Weekend Update

I am blogging to keep from lying down to take a 3 hour nap.  Soooo tempting.  I keep telling myself that I should be productive and a nap that long will just make me feel terrible.  I went to bed at 10 and got up at 6:30...I have had plenty of sleep.  It is just that constant nudge to hibernate, because Baby, it's cold outside.  Plus, I need to blog to catch up on life and not just facebook, or as I like to call it, Blog Lite.  So, because there are too many topics to have a nice coherent post, bullets for your reading pleasure:

• I started my job yesterday and I love it.  Okay, I don't love it, but I really like it.  It is just complicated enough to be challenging.  By the end of a 6 hour shift, I felt like it was something I could definitely do well and without any added stress.  The job yesterday was a reset, so I got to see lots of different ways to do the same job because several people work together to do the reset.  I know which way I want to work and I look forward to working alone.  My  inner introvert that has been suppressed for so long by a chatty extrovert loves this job.  The approximate 10 hours a week I will be working (on a good week) are not going to make us rich, but it is a nice gradual phase-in for back to work.
• All three of my kids made the honor roll.  I am very proud of them and also homeschooling as a whole.  Many people wrongly assume that homeschoolers are always way behind when (if) they re-enter the school system.  I am happy our family is helping to dispel that myth.
• I continue to be impressed with our schools.  My kids are doing well on school work but they are also not bored and unchallenged...a myth among homeschoolers. (The prejudice goes both ways!)  Have I mentioned my relief at not having to grade papers or do lesson plans?  Yeah, I thought so.
• My dad is 70 years old.  Last Sunday, he came to church for the first time.  He chose my church due to its size. (Two of my sisters go to a HUGE church and one does not attend.)  I don't think he was really too excited about it.  I asked him what he thought and he said it was "long".  I am amazed and impressed that he came.  I am reluctant to process any feelings beyond that because I'm not sure this will be a constant.  I am thankful to a God that answers prayers...sometimes many many many years after they are prayed.  I fully realize that church isn't really 'fun' if you don't 'know' God.  I also fully realize that most people make a step inside a church to meet Him...I pray that is what is happening with my dad.
• My sister, Linda, and I have spent alot of time together lately and especially this week.  She has a new job and is also going back to school.  Since her job has not quite started yet and I have kids in school now, we have had a bit of time to fellowship.  It's been nice.
• I still miss my cat, Gray Gray.  I am very thankful we got a little black kitten about 6 months before Gray Gray died.  It has really been comforting.  Even though this cat is nowhere near the precious lapcat that my angel was, she does entertain us with her antics.  AND sometimes, when she is sleepy and cold...she graces our laps with her presence.  I'm sad for people without pets.  They don't know what they are missing.