the quality of mercy is not strained

two weeks of craziness behind us, and yet more craziness lies ahead. dad & mom de jong visited for a week, then dad & mom van dyken along with mark & jordan came right on their heels. some highlights of those visits include games of chess, driving around to see the beautiful neighborhoods bellingham boasts, having coffee and rocket donuts, checking out the lack of daffodils in mt. vernon, performing a concert, and going out to eat multiple times. the day after the van dykens (and one denlinger) left, i headed down to seattle for a two-day field trip with my 8th graders. it was fabulous! i slept more than i believed i would (which is pretty impressive considering i was lying on a gym floor with a 16 giggly girls), and the sun shone. in seattle. while i was there. shocking, but i'll take it! the ensuing craziness includes beginning two units with my 8th graders this coming week (which i haven't exactly planned yet) and philip beginning school on monday. we would like to ask for any extra prayers you have for these next few days (and weeks), especially for philip. i'm truly proud of him for going back to school and pursuing a dream that started several years ago. go, philip!

also, i have a new goal: read through shakespeare's plays. notice i do not have any time constraints at the moment. i've been wanting to do this for quite some time, but what really inspired me recently was reading through gary d. schmidt's the wednesday wars, which is a fantastically humorous and touching book i'm reading with my 7th graders. there are multiple themes in the book, but one of them is shakespeare. the protagonist is forced by his evil english teacher (mwahahaha) to read through a play a month, so there are dozens of references throughout the book. i read the merchant of venice last week, and i'm working on julius caesar right now. while i may come up with a time limit in the future, right now i'm really into not letting unnecessary stress build up. you should try it some time. i think it's good for my health.

also, after a couple of weeks of visits from generous parents and hanging out in seattle with middle schoolers, i have (again) come to the conclusion that i need to eat better. sigh. we may need to come up with some more interesting and tasty ways to eat healthier foods. and inexpensive. since going back to school is expensive.

i know this post jumped around a bit, but all in all, we're doing well and enjoying life in the midst of all the upcoming changes. happy spring to all of you!