Quick Takes Friday

1-

Our exchange student has arrived, and she is starting to settle in, I think. We have her registered for classes, have figured out how to plug in her computer stuff, and she has spent many an hour playing with the girls. She has expressed interest in seeing me teach (homeschooling does not appear to be common in Austria) and I am sure she will before the end of the year. The one thing that everyone seems to think of when she says she is from Austria is "The Sound of Music", which she has never seen. I think it will be moving to the front of our netflix cue so that she can see it before school starts. I'm having a hard time explaining why EVERYONE knows and likes The Sound of Music.

2-

We had a great time at the Midwest Catholic Family Conference. My favorite part was that Charlotte was old enough to go to the kid's classes. Last year she was VERY squirmy during the adult sessions, and this year I heard them in peace. We stopped in Hayes, KS the first night and stayed at the Ramada there...I don't know that I'd recommend the rooms, but they do have a really nice pool with a waterslide. Once I bribed Eva to go down the slide, she had a lot of fun. It was also nice that we dragged hubby's sister along. I even coerced her to go to the young adult singles social event.

3-

In the "I haven't been home much" category...last week, we moved the above mentioned sister out of her apartment in the city. She and I went up to pack on Monday. Tuesday hubby and his brother brought up a trailer, helped load it up, drove it home, and unloaded it in a storage unit. Wednesday, SIL had an interview, and I was running around with the girls getting errands done, taking Eva to Girl Scouts and packing. Thursday we left for the conference. Got back late Sunday night. Monday, met our exchange student (who had to be picked up by MIL, since we were in Wichita when she got here) and got her registered for school. Tuesday took MIL to her doctor's appointment in the city, then picked up her exchange student at the airport. Thursday, a trip into town in the morning, and my bible study in the evening. I am hoping to stay home a little more often soon.

4-

I still have plenty of planning to do for the upcoming school year, but I have laid out a school calendar for my girls. We will be starting the week of Labor Day and we will finish the last week of June. That's 40 weeks with at least two week long breaks, and I am sure we will have some long weekends in there, too. As for the local school calendar, it appears that they have no school very often. In the month of December, they have the first friday off school (actually, they have a teacher inservice EVERY first Friday...I told hubby that I need a teacher inservice once a month, a day with no students all day long...) and then they have the last two weeks (minus one day, but then the break goes 4 days into January as well). So, I think that they are in school less than out of school.

5-
Hubby has written his first article over at the Rural Republic. It's on subsidiarity, and it only took him a good month to research and write (he's such a perfectionist...) I think he makes some really great points, so go check it out: Subsidiarity in Rural America

6-

My bible study group had a Charismatic prayer night last night. I was teasing hubby that I would be as late getting home as I was when MIL and I picked up her exchange student at the airport (got home at 1 am), but in reality, I got home early...just after midnight. I have to admit, I am not particularly charismatic in my prayer life, but I participated...and I think that is pretty good. One thing that came to me during our prayer was the story of Mary and Martha, and I was thinking about how this was a Mary moment (and not one I am particularly comfortable with, to be honest) and I had this sudden urge to go find the story in the Bible. When I borrowed someone's Bible to look it up, I of course ended up having to flip around looking for it (I still don't know which Gospel it is in) but my eyes fell on this passage, and it really hit home with me...and when I continued on looking for Mary and Martha, I found the same story in another gospel, and decided maybe it was what I was supposed to see:

And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely possessed by a demon." But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away, for she is crying after us." He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord, help me." And he answered, "It is not fair to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs taht fall from their masters' table." Then Jesus answered her "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you desire." And her daughter was healed instantly. Matthew 15:21-28

7-

Eva woke me up this morning with the news that she has a loose tooth. I told her she wasn't allowed to have a loose tooth yet, and that she'd better stop growing. After patiently explaining to me that she did have a loose tooth, and that it is normal at her age (a friend of hers that is 3 or 4 years older than her told her so...) she explained that it was only one, and it would take awhile before she lost all her baby teeth and got all her adult teeth. I have to admit that I am not ready for my baby to loose her baby teeth.

More quick takes this week over at Betty Beguiles!