I am exhausted today.  Thoroughly. However, I had a half-caf cup of coffee this morning so my brain is buzzing.  So this post will be a hodgepodge of what’s going on in my brain right now.  Most of it’s from my google reader, but it’s random nonetheless.  You’ve been adequately warned.

1. Yesterday we had the absolute pleasure of hosting a new missionary family at our church.  Luke and Sarah and their three boys are headed to Bangladesh just as soon as they finish raising their budget.  It was extra special for us though, because I know Luke and Sarah from waaaaay back!  Luke’s older sister and I were roommates freshman year at NCU.  He was still in high school at the time, but he soon came to NCU and was friends with my brother.  Sarah and I lived on the same floor one year and I have always just loved her to pieces.  We took them out for lunch and then they came back to our house just to hang out “for a while”.  Yeah, they didn’t leave until after 10:30 last night.  We just kept talking and the kids played so well together.  It was pretty much a perfect day!
2. Today is August 1st. YIKES!!! This summer is FLY-ING too too fast, but August 1st also mean I changed my desktop on my computer.  Woo-hoo.  And it’s so stinking cute.  Be sure to go download your own desktop! 
3. I felt like I was reading my own post when I read Little Miss Momma this morning! Except I haven’t taken cute pictures of myself like that…umm…maybe ever, nor do I have an adorable ring like that…yet! This is how I roll when it comes to weekly list making.  Here’s the list for this week…
4. I’m gearing up to start school in the next few weeks, so my brain is slowly shifting to think about it more and more.  I love this idea of assignment cards.  I don’t know if we’re quite to the point of being able to use them, but I’m so glad she shared the idea…I may try to incorporate it somehow, even if in a smaller way this year.
5. My heart ached as I read this post over at We are THAT family.  Truer words have not been spoken, er written. I know I struggle with wondering if what I’m doing as a stay at home mom is really worth anything.  I mean I know in the long-run that it is, but in the thick of it, day-to-day it’s a whole lot harder to see the value in changing another poopy diaper or explaining another teachable moment.  It’s often a thankless job, so it’s nice to read a post that acknowledges that.
6. Last, but certainly not least, I’m deep in the middle of a new book series.  It’s The Daughters of Boston, by Julie Lessman.  I’ve already finished A Passion Most Pure and am halfway through A Passion Redeemed.  I’m not so sure how I feel about it yet.  It took me a bit to get into the first book, but by the end I really did want to finish it.  I don’t care too much for the characters in the second book.  (They were secondary characters in the first and now the main characters in book 2.) The girl is annoying and the story so much like the first book that it’s proving difficult to keep my attention.  But I’m not one to quit a book no matter how indifferent I may be and it is entertaining enough to hold my attention.  Besides, they are not short books, so I feel like at this point I know so much about the family that I can’t bail on them now. I want to find out what happens to every last one of them.  So I’m committed to the very end.  I did enjoy the first one by the end, so I’m hoping it will be the same with the second and then the third.  Once I’m done with the whole series, I’ll review it in full, but I’m curious if you’ve ever read this series?  What did you think of it? Am I totally wrong about them?