Week 3 Wrap-Up

We finally feel alive again!  Found out this week we have been dealing with a nasty parasite introduced into our guts through something we all ate (except our oldest daughter).  Thankfully it’s something that our systems can handle on their own.  It is not typically treated and usually runs its course in a week or two.  It was two weeks ago today that we first got sick.  We are slowly gaining strength and attempting to catch up on the mountain of housework that has been piling up.  What a job!  Slow and steady with lots of breaks will get it done though over the weekend we hope.  

As disgusting as it is to think about what has been living in our intestines, it does feel great to KNOW what has been causing this illness.  I’m not just a wimp who can’t deal with a little stomach flu!  I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with me.  I will never complain about constipation again!  At least you can do something about that.  But relentless diarrhea that is dehydrating you and wasting away your body that you are powerless to put a stop to definitely gives you a helpless feeling.  I’m glad I had a bit of meat on my bones before this all started.  In fact I was kinda thinking I’d like to lose 10 pounds.  Well, in the past two weeks I’ve gotten quite a head start on that, having lost 8 pounds already!  

Despite being confined to the bed and couch all week, I did manage to finish up week 3 of our school year.  We didn’t get our nature walk or nature journalling in this week, but we did cover everything else.  It did help having two sick parents, one on each couch, who could take turns listening to narrations and answering questions about math and such things.  We will miss Daddy’s help next week when he returns to the office.

There are no entries in my journal of thanks for this week since I was not up to my regular morning routine of rising early for my quiet time with God.  On the other hand, my week was full of thanksgiving in the nitty gritty, moment by moment living of it!  

• I am thankful for the many ways I have seen God’s hand at work in our lives these past two weeks.  
• I am thankful to be able to enjoy food again.  I have come to realize that there is so much more to food and eating than just surviving.  Yes, food nourishes our bodies, but good food and the enjoyment of it is good for our souls too!  I really missed the pleasure of a delicious meal or treat.  What a joy certain tastes and textures and traditions bring to us!  
• I am also so thankful for healthy days, good days of feeling “normal”.  As soon as I started to feel like myself again I immediately began to wonder what it must be like to deal with a diagnosis that would leave you grappling with the stark reality that you would never again enjoy a “good day” or feel like yourself again.  That could be reality for some of you reading this right now.  Someday it might be my reality too.  I deeply admire those who have to cling tightly to the grace of God to navigate a new normal in life!

Some highlights from this week’s learning…

The girls started a gymnastics class this week with other homeschoolers.  It was a hit!  They loved it and can’t wait to go back.  Seventy-five minutes of trampolines and bars and rings and balancing beams and just plain fun every Wednesday afternoon will be a great thing to look forward to each week this fall!

Boo and PJ had fun this week with a little science experiment.  Boo was learning about the surface tension of water, and her assignment was to float a steel pin.  I figured it would take a few times sinking and trying again, but they did it on the first go.  That pin sat there floating in our bowl of water for days, in fact. (Did I mention there wasn’t much housework happening around here?)

C-Bear is loving her Latin course.  I think it has become one of her favourite subjects!  PJ and I had to laugh as we noticed she was writing a series of Latin sentences on the chalkboard the other day.  Writing notes in Latin just for fun, you know.  Doesn’t everyone do that?!

We struggled a bit with Belle this week.  It’s so different having a student who hasn’t experienced school school before.  She honestly doesn’t know how good she has it.  Some mornings she comes out ready and eager, sporting a great attitude.  Then there are days when the whining doesn’t stop.  She’ll yell, throw down her pencil, storm off to her room.   I know I just need to be patient with the adjustment process.  Ambleside Online’s year 1 is the best way I can think of to introduce learning in an engaging, gentle way.  I am so thankful for the wonderful stories we are enjoying together.  And I know how tiring learning to narrate can be.  She is doing great with it, despite her complaints to the contrary; but it’s the kind of thing that is taxing, even for a pro!  I do long for her to have the maturity to see that things would go so much more smoothly if she would just work with me instead of struggling against me on those bad days.  And then I remind myself that I am 38 years old and there are plenty of days the good Lord probably feels much the same way about me and my attitude.  As that Rich Mullins song says, “I’d rather fight You for somethin’ I don’t really want than take what You give and I need.”  

Coming to the end of this post and realizing it was a rather picture deficient week.  Here is our Cassatt print from this week:The girls were bothered by how pale and sad the little girl looked and how stern the woman looked.  I said maybe it had just been a really long journey.  But I rather liked the interpretation of a meme that I saw floating around Facebook recently…”when you know you gonna get a whooping as soon as you get home.” Ha!

Well, onward and upward to week #4 this week.  Then we’re off to our Associational Family Camp in a neighbouring province overnight on Friday.  It’s always a fall highlight for our family!

Linking up today with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers weekly wrap-up.