the current situation...

My goodness!  Another month has flown by!  I honestly don't know where the time goes... I'm so busy being busy that I can't even tell you what is making me so busy!  Who else ever feels this way?!

Nothing real eventful happened during the rest of February (see what I mean? I'm busy, but I don't know why).  We totally enjoyed some good weather;  it wasn't that cold.  Now, though, today we have a snow day.  School is cancelled. I'm catching up on my piles of things to do...  The same things that make me busy.

Everyone is doing well in school... Well, well enough.

The girls and I are transitioning back into homeschooling.  It's nice, but the time change made it dark again at 7am, so it has been too hard to stay awake.  We've been staying in bed until about 8:30.  That makes us not so productive, but we're getting work done.  And, it's getting lighter.

Tommy will tell you he is miserable, but he is doing OK too.  It's home life that is hard for him.  Trying to make him responsible has been difficult at best.  On a regular day one or both of us are reduced to tears.  I pray for his heart, my patience and Mark's acceptance.  Loving him is easy because he is funny and cuddly; it's the training up that has given me (us) a run for the money!

Katie, I think, is definitely having some learning challenges/differences.  I know once we find what works best, though, she'll rock!  She is reading (while reluctantly) well.  She is great with math. Writing is challenging, and synthesizing info is slow. She is So cute and she is trying so hard.  Katie is definitely my sweet-pea girly-girl. 

Danielle is doing great.  Her only challenges are her self imposed limitations.  She thinks she is bad at math (imagine me shaking my head in the no fashion), she thinks her writing is not great (again, no) and sometimes, I think, she just gets a little bored, so she doesn't finish what she started.  It's all good, though.  She's 12.  I always thank God- He knew what He was doing!

love, love, love my family:)

Mark and I are continuing to do well, also.  What a difference a marriage makes when both people are present and putting work into it!  We are not perfect (for sure), but we are a testimony to the healing love that comes from Christ, Jesus.  A marriage won't work with out supernatural intervention.  That is tweet-able! It comes from the series:  The Art of Marriage from Family Life.  If God is at the center of your life, and your marriage, you can only benefit from the good that comes out of that kind of direction.  God designed marriage, and following His rules, His design, makes for a successful relationship.  Not an easy relationship- it is still hard- it still requires work, and commitment, and patience, and compromise... but so much good happens, too!

So... we did take a rather spontaneous trip to Miami, Florida the first week of March.  We had a good time.  Mark had a class, so we came with him and camped out in the hotel room (it actually was a lot like camping).  The kids and I went to the Everglades (Tommy says he can cross that off of his bucket list- I was like, "you have a bucket list?" --of course, mom... duh), we went to Key Biscayne, and we spent a few days on the beach in South Beach (no celebrity spottings, though).  It was great to miss the big snow of the season in Virginia, and have a week of sun.  I love the sun.  I was happy to get some vitamin D therapy.  The kids needed it, too.  Mark got to join us one day, too.

Well, I guess this serves as my catch-up journal-type entry.  Peace be with you!!!

Have a lovely week!!!