I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything personal or devotional. The main reason for that is lack of time, of course. This year has been better than last year in terms of stress--I am not spread so thin, trying to do so many different things--but the things I am focused on this year have been just as time-consuming. I am spending many hours a day with my three home-taught kids, especially on the tedious tasks of teaching one to read, bringing a beginning reader up to speed, drilling math facts, helping my 6th grader with writing projects, and sitting at the piano with one or another, lending confidence or help as new songs are learned. I have done this before, of course, but there is more required work and more accountability this particular time around, with the virtual schools that two are enrolled in, and the desire to please our fabulous piano teacher and continue the wonderful progress that B11 and Chicklet are making.
So I am thanking God for the time and energy I have right now to do this, and the patience He is giving me...because I'm not sure I'm going to make it through the whole school year this gracefully! It feels like so many other things in my life are piling up while I invest this time, which I trust and pray will pay off with more independent abilities as the school year goes by. I really don't like this beginning-level stuff, and I can feel the impatience and frustration under the surface sometimes. And I know that my biggest need is time for me.
I used to use blogging as an outlet, a creative escape, and even a way to get in touch with things I didn't know I thought or felt until I started exploring them in writing. I used to find time to take one morning a week for a "sanity break," or stay up late to write a blog post or catch up on tasks.
But it just hasn't been happening for me lately. None of my kids are in a theater production this session, so I'm not taking the time while they are at rehearsals to write, as I used to. Instead, for the last six weeks, I've had lesson plans to write and examples to find for the writing class I've been teaching at our homeschool group's enrichment classes, and I've had a few Sunday School lessons to plan, too. Spiritually and emotionally, I have been preoccupied with cares that aren't really bloggable--meaning "able to be shared with the whole world." And I just had to quit reading other blogs nearly two years ago, so I'm lacking that inspiration.
Then a friend suggested we start meeting once a month to talk about our writing goals. Though a part of me laughed at the thought of having any, I knew it might be an opportunity to stir the pot, so to speak, and I certainly wanted to encourage her.
What it's done has got me thinking about me, especially the part of me that has gotten lost somewhere in the busyness of being a mom, a homeschool teacher, a wife, a pastor's wife, and a church leader. There are so many demands on my time coming from all these roles; it's ridiculous to think about time spent on anything else. But suddenly I am feeling urges to develop talents I was only beginning to discover, once upon a time. I had promised myself that I could always go on and study further the oboe, the saxophone, piano, singing, drawing, painting, speaking, teaching and writing--all things I enjoyed and was good at.
It seems impossible, right now, to find time or money to sign up for classes or lessons. I don't know if I could even choose one of these things that I really, really want to pick up again. Writing seems the obvious one to keep developing, right here on my blog. I know there is so much more I could do with it, if I really wanted to develop my identity and make a place for myself as a blogger, but that takes time, as much as it would to develop myself as a free-lance writer, novel author, screenwriter, playwriter or poet--all forms of writing I've considered trying.
But time I don't have...and time is also running out, in a sense. My life is halfway over. I'm trying to live it as faithfully as possible, and I will never regret the hours I have poured into my children. It was such a pat on the back to attend parent-teacher conferences at the Christian school, for Blondechick17 and B15. Teacher after teacher went out of their way to assure me that I had really wonderful kids. They had good things to say about their academics, but it seems the main thing they wanted to convey were positive comments about their character, peer relations and work ethic. Several times it came up that BC and B15 had been homeschooled up until last year, and each teacher registered surprise--they hadn't realized that--and then approval--"Well, you did a really good job!"
I hope that doesn't come across as bragging, but I need to record those words, for me. All the years of doing my best and worrying that it wasn't enough, it wasn't as thorough as it should have been or as comprehensive as they would have had in school, and knowing how much more I could have done if there had only been more time, or fewer younger siblings. And they are turning out all right academically and in more important ways. That's huge.
B15 encouraged me recently, too. He's become friends with another family who homeschooled until this year; they just put all their kids in the Christian school, and he just commented on what good friends the siblings were, and then remarked that other students are always surprised at what good friends he and Blondechick are. She has noted the same thing. And it gives me another reason to keep putting in the time with their three younger siblings.
It's all a balance between gifts, callings and time.
Time is short, and I am out of it now.
How do YOU balance the three?
Showing posts with label about me. Show all posts
Showing posts with label about me. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
A Week in the Life
I keep feeling guilty that I'm not blogging more. Okay, guilty is the wrong word--I'm feeling SAD because I MISS blogging. So many unrecorded stories and thoughts! But I guess my blog will reflect that I was truly in a season when I had far less control over my schedule than I enjoyed for years previously.
I wish I could say that last week was an unusual week, but with the exception of Saturday, it was pretty typical.
Last Monday:
day--homeschooled, cooked and cleaned, two trips to school and one trip to the orthodontist (result: B11 can get started with braces any day--and B14 gets his off tomorrow!)
night--had a newer family from church over for dinner
Tuesday:
day--one trip to school, homeschooled, prepared for theater classes, caught up on emails
night--theater classes, stopped at Mr. and Mrs. A's (the couple who started our church) for a little "Fat Tuesday" celebration, stayed up late with B14 doing homework
Wednesday:
day--meetings at the home office of our theater group, over an hour from home (5 hrs total); two trips to school and one to tap, jazz and guitar lessons (all at same time, fortunately!)
night--quick dinner and on to the Ash Wednesday service
Thursday:
day--homeschool, laundry and too many necessary phone calls. Ran to Walmart during B11's cornet lesson; two trips to school, including stops at library, Target and Sally's Beauty Supply (black hairspray for Mulan).
night--stayed up late with B14 completing science project, research paper introduction, Bible project, and history project--most not due till later, but our only block of time to work on them!
Friday:
day--Papa Rooster drove kids to school and met me at B19's school for an IEP meeting with his team--we met for 2+ hours to talk about transitions ahead (great meeting). Back at home, on computer for an hour completing open enrollment registration process to keep virtual school options open for Chicklet7 and B11 for next year. Trip to Aldi during B11's piano lesson, pick up BC and B14 at school.
night--5 to 9--Mulan rehearsal for B14 and B11. I brought Chicklet along and experimented with makeup designs to show the directors (lookin' good!).
Saturday:
day: woke up with a headache that got worse as I drove boys to 9 a.m. Mulan rehearsal. Decided not to stay but to go to Panera and see if coffee would help, in case of a migraine. Stopped at Walmart on way to check my blood pressure, which had been high on Thursday, and it was higher. Coffee didn't help and headache got worse; I felt nauseous and unbalanced and couldn't keep eyes open. Didn't think I could drive myself home; called Papa Rooster to come and get me. We decided with my blood pressure up, we should go to Urgent Care instead. UC sent me to ER. CT scan of my head was normal, blood work was normal, blood pressure came down after they knocked out my headache with an IV cocktail, which put me to sleep for several hours. Need to follow up with doctor regarding my blood pressure (After extensive testing over the past six months for various other medical concerns, one more thing! At least I now know that all my major organs seem to be in good shape.)
night: through the narcotic haze, I somehow managed to help B14 write outline for his research paper we've been working on together for weeks, on the Harry Potter controversy. (Had to check it again on Sunday to make sure it made sense, but he's good to go.)
Sunday:
day--woke up feeling better, but still with a residual headache. Went early to church for rehearsal; sang with Blondechick on worship team. Lunch at friends' home, helped B14 finish one more homework project before driving him to an activity and running a couple of quickie errands. Home for a movie with friends--it was good to relax and watch a really redeeming, sacramental story: Henry Poole is Here. (Check it out if you haven't seen it!)
This week IS an unusual week:
--Mulan dress rehearsals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
--Mulan school day shows: 2 Thursday morning, 2 Friday morning
--Mulan public performances: Friday night, Saturday night, Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon
I'll be there every time, doing makeup...and then, maybe I'll get a week off!
Pray for my health, if the Lord leads you. I am making changes--doing less with the theater group next session and probably next year as well. And in late April, Blondechick will hopefully get her license--Woo-hoo! That will return HOURS to my week.
I wish I could say that last week was an unusual week, but with the exception of Saturday, it was pretty typical.
Last Monday:
day--homeschooled, cooked and cleaned, two trips to school and one trip to the orthodontist (result: B11 can get started with braces any day--and B14 gets his off tomorrow!)
night--had a newer family from church over for dinner
Tuesday:
day--one trip to school, homeschooled, prepared for theater classes, caught up on emails
night--theater classes, stopped at Mr. and Mrs. A's (the couple who started our church) for a little "Fat Tuesday" celebration, stayed up late with B14 doing homework
Wednesday:
day--meetings at the home office of our theater group, over an hour from home (5 hrs total); two trips to school and one to tap, jazz and guitar lessons (all at same time, fortunately!)
night--quick dinner and on to the Ash Wednesday service
Thursday:
day--homeschool, laundry and too many necessary phone calls. Ran to Walmart during B11's cornet lesson; two trips to school, including stops at library, Target and Sally's Beauty Supply (black hairspray for Mulan).
night--stayed up late with B14 completing science project, research paper introduction, Bible project, and history project--most not due till later, but our only block of time to work on them!
Friday:
day--Papa Rooster drove kids to school and met me at B19's school for an IEP meeting with his team--we met for 2+ hours to talk about transitions ahead (great meeting). Back at home, on computer for an hour completing open enrollment registration process to keep virtual school options open for Chicklet7 and B11 for next year. Trip to Aldi during B11's piano lesson, pick up BC and B14 at school.
night--5 to 9--Mulan rehearsal for B14 and B11. I brought Chicklet along and experimented with makeup designs to show the directors (lookin' good!).
