A Week Well-Lived

Blondechick 13 is back from theater camp...let the noise begin! It's wonderful to hear her happy chatter. She was nicknamed "Bubbles," which she thought unoriginal--but it suits her bubbly personality well. The director told her, after the auditions for the abridged performance of Guys and Dolls that they worked on all week, that she was their runner-up choice for Miss Adelaide--a bubbly role indeed. She's exhausted, of course--but she had a great week of spiritual growth as well as taking some big strides as a performer.

The Bantams and Chicklet 3 attended our church's equivalent of VBS all week, the Knight's Training Camp. Bantam 15 helped with the "Physical Training" (outdoor games) since he's too old to be an attendee but doesn't want to miss it. Bantam 11 will probably join him next year, since this was his last year as an attender. It was Chicklet's first time, and she LOVED it. She painted, and she "ate pretzels in a tent"--the highlights for her, apparently. On the last day, she was "knighted" as a Lady of the Kingdom by her regally cloaked daddy, who tapped her on each shoulder with a sword while she smiled charmingly. The Bantams, who have been knighted already, renewed their vows to love, honor and obey the King. They also had a great week at "camp."

Having the house to myself for those few hours, I took advantage of the time--and blessed my in-laws who helped with driving the kids to and from KTC and who took Bitty Bantam one day too--to dive in to some projects I've been putting off. Only one is worth mentioning, especially as it is still in progress: the semi-regular Great Book Cull & Rearrangement. Since we're going to do Sonlight next year (a homeschool curriculum which is literature-based), my goal is to have three shelves cleared off in the living room that I can fill with the Readers/Read-Alouds for Blondechick 13 (doing Core 100 American History), Bantam 11 (Core 3/4 One Year American History) and Bantam 7 (who will join Bantam 11, but with some easier books substituted as Readers).

So far I have filled two boxes with my least-favorite picture books, some duplicates, and some of the least-appealing books on topics that we have covered by multiple books. (That's the beauty of getting so many of our books at garage sales and used curriculum sales; I don't feel too bad when "somethin' better comes along.") I "found" a new shelf for books near the boys' room (on a ledge on the landing of the stairs leading to their basement lair) and I've carted piles of books up and down stairs as I attempt to group by topic, age appropriateness and anticipated need in the next school year. Now I just need maybe one more afternoon of quiet to finish up, but today I was busy with....

Papa Rooster's Project Day. I am so grateful for a guy who will occasionally go against his natural inclinations (which are anywhere but toward house projects) and go all out. Today we spent so long at a Home Depot-like store that the salesmen there were teasing us about moving in. We bought lots of stuff for projects great and small without getting exasperated with each other even once, and when we stopped at Chipotle for a late lunch, it almost felt like a date.

Then my man swung into action. He and and the Bantams moved a woodpile--2 trees' worth--and repaired the fence it had been leaning against. He showed them how to split wood like Abraham Lincoln, and they tried it and Bantam 11 got really good at it. How impressive it was to those boys to see Dad swinging a sledgehammer, driving in those fenceposts and splitting the logs they couldn't finish. Bantam 15 started washing the roof of our travel trailer, but it took Dad's help to finish the job. He put in a new water filter, put a second closer on our screen door--which inexplicably still won't always close all the way--and pulled out our old sink to replace it with a new drop-in and new faucet.

Here's where he gained some new material for the book he and my brother claim they're going to write someday, a companion volume to a book my brother owns called Fix It Fast; Fix It Right; theirs will be called Fix It Slow; Fix It Wrong. For as Papa Rooster pulled up the old, rusted drop-in, some of the Formica countertop came up with it. And this countertop, we already knew, is a non-standard size. It will be at least $370 and 3-4 weeks for a custom countertop...and its backsplash will not be tall enough to cover the gap in the wallpaper left by the old one...necessitating a wallpaper stripping and painting job we never set out to do.

Fortunately, we have a handyman coming on Monday to hang a new door--in the Lord's providence, my father-in-law called with this guy's name, number and reasonable price for a difficult job BEFORE Papa Rooster had set out on the path of no return on that project (which would have involved staining and polyurethaning the pre-hung door we had purchased--thank goodness he was able to return that one and get a ready-to-go "slab" which this guy will hang for us). So maybe he'll be able to help us think creatively about our countertop crisis.

Thank you Lord, for keeping us all safe and for all the things we've learned and accomplished this week. May we be blessed by our well-earned Sabbath rest tomorrow!