On Pretending to be a Waffle

You've heard the saying before, haven't you?  "Men are waffles.  Women are pancakes."  I am a perfect pancake.  

I have a list of posts I’ve wanted to write for many months.  My big two graduated from 2nd and 3rd grade homeschool last night (we hosted a very fun Chinese performance and graduation celebration at home) and this morning is finally a morning off, extended time for me to write.   But my pancake heart is spread all over with the news of the evil of the IS (I don't even want to give them the honor of naming these two countries they're devouring as "theirs").  I'm going to devote most of this morning to that topic, but I will try to waffle off just a few tiny bits of me to scribble down a few other thoughts and things that have been happening on the homefront too.  

For a tiny recap of our 2nd and 3rd grade graduation celebration, you can check our homeschool blog post.  

For some words that are helpful and challenging for being the kind of woman that will care boldly for both my home full of little loves and for the world full of so many, so needy for love, (and what of the IS who need some discipline to clamp down on them!?), here's more from Anne Morrow Lindbergh, in Gift From the Sea.  

"If we stop to think about it, are not the real casualties in modern life just these centers...the here, the now, the individual and his relationships.  The present is passed over in the race for the future; the here is neglected for the there; and the individual is dwarfed by the enormity of the mass.  America, which has the most glorious present still existing in the world today, hardly stops to enjoy it, in her insatiable appetite for the future...  The here, the now, and the individual, have always been the special concern of the saint, the artist, the poet, and- from time immortal- the woman.  In the small circle of the home she has never quite forgotten the particular uniqueness of each member of the family; the spontaneity of now; the vividness of here.  This is the basic substance of life.  These are the individual elements that form the bigger entities like mass, future, world.  We may neglect these elements, but we cannot dispense with them.  They are the drops that make up the stream.  It may be our special function to emphasize again these neglected realitites, not as a retreat from greater responsibilities but as a first real step toward a deeper understanding and solution of them. " (p 126-127)

And here's a little load of photos of the girls...  (my sweetheart boys are less excited by photo opps.  I'm going to keep working on them though!)

their flower girl dresses for early next month... they could. not. be. more. excited.

we got to babysit this cutie!  Such a treat for our whole crew to get to enjoy this sweetie pie!

I love how Marian's doing the mom thing of opening her mouth to try to get the baby to open up.  

Vivi's best friend.  This little girl has charmed all of our hearts....  just love her!  

and her dress twirls... I mean it really twirls.  Her mama told her that she went right home after getting picked up from school so she could get her twirliest dress on to wear over to our house for dinner.  No wonder Vivi's so devoted to this sweet pal!