week 36 | 366

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well."

~ Julian of Norwich

days 251 - 259

all shall be well. even our first-born getting his license. 

the early bird gets coffee and porch time with grandpa

bookends

 

 

 

 

week 35 | 366

All school years should begin this way. I assumed I'd consider the first day we did "actual" school to be our first recorded day of the year, but in hindsight, considering this day as our first fits so much better with my slowly growing understanding of what it looks like to teach (and to learn) from rest. And that's what this day was. Rest. 

We arrived at Pisgah Education Center and hiked in to a spot we had found when we hiked the five mile John Rock trail last spring. We made a plan that day to come back when the weather was warm and when we'd brought along enough food (and books, and hammocks, and apple cider doughnuts from Sky Top) to last the day, and just stay there. Right in that one spot. 

The kids talked about it incessantly, anxious to get a date on the calendar. It went on our Summer Bucket List, and remained unchecked through June and July. We planned a date and then got rained out. Finally, just before we were set to start school, both a day in our week and the weather cooperated at the same time, and it was magical. I guess that's what a whole day spent outside in beautiful weather with good friends and nothing on the agenda but cooking food over a campfire, building a town, nominating and electing various town officials, reading in hammocks, eating doughnuts, and playing tag can feel like when it gets a chance to slow you down. 

So, two days before we cracked a school book or logged into our math curriculum, we started a new tradition. From here on out, all of our school years will begin in the best way I can think of. With rest. 

days 242 - 250

week 34 | 366

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, and summer's lease hath all too short a date."

~ William Shakespeare, Sonnet 18

days 234 - 231

Olympic Aspirations | movers and shakers 

Eli learns to swim! 

week 33 | 366

"And suddenly I knew how to handle this cultural tide against which I cannot stand. I do not have to stand against it, I have to make sure we are rooted in real things... Every single time I do something that anchors our family to the past and our heritage, I am helping preserve the hearts of my children. I am giving them a lifeline to the good life."

~ Cindy Rollins, Mere Motherhood

days 226 - 233

week 32 | 366

When found climbing into their beds, all in just their underwear, Daddy asked them what they were doing without their clothes on. Their reply? "Practicing being dads!"

days 218 - 225

Rubiks lesson | Spotify playlist-making 

one on one | porch time

week 30 | 366

“When over the years someone has seen you at your worst, and knows you with all your strengths and flaws, yet commits him- or herself to you wholly, it is a consummate experience. To be loved but not known is comforting but superficial. To be known and not loved is our greatest fear. But to be fully known and truly loved is, well, a lot like being loved by God. It is what we need more than anything. It liberates us from pretense, humbles us out of our self-righteousness, and fortifies us for any difficulty life can throw at us.” 

~ Tim Keller, The Meaning of Marriage

days 204 - 210

celebrating 18 years

week 29 | 366

"To contemplate, on the other hand, to "look" in this sense, means to open one's eyes receptively to whatever offers itself to one's vision, and the things seen enter into us, s to speak, without calling for any effort or strain on our part to see them. There can hardly be any doubt that that, or something like it, is the way we become sensorially aware of the thing."

~ Josef Pieper, Leisure: The Basis of Culture

days 197-203

Chopped, Jr. | mornings | snaggletooth | Yahtzee! 

hat | baking party | sunset

lazy afternoon | Santa and his Elf | 

week 28 | 366

"The surest way to mediocrity is pursuing the fanfare of the masses."

- Zalmy Berkowitz

days 190 - 196

beauty chaser | beggar | swing! | all six in the frame

morning view | omelette inspiration | Rubic's

biscuits | wildness