Drawing In: Number 29

Weekend Camping, Summer Preparation, Liturgy of the Hours

For new subscribers: Welcome! Most Fridays I write a little life catch-up piece, maybe some musings or ramblings on a topic on my mind, a bit of meal planning or other intentional motherhood work. Kind of a catch-all for thoughts that aren’t long enough for a post but don’t really fit in a note….

House and Yard

It’s amazing how much difference mowing the grass makes! I’m hoping to make a quick turn around the back and front later today. Peonies have started to bloom too; some of them I planted a few years ago and are really blooming this year so I’m excited to see what colors we have ass I don’t remember what I planted!

After weeks of being too chilly we had a hot streak this week that made the fire pit too warm! That rubble will be burned in the next few weeks!

Some of the patio stones need a reset and the whole thing needs a thorough weeding. Women’s fellowship sat out here Monday night which was lovely.

Normally on Fridays I do a good reset of the main rooms of the house and then again on Monday (especially if we’ve had company). This past Monday, M’s little critters (we call them “Chippies”) were sitting nearby in a basket when I was changing the tablecloth….

Those two boy rabbits are causing their parents some worry with their climbing! Perhaps the couple out for a walk are courting?

Just now I can see that I need to do a good tidy again - this afternoon and tomorrow morning while also getting ready to take M and her friends camping for the holiday weekend.

Summer Preparation

School ends in three weeks so I’m busy putting summer adventures and plans for around the house days together. We don’t like a very busy summer but a steady rhythm of twice weekly expeditions and days at home with some form suits us pretty well. I spent some time on Wednesday at our local Starbucks working out where to go and when: state forests, beaches, local swimming holes.

Also meal plans, summer learning (both M and J have requested some stretch work over the summer - they like school for social reasons but find many of their classes not as in depth as they would like) and habits to work on as a family. I’m planning a post on the topic for next week but in the meantime I found this post by Julie Kilcur helpful in thinking through our family life over the holidays.

Can I tell you how much I like the tabs feature in Google docs? One of my side gigs is writing study guides/lesson plans for the books that many Charlotte Mason homeschoolers use in middle and high school and the tabs feature makes organizing the document so much easier!

Liturgy of the Hours

I’ve been very distracted this week - did hardly any Scripture reading and missed most of the prayers. Some weeks I feel like I am going in a million directions and just can’t focus long enough or the times just slip by while I’m engaged in a task. I’ll pick it up again today. Just start where I am and go from there. I know a big piece of the distractedness is the pending change from school to holidays, and the number of events coming up that I need to plan and orchestrate….

“Be still and know that I am God”

“He giveth His beloved sleep”

I need to grab hold of those and rest in them.

The disciplines of the hours are life giving but I have to actually do them.

What about you? How do you learn into discipline in busy seasons?

Keep loving your Extraordinary Ordinary Life!