Refreshment

Hey, it's Tuesday night, but guess what I'm NOT doing?  Latin, that's what!  Caleb and Jonathan took the National Latin Exam last Friday, so we are DONE for the year for Latin!  Yay!!  No more Wednesday classes, which means I can actually relax on Tuesday nights, which means maybe I can get a little bit caught up on this blog.  I've just been so tired and overwhelmed since the new year started, but the Lord has provided refreshment for me exactly when it was really needed.

One refreshing thing was a lovely snowstorm that we had Thursday March, March 5.  It snowed so beautifully all day, and no one had to go anywhere.  It was really nice because we had just gotten some bad news about Bob's job, and it was nice distraction.  Everything looked so peaceful, like Narnia or something.  The snow was so perfect, we actually got out our cross-country skis!

Even more impressively, we got out skis for the kids too!  Several years ago our friends Mark and Lori had passed down 2 sets of kids cross-country skis, but the snow just hadn't worked to try them out.  But this year it all worked, and they were so fun!  All 3 girls were able to fit into the bigger size of boots, and Micah could wear the smaller pair.  The girls took turns, and they all had a lovely time.  Faith as it turns out is a really powerful skier!  She caught on right away and just powered through the snow!  Micah wasn't exactly sure how to use his poles and fell down a couple of times, but overall he did pretty well too.  Anna and Grace did well, although I wasn't out at the same time as they were.  Oh, Jonathan and Caleb can both wear my boots, so they got to take a spin on my skis.  I love cross-country skiing!  Th girls think we need to move to a place where we can do it more than once every 3 or 4 years, LOL.

The next refreshing thing the Lord provided was a visit by my sister-in-law Melinda and her 2 girls.  We picked them up on Monday, March 9, and the weather was so lovely that day.  Bob was able to drive us around downtown, so the girls got a tour of DC and the monuments without having to walk all over creation.  Bob did masterfully find a parking place for the big van over by the Jefferson Memorial, so we did walk around there some.

Melinda and the girls visited the elementary co-op on Tuesday with my girls, since the co-op was having one of their special 5th week activities.  This time the "Reptile Man" came, bringing tons of scaly creatures with him.  I remember when he came 7 years ago.  I was just as glad to stay home and teach life science and anatomy.  I'm still not a fan of reptiles, LOL.  Wednesday we visited Udvar-Hazy.  We watched the airplanes land at Dulles for awhile, and then walked around the museum.  Thursday Melinda braved the Metro and took Emily, Anna, and Grace downtown to visit the Museum of Natural History and the Museum of American History.  Grace has been *dying* to go on the Metro, so that was a dream come true for her (and then she realized how boring it actually is, LOL).  The girls were particularly impressed by the jewel display at the Natural History Museum!  Elia stayed here and went to Faith's art and science co-op with her.  Friday we all went swimming at the local rec center, where Faith had her swimming lesson.

This is so obvious, I don't even need to say it, but the girls had a FABULOUS time together!  I think it is just so special that all 5 girls are so close in age to each other, and that they get along so well!  I had a wonderful time with Melinda as well, just talking about all sorts of things and hanging out.  It was lovely!  Plus, she was amazingly helpful, always unloading or reloading the dishwasher, starting a load of laundry, sweeping under the table--whatever needed to be done.  It was wonderful!  Bob thought we should convince her to stay longer, but I didn't think my brother would go for that, LOL.  Having her here, and Amy a few weeks earlier, definitely lifted my spirits during this long winter.

(Is this not the CUTEST picture of Elia and Verity?!)  Both Emily and Elia really enjoyed playing with Verity and holding her (and she of course enjoyed even MORE attention than she normally gets!).  They were both so good with her!  Emily is going to be a fantastic babysitter.  She was always looking out for the little ones, like holding Drew's hand when we were walking, and making sure Verity had a burp cloth or a toy.  By the end of the week, both girls were carrying her around like old pros!

Our last meal together was Saturday night.  It was "Pi Day", so we celebrated with 2 meat pies for dinner, as well as a delicious chocolate pie (made from Pioneer Woman's recipe, except I used semisweet chocolate chips for the chocolate, and an oreo crust) and a brownie dessert pizza with fruit on it.  Yum!

But all good things must end.  We left at 4:00 AM to drive them back to the airport Sunday morning.  The house was very sad when I got back!  Anna kept sighing and saying she wished it was still "yesterday".  There was much talk about moving to Texas.  Everyone is looking forward to this summer and another Grandma/Grandpa camp!

And now the warmer weather and the knowledge that our spring break is just 2 weeks away is giving me something else to look forward to!  We can make it through this year . . .