Geocaching Fever!

We have caught the bug and it is absolutely my fault! I mentioned to my hubby that a friend's hubby and sons were Geocaching and what a great activity it might be for him and the kids to do and great for geography lessons. He responded a little more enthusiastically than I could have anticipated and went out the same day to buy a hand held GPS!

***Geocaching is finding hidden caches in your area planted by others using specified coordinates programmed into a GPS.***

Last night we literally scarfed down dinner the minute Mr. Clean came in the door to try and uncover a cache (treasure hunting is what the kids call it) before the sun went down. Being novices we picked ("we" being Mr. Clean ) for our very first treasure hunt, a micro cache. Micro is exactly what it sounds like. Our first geocache outing was unsuccessful as we did not find our treasure!

Not ones to be defeated, Mr. Clean promptly came home and looked up the success rate for the cache he picked. No one found it on the first try! So this weekend I think we should start out finding a cache the size of, I don't know, Vermont? At least the kids would not go away empty handed and disheartened!

Why does Monday have to exist?

Last night I was convinced that I was going to bound out of bed (complete with birds singing on the windowsill to welcome me to my day), exercise, jump in the shower and have bright and shiny scrubbed children (and dressed) ready for a hearty breakfast and a great school morning.

.....Now back to reality.....

I could not sleep at all last night so at 2 am I took an over the counter sleep aid (Wal-Mart brands rock, by the way!) not thinking about the time and how long the effects would last. Needless to say, I was not bouncing out of bed when the alarm went off! After getting through the Wal-Mart induced fog I was lucky to remember my kids names. So it is now 11:35 am, no one is dressed except me nor scrubbed and shiny (including me, I am just lucky to be dressed).

So far today the "Z-man" (ds age "almost 6") has done one sheet of LA and played Reader Rabbit games on the computer. That counts as school in my book!! "Xena" (dd age 4) did one page of LA and wandered off to watch Disney's version of Robin Hood. Not quite the classic, but historical, no? "C'sa" (dd age 2) has been playing with Play-Doh and watching her brother on the computer.

Mommy... still kind of in the fog! More later once the haze has cleared!

The End of a Hard Week

Today ends what has been a very long, physically and emotionally tiring week. Three deaths were prominent in our world this week, yet we did not personally know any of the decedents.

The first was the service and funeral of Marine Captain Bryan Willard who was a good friend and college mate of two of our dear friends. The second was the death of Karl Marvin who was burned in an explosion and subsequently died from his injuries. He was the brother-in-law of a fellow church member and sister in Christ. The third was the unexpected death of Melissa "Missey" Gray, an amazing member of the homeschool community and young mother of five beautiful children. She died after complications from a c-section delivering her fifth child.

These three people reminded me just how fragile our lives really are, yet there is such a glory and peace in knowing that our lives are not just our own. The Great Physician is in control and was in control with all three of these situations. He knew them before they were even formed in the womb (Jeremiah 1:5) and their lives were special and important to Him.

It stunned me how hard these three deaths affected me. Maybe because they were right in a row. Maybe because I knew someone who was suffering because of the loss. This is a feeling you never want again, but a feeling you almost need to hold on to a little bit, simply to remember someone is dealing with it everyday... somewhere.

The biggest realization for me this week was the fact that we are to love one another above ourselves and I have not been really good at doing just that. Maybe that is why this has been such a tough week. I felt pain for people that I am supposed to love, even though we have never had the privilege to meet.

Have a wonderful weekend,

Angel