I Don't Deserve This
Ryan is far nicer to me than he ought to be. When he got home from a long day at work on Friday, I hit him with a big (and possibly unreasonable) request. I wanted to go visit my mom in suburban Chicago Saturday. A day trip. But I didn’t want to go alone–I didn’t want to be alone, and I really didn’t want to drive for five hours, with the upsetting news that my mom’s memory had come completely unglued on Friday fresh on my mind.
So, I wanted him to go with me. Which meant that all four children would also have to come. We would have to get up at five in the morning, to drive five hours, so I could spend a few hours with my mom, while Ryan basically remained trapped in the car with all four children (except for his own brief visit to see her while I ate lunch in the car). And then we would have to drive another five hours home, with increasingly impatient children.
He didn’t blink; didn’t even stop to consider. He just said we’d go, and helped me get stuff ready so we could leave early the next morning. Heck, he even (with the help of a friend) hung a new light fixture in our den for me that night. I really don’t deserve to be treated this well.
I know the Bible instructs husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church, so this shouldn’t surprise me. Ryan was doing his job. But I don’t know many husbands, even Christian ones, who would be willing to give up their whole Saturday for such a thing, at least not without thinking it over first.
And, really, I shouldn’t be surprised, because after knowing him for so long, I pretty much knew what his response would be before I even asked. But for some reason, I’m still always surprised when people, even my own husband, go above and beyond the call of duty for me. I don’t know why that is, but there you have it. A part of me just doesn’t assume people will do the nice, or even the right, thing.
The children were even extraordinarily patient on the trip. There was some complaining, but given their ages and the amount of time we had to spend in the car, not nearly as much as there could have been.
And right there is the beauty of family, as God designed it to be. People coming together when the going gets tough, even the little ones. Much more than I deserve.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21
Making Progress
Moose is making a lot of progress in his speech. Don’t get me wrong, he’s still hard to understand, and he’s lacking spontaneous speech–asking for something, telling you what’s bothering him, the basics of conversation. But he is making great improvements in identifying objects and repeating words when asked to. He even said his own name for the first time this weekend! His homework assignments (which involve a lot of identification, of objects, colors, and shapes) are getting easier for him to accomplish. There’s now verifiable evidence of things we knew all along–that he understands what we’re saying to him, that he knows things like colors and shapes, that he can follow directions.
We still have a long road ahead of us, because he does need to be able to talk spontaneously, and tell us his wants and needs, and it would be helpful if others, outside his immediate family and teachers, could understand him when he does talk. But he’s made great leaps in his language development since he started school in November, and I am very grateful for the work his teachers and therapists have put into helping him.
Home Again
I went up and visited my mom today (more on that later). She has been insistent that I not come, but she had a “memory episode” yesterday, in which, at times, she thought that she was at home putting groceries away, or thought it was 25 years ago, and she had three small children (I’m an only child), so I decided that I had to go.
Fortunately, the memory problem had been corrected. They think it was either the result of a fever, or a new medication she was on. I was very grateful for that, because, while I’m happy she never forgot I was her daughter, I was a little nervous about what would happen if I showed up and she expected my to be a five-year-old. That would have been quite a shock to her, I imagine!
She looked better than I was expecting–her color was good, and the bloating that I guess had been a problem because of fluid retention was gone. But she’s hooked up to a lot of stuff. Oxygen mask, more IV bags than I could count, BP monitor, etc. It sounds like it could be a good week (if all goes well), before she’s released. And she’s definitely weak and tired.
So, I think she’s getting better (although I thought that before!), but she’s going to have a long recovery. It’s rather ironic, because she’s been in the hospital longer for what should have been a routine appendectomy than she was following emergency brain surgery for a ruptured aneurysm ten years ago. Weird how the body can work.
Your prayers have been greatly appreciated, and if you think to, any continued prayers are also much needed.
Spring has Sprung?
I love, more than anything, the change of seasons. I will still stand by my claim that Autumn is my favorite of the seasons, but it’s the change in the air that I really love, and that holds true as we transition from Winter to Spring.
The daffodils are actually almost done, but now my tulips look like they’ll be opening any day. As I had forgotten what color tulips I had planted last year, I have been very happy to see that they’re some variety of red, as far as I can tell from looking at the outsides.
Our pretty little Japanese cherry tree that we planted last year is full of flowers (which I imagine will starting falling off soon), and now little leaves are beginning to pop out. The nectarine tree that I bought this week, while still in it’s bucket from Lowe’s, has a ton of leaves. A lot of the flowers have already dropped, but what are left are a very pretty pink/purple color…a nice contrast to the mostly white/only lightly pink flowers on the cherry tree. I can’t wait to see if we can hope for fruit in the tree’s first year–I’m not expecting it, but part of me is hoping for a nice surprise.