Saturday:
day: woke up with a headache that got worse as I drove boys to 9 a.m. Mulan rehearsal. Decided not to stay but to go to Panera and see if coffee would help, in case of a migraine. Stopped at Walmart on way to check my blood pressure, which had been high on Thursday, and it was higher. Coffee didn't help and headache got worse; I felt nauseous and unbalanced and couldn't keep eyes open. Didn't think I could drive myself home; called Papa Rooster to come and get me. We decided with my blood pressure up, we should go to Urgent Care instead. UC sent me to ER. CT scan of my head was normal, blood work was normal, blood pressure came down after they knocked out my headache with an IV cocktail, which put me to sleep for several hours. Need to follow up with doctor regarding my blood pressure (After extensive testing over the past six months for various other medical concerns, one more thing! At least I now know that all my major organs seem to be in good shape.)
night: through the narcotic haze, I somehow managed to help B14 write outline for his research paper we've been working on together for weeks, on the Harry Potter controversy. (Had to check it again on Sunday to make sure it made sense, but he's good to go.)
Sunday:
day--woke up feeling better, but still with a residual headache. Went early to church for rehearsal; sang with Blondechick on worship team. Lunch at friends' home, helped B14 finish one more homework project before driving him to an activity and running a couple of quickie errands. Home for a movie with friends--it was good to relax and watch a really redeeming, sacramental story: Henry Poole is Here. (Check it out if you haven't seen it!)
This week IS an unusual week:
--Mulan dress rehearsals Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
--Mulan school day shows: 2 Thursday morning, 2 Friday morning
--Mulan public performances: Friday night, Saturday night, Saturday afternoon, Sunday afternoon
I'll be there every time, doing makeup...and then, maybe I'll get a week off!
Pray for my health, if the Lord leads you. I am making changes--doing less with the theater group next session and probably next year as well. And in late April, Blondechick will hopefully get her license--Woo-hoo! That will return HOURS to my week.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Facebook Statuses I Never Posted
...is too busy to think of a Facebook status.
...is tired of being busy.
...is glad she owns a Prius, since she spends half her time driving.
...can't believe her carpool just fell apart and she now has to drive her kids to/from school 5 mornings and 5 afternoons a week!
...can't believe how many doctor/dental appointments family members have required in the past three months--we're averaging at least one a week--and still they continue!
...is afraid that all the have-to's are crowding out the important.
...misses Facebook.
...misses blogging.
...hasn't read anybody else's blog in months! And apologizes, and misses her blogging friends.
..misses her Bible, and her journal. And is grateful for a prayer closet on wheels (aka her Prius).
...is trying to figure out how to remedy the situation.
..can't wait for Blondechick to get her driver's license in April!
...can't listen to one more sentence beginning with, "Mom, could you...?" [take me...pick me up...buy me....]
...wishes B14 didn't have so much homework.
...wishes she could spend more time homeschooling and less time helping with homework.
...wishes she could do her mending.
...tells herself, "this is a season."
...knows that this, too, shall pass.
...keeps asking: What do I have to do next?
...is tired of being busy.
...is glad she owns a Prius, since she spends half her time driving.
...can't believe her carpool just fell apart and she now has to drive her kids to/from school 5 mornings and 5 afternoons a week!
...can't believe how many doctor/dental appointments family members have required in the past three months--we're averaging at least one a week--and still they continue!
...is afraid that all the have-to's are crowding out the important.
...misses Facebook.
...misses blogging.
...hasn't read anybody else's blog in months! And apologizes, and misses her blogging friends.
..misses her Bible, and her journal. And is grateful for a prayer closet on wheels (aka her Prius).
...is trying to figure out how to remedy the situation.
..can't wait for Blondechick to get her driver's license in April!
...can't listen to one more sentence beginning with, "Mom, could you...?" [take me...pick me up...buy me....]
...wishes B14 didn't have so much homework.
...wishes she could spend more time homeschooling and less time helping with homework.
...wishes she could do her mending.
...tells herself, "this is a season."
...knows that this, too, shall pass.
...keeps asking: What do I have to do next?
Monday, January 18, 2010
Thankful--For Every, Every Minute
So I had a pretty bad medical scare here lately.
The day before my 45th birthday, I got the results of an echocardiogram that had been done to check out a heart murmur. I'd been told that the murmur was probably not significant, but still, if I'd never had an echo, I should, they said.
So I had the echo, or ultrasound of the heart, and sure enough, the murmur is insignificant. However (they said), we want you to come back in for a CT scan of your chest, because it appears that your aorta is mildly enlarged.
As I hung up the phone, concern began to gradually spread through my brain. I googled, I tried to recall from my life insurance underwriting days...I just knew this was not good. An enlarged aorta means, basically, that it's a weak vessel that could blow at any time. In other words, an aneurysm, which I always thought was what it was called when it blew, but I guess you can walk around with an aneurysm--or enlarged, weakened vessel--for years, too. Sort of a time bomb.
I woke up the next morning, on my birthday, with a page from the Lincoln Manual--the life insurance underwriter's bible--burned into my consciousness. "Enlarged Aorta" was the title, and there was a chart underneath. I couldn't "see" or recall everything on the chart entirely, but I remembered now, that it was a very bad page. The chart went from mildly enlarged to severely enlarged, and there was a section on those who'd been treated by surgery too--and most of the categories were either uninsurable (too great a risk) or very, very expensive to buy life insurance for. Although it seemed that the first category, mild enlargement, was surprisingly only a Table B (the minimum upcharge on a normal rate, without the nonsmoker discount).
It's interesting how my brain, in sleep, was able to pull back and look at my case so objectively! But it did nothing to reassure the waking me, who was having a birthday, for Pete's sake. I'd been thinking that 45 was probably about the halfway point for me, since longevity runs in my family--and suddenly, I was worrying that I may have hit my halfway point a long time ago. It was quite sobering, and I felt suddenly afraid. It was a hard day, my birthday.
I shared the news with only a few people, since the CT scan would be the more definitive report and I wouldn't know those results for a week or so. I was hoping and praying that the enlargement would be very mild, indeed.
But I had one week, then, of not knowing and trying not to imagine and fear the worst. I found myself thinking often of Annie Martin and John Fawcett, both friends of ours who died in the last two years; both were in their forties, and both left children and spouses behind. That was the hard part--the thoughts of leaving my children, wondering if I'd be there to see them married, cuddle grandchildren, visit them in their homes, turn 18. How many more years would Papa Rooster and I have together? Would I never become old and gray? How would he function as a single parent? As much as I look forward to being with Jesus, I realized that I fiercely love my life and all the people God has placed in it.
I also had weird guilty feelings, wondering if it was significant that it was my heart that was affected. Was there a failure of my heart, to love, to give to others? If I had been a kinder, gentler person, would this not have happened? Could yelling at my kids in anger have caused this? Should I bargain with God and promise to become a new, better person if only He'd take this away? I didn't let myself go down any of these mental tracks, but they did occur.
Finally, I evaluated my activities. Would I change anything? I might have to quit my part-time job, but other than that, I couldn't think of much to let go of. Maybe I would finally hire a house cleaner....
You can imagine, then, the relief that rushed through me when the doctor's assistant said, "We have the results of your scan, and your aorta looks completely normal--no enlargement at all."
I am praising God and rejoicing in the gift of LIFE! I can't believe how much we take it for granted, as Thornton Wilder tries to show us in his brilliant play "Our Town," one of those literary works I'm glad I had to write a paper on in high school. "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"
It's been three days since I got the good news. I thought it would shape me for the rest of my life, yet I am amazed at how my mind has moved on. I'll go for hours without recalling either the sense of dread or the relief that were so powerful just days ago; then I will remember and be surprised at how life goes on, evidently.
And I am so thankful that it does.
The day before my 45th birthday, I got the results of an echocardiogram that had been done to check out a heart murmur. I'd been told that the murmur was probably not significant, but still, if I'd never had an echo, I should, they said.
So I had the echo, or ultrasound of the heart, and sure enough, the murmur is insignificant. However (they said), we want you to come back in for a CT scan of your chest, because it appears that your aorta is mildly enlarged.
As I hung up the phone, concern began to gradually spread through my brain. I googled, I tried to recall from my life insurance underwriting days...I just knew this was not good. An enlarged aorta means, basically, that it's a weak vessel that could blow at any time. In other words, an aneurysm, which I always thought was what it was called when it blew, but I guess you can walk around with an aneurysm--or enlarged, weakened vessel--for years, too. Sort of a time bomb.
I woke up the next morning, on my birthday, with a page from the Lincoln Manual--the life insurance underwriter's bible--burned into my consciousness. "Enlarged Aorta" was the title, and there was a chart underneath. I couldn't "see" or recall everything on the chart entirely, but I remembered now, that it was a very bad page. The chart went from mildly enlarged to severely enlarged, and there was a section on those who'd been treated by surgery too--and most of the categories were either uninsurable (too great a risk) or very, very expensive to buy life insurance for. Although it seemed that the first category, mild enlargement, was surprisingly only a Table B (the minimum upcharge on a normal rate, without the nonsmoker discount).
