15 Minutes Again

Yesterday, blogging for 15 minutes proved to be successful for me, so I'm doing it again!

Jimmy was given The Daily Bible by one of the elders in our church a few years ago. In January of 2016 he began reading it, and he liked it so much that he started it again on January 1 of this year. Around the beginning of February I decided that I would like to read this Bible too, so I ordered one. Initially I wanted to double or triple my daily readings and catch up to the correct calendar date, but after a couple of weeks of this I realized that I would not catch up anytime soon. So, I decided to just skip to the actual day's reading and just read from there. Perfect!  Now Jimmy and I are reading the same passage each day, and we can discuss it if we want. Leanna also purchased this Bible and began reading on the current day, so we can discuss it too while we are running if we like. Clay has this Bible, and I plan to buy one for Leah to begin reading January 1, 2018.  I don't think Sam is ready for this amount of daily Bible reading yet, but I will probably go ahead and get him a copy of this Bible so he can begin when he is ready. He currently reads one chapter of his Bible each day.

Olivia and Julie are both graduating on April 28. Olivia will be receiving her Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education, and Julie will be receiving her Associate's degree in English. One ceremony is at 3:00, and the other one is at 7:30. Clay will be graduating high school on May 9. Lots of graduations, weddings, showers, and parties going on around here!  We are also squeezing in a short family (just the 7 of us) vacation to the Rocky Mountains before the weddings.

I recently finished a book called The Year of Living Danishly. It was fascinating! It is the one year memoir of a young woman and her husband living in Denmark while he worked for Lego. They are originally from England. I enjoyed reading about the culture and traditions of Denmark and how  Helen adjusted (or tried to adjust!). I have several books on my shelf just waiting for me to read! I also just finished The Westing Game (for my English class--our fun book for the year), and yesterday was also our last class for the school year. So now I will have more time to read for pleasure.

Oops! I just checked my timer because I thought surely it had been more than 15 minutes. Yes. It has been 20 minutes! I accidentally set my time for 1 hour, 15 minutes, not just 15 minutes!

Have a great day!

I'm Still Here

It doesn't seem possible that it's been a month since I last blogged. I am still here--still wedding planning, homeschooling, traveling, cooking, cleaning, hosting, etc.,

I just set my timer for 15 minutes, and I will end this post when the time is up. I figured 15 minutes is better than nothing. I keep waiting for that perfect big block of time to catch up on my blogging, and since it never comes I thought I would try this strategy.

Today is Olivia's birthday! As I have done for the four years she has been in college, (has she been in college that long?) I mailed her a "birthday in a box". This is basically a box of wrapped birthday gifts. One year we decorated the mailing box, but this year I did good to actually get the package in the mail on time!

Wedding planning--here's an update:

• After trying on many, many dresses in many, many stores I finally ordered a dress online from JJs House. I ordered it in navy blue. I decided on that color at the last minute to match a tie that Jimmy will wear in the wedding. His tie has shades of purple and blue and will look nice with both my dress and the purple bridesmaids dresses.
• Last month Lynn, Leanna, and I spent 8 hours at both girls' wedding venues making our decorating and logistical plans. I dreamed that night of vases, chairs, flowers, and counting in multiples of 7. (We counted and recounted chairs and tables and tried to keep it all straight).
• I ordered Olivia's wedding invitations last night.
• I mailed Julie's wedding invitations last week. The replies have begun trickling in. I am keeping track of the responses in three places:  on a spreadsheet on my laptop, on a printout of the spreadsheet, and in a notes document on my phone. 
• Lynn, Leanna, and I met with the caterer last night one (almost) final time to discuss and plan Julie's reception.
• I met with the florist to discuss both girls' weddings. He was very helpful, and I think all is well in the floral department.
• Lynn, Leanna, and I took inventory of the wedding items I borrowed from a friend and I bought the remaining vases I will need.
• I placed a huge order for white tablecloths, tulle, ribbon, round mirrors, and table runners (things I need for both girls' receptions). It was cheaper for me to buy tablecloths than to rent them. The two websites I used for this are efavormart.com and smartyhadaparty.com

Well, my 15 minutes is up!

I hope to post again soon.