Monday Morning Daybook

Happy Monday, friends!

God’s Glory Outside My Window

cold, cold, cold. We have had record lows here! And then it was in the 50’s a few days later. Then, a few more snow flurries. Basically, if you live in East TN, the weather usually just can’t make up its mind. 🙂 I still am really wishing for ONE BIG SNOW. Is that too much to ask?!? Nearly everyone around us has received this gift. 🙂

Giving Thanks

birthdays, celebrations, fun days at Ober Gatlinburg for David’s birthday, and 3 more birthdays coming up for 3 awesome kiddos! We’ve had some sort of flu bug go through all the kids. So far, David and I haven’t gotten it. But, we’ve been mostly stuck at home for about a week now…I actually usually love an excuse to stay home. But I don’t love that my kiddos haven’t felt well at all! Giving thanks that they all seem to be on the mend…

In The Schoolroom

Memorizing Stopping By Woods by Robert Frost, learning the hymn Whiter Than Snow {perfect timing, yes?} Also we are a week into our Winter Olympics and Ancient Greece study! Loving it and loving the Chalk Pastel Tutorials for Winter Olympics also! I’ve decided to learn one hymn and one poem per month based kind of on a ‘theme’ for that month. So, February’s poem and hymn will be love-based. Of course. 🙂 I will try to remember to share those with you here…

From The Kitchen

I created a list of 20 meals that our family enjoys, and quite honestly, meals that weren’t too difficult to make…and I’ve been using this and sticking to it for about 10 days now!! SO exciting! I *need* a menu plan to be more diligent in the kitchen.

I had an email or two asking for this list of meals…I wanted to share that a lot of my recipes are on these pinterest boards: Main Dishes, Soups

Here are my meals for January: ** Chicken Noodle Soup (on soup pinterest board) ** Lasagna Soup (soup pinterest board) ** Meatloaf & Veggie ** Sloppy Joes ** Tacos & Rice ** White Chicken Chili ** Roast, Potatoes & Carrots in Crockpot ** BBQ Chicken in Crockpot, Shredded on Buns ** Lasagna ** Brown Sugar Pork Chops & Veggie ** Beans & Cornbread ** Pizzadillas (Recipe on Main Dish pinterest board) ** Lemon Crockpot Chicken ** Potato Soup & Grilled Cheese Sandwiches ** Crustless Quiche ** Breakfast for Dinner ** Fried Rice & Chicken ** Baked Spaghetti & Salad ** Chicken Pot Pie **

Around The Home

Give us a few days of “different” or sickness, and all sense of routine and/or semi-clean house goes right down the drain…so the combination of David’s birthday and then the flu hitting our house the next day, well, the house isn’t exactly at its best right now. 🙂 For 8 days we’ve had sickness. I feel like we lost a week of our lives. Ah well, no fevers since Thursday, then it hit ME and now I’m mostly better. Hopefully this week will be much, much better. 🙂

On My Nightstand

Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking by Susan Cain ~ loving this book!! If you’re an introvert – or married to one – I highly recommend this book!! I’m breathing big sighs of RELIEF as I read it!!

Say Goodbye to Survival Mode: 9 Simple Strategies to Stress Less, Sleep More, and Restore Your Passion for Life ~ loving this book also. This book is really helping me put feet to my word of the year, so to speak! I’m writing down concrete goals, making routine type lists…this book is really good for me because those things don’t seem to come naturally to me anymore like they used to, pre-children. 🙂 I don’t know what happened…I used to be so organized. LOL! {I finished this book and have a full post coming up in a few days with lots of details from this book!!}

Speaking of Jesus: The Art of Not-Evangelism – So I finished this book and LOVED IT. I haven’t highlighted another book this much since probably One Thousand Gifts or Crazy Love. Hmmm. So much there that I think I will have to write a whole post on this book. But, if you are interested in evangelism, what Christianity looks like in other countries, how Americans speak a lot of “Christian-ese” then you will love this book. 🙂

Clicking Around

Oh so much good out there to be found!! I got to “show-n-tell” Hannah’s France lap book that she did for our co-op at the Homeschool Share blog! I also shared 5 Practical Tips for the times you’re struggling at The Busy Mom blog. Have you been following the Coffee For The Soul devotional blog? I only contribute 1-2 times per month, but ALL of the daily devotions are fabulous!! {You can read all the devotions I have written by clicking here.}  I also am excited about Sarah’s new series, Teaching From a State of Rest, resting in the Lord and being content with where He has me is something I struggle with, I know this series will be an encouragement!

Oh and have you seen this BRAND NEW homeschool conference in Pigeon Forge? It will be happening June 26-28, go here to read more about it and register now to save 20% off. I’m SO excited to have something LOCAL to attend!

Pondering

If we’re friends on Facebook you’ve noticed I’ve been reading all kinds of things on my personality {INFJ} and how to homeschool with this particular personality type, how to help maintain my children’s friendships when mom doesn’t like driving all over creation every day, how to find time for quiet for myself, etc etc. Still pondering, still creating goals to help with this, slowly but surely I’m accepting who God made me to be. 🙂

Prayerfully

I feel like I am *always* praying about obligations, what I should say YES to, what I should say NO to. When you read my post about Crystal Paine’s new book (as mentioned above) you will understand this more. But, every time I say YES to something, I’m saying NO to a myriad of other things. Big things, but also little things – like things around my home, etc. I wish I could just make my decisions and then be DONE making decisions. I don’t make decisions well, actually. But, seasons change, children grow, my obligations must change also. It’s just all so hard.

Plans For The Coming Week

Simple Valentine’s Day cards coming up on the blog on Friday!! 🙂

Sales & Discounts

• The Ultimate Guide to Brain Breaks is ON SALE for $4.99 through the end of January!!
• The Warrior {Christian fiction book I loved} is on sale for $2.99 through January also!
• You still have time to get this Valentine special from Dayspring for only $19.99, regularly $27.

A Few Picture Thoughts

Birthday fun at Ober Gatlinburg! The kids had a BLAST snow tubing!!

The Smoky Mountains are SO beautiful!! I feel blessed to live close enough to drive over for the day!