Linking up with Joyce for the Wednesday Hodgepodge– a delightful collection of questions that always makes me think and that I enjoy reading others responses, too!
1. Ice skating, skiing, sledding, snowshoeing, playing in the snow, or a snowy walk…which winter activity do you choose? Have you done any of these activities so far this winter?
If I could choose to do one of those, it would probably be skiing! I have only been skiing once or twice in my life and found it an enjoyable experience. Someone told me that if you can rollerblade, you can ski, which I thought was the weirdest thing ever, but it turns out it’s true. I think the leg/hand movements and the balance are very similar between the two…but obviously, I’m not an expert at skiing haha.
We typically go ice skating every New Year’s Eve, but this year we had just gotten back from our RV trip and we were so tired of going and doing things that we just decided to stay home.
And I really need to go for some winter walks/hikes. Last winter we were very consistent with getting outside even in the snow, but I feel like this winter I have chosen the path of staying inside and complaining about how cold it is…which really hasn’t helped anything at all.
2. Everyone is posting pictures from ten years ago on their social media sites so let’s jump on the bandwagon too. Share one photo and one thought to go with said photo from the year 2016. And maybe everyone isn’t doing this, but many are and we’re going to be part of the fun.
2016 was the year that our foster baby Abby went to live with her new adoptive family. 2016 was also the year that Kiah joined our family, and 2016 was the year that Theo applied to join the police force (he started the academy in February 2017). So, it was a big year all around!
Here I am in June 2016 with Tera (not quite 2), Abby (9 months old), and about 5 months pregnant with Kiah (due in October)
3. What’s a trend you hope disappears in this new year?
Dare I mention politics on this corner of the internet? I wish the absolute extreme division would disappear. I know that we have strong, heated opinions about topics, but it’s awful how we have to put ourselves entirely into buckets of “if this, then that” and can never get along if one opinion is different. I think we need to spend more time outside the walls of our homes together so that we know that we all have much more in common than we do to divide us.
4. ‘They’ say there’s a day for everything and January 21st proves it. National Granola Bar Day. Do you like granola bars? How about just regular granola? Do you like bars of other kinds?
Eh, I’m not a huge granola bar person, but I do keep them around because…4 kids. I do like regular granola and I’ve found it’s pretty simple to make my own. I’ve actually tried making my own granola bars, but they end up being more like granola blobs. Still edible, but I don’t know how to make them stay in a bar shape.
5. A frozen lake, a trickling stream, a raging river, or a deep well…which one describes something about your life right now? Elaborate as much or as little as you like.
A trickling stream- I feel like this maybe describes my life right now? I’m alive, I’m pouring life into so many different areas- my home, my kids, my classroom, my marriage. But it’s not a big, massive impact. It’s easy to miss how impactful a small, trickling stream may be. I may not ever see the difference that I make in my small, mundane life. And yet- there is so much life and peace and vitality in a small, trickling stream. There is power in the small, in the mundane.
Wow, deep thoughts on a Wednesday haha!
6. Insert your own random thought here.
It’s COLD here! Honestly, I can’t complain because I’m getting on a plane tomorrow and heading to Florida for a few days with my sister in laws. It’s going to be in the 70s there, and sometime today I need to go out to my frigid barn and find my suitcase and some shorts. Right now I’m in the stressed part of the trip- it’s a LOT of work to leave 4 kids and write a day of sub plans. But tomorrow- I know I will be glad that I did all the work to get there.
It was -3 here this morning so I hear you on the COLD! Just walking outside made it hard to breathe… so i try really hard not to either. I hope you have a fabulous time in Florida.