To Love Another

So I promised a followup post once we had some resolution to what caused my Tuesday to be extremely stressful.  Today we got some good news, so I wanted to write this up soon.

I've mentioned before how my sister, D, who lives nearby with her four daughters, is a single mom.  She has some incredible strength to be doing the job of two parents, basically on her own.  The father is not involved any longer.  The girls still have so much promise and joy in them even though their mom is tired so much of the time.

I know how tired I am a lot of the time and I have a partner in this crazy life.  So as well as things continue to go over there at their house, I have admiration for my sister's ability to keep doing and giving to those girls.  Money is always tight, quality time is limited and it's a house full of five females with nobody to kill the bugs or repair things.

We do our best to help D and the girls as much as we can.

Nanny McGyver

Sometimes I find myself in a situation that requires my inner McGyver to come to the surface to save the day.  Today, was one of those days.   While I'm almost embarrassed to write about this story, I was so pleased with the results that it would be a shame not to document the success.

Plus, I already told the child's mother and she laughed about it, so I guess I'm clear to tell you about it here.

Hello and Happy Birthday

I'm so thankful!  C is home again safely and so we can all breathe a sigh of relief.  We are so happy!

And speaking of happy ... our family celebrates two birthdays today. 

Happy Birthday to my dad-in-law today AND Happy Birthday to my niece, K.  I hope you both had a wonderful day, today!  We love you both.

Actually, I heard how K's day went and it seemed to work out in the end, but can you believe she had six tests today in school?!  On her birthday!  Craziness.  She did get an A+ on one reading project she turned in today, so that definitely had her smiling.

Okay, this is a short post ... I'm tired this evening!  But happy it's Friday, too!

While Daddy's Away...

It never fails, when C goes away on business, the whole house groans at his departure.

Even though he took vacation to work on several household projects and in between our fun weekend, he made sure the oil was changed in my truck and that the van got a repair that we couldn't really afford but was necessary to drive it (a steering rod broke and the shocks needed replacing), he changed the battery in my remote locker-unlocker that lives on my keychain that had died several months ago, he even reattached the dishwasher to the countertop because it had shaken itself loose creating drainage issues -- as soon as he left, more things started breaking.

Conversations with Our Favorite Kindergartener

I love my niece, N, mostly because she is so adorable.  And five.  Three and five are my favorite ages for kids.

Disclaimer:  I love my kids at all ages, but I like them better on particular days and at certain ages ... and so far, that's three and five.  I have a hunch I might like them a lot at 30, too.  But we'll see.

Anyway, so N and I were chatting it up this morning and I wanted to capture some of the best moments and record them here for me to reflect back on when she's nine or 14 or whatever.  It was a lot to remember, so hopefully I've captured the gist of these stories from earlier today and you'll excuse me if I'm a word or two off on anything.  I'm pretty sure I'm close though.

Sweet Moments

I think in most of my stories, Z comes off as a bit rough around the edges.  He is.  He's a boy, though, so I figure some of that comes with the territory.  However, I think I've also mentioned what a good teacher he can be and how sweet and gentle he is -- deep down.

Today, was a good reminder of this side of him.

Monday's Musings

They say we learn something new every day.  If this is true, then I'm stockpiled for weeks with what I learned yesterday!  It was a crazy day and here's what I learned...

On a Roll

Apparently, I needed a good frustrating day to motivate me to get stuff done!  Because since my minor meltdown about all the projects I had looming, I've been really getting stuff done.

Today, with all the kids' help, I got the whole loft playroom cleaned up, sorted and agreed upon toys put aside for the yard sale Saturday.  The kids were actually more willing than I thought to give up their stuff. 

Funny Niece

My niece, N, is so funny.  Maybe it's the age (5) or her role in our family -- I don't know, but she says a million funny things a day and I can't keep track of them all.

But today, I am writing three of them down for you all...

Post-Camp

I'm sure that there will be many more stories passed around this weekend as the kids settle back into home life again (and get actual sleep, since they never do when they're away at camp), as well as reconnect with the other youth group members Sunday at church and are reminded of all the good times, but for now, the chatter has slowed. 

All three mentioned the Olympic games during Recreation Time, so I think that must have been among their favorite activities.  H had gone on the zip line at camp, while the girls did not.  The zip line traveled right over the roof of the girls' cabin, so they spent a lot of time watching friends soar above.  The food was equated to cafeteria food (sorry cafeteria workers of America, my kids have unreasonably high food standards thanks to their dad's cooking abilities).  They loved, loved, loved worship time.  H even donated half of his spending money that I sent him to camp with to the offering being collected for Houses of Hope.  I thought that was cool.  They all came home with talk and phone numbers of kids they met, many of whom traveled to camp from Texas.

A Little Catching Up

I thought I'd follow up with a few things that have gone on around here just lately for my own record keeping, but also for those of you (thanks, family!) who check my blog to stay current with what's going on in our lives...

Kid Fun

Today's conversations with the kids have been full of humor for me.  I love days like that when I find a lot of joy and entertainment in just being with them.  I thought I'd share some of my favorite moments here...

---

Abundant Grace

Our daughter, S, is 17 today.

I have to let that stand alone because I seriously am in denial about having a 17-year-old daughter!  I mean, we didn't meet her till she was eight, so 17 kind of snuck up on us pretty quickly.

Journaling: Day 7

Happiness is ... this fun journaling project!  I have never been very good at sticking with a journal for long, but now I've done a whole week straight and had so much fun.  Today's prompt from Janel is about what Happiness is to me.  I could make a whole spreadsheet on the topic, but instead, I just jotted down the first few things that came to mind and left it at that.

A Small Vanilla & Dance Drama

Random subject line, right?  Well, hopefully, I can explain it here and somehow manage to keep two separate topics unified and concise.

Earlier today, J and N were playing a game where J ran a store that sold ice cream supplies (cones, etc.) and N ran a restaurant that sold ice cream and other things.  What a practical exchange of goods and services, or as I like to call it, Econ for elementary school kids.  Ha.

Year of the V

A Teen-Jeopardy episode the other night reminded me that this is the Year of the Dragon in Chinese culture.  Here in our house, it's been the Year of Something Else.  Something scarier than a dragon.

Third Day

This is the third day in a row of J feeling better.  Hooray and praise the Lord!  Her appetite is going like gang-busters, too.  She actually enjoys tracking it in her food diary, too.  One day, perhaps I'll scan a page or two so you can see how she's doing. 

We told her she can have one more night in our room and tomorrow, she gets to move back to her bed.  I'm not sure if S is excited to have her roommate back or not.  But we'll be glad to reclaim the floor space where she's been sleeping in our room (while sick).