And lately...

I just finished reading the book by Kate Gosselin about her life and the life of her family. She's the one with the show on TLC called "Jon and Kate Plus 8". I haven't followed the show very closely until recently, and was interested enough to request the book for Christmas. It was quite short, and therefore a quick read. If you don't know anything about this family, basically the husband/wife, mom/dad are Jon and Kate. They had a set of twins, then became pregnant with sextuplets, bringing their grand total of kids to 8! Pretty amazing. Anyway, they have their own TV reality series detailing their lives and how they handle being the parents of two sets of multiples. Their website is here. I really liked the book, albeit short, because it allowed Kate the opportunity to expand upon how her faith in God helped get her through her difficult pregnancy and then her daily struggles with sextuplets. If you watch the show, she'll mention her faith from time to time, but the TV series doesn't really provide her the chance to really get across the depth of her faith. So, I give it a thumbs up (You know, because I'm suddenly a book critic!).

In other news, school started back today!!! My children were happy to go back, and they seemed to adjust to getting up early again with not very much difficulty. We'll see how wiped they are when they get home this afternoon! I would like to say that I have sat around enjoying the peace and aloneness with bon-bons or something, but instead, I took the opportunity to go get the van washed and vacuumed, ran a few errands, and now I'm home doing dishes and laundry. Fun stuff, huh?? But, I'm doing it all without 1,000 interruptions so I can't complain! We had a GREAT break and I am so thankful we had such a wonderful time together as a family. I love making memories.

Speaking of memories, I took a trip down memory lane this past week when our family went on a hike with my parents up on Monte Sano. We've done this before, and we generally try to limit the hike to no more than 1/2 mile or so, due to Gannon's short legs. However, as we set off on our 1/2 mile hike, my Dad mentioned that if we followed the trail, it would lead us back to the parking lot in a little over a mile. Melody began jumping and begging to go the whole way, and since she was well-outfitted with her new trekking poles, I said sure. So, Jamie, Gannon and my Mom turned around and headed back to the car while my Dad, Melody and I continued on the trail. I have to say, Melody did awesome! She really looked like a natural hiker out there and kept pace almost the entire way. As I was bringing up the rear, as I like to do most often, I was reminded of all the hikes I took with my Dad and Grandpa when I was a kid, probably close to Mel's age and older. It is so easy to connect with nature and family when you're out on a trail with nothing in sight but tall trees and a leaf-strewn trail. I always, always feel God's presence when I'm hiking. I truly desire to be able to pass that on to my kids. I was reminded of this poem by Robert Frost (I had to memorize this when I was a kid...in Sunday School, of all places!).

Here's Melody taking a little break
Once we got back home and we were telling Jamie and Mom about how well Mel had done, Mom said that Gannon hikes just like her: he looks at his feet the whole time, and therefore has a tendency to just wander right off the trail! He apparently ran into several bushes and had a near miss with a tree! Gannon has always loved finding a hiking stick on every hike we go on, so Papa's Christmas gift for the kids this year was perfect--trekking poles! Now we'll just have to work on keeping Gannon on the path, or maybe he will be the traveller in Robert Frost's great poem and always take the road less travelled!

I've always been hit or miss with New Year's Resolutions. The only resolution I made that I actually had success with was my final year of college..I made the resolution to clean up my nasty language. I had a foul mouth (can you believe that???), and so I made a very conscious effort to eliminate some of the horrible things that came from my mouth. This year will bring about many new changes for our country, and so my only resolution is to remain positive. I plan on doing this by remembering the verse from Proverbs 3:5-6 which says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."

Have a blessed New Year!