-spent complaining, piddling, and hem-hawing so stuff didn't get done in a timely manner at all.  Couple this with the fact that I don't have this time management thing down yet either and I know there are things I can change to make it all run more smoothly.  Whew!  At least every day wasn't like that.  There have been many moments when I thought to myself, "Yes!  This is why we are doing this!"  I love the mornings when I've seen Gwyn and Celee doing their Bible lesson together without fussing.  I love the pride they have when they complete some non-paper & pencil work and want me to take a picture of it.  (I'm trying to keep good records of everything they do anyway)  I love to hear them really get interested in something and ask really thoughtful questions and us have the time and resources to explore it together.  We learned quite a bit out the Minoans this week this way.  I love the way Lyla can't wait to show Jason something she's finished (like a page full of s's and 2's) when he comes home.  I love that I know what they are doing and can encourage and compliment them in the moment. 
There are definately things to improve on my part, and I've already made coo-doodles of mistakes, but it is going well.  Another appropriate quote - "A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing."  Can you tell I've been reading a quote book?  At the end of the week though we did get a treat - a friend over to play and a trip to City Girl Yogurt because everyone finished their work before lunch.  Aaaahhh.



Gwyn and Celee had their piano recital this week.  They were very nervous, as most kids are for this type of thing.  This was also Gwyn's last piano recital as she opted to try the violin in loo of piano for a while.  One could say that she could have practiced a lot more prior to recital day as well, so she was a little more nervous than Celee.  They did well though and we caught the performance on video to preserve for all time, and to embarass them as teenagers, so we all enjoyed it.  Bless her heart - Lyla wanted to do it too b/c I've been doing a little bit of piano with her at school and she really wants to play her "song" for people. This consists of her playing F#, G#, and A# in succession with her right hand and A#, G#, and F# with her left.  So I think we'll spare an audience this treat for the time being.
Thursday we had our small group over at a childless house, so the girls got to hang out with their friends at the Aardsma's house.  I love that our families enjoy spending time together and the kids like each other too.  Gwyn has a little drama with the only school-aged boy at times, but I think that's normal.  Other than that, they all play really well.  And the grown-ups got to hang out, eat, and talk in a child-free space for a while.  We didn't even get around to the lesson we're doing this week.  We all were just sharing and talking about marriage and encouraging one another.  I love those God-moments when something unplanned ends up blessing us and the Word is made fresh in our conversations. 
Saturday I got up and ran a 5K in Royal.  We were all going to go, but everyone was so pooped I didn't want to wake them all up at 5:30 to go with me.  Thankfully Robin and Will picked me up so I didn't have to go by myself.  (That's 3 shout-outs Robin!)  Anyway, it was fun.  It's a small race and part of it is through corn fields which were really pretty at 7am.  And we didn't do too bad.  We passed some little boys who had started walking about half-way through the course.  Then when we were close to the finish we heard them coming from behind.  I so wanted to kick it up a notch and not let them pass me, but I just didn't have it in me.  So we were passed by little boys who had walked most of the race.  :/
When I got home everyone was still asleep!  I think we all needed a do-nothing day.  So we didn't do much for the rest of it.  The girls and I ate breakfast with friends and then I got to go shopping in the afternoon, but that's about it.  The house was clean, the yard was mowed, so we really did get to just chill for the day.
Sunday we taught Sunday school.  There weren't enough adult helpers for this Sunday so we had the Kindergarteners and the 1st graders in our class which ended up being about 30 kids!  It is a little crazy trying to do activities - especially activities that require reading or writing - with 30 5-6 year olds.  But it was fun.  It's also neat to hear kids this little sharing prayer requests with each other and remembering to pray for others.  It warms my heart.
We had an appointment to have our family portrait done on Sunday afternoon at Lake of the Woods.  I spent an hour and a half doing the girls' hair and getting myself picture-ready.  Thankfully I checked my email before we actually drove out there because the session had been cancelled.  A thunderstorm was rolling in and so we would have to reschedule.  What. A. Bummer.  Like Jason's mom said - Consider it a dress-rehearsal.  I hope on our next try works as well and we actually get to document the results.  The girls had cooperated very well.  Fingers crossed for next time!