Yeah, so it wasn't the greatest health week around here. My kids Aubrey, John Caleb, and Timothy, grandkids David, Josh, Isaac, Abigail and Sam, and cousin Josiah all had varying degrees of respiratory infections which in at least three cases led to pneumonia. All seem to be on the mend now, but if you notice the drug company stocks soaring this week, I won't need to tell you why...

I'm still thanking my merciful Father for allowing me to get great news about my eyes. The glow is still all around me despite an otherwise rough week. School had completely fallen apart by Wednesday morning, and I really didn't do much to try to redeem it. It happened to have been a fairly light week anyway, so we'll double up on a few things this week and we should be okay.

I used some of the downtime this week to get second quarter Tapestry of Grace (Year 1) books ordered. Looking ahead to the topics, I think it's going to be a very enjoyable study: The Indus Valley, Hinduism, and Buddhism; Ancient China, Confucius, and Taoism; Ancient Americas; Early Greeks; Conquest and Settlement of the Promised Land and the Neighboring Cultures.

My new laptop arrived on Tuesday, and I'm just now getting my life transferred over. Really, I'd have preferred not to do this...the new one is nice but not that much nicer than my old one, and changing settings, figuring out Vista, formatting email, and transferring files is such a pain. Here's hoping this one lasts me longer than 2 1/2 years. (And you know you're getting old when you start thinking in terms of how many more computers you'll probably need before you die!)

I am now 4/6 of the way through listening to Atlas Shrugged. And no, dear math students, I am not reducing the fraction. It sounds much more substantial to me than 2/3. This thing is a monster (52 hours and 19 minutes)! But what a novel...the layers, the writing, the philosophy, all are intriguing and spellbinding. Yesterday, for variety, I also started the audio of The Thirteenth Tale. I hope I'll be able to end up recommending it because so far, it's very good.

This afternoon, some of the kids and I attended "Oz with Orchestra."What a delight! The Majestic Theater is one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been...the kind of thing no one designs or builds anymore. I was spellbound. The performance itself had a few bugs, like the music slightly lagging behind the movie and some of the music being so loud you couldn't hear the dialog, but for the most part it was done quite well. The kids in our group really enjoyed it and behaved spectacularly well!

Seems I'm forgetting a snippet or two, but if I remember something later I'll post again. In the meantime, snip, snip...and have a great week!