It is so quiet around our house this morning. Everyone is sleeping but me. Gertie came into our room at 6 a.m. telling us that it was morning, "Grace said it was." I think she slept with Grace last night. Lately, she's been sneaking out of her bed into one of her siblings' beds after we put her down. I have even started reminding her when I leave that I want her to stay in her own bed, and she says she will, but then she must change her mind. I guess I don't mind horribly if they don't mind. But I don't like that it's sneaky, if it is.

Grace spend the last three days at a place called Eagle Bluff. It is an environmental learning center. Outside. In December. It is something that the whole pile of 7th graders get to do in this town. They are outside for stretches of 3 hours at a time. She said she stayed warm and learned a few things. She was so tired when she came home that I haven't heard much about it. I heard about a tiff and drama between her bunkmates, but that was it. Oh, and that they were trying not to waste food, and it was sort of a contest. The kids got into it. They were trading food and eating other's leftovers so they wouldn't waste more than they had. Grace said her group did very will, with only 7 1/2 pounds of wasted food for the three days. I don't know how many were in the group, and I know that the syrup on the pancakes killed them in the end. I know if I added up the weight of the wasted syrup around my house I could feed many hungry. They might get sick eating all that syrup, though.

My kids eat almost nothing I prepare at our house, and they are way too picky about what John prepares. I think we should try this experiment at home. Maybe they'd get into the challenge and EAT. What we fix. Gertie ate some sugary cereal yesterday. Gobbled it up. Asked for more. As soon as I dumped more into her bowl she declared, "I don't like this." And she pushed it away. What is that? I hate that. And she can't seem to leave anything she doesn't care to eat on her plate. I remember the others being that way a bit too. But what is with that? Can't it just sit in the corner until you're done?

In Bible study we are reading the story of God asking Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. I have always had a hard time understanding this story. It bugs me. I am open to a new lesson from God here. There really are some great stories in Genesis. I've loved rereading them.

Gertie just woke up...