Daybook: Halfway Through September

Right now...Kids should be eating breakfast, but they are playing in the front room instead.


Later today...I have to mow the lawn before we start lessons. Don't worry, it is the size a postage stamp. It will just take a few minutes. Not quite sure what the whole of today looks like. Definitely ballet this afternoon and a trip to the library.


Later this week...The usual. Anna may attend a Board Breaking Seminar on Saturday. 


Living the Liturgy...Padre Pio's feast is on Friday. I have always credited him with sending Anna our way. I was blessed with a relic of his just before I became pregnant with her. When she was born, the midwife I discovered that the umbilical cord had an unusual (and rare, so rare in fact, that she asked me if she could show any medical/nursing students the placenta. Um sure, show-and-tell all you want) attachment to the placenta. I honestly cannot remember what it was. We had no idea during the pregnancy. If things had not gone just right during delivery, things could have gotten a little dangerous. I'm sure Padre Pio kept me and Anna safe.


From the schoolroom...Ordered a couple more books as I feel out where all the kids want to be this year. I am extremely pleased with what Anna is doing this year. It is working out beautifully. I hope the friend who inspired me to let her do this reads this ;)


I am praying...this week it seems I've become aware of many people suffering with very serious illness, people suffering with pain. I'm offering up all my little and very minor discomforts this week for them.


I am grateful...for Carmen's soccer coach. Since my blogging has been so light over the past year, I never really shared much about her difficult seasons last year. One season was a coach that had never coached and whose knowledge of soccer was extremely limited (she knew that you had to kick the ball). The next season was a bad coach. I hate to say it, but there is no other way to put it. He constantly reminded Carmen how small she was, she didn't kick hard enough, and so on. She is not one to quit. She played as hard as ever and at least she really learned how to play defense extremely well. They only won one game. It was tough. We wondered what we would do come fall, considered changing leagues. In the end we decided that as long as we could assure she would never have that coach again, we'd stick where we were. I offered some fervent prayers to a sweet little saint in heaven. Oh my! The blessings that have come our way. An amazing coach, who plays and loves the game. Good friends for teammates. Other experienced players. A coach who sees what Carmen can do and smiles. Who trusts Carmen and only wants to help her play better and better.
They won on Saturday. Better than the win was Carmen's joy. Joy in a well played game. Trusting her teammates. Relying on her coach.


I am reading...
The Story of Charlotte's Web: E. B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic
Little Way of Homeschooling
Three Cups of Tea
In the Garden of Beasts


I'm pondering....Where and how the sewing machine will fit in the schoolroom and plans. I think we definitely need a book to work through. I have a tiny fabric stash to start. Very tiny.


Around the house...I mentioned in passing to big people in my house that the first floor was a "disaster" last night. It is very nicely tidied this morning. Lovely :)


In the kitchen...Apple stuff. Hope to pick soon. Happily, Wegman's has some varieties for         $ .89/lb.


On the knitting needles...started a Milo for Aggie in fall colors. Saw a cool new yarn and adorable pattern at knitpicks that may become some gifts for Aggie and Kay.


I am creating...A good plan for Sam. 

Picture Thought...Graduating to Red Belt.