Sunday Reflections: Love is in the Air

Life at the Strauss House...

With a wedding at the end of the week, we had to be really efficient at the beginning of the week. I say that, but life doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes you have to readjust priorities for that week and just get the major tasks done, and let the minor tasks slip away temporarily. One way we extended our learning this week was by attending a live performance of the Secret Garden. I had no idea it was a musical! It was a fascinating adaption of the book and our whole family loved it!

Enjoyed "The Secret Garden" with friends at the @artisanct tonight. Another outstanding performance.

A photo posted by jbstrauss (@jbstrauss) on Sep 29, 2015 at 8:22pm PDT

Another way we enjoyed learning in a unique fashion was watching the documentary Finding Noah. This documentary follows a group of men in search of Noah's Ark. It was fascinating to enter the world of these archeologists as well as the geographical and cultural locations in which they were searching. While our regular homeschool schedule might not have held the same elements as a typical week, it's good to let go of the structure every now and then to have spontaneous learning experiences.

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Where I'm reading in the Bible...

I paused in the Psalms this week because as life gets busy, I tend to lose sight of my need for God and I try to take over control. It never works. David is such an inspiration for worship and righting one's thinking:

²⁰We wait in hope for the Lord;
    he is our help and our shield.
²¹In him our hearts rejoice,
    for we trust in his holy name.
²²May your unfailing love be with us, Lord,
    even as we put our hope in you.

Psalm 33:20-22 (NIV)

What books we're reading...

Jason:

Betsy: .

Anne of Avonlea

Family Read Alouds:

Mary Slessor

Will:

"The Pit and the Pendulum" from The Gold Bug and Other Tales

Grace:

Ellen:

Winnie the Pooh

Nana:

Born Again by Charles Colson

Steps towards a healthier lifestyle...

With all of my time spent sitting at a desk studying or at a computer keeping up with my blog, I've developed some neck/back pain. So I went to visit a chiropractor for the first time in my life! I'm working on sitting with proper posture, keeping my iPhone at eye-level to not put tension in my neck, and drinking more water! It always seems to come back to the water intake for me. He suggested that I need to drink at least half of my body weight in ounces of water per day to stay hydrated, but I need to add more if I exercise or sweat. That's a lot of water. Here we go!

Quick and easy meal of the week: Yummy Noodle Bowl

This week's highlights...

I had the opportunity to photograph Jason's cousin's wedding this weekend. Usually Jason goes with me to be my sidekick, but he was unavailable this time, so I took Grace. Last semester she took a photography class, and she's developed a great eye for photography, and she is just helpful overall. I was so proud of her! She worked some long hours with me, and she did it with a smile on her face the whole time!

Last year we went on a retreat to connect. Since we would be alone on this road trip, she counted it as our retreat this year. To keep it fun, we went shoe shopping on our way to the wedding, and on our way home, we stopped at Magnolia Market as seen in HGTV's Fixer Upper. We weren't the only ones there! It was packed, but it was fun to go see it and we enjoyed our time together.