Carey Jane Clark

October 3 in 30, Week 3

October 16, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

It has been a busy week and a short week because of the Canadian Thanksgiving holiday. As a result, I am behind on some of my goals:

Bible in 90 Days – (now about 96 days) and still not complete. I did work on this, but not to the degree that I did. I am about one or two days away from completing the revision of my novel, which did spill over significantly into this month. I’m looking forward to that being completely behind me. (Well, for now, at least ;)
Get our homeschool schedule back on track – Honestly, this one has me wondering if we should bother to be schedule people at all. We did well this week, a few things got neglected, but that was due to other appointments and field trips we ended up having to fit in, the short school week, and the day the kids had a tough time jumping back in after a three-day weekend. However, I know schedule is extremely important for the general happiness of at least one of my children, and this is why I persist.
Spend more one-on-one time with my children. I have been trying to fit some time alone with Sweetpea, and we just didn’t make it happen because of the family schedule. Part of my challenge here is she isn’t content with the kids of “you and me time” activities the other two are. I’ve been trying to convince her that time for just the two of us doesn’t have to mean leaving the house.

Looking forward to a week of getting things done, once this manuscript is out the door!

October 3 in 30, Week 2

October 10, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Here’s my progress on my goals for this month:

Bible in 90 Days – I did not finish the Bible in 90 Days on time. However, I am not kicking myself about it. I gained a tremendous amount from my experience reading at this pace, and if it weren’t for some exceptional circumstances, I would have finished on time. I will do it again (and finish on time) and I will continue my reading. All things considered, I’m really not that far off the goal. I am just about to start 1 Corinthians, which puts me only eight days behind. Again, considering the unscheduled events of the last 90 days, I’m okay with that.
Getting our homeschool schedule restarted – We are getting there, but I am also doing better at not getting bent out of shape if something temporarily gets waylaid.
Spending more one-on-one time with my kids. This goal was inspired by reading some of the goals of others in the 3 in 30 challenge, but also because we seem to be in a phase right now where my kids need this more. We’ve experienced a lot of change this year and some grief, and my kids are showing some signs of wear that need that one-on-one attention. Just a few minutes of conversations one-on-one with Pumpkin this month have made a world of difference for him.

Assisting me in my goal-setting efforts is my lack of internet time. It’s been a great exercise to pare down in this area. I’ve also made some goals for the next few weeks while I concentrate on work I need to do, that I dial back on blogging as well. I’m kind of proud of myself for being okay with that.

Counting my Blessings

October 5, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

We have been in Canada longer than we had originally planned. Some things that have happened since we came home have not been according to “the plan.” It’s good to recognize in the midst of all this, however, all the blessings we’ve experienced here that may never have happened if we’d been somewhere else. Today, I felt the need to count my blessings:

our kids had a chance to take Mandarin lessons through the Toronto Board of Education—cheaper than we would have been able to purchase them in China!
our kids were also able to have swimming lessons, ballet lessons, karate lessons—something that is logistically difficult for us in China—and all three are now well on their way to becoming good swimmers
we have been able to make great use of libraries for our homeschool curriculum and general reading. Sweetpea is now reading chapter books and loving it, Sprout is beginning to read as well
kids have had amazing nature study opportunities: snapping turtles, painted lady butterflies, monarch butterflies, roly-polies…
our kids have been able to connect with family: cousins, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas—even great-grandma. We were even able to attend great-grandma’s 90^th birthday celebrations
as a family, we had the chance to attend a wonderful conference in Texas last year that also turned into a great “car-schooling” experience
we have seen a lot more of Canada than I ever imagined being able to show our kids at this stage of their lives
with the help of extended family, I was able to take some time to (finally) finish my novel
I had a chance to attend a writer’s conference (yay!)
despite the miscarriages, I was here and not in a foreign country trying to negotiate the health care system in another language during these experiences, and it looks like I may finally be getting answers for my health situation
JavaMan has had opportunities to build his business and network with a ton of people in the coffee industry, moving us closer to our goal than we might have if we had remained in China
we are living in a place where we can see the sun rise! (That doesn’t happen often in a city with millions and millions of people and tall buildings everywhere.)

My list could go on and on. We are immeasurably blessed, and I never want to forget that.

October Menu Plan

October 3, 2011 by Carey Jane Clark

I diverged from the plan last month–a lot. Hoping to do a little better this month. I’ve included lots of fall-ish recipes with yummy fresh ingredients because we located wonderful farmer’s markets close by with great fresh ingredients, which is one of the good reasons I strayed off the plan. I can’t wait for Friday–pumpkin bowl soup!

I have a surprise for you. Many of the recipes have hyperlinks! So you can find them yourself. This will make it a cooking adventure for me, too, since these are not my old familiar stash of recipes. Oh well, the time for experimentation is now, since soon we’ll be eating ingredients from the other side of the earth again.

« Previous Page