My youngest sister, L., has a very painful case of shingles, which started in her eye this past week. Depending on how she’s doing, she may need to be hospitalized on Christmas Eve. Her doctor has also said it is possible that this could permanently affect her vision. If you feel so inclined, please join my family in prayer on her behalf.
Thank you.
Today I’ve been listening to talks on my cordless headphones while doing some catch-up housework. I really appreciated a Women’s Conference talk by Mary Ellen Edmunds, “It’s About Time”. Here’s one snippet, of many, I particularly enjoyed. The part I bolded really made me giggle, in light of my current life circumstances–I wonder how long it will take for us to add our new child(ren) this time. Which will we resemble most, the elephant or the guinea pig?
We all have a long list of things to do, whether written down or rattling around in our brain: pray; study; exercise; plant a garden, eat it; raise brilliant, cheerful, reverent children; clean a basement; write in a journal; avoid fat, calories, show house popcorn, and evil thoughts; pray for your enemies; do visiting teaching; store a year’s supply of food (but not on your body! We’re not supposed to look like Welfare Square); say yes to everything anyone asks you to do and hunt for more things to do; plant trees; remember the pioneers . . . .
You know there’s a lot. And we want to do everything so quickly. We hunt for fast-food, shortcuts, one-hour photo developing, express elevators, condensed books, instant soups, and ten-minute oil changes . . . Personally, I look for labels that say “Just add water.” I can do that. And I have a 72-minute kit . . . I don’t want to be around to clean up.
But there’s much in life that isn’t instant and isn’t fast. Skills and relationships and testimony and character traits—there are a lot of things that take time. They don’t happen just in an instant. But you can tell something is happening all along the way as line is added upon line, slowly, steadily.
Pretty much everything takes time. Mothers don’t sign up for an easy plan to have a baby in a few weeks. It’s almost always around nine months—longer for elephants, shorter for guinea pigs. (Oh, I thought of that myself! My mother didn’t even help me with that!)
For the most part, the things in our life that matter the most will have to be attended to. We will have to budget some time—make and take some time—for them. It’s a process—sometimes a lifelong process.
transcript link: http://ce.byu.edu/cw/womensconference/archive/1997/edmunds_mary_ellen.htm
audio links can be found here: http://www.byubroadcasting.org/womensconf/?selectedYear=1997
Ok, y’all, back off! I’ve got a ladle, and I’m not afraid to use it!
I’ve got got 15 minutes before I need to run out the door to go get my fingerprints scanned for a background check. How’s that for a hook? It’s true, though. My fingerprints are about to be on record with the great state of Utah. Why? You ask? Well, that’s our major update, I suppose. We’ve decided to become licensed as foster/adoptive parents so as to be able to adopt a child(ren) through the foster care system. Adoption is something that has been on our hearts and minds for a long time, but the timing has never felt right. At the moment, though, it feels so right that we’re chomping at the bit, shuffling though the paper morass, locking up the medications, firearms, cleaning supplies, and other household chemicals, checking the smoke alarms, installing another fire extinguisher, and even purchasing a new minivan–all so we can meet the licensing requirements. I’ve been going through the training program, and Pop will be taking the first few classes in January (he only needs to have 3 before we can be licensed, because he’s not the primary caregiver). So, we’re off to get our background checks done this afternoon before Cricket’s horseback riding lesson, and then I’m off to class in the pick-up so Pop can have enough seatbelts for both kids to do pick-up from riding lessons. Yay. Won’t it be nice when the car dealer finishes getting the windshield wipers fixed on our new minivan and we can bring it home with us?
Other updates:
Pop is swamped with work just now, which is a very good thing even if some of his clients are a bit aggravating to work with. He actually has work lined up through January at this point, which is fabulous. It make me feel like we might be able to afford groceries after all…lol. But he is a little stressed as well, poor man.
Mom has been a busy little beaver, although she’s taken some time off over the last couple of weeks for a bout with the flu that turned into bronchitis. Just when I was feeling healthy again. But I have had more energy thanks to my new happy pills, and things are getting done. There’s still a bit that needs to be done around the house to finish recovering from Mom’s summer of lethargy, but it’s really coming together. I’ve also been convinced by certain influential influences in my life that I should really quit complaining about the available homeschool science materials that don’t quite meet our needs, and just make something I like. So I’m partnering with a couple of other competent individuals to see if we can pull this together. Here’s a link to a sample lesson–the first lesson for an eight lesson unit on the solar system. Comments and criticisms are welcome.
Cricket is doing well with school, though that has been somewhat disrupted of late as well. He’s excited because I just allowed him to take the placement test for the Teaching Textbooks math program, and he tested as being ready for the 6th grade program. Since we started out a little behind in math last year due to extreme math aversion, this is happy happy news for both of us halfway through 5th grade. When he took the test he managed a couple of things I wasn’t aware he knew how to do. At least part of it I’m sure was just deducing from what he knew, but when I commented that he’d surprised me he looked sheepish and said that he was actually really good at math, but he likes to keep his math skills secret. Then he said, and I quote, “I’ve been working on math behind your back, Mom.” Umm….huh? WHY would you feel it necessary to moan and groan and whine about math when I’m there, and then work on math “behind my back”? That makes NO sense to me. I guess I’ll chalk it up to Aspie reasoning and just get on with life. I’m hoping this new math program will help reduce some of the resistance I’m still getting from him, because it mostly happens over math. The program is a good bit more expensive than what we’ve been using, but the guy on the disk does all the lecturing, so I won’t have to. I like that part. We’ll see how it goes.
Sunshine is still five. She has that five-year-old bossy thing going, and she’s LOUD, and she has started running with the local pack of short, pink, bossy, loud, blondes. She fits right in. And for the most part they’re fun girls to have around. She LOVES school, and has lots of friends, as well as a crush on one of the boys in her class. (Already?!) And underneath it all she’s still Sunshiney. She’s got Christmas on the BRAIN and roams the house singing Christmas carols, browbeating her mother into making Christmas cookies, making sure the lights on the tree are turned on at the crack of dawn every day, and otherwise spreading holiday cheer. Home wouldn’t be home without her.
And now I must run!! But I’ll try to get in here a bit more often.
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