The month of April brought my first completed 10k race, weather beautiful beyond compare, fun times with family, new adventures, and happy news: we can finally announce grandbaby #2 is on the way, due in August! Didn’t big brother Carter do the best job with this announcement of his little brother-to-be?

“Perfect happiness is a beautiful sunset, the giggle of a grandchild, the first snowfall. It’s the little things that make happy moments, not the grand events. Joy comes in sips, not gulps.” -Sharon Draper

Good reading

books:

• The Language of Hoofbeats – by Catherine Ryan Hyde :: This story struck a chord with me as a foster-adoptive parent, particularly in relation to parenting a foster teen girl. That, and I’ve always been a sucker for horse stories. Anyway, good writing and a heartwarming story.
• The Art of Racing in the Rain – by Garth Stein :: I’m also a sucker for dog stories. This one told from the perspective of a wise dog who hopes to come back as a human in his next life. {Contains profanity}
• The Language of Sparrows – by Rachel Phifer :: Sweet story centering around the unlikely friendship that develops between a grieving teen girl and a lonely old man. {Christian fiction}

around the web:

• A Letter to my Other Children :: Sharla put this into words so well.
• 4 Absurdly Easy Things I Do That Make Life Disproportionately Better :: A whole lot in life is complicated. But simple things can be bigger than we think.
• I can solve for X but I can’t do my taxes :: What do kids really need to learn?
• The truth about hospitality :: I love this take on the meaning of hospitality.

on the blog: (in case you missed ’em)

• Rethinking creativity :: I’m getting creative about creativity.
• 6.2 Miles for Mercy, Island Style! :: A race, a hula skirt, and a parrot hat.
• One year ago: Homeschooling is awesome. (Except when it’s not.)

Happenings at home

As in the quote above, I like to find joy in the everyday things, to sip joy like I sip my ever-present mug of tea. I think that’s crucial for learning to live simply. So I try to appreciate things like the places I get to see while running. Makes lacing up and heading out a bit easier. Sometimes I post #scenesfrommyrun on instagram, too.

My most delightful new adventure lately is kayaking! I’m learning how much I have to learn. Not just how to paddle well, but how to get where I want to go (and back again!), whether high tide or low is better, where and how to launch the kayaks, how best to transport them… so much! Even before we moved I knew I wanted to start kayaking — and God put us a few houses down from a sweet couple who are avid kayakers and have volunteered to teach me. {Happy dance!}

This month I went ahead and got standardized testing out of the way for Scout. Although the state of Georgia only required homeschoolers to test every three years, it’s required every year here in North Carolina. We’ll do Kathryn’s towards the end of May.

When the kids aren’t doing school — which doesn’t usually take much more than a couple of hours each day — we’re outside as much as possible. They both ride bikes, skate, or just run on the street in front of our house every day it’s nice enough weather. Often, we all walk or bike down to the beach or the waterway, too.

Our town had an Earth Day celebration where the kids got to talk with a beekeeper, meet a couple of permanent residents of our local bird rescue center, learn more about sea turtle protection, and help beautify the park by planting flowers in the butterfly garden.

I’ve been gearing up for some school changes with Scout next year, which I’ll talk about in more depth later. This, combined with the fact that I believe 7-year-old boys benefit more from free play (Legos! Bikes! Lizards!) than traditional schoolwork, means I don’t do much sit-down work with Jem right now. Which means he likes to volunteer to everyone who will listen, “I never do any school.” So I cringe and try again to explain to him that school is more than workbooks. {sigh}

Although one-on-one time with every age is important, it can be harder to accomplish in the teen years, and I’ve learned from experience that these years will fly by; in the blink of an eye, Kathryn will be an adult. Our favorite things lately: exploring the town (we found a Little Free Library!), going out for lunch, or just taking the dogs for a stroll down to the beach.

Happy weekend, friends.

Linking up with Kris today.

Jamie

Wife, mom, J-ma. Introvert who enjoys good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand – unless it’s lost yet again in the microwave. Read more »