Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Awwwww NUTS!! It's time for school again!?

 School is just about to be in session here at The Wright Place and the teacher and the youngest pupil are ready to roll. The others simply need convincing. Classes are planned, study materials have been ordered and have arrived, pencils have been sharpened and notebooks have been labeled. 



School things are in order but as prepared as I think I am there will be gaps in our days right out of the gate. Some of the gaps will be surprising to The Academy but one gap I am already aware of ...there will be hungry students and they will be hungry at the most surprising times of our school day. Every year it happens, every year it is a surprise. 





Actually, every day it happens and every day I am surprised BUT not unprepared. As we make our lists for our biweekly trips to the grocery store we always check to be certain we are well stocked with almonds and peanuts and some sort of dried fruit, usually cranberries, and if I'm feeling particularly fond of my students I just might add some chocolate chips to the list. 



With these ingredients in my cabinets, my kids are free to get snacky anytime they want. They love this simple mix (equal parts of all ingredients) and they can make it for themselves in what ever amount is necessary to satisfy their desperate pangs. Usually they need to make approximately 4-5 servings because after years at this game I know that hunger seems to be contagious. 


Who knew? 
One student gets a gurgly stomach and before long the other three students are downright starving and the teacher is simply ravenous.


It takes less than five minutes and ... Our hunger is satisfied and we've eaten a bunch of nuts which will sustain us for a surprisingly long time and we've eaten more than our fair share of white chocolate...some more than others, if the teacher has looked away long enough for little fingers to do some quick sorting. 


There you have it, my make-it-on-your-own, get-you-through-geometry-and-grammar, grab-it-on-our-way-to-co-op, no-fuss-big-fill school time snack. If, like me, you are always on the look out for healthy, satisfying snacks for your gang, check out the great ideas that the folks at nuts.com are featuring here." 



Happy beginning of school from The Wright Academy snackers!

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

We're Back with A Birthday

Today is a much anticipated day on our family calendar. 

Today we celebrate a big wild personality here in our home.


This morning Kate woke Molly up and asked her, "What's for breakfast this morning?"

Molly answered, "ICE CREAM CAKE!!"

But... 

...when it was time to celebrate it was only my Man and I who had assembled around the cake.

"Well," said I, "I'm the only one who showed up for your party."


"I knew some day it would eventually come to that." Eeyore my Man answered.


Eventually, everyone gathered and we sang and we ate and we, with tears in our eyes (not really), and adoration in our hearts (absolutely), celebrated our fearless leader as he embarks on another year of life.

Molly squeezed his neck and wished him the most loving of Happy Birthday wishes saying, 


"NOW it's only 9 more days…"
(till her birthday…oh yes, really).

Happy Birthday

to our oft unsung Hero.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

The Rope Givers

I've been pondering a picture which, as I jot these words, hasn't actually been captured with a camera yet, but I pray that it will EVER remain in my heart.

Last week I wrote about my Man and I feeling at the end of our rope with house bother and stuff…I was wrong though, we were not quite at rope's end…later that same night we noticed that our air conditioner was not keeping up with the heat and humidity. The little kids slept on the couch that night because their room was too hot to handle and we, my Man and I, laid awake all night wondering what in the world we were gonna do as we listened to the AC unit outside our window churn and churn with no apparent result.

When morning dawned we were no cooler and no calmer but we decided to call on our church family's resident "conditioned air" expert who arrived at our home in short order, diagnosed the problem and just as he was telling us how to fix it, another "I'll-be-right-there-to-help-you-out" member of our church family appeared and soon provided the necessary equipment to fix us all up.

The next morning, I woke up to the coolest, crispest, conditioned air ever AND a raging case of all-over-poison-ivy which I'd picked up on Monday while digging in the yard…


…cue "end-of-rope music."

But when you, because of your precarious position at the end of the rope, are in danger of just letting go of that rope… 

God sends The Rope Givers.

People who offer to deliver emergency ice cream to your door. 


Others who invite you to come away for a while and open their pool to you.


Some who take time out from their own much bigger struggle and hand you help to make things easier.


Another who lets you shed a tear or two into their otherwise calm and happy existence and shows you sweet compassion.


People who text you with the perfect words at the perfect time to make you grin or to laugh aloud or to simply tell you that they are praying for you.

Friends who ask you how it's going even when they know your answer isn't going to be fun to endure.


Someone who brings a great big truck to haul away your mess and others who show up to help you fill it up.

There are those who bring pie...


…and some who take your kids.

{Award for Best Shirt for the Occasion}

Friends who bring dessert and stay to help with dinner.


Those who will answer their phone even when they know it's you calling and they show up with buckets full of tools and time and talents and a pressure washer.

Dear ones who can make poison ivy disappear and take its itch away…

…and there are those who show up

… with shovels

…and wheelbarrows

…and smiles?!


These are all The Rope Givers.

I've taken my picture, the one I'd only, till now had in my head…


It's more than just a picture of shovels and pickaxes…

…it's work done and more promised tomorrow.

…it's encouragers checking in…again.

…it's folks with better things to do, putting my short rope on their radar and showing up again and again and again with cookies and shovels and trucks and time and energy and effort and…

rope

...enough to hang on to for a long time to come.


#sothankful

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 
Hebrews 10:24

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