November 9 -14, 2016

I was thinking, "I need to blog, because it has been a few days."  Um, yes.  Almost more like a week. We have just been busy, and time flies.  Especially from now to the end of the year.  It will all be like one big blur of crazy activity.  So before any more time passes, let me catch up to where we are now...

Wednesday, November 9 - As far as I can remember, it was a pretty good day.  Wake up, First 5, get ready, school, home, church, d-group, home, read, bed.  Nothing major stands out other than the usual day to day stuff. Oh, except we had a special Veteran's Day chapel.  It was really good.  Very touching to see some of the invited Veterans stand up front with the children who invited them.  I really enjoyed it, and I think the kids did too.

Thursday, November 10 - It was "Friday" at school, because due to Veteran's Day falling on Friday, we had a short week.  So, we had to work a little harder to get everything done, and squeeze 5 days into 4, but we managed.  And we were able to leave school with no homework over the long weekend.  Yay!

After school, we thought that we might take the kids and go see a movie, but there was really nothing out at the theater that we really wanted to see.  So we opted for trying out a new (to us) pizza place in a town near us.  They make gigantic pizzas.  Or you can opt to buy gigantic pizza slices instead.  We went for the gigantic pizza slices, since there were only four of us, and we knew we could not eat one of those whole pizzas.  As it was, just buying the huge slices, we ended up bringing home leftovers.  It was great pizza, and a fun experience.  And as a bonus a couple came in with an adorable little girl that was all little miss personality, and we smiled and waved and played with her while we ate.  It was fun.

Then we went to the Bible bookstore, because My Prince had some things he needed to pick up.  I was browsing by myself when the Young Prince found me and asked me to come with him.  When I did, he took me to My Prince, who was talking with one of our favorite workers, Mr. R.  We fell in love with Mr. R about 8 years ago, and we built a relationship with him.  We would always try to go when he was working, so we could see our friend.  Then, for a long time, we did not see him any more.  He had shared with us that he had been having some health problems, and we feared that maybe because of his health problems, he had retired.  We had pretty much given up on seeing him again.  So we were very pleasantly surprised that he was there, healthy and working.  We talked to him and caught up with him for a while, and then we finished our shopping.  When we finished and went to the front to check out, he opened a register and checked us out.  Then before we left, he came out from behind the counter and had prayer with us.  Such a sweet, sweet man! It totally made our night to see him!

Then we went to a dollar type store and browsed and bought a few little things.  Then we ran through a drive through and got My Prince something to drink, and the kids an ice cream.  And then we came home.  On the way home, the Oldest Princess called, so we put her on speaker phone, and talked to her for a while.

At home, we ordered a movie from our cable provider and watched it before we all went to bed.

Friday, November 11 - It felt very much like a Saturday.  We were lazy that morning (it was the first morning in forever that none of us had to set an alarm).  I got up first, and came downstairs, and fell back asleep on the couch.  We just chilled out and did things around the house all day.  It was a nice, relaxing day.  I spent some time reading, underlining, and soaking in my new book that I got Thursday night at the Bible bookstore, Uninvited, by Lysa TerKeurst.  I'm moving slow.  I don't want to fly through it, because it is good.  Girls, I highly recommend it.

Saturday, November 12 - We got up and did our normal Saturday morning things.  My Prince met with his d-group.  I worked on my Bible Studies and read some more of my new book, while the house was quiet.

My Prince got home, and I did some more things around the house.  My Prince and the Young Prince watched their ball games.  Then we went to do a little shopping - the Youngest Princess needed shoes, and I wanted to pick up a few Christmas presents while we were out.  Also, the Young Prince has been asking for us to go to a certain restaurant for the last few days, so we thought we would take him, and make him happy.  It made me happy too, because I love that restaurant as well.  It is a little more pricey than places that we normally go, so it was a treat for all of us.

While we were shopping, the Young Prince got a mini drone.  He could not wait to get home and try it out.  When we got home, the Youngest Princess and I read, and the Young Prince practiced flying his drone.  He had a blast.

Sunday, November 13 - It was a very good Sunday morning.  Our Sunday School teacher and his family were out of town, so we had a substitute Sunday School teacher.  He did a great job, talking about being in God's Will.  Then during the service, My Prince preached from Mark 1:14-15.  I think he did a great job, of course, I admit to being a little biased.

After the morning service, we had our annual church wide Thanksgiving lunch.  It was wonderful.  They also included staff appreciation in, and the church collected money, and gave each of the staff members a card and a check.  It was so very sweet of them, and we appreciate it very much.  On top of that, a lot of people gave us cards, and gifts individually.  Our people are so giving and loving.  We are blessed beyond measure to be a part of such a wonderful church family.  Each and every one of them hold a special place in our hearts!

After lunch, the Youngest Princess had a friend come over.  They played out in the backyard for a long time.  About the time they came in to play, it was time for them to get ready and go back to church.  They had to be there early for the Christmas program practice.

We talked to the Oldest Princess on the phone for a few minutes.  It was wonderful to talk to her.  She had sent me a sweet text while we were eating lunch, and it really made me miss her.

I left a few minutes after them for my small group.  We were all there!  I was very excited!  We had a good time, and as always, the time flies.  It never seems like we have enough time to fit it all in.  So, I always look forward to the next week.

Then I had my Bible Drills class.  The kids were wired from the Christmas program practice, but they settled down a little, and we practiced our verse and key passage for the night.  I think this verse will take a little more practice, but overall, they did well.

After church, My Prince and I and the Young Prince met with a man in our church whom we greatly respect.  He had heard that the Young Prince was thinking of becoming a volunteer fireman, and he just wanted to make us aware of a few things, and talk to the Young Prince about some things before he started.  He is a career fireman himself, so we very much appreciated his concerns, advice, and input.  He spoke openly and frankly.  He helped us to think about some things that we had not thought about before.  He was also very encouraging, and offered to be of any help he could to the Young Prince.

We came home, talked to the Oldest Princess again (I think she may miss us a little - I know we miss her!) and got ready for bed.  The Youngest Princess and I read our chapter of Anne of Green Gables, and spoiler alert for anyone who has never read it before (is there such a person?).  We read the chapter where Matthew dies.  We both cried.  It was very sad.  The Youngest Princess kept asking, "Is he really dead?"  And as soon as we finished reading our chapter, she had to go tell her daddy that Matthew died and that we both cried through the whole chapter.  After that, we played a game on her iPad to cheer us up a little and then we went to sleep.

Monday, November 14 - I woke up and did my First 5 devotion.  Then I got ready for school.  The kids both got up in good moods.

The Youngest Princess was excited because my student that has been in Taiwan for two weeks was going to be back at school today.  All of the girls were very excited to see her.  And she brought everyone goodies from her trip, so they were excited about those.  I was excited to hear their stories from their trip.  I am fascinated by how God worked it all out, and how God worked in the trip and brought special surprises for my friend and her family as well.  God is amazing.

Despite the Super Moon, and the Petting Zoo, and the face paint, we managed to get everything done today, and even had a few minutes for them to start their homework before time to go home.

I had a brief teacher's meeting after school.  The Youngest Princess had tumbling practice.

I came home and My Prince and the Young Prince and I went to eat before going to pick the Youngest Princess up from tumbling.

The rest of the evening was spent grading papers, doing homework and Bible studies, and watching tv.  Now My Prince has already retired, and the Youngest Princess is waiting on me to go and read our last chapter of Anne.  So I will go and get that done so we can go to bed.

Until I blog again...