1. I’m going to Crazyland on the short bus. Want to come along?

2. I prefer to express my adventure and daring in more intangible, esoteric ways. I’ll chase after a writing goal, or dare to pursue a project that others doubt I can accomplish. But you’ll never see me bungee jumping or skydiving. E-VER.

3. Perhaps today you can make it a point to be nice to me. Because I’m tired.

4. I’m so glad that my boys are equipped with a true adventurer’s spirit.

5. Compassion is a gift. (Truly, after recent observation of the uncompassionate actions of some, I am convinced that the ability to show compassion is a gift from God. Those who CAN do it, SHOULD do it, at every point possible, to make up for those who are completely clueless when it comes to showing love and mercy to one another.)

6. Mothers of infants prove that life without adequate sleep is possible, no matter how difficult.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to restocking the pantry, tomorrow my plans include way too many piddly tasks to list here, and Sunday, I want to enjoy my time at church then relax with my sweet family!

For more Friday Fill-ins, click here.

We got a glimpse of Jonah’s budding personality last night.

Let me preface this by telling you that Jonah loves his food. I mean, this baby loves to eat. He’s ten months old and eating way more table food than my other two did at this age. He eats his baby food and wants whatever we’re having, too. The kid can eat.

Last night, we didn’t have dinner until Eli and I got home from VBS. That was later than we usually eat, so Donnie had already fed Jonah his dinner while I was gone.

So we put Jonah in his walker, and he was in it beside me, munching on a rice cracker. I offered Eli a bite of my chicken, and when Jonah saw me spoon-feeding Eli—and not HIM—he stood up straight in that walker, pumped his fist into the air, turned beet red and SCREAMED.

Wow. Kinda scary to be stunned by a 10-month-old’s temper.

But then we all cracked up laughing. It was just too funny a sight, that little bitty boy so fully, physically, with every ounce of his being overflowing with anger over missing a bite of food.

Y’all go pray for me now, you hear?

Eli was working on memorizing his Bible verse for VBS tonight.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

(Pause)

“First Caribbeans, 13:13!”

I’ve written about some of my favorite things about homeschooling before. But as I’m watching my friends gearing up to send their kids back to school (which starts July 29th), I just have to compose a top-ten list of things to LOVE about homeschooling at this time of year!

10. We don’t have to start school on the same day the county chooses for public schools. So we always wait a couple of weeks before starting back. It feels so deliciously decadent to do this!

9. I don’t have to get anywhere near Walmart, Target or the mall this week, while they are jam-packed with back-to-school shoppers.

8. I don’t have to spend $$$ on each child for school supplies that they have to share with everyone else…or things like hand sanitizer, band-aids, Kleenex and other items for the whole classroom. (Downside, though—I DO have to cough up the cash for curriculum and that isn’t cheap. I’d probably come out cheaper with the school supplies. But I like knowing that my kids are actually using what I’ve bought for them. I loved shopping for school stuff when I was a kid—it would’ve really upset me if I didn’t get to use the items I’d chosen for myself.)

7. I can wait to buy our school supplies in late August or early September, when it’s all on clearance.

6. We can go to Chuck E. Cheese’s or a park on a weekday and the kids pretty much have the place to themselves. We love doing this with another homeschooling family.

5. I don’t have to start making the kids go to bed early to adjust to the school year schedule. Bedtime is pretty much the same, year-round.

4. Another shopping one, but I don’t have to drop $30-$50 bucks per kid on new backpacks and lunchboxes. We need those only rarely—and when we do, we still have a collection from when the kids went to school. And those costly back-to-school wardrobes? Non-existent until the weather cools off, then they’ll just need some new jeans.

3. Baby Jonah won’t have to say goodbye to his favorite playmates for 6 to 8 hours every day. I remember how little Eli used to fuss for Zach when Z went to school.

2. No school open houses or curriculum nights to attend, no new teachers to adjust to (and no having to worry over whether my kid would get a good teacher or a bad one). I know exactly what my kids are learning, and that they have a dedicated teacher who loves them very much.  And if it turns out that the curriculum I chose isn’t a good fit, we can change it. Again–the flexibility is what I love most about our lifestyle.

1. We get to sleep in two weeks longer than everyone else! Wait—we get to sleep in most days throughout the school year, too. Yay for homeschooling!

For more Top Ten Tuesday posts, visit OhAmanda!

Today is my sweet husband Donnie’s 44th birthday.

Forty-four. Wow. That sounds like such a big number. Even ten years ago, anything beyond 40 just sounded…old.

It’s funny how, now that he and I are both approaching our mid-forties, it doesn’t seem old at all. Because we were talking, and had to agree: we still feel like the same people we were twenty years ago.

Oh, we’re more mature. I like the way that we don’t worry so much over all the little things that used to bug us back then. I like how God has shown us through the years to extend grace to others, including ourselves. I can’t say I was very gracious in my twenties. Everything was about me. Everything seemed like a BIG DEAL.

I behaved as though everything was a BIG DEAL. Now most of those things that worried me so seem so small.

But the essence of who we are is still the same as twenty years ago. He still gets up early, raring to go each day. He’s always loved Volkswagens and fixing things and watching TV. I still stay up way later than I should, and I’m still the artsy, crafty, motherly person I’ve always been.

Together, I think we’re still a pretty good match.

One thing I become acutely aware of with each passing year, and that is how fast each year passes by. Here we are in late July—it’s already back-to-school time. Then it’s Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas and a whole new year will be upon us when I swear it feels like this one just began!

My baby will be one year old in two months, my middle son is starting third grade, and my oldest will be a teenager in January.

The days are long, but the years are so short. So very, very short.

Note that I didn’t mention my birthday, which is coming up far too soon for me. I know they say age is just what you make of it, but I still can’t grasp the fact that I’m over 40, no matter how loudly my aches and pains announce that to me each morning.

Donnie and I laugh together over our creaks and aches that we didn’t have a decade ago. We talk about how we need to get fit so we can keep up with this house full of boys. Maybe one day soon, we’ll move beyond talk and actually do it!

Birthdays. The day we celebrate the arrival of the people we love. We give them gifts, but they are really God’s gift to us.