It's interesting how my brain, in sleep, was able to pull back and look at my case so objectively! But it did nothing to reassure the waking me, who was having a birthday, for Pete's sake. I'd been thinking that 45 was probably about the halfway point for me, since longevity runs in my family--and suddenly, I was worrying that I may have hit my halfway point a long time ago. It was quite sobering, and I felt suddenly afraid. It was a hard day, my birthday.
I shared the news with only a few people, since the CT scan would be the more definitive report and I wouldn't know those results for a week or so. I was hoping and praying that the enlargement would be very mild, indeed.
But I had one week, then, of not knowing and trying not to imagine and fear the worst. I found myself thinking often of Annie Martin and John Fawcett, both friends of ours who died in the last two years; both were in their forties, and both left children and spouses behind. That was the hard part--the thoughts of leaving my children, wondering if I'd be there to see them married, cuddle grandchildren, visit them in their homes, turn 18. How many more years would Papa Rooster and I have together? Would I never become old and gray? How would he function as a single parent? As much as I look forward to being with Jesus, I realized that I fiercely love my life and all the people God has placed in it.
I also had weird guilty feelings, wondering if it was significant that it was my heart that was affected. Was there a failure of my heart, to love, to give to others? If I had been a kinder, gentler person, would this not have happened? Could yelling at my kids in anger have caused this? Should I bargain with God and promise to become a new, better person if only He'd take this away? I didn't let myself go down any of these mental tracks, but they did occur.
Finally, I evaluated my activities. Would I change anything? I might have to quit my part-time job, but other than that, I couldn't think of much to let go of. Maybe I would finally hire a house cleaner....
You can imagine, then, the relief that rushed through me when the doctor's assistant said, "We have the results of your scan, and your aorta looks completely normal--no enlargement at all."
I am praising God and rejoicing in the gift of LIFE! I can't believe how much we take it for granted, as Thornton Wilder tries to show us in his brilliant play "Our Town," one of those literary works I'm glad I had to write a paper on in high school. "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it? Every, every minute?"
It's been three days since I got the good news. I thought it would shape me for the rest of my life, yet I am amazed at how my mind has moved on. I'll go for hours without recalling either the sense of dread or the relief that were so powerful just days ago; then I will remember and be surprised at how life goes on, evidently.
And I am so thankful that it does.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Around the Web
I've been spending a quiet Sunday afternoon catching up with my friends here in cyberspace! Christmas has been celebrated around the globe with such creativity, beauty, goodwill and feasting!
A couple things of interest I shall pass on...
It's a Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge!
Don't know who LMM is??
She's the author of Anne of Green Gables and a host of other delightful stories. Carrie explains here why YOU should read her--for the first time or the fiftieth!
And if you think you've read everything by her...have you read The Blue Castle? It's a personal favorite of mine, about a girl who mistakenly gets a letter from her doctor telling her she has only a year to live, and how she stops living only to please others.
And now...
Something for you bloggers...
A personality test for your blog!
The Typealyzer analyzes your writing and tells you the personality type (on the Myers-Briggs grid) of your public, writing self. It turns out mine is almost the opposite of my actual personality, which is INTJ...
Other than the bit about not liking to plan ahead, I think this is a fairly decent description of my public, written communication. And isn't it a good thing that there are no employees of this here blog? :)
HT: Amy at On a Joyful Journey
And best of all...
My sis-in-love is expecting!!!
"I hope she has a boy," one of my kids said. "So far, we only have girl cousins!!"
A couple things of interest I shall pass on...
It's a Lucy Maud Montgomery Reading Challenge!
Don't know who LMM is??
She's the author of Anne of Green Gables and a host of other delightful stories. Carrie explains here why YOU should read her--for the first time or the fiftieth!
And if you think you've read everything by her...have you read The Blue Castle? It's a personal favorite of mine, about a girl who mistakenly gets a letter from her doctor telling her she has only a year to live, and how she stops living only to please others.
And now...
Something for you bloggers...
A personality test for your blog!
The Typealyzer analyzes your writing and tells you the personality type (on the Myers-Briggs grid) of your public, writing self. It turns out mine is almost the opposite of my actual personality, which is INTJ...
You are ESFP, the Performer.
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.
Other than the bit about not liking to plan ahead, I think this is a fairly decent description of my public, written communication. And isn't it a good thing that there are no employees of this here blog? :)
HT: Amy at On a Joyful Journey
And best of all...
My sis-in-love is expecting!!!
"I hope she has a boy," one of my kids said. "So far, we only have girl cousins!!"
Friday, October 10, 2008
Love Story Part Two--And as Promised, My Most Embarrassing Moment
Part One
So we're both back on campus at the beginning of our junior year. Papa Rooster has decided No More Girls for him. I am determined to play the field and get to know all the boys I couldn't while I was tied up with Mr. Pre-Law. There is a square dance on campus on Saturday night.
I should mention that at Wheaton in the 80's and before, dancing on campus was not allowed. Unless it was performance dancing like ballet or folk dancing like square dancing--the only official exceptions. So this was as close to a "dance" dance as we got without breaking The Pledge that we had all signed, agreeing to abide by the campus rules.
My girlfriend and I decide to coordinate a group date. "Let's ask PR and Mr. A to get a group of guys together," my friend suggested. "They know everybody." By now they were no longer freshman class president and veep, of course. As a junior, PR was now VP of the Student Body and a BMOC (Big Man on Campus). Mr. A's foray into campus politics was a distant freshman memory, but they were still close--roommates, in fact, in a very cool off-campus house. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Let's ask PR and Mr. A," my friend suggested.
"Great idea," I responded eagerly. "But I don't know them that well--will you ask them?"
She agreed, we separated, I went to CPO to check my mailbox--and ran right into PR. So I decided to go ahead and pose the question myself.
"Hey, what are you and Mr. A doing on Saturday night? Deb and I want to get a group of junior guys and girls together to go to the square dance. Are you going?"
He told me he wished they could go with us, but they had tickets to Second City's comedy show in downtown Chicago. Disappointed, I didn't think much more about our conversation, but the encounter was full of meaning to him. Hey, he thought, she must not be dating Mr. Pre-Law anymore....
Sunday afternoon, the day after the square dance, I was in my Williston dorm room relaxing with my two roommates when the phone rang. It was for me. "Hi, this is ____," the male voice began.
I couldn't think who ____ could be. I knew several _____s back home in Ohio, but at that moment I could only think of one guy with that name on campus, and I was a little surprised he was calling me. True, we had just gone to a movie together, but it hadn't been a date; we had just ended up walking in late together. We had talked for a little while afterward, but I hadn't picked up on any signs of interest. Still, that must be who this was?
The male voice cut across my mental gropings. "I was just wondering if you'd like to meet me at the Stupe tonight." The Stupe was the campus ice cream/coffee/sandwich shop where many a first date took place.
"Oh! Sure!" I responded.
"About 7 all right?"
"Okay," I agreed. (But WHO was I meeting??)
"So how was the square dance? Did you get a group together?"
(How does he know about the square dance? I never mentioned the square dance....)
"Oh, it was fine! Yeah...a group...We ended up going with my brother and some of his friends. They were all freshman, but we had a fun time."
"Oh, you have a brother who's a freshman? My brother is a freshman this year too!"
(No, he isn't! You told me your brother was still in high school. Who IS this??) "Oh, really?"
I decided to float a trial balloon. "So, are you all moved out of McManis yet?" (McManis was a guy's dorm on campus.)
There was a pause. Now the male voice sounded confused. "Nooooo," it said slowly, "I'm living off campus this semester."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized. (What do I say now? Better be honest.)
"I'm sorry, but who is this again?" I asked, wincing and hoping it carried through in my voice.
On the other end, Papa Rooster says he let his head fall back and hit the wall. What a ditz, he thought. She's as bad as all the others!
"This is _____ ______," he said patiently. "Who did you think it was?"
"Oh!" I exclaimed. (Papa Rooster! Oh, my! He just asked me out! I was so flattered. Why didn't I think of him before? I guess because we had barely ever spoken. And now what does he think of me?)
I responded with the full name of the other boy with the same first name. "I just went to a movie with him last weekend," I babbled, "but I've never heard his voice on the phone before...or yours, either...."
"Well, do you still want to go to the Stupe with me?" PR asked, with something like--incredulity?--in his voice.
"Oh, yes!" I responded eagerly. "Even more so!"
That was what saved me. "Even more so!"
He liked that.
Stay tuned for Part the Third...
So we're both back on campus at the beginning of our junior year. Papa Rooster has decided No More Girls for him. I am determined to play the field and get to know all the boys I couldn't while I was tied up with Mr. Pre-Law. There is a square dance on campus on Saturday night.
I should mention that at Wheaton in the 80's and before, dancing on campus was not allowed. Unless it was performance dancing like ballet or folk dancing like square dancing--the only official exceptions. So this was as close to a "dance" dance as we got without breaking The Pledge that we had all signed, agreeing to abide by the campus rules.
My girlfriend and I decide to coordinate a group date. "Let's ask PR and Mr. A to get a group of guys together," my friend suggested. "They know everybody." By now they were no longer freshman class president and veep, of course. As a junior, PR was now VP of the Student Body and a BMOC (Big Man on Campus). Mr. A's foray into campus politics was a distant freshman memory, but they were still close--roommates, in fact, in a very cool off-campus house. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
"Let's ask PR and Mr. A," my friend suggested.
"Great idea," I responded eagerly. "But I don't know them that well--will you ask them?"
She agreed, we separated, I went to CPO to check my mailbox--and ran right into PR. So I decided to go ahead and pose the question myself.
