Seven Quick Takes, hosted by Jenversion Diary

1 Happy Birthday to my dear friend Michele, who doesn't read blogs. (As I've teased her, she's too busy wasting her PhD in the sciences raising the kind of children who will work to heal this world of its divisions to spend much time online.) Her family excites us to follow our passions, pour them into our parenting, and trust God. They excel at all three, and the last part drives them to generosity, the kind that stories are written of. I'm honored to call them friends. When I joke that I'm homeschooling my daughters purely to preserve their marriage prospects, I mean families like theirs. And as an added bonus, Michele doesn't blink when I say so. I love this forceful, charitable, accomplished woman who never particularly desired marriage for herself, until meeting her husband, who says: "What's the point of life? Salvation. And what's the role of a spouse? To help us reach Heaven." Open-mindedness to the right truths equals optimism.

2 I just wrapped up my first interview with a prospective tenant for our house. Yes, she came over at 10 p.m. Alaskans are just like that. I think the following things about being in a position of authority: it requires prayer. And I'm not happy about choosing one person over another, but I know that everyone's needs will be met. No one is going to starve naked because they don't live here.


3 Thank you, Biggest Borges, for taking the two bouncing and healthy big girls to a movie. Thank you, mostly, for sparing me another Chipmunks experience. That last one seemed six hours long.


4 My mother-in-law is a piece of California sunshine, even over the phone. Also, this chipper news.


5 At our new house, I think we're getting chickens! If it's okay with the cats, of course. How does that work?


6 I miss my grandmothers, both of happy memory.
7 And my parents. They're still part of the earthly hoopla, thanks be to God.

I hope I did it right...