Looking Back at January

If we were face to face, I'd love to give you a big hug and sit down across to you to share a coffee and catch up on what's been going on in our lives, but I'll settle for the next best thing. Here's a look into some of the new and noteworthy things we've experienced this month.

We are totally debt free!

Nick and I are both pretty frugal by nature, and my parents were very generous in paying for my college, so we were lucky to make it through college and grad school with less than $40,000 in student loans between us.

Even though that's the only debt we've ever had, living on one rather unpredictable income while our kids were small meant we weren't exactly tackling our debt with gazelle-like intensity.

But I'm still proud to say that little by little we did manage to pay off our debts about ten years early. It feels so good not to be sending that money off to Sallie Mae every month.

Moses started piano lessons

Over a year ago Moses and I were casually discussing how some kids take music lessons. I asked him what instrument he would like to learn to play if he had the chance. He immediately answered, "The organ!"

This was pretty surprising given that he'd barely ever seen an organ, let alone heard one played. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I really couldn't think of an instrument better suited to my serious, old-soul of a seven-year-old. When the opportunity arose to enroll him in free piano lessons nearby with a keyboard on loan thanks to a generous grant, we jumped at the chance.

I'm so glad we did! Music lessons have been such a bright spot in Moses's week. He practices every day when he first wakes up with no prompting. He completes his weekly music theory worksheet within minutes of coming home from his lesson each week. He is engaged and friendly with his teacher, and he's making friends at his monthly group lesson. It is such a delight to watch Moses blossoming and pursuing his own passions. If you stop by our house, I can pretty much guarantee that first he'll eagerly show you his keyboard and then after he plays you The Knuckle Song he'll share with you his plan for conquering the organ :)

We discovered the Daily Poem podcast

I've struggled to find a way to include poetry in our homeschool rhythm. I love Julie Bogart's idea of a Poetry Teatime but I just never seemed to be able to pull it off. I occasionally managed to work something from A Children's Garden of Verse into our morning time, but our poetry studies struggled to get off the ground.

Until the Daily Poem podcast! With most episodes coming in under 7 minutes long, we get to hear some of the greatest poems every written. David Kern reads the poem of the day, offers a few quick thoughts that really elevate our listening experience, and then reads the poem a final time. It's short and sweet and such a wonderful addition to our homeschool day.

Just for fun I surveyed the kiddos to see what their favorite poem has been. Moses loved The Lady of Shallott by Tennyson. Abigail frequently requests Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky. Let the record show that she does NOT like My Shadow by Robert Louis Stevenson! Duly noted.

Abigail and I made a girls' getaway to Philadelphia

Jetting off to Philadelphia to visit our dear friends is one of our favorite things to do, but this trip was especially sweet because I got to enjoy some one-on-one time with my Abigail. We snuggled in the big bed at our lovely little Airbnb, got into way to much mischief at the pizza place down the street, went to our favorite Philadelphia church, ate delicious French toast at a hip coffee shop, visited the reptiles at the Philadelphia Insectarium and Butterfly Pavilion, and best of all got to celebrate the adoption of little Serenity into our favorite Philadelphia family. Here are a few pictures from our time together!

 

 

 

We hope you enjoyed some of our highlights from this month! If you'd like to share in my nostalgia for years gone by as these littles grow up way to fast, feel free to click through below to see what we've been up to in some Januarys gone by :)

Seven Years Ago

This little cutie was taking his first step, and I was just starting my work with the Seed Company on the Ika Old Testament translation project.

Six Years Ago

We had returned from a Christmas trip to Michigan where Moses enjoyed Grammie's kitties. Moses is still a cat person!

 

Five Years Ago

I was snowbound with two kiddos. That much hasn't changed, although we have mostly graduated from cribs and diapers and train tracks to Legos and Transformers and stuffed puppies.

Four Years Ago

We were enjoying the snowiest of winters!

Two Years Ago

The kids were taller, but every bit as cute!

 

Thanks for enjoying this little trip down memory lane with me. And now on to February!