"Hey, what are you and Mr. A doing on Saturday night? Deb and I want to get a group of junior guys and girls together to go to the square dance. Are you going?"
He told me he wished they could go with us, but they had tickets to Second City's comedy show in downtown Chicago. Disappointed, I didn't think much more about our conversation, but the encounter was full of meaning to him. Hey, he thought, she must not be dating Mr. Pre-Law anymore....
Sunday afternoon, the day after the square dance, I was in my Williston dorm room relaxing with my two roommates when the phone rang. It was for me. "Hi, this is ____," the male voice began.
I couldn't think who ____ could be. I knew several _____s back home in Ohio, but at that moment I could only think of one guy with that name on campus, and I was a little surprised he was calling me. True, we had just gone to a movie together, but it hadn't been a date; we had just ended up walking in late together. We had talked for a little while afterward, but I hadn't picked up on any signs of interest. Still, that must be who this was?
The male voice cut across my mental gropings. "I was just wondering if you'd like to meet me at the Stupe tonight." The Stupe was the campus ice cream/coffee/sandwich shop where many a first date took place.
"Oh! Sure!" I responded.
"About 7 all right?"
"Okay," I agreed. (But WHO was I meeting??)
"So how was the square dance? Did you get a group together?"
(How does he know about the square dance? I never mentioned the square dance....)
"Oh, it was fine! Yeah...a group...We ended up going with my brother and some of his friends. They were all freshman, but we had a fun time."
"Oh, you have a brother who's a freshman? My brother is a freshman this year too!"
(No, he isn't! You told me your brother was still in high school. Who IS this??) "Oh, really?"
I decided to float a trial balloon. "So, are you all moved out of McManis yet?" (McManis was a guy's dorm on campus.)
There was a pause. Now the male voice sounded confused. "Nooooo," it said slowly, "I'm living off campus this semester."
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I apologized. (What do I say now? Better be honest.)
"I'm sorry, but who is this again?" I asked, wincing and hoping it carried through in my voice.
On the other end, Papa Rooster says he let his head fall back and hit the wall. What a ditz, he thought. She's as bad as all the others!
"This is _____ ______," he said patiently. "Who did you think it was?"
"Oh!" I exclaimed. (Papa Rooster! Oh, my! He just asked me out! I was so flattered. Why didn't I think of him before? I guess because we had barely ever spoken. And now what does he think of me?)
I responded with the full name of the other boy with the same first name. "I just went to a movie with him last weekend," I babbled, "but I've never heard his voice on the phone before...or yours, either...."
"Well, do you still want to go to the Stupe with me?" PR asked, with something like--incredulity?--in his voice.
"Oh, yes!" I responded eagerly. "Even more so!"
That was what saved me. "Even more so!"
He liked that.
Stay tuned for Part the Third...
Thursday, October 09, 2008
October Love Stories
Mary at Owlhaven, inspired by my friend Megan at Fried Okra, is telling the story of how she and her husband met and fell in love--in installments. She's encouraging others to join her, and Jenni at One Thing is doing so, hilariously--which totally inspired me to join in. I've thought about telling this tale before...so it's time!
Papa Rooster and I think that the first time we met was at church. We were both freshmen at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and it was one of the first weekends we were there. Wheaton Bible Church had advertised a Sunday School class for college students that sounded really great--and was--and many of us were checking it out. I have a vague memory of meeting PR and his group of friends in the doughnut line in a basement Sunday School room.
It seemed like I always knew who he was, though, because his picture was plastered all over campus for the first few weeks we were there. I'm serious! He was running for freshman class president, and the running mate he picked was none other than Mr. A--the same fellow with whom he is now in a ministry partnership at our church! Who'da thunk it back in 1983??
Anyway, he and Mr. A were a sharp pair. PR had grown up in New York, near the city, and had a certain East Coast polish to him--I would later learn that he had played lead roles in musicals in high school and had considered going into theater at Wheaton, but he changed his goal to getting involved in Student Government and becoming freshman class president. Mr. A was a farm boy from Nebraska--a full Swede (while PR is half Norwegian). He was a character by anyone's measure, full of colorful exclamations like "Shoot the dog" and "Holy buckets!" He was smart, funny and likable; PR was serious, confident and outgoing. They were a great team, and they looked so cute in the picture on their campaign posters--a Miami Vice pose in the Edman chapel doorway, their hair parted in the middle and feathered back in the 80's style. ("That's when I had hair to part," PR always says when he sees that picture.)
And just for your viewing pleasure, what have we here??
(I know the guy on the left looks like he could be one of our children, so I better say that Papa Rooster is the one with the tie!)
Meanwhile, PR knew who I was from a picture too, although I had no idea of that fact.
Every fall Wheaton put out a publication with all the freshman's pictures in it called "Who's New" (also referred to in the guys' dorms as "Who's Next").
PR, like all the freshmen guys on his floor--and most of the sophomores too--had put in his time with Who's New and had picked out two girls he really wanted to ask out. Yep, I was one.
(Can you pick me out?)
(Hint: I'm not in the second row. And I look like I could be one of my children.)
(Answer: I'm in the center of the top row.)
However, a smart sophomore guy beat him to it and managed to tie me up for the next 18 months! That gave Papa Rooster plenty of time to take out all the girls that caught his fancy, but none seemed quite right for him. By the time he ended up his sophomore year, he was done with Wheaton girls.
It took me most of sophomore year to lose the lawyer, a really great guy that didn't dump easily, though I kept trying and changing my mind. (He is our attorney to this day. Estate planning needs, anyone?) That summer, back home in Ohio, I hung out with an overly self-confident local boy studying to be a doctor--but only because I was in love with his baby blue MG Midget convertible. And he liked to take me out to nice places for dinner, too.
It was a superficial relationship that was memorable for the one great quote I got out of it. Back at my house at the end of our third or fourth date, he noticed my salutatorian's trophy on the shelf. (In those days there was only one per graduating class.) (Just sayin'.)
"Wow," he said. "When I first asked you out, I thought you were just an attractive girl. Then I was pleasantly surprised to discover you were a good conversationalist and fun to be with. And now I find out you're smart, too! I got more than I bargained for!"
I had no idea how to BEGIN to take that. It was about the cockiest, most insulting series of compliments I'd ever received!
But I sure enjoyed the rides...
Only Baby Blue was much more dreamy.
So. Fall of our junior year. Papa Rooster was So Done with Wheaton girls, and I couldn't wait to date all the cutest, humblest guys I knew at Wheaton. Enter God.
Okay--that's a bit dramatic. But it was a strange circumstance that led to our first contact--and my most embarrassing moment EVER.
Stay tuned for Part Two!
Part the First
Papa Rooster and I think that the first time we met was at church. We were both freshmen at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, and it was one of the first weekends we were there. Wheaton Bible Church had advertised a Sunday School class for college students that sounded really great--and was--and many of us were checking it out. I have a vague memory of meeting PR and his group of friends in the doughnut line in a basement Sunday School room.
It seemed like I always knew who he was, though, because his picture was plastered all over campus for the first few weeks we were there. I'm serious! He was running for freshman class president, and the running mate he picked was none other than Mr. A--the same fellow with whom he is now in a ministry partnership at our church! Who'da thunk it back in 1983??
Anyway, he and Mr. A were a sharp pair. PR had grown up in New York, near the city, and had a certain East Coast polish to him--I would later learn that he had played lead roles in musicals in high school and had considered going into theater at Wheaton, but he changed his goal to getting involved in Student Government and becoming freshman class president. Mr. A was a farm boy from Nebraska--a full Swede (while PR is half Norwegian). He was a character by anyone's measure, full of colorful exclamations like "Shoot the dog" and "Holy buckets!" He was smart, funny and likable; PR was serious, confident and outgoing. They were a great team, and they looked so cute in the picture on their campaign posters--a Miami Vice pose in the Edman chapel doorway, their hair parted in the middle and feathered back in the 80's style. ("That's when I had hair to part," PR always says when he sees that picture.)
And just for your viewing pleasure, what have we here??
(I know the guy on the left looks like he could be one of our children, so I better say that Papa Rooster is the one with the tie!)
Meanwhile, PR knew who I was from a picture too, although I had no idea of that fact.
Every fall Wheaton put out a publication with all the freshman's pictures in it called "Who's New" (also referred to in the guys' dorms as "Who's Next").
PR, like all the freshmen guys on his floor--and most of the sophomores too--had put in his time with Who's New and had picked out two girls he really wanted to ask out. Yep, I was one.
(Can you pick me out?)(Hint: I'm not in the second row. And I look like I could be one of my children.)
(Answer: I'm in the center of the top row.)
However, a smart sophomore guy beat him to it and managed to tie me up for the next 18 months! That gave Papa Rooster plenty of time to take out all the girls that caught his fancy, but none seemed quite right for him. By the time he ended up his sophomore year, he was done with Wheaton girls.
It took me most of sophomore year to lose the lawyer, a really great guy that didn't dump easily, though I kept trying and changing my mind. (He is our attorney to this day. Estate planning needs, anyone?) That summer, back home in Ohio, I hung out with an overly self-confident local boy studying to be a doctor--but only because I was in love with his baby blue MG Midget convertible. And he liked to take me out to nice places for dinner, too.
It was a superficial relationship that was memorable for the one great quote I got out of it. Back at my house at the end of our third or fourth date, he noticed my salutatorian's trophy on the shelf. (In those days there was only one per graduating class.) (Just sayin'.)
