Hellooo? Anybody hooooome?

Greetings, Interfolk! It's me again.

I have some thoughts. I will now attempt to tame the thoughts and wrangle some meaning out of my life. Seems like a tall order for a Monday evening, but I'm feeling froggy.

First, let's just acknowledge it's been a very long time. 6+ years, 7 foster children, and a full commitment to this white head of hair, to be exact. I've lost and gained back an embarrassing amount of weight. Hannah is in culinary school, Olivia is a college sophomore. Seth is in 10th grade, Claire is in 6th, Jesse is in 3rd(ish), and Mama's in bed by 9 most nights.

I'm not even going to try to rehash All The Things, but I will probably write about the ones I want to make sure to remember. This will probably come from going through the zillion or so digital photos on my computer, which is very overwhelming to an old lady who learned at an early age that pictures came from Fotomat. Or, if you wanted to be spendy, MotoPhoto.

So here's a thing I think about from time to time...do I really need every last single one of the zillionish digital photos? Is there some sort of cosmic law against paring down? My mother kept photos of her feet, the sky, blurry children (I don't think I came completely into focus until 1984), and whatever else was in the Fotomat envelope, so I don't just toss out pictures willy-nilly. But, good gravy, there are a lot of photos. What are we supposed to DO with them?

In other news, we sold our house last year and are now living in a townhouse about half the size. It's cozy. We're cozy. So much cozy.

I had literal truck loads of clothing, furniture, books, household items hauled away to various charities so that we could fit 6.5 of us (Liv is in the dorm most of the year) and two cats in our tiny townhouse. It's still too full for my taste and I'm still giving stuff away. I just want less stuff. Fewer belongings. Less clutter. More time, more space, more efficiency. This will be a work in progress.

There are so many things I know I want to write about. Right now, I just want to hit 'publish' and get things cranking again.

~Dana

Road Trip!

And we're off...like a herd of turtles through a peanut butter sea!

Wednesday, July 2

I left my house messier than I wanted to, and later than I wanted to, with Olivia (17), Jesse (5), a van full of stuff and the harp that seems to like to spend the summer seeing America. We headed out of town and watched the world get greener. We marveled at the backs of many large trucks through various construction zones which brought us to the customary standstill and added the requisite two hours to our driving time. Jesse was a trooper and we arrived safe and sound at the gracious home of a cousin I hadn't seen since I was a girl of about 8 or 9 years old.

Going 0mph. Good thing Arkansas is pretty.

The greeting was warm, even though the hour was late. Of course there was food, this is the South, y'all. We ate, visited and the old folks (for the record, I am an 'old folk') and little kids turned in while the young folks stayed talking into the night, finding out all of the things they have in common. It was sweet to see Olivia so excited to share her love for music, offbeat comedy, rare words and other quirky things with her newfound cousins and have them share her enthