february 2023. – gentino family

February is probably my least favorite month (January being a close second); the Dark Month, as I’m liable to call it. But there were plenty of sweet things that happened in spite of the cold weather. That’s what I love about this blog. It always, always reminds me of the good in spite of hard seasons of life.

For instance, we held our second annual Louise Penny breakfast at Small Sugar, to discuss her latest novel. Why do we choose Small Sugar? First of all, have you ever eaten there? It’s incredible! (and the owner is nominated for a James Beard for her three restaurants. We are so proud). Secondly, we must have French food at these meetings because Louise Penny’s novels are set in Quebec. So we eat croissants and drink cafe au lait and pretend we live in Three Pines and speak fluent French. We missed you this time, Beth!

I did a lot of reading in February, of course. I loved, loved this little book by the late David Powlison on spiritual warfare. A friend gifted it to us last year and I only just got around to reading it. It came at the perfect time; I highly recommend.

Since winter is always a bit of a homeschooling slump, I ordered this book that came highly recommended. It’s the perfect inspiration I need — reminding me of my “why” in homeschooling — with lots of practical help. I sat at a coffee shop with it one afternoon and wrote all my favorite quotes and dreamed about next school year.

For Valentine’s day, I told David I didn’t want flowers, chocolate, or even a dinner out. I wanted new bedding! I’ll admit that I spent some time browsing West Elm and wishing for the linen duvet cover. But do I really have hundreds of dollars to spend on bedding? No. Also: we have a dog who may or may not be hard on our surfaces so expensive bedding is probably not a good investment. Thankfully, I found the exact color comforter I’d been hoping for at Home Goods for a fraction of the price. It looks bright in the photo but is a lovely dusky rose that brings out the pink in our curtains. It elevates our entire room. Kira thinks so too.

How cute is it that our gym owner gave each of the ladies a rose on Valentine’s Day? We felt special (sweaty and special). David just rolled his eyes and said, “Of course you don’t want roses from me but you want them from Wes.”

Speaking of EQ, in February I hit my 50-class mark! What a victory. I have never, and I repeat never, kept up with a strength-training routine this long. I feel great!

Back to books. I told Gabe that if he read a certain graphic novel I loved, I’d take him to Indah for biscotti and a vanilla steamer so we could discuss it. The book is When Stars Are Scattered, a true story of two brothers growing up in a refugee camp in Kenya. It is heart-breaking and beautiful. We had a lovely conversation, I’m so proud of how Gabe thought deeply and wrestled with the hard things he read.

Noah has since read the book three — I repeat three — times. He told David, “It’s my favorite book. Can you find me some more graphic novels about brothers who live in a refugee camp?” So I promised him a date with me to Indah next week while we’re on spring break. This book is exactly why I long for my kids to be avid readers. Not to be “smarter” or more sophisticated. But to engage with worlds they never knew existed, like the parched, sun-baked world of an African refugee camp, in which people have suffered more than we can comprehend, but where many choose small, everyday ways to show love to one another. I want my kids not to just know how big the world is, but to feel it. To have their emotions stirred by it, even perhaps to consider God’s calling on their own lives.

I’m continuing my personal research on ADHD and Austism, and found some great books. I didn’t finish any of these before they were due back at the library, but plan to check them out again in the summer.

On February 20th, David fulfilled a lifelong dream, and flew to Tel Aviv, Israel with a group of pastors for a 10-day study trip. It was truly the experience of a lifetime. He posted about it on Facebook, but I plan to post his pictures and comments here on the blog for our own family record. We missed him so much, but were very happy for him. This adventure was exactly what he needed.

Besides plugging away at school and tutoring, we planned some fun things to pass the time. My cousins came over to cut hair (thanks, Amy!) and play Nertz one afternoon.

We celebrated Grandpa’s birthday, and also he made us burgers and the special sauce one evening from the supposed original burger recipe from In-N-Out Burgers, which our friends from California are constantly raving about. They tasted amazing!

Judah and I made a goal of practicing driving every day that David was away, and we made it 8 out of 10 days, which I don’t think is bad at all. He’s doing fantastic and gaining confidence.

The biggest event for us during David’s trip was that Amie painted her bedroom. This was quite the process, as her room is the most crowded in the house (50 plants. remember that.) When she had the idea, I told her that I had no margin this winter to help out, but if she would do the work, David and I would buy the paint and a second-hand dresser.

And she did it! The lion’s share all by herself. with help from our friend McKensie, brothers, and her grandpa. She plans to make a blog post of the entire process, but here’s a sneak peek. I’m so proud of how hard my girl worked and all she learned. I can’t wait for you to see the finished product.

The bedroom project wore everyone out so much (really it was just the house being in disarray), that in the evenings the kids and I had a succession of Harry Potter marathons, watching half a movie a night. It was very cozy.

We had a surprise early spring here towards the end of February. Of course, South Carolina being what it is, as I write this post it’s down in the 50’s again and set to get even colder next week. Ah well. We got a taste of warmth and some afternoons sitting in the sun, and that was just what I needed to carry me through. The nice thing about a rainy winter is that it seemed like one morning we woke up and everything had burst into a riot of color (and pollen). Linda discovered the most lovely white-budded weeds along her side fence, and shared some with me to brighten the living room.

Noah and Amie spent an afternoon building Lego houses, and when I saw Noah’s I had to laugh. Only David’s son and Linda’s grandson would create a raised-bed vegetable garden complete with a rain barrel.

I’d pre-ordered Beth Moore’s memoir and it arrived the last day of February. I read it in one day. It is a beautiful, painfully honest, redemptive story, which I very much recommend.

Last but not least, you knew I had to post another picture of Kira. This is her little rubber tire, one of the very few toys she is unable to destroy, and when she brings it to us to play, she looks exactly like a pig with that snout.