"Wow," he said. "When I first asked you out, I thought you were just an attractive girl. Then I was pleasantly surprised to discover you were a good conversationalist and fun to be with. And now I find out you're smart, too! I got more than I bargained for!"
I had no idea how to BEGIN to take that. It was about the cockiest, most insulting series of compliments I'd ever received!
But I sure enjoyed the rides...
Only Baby Blue was much more dreamy.
So. Fall of our junior year. Papa Rooster was So Done with Wheaton girls, and I couldn't wait to date all the cutest, humblest guys I knew at Wheaton. Enter God.
Okay--that's a bit dramatic. But it was a strange circumstance that led to our first contact--and my most embarrassing moment EVER.
Stay tuned for Part Two!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Tag!
In one of the longest-running games of tag on record, I'm sure...
I was tagged back in late July, just before we left on vacation, by Rev. Colin at Share My Journey, who said very nice things about our family here. I consider him one of my more exotic readers, since he is a Presbyterian minister in Wales!
You're supposed to share 6 random things about yourself, then tag 6 other bloggers.
Okay, my random things...
1. I am in love with my hardwood floors. How did I ever live without them? No worries about protecting carpets, no traffic pattern grime, nothing. They look as beautiful as the day we moved in, and I haven't washed them once. (Okay, I have worked on a few black scuff marks while I was on the phone.)
2. I have to have a Dr. Pepper every afternoon, no earlier than 3:00 and no later than 6. (If after 6, it keeps me up at night; if before 3, it puts me right to sleep, rather than helping me up out of that afternoon siesta feeling the way it does after 3:00.) I also have to have my cup of coffee in the morning, and I have to have a half cup with lunch, or else I get headaches.
I used to have headaches all the time and thought I must be allergic to everything, until I figured out how to balance my food with a little caffeine. Sounds weird, I know, but it works for me.
3. Our plumber is jack-hammering away in our basement as I type, putting in the pipes and water lines we need for a shower, toilet and sink in our basement guest-suite-to-be. Our carpenter was here yesterday, deciding exactly where the walls and doors will be. I AM SO EXCITED!!!
4. I have so many boxes I can't unpack until the construction dust has settled--stuff to keep on shelves in the narrow, L-shaped storage room that will be created by the leftover space.
4. My two high schoolers have a day off from school today, and they're trying to sleep in, of course, with all that noise. This district is so weird--all their teacher inservice days are on Wednesday! A friend from IL and I were trying to find a day this fall that all of our kids might have off, and we don't have any until Thanksgiving.
5. I hate cucumber and melons. I could probably force myself to eat them, if they didn't make me burp...and taste and retaste them!
6. My boys started piano lessons this week, and now Chicklet is begging to learn too. I can't afford lessons for them all, so I'm thinking of starting her out myself. (I've taken many years of lessons, long ago....) The trouble is, between helping the boys pick out new songs and teaching her, I'm not sure if I have enough time and patience to go around!
I am a living, breathing stereotype-buster of the mistaken idea that homeschool moms must have infinite patience. It is not my strong suit. Listening to a new reader sooouuunnnnnd ooouuut woooorrrrrdss is up there on my list of least favorite things. I'm fine for the first five minutes, then my skin starts to crawl.
So there are my six things! And now, as I warned, I'm tagging the bloggers I honored yesterday!
Here are the rules:
Link to the person who 'tagged' you.
Post the rules on your blog: in other words, what you are reading now.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know they have been tagged, and leave a comment on their Blog.
Finally, let the 'Tagger' know when your entry is up.
I was tagged back in late July, just before we left on vacation, by Rev. Colin at Share My Journey, who said very nice things about our family here. I consider him one of my more exotic readers, since he is a Presbyterian minister in Wales!
You're supposed to share 6 random things about yourself, then tag 6 other bloggers.
Okay, my random things...
1. I am in love with my hardwood floors. How did I ever live without them? No worries about protecting carpets, no traffic pattern grime, nothing. They look as beautiful as the day we moved in, and I haven't washed them once. (Okay, I have worked on a few black scuff marks while I was on the phone.)
2. I have to have a Dr. Pepper every afternoon, no earlier than 3:00 and no later than 6. (If after 6, it keeps me up at night; if before 3, it puts me right to sleep, rather than helping me up out of that afternoon siesta feeling the way it does after 3:00.) I also have to have my cup of coffee in the morning, and I have to have a half cup with lunch, or else I get headaches.
I used to have headaches all the time and thought I must be allergic to everything, until I figured out how to balance my food with a little caffeine. Sounds weird, I know, but it works for me.
3. Our plumber is jack-hammering away in our basement as I type, putting in the pipes and water lines we need for a shower, toilet and sink in our basement guest-suite-to-be. Our carpenter was here yesterday, deciding exactly where the walls and doors will be. I AM SO EXCITED!!!
4. I have so many boxes I can't unpack until the construction dust has settled--stuff to keep on shelves in the narrow, L-shaped storage room that will be created by the leftover space.
4. My two high schoolers have a day off from school today, and they're trying to sleep in, of course, with all that noise. This district is so weird--all their teacher inservice days are on Wednesday! A friend from IL and I were trying to find a day this fall that all of our kids might have off, and we don't have any until Thanksgiving.
5. I hate cucumber and melons. I could probably force myself to eat them, if they didn't make me burp...and taste and retaste them!
6. My boys started piano lessons this week, and now Chicklet is begging to learn too. I can't afford lessons for them all, so I'm thinking of starting her out myself. (I've taken many years of lessons, long ago....) The trouble is, between helping the boys pick out new songs and teaching her, I'm not sure if I have enough time and patience to go around!
I am a living, breathing stereotype-buster of the mistaken idea that homeschool moms must have infinite patience. It is not my strong suit. Listening to a new reader sooouuunnnnnd ooouuut woooorrrrrdss is up there on my list of least favorite things. I'm fine for the first five minutes, then my skin starts to crawl.
So there are my six things! And now, as I warned, I'm tagging the bloggers I honored yesterday!
Here are the rules:
Link to the person who 'tagged' you.
Post the rules on your blog: in other words, what you are reading now.
Write 6 random things about yourself.
Tag 6 people at the end of your post and link to them.
Let each person know they have been tagged, and leave a comment on their Blog.
Finally, let the 'Tagger' know when your entry is up.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Joy--At A Hen's Pace
We had a marvelous time on the family farm. (Thanks for all the nice comments on the farm story while I was gone, BTW!! Glad so many of you enjoyed it.)
It was wonderful to see my parents, grandmother, aunt, brothers, their wives and my five nieces--if only for a quick visit. It was too quick, especially with Professor Brother and his family from Kansas, with whom we only overlapped for one long afternoon. I only got to spend a few hours with my 96-year-old grandmother, and I would love to have spent more time with my parents and aunt, sitting down and talking--it was a whirlwind of meals and activity most of the time!
(Doesn't sound like a hen's pace, I guess. But it was a string of small pleasures, one after another--hen-like, in that way.)
On the first day, we went to the local county fair, one of the nicest little slices of Americana in the Midwest, I'm willing to bet. It's a huge 4-H fair, which means lots of kids exhibit animals there. They've built more animal barns since my days exhibiting horses and rabbits; my dad and brother both had their day in the 4-H dairy show ring, as well. I ran into several of my former classmates, whose kids were showing pigs and goats that day. It brought back so many great memories--other than the new barns, that fair has changed so little!--and what a joy it was to watch my kids making new ones.
The next day at church, the baby sister of one of my former classmates (now a vivacious young mom herself) gave a slide presentation on the youth group's mission trip to rebuild homes in West Virginia. She enthusiastically shared how the kids learned to roof and paint and work hard together, even learning to ask by the end of the week, "What else needs to be done?" And I was full of joy that my kids had to sit there and listen to someone else saying it! :)
That afternoon Pilot Brother--married to my blogging sis-in-law--showed me around the barn, pointing out all the work he's been doing on it. And it is remarkable--new windows, new sills to prevent the kind of water damage that caused all the windows to rot out, other rotten boards and beams replaced, hinges and doors fixed. My dad has been busy too, on the hot tin roof, replacing and caulking rivets. They're hoping to get the whole thing repainted soon, too. So much work! But what a joy to see that much-needed maintenance, protecting that barn full of memories for generations to come.
Sunday night we played horseshoes (my first time ever), Grandpa gave rides on the Toro Twister and taught the older kids how to drive, and once, while the kids were all gone on the Toro, I took advantage of the tire swing, hanging empty for the first time since our arrival--and what kinesthetic memories that brought back. If you added up how many hours my brothers and I spent on the tire swing in the summers, when we were growing up, I bet the answer could be given in days, possibly weeks. There is nothing more delightful!
Monday morning Papa Rooster and I went out for coffee with Summer and Pilot Brother, and that was another joy. (We can't wait for them to come visit us in September!) Then it was home for sloppy joe sandwiches--my blessed mother cooks for an army whenever we come to visit--and one last photo session (a family tradition, it seems) before we pulled out. On the way home, Papa Rooster told me that, looking through a camera lens most of the weekend, he had seen beauty on the farm like he had never noticed before, though he had always loved it. Another joy--that we share that appreciation.
