Mindful Ramblings

In my life this week…

This week has been way too cold.  With high temperatures around 10 or 12 degrees, I have absolutely no temptation to go outside and have fun, nor do I even wish to go to the grocery store. Consequently, this was a fairly productive week.  My two biggest priorities were getting the blog moving again and getting my desk organized.   So I’m happy to report a little progress in both areas! 🙂

One of the reason’s for getting back to blogging is my participation in Mosaic Reviews.  I’m really excited about being a taste tester for various products and homeschool curriculum again.

In our homeschool this week…

The Girl has been working diligently on her first novel!  She is using One Year Adventure Novel curriculum with some other high students.   After about 3 months of prep work, she happily began Chapter One at the beginning of the month, and now has somewhere around 70 pages written!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

If you want your child to follow their dreams, it’s OK to let some other things take a backseat for awhile, as scary as that seems!   In our case, writing a novel will be a significant  achievement and publishing will be an absolute dream come true for The Girl.  It takes an incredible amount of time and mental energy to accomplish this feat.   She has a couple classes to complete before we call her a High School graduate.  But life is not a race, right?

I am inspired by… 

creativity and diligence

Places we went and people we saw…

The Boy and I went with Grandma and Grandpa to the symphony Thursday night.  It was an incredible performance and I was so happy they started this Neighborhood Concert Series.  It was nice to attend this event and not spend an hour on the road afterward.    The young, 20 year old guest cellist, Gabriel Cabezas, is already quite accomplished.  Last night he performed Haydn’s Concerto for Cello and Orchestra in C Major (I’m sure you are all familiar with that as I was. not.)  He had all 25 minutes of the Concerto memorized!!  What an amazing talent.  Here’s a clip I found on YouTube of a different piece:

Things I’m working on…

blogging, making jewelry, maybe a little crocheting

I’m reading…  

Re-Imagining Church: Pursuing the Dream of Organic Christianity by Frank Viola

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers – finished….Loved it!

Jesus Calling by Sarah Young

Identity: Eyes Wide Open, Book 1 by Ted Dekker

I’m grateful for…  great books and inspiring music

I’m cooking…. hmmm, pizza tonight, shall we?

Favorite Thing This Week …blankets 🙂

A photo, video, link, or quote to share… Check out this article on socialization I pinned this week.  (The picture has absolutely nothing to do with socialization, but the article is great.  Although, if I have to be honest, I do prefer a solitary beach to socializing with a large group of people.)