Texas Woman's Daybook

Just for today...Tuesday, April 23

 

Outside my window...the temperature continues to drop and the wind is howling.  We're supposed to be down in the 30's tonight, so we brought the herbs inside.

 

On my bookshelf... "Franklin and Eleanor:  An Extraordinary Marriage" by Hazel Rowley.  I like to find "grown up" books to follow along with our kids in school.  Helps keep my mind growing, too.  Following my love for mysteries, I also found a series written by Elliot Roosevelt (one of FDR and Eleanor's sons) featuring his mother as the heroine.  Just finished "Murder at the Palace" and hoping that the others are good, too.

 

Noticing that...even in this country, care packages make me giddy.  Thanks, Gayly!

 

A heart of thankfulness...for my Olivia finally letting go.  For more than two years, she has kicked against submitting to Jesus' love and grace.  May 5, Aaron will get to baptize both Katherine and Olivia. 

 

I am hearing...the quietness of a house asleep for the night.  Earlier, Charles Ives' string quartets were playing as we fixed supper, then we enjoyed the cacophony of kids running around and playing after supper, but now it's just sleepy and quiet.

 

Pondering these words... "What becomes important is not that I manage time; but that I let God manage me."  ~David W. Henderson

 

From the kitchen...the Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls.  I've loved this blog since before we left to go overseas.  Returning from the Solomon Islands and finding that the Pioneer Woman had rocketed into foodie stardom shocked and pleased me!  Sarah started them yesterday afternoon, and Aaron and I finished putting them together this morning.  You know that everything around here is a team effort.

 

Around the house...the crate shipment has been postponed to May 1st.  So, now we're trying to put together gift bags for SITAG's Conference in September.  Our circle of friends rose to the challenge two years ago to encourage the missionaries in the Solomon Islands.  Anyone interested again?

 

From the learning rooms...we've entered the depression and the dust bowl.  What a joy to have libraries and bookstores at our fingertips!  "Wingwalker" by Rosemary Wells, "My Heart Will Not Sit Down" by Mara Rockliff, "Jam and Jelly by Holly and Nellie" by Gloria Whelan, "Picking Peas for a Penny" by Angela Shelf Medearis, "Saving Strawberry Farm" by Deborah Hopkinson, "The Babe and I" by David A. Adler, "Dust for Dinner" by Ann Turner, "Potato:  A Tale from the Great Depression" by Kate Lied, "Eleanor" by Barbara Cooney, "When Marian Sang" by Pam Munoz Ryan, "Eleanor, Quiet No More" by Doreen Rappaport, "A Boy Named FDR" by Kathleen Krull, "What Charlie Heard" by Mordicai Gerstein, "Amelia and Eleanor Go For a Ride" by Pam Munoz Ryan

 

A few plans for the rest of the week...the week picks up steam as it goes along.  We're looking forward to a double date to the Dallas Symphony on Friday night and hosting some of our church staff at our house this weekend.  Our staff is always pouring themselves out for everybody else, and we are so thankful for them.

 

A peek into my corner of the world...sweet friends who evacuated from Central African Republic and came to roost in Dallas for a few months.  We had never met their boys, and tonight was a great time of reconnecting after almost five years!