Yesterday my three oldest kids and I experienced the joy of serving by helping out a family in our church in dire need of some assistance with yardwork. Before we went, I reminded them of the farming era gone by, in which children's labor was necessary, and families helped each other all the time, raising barns, bringing in the harvest, shucking corn, killing pigs...and what a self-centered generation theirs is by comparison; how this kind of service was as good for them as it was for the friends we were serving. (Who had helped us move in and unpack, incidentally!) We had a good time weeding and trimming hedges--that wasn't so bad, the kids said--and we were rewarded by picking our fill of raspberries for a snack, with enough to bring home for cobbler last night.
After that, we went to the resale shop, where B13 found a T-shirt he liked, and Blondechick several tops. I found a lovely clear glass salad bowl ($3) and a large clear glass mixing bowl ($2) that will give me joy for years to come, I think. I love splurging at the resale shop!
Then we were off to spend some serious money at Petco. Whenever the subject of pets have come up, for the past year I kept saying, "after we move." Well, at the fair, B9 fell in love with a rabbit. Could he please, please, please have a rabbit?? Well, I'll think about it...but maybe you should start with a hamster. Oh, yes, please, a hamster! Oh, yes, me too! said B13. Oh, mom, you said I could get a Betta (fish) after we moved! Blondechick reminded me. Oh, mom, please, mom!
So we picked out two female hamsters and two Bettas at Petco, plus food and bedding and an exercise ball for the hamsters. And an extra cage, after they told us that two females might not get along later on in the same cage. (Don't you want to pick out males? I urged...too late.)
Who else got a Betta? Me. Another joy. When I had just three preschoolers and wanted an extremely low maintenance pet for them, I bought us a Betta. Bettas are friendly fish, but Aladdin was extremely personable. His successors, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, weren't nearly as much fun, but they are beautiful, if nothing else, and so just for the serenity value, I bought me a beautiful blue--turquoise/purplish--one. And christened him Aladdin 2. I have hopes.
Finally, this morning I met one of my frequent commentors, "stephseef" or Stephanie. She is a priest's wife as well--they serve at an Episcopal church in nearby Racine. She is expecting their fourth child and is so bubbly and vivacious, it was another joy to get to know her a little bit! We barely scratched the surface, it seems--we have much in common and much we could learn from one another, I am sure.
So now it's time to enjoy a Fuji Apple Chicken salad for lunch, since I'm still here at Panera--(mmmm, more joy)--and head home to start planning for another trip, sure to be a joy as well!--a camping trip this weekend with some other families from church.
The only dark cloud on my horizon is meeting Blondechick's current crush, a brave fellow who understands she's not allowed to date, but is eager to come hang out at our house tonight along with another couple of her friends from summer school. Just kidding about the dark cloud--we are always delighted to meet her friends--but nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how this goes...!
It was wonderful to see my parents, grandmother, aunt, brothers, their wives and my five nieces--if only for a quick visit. It was too quick, especially with Professor Brother and his family from Kansas, with whom we only overlapped for one long afternoon. I only got to spend a few hours with my 96-year-old grandmother, and I would love to have spent more time with my parents and aunt, sitting down and talking--it was a whirlwind of meals and activity most of the time!
(Doesn't sound like a hen's pace, I guess. But it was a string of small pleasures, one after another--hen-like, in that way.)
On the first day, we went to the local county fair, one of the nicest little slices of Americana in the Midwest, I'm willing to bet. It's a huge 4-H fair, which means lots of kids exhibit animals there. They've built more animal barns since my days exhibiting horses and rabbits; my dad and brother both had their day in the 4-H dairy show ring, as well. I ran into several of my former classmates, whose kids were showing pigs and goats that day. It brought back so many great memories--other than the new barns, that fair has changed so little!--and what a joy it was to watch my kids making new ones.
The next day at church, the baby sister of one of my former classmates (now a vivacious young mom herself) gave a slide presentation on the youth group's mission trip to rebuild homes in West Virginia. She enthusiastically shared how the kids learned to roof and paint and work hard together, even learning to ask by the end of the week, "What else needs to be done?" And I was full of joy that my kids had to sit there and listen to someone else saying it! :)
That afternoon Pilot Brother--married to my blogging sis-in-law--showed me around the barn, pointing out all the work he's been doing on it. And it is remarkable--new windows, new sills to prevent the kind of water damage that caused all the windows to rot out, other rotten boards and beams replaced, hinges and doors fixed. My dad has been busy too, on the hot tin roof, replacing and caulking rivets. They're hoping to get the whole thing repainted soon, too. So much work! But what a joy to see that much-needed maintenance, protecting that barn full of memories for generations to come.
Sunday night we played horseshoes (my first time ever), Grandpa gave rides on the Toro Twister and taught the older kids how to drive, and once, while the kids were all gone on the Toro, I took advantage of the tire swing, hanging empty for the first time since our arrival--and what kinesthetic memories that brought back. If you added up how many hours my brothers and I spent on the tire swing in the summers, when we were growing up, I bet the answer could be given in days, possibly weeks. There is nothing more delightful!
Monday morning Papa Rooster and I went out for coffee with Summer and Pilot Brother, and that was another joy. (We can't wait for them to come visit us in September!) Then it was home for sloppy joe sandwiches--my blessed mother cooks for an army whenever we come to visit--and one last photo session (a family tradition, it seems) before we pulled out. On the way home, Papa Rooster told me that, looking through a camera lens most of the weekend, he had seen beauty on the farm like he had never noticed before, though he had always loved it. Another joy--that we share that appreciation.
Yesterday my three oldest kids and I experienced the joy of serving by helping out a family in our church in dire need of some assistance with yardwork. Before we went, I reminded them of the farming era gone by, in which children's labor was necessary, and families helped each other all the time, raising barns, bringing in the harvest, shucking corn, killing pigs...and what a self-centered generation theirs is by comparison; how this kind of service was as good for them as it was for the friends we were serving. (Who had helped us move in and unpack, incidentally!) We had a good time weeding and trimming hedges--that wasn't so bad, the kids said--and we were rewarded by picking our fill of raspberries for a snack, with enough to bring home for cobbler last night.
After that, we went to the resale shop, where B13 found a T-shirt he liked, and Blondechick several tops. I found a lovely clear glass salad bowl ($3) and a large clear glass mixing bowl ($2) that will give me joy for years to come, I think. I love splurging at the resale shop!
Then we were off to spend some serious money at Petco. Whenever the subject of pets have come up, for the past year I kept saying, "after we move." Well, at the fair, B9 fell in love with a rabbit. Could he please, please, please have a rabbit?? Well, I'll think about it...but maybe you should start with a hamster. Oh, yes, please, a hamster! Oh, yes, me too! said B13. Oh, mom, you said I could get a Betta (fish) after we moved! Blondechick reminded me. Oh, mom, please, mom!
So we picked out two female hamsters and two Bettas at Petco, plus food and bedding and an exercise ball for the hamsters. And an extra cage, after they told us that two females might not get along later on in the same cage. (Don't you want to pick out males? I urged...too late.)
Who else got a Betta? Me. Another joy. When I had just three preschoolers and wanted an extremely low maintenance pet for them, I bought us a Betta. Bettas are friendly fish, but Aladdin was extremely personable. His successors, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, weren't nearly as much fun, but they are beautiful, if nothing else, and so just for the serenity value, I bought me a beautiful blue--turquoise/purplish--one. And christened him Aladdin 2. I have hopes.
Finally, this morning I met one of my frequent commentors, "stephseef" or Stephanie. She is a priest's wife as well--they serve at an Episcopal church in nearby Racine. She is expecting their fourth child and is so bubbly and vivacious, it was another joy to get to know her a little bit! We barely scratched the surface, it seems--we have much in common and much we could learn from one another, I am sure.
So now it's time to enjoy a Fuji Apple Chicken salad for lunch, since I'm still here at Panera--(mmmm, more joy)--and head home to start planning for another trip, sure to be a joy as well!--a camping trip this weekend with some other families from church.
The only dark cloud on my horizon is meeting Blondechick's current crush, a brave fellow who understands she's not allowed to date, but is eager to come hang out at our house tonight along with another couple of her friends from summer school. Just kidding about the dark cloud--we are always delighted to meet her friends--but nonetheless, it will be interesting to see how this goes...!
Monday, February 25, 2008
Birthday Open Mic: Answers! (Part Two)
In case you missed it (or forgot all about it, like I nearly did), back on my birthday I asked for questions and got some great ones! I answered some random ones right away...one more a little later...and now here is another group:
If somebody gave you $100 to blow on yourself today, what would you do with it? NO paying bills, etc. You have to spend it on YOU and YOU alone.
This is a tough one! I am a saver, not a spender, so what I’d really like to do with it is bank it and deduct from it gradually, serendipitously, when I see or think of something that would be a nice, pampering little luxury. I like luxuries that last: a pair of super-soft socks or cute summer sandals, a new pair of earrings, Bath and Bodyworks lotion, an Old Navy parka that makes me feel like a teenager, a really good kitchen knife. Those are all items I own and enjoy regularly.
You might think I could blow it all on books, but the truth is, I’d rather read books from the library and only buy the ones that I know I really want to own. Right now, in house-selling mode, I can’t think of any books I really need to store and move; plus, I have plenty sitting on my shelf that I haven’t read yet.
I know! I bet I could spend it on audiobooks--although I already own what I would consider essential listening: the unabridged Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Screwtape Letters read by John Cleese, P.G. Wodehouse's "Jeeves" stories and most of Focus on the Family's Radio Theater productions. But I could pick out a few more of those, plus the audio version of the unabridged Chronicles of Narnia--if I really HAD to spend that $100 in one day!
