The Good, the Bad and the Hubby

We'll start with the husband first. Loren is still feeling pretty low. There was one day, right after coming home, when he overdid it. He and Jason spent several hours messing about with computers and generally pretending he had not had a small organ removed from his person two days previously. Now, he is finding that his body is temporarily rebelling. Apparently there IS some use for the gall bladder. Food is just not "setting well" with Loren. He has only been down from the bedroom for an hour or two on each of the last three days. Supposedly, in about a month, the body learns to compensate and eating and digesting can approach normalcy again. Keep praying for this guy.
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The first day of school is over. Only 177 more to go.

I got a taste of how the day would go upon descending the stairway around 7. Usually, the whole house is quiet as I sneak out on my hour-long walk. This morning, there were two "eager beavers," Melinda (11) and Carolyn (9), just chomping at the bit. "Can we start arranging our notebooks? Pleeaaase?" (I just knew this would happen) "Well, " I tried to reason with them, "I thought I said we would do this after breakfast. I have to get my exercise. You don't want Mommy to get fat, grumpy and force you to eat oatmeal e-very SIN-GLE MORN-ING, do you?! (Well, those may not have been my ex-ACT words.) I got them started on a couple of things and headed out the door before anyone else could awaken. For the next hour it was just me, the cool, crisp air and the hot tunes of my favorite swing/big band station. :-)

I returned in fine fettle, peeled the boys out of bed and managed to coax everyone to a heartwarming breakfast of cold cereal. I thought it would be good to fortify myself with a cinnamon raisin bagel, in addition to the usual cheese omelet and Kashi cereal. (you can really work up an appetite walking four miles) I sat at my computer, taking a quick glance at the news sites and printing off instructions for, "Teaching Left-Handers to Write." (for Ethan) That enthusiastic 2nd grader was watching my every bite and asking hopefully, "Almost done?"
(sigh) "Ok, ok."

We made it through the morning, with abbreviated subjects and no more than three people talking to me at one time. I think everyone is settled on their requirements for the school year. I was pleased to discover that despite my dashed intentions of listening to Ethan read aloud over the summer, he had not forgotten much at all. Those two hospitalizations and many trips to Rochester may have altered my plans, but God kept important progress intact, all the same.

The quote of the day occurred while preparing to go shopping. Jason headed for the shower as Carolyn exhibited surprise that one would have to bathe more than once or twice per week. "That's what happens as you get older," I told her. "You have to take more showers." "Boy," she replied, "I can't wait 'til I get younger!"

There are daily rewards to this parenting business.

We may live out in the country, but we're only 25 minutes from the closest Wal-Mart, so I know we can't be too far from civilization. Today's visit to the store brought cries of delight. Smack dab in the front, were clearance carts containing goggles and scuba tubes, at 75 % off! Is this a great country, or what? The younger boys had been looking for these items for weeks. "Do you think you can keep these intact until next summer when we go to the lake?" I asked doubtfully. "Oh yes, Mommy! Oh yes! We PROM-ise!" (Hmmph. I've heard that before.) Well, if nothing else, they can examine the scum on the side of the bathtub.

So, we bought four sets. It's hard to resist the enthusiam of youth. After all, these guys are looking forward to school tomorrow.

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