Summer 2011

Wish I could say these are recent, but, alas, they are not. While we have plans ahead to visit a similar setting, we are biding our time at the homefront, with brief trips here and there.

My first "there", was to G'ville and in particular, to one Missy Aubrey! Mom and Dad were celebrating their anniversary with a surprise trip (to Mom) to the beach and a wonderful time just the two of them. Aubs and I held down the homefront, and had a great time reading books
and watching her video favs. I am so well versed in Cars and Toy Story 2 that I could quote you lines! ;o) Oh, and Aunt Kiera's fav - Nemo!! "Touch the...." well, you know!

After arriving home from being with Aubrey, my youngest and her significant other helped me build muscles, as we emptied brother's storage unit into our garage. Hmmm...that was a detour on our ''trip" this summer...but at least we are all under one roof, ah, garage, finally. Now, if we can just figure out what needs to be saved and shipped to AK, and what is junk that needs a new home, we will have reached the goal. Any suggestions as to how to ship a motorcycle and a small shed-full inexpensively, I'm open.

And then there is the time I will spend "away" in research and revision of my lessons for next year. With my school going through 're-accreditation' soon, we are refining and updating info for each of our curriculums. That's an enormous amount of work school wide and a pretty substantial amount for me personally. I need to update yearly lessons for 12 classes that I teach. I will be 'triping' to computerland in between trips elsewhere! And, that's not including the research and planning I do, to provide new and motivating projects for the new school year!
But I have a plan..."Calgon, take me away!" ;o)

This summer, we have taken on a new restoration project - us! Mike and I are reading and trying to assimilate info from the book "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman, and it is going to be another trip! Ha, ha... To summarize, this is a radical but very healthy lifestyle recommendation and, while we are not ready to go completely radical, we are trying to adjust according to what we find reasonable to two old stodgies! It's a lot of raw fruit and veggies and cutting down on _____ - fill in the blank, as to what else is left in the traditional American diet. He is a cardiologist/nutritionist with substantial research into the results provided by returning to the eating habits of life before processed foods and the upside down food pyramid established by our own "trustworthy" USDA. While I am a total proponent of this thinking, I will have trouble giving up dark chocolate for anybody!!! Isn't it good for you? Antioxidants???? ;o(

I had mentioned in the "Miracle" blog about info concerning my brother, and speaking of miracles, he has certainly experienced one, as well.

Many years ago...(starts like a good story, doesn't it? It is...), when I was in high school, and he was newly out of the Army, life wasn't falling into place for my brother. In fact, it went south, he thought, with the news that a young lady he "knew" was having his child. (Bear with me now...) Our parents were very strict disciplinarians, so this was a crisis. And, the young lady's folks weren't at all happy, and well they shouldn't have been! He would tell you now, if he were relating this, that this was definitely not at all, a shining moment for him - to deny his responsibility to this young woman and his child. But, here is the miracle...three months ago, a new chapter began in his life. God brought his daughter into his life...many years have passed, but the most wonderful part of this miracle, is that it happened - now! God brought about the circumstances at just the right time in both of their lives and what joy and forgiveness invades their relationship! It's never "too late" with God...

A precious young lady, former student at our school, just posted this wonderful insight on her page, and it was so profound I wanted to share it here, along with my response to her.

"Ever notice how we like absolutes and extremes? Sometimes we take hurtful,
uncomfortable, shameful, guilty, awkward moments and let them color the
experience, until there is no good left. We find it easier to just pick up and
move on that way, not realizing that we are not leaving that negative time
behind us; we take with us the ability to make it the "worst waste of time"
or the "worst few years" of our lives. [...or the ability to choose otherwise...
my comment ;o) Hindsight is 20/20.] We need to recognize that we will
have many moments of wanting to throw in the towel, but God works all
these things out for those who love Him..." Tracy A.

I wrote back:

"This is profound. And so very, very true. But, the God of the Universe takes
those "negatives" and, as only He can, makes them the rich, dark colors that
color our lives in ways that could not have been otherwise. His tapestry of
our lives is ever changing and always in progress...."