What's your favorite song?
I’ve been trying, honestly, to think of an answer to this question, and I despair. I enjoy so many different types of music, yet I can’t even think of a favorite in each genre!
So I will just throw out a few of my favorite albums and composers:
Eva Cassidy (Songbird)
Sixpence None the Richer
Chris Rice
Bach (especially the Goldberg Variations)
Handel (everything)
Mozart (especially Eine Kleine Nachtmusic)
Basia (Time & Tide—ditto)
Musicals—of course (especially Les Miserables, Anthing Goes, and anything by Andrew Lloyd Weber)
What makes you most happy?
--beauty, when I take time to enjoy it: art, music, little "islands of beauty" around my house (like my orchid in bloom right now)
--when my older kids interact kindly and positively with their younger siblings
--the 5 and under crowd: their soft smooth skin, sparkling eyes, and kissable little bodies
--pulling into the parking lot at Panera, in anticipation of time alone with God and my own thoughts
--settling down in my seat in church and waiting for the service to begin
--the twinkle in my husband's eye when he looks at me and I know that the next thing out of his mouth is going to be "You are so beautiful"
Tell us a little about where you live now and where you will be moving to. Is there a huge contrast? Are you a country or town girl at heart?
Where I live now is basically upper middle class suburbia, though we don't live in a typical subdivision but in an older portion of town that feels like Main Street USA. There's a little more of a blue collar feel to our particular neighborhood too, despite the relative affluence of this part of the country. Though it's been nothing like growing up on a farm, as I did, I feel so blessed that our kids have had the run of the neighbor's two acres, climbing his trees, picking his raspberries, and building forts in his bushy wilderness.
Where we're moving will be quite similar, I think--but of course it depends on where we actually buy a house, what our property is like, who our neighbors are--and how close we are to the lake!
Country or town girl? As they say, you can take the girl out of the country, but you can't take the country out of the girl. I LOVE the family farm where I grew up and part of me would love to live in the country again, if my whole family were all excited about it and eager to pitch in with the work that a farm requires, but that doesn't really describe us. So I'm happy being a town/suburbs kinda girl for now. I love being within blocks of the library, a grocery store, a park, a Walgreen's, our mechanic and my haircut place.
Tomorrow: The final installment, in which I'll answer the last two questions--about how we disciple our kids and handle some of their tough spiritual questions.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Hmmmm....
Well, I'm at Panera again, regrouping. I have read Scripture, journalled, prayed, and now I'm thinking about blogging loose ends I'd like to tie up in the next week or so. Until then, I found this in my Drafts folder (HT to Mental Multivitamin by way of Circle of Quiet):
Your Personality is Somewhat Rare (ISTP) |
 Your personality type is reserved, methodical, spirited, and intense. Only about 6% of all people have your personality, including 3% of all women and 8% of all men You are Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Perceiving. |
Hmmm--reserved, methodical--yes. Intense, I can see.... Spirited? I guess I have been described as energetic before.... Interesting how only 15 questions can elicit a pretty good composite.
I took the full-deal Meyers-Briggs back in college and then I was ISTJ. I was close to the line then, though, between J & P.
For the uninitiated, J means judging: a preference for black and white vs. gray areas (P), for decisions made (J) vs. keeping your options open (P).
If this little test is accurate, I'm not surprised by the change. Having six kids--and getting older--will do that to you!
Did YOU take the Meyers-Briggs in the 80's? It was all the rage then. Is it still being given in colleges and in the workplace?
Monday, January 28, 2008
50,000; Fifty Things
Hey! Last night we hit 50,000 visits on the site meter!
I am so grateful to everyone who visits this little corner regularly. Thank you so much for encouraging me, just by checking in here. It makes it a lot more fun, that y'all do that.
I never did the "100 Things About Me" meme when I wrote my 100th post, so maybe, in honor of 50,000 hits, I'll list 50 things about me.
I'll try to make some of them things you might be surprised to learn about me, thus answering Amy's question on my birthday Q & A too! (I haven't forgotten about finishing that, by the way--but I lost most of my answers when my laptop died last week, because I'd been working on them in Word, on the way to and from Wisconsin, and I haven't had the heart to rewrite them yet.)
She asked, "What is one thing that most people don't know about you, and would be surprised to find out?"
Well, here are 50 things, maybe...
1. My favorite color used to be blue, but now I'm not sure what it is. I like certain greens and lavenders a lot. And pink. And peach. And certain blues. My favorite combination of colors, since childhood, has been blue, brown, green and pink.
2. I love Dean's Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream.
3. I used to eat a bowl of ice cream every night for dessert. Can't do that every night now.
4. But I am blessed with a high metabolism.
5. I am also very headache-prone, maybe as a result of the high metabolism. I can't eat sugar or white flour until after dinner or I get a headache--unless I've had enough coffee.
6. I never drank coffee for years until I discovered that it helped me not get headaches.
7. But I can't drink it after 1:00 or I can't sleep.
8. When I was in 6th grade, I won the City-Wide Spelling Bee and went to the State Spelling Bee. I was eliminated in the first round. I barely heard of studying for it.
9. In grade school, I read every horse book ever written and was known for being horse-crazy.
10. I had a pony from 4th to 12th grade. We sold him the day after I graduated. He was dapple gray with a white mane and tail, and he was so beautiful that when I took him to the fair, other owners wanted to breed their little pony mares to him--but alas, he was a gelding. His name was Prince.
10. In high school, my extra-curricular activities included choir, marching band, concert band, quiz team, and playing in the pit orchestra for musicals.
11. My senior year I finally got up the nerve to audition for the musical, and was in the Chorus for--don't laugh!!--a very white-bread production of The Wiz. I was stiff as a board.
12. I played piano from 3rd grade to 6th grade, when my piano teacher died suddenly. I took lessons again during 12th grade, but haven't played much since.
13. I played saxophone from 5th grade through my first semester in college.
14. My freshman year in high school, we had so many saxes that the director asked six of the freshman players to learn other instruments for concert band. He handed me the school's brand-new oboe, and a Teach Yourself Oboe book and tape. "I'd rather have no oboe than a bad oboe," he warned, "so we'll see how you do." Four years later, I was still playing oboe, so I assumed I was doing all right.
15. Many years later, I started having a recurring dream: I was always looking for my oboe before a concert and I could never find it. As I'd wake, I'd realize that of course I never owned one.
16. When I got a chance to buy one at a bargain price, I did. But it's hard to keep up my lip without a reason to play. Someday I'd like to be in a woodwind quintet again.
17. I started out majoring in literature at Wheaton College, planning to get a secondary teaching certificate.
18. But I switched to Elementary Education because I wanted more education courses, and I took too many of my advisor's lit courses and just didn't click with his highly emotional teaching style.
19. Later I regretted not majoring in Lit. Now, I'd probably love that passionate prof's classes.
20. If I went back for a master's, it would probably be in Lit.
21. But I have little interest in getting a master's.
22. And no, contrary to what you'd think, my education courses really don't help at all with homeschooling.
23. I never thought I'd homeschool.
24. My dad was a public school biology teacher for 33 years and he had a great witness in a tough high school. I thought I'd follow in his footsteps.
25. But I couldn't get a teaching job in the area where Papa Rooster got his first job, in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
26. So I worked as a substitute teacher for 6 months, till a friend encouraged me to apply for a managerial job at his company, Allstate Life Insurance Company.
27. I spent one year as a manager in their Accounting Department. Then I asked to be transferred and trained as a life insurance underwriter.
28. Now THAT was a fun job. I'd go back to that before I'd go back to teaching, I think, except for not getting summers off.....
29. As an underwriter, I read medical reports and learned about all kinds of diseases and conditions like high-blood pressure and how they affect average longevity. I also had to make sure that beneficiaries had an "insurable interest" in the covered life--in other words, that the person wasn't worth more dead than alive to the beneficiary. I had to figure out how much extra to charge motorcyclists, hang-gliders, heavy drinkers and folks with other dangerous recreational interests. And explain my decisions to unhappy insurance agents. There was never a dull moment!
30. After our oldest was born, I and another underwriter who was also a new mom pioneered a job-sharing arrangement (this was back in 1991). I worked Monday and Friday, and she worked Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. It worked out great. They wrote us up in the company magazine.
31. After we both had our second babies, we split the week evenly and my new schedule was every other Wednesday, and every Thursday and Friday for about 18 months. (The three-day weeks were killers.) Then Allstate moved our office another 15 minutes north and I resigned; I already drove 45+ minutes to work, so my commute would have been over an hour.
32. It had been God's provision for us during that time, though; while Papa Rooster went to grad school in business (U of Chicago), we lived on my half-time salary and benefits. I had risen quickly to Senior Underwriter, and I once figured out that, working two days a week, I was making more than some of my fellow education majors who'd taken teaching jobs at low-paying parochical school teaching jobs!
33. I was so happy to stay home full-time. I thought I'd miss the stimulation of a job, but I didn't miss it at all after the first week. I found I was much MORE stimulated by things I now had time for, like mothering and home-making projects--I actually sewed a little those first couple years at home--and a Mom's Bible Study and friends and books.
34. I've never looked back or had any desire to work again.
35. Although I did work from home a little bit after that, to help make ends meet and pay off Papa R's grad school bills. I did some data-entry for this ministry, and for about six months before my third child was born, I was an assistant to the head of this ministry, Mario Bergner, who is still a dear friend.... (waving) Hi Mario!!
