2 years and counting!

The days are flying by and it is well past time for an update on our progress! We are happy to be moving once again into the cooler, fall season. There will be a brief break from the drone of the A/C in our RV until the rumbling furnace begins to kick on! Our second anniversary of moving to the DFW Metroplex slipped by and we are into our third year. Our family is spending quite a bit more time than we had anticipated in this small space! We are making it work though. Due to the continuing pandemic, we decided early in the summer that we would make plans to homeschool Esther for her 1st-grade year. We have worked out a family schedule that seems to be conducive to productivity and learning for all of us. We are all up early and to bed early. Ed continues to work at Home Depot from 5-10 am Monday-Friday. Esther and I start the day with breakfast and morning prayer and we try to start school at 8 am on the dot. We spend 45 minutes on language arts, 45 minutes on math, and then we have a 30-minute break to be outside. We come back in for 45 minutes of science or history. Then she has a half-hour of reading practice while I prep lunch. We eat lunch as a family. After lunch Ed heads to his bedroom study. Esther and I take a long lunch break, which includes a bike ride or sometimes a swim or nature walk. After that, we do music or art. That concludes our school day and there is usually a little time left before dinner and evening prayer. I would like to have Esther start doing dinner clean-up more, but it is difficult to have her do dishes in our small RV sink. So, Ed reads to her on the couch while I do dishes. We are currently enjoying Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

Ed celebrated a milestone in mid-August, completing his 6 semesters of study in the Biblical Languages! In his third and final year of seminary, he will not have this added burden. So far, he still feels quite bogged down in studies though. His church involvement is also increasing so it can be a lot for him to balance. He also deals with a bit of worry as he looks to the future after graduation. We will need to move into a more financially stable situation. And, these days that may be difficult! Also, he will need to pass ordination exams, first serving as a deacon before he can pastor a church. There are many unknowns. Every day we give our future plans over to God, knowing he will lead and guide us. We still have a strong desire to move back north, but we are unsure what openings there may be. Besides finishing his Hebrew final project, Ed completed a class in Liturgical Practice in July. He is just about finished with the work for his August class in Canon Law and Parish Administration. Last weekend he took New Testament Introduction. Since April, most classes have been conducted online via Zoom.

Esther and I were happy to be able to travel to Wisconsin in mid-August to visit my family. Once again Ed stayed back and dreamed of one day taking a vacation again. We had a wonderful visit. Esther was so happy to run freely at Grandma and Grandpa's and to play with her cousins. It was a time of rest for me. I did not need to keep Esther busy, she barely noticed I was there! It was a bit of an adjustment coming back and we realized just how much our little girl has missed close contact with others. We all miss that and look for the day when this pandemic will be behind us. Even so, we look more intently towards the return of our Savior when all things will be restored to their proper order.  

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:3-9)