I know that Spring isn’t quite ready to “stick” yet…I saw a headline with the dreaded “s-word” (snow, in case you wondering), and it’s not near warm enough over night for me to do any real planting in the vegetable beds. Still, warm days (and nights) are on the way, and I’m making my plans, and enjoying all of the beauty God includes when He makes the seasons change.
A New Plan
I don’t know why this didn’t occur to me earlier. To be honest, and to my shame, it wasn’t even my idea–it was Ryan who came up with it.
When we started kindergarten last year, we began with Sonlight’s P 4/5 Core, but added Core K’s Language Arts and Readers. The 4/5 stuff was just too easy–learning letters and their sounds and such, which Turkey and Bunny already knew. Core K LA was a good fit, because it reviews letter sounds, and starts with reading simple, three letter words. And that was great for us when we started, because, even though they knew all the letter sounds, it took them some time to figure out how to turn that into words.
But for a few months now, Turkey and Bunny have been reading three letter words with ease, and have been venturing out into five and six letter words when they can. So, in planning my curriculum for next year, I realized that the Core 1 LA and Readers may not provide enough of a challenge for them to last the whole year, but, they’re not something I can really skip, either.
So, Ryan had a great plan. I’m going to order the LA and Readers from Core 1 next week, and in the meantime, I’m going to finish the Core K stuff by doing two letters a week instead of one. This way, we’ll start the Core 1 stuff before we’re done with our kindergarten year, and if we accelerate the pace of that, too, we’ll finish them early into 1st grade, and be able to start on (and hopefully finish) the Core 2 LA and Readers by the end of 1st grade.
It seems like such an easy plan, now–if only I had thought of it before, we’d be well into the Core 1 readers by now!
Still Worried
So, my mom has been in the hospital for almost two weeks. She may get to go home this weekend, although I’m thinking the beginning of next week is more likely, as long as everything goes well.
She’s had two surgeries, and has been in the ICU for almost a week now. It seems like she’s had just about every post-op complication you can have, including pneumonia. My aunt called me today to tell me that she thinks my mom has been sicker than she’s been telling us, but I’m not supposed to tell my mom that my aunt called and told me that–I’m just supposed to wait for her to come clean to me on her own. I love being put in the middle–nothing like a little family drama in the midst of a family drama.
I haven’t been able to go see her–it’s not exactly a short trip, and with four small children (one with special needs), and a husband with no vacation time, it’s not like I can just pop in for the afternoon. I feel guilty, but not for the reason you might think. Based on what I’ve heard from my mom directly, (which *should* be all I have to go by) she 1.) hasn’t been *that* sick; and B.) really doesn’t want me to come up there while she’s in the hospital–she’s weird about hospital visitors. So, I don’t really feel guilty that I haven’t been up there, but I do feel guilty because I’m worried about people thinking I’m a terrible daughter for not having been up there. And my misplaced guilt is serving only to make me feel guiltier. *sigh*
Thank You, Mr. Postman!
I got my much anticipated Sonlight catalog today! I have to hand it to the good people at Sonlight–they sure know how to build anticipation. The forums have just been crazy with little hints and sneak peeks, and even though I don’t post over there, I’ve been reading everything with excitement. For the last month, I’ve been beside myself knowing it was almost time, and ever since word went out that they were in the mail, I’ve been feverishly checking the mail box. Well, today was my day, and I’ve already flipped through it several times!
I’m excited about the changes I’m seeing to the science curriculum. Granted, other than the P 4/5, I’ve never used Sonlight’s science (which really means that I haven’t had a “real” science curriculum, complete with instructor’s guide and experiments), so I don’t know anything about the books that were axed, but the new ones that were added, especially for our grade next year, look really interesting and appropriate.
The only thing I’m a little disappointed with is the fact that Hero Tales is no longer part of the history curriculum in Core K. I’ve never read it, but it sounded interesting. I’m sure that the new book with which it was replaced is equally good, but I’m thinking I may pick up Hero Tales anyway.
The best part? The prices on some of the stuff went up, but it looks like a few things actually went down, so I don’t think that overall, it will cost me much more than it would have if I had purchased it before the new prices went into effect.
I love that Sonlight puts together such good reading lists for me–many of the books I remember from my own childhood, some I’ve heard of, but never had a chance to read, and some are complete unknowns to me, which is good in it’s own way. The fact that I don’t have to piece together a curriculum really frees up my time for other things (like planting our new nectarine tree…science lesson, anyone?).
I had no idea the effect that homeschooling (and Sonlight) would have on our whole family. Never in my wildest dreams did I anticipate getting this excited over a catalog (well, aside from the good old Sears Wish Book when I was a kid!)–just imagine what box day is going to be like!
Worry
My mom is in the hospital. She went in Sunday for an appendectomy (which is good, because her appendix had already ruptured), and has had kind of an up and down recovery since. She was getting better, then worse, then better again. They were going to send her home today, if she tolerated breakfast and lunch OK, but instead, she was sent to the ICU this morning. Her oxygen levels had dropped over night, and they wanted to observe/figure out what the problem was.
