Sunday Reflections: Last Week of Summer

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Life at the Strauss House...

Countdown is on. Our Challenge classes start up on Tuesday, and therefore this week included orientations and teacher equipping fun. If you're going to homeschool, make sure you have a group of moms that are in the same boat. Just because you're home alone, doesn't mean that you have to be alone in the journey.

Where I'm reading in the Bible...

John 10:30 in Latin states: "Ego et Pater unum sumus." or "I and the Father are one." I love looking at the Latin roots of words like "unum". I knew the Spanish word for one was "uno", but I didn't realize how many English words stem from "un-" like: unity, unified, united, universe, union, and uniform (to name a few). I love the unity expressed by God the Father and Jesus, His Son. Jesus obtained this unity through humility not equality. May I imitate His pattern this week as we start back into our school rhythms.

What books we're reading...

Jason: When you read a bunch of books, you inevitably don't get very far in any of them! He's still making progress though and here's his reading list for the week:

Practicing Affirmation: God-centered Praise of Those Who are not God
Norms and Nobility
The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe
Honor and Shame
The Great Divorce by C.S. Lewis - listened to it again...because he loved it!

Betsy: I got hooked into a good book this week, and amazingly I found more time to read. Funny how that works.

Captive - So I received this book to review, and I'll be giving one away soon on my blog, but it was captivating. It's about a young woman who is held hostage in her Atlanta apartment and how her transparency keeps her alive and diffuses an intense situation. Wow. Stay tuned for more. #FollowYourPurpose
Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child's Moral Imagination - I just got started on this one, and it's so good! It speaks to my soul as a mother who wants to cultivate virtue in her children.

Will: He had pink eye this week....yuck. It really impaired his reading this week. While he wanted to read much more, he just finished up some reading from last week and waited for his eyes to heal.

Call of the Wild

Grace:

Five Little Peppers Midway

Ellen:

The Fairy's Mistake

Nana:

Thunder Snow by Sheila Hollinghead

Steps towards a healthier lifestyle...

I've tried to keep my steps going this week, but it's been tough. I like to get up and walk in the morning, but when I have places to be early, it's hard to get everything done in time. What ends up happening is I have a long walk at night to make up the steps. I'm telling you - if I didn't get moving I'd be at about 1,500 steps a day - no joke!

When I have a long walk night, I try to get my kids to go with me. They make great trainers.

This week's highlights...

My aunt and uncle came from California to spend the week with us. Well, my uncle actually came for a conference which just happened to be at DFW airport which is just about in my backyard, so they came for that, but I'm just claiming they came for us. Tuesday was my mom's birthday and I loved seeing her with her with her little sister.

So my sweet mom always gives up her room for company, and her sweetness was trumped by my aunt and uncle that decided to update the 36 year-old faucets in her bathroom while they occupied her room. Amazing.

My mom is one of seven, so I grew up with a huge extended family which was shocking to my husband as his extended family is smaller. All of them live in Texas except the California sister, so they made sure to all get together while she was here. Family is precious.