Slowing The Pace Down

It has been a good week of getting back in the groove. I love it when I don't need to leave home for the whole school week. I was home Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday until music lessons in the evening. It was great! I feel like my feet are under me once again and school sails when I don't have a lot of side line stuff to distract me. I guess that is why my Biblical mandate is to "be busy at home." There is a lot more success in my parenting and in tying strings of fellowship with my kids when I am staying home and not running around. Plus I am a better wife too!! So I have yet to figure out why I let other stuff into my schedule. There is a balance to strike I suppose. I would tend to lean to the side of hermit being an introvert myself but I need to teach my kids to host and how to conduct themselves in public settings. I want them to learn to be a blessing to others so I can't hermit my family because I prefer to stay at home. Maybe I need to learn to take outings in stride a little more and relax if we are late and not rush rush rush. I don't like rushing my crew out the door. I am slow at heart and if I wouldn't rush myself I would be perpetually late. Enough of my ramblings about being busy!!
So we had an exciting event happen last weekend. We added one more breed to our kennel and they are the sweetest dogs! They are West Highland Terriers. AKA Westies. I don't have any pictures of them yet but I did see that Walmart has a Westie on their pet department sign. They are white dogs and we are getting to know each other and we are learning their names! The other exciting thing is that we should be having Westie puppies within 2 weeks!! I can't wait. Since I can't be a real midwife right now I will play midwife to our dogs. Birth gives me a thrill that is unmatchable! I have been given the gift of attending 3 births of one of my friends and those moments are treasured dearly in my heart and I will never forget any of them! So there are 3 Westies and 2 Scotties that will have babies between now and the middle of January so this midwife is booked up! We will see how many births I make it for! I don't do middle of the night duty. We are really enjoying our new kennel and the opportunity that it is giving our children to learn good work ethic and how to run a business as well. They watch how we interact with adoptive families and observe the income/expenses side of things as well. We have a family meeting and pay day each Saturday. Discussions about how the dogs are doing and how we can improve our kennel are on the agenda. Then of course we end with payday which is high on the list of priorities for them. They split their earnings between tithe, saving and spending. Each child is payed a set amount for the week as long as their responsibilities have been completed well and with a good attitude. It is fun to see them learn things outside of a book. They don't even know that they are learning!
Last of all, the crew is spending a lot of time skating on the rink that Travis and them built. It is a good outlet for energy during the winter months! I'll have to get a picture of everyone skating.