this week.

We had our 12th week of Classical Conversations on Monday, which wraps up our semester. Now we have a nice long break to do some review work and keep plugging away at math and reading before starting back up with our co-op at the beginning of January. The kids were very disappointed to learn we aren’t “going to school” tomorrow which makes me happy.

We had a fire pit mid week when the temps dropped. Can I just say how much we’re enjoying our house (wait, I’ve said that about a dozen times already, I know)? It’s cozy and snug and it feels like home, even after just four months. It’s our happy place. I typically loathe anything to do with cold, but I find that I’m looking forward to our first winter right here. David just ordered the Chronicles of Narnia set on Amazon for us to read aloud together as a family now that it gets dark so fast in the evenings.

I spent the rest of my week at home with two sick kids. Judah and Amie have been sick with upper-respiratory stuff several times this fall and I took Judah to the doctor with another asthma attack on Friday (thankfully I now know the signs so it wasn’t nearly so bad as last time). We found out after two attacks that he now officially has asthma.

You can pray for me because I’m struggling with anxiety about my kids’ health. Normally that’s not what my anxiety fixates on, but it’s bringing back a lot of memories of me being sick constantly overseas and I’m suddenly plagued with fear that they’ll experience chronic illness. Thankfully we have great resources here and a friend who has asthma is helping me consider making some diet changes to help Judah. It’ll be a lot of work, but it makes me feel like I can do something proactive to hopefully help him.

These homemade Gerald and Piggie paper dolls are my attempt at adding creativity to our homeschooling experience (if you haven’t discovered the Gerald and Piggie books by Mo Willems, you must). The kids love them, and while I was drawing Judah said, “Mommy, your mom is going to be so proud of you!” He’s the best.

And finally, a couple items of business:

1. If you’re on Facebook, I’ve decided to deactivate my account for awhile — I’m working on making better decisions with my time and when it comes to Facebook somehow my self-discipline goes out the window. As always I love to hear from you so can can reach me by email.

2. Due to the responses I got after speaking publicly about my journey with anxiety/depression, I’ve decided to write more about it on the blog, so you can look for a series coming soon. I want to share more specifics of what this type of struggle is like and give you some resources that have helped me. I know my experience is not universal, but if I can help anyone to not feel alone and to feel like there’s hope, I’ll be so encouraged. I’m deeply grateful to the people who’ve done that for me.

3. And finally, a few of you have asked if it’s possible to subscribe to our blog — so that you can be notified when I post. We’re working on that and will let you know when it’s up and running. Thank you so much for reading, dear readers.