New School Year, New Look

Well, here we are at the beginning of a new school year and we're in the throes of preparation. (Read that: deep-cleaning every room in the house and trying to make sure I have all the books I need and the copies made that I'll need the first week.)

I have a bunch of "stuff" running through my head, such as:

• My sewing has been spread across the kitchen table for about 2 weeks now...maybe more...but I hesitate to put it all away yet, since I still have projects waiting. Hmmm. Another day or two.


• Caleb's B-day is coming up fast. I woke up this morning thinking up a special post to embarass, er, I mean honor him for his 14th birthday. Of course, I have to work on it when he's not hovering over my shoulder, lurking and waiting for his chance on the 'puter.


• Sarah's French class starts next Saturday. No big deal for me, really, but it involves a trip into town (which costs an extra $10 in gas). I really enjoy our Saturdays in town. It's a great time to connect (and I get to use the wireless internet!), and the class only costs $20 per month (plus transportation), but...sigh. I just need to trust God better.


• Which leads to the main thing stirring up my mind all night long and making me a little, um, grumpy. My lack of faith. I know for a fact that God has never "forgotten" us nor has He ever left us stranded, but sometimes the testing times (remember the wonderful verse "the testing of your faith works patience"?) seem to stretch on and on...and on and on. We are seeing the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel, but sometimes I would just like to not feel worried. Yep, that's my issue. I need to not worry. Don't worry, be happy, right? Whatever.


• Anyway, so that I can feel like some part of my life is under control, my neighbor, Desert, and I have resumed exercising 3 mornings a week. Wednesday was our first day. I was SORE Thursday morning. No pain, no gain, or in my case, loss.


• Our ministry website died. Well, it was nice while it lasted, but it had become a bit of a behemoth, so I wasn't too sad to see it go. The web server, Christian Web Host, was excellent, their customer service is fantastic and their rates are really good. Our problem was that we couldn't count on having an extra $10 per month to pay for the service. They had graciously gifted us 6 months of web-service because we are a non-profit ministry. Very cool. I learned a WHOLE lot about web publishing in that time (enough to be a danger to myself and others), so it was by no means wasted time.


• Now I'm working on another blog as a website, since Blogger blogs are free. If you're into the whole "HTML tweaks" and changing your template, check out this site: Tips for New Bloggers. That's kind of a misnomer, because the whole site would totally overwhelm a "new blogger", but if you're a somewhat experienced blogger who has a lot of patience with computers and extra time to kill (why do I do this? I'm none of those!) you'll love this site. When I get it looking more like a website and less like a jumbled mess of non-working links, I'll let you know.


• It's hot. At this instant the temperature is 90 and the humidity is 72%...inside. I'm sitting with a fan barely a foot away blowing on high. It's bearable. The pool is a fainter shade of green today. No one really cares because the water is cool (we cover it at night and life the tarp in the morning to make a canopy) -- the water coming out of the faucets this time of year could burn you. Doesn't make for a very refreshing shower. Because of the heat, I don't want to cook. Kids and Hubby aren't very pleased with that, so I cook anyway. It's part of the "Mommy Job".


• The mosquitoes are insane. I don't think anything I could write would even begin to explain how insane the mosquitoes are. I won't even try. Sarah is going to write a post about them soon. I'll let her elaborate.

Well, if you've made it this far in this post, you are a true friend (or you are as addicted to your computer as I am. I'll pray for you!!! ;^) ). Thanks for listening to me ramble on. Now, I'll stay on topic and wrap up this post...

So, school is starting next week (or so) and with it I'm doing a little re-vamping of our Blog sites. The kids will be posting this year as part of their writing/typing assignments over at our Family Blog and we'll be having a new ministry website soon, I hope, and this blog (Beautiful Feet) will be more "homeschooly" and "mom-y". More of me yapping. AND THEN I'm writing a cook-book of sorts (which really isn't much of anything yet) over at Mother Hubbard's Blog (I like nursery rhymes!).

So that's where I am right now mentally. Doug is in the green pool (we can't get keep ahead of the algae because of the intense sun and heat) yelling for me to come jump in. I think I'll go take a dip and cool off. That's where I am physically!!!

"Praise God from whom all blessings flow!!!!" That's where I am spiritually!

Have a great day!