mimosa « The Blessed Heritage

So much has happened in the last 1-1/2 weeks and I’m having trouble sorting it into a coherent blog post, but I’ll give it a shot. Maybe chronological order will help.

We ordered our steps to have a very uneventful Independence Day, turning down a couple of invitations to get together for grilling, formal fireworks displays, etc. I use the word ‘formal’ because our neighbors put on an informal display that would rival most public facilities. Seriously. Though this picture is borrowed from Photobucket, our neighborhood sky looked just like this on both Saturday and Sunday night—for hours.

The one item we did have on the agenda was to visit my in-laws. Though my husband is often within minutes of their home while at work, we’d somehow missed several opportunities to exchange Father’s Day greetings, summer birthday presents, recital well wishes, and just a simple hug and “hello.” Additionally, our niece had been sick with asthma-related complications during the week, forcing them to share hospital duty with my SIL. So our planned visit kept getting postponed until we found ourselves at their home for July 4^th.

As a necessary bit of stage setting, getting our families together can be, well, interesting, for lack of a better word. For the last 10 or more years, the generational torch has been passed from my MIL to my SIL and to us, having purchased larger homes and wanting her to be able to rest and enjoy. (My MIL, however, still provides the meal at my SIL’s home as the latter does not cook 🙂 ). My MIL and SIL “roll” very differently than my husband and I, so coordinating can be a bit taxing. As you know if you’re a regular reader of my blog, I’m a planner; my in-laws are very last minute. I should also mention that my MIL always has even more irons in the fire than I do. The result of this is that, whatever time we set, her dishes (as well as her presence) are always later than what we’ve planned. By the time we sit down to eat, we are probably both rattled over the food temp and taste, and the fellowship (the next source of stress is the time as she and my FIL don’t drive as well at night, so she’s rushing to enjoy all the festivities before the sun sets). This day was different. Ours was a very impromptu “we’re coming over for a little bit, don’t cook anything special” type of visit at their home—no need to worry about trying to return home safely after hours. She did cook something special—a delicious fish soup inspired by the Islands. I enjoyed it enough to later try my own modified recipe. We had a great time, and it was lovely to enjoy each other’s company without a lot of fuss and finery.

Dance season is now over. Our son competed, as a soloist and with his team, and I don’t think we could have asked for better results given the circumstances. Our son placed 3^rd out of 12 soloists, which is amazing for a number of reasons. First, I think this particular sponsor caters more to girls (and specifically, young girls who can move like adult women). Secondly, our son has danced as a junior (ages 9-11) for the last school year as he just turned 12 a few weeks ago. Because of a rule change, he was placed in the teens category (ages 12-14), which meant he was dancing against dancers with far more experience and talent. I kept waiting to hear his name as they announced 12^th place, 11^th place, and so on—not to say that we were shooting for last place, but for the reasons I listed above, we all knew what he was up against. Also, in the defense of the sponsors, at Nationals, each competitor is the one of the best dancers at his or her respective school. The team also put in an amazing performance, and landed 5^th out of 9^th with a platinum level (excellence) recognition. For a team that has secured last place for the last two years, this was tremendous. Now we await the tryout results for next dance season, but between you and me, I found out that we have two kids competing next year—our son and the oldest. (Shhh! She doesn’t yet know!) I’m just working on my beans and rice recipes—we’ll need that grocery money for more ’pique, pas de bourrée!’

A few shots of our oldest while away at fashion camp:

So where are we now? Books are coming in, which is always exciting. I read the Sonlight catalogs where parents talk about “box day”—the day that those books, etc. arrive, and I think there’s something to what they say; there is a sense of exhilaration as that plan begins to take shape and unfold. I’ve already begun reading through these two before I get into them with our son. I’m excited, probably more excited than he is, to learn more about the movement of the Gospel.

There are many books on my list, but I am also learning to buy in stages. I have a couple of purchases to make this week in order to get started, and then we’ll add as money becomes available and need arises. As one example, I would normally buy Sonlight’s instructor guides and then buy the books used as we go. However, the truth is that I’ve never used the instructor’s guides as they are meant to be used. So, cutting where I can, I’ve just bought books and I’ll wing it from there. That’s right, kids—be afraid. Be very afraid.

There is much more on my mind, but this week of VBS means that the hubby and I get to spend time alone while the kids enjoy the evenings at church. One of those nights, though, will be spent at mid-week Bible study, and another will be a hand-in-hand trip to Toys R’ Us to shop for our youngest daughter’s 7^th birthday on Saturday. Being a wife, mother, and wearer of numerous hats in balancing all the many wants and needs of a household requires a special grace from the Lord. BUT, that sounds like another post. God bless you.

At one time, I had the bright idea of beginning a second-blog–a nature blog. I have to laugh at such a preposterous idea at this point as I struggle to keep this one as updated as I’d like. Blogging can quickly become addictive, especially in an environment like HSB. Where else do you get such encouragement, such warmth, and such wisdom? However, I am finally getting the point–really getting the point–of paring down my activities and spending more time with the people and things that I consider high priorities. Once I laid down my outside teaching responsibilities, I felt such a freedom in just being around the kids a bit more often. Dance is over as of next week, and our church’s children’s programs take a break during the month of June. We’ll have lots of time to simply breathe in each other’s space without the pressure of being on a tight timeline (usually the norm for us). While starting to close down many of our books, I am fighting myself to do a new thing and not take on more outlets for the kids to get involved in. Living near a big city means that every museum, college, park, and anything kid-friendly has the next great summer workshop.

So, even though I have placed the second blog WAY on the back burner, I love spring! So, I’ll go ahead and post the pictures of our flower beds and plants here rather than continue holding them back for the second blog.

This year, I went back to one of my favorite low-maintenance beauties, caladiums. I was so afraid that I’d planted them too early as right after I put them in the ground, we got a freakish cold spell. When the first leaf came, I went running out to get shots. Unfortunately, the 2-year-old next door thought they were attractive, too–pretty enough to pull right out of the ground. Anyway, so far we’ve managed to keep most of them planted. I also kept a number of the old standbys–sego bushes, dusty millers, lantana, mimosa, banana trees and elephant ears. I also have a relatively new find–Mexican firebrushes. Around late summer, butterflies and hummingbirds love them, so we have a built-in nature study.

At any rate, this is our garden this year. Once, we wrap up the recital, we’ll hit the road with Dad. South Texas, with its tropical climate, and east Texas with its piney woods, promise to provide us with continued photos of God’s beautiful creation, even if I won’t have a separate blog to post all that I take in.