Here's My Plan

Last night we had a mom's homeschool meeting. It's a really nice excuse to get together but we do some planning too. With the school year ending, we not only planned the rest of this year, but came up with some tentative ideas for next year as well. I'm always excited thinking about what the new school year will bring...what we'll learn, the new books we'll read - I'm ready for a fresh start (i.e. sick of this year!). Filling in the dates for events as we get closer to summer is a challenge. Every one's got a million things going on and we're no exception. Our summer is full of camps and trips (to France!) and visits to relatives........
I got a call yesterday from Grace's nephrologist with some bad news about her latest blood work. Her kidneys up to this point have been doing a slow gracefull decline but this month they took a drastic jump downwards. Her functioning is now below 15% and that's kicked in a new course of action. Her doctor talked about preparing to start dialysis next month and activating her on the transplant list. When I told Grace about all this and we thought through all our upcoming plans and how they might be affected she got teary eyed and said, "I'm sorry Mom". "Sure, you rotten kid, how dare you have kidney failure and mess up all our plans!" With lots of hugs and assurances that we would get through all this, we felt a little better.
I'm still keeping my calendar - with a caveat...
In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps. Proverbs 16:9

Head in the Sand

Last week every one's thoughts were on Virginia Tech and like my friend Joanne, the sadness continues to surface. This was one of the events in history that make me think about our lack of access to the media. We haven't had broadcast TV for over three years now and I still have urges to be a voyeur when there is a tragedy as this was. I've missed Tsunamis and shootings and hurricane Katrina, drug addicted people dying with people fighting over their children, and my kids have missed even more as they don't choose CNN when they use the computer. I've wondered if my children's world looks different from not seeing the incessant replays of these events. Are they naive? Do they feel safer not seeing human sadness played out in violence? For every motive in the shootings and suicides, I see a small reflection in our own emotions. We deal with feelings of not having friends, jealously, suffering from past hurts and physical difficulties on a tiny family level. We talk about how God wants us to handle it when you don't feel important or a friend doesn't call. Do I want my kids to see what happens when people don't have the Lord to turn to? I think their strength can be in their innocence. When this generation of kids become adults they may need people who haven't "seen it all" and who assume that all hurts lead to tragedy. I bet they will be able to guess how someone feels after a loved one has died, without even asking them. (I find that to be the most ridiculous media question of all.) Will sheltering them from all this make them less effective to share the Lord with others? I don't know the right answer... so for now - ignorance is bliss.

I Couldn't Do This With a Ladder

Our 17 year old son David is doing track again this year. He caught the track "bug" from his older brother Kevin who loved it and was great at it. Kevin ran the hurdles and David decided to follow in his footsteps. David's the poster child for A.D.H.D. and all those years of jumping around have finally paid off...the hurdles are just another thing to hop over, only nobody tells you to sit down and stop being annoying. His best day this season was when the coach told him he was as good as Kevin. He has crashed landed over the hurdles and scraped up his face and shoulder, left nipple and leg. That gave him endless scabs to pick off his body and why does he think we want to see each piece and what lies beneath it?

Sign Right Here and Here and Here

My parents are on their way home from watching my grand kids in France. Check out my son in laws online diary of their trip. As they prepare to leave, our family here did some preparation to go to France this summer. Today was passport day. Of course, we waited till the last possible minute to start the process so every little delay is enough to give you a heart attack. One of the boys needed a picture ID. We went to the DMV to get the card and didn't have all the right paperwork. You can't have all the right paperwork the first time....it's impossible. Our second try this morning we got it right, he got the ID and all seven of us left for Maryland to the Passport Agency. Everything was running smoothly (if you don't count the kids being loud and ridiculous and that the new ID card wasn't accepted because it had to be issued over a year ago) till we got to Steven and Ashley's passport application. Apparently you're not allowed to take foster children out of the country without a ton of more paperwork. Now these aren't cute babies we were stealing away to Poland or something, but teenagers who I'm sure we'll wish we had left behind on more then one occasion during our trip. We were informed that we had to go back to West Virginia and get a State Official to give us permission to take them and have it notarized. We pick that up tomorrow and back to Maryland to finish. And then you have to pay over $90 a piece for each one on top of all the aggravation. Then the only worry will be the postal system delivering the passports back to us safely and on time. Who's worrying?

Next She'll Want a Pony

My husband likes kids pretty much. He's parented over 40 some but he can be a little...I'm thinking of a nice word (he reads my blog)......gruff at times. He likes having kids around but they can't touch his feet or chew with their mouths open or tip backwards in their chairs or leave their shoes downstairs and they can NEVER EVER EVER sleep with us. Not when they're babies and not when their sick, it's never happened - ever.
Scarlett, our grandaughter, got up a couple of times during the night and she wasn't really hungry but was missing her mom. At 5:00 am I was tired and brought her back to bed with me. Her Poppa not only allowed her to sleep with us but watched her while I got up and took my shower.
Scarlett - you have no idea!

James has left his response to this entry. Read it here.

Are They Gone Yet?

My daughter Kara and her husband Nate were invited to a wedding. The kind of wedding where the bride made it very clear she didn't want any screaming babies during the ceremony. Which means that Scarlett ( who is 4 months old and screams randomly) is staying with us this weekend. They drove up and brought in 87 pounds of baby gear for their 13 pound baby. Kara then, very seriously, proceeded to tell me everything I needed to know about taking care of Scarlett. There were instructions on the freshly pumped bottles of breast milk and bags of frozen breast milk and when each was to be given. She told me when she would sleep and when she wouldn't (like in the middle of the night). Now, I'm not a first time mother or grandmother, but this was Scarlett's first time away from mommy and daddy and I was trying to pay attention and listen politely .....however, sitting cutely on her daddy's lap, Miss Scarlett was grinning at me from ear to ear. She was already making plans for FUN while the parents were gone. I'm with you Scarlett!!

No Place Like Home

As happy as my Mom and Dad are to be watching their great grand kids in the beautiful village of Me'ry, France, they are sad to be missing spring in the West Virginia hills. So this post is for you Mom and Dad. The Bradford Pear trees have finished blooming, but the Forsythia is a brilliant gold and the purple of the Red Buds are every where. Crab apple trees are peaking and there are even dandelions in your grass. The Dogwoods, however, are waiting for you to return before they open up.


So come home soon!