January 2, 2o11 9:07 p.m.

I want to wish all who check in to this blog a very happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011.  I also hope that you have had a decent amount of time to enjoy your friends and families and to recharge for the year to come.

I have to say that our family was exceedingly blessed this Christmas and New Year’s break.  First of all, Self-Reliant Man has been able to spend a string of 17 days in a row home with us and it has been great having him home all this time.  In past years, we used to kid that he probably couldn’t wait to get back to work, but not this time.  We have had many nice, slow-paced days just doing things like watching Christmas movies, reading books, viewing Christmas lights, and doing some light projects around the house.  Also, admittedly, there have been some days of sneezing, sniffling, and chills, so we have had the full Florida Christmas experience.  After having record cold temperatures and hard freezes, the temperature topped out at 80 degrees today.  Wild ride!

I have also recently been blessed with a hunger for reading scripture.  I have been poring through the books of John, Romans, Matthew, and Hebrews and they have been great to read over the past few days.  I recognize the fact that I need all the grace and help I can get as I buckle down to begin a new school year.  No, I don’t expect everything to go smoothly and smiley, and I certainly have reason to expect bad attitudes from time to time (why should this year be any different?)  Whereas I cannot control attitudes, I can at least do something about my own attitude.  Yes, the work load is going to be great; yes the days are going to be busy; yes, there is going to be a lot of driving and scheduling beginning with this very first week of January.  So I really need to depend on the Lord’s help and grace to take each day at a time, as it comes, and to focus on glorifying Him in each single day. 

On a practical level, one thing I need to do is to discipline myself about the mornings.  What I choose to do with each morning can “make” or “break” an entire day.  If I start writing and answering emails, and checking all my listservs, and visiting this website, and that website, and one thing leads to another, and then Facebook, and then hitting “like” and leaving comments on peoples’ posts because I feel guilty if I don’t ….. well, then let’s face it – I can derail the events of an entire day.  So my prayer for us is for myself to be self-disciplined about the way the first half of the day unfolds, especially in the hours leading up until noon.  Secondly, as weather permits, I am committing myself to allowing between 20 and 30 minutes of relaxing in the sunshine at some time around the middle part of the day.  I have discovered that as soon as I forget about keeping up my vitamin D intake, I start to feel the effects (aching bones).  And then I get more short-tempered, etc.  You know how it goes.  Do I have a strategy in place for hormonal fluctuations?  No, not really.  I wish I did, but I haven’t the solutions for hormones, yet.  Like I often say about hormones: you can’t live with ‘em, you can’t live without ‘em.

I know the challenge is real.  I know the academics will be more demanding this year.  This year, I will need to really teach good study skills and habits to Chips.  I am not so sure that his personality naturally leads into this, so this is one more area where prayer and grace will be needed.

This is the time of year where we enter the home stretch for music competitions, too.  Sweet Girl is entering one event for FFMC: Violin Solo, for which she is practicing Bach’s “Minuet One” and “King William’s March”.  She is developing a nice and smooth sound, although her performance is extremely attitude-dependent  (smile).  Chips is entering three FFMC events: Violin Solo, Violin Concerto, and Violin Duet.  These events call for memorization of three pieces, and two additional pieces (for the duet) that do not need to be memorized.  In addition, he is going to help a boy to earn his Superior for Piano Accompaniment by playing the other musician’s part for two pieces (his solo pieces).  Finally, Chips and one boy from our homeschool support group are going to perform two hymns, “Be Thou My Vision” and “Fairest Lord Jesus”, for our homeschool talent show.  Chips on violin, and the other boy on piano. 

Long story short, is that all these events will require us to go meet and practice with the other performers every week this month – one boy on Monday, another on Wednesday, and the third on Friday.  Lots of driving, but it’s only temporary (I have to keep reminding myself).

So Tuesday will be the big day – back to school day!   But in the meantime, we couldn’t have hoped for a more restful and spiritually rejuvenating Christmas break than this one has been.  Jesus said “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life”.  This is as true in 2011 as it has ever been.  He has given us all another year.  Let us be good stewards of it!

A blessed 2011!