36. It was after our third child was born that our oldest started half-day early childhood classes at the local elementary school, because of an obvious speech delay. Shortly after that he was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, high-functioning--autism, in other words.
37. The teachers in his classroom are the ones who got me thinking about homeschooling. "He does pretty well one-on-one," they said, "but in a group, we lose him."
38. I started interviewing all three moms I knew who homeschooled. They all gave me books to read.
39. After his third year of the half-day program, he was going to go into the regular kindergarten as a 6-year-old, with an aide; but in the classroom, he seemed unenthusiastic and unmotivated compared to how we observed him at home with his siblings. It seemed like the best thing for him to try homeschooling.
40. I included my daughter in his kindergarten year and in his first grade year. But when she started pulling ahead of him in reading and got upset when I worked extra with him, I put her in public school in January of her first-grade year (his 2nd grade year) so I could concentrate on him.
41. I wasn't completely sold on homeschooling for all my kids until then. She had a good experience, but it was too hard for me to juggle the needs of my student at home with the expectations of the school. And I was bad at dealing with their paperwork and deadlines.
42. This year is my 11th year of homeschooling.
43. I love to read in bed but rarely get to, unless Papa Rooster is out of town.
44. He's always ready to turn the lights out before I am. He's an early bird and I'm a night owl.
45. I hate to cook.
46. I like it better when it's a familiar recipe and I have an audio book to listen to.
47. I've always loved to write and wrote a chapter book when I was in 4th grade.
48. But in college I hated to write papers. I wish I had majored in Lit and taken more creative writing courses.
49. After I got married, I started writing an annual Christmas letter to family and friends that everyone always told me they really looked forward to. I ought to do more writing, they said. (Thank you, everyone who encouraged me!)
50. So eventually, I started this blog.
I am so grateful to everyone who visits this little corner regularly. Thank you so much for encouraging me, just by checking in here. It makes it a lot more fun, that y'all do that.
I never did the "100 Things About Me" meme when I wrote my 100th post, so maybe, in honor of 50,000 hits, I'll list 50 things about me.
I'll try to make some of them things you might be surprised to learn about me, thus answering Amy's question on my birthday Q & A too! (I haven't forgotten about finishing that, by the way--but I lost most of my answers when my laptop died last week, because I'd been working on them in Word, on the way to and from Wisconsin, and I haven't had the heart to rewrite them yet.)
She asked, "What is one thing that most people don't know about you, and would be surprised to find out?"
Well, here are 50 things, maybe...
1. My favorite color used to be blue, but now I'm not sure what it is. I like certain greens and lavenders a lot. And pink. And peach. And certain blues. My favorite combination of colors, since childhood, has been blue, brown, green and pink.
2. I love Dean's Chocolate Moose Tracks ice cream.
3. I used to eat a bowl of ice cream every night for dessert. Can't do that every night now.
4. But I am blessed with a high metabolism.
5. I am also very headache-prone, maybe as a result of the high metabolism. I can't eat sugar or white flour until after dinner or I get a headache--unless I've had enough coffee.
6. I never drank coffee for years until I discovered that it helped me not get headaches.
7. But I can't drink it after 1:00 or I can't sleep.
8. When I was in 6th grade, I won the City-Wide Spelling Bee and went to the State Spelling Bee. I was eliminated in the first round. I barely heard of studying for it.
9. In grade school, I read every horse book ever written and was known for being horse-crazy.
10. I had a pony from 4th to 12th grade. We sold him the day after I graduated. He was dapple gray with a white mane and tail, and he was so beautiful that when I took him to the fair, other owners wanted to breed their little pony mares to him--but alas, he was a gelding. His name was Prince.
10. In high school, my extra-curricular activities included choir, marching band, concert band, quiz team, and playing in the pit orchestra for musicals.
11. My senior year I finally got up the nerve to audition for the musical, and was in the Chorus for--don't laugh!!--a very white-bread production of The Wiz. I was stiff as a board.
12. I played piano from 3rd grade to 6th grade, when my piano teacher died suddenly. I took lessons again during 12th grade, but haven't played much since.
13. I played saxophone from 5th grade through my first semester in college.
14. My freshman year in high school, we had so many saxes that the director asked six of the freshman players to learn other instruments for concert band. He handed me the school's brand-new oboe, and a Teach Yourself Oboe book and tape. "I'd rather have no oboe than a bad oboe," he warned, "so we'll see how you do." Four years later, I was still playing oboe, so I assumed I was doing all right.
15. Many years later, I started having a recurring dream: I was always looking for my oboe before a concert and I could never find it. As I'd wake, I'd realize that of course I never owned one.
16. When I got a chance to buy one at a bargain price, I did. But it's hard to keep up my lip without a reason to play. Someday I'd like to be in a woodwind quintet again.
17. I started out majoring in literature at Wheaton College, planning to get a secondary teaching certificate.
18. But I switched to Elementary Education because I wanted more education courses, and I took too many of my advisor's lit courses and just didn't click with his highly emotional teaching style.
19. Later I regretted not majoring in Lit. Now, I'd probably love that passionate prof's classes.
20. If I went back for a master's, it would probably be in Lit.
21. But I have little interest in getting a master's.
22. And no, contrary to what you'd think, my education courses really don't help at all with homeschooling.
23. I never thought I'd homeschool.
24. My dad was a public school biology teacher for 33 years and he had a great witness in a tough high school. I thought I'd follow in his footsteps.
25. But I couldn't get a teaching job in the area where Papa Rooster got his first job, in the northern suburbs of Chicago.
26. So I worked as a substitute teacher for 6 months, till a friend encouraged me to apply for a managerial job at his company, Allstate Life Insurance Company.
27. I spent one year as a manager in their Accounting Department. Then I asked to be transferred and trained as a life insurance underwriter.
28. Now THAT was a fun job. I'd go back to that before I'd go back to teaching, I think, except for not getting summers off.....
29. As an underwriter, I read medical reports and learned about all kinds of diseases and conditions like high-blood pressure and how they affect average longevity. I also had to make sure that beneficiaries had an "insurable interest" in the covered life--in other words, that the person wasn't worth more dead than alive to the beneficiary. I had to figure out how much extra to charge motorcyclists, hang-gliders, heavy drinkers and folks with other dangerous recreational interests. And explain my decisions to unhappy insurance agents. There was never a dull moment!
30. After our oldest was born, I and another underwriter who was also a new mom pioneered a job-sharing arrangement (this was back in 1991). I worked Monday and Friday, and she worked Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday. It worked out great. They wrote us up in the company magazine.
31. After we both had our second babies, we split the week evenly and my new schedule was every other Wednesday, and every Thursday and Friday for about 18 months. (The three-day weeks were killers.) Then Allstate moved our office another 15 minutes north and I resigned; I already drove 45+ minutes to work, so my commute would have been over an hour.
32. It had been God's provision for us during that time, though; while Papa Rooster went to grad school in business (U of Chicago), we lived on my half-time salary and benefits. I had risen quickly to Senior Underwriter, and I once figured out that, working two days a week, I was making more than some of my fellow education majors who'd taken teaching jobs at low-paying parochical school teaching jobs!
33. I was so happy to stay home full-time. I thought I'd miss the stimulation of a job, but I didn't miss it at all after the first week. I found I was much MORE stimulated by things I now had time for, like mothering and home-making projects--I actually sewed a little those first couple years at home--and a Mom's Bible Study and friends and books.
34. I've never looked back or had any desire to work again.
35. Although I did work from home a little bit after that, to help make ends meet and pay off Papa R's grad school bills. I did some data-entry for this ministry, and for about six months before my third child was born, I was an assistant to the head of this ministry, Mario Bergner, who is still a dear friend.... (waving) Hi Mario!!
36. It was after our third child was born that our oldest started half-day early childhood classes at the local elementary school, because of an obvious speech delay. Shortly after that he was diagnosed with PDD-NOS, high-functioning--autism, in other words.
37. The teachers in his classroom are the ones who got me thinking about homeschooling. "He does pretty well one-on-one," they said, "but in a group, we lose him."
38. I started interviewing all three moms I knew who homeschooled. They all gave me books to read.
39. After his third year of the half-day program, he was going to go into the regular kindergarten as a 6-year-old, with an aide; but in the classroom, he seemed unenthusiastic and unmotivated compared to how we observed him at home with his siblings. It seemed like the best thing for him to try homeschooling.
40. I included my daughter in his kindergarten year and in his first grade year. But when she started pulling ahead of him in reading and got upset when I worked extra with him, I put her in public school in January of her first-grade year (his 2nd grade year) so I could concentrate on him.
41. I wasn't completely sold on homeschooling for all my kids until then. She had a good experience, but it was too hard for me to juggle the needs of my student at home with the expectations of the school. And I was bad at dealing with their paperwork and deadlines.
42. This year is my 11th year of homeschooling.
43. I love to read in bed but rarely get to, unless Papa Rooster is out of town.
44. He's always ready to turn the lights out before I am. He's an early bird and I'm a night owl.
45. I hate to cook.
46. I like it better when it's a familiar recipe and I have an audio book to listen to.
47. I've always loved to write and wrote a chapter book when I was in 4th grade.
48. But in college I hated to write papers. I wish I had majored in Lit and taken more creative writing courses.
49. After I got married, I started writing an annual Christmas letter to family and friends that everyone always told me they really looked forward to. I ought to do more writing, they said. (Thank you, everyone who encouraged me!)
50. So eventually, I started this blog.
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