Playing Catch-Up

I know that I could have continued posting while my giveaway was going on, but I decided that it was a really nice excuse to take a little bloggie break. Of course, the week I decide to take off it seemed like there were all sorts of things to write about! I'll see how many of those things I can remember, and see if they still seem interesting.

First of all, the most exciting...... School is OUT!! Yippeeee!!! We finished up on Friday, and we are already really enjoying having a little time off. I hope to have a full summer break though. I will be working with my daughter as she goes through her Keepers At Home Handbook. My friend Laura introduced me to this about 3-4 years ago when we were in a homeschool group together. If you have daughters, you should really look into getting this book. And if you have sons, they have a Contenders of the Faith Handbook that is also excellent. I'll keep you posted about which projects she's doing. I would also like to get a few craft projects of my own accomplished. I hope to get my photographs into albums and scrapbooks. I have literally thousands of pictures, so this might take some time... but I'm determined! I would also like to work on my cross-stitch some more. Sadly, this has been put away in a cupboard and hasn't seen the light of day since **GASP** December! Where does the time go? Then there are the quilts I would like to make, and the clothes that inevitably need to be made. I have a feeling that I won't get all of these done ;) I'll keep my goals limited to the pictures, and just attempt the rest.

We found out that we might be having a visitor this summer; we're so excited!! My Dad wants to come for a visit, and we are praying really hard that the Lord would allow this to happen. It's been about 4 1/2 years since he was in our home, and we haven't seen him at all in 1 1/2 years. If you think of it, please pray that this all works out, and that the Lord blesses this opportunity to be a witness to my Dad.

I've decided that before I can get really involved in crafts and other fun things, that I need to give the house a really good, thorough cleaning. Today (Monday) is the Jewish holiday of Shavuot. So my husband got the day off from work! Little did he know that he would be recruited onto my cleaning crew. Our balcony really took a beating over this winter and looked terrible! Everything was covered in a layer of dirt. So, we borrowed a water hose and sprayed and scrubbed until we got it all sparkling clean again. Which is harder than it sounds because our balcony is very large. Now I won't be embarrassed to have people over..... which will be the next thing to keep me busy!

Coming up soon we'll be having a house full of guests over for dinner. One of the guys that works for my husband is moving back to the States, and when this happens we always have a going away party for them. Usually this is celebrated by all of us being taken out to a fancy dinner..... for free. The last time someone left, they all decided that it was time for a home-cooked meal, and they came to our house for meatloaf. This time, when the man who is leaving was asked what he wanted to do, he said, "I want some more of Pam's good home-cooking." Okay, this was flattering of course, but I have to be honest. My first reaction was a very selfish one. "What? I don't get to be treated to a fancy dinner??" I quickly got over those feelings though when I remembered what an opportunity this is to be a testimony to these people. I'll let you know how the dinner goes.

I have at least 5 or 6 other 'major' things going around in my head, but I supposed they'll have to wait for future posts. A week off from blogging was nice... but it sure makes for a lot of catching up later!