tuesday night ramblings...

I've come to realize lately that I prefer lukewarm coffee over a steaming hot cup of joe. Not tepid. That's too cold (though if it gets cold enough I just add ice and make it an iced coffee). Just 3 or 4 notches below piping hot. And it must have half-n-half. And my "coffee maker", 5 out of 7 mornings, is Jude. He does a mighty fine job of it. I pour in the water. He puts in 4 scoops of grinds, shuts the lid and pushes the "on" button.


I get a lot of satisfaction out of kicking the snow chunks off of the car. The kids rather enjoy it too. The colder it is, the harder they are to dislodge....thus an even greater sense of accomplishment.


The books on my nightstand right now include: the Bible (which I must do more reading of than I do...but it IS there and it does get read and it IS the best one), Until They Bring the Streetcars Back (haven't yet started it, but it's my next read for book club, so I must begin soon), Prodigal God by Tim Keller (came highly recommended by a friend and now I highly recommend it), So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore (she's become a favorite author this year), Son of Hamas (haven't started yet, but want to soon!)...and that's about it as far as "adult" reading goes. Children's books tend to take presidence, but when I have time those are the ones vying for my attention.


We are in the midst of a room change. Jude will be moving downstairs to where our office is/was. An office isn't totally necessary anymore. We've got a laptop and so our desk with paperwork and stuff will go in a corner of the basement. Currently all three kids are in the half story upstairs. It's worked well so far (for Jude and Jeneva to share a room and be in bunk beds), but it will be nice for him to have his own space (he is still sleeping on pink sheets for crying out loud!) and for Jeneva to have a bit of privacy. We got a toddler bed from some friends and I picked up a mattress for it off of Craigslist. I'm excited to decorate with some more boyish looking things for him.


Jeneva is becoming a good reader now in English. She doesn't start English Grammar until 2nd grade because they're still immersed in Chinese, so I'm happy for her progress in her first language so far. We are going to try out a violin teacher for her and once we decide on whether we will rent or purchase a violin we'll start. She's excited!


Steve applied and interviewed for a different position at his work. It's a lateral shift, so probably not an increase in pay, but different responsibility. We think it would be a much better fit for him and for our family. We're anxiously waiting and praying to see what God has for him!


I am encouraged weekly when I get together with 4 other women from church/kids school to pray for our kids and Yinghua. Love it. It's intentional and purposeful and an honor to seek the Lord on behalf of our children with sweet friends.


Jude has aches in his leg every night. We haven't decided yet if it's growing pains, a good excuse to get some yummy medicine, or if it's something we actually need to be concerned about. Hmmm.


Josie is walking a lot. She's pretty proud of herself. She is at that putting-all-things-in-mouth phase. She much prefers pencils, pens, crayons, markers.....you get the idea.


I've been agonizing over the past couple of months as to what to do about my teaching license. It expires the summer of 2012 and I've done nothing to keep it up for the past 3 years since I've quit teaching. Initially I thought I would just let it go. I have no intent of going back to teaching anytime soon (and I was pretty burned out by my final year) and I figured I would just do the required work necessary to get it back when the time would come for me to teach again. I know a lot of people who have just let theirs go as well. How bad is that anyway? Well, I've decided I'm going to keep it up. Not quite sure why, but it just seems like the right thing to do now. I looked into taking classes either online or at a local college, but that is expensive and seems hard. So, here I am frantically signing up for workshops and asking schools that I have any connection to if I can sit in on their professional development workshops. Some success so far! I signed up for a class at the U in February, another workshop in another district for next month as well, and have some connections with schools for the coming year. Now I'm just praying that it will all work out.

That's all for now. I'm feeling hopeful and thankful in the midst of this Minnesota January. Good night!