Geographist

Christmas is full of so many wonderful things, but with no school this week I'm not entirely sure the blog title is applicable.  Oh well, we're going with it anyway!  Sunday - For the final Sunday before Christmas, our family lit the church advent candle.  The girls did all the work, with Girly praying, Curly reading Scripture, and Whirly lighting the candles.  These kids are awesome!  After the worship service, Mrs. Geographist went to be with her family to begin planning for her grandmother's funeral while I taught our 5th grade Bible study class.  The girls and I joined them in the afternoon, and some sweet family friends provided a meal for us all.  Monday - After being off for a week, it was time to get back to work.  I spent quite a bit of time answering requests at home while Mrs. Geo returned to help finalize plans with the funeral home and cemetery.  I also took a trip with Girly to the DPS to finally take that pesky learner's permit...

We've reached exam week, so everything on the schedule has been getting topsy-turvy right as we gear up for the much-anticipated Christmas break.  It wasn't just the schedule that was in upheaval, however, as we had a few emotionally tough times.  But we were also treated to several end-of-semester special events, helping to make this a memorable time for good reasons as well. Sunday - We kicked off the week exactly how we finished the prior one: playing a Christmas concert.  Well, actually two of them (for two different services), and the second one gave me the chance to play the same solo that Girly had handled so well on Saturday night.  Would you believe my parents stuck around in a nearby hotel just to catch both solos?  After church was over, we had a nice lunch with Mrs. Geographist's side of the family but had to discuss the health of the family matriarch - Mrs. Geo's grandmother had a heart attack the prior night and was taken from her memory care facil...

 As school begins to wind down, Christmas starts to heat up.  And in Texas, that's not always a figure of speech - it's actually quite warm on most days!  Sunday - It was a strange church service for this dad, as all my girls went to sit with friends during church.  Girly has been doing this for a while now, but Curly spotted a pair of girls from her class whose parents typically sit along the same pew, and asked if she could sit with them.  That was fine by me, but then Whirly piped up and wanted to sit with one of the girls' little brother.  It was a bit of a stretch, but I went along with it to see how everyone would handle themselves.  It wasn't awful, but I think the youngest kiddo has a few more wiggles before we try that experiment again (or at least a longer attention span).  Mrs. Geographist took the teaching reins for our 5th grade class, and it was nice to sit back and watch her do her thing.  I think the kids enjoyed the change of...

Thanksgiving is over and December is upon us.  I hope everyone is overdosing on Bing Crosby, Amy Grant, Michael Bublé, Josh Groban, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, or Wham!  Whatever gets you into the spirit of things, do that. Sunday - It was a pretty significant day at church, as our hymnals finally returned.  The songbooks had been removed from our sanctuary when the campus closed months ago, but it was great to see them back in the pew racks this week.  After lunch at Fuddrucker's, which may be our last as the company seems destined to liquidate soon, we headed home to relax.  Once the sun went down we turned on Christmas Chronicles, which we hadn't seen before, and began decorating our new tree so the inside could look as festive as our front yard (which is currently sporting our new nativity and a few lights we'd picked up at the Christmas store a few weeks ago).  It's a tall, skinny thing but it fits nicely in its little niche and should serve its purpose ...

Thanksgiving week is upon us!  Time to kick back and relax a bit, spend time with family, and remember how much good there is out there.  There's so much that deserves our gratitude! Sunday - We got to take the new car to church for the first time, and for once the kids were fighting over the right to sit alone in the third row seat.  After rolling back home for lunch, we decided that an afternoon trip to the grocery store was needed in order to prepare for the upcoming family feast.  Good thing we were given a gift card with the purchase of our new car!  Curly and I took some time to catch up a bit on The Mandalorian before I wrapped up the day by finishing a work project that probably took up too much of my weekend. Monday - With all of the girls home for the day, Girly and I were the only two with plans.  Orchestra rehearsal had been moved back from Tuesday evening to Monday because of the holiday week, so we adjusted her cello lesson to a daytime affair...

A third handful of weeks has come and gone, and the upcoming week off should give us plenty of time to reflect on what's worked and how we can improve.  With all that has been going so well, however, this Thanksgiving is going to be an easy one to celebrate in our household. Sunday - Off to church to start off the week, and I was able to throw some candy out to all the kids in our class who brought their own Bibles with them.  It's good to reward good behavior with sugar or chocolate, right?  We got Girly back at church from her weekend at high school retreat and a friend's house, and she promptly got a runny nose.  Ah, kids and their germs, such a lovely combination.  Consequently, it was decided that Sunday night activities (in this case, youth choir) weren't going to be such a good idea, so we saved a few miles of commuting by staying home.  That would turn into something of a theme this week! Monday - Whirly and I didn't end up having the house to ourse...

Time is getting short before holidays start to fill the calendar.  This week was full of events and news, but at least none of it was because of the weather! Sunday - Our 5th grade Sunday school class had their highest attendance week yet, with 18 kids showing up in person.  That would've been a good number for us before the world got weird so it's nice to see.  I still find it somewhat interesting to try keeping their attention when physical activities are limited but they do pretty well staying engaged even after I've been talking for 45 minutes.  It was also interesting to see who else was a little pink in the cheeks from the hours spent in the sun at the family fun day less than 24 hours before.  Our crew was going to try out a nice little burger joint for the first time (I have a co-worker that loves the place and they finally opened one nearby) but I pulled into the wrong parking lot by mistake and somehow we ended up going for a pretty well-known chain se...

I always find it interesting when the school curriculum echoes real world events, or when lessons in one subject remind us of what's been taught in another subject earlier in the year.  So this week, as we've been learning about "Presidents and Precedents" in our heritage studies, the nation took to the polls to vote.  That didn't have any direct effect on our schooling, however, even though the local public school kids got the day off.  So for us, it was business as usual. Sunday - Our 5th grade class continues to show strong attendance numbers as families continue to show up in greater numbers.  I've been teaching the kids about the Bible during this month's unit (good Sunday school topic, huh?) and this week was about whether Scripture is unique compared to other "holy books".  After snagging some tasty pasta at one of Houston's more kitchy Italian restaurants, Buca de Beppo, I started the process of trying to sell Mrs. Geographist's p...