I have always loved Easter.  When a little girl, my grandfather would drop off corsages the Saturday before Easter Sunday, one for my mother and one for me.  It was always a bit too big looking for me, but I loved wearing it to church the next morning.  I think the tradition of woman having corsages for Easter Sunday is outdated, but these beautiful tulips showed up on my table Saturday night.  Love them!

We have three week left in our '11-'12 school year.  I can't believe we are that close to finishing.  It has been an intense year.  Our family accepted the responsibility of homeschooling two additional students this year.  Their mother, a single parent, needed the someone to walk alongside in this very intimate way.   If I could sum up the experience, I would say it was a year of "exposure".  When two adolescents show up at your door every weekend morning at 7:30 a.m. and stick around for the entire day, your worst and best moments are revealed.  It has been a humbling thing, to live so transparently before these non-family members that they become almost like my own offspring.  I will miss them.

One of the realizations I've made this school year is how I still don't have my early mornings under control.  I shared in the 10 Things About Us post that I am a night owl.  I  really don't like rising early.  Yet, I crave quiet time each morning before I have to serve others.  Ideally, I would love to get up, have time in the Word, exercise, catch up on emails, check the daily calendar, shower and have some coffee.  All in quiet.  Working backwards from the student's arrival time of 7:30 a.m., my alarm needed to go off at 4:30 this school year to all that done!  I might have set it that early on the first day, but never since. I face a daily struggle of wanting a little more sleep versus wanting this personal time in the morning. I constantly negotiate between what I can "do without" and being civil to others.  I crave the fruit of a disciplined life.  After eighteen years of homeschooling, one would think I would have mastered this.  

Kat, at Inspired To Action, is starting her Summer Challenge of Maximize Your Mornings the same Monday that my summer schedule is set to beginning, May 15. I need to sign up.  I need the accountability.  I want to rise early and wait for His Words, but ohhhh, I so don't want to change if it means becoming a morning person!  Help Lord!

Fox Catcher: Psalm 119: 147; Isaiah 60:1