ramble on.

I have a couple of posts lined up in the “drafts” section but I just don’t quite feel like pushing the old “publish” button on them yet.

(And by a “couple” I mean 123 drafts actually.  Not all of them worth sharing publicly.  Some just needing a little rewording here and there.)

But nothing seems to fit what I feel like writing about so that must mean it’s time for a rambling post instead of a tidy post.  

(I think it’s probably because tidy posts require more brain power and I am low on that this evening.  I need to recruit some day time hours to write and then maybe my brain will be more alert.)

We ran in a local race this past weekend.  The same race that was my first ever 5K and the same race our family of eight all ran together.  I think maybe we’ve run this race for five years.

It’s funny what kind of confidence running a half marathon can give you when you are facing a 5K.

I’m still no real runner and actually the kids and I walked some of this 5K, but I felt no fear or concern over accomplishing this race.  I knew I had it in me.  Doing hard things helps you to be able to do more hard things.

This weekend we went fishing.

Bergen caught his first fish in quite a while.  His hands shook a little when it was time to pull the bass off the hook and he knew he had to conquer the situation himself because I was the only grown up there and I’ll drive the fella to any lake any day, but I won’t be handling the fish for him.

“Mom,” he confessed, “I forgot about how much I like fishing but how much I don’t like getting the hook out of the fish’s mouth.  It always makes my legs tremble.”

I’m not holding my breath, but I think I have found a way around my janked up photo situation.  (Tell me if you see any new photos upside down and topsy turvy again, please.)  It takes a couple of extra steps, which I find a tad time consuming and annoying, but it should fix my problem for now.

Unfortunately, my iPhone has stopped “talking” to my computer when they used to be the best of buds and that’s another situation I just can’t quite get a handle on.  Ack.  Technology.  I need it.  But I can’t master it.  It’s embarrassing.

While the boys were fishing, I was reading a book.  (I’ve got at least three book reviews to wrap up for you guys soon too.)  And out of nowhere this little lizard hops directly on my right shoe.  Then he leaps directly on to my left shoe.  I maintain an enviable calmness and call Otto and Piper to come see the “magic” I just experienced.

Otto captures the guy for us.  And while he is holding it, the lizard turns a completely different color.

God does really cool things in nature.

Today I was gleeful, exuberant, ecstatic.

Why, you ask.

Because we finished the last chapter of the science book!

I don’t always complete books in our homeschool and I don’t encourage feeling pressured to get to the end, but in areas of personal weakness I feel more compelled than usual to “get finished” with all the recommended and suggested reading.  It was just nice to know that in astronomy this year, we completed the entire book.

I’m really pleased to see Otto’s penmanship making great improvements this year too.

One of the books I finished and that I am anxious to write a review about is entitled Teaching From Rest by Sarah Mackenzie.  It has been incredibly refreshing and life-giving.  I wish I had read it six months before I ever heard of homeschool at all.  But I’m thankful to be reading it now.  It’s certainly going to be shaping next year’s school choices.  (I bet you can’t believe that I am happily anticipating the planning time for next school year more than I am happily anticipating the conclusion of this school year.  I like beginnings better than ends.)

I don’t think I have any ice cream but I do think I have avocados and corn chips and no child stayed up late asking hard questions so I’m pretty sure that calls for a celebration.