Rebekah came home this weekend. We were having a potluck at church; she hasn’t been to one in a while, and her schedule won’t permit her to again until who knows when. It was good to have her home. And the potluck was really good as well. She’ll be working at Lake Forest Ranch again this summer. She’ll be on work staff the first half of the summer and then she’ll be a work staff/counselor the second half, which means she’ll be a counselor if there is a need for a fill in. Between sickness and family things that come up, it’s not unusual to have a need for a fill in. She’s excited to be going back.
It has been a rainy, but uneventful January. I did go to Knoxville last week for a regional pastors’ meeting with our denomination (EFCA). Our district superintendent is retiring at the end of the year, so unless I go to a district conference this fall, that will probably be the last time that I get to see him.
We start week 4 of the semester tomorrow. It has gone well, but it doesn’t feel like we should be that far along. Pinwheel tutoring starts up next Monday. I think I am getting a new kid this semester. As I was just a “fill-in” last semester, that will be nice. Lauren led the training last week; she does such a good job talking to a room full of people who are mostly older than her.
While we have burned a few fires in the stove, it has still been a rather warm winter. And the daffodils and tulips are confused as both started coming up last week. We normally don’t see those until February. I think the daffodils will be fine. I don’t think the tulips would like a really hard freeze when they’ve budded, but for now they’ll be fine. It was 22° night before last and all seems well. I’m looking forward to seeing how the 100 daffodil bulbs I planted overlooking the road down in the woods look when they bloom.

Jenna, Jacob, Lauren, Emily, and Evan and some of Evan’s family and friends are going camping and hiking next weekend in the Smokies. There’s a chance of snow this week up there. But the weekend is supposed to be pretty. And we’re hoping to get to one of Evan’s rugby games in Atlanta in February as well.
Maybe we’ll get a good snow in February, but if not, I say it’s time for summer.