back again

Hello! Our Internet has been down now for nearly two weeks, but we are finally connected again. These pictures are from a camping trip a little while ago, and this is as close as I'm going to get to trying to catch up here with all we've been up to!

Not having the internet all this time has actually turned out to be quite an unexpected gift. After the first day or so I hardly missed it, and I got so much more done. And then I realized that without it I was doing a lot more for myself when I needed down time, rather than using the computer to escape when I was feeling overwhelmed. It really was perfect timing too, as I have been working on homeschool planning and planning out our rhythm/routine for the year, and realizing I need to structure my own computer-free time. I am thinking of 2 or 3 days a week where I don't turn it on at all.

I also have been struggling with how to keep this blog up the way I want to, while balancing computer time and the frustrations of our slow rural internet connection. I am thinking of more frequent, less photo heavy posts that I can put together quickly (photos take sooo long to upload!) and maybe posting certain "themed" posts during the week, like a homeschooling post (on the same day I have to do my homeschool reporting anyway!) and maybe a craft themed one, or a  day-in-the-life type. I don't have it all figured out yet, but I am looking forward to being here a little more often, but not spending as much time struggling with photos and uploading issues.

As the summer draws to a close, and the weather is returning to the cold wet weather that seems to be the norm for this year, I am starting to feel that familiar desire to take stock of everything, to preserve food for winter, to make sure we have all the warm clothes we will need, and to organize, sort, clean, and ready our little home for the long hours we will be spending inside its walls. Knitting, canning, harvesting, sewing. It is good. And though the weather has been challenging this summer, we have spent our days exactly as we had hoped- without a lot of busy-ness or external obligations, just time spent together as a family, enjoying each others company. We are blessed indeed.