January catch up... (yawn)

(I don't have any new pictures of my own; just some Indiana Jones Lego ones by Weston that were on my camera and a copy of Rembrandt's Anna the Prophetess from the internet. -Look at the detail of her wrinkled hand!)

Well, we've reached the final stretch of a difficult and busy month.

My class load has been double in the teaching department AND I'm taking dance and voice (which is great, but is also an ADDED thing.) This last weekend was not a weekend for anyone in choir or involved with the Budding Playwrights Festival. But if we want to be performers, we shouldn't complain.

Dave and I are stinkin' tired and the boys are cranky whenever they're asked to do anything but play. So...

Welcome back to work everybody!

I'm proud of my drama ministry class; they're coming along quite well with services back to back. It's actually fun to have so many people in a piece, even if they just stand there or only say one line; they're beautiful to look at when they have a focused thought in their eye. We're putting together an interesting chapel for Annunciation Day Chapel (Tues. Feb. 2) and I'm excited to invite some of the elders in our community to help us celebrate the vision and blessing of Simeon and Anna in the temple. I think we'll use candles.

My boys are so beautiful when they sleep. The last three nights I haven't been free to put them to bed, so I gaze at them when they're already sleeping: Guileless. Soft and sweet. Then I pull a little extra blanket over their little exposed arms and they smack and turn and exhale. They're so cute!

Weston is my little toast stealer. I've been in the habit of making fresh milled whole wheat bread and I swear it's keeping my healthy. Almost every morning I'll have a slice toasted with butter instead of the usual cold cereal like the boys. On days that Weston is home, we have this little pattern: After he's already had his cereatl with Donovan a half hour earlier, I'll ask if he wants any toast and he says, "No, thanks." Then I make myself two pieces, butter them and sit down with my toast, orange juice, grapefruit half and my list of things to do. Inevitably, Weston will come up and stand beside me, let me pet his back briefly while his sucks his tongue and rubs Brown Bear's ear across his lips, and then he takes my other piece of toast and bites in. No asking, no comment, just eats. Then I give him a look of mock offence and he just smiles and flutters his eyelashes in my general direction. Cracks me up.

Donovan has been doing some good reading aloud. He has a nice reading voice with good expression. He was offered a role as a young boy in the chorus of Oliver, but he turned it down saying he didn't want to work too hard in the summer. True, Oliver would be a lot of long hours, but Donovan would have done a great job, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, the boys are in kids choir here in Rosebud and as of last night it looks like they'll be starting karate once a week in Standard (17 minutes up the road in good weather).

We had hoar frost today. Pretty spectacular, but the roads are still an ice rink. Not the highway, but all the interior roads that all the staff and students have to slide on to get to class. It's pretty slick. Thankfully I have my super cleats which bite into the ice and don't let me fall. I still tend to overbundle even with the weather considerably warmer, but hey- it keeps me healthy.

We've had some pretty intense topics to discuss in Faith and Art and I'm really challenged with how much stuff I have, how much stuff I waste and how much stuff I still feel I need to buy. thestoryofstuff.com has been really thought provoking...

Today I had the women naming metaphors for themselves and their classmates. It's such a beautiful way of naming truth. Like parables. Stories can reveal truth in a way that is not as abrasive as direct criticism. Images make lasting impressions on me longer that platitudes.

I'm enjoying taking voice lessons. BJ has me journalling so it keeps me observing and articulating what my voice is doing, even while I'm teaching.

But it is DANCE that is busting my butt! I sweat SOOOO much I have to take a full length towel just to dry off! I said I wanted to try and get into better shape and I've been saying I want to dance.... Well FINALLY I have an occasion to make a habit of it!

So I shouldn't complain. Ahhhhhh!