Let the Little Ones Come: Seven Quick Takes Friday

1. I finally scheduled a hair cut this morning at 10:30. I haven't been to see Emilee (who has cut my hair since Marie was a baby) since early December. I am looking forward to a vast reduction in my number of bad hair days!

2. I am planning all the out-sourcing I am going to do for school next year. In our area, we have been blessed with a number of academically excellent teachers who teach classes geared specifically for homeschoolers. Right in my very own little neighborhood we have a Christian fellow who happens to have a PhD in Chemistry, seven kids (all homeschooled) and a love and talent for teaching science (K-12) and high school Math at a (gasp!) reasonable price!! I have registered Meg for two of his homeschool classes for the fall 2009--Jacobs Algebra I and Apologia Biology....Phew...Bill could teach those subjects (he is no slouch with a PhD in Physics) but he is so busy--I hate to add to his burdens right now. The younger kids will continue taking elementary science classes which are fun (no homework required) and give a general science overview but most of all allow them to do those fun sciency-experiements that we never found time to do...

3. I am very grateful that I did not give up coffee for Lent. Joseph has been sleeping in a very erratic pattern and I have been a bit bleary-eyed this week. Thanks be to God for my cuppa.

4. Green season (as our Irish dance instructor calls the March/April months) is upon us. Grace and Rose are dancing at the North Texas Irish Festival this Saturday and Sunday! It requires immense amount of preparation but should be tons of fun! Our family hopes to catch some good music Saturday after the girls' performances are over. We have always been great admirers of Celtic music even before the girls began dancing.

Gratuitously cute pic of Rose last Saturday at the dress rehearsal:

5. My Dad is recovering (albeit slowly) from his knee-replacement surgery. He has developed a cyst behind his new knee that is quite painful and adds more to his already pain-saturated body. Any prayers you can offer on his behalf are so appreciated!

6. I painted my hallway this week. It hadn't been painted since we moved into our home over 9 years ago. The walls were dirty, dinged-up and nasty. I thought I had enough taupe-colored paint in the garage to give it a quick paint-over but I was wrong. Not wanting to invest in a new gallon of paint, I found a gallon of Behr paint that I had purchased a few years ago to paint the accent wall in my dining room. I changed my mind about the color and had this very light sagey-green to try. I tried...and now the hallway looks very cleanly and freshly painted in a vomitorious kind of way...The lighting is so poor in the hallway that it takes a minute to figure out exactly what color the hall is...and then the poor lighting registers the sage as a nice shade of well, regurgitated spinach....Sigh! I am going to try and work with it and accent the walls and perhaps get a new light fixture...I hate painting and do not want to re-do the job!

7. We are grateful to God for many answered prayers this week for dear friends who had many medical challenges in their family . It gave us an opportunity to be able to pray and beseech our Lord for help and He rewarded our feeble efforts by showing us His Mercy. As my friend reminded me, Lent is a remarkably grace-filled time.

Read more quick takes at Jen's Conversion Diary and get a peek at their newest and most gorgeous baby girl.