Parental activities reflected in the children?

Ha, do you think my kids hang around me and my job too much? This afternoon they were playing ambulance. Very creatively. If I hadn't been so tired I'd have gotten my camera...I really really should have. They had brought my dh's work dolly (you know, the thing you lie on so you can scoot under your car to work on it!) out and tied it to a bike. Ds5 was lying on it with his leg all tied up, and dd9 was pulling him down the sidewalk to the "hospital." Kicking myself for not taking a picture because it was so cute. And creative. And imaginative!

Jury duty

Yay, lucky me. I've been summoned for the month of May. At first when I saw the letter, I thought "oh no!" but then as I've thought about it, I see God's hand in this. My biggest worry about jury duty has been that it would make it difficult to continue with our usual school routine. Well, guess what? We'll be done with our school year in April, so we won't have to worry about May at all if we don't want to!

I still feel like I'll be wasting my time having to do this, tho. I've been summoned for jury duty once before (federal jury duty, even) and I was the 3rd juror dismissed, right behind two cops. I have two strikes against me...cop's wife, and EMS employee. So they could have made my life a whole lot easier by just not calling me at all...save me the bother of showing up only to be rejected once again, LOL.

Obituary of Common Sense

My dh forwarded this to me and I thought it was too good not to share:

Obituary of the late Mr. Common Sense
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and Maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).

His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6 -year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer Calpol, sun lotion or a band-aid to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason.

He is survived by his 3 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I'm A Victim.

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

A word of comfort

Well, tomorrow I won't have a ds4 anymore. Yep, he's having a birthday. Again! Anyway, today I picked him up and was holding him close and I told him I was going to miss having a 4 year old in the house to snuggle with, and he reassured me with "Well, I'll be 5, but I'll still be in the house." ROFL, silly kid. That dried up the tears that were threatening to overrun at the thought of my baby growing up. 4 has been such a great year (well, most of the time!)...I hope that 5 is just as enjoyable.

Savoring the scent

My yard smelled so good yesterday. The smell of my dad's maple syrup cooking over the fire wafted over the whole 3 acres (and probably beyond!), making our yard smell irresistably sweet. I could have stayed home from work just to inhale ;-)

Reminds me of 2 Corinthians 2:15 "For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish" and Psalm 119:103 "How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth!" and how all throught the pentateuch, it is stated repeatedly that the sacrifices made to God had "a sweet savour." Now while I don't believe He intends us to now kill animals and burn them up in His name, I do see that the things we do to show our love for Him definitely are pleasant to Him, just as the syrup fire had a most pleasant scent that overspread the neighborhood yesterday.

Cool ice pics

For those who can't imagine having ice in March (K, you know who you are ;-) here are some very cool ice pics. The flooded river receded during the night (when it was below freezing) and the ice that was left behind had the neatest ripple patterns and ice formations.

You know it's almost spring when...

Spring fever hits! It's been ccccold but sunny and it just looks so inviting outdoors, at least until your nose gets red as you step out the door ;-)



This week held the annual leaving of the ice. A river borders our property, tho we're on a high bank and don't have a direct view of it unless it floods onto the woods on the other side. Anyway, Wednesday morning when I got home from work, dd9 met me, excited that the ice was going out. Well, actually it wasn't, quite yet. It as jammed up on a few bends and waiting to break free. Looked like it got pretty thick, probably a good 6-8" (which is good, if you knew the geography of "our" river ;-) About 1/2 hr after I went to bed, they said it creaked and groaned and cracked and it all broke free. My dad and the kids were eating their breakfast outside by the maple syrup cooking fire. (This is last year's picture.)

So they left their breakfast and watched the ice, and then ran over to the neighbor's and watched the same ice floe pass in front of their house, then came back to cold waffles ;-) Hey, whatever, they were having fun, right? And I love their little "traditions" with Poppa--eating breakfast by the fire, getting excited over the ice going out of the river, helping with sap collection, and just all of those fun things that we love to drop school and run out to do.

Career Aspirations

My kids have both made career decisions in the past week or so. Not that they're binding, of course...but they think they are, LOL.

DD9's prayer experience(s) have led her to feel called to be a missionary doctor. She'd like to be a pediatrician. I'm not telling her that she has to be good at math and science, LOL. She'd make an excellent, open-minded ped, if that's where she ends up when she's grown.

DS4 has decided he wants to be a scientist, because "scientists get to find out how things work." LOL, he's very serious about this. He's got The Big Book of Tell Me Why in his bedroom so he can "study to be a scientist" and everything we do that's remotely related to something scientific gets analyzed to the nth degree. Oh, and the questions. Oh yes, the questions. Always the questions about how and why. Yes, he's very analytical, LOL. We used to joke when he was a baby that he would work in the space field because when you walked outside with him, he was always looking up at the sky. And you know what? He frequently mentions wanting to be an astronaut, or study the stars and moon. He's really jazzed because Sunday evening he and dd9 were outdoors playing, and he spotted a meteor streaking across the sky. (I'm researching it...I've found evidence that other people in Ontario and MI also saw it so I know the kids weren't imagining things when they came storming into the house all excited that they'd seen it, and I know dd9 wasn't fibbing when she said it had a long tail because other people saw the same thing!)

So that's what's happening in the Career Tales of Our Household this week...stay tuned for further developments.

Scary stuff close to home

Well, it happened in our community. A school shooting. At least it was outdoors in the parking lot, not in the building, but still...you think it'll happen somewhere else, not where you live. The school is 1/2 mile from where I work...I pass it almost daily, and I know a couple of girls from my church attend that school. The incident involved 17 year old girl and boy who had recently broken up. The boy shot and injured her (but she'll be ok), then fatally turned the gun on himself. The whole incident was witnessed up close by the girl's mother and other family members, and from farther away by students that were in the cafeteria.

No matter how you train and drill for a day like this, it still hits you right in the gut and hurts to think that a young kid would do something like this to a fellow human being.

Awed by the presence of God

I blogged recently about dd9's increasing prayer life and how much I'm enjoying that side of her, and of our relationship together. Well today I was in the hallway and she came to the door of her bedroom with a dazed look on her face. I had to speak sharply to her a couple of times before she even responded to me. She had been sitting in her new Ekorre swing, doing her schoolwork. Her Bible assignment included prayer to God, asking for guidance and direction in planning for her future. She said that when she was praying, she really felt His presence in the room close to her. She was so awed to have felt that, she was almost in tears--and so was I. I hugged her and told her how proud of her I am, and that she's been reaching out in prayer and study to God and that is when you feel close to Him and can sense his presence. I hope she keeps it up!

Grandma brag

My mom had my kids for part of this weekend while I was at work or sleeping. She was so pleased...they were good, didn't bicker, played nicely, and were sweet and helpful to her as well. (Usually my dad is around to help but he had gone out of town...and my mom was worried that she might get dizzy or not be able to tolerate their noise.) They even fixed her lunch yesterday! They ordered her to the basement and told her she couldn't come upstairs. She could hear them and knew what they were up to, tho ;-) The menu included artichoke hearts for an appetizer, pasta, and fruit for dessert. I think they were so good that she almost hated to turn them back over to me in the afternoon, LOL.

Hey, a much better report than some I've gotten, when their haloes have slipped a bit ;-)

Before & After

OK, here are the promised pics of dd9. She donated her hair to Locks of Love.

Before
After

She's insanely pleased with how her cut turned out, and she just loves her flippy short new do.