ONE more week til our Christmas break, and we are all glad! One of the moms in our homeschool group is from South Africa, and this is the time of year they are finishing up for the year — we decided we should adopt the South African way of doing things! {grin}

Next week is the last week of the first semester of Lindsey’s homeschool hybrid academy. She’s getting into the swing of things, but will be glad for Christmas break! After a rainy cold parade last weekend, she is done with color guard for the year. She has mixed feelings about that: happy to be done, but a little sad, too. She did earn a “letter” for the sport, so if she continues at the academy, she could get a letter jacket and already have a letter for it. If she chooses to do color guard again, she would get a pin for the letter for each additional year.

I’ve only required Kathryn to do the basics this week, no lapbook projects or any other “extras.” We attended The Nutcracker Ballet on Monday as a field trip with our homeschool group. Kathryn has been wanting to go to see The Nutcracker for years, and someday I hope to take her to see it at The “Fabulous” Fox Theater, but for now, the $12 it cost for the two of us to see this performance was very worthwhile. She and her friend Abby loved it!

Kathryn likes to choose her colored pencil colors before coloring her state map for our geography study each week. She set them up this way before sharpening them all, and then moving to the sofa with her lapdesk to do the coloring. This week’s state, by the way, was Kentucky.

On Tuesday night, our homeschool moms support group had our Christmas party. It was very fun, but the highlight each year is always the gift swap. The way our group does it is very meaningful, and it’s neat to see how everyone gets exactly what was intended for them, even though we have no idea who we’ll be giving our gift to; it’s all done by drawing numbers on the night of the party. Anyway, my gift was an ornament with a lion and a lamb that says “Peace on Earth.”

It didn’t occur to me at the moment I opened it, but shortly afterward, I remembered that I had looked and looked for an ornament like that last year to remind me of our mission trip to Africa. On the last day, we went on safari, and the first animals we came to were two sleepy brother lions. It should’ve been scary because they were very close and we were in an open vehicle, and it was evident that they were so very powerful. But I had to almost suppress an urge to go hug one and wrap my fingers in his big ol’ mane. One of our friends on the jeep with us reminded me that one day, in heaven, we will be able to do just that with no fear. The thought was overwhelmingly beautiful, and at that moment, that promise in the Bible became very real to me — and THAT is precisely the moment this ornament reminds me of.

We have a fairly busy weekend coming up, but we will manage some time for rest and relaxation, too; I hope you, too, are managing to find some peace in your days, even in this typically hectic time of year.

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 »