That was scary enough, because she (and her whole side of the family), has a history of blood clots, which was what actually killer *her* father. Then again, she is, as always, on blood thinners, so I guess I shouldn’t have been too worried about that.
What they did find is that she has a bowel obstruction. Who knew that could make oxygen levels fall?!? Anyway, she doesn’t know how long she’s going to be in the ICU/hospital–they definitely want to get the problem taken care of, but the doctor doesn’t know how long that will take.
The thing I’m having a hard time getting past is that she’s in the same hospital my dad died in. In the same ICU. For all I know, in the same freaking room. Oh yeah, and what sent him to that hospital in the first place was basically a bowel obstruction. Now, my head knows that the circumstances were wildly different, it wasn’t the actual obstruction that killed him, and that it’s good that they caught this now, before she went home, and before anything else has a chance to rupture. But this whole situation still doesn’t sit well with me. Too much deja vu for my liking.
Nothing New Under the Sun
Well, it’s finally happened. We’ve (and by that, I mostly mean me) been bitten by the Webkinz bug. I guess it had to happen eventually…
Turkey got a Webkinz lion from his godmother for his birthday. He likes the lion because it’s small, cute, and cuddly. He is kind of interested in the website, but some of it is too hard for him yet, and he really doesn’t want to sit around through 50 questions, so guess who is earning money for his lion’s food and house? Yep, mommy to the rescue. I have to admit, it’s rather entertaining. Take a quiz, get some fake money, buy some virtual furniture for your room. We have a football theme going on in Leo’s (his lion) room, so we have to make enough money to buy a sofa, a table, etc. (we already got the important stuff like the bed and the football fridge. Do lions need a fridge?). Turkey answers the questions that he can, and I do the rest. We make quite a team!
Don’t think I don’t know that this is basically just Beanie Babies re-incarnated. Sure, the Ty version didn’t have any computer stuff (at least not when they were all the rage–I have no idea about now), but it’s the same hunt to find the one you want at the store, figure out which ones are retired, which ones are really hot…
Everything comes back into vogue, one way or another.
A Good Book Ruined
I have been enjoying the Sisters, Ink series of books by Rebeca Seitz. So far, it’s a series of three books (with a fourth due out in June) about four adopted sisters who solve all of life’s problems while scrapping. Boyfriends, marriages, babies, step-mothers–they’ve covered it all. Nice, light-hearted books, written from a Christian perspective (their daddy is a preacher), about women in various stages of life: married with children; married without, but trying; newly married; engaged; single; career woman; stay-at-home-mom–it’s all there. And two of my favorite activities are reading and working on scrapbooks, so what’s better than reading about people who like to scrapbook? A match made in heaven, as far as me and books.
But the latest book, Scrapping Plans, left a sour taste in my mouth, and made me wonder about the author, and whether or not she even considered her audience before including a completely unnecessary scene. It started with a somewhat sarcastic reference to a beautiful old Lutheran church that might not allow the non-Lutheran characters to be married there. That rankled a bit, because A.) I’m Lutheran, and don’t like sarcasm directed toward my church; and 2.) I don’t think you should you should get married at church because it’s pretty, I think you should get married at *your* church–you don’t just wander around town looking for the prettiest building for your wedding. But, I was willing to let that go.
A few pages later, however, I came upon this:
“Well, evidently the mother church of the denomination in the western hemisphere will allow us into their church since Darin’s family has devoted their lives to Martin Luther. I don’t get it since Luther himself told those who agreed with him specifically not to form a separate denomination.”
This was beyond unnecessary. It’s just dripping with sarcasm. I’m assuming either the author or someone she knows had a problem with a Lutheran church and a wedding–perhaps she (or a friend) found a church that was pretty, and wanted to get married in it, but because neither she nor her fiance was Lutheran, had to twist some arms to have the marriage performed there.
I don’t like it when authors take up personal grudges in books for no good reason–this scene, and the other reference added absolutely nothing to the story. Without these references, the story still would have been good, there would still have been problems to solve (because this wasn’t even one of the problems the sisters were attempting to solve while scrapping), nothing would have been missing from the book at all. It was that gratuitous. There was no reason to put it in the book at all, other than the author was ticked off, and wanted to vent.
But did it occur to her that by including this scene, she may have alienated some of her readers? Surely it must have occurred to her that she might have some Lutheran readers–I can’t be the only one. And did she really think that comments like that, especially when she has no concept of what Lutheranism really is (I would hardly say that I have devoted my life to Luther, the man), would endear her books to her readers?
I’ll probably buy the last book in the series, because I can’t stand having an unfinished set, but I doubt I’ll be buying anything else written by her. I don’t care to waste my money on books where the author not only has a personal vendetta, but also mis-represents an entire denomination with her snarkiness!
