A few quick things on my mind today…

• I am completely overwhelmed by the images coming out of Haiti.  My heart is broken again and again, with each story I hear and each photo I see.  I've finally had to cut myself off from the news and have forbidden myself from clicking on any more news stories online. 
  I did want to share this link, though, that NBC news has up: Haiti Earthquake.  There are many, many different options and ways we can help.  I love that you can even donate simply sending a text.  And of course we can all pray, pray, pray. 
• School is back in swing at our house…and I've been spending a lot of time in prayer and thought about what we're going to do next.  We've got about two months left in our history book and Caleb is over two-thirds done with his math book.  I think I've got the next of everything picked out. 
  I've decided we're going to continue on the "year round with one week breaks ever 6 to 8 weeks" plan.  I think that's going to help me spread out the expenses and it just doesn't make sense to take a long break when we're at our most miserable, humid weather.  We're also going to take a little bit of school with us to California this summer. 
• We are finally through that cold snap, and I've decided that my dreams of living somewhere cold need to stay dreams.   I don't like being cold and I don't like what it does to my skin or my energy levels.  I'm going to have to remind myself of that next Fall when I'm pining for somewhere cooler.
• Nearly seven weeks now of almost no refined flour/sugar/white foods of most any sort.  The longer I do it, the easier it gets….except for last night when I was home alone for dinner and didn't have leftovers of any sort to eat.   Dinner ended up being a whole wheat burrito with brown rice and chicken, some cottage cheese and a pear.  Not exactly gourmet, but it worked. 
  The key to eating this way?  Preparation and planning.  If I'm not prepared (like last night), it's difficult to just throw something together (especially when I'm out of spring mix).  And I've also got to plan my grocery shopping a little better.  We are going through an awful lot of cheese and nuts right now.  Lunch and snacks also needs some more planning time put into them.  It's all a work in progress, and the kids are far more receptive when I make changes in baby steps.
• The kids and I have started our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson as the start of our school day and I couldn't be happier with it.  Bible centered, discussion oriented, with a memory verse that corresponds to what our focus is for the week – I wish I'd ordered it years ago. 

Time for school!