Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

Just kidding... sort of.  I can't seem to keep up with the blog lately (or the laundry or the dusting, for that matter), but we did get all our Valentine's candy eaten before Lent.  Well, Ed had one of those icky hard cherry nougat thingies left over, but the kids split it this afternoon (and they didn't give up chocolate, so it's okay).

So far this week has been pretty excellent!  Sunday was chocolate and church.  Katie discovered that half a box of chocolates is an unwise breakfast, but was only briefly inconvenienced and was able to perform her acolyte duties anyway.

Monday morning was book group and I got to lead the discussion of The Book of Three, which I like.  The kids all enjoyed it too, and it maps nicely on the story chart (exposition, rising action, climax, denouement, conclusion), so we had a good time with it.  I do logic with the older kids as well, using Critical Thinking, Book One, and that was fun as well, but the kids are finding it very challenging and our progress is painfully slow.  Actually, I think our kids may be just a skudge on the young side for the program, but Travis says it is his absolute favorite thing that we do, so I think we will keep at it and just take it as slowly as they need to.

Tuesday we had a good day of lessons and then the Pancake Supper up at church.  They didn't have a huge turnout, probably due to the  weather, but there were enough and the food and fellowship were wonderful.  Travis ate all the Canadian bacon he could hold and was blissfully happy, and Katie ate what turned out to be somewhat more bacon, pancakes, and whipped cream than she could hold, but was unrepentant.

This morning we drove up the mountain again, for the 8:30 Ash Wednesday service.  It was just our family and two other people, plus the priest, but it was a good service.  With such a small turn-out, Father Kramer decided to give a very personalized homily.  He was talking to the kids about the meaning and purpose of Lent (we don't completely agree on the meaning and purpose of Lent, but that is beside the point here), and caught Katie completely off guard by talking about how sometimes she might take candy that she wasn't supposed to and then feel the need to confess her crime to me!  This has come up quite a few times in the last few months at our house, and the confessions are dramatic and tearful (though the repentance is clearly short lived).  Katie was quite obviously stunned and horrified to find that the priest knew of her crimes.  How did he know?  Did God tell him?  I explained to her later that, given her demonstrated love of sweets, he was just making an educated guess, but I think our priest just went up a few notches in her estimation.

This evening the kids went over to the Baptists next door for Awana, and had a great time.  Katie got to be in the class with Travis again, and they both passed on all their memory verses in the introductory booklet.  Katie said her teacher was very impressed, which is what we were hoping for.  And I have gone all day without chocolate.  So far, so good.

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