MY HEARTS' HAVEN DAYBOOK 2008

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My Hearts' Haven Daybook


First day of Advent

Sunday Afternoon

November 30, 2008



Outside My Window............a sunny and quite UNseasonably warm day........about 60 ish, maybe! Sunshine is SO cheerful......and the warmth doubles my cheerfulness! :)

Marty and some of the kids........Matthew....Maddelyn....Garrett.....are outside splitting wood and having a bonfire.

The views are simply gorgeous, wherever I look...............the sun does us good!

I am thinking.........Gloria and I need to have "mom's night out" EVERY time she comes to visit. Well, we decided that this last spring......but have only been able to really start it NOW.

I am thankful for.............John. Yesterday, Gloria and I could not spend the day together due to her kids being ill. So, John suggested we do a "mom's night out" at the end of the day. Then, while we were out having dinner, he called and asked if we were having a good time......and then offered to TREAT for dinner, and "have some dessert, too." Wasn't that sweet? I am also thankful for John for other things, too.......like barbequing for me........and especially for taking my kids out to do cool stuff like fishing, bike-riding, skiiing/boarding, hiking, shooting, tubing down the river............

I am ALSO EXTREMELY thankful ...........to my husband for playing football with the kids at Matthew's 18th birthday celebration.............AND MOST ESPECIALLY for cutting up the WHOLE turkey, all 24 pounds of it! A hard job and one I was NOT looking forward to.........and he did an amazing, perfect job..........now, to run and get the stock started!

From the kitchen.........left-overs from our Thanksgiving Feast on Friday....chips & salsa, too.....oh, and I found Gloria's little gingerbread cake......mmmmm, it is good!

I am wearing........a black knit skirt and a pink "paint shirt".

I am creating........a shrinking mountain of dirty laundry......it is now only a mole hill. YES!

I am going..........to be seeing my sister and her husband and my niece for a short visit as they drive by on their way to "somewhere".......they are late! Very late!

I am reading.........The Last Battle, by CS Lewis to the little boys, I have read a few pages of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

I am hoping.........to get some sense of a schedule around here............now that one play is over. Fat chance, if you look at my past. :)

I am hearing.........Matthew singing in the shower: Sunset Blvd, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

I am wondering........if I should give up this weekly Daybook till my Christmas newsletter has been written. For those of you who have never received my tome of an annual Christmas newsletter....I need A LOT of time to get it written. I toyed with making it short this year......but, when I remember that, in the end, the newsletter is really for my kids, as it is their family history, I have to concede, and go long. So, sorry, for all of you who thought you were off the hook.......the good news is.......our year was less eventful than the previous years....so, it just might be a bit shorter.


So, NO MORE Daybook, till after the new year...unless the newsletter is written.


Around the house.........my house, on the front half, is clean.........and decorated for Advent.......we have the wreath ready for tonight.........and the felt Advent calendar I made when the three oldest were so little......they do not remember ever not having it. I put greenery on the window sills.....I keep it bare for Advent, and add ornaments to it on Christmas Eve. Mary & Joseph and their donkey have started their way to Bethlehem.

As for my clutter spot......my one dresser I was going to clear off..............well, I ended up organinzing my oldest boy's clothes.....he has too many.......and now we need to reduce. I did that instead.......but, I would really like to clear off that dresser. I will try this week. Oh, and to clear my hallway of clutter, too.....half-way there.

Now Showing...................Monarch of the Glen.......season three is now over. After three seasons, we have come to love this eccentric family in the Highlands of Scotland. The last episode of this season we said good-bye to one of the main characters. This has made us all sad. :) ....and with Gloria's family here...............the little girls enjoyed a few Pixar movies, such a Monsters, Inc and Finding Nemo, and a few musicals, like Annie Get Your Gun and Meet Me in Saint Louis........favorites around here!
In the schoolroom.........What can I say????

It was Thanksgiving week........we had company and an 18th birthday celebration and a baby shower........and Thanksgiving.......and recovery from a play.

We kept up math...............and that it is about it.

Fractions, skip counting by twos, fives and tens and mulitplication.

Oh, yeah.......and...... Piano-Voice-eeeeendless singing here :)


One of my favorite things.........a woodstove fire. My house is SO cozy!!!!

Signs of the seasons......see above, about Advent. Cold..........brrrrr.......nights!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week...........

Monday ........violin for Maddelyn, piano for the four middle kids, voice at college for three, a visit with Shawna....
Tuesday........I work for a few hours in the morning and then probably an Advent wreath project at Shawna's house with some homeschool friends
Wednesday.......I will take five kids to see Anne and Matthew's play at the local college.....and then followed by voice class for three......and then........
Thursday..........opening night for Anne and Matthew in the play
Friday.......Shawna & I have schemed a day to go thrift store shopping all day in the big city (town?) north of us, for Christmas gifts......Anne and Matthew perform in the play.put our shoes out for Saint Nicholas's feast day tomorrow
Saturday......Saint Nicholas' Feast day.............and Anne and Matthew perform in the play
Sunday.........Anne and Matthew perform in the play, a matinee, right after mass

Somewhere in this week: Keep working on Matthew's application for Rotary's youth exchange program

Special prayer requests on my mind this week......................for two people I know who have recently been told they are going on the transplant list (heart, a little boy and lungs, a homeschooling dad).......continued prayers for my friend whose son needs help with special needs......for the play the kids are doing......for Sabine's little Michaelman..........for a local friend whose father is dying of brain cancer...........for the family and friends of a Catholic homeschooling mom in San Diego who died this week..........for my co-worker whose daughter died last week in a car accident.........for a newly pregnant friend......for a friend who has the sweetest kitten who has had intestinal problems for over a month......please pray for complete healing so the little 5 year old owner can keep her cat......for an issue my husband has at work tomorrow..........for a serious issue that desperately needs resolving........for special private intentions


St. Gerard's List..........
Stacy, Shawna's sis, is about to have her baby any moment now.......ACTUALLY, he is here!!!! Please pray for the breastfeeding to go well! Sherry is due any week now................and then there are Lissa, Alice, Bridget, Gloria (a different one!)


I am currently scrapbooking...........hmmm............maybe I need to talk to Louise about tomorrow night!

Here is picture thought I am sharing........

A scene from the play: Dont' Mention My Name

Matthew, as the lead, with Kayla, Gavin & Sarah.

Matthew designed and built this set, with the help of his team, of course!

Have a lovely first week of Advent!

Love, chari