January 28, 2010 3:45 p.m.

I am so excited I can hardly post about this!

After years of sporadic discussion, Self-Reliant Man has decided that this might be the year to make our first cross-country van camping trip out west. This might be the right age for the children to enjoy this trip best.

After a busy week of internet research, we have decided that the trip plan would be 23 days in length, during much of the month of September. In fact, we have made a couple of reservations at a few higher demand campgrounds to be sure to get a site.

Self-Reliant Man anticipates getting an extra week of vacation due to twenty years service to his employer. What better way to use it up than traveling cross country?

This has been a lifelong dream of mine, driving across the U.S. in an RV. And although we do not have an actual RV, you may recall that Self-Reliant Man has come up with a workable conversion for our van that we have found to be comfortable and more than adequate for all our trips to date. We have been out west before (by airplane). Self-Reliant Man and I have been to L*ke Lo*ise, Ban*f, Col*mbia Ic*fields, Ic*fields Parkw*y. I have been to Y*llowstone and Gr*nd Tet*ns. This was many years ago. But that was by airplane. We have always wanted to drive it. It may be the optimum time to take the children.

Anyhow, we would be camping all the way in various RV parks that we have preliminarily picked out thanks to my favorite resource, RV Park Reviews . This web resource has always directed us to exceptional RV parks wherever we have traveled, and I highly recommend it if that is what you are into. It hasn't failed us yet.

The total distance of the trip will probably approach 6000 miles by the time we are done, but on no day do we plan to exceed 400 miles. This is for all our sanity, including mine! The children are very excited, too, and they are growing up into fine van travelers; however, we would plan to have more car games and books on hand to while away the hours. The great thing about RV parks is that you can stay overnight for about $30 and have more fun than at a hotel. There are often different activities available, places to walk and explore, and each campground is different. Apparently our greatest expense will be diesel fuel, as you might expect.

This trip is all Lord willing, if you know what I mean. Here are the destinations we have in mind.

January 25, 2010 11:15 p.m.

You know, yesterday, I totally forgot to mention something that happened on our camping trip. The first night we were sleeping in the van, I failed to put my eyeglasses in a "safe enough" place. Turns out, I had them in a soft case, and I must have kicked or squashed the case in my sleep because when I woke up, I found to my dismay that the frames were snapped in two across the bridge.

Darn it. These were my progressives, too. Big :-(




However, I am very thankful that I just so happened to bring my bifocals along as a spare. I don't know why I brought them, I usually wouldn't pack unnecessary extras for a camping weekend, but there they were, and I was extremely grateful. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to camp half-blind.

So Self-Reliant Man said: "Why don't you visit the Zenni Optical website and see whether you can order a replacement frame of the same style as the one you bought from them originally? Then when they arrive, I can install your progressive lenses [which are still in perfect condition] into the new frames?"

So I got on the website and ordered the same frame again, but with a different color (for a change) and they will arrive in a couple of days. They will only cost me $18 shipped.

Another thing, when I originally bought my progressives from Zenni, they cost $69, including $5 shipping and handling. Imagine that price for progressives at a brick- and- mortar optical outlet!

To date, our family has ordered five pairs of eyeglasses from Zenni. We have never been displeased with the quality; in fact, some pairs have been the best glasses we've ever had. You need to read through all the informative material on the website, and place your order very carefully, because you will have to eat your losses if you make a mistake. No matter: just be careful and take your time. And get your PD from your previous optician. They owe you this information anyway.

Need to save money on glasses? I cannot recommend this business highly enough.

January 24, 7:59 p.m.

You're right. It has been far too long since I have posted to this blog.

Part of the reason is my effort to reduce my screen time.

Part of the reason is the fact that we spent a weekend away from home.

Part of the reason is that what screen time I have had has been spent researching for a trip we are planning to take. But that trip I will write about in another post.

The best way to sum up the past two weeks of our lives shall be through pictures. We all love pictures; they make all posts more interesting. So here we go.

On this particular church morning, the temperature had gotten down to 25 degrees, with freezing temperatures lasting us 12 hours. Chips went to check on the dog's drinking water, and discovered that it was a solid block of ice!

As a matter of fact, we had a couple of thick frosts that same week. I love our property when it looks like this!

I tried to capture a closeup of the crystallization on our grapevine stem. It was quite impressive, for Florida.

The children, like their mother, simply could not keep warm enough. Here they were snuggling together during our catechism lesson one morning. I think a blanket would have helped more, but it was cute.

On one particular evening the next week (when it had gotten warmer), the children went outside to play while I was cooking supper. They were waiting for Daddy to return from work. When I stepped outside to check on them, they had rigged up their own "swing".


They "anchored" the rope to the column of the house. Well, it did work. But it was a bit hard on the tree!

The following weekend, we went camping at Lake Louisa State Park. I have to say that the hiking at this park is outstanding -- for Central Florida.


At the beginning of one three hour hike, the children were full of energy.


By the end of the hike, not so.


Here, Self-Reliant Man is sporting his Stetson and his new hiking pole. Sweet Girl bought it for him for Christmas (the pole, that is).


The hiking was so good. So much variation in terrain and plant and tree life.


Who says there is no leaf color in Florida?


We did see this amazing hornet nest. Must have been about a foot in diameter.


The children especially enjoy the Lake Louisa lakeshore. They always seek out water.


This is the sand man our son made by the lake. It is about 6 inches high.


Staying warm, snuggling with Daddy, and watching for 'gators. Dixie Lake.


Relaxing after a hike with Bear Blanket, who is still Sweet Girl's true love.


The children received Swingball from us for Christmas. This was their first warm opportunity to try it out. It was a lot of fun. In fact, we will bring it along on all our camping weekends from now on.


On this particular night, we enjoyed a VERY breezy day, some popcorn, reading, campfire, and lots of Swingball. It was a very happy evening.

We were thankful for this camping trip. Every camping trip has its own personality, and this was no exception. We were so happy that the weather warmed up in time. And that the rain stayed away, for the most part, except for midnight one night. But by then, we were all sleeping in the van.

Yes, we still love camping!

FOR TODAY... January 11, 2010 10:13 p.m.

Outside my window... night time, and still very cold here where we live. In fact, this month we have had five nights bottoming out in the 20s, and we have broken four cold temperature records for our county. Super brrrr....

I am thinking and praying... for God's grace as I dig further into the scriptures this year.

I am thankful for... the health and happiness that our family enjoys.

I am wearing... hiking shoes, black sweatpants, a navy blue turtleneck shirt, and an olive drab fleece pullover. This has become my uniform of choice for our chilly house. And believe me, it is wearing thin .... this spending entire days in a state of chilliness.

I am remembering... our dear violin teacher, who tripped over a bag and took a forward spill at her home today, right after our lesson. She appeared to hit her knee hard. I felt so bad for her, as she is elderly. I must remember to call her tomorrow to check up on her.

I am going... as a family, we plan to go camping this weekend to a local state park.

I am reading... Shepherding a Child's Heart, by Tedd Tripp. This is a book I read long ago, but I felt that I could benefit from reading it again.

I am hoping... that we will not have to have a new roof installed on our house in order to renew our homeowner's insurance. We made the mistake of calling them over the possibility of hail damage, and upon inspection, they instead decided that our roof (therefore home) was no longer fit to be insured by them.

On my mind... figuring out ways to accommodate additional violin practice into our routine to prepare for upcoming competitions.

From the learning rooms... we are moving ahead on our new Calvert lessons. Chips is diving headlong into Fifth Grade, on lesson 5, and Sweet Girl is on lesson 12 of Second Grade.

Noticing that... the older I get, the more that I sense the scarcity of time. When I was young, there seemed to be an abundance of time for everything. Now, I am so aware of its relative shortness and swiftness (compared to all that I want to accomplish).


From the kitchen... rotini pasta and sauce, with Caesar salad.

Around the house... trying my best to keep things tidy around here, now that the Christmas decorations are put away. I have also purchased an organizer to put together for Sweet Girl's bedroom. It will accommodate plenty of books and things.

One of my favorite things... listening to my children pretend in the back seat of the car.

From my picture journal...
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January 11, 2010 9:45 p.m.

It is time to change my blog nicknames for our children. After all, they are beginning to -- shall we say -- outgrow them.

So from now on, Little Son shall be called "Chips", in honor of the fact that he especially loves salty, crispy snacks.

And Baby Girl shall be called "Sweet Girl" in honor of her sweetness. . . . . and her sweet tooth.

Now, in real life, I do continue to call them "Baby Girl" and "Little Son", but it has become time to change their names on this blog. And yes, our son is also a sweet boy, but in honor of his being a boy, I shall not advertise that too much.

It is just time. Capiche?

January 9, 2010 10:50 p.m.

It didn't snow here, today. The forecasters teased us all. Thousands of Florida children had visions of snowflakes dancing in their heads last night, but precious few around here actually got to see them.

I think my kids were disappointed, a little, but I think I was disappointed a lot. Now mind you, it was an unusual day here. In all my 17-1/2 years here, this was the coldest Florida day I have ever experienced. It never got above 36 degrees here all day. That's one for my personal record book. And yes, indeed, we did get sleet here. And the children ran outside and rode their bikes through it, and collected ice pellets in their inverted umbrellas.

And the local radar showed the familiar blue color oh, so close by, to the north of us, but where we lived it was pink, so we had to settle for sleet. So close, yet so far.

The failure for snow to materialize triggered emotions in me that I had forgotten. Emotions related to the loss of earlier parts of my life, when I was younger and when I lived where it did snow. I always was a lover of things cold; I was the kind of person who would travel to Canada in the winter months, who couldn't get enough of the cold and snow, with all its beauty and all its inconveniences.

Marriage brought me here to the land of only two seasons and no snow, and I regretfully left my four seasons behind. I truly did, although I was simultaneously gaining a new and wonderful life. Were Self-Reliant Man and I to have settled down where I once lived, life would have been very different for us. Probably more difficult. Perhaps we would have had to remain a two income family, and we may not have been able to afford to homeschool. Who knows? The Lord has us here for his perfect reasons.

But on a day like today, I admit I found myself briefly pining for something different, and as I worked to pack away all of our Christmas decorations, I found myself thinking deeply about life issues, like the matter of contentment, and of the fragility of our own hearts.

Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life. PROVERBS 4:23 We are warned here to guard our hearts, and it is our duty to do so, and to do the same for our childrens' hearts. I thought, today, that if we were able to see the complete spiritual scenery of our lives, we would realize that we are each traveling on a narrow, rocky trail to our destination. Not only is the trail narrow and the footing difficult, but our path is flanked on one side by a steep drop off. So fragile are our hearts. We are helpless wanderers, dependent on the wavering affections of our hearts. If our hearts go astray, so do we. Go astray a few inches too far and off the edge we go.

Listen, my son, and be wise, and keep your heart on the right path. PROVERBS 23:19 We need to protect the hearts of our kids, too. For me, that means being very careful about what sort of things they are exposed to in their young years. Too much too soon and they become jaded and bored with life. Train them to find joys in the simple things, most especially in the beauty of God's creation, which is forever renewed, day by day. Show them how the Lord can be their portion, day after day. Don't roll out the fun experiences of life too quickly.

I had lunch with a dear friend this week, and we talked a bit about friends we each know who "have more". These friends have more money, they travel more, they go places that we only dream about going to. They have healthy, active, willing and available parents to further enrich their adult lives. We all have these kinds of people in our lives. You know who they are. They are the friends who send out Christmas letters every year detailing their world travels. And when we read them, it affects us. It affects our children. Makes us envious. Makes us discontent, even for a moment.

If anybody were to ask me on a typical day if I am happy -- if I am content -- I would quickly answer "yes!", for indeed I am. It is so easy to compare ourselves with those people who mail out those Christmas letters. But also this year, I am aware of friends who are thinking about far more than their annual vacations. They fear for their jobs; fear for their health. They wonder how they are going to make it through that next chemo treatment. They wonder if their husband will come home from active duty on the expected date. They wonder if they need a home health aide for their elderly parents. They wonder how their mother is handling life in the nursing home.

These friends have caused me to think nearly every day of how blessed and precious our lives really are. How thankful we are to have our health. I am thankful that I feel pretty good most of the time, even though I have my off days. I am thankful that we are able to homeschool our children. I am thankful that my kids are so healthy, happy, and easy to please. I am thankful that we are not actively worried about my husband's job security. I am thankful that our biggest problem right now is dealing with our rotten home insurance company, and that we can happily make plans and preparations for our next camping trip fifty miles from home.

Contentment is all about trusting the Lord to provide the things he know we need most of all. He knows our hearts better than we do. He is most concerned with our heart "health". He knows what is coming down the pike for us. He protects us from our own foolishness and poor judgment. He knows how easily we can be bored with our precious lives, and he sees all the cliffs and drop offs -- all the spiritual dangers that lurk around the bend that we cannot see or anticipate.

Contentment is about trusting the Lord. Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart. PSALM 27:4

No, maybe it didn't snow today. But this winter is far from over.

January 8, 2010 12:08 p.m.

In all the years I have lived in Florida, this is a first. For my little town, tomorrow's forecast reads: Rain showers in the morning becoming more intermittent in the afternoon. SNOW or SLEET may mix in early. High 41F.

And no, I don't live in North Florida.

Thank's Al Gore. Your" influence" is evident already. Going to charge up my Camcorder now.

January 5, 2010 12:20 p.m.

I thought I lived in Florida. I thought I was home. This afternoon it is 43 degrees and sunny and windy. Where did I wake up this morning?

Taking my kids, now, to what is perhaps their coldest (outdoor) P.E. class ever. They are supposed to play tennis.

Brrrr....

January 3, 2010 9:58 p.m.

The party's over! Tomorrow we begin our routine lifestyles again. Homeschool lessons begin tomorrow. Little Son will start Fifth Grade, lesson one. Baby Girl will continue Second Grade from lesson eight (or just about the beginning of Second Grade).

The down time between Christmas and this first day of school always provides an opportunity for me to gather up some of the loose ends in my life. This includes, but is not limited to:

• decluttering the house
• straightening and organizing shelves, closets, and cabinets
• filing away or purging loose papers
• clearing off the horizontal surfaces of the home (primary the kitchen counters!!)
• mailing off letters and packages that have been sitting around for a while
• removing old toys that the children no longer want or need, and setting up space for their new gifts
  
• setting up binders for filing the children's new school year papers
• thinking about my daily schedule and ways to improve it
• visiting friends I don't see often enough
  
• identifying books I want to read, Bible reading and devotional habits I want to improve, and goals I want to be mindful of for my family

I feel pretty good about my efforts on the above bullet list, and I am now fully ready to begin on the new school year. Over the past month, I was lulled into believing that I have time to accomplish certain things, but by the end of this coming week, reality will hit me again and I will realize how much time is running past me in my daily life. But that's okay, because now I can see it coming and will not be surprised when it does. When it happens, I will try this year to exercise more self-discipline and less screen time. I realize that it is the screen time I still allow in my daily life that prevents me from staying on top of other important family and home responsibilities. So, expect to hear from me only on odd days. Even days, I have the day off -- no email and no online (except for Calvert requirements or emergency needs).

And here is a Bible verse that I read this weekend that is my prayer for 2010 for myself and my family, as well as all the believers who I love and care about, including my bloggy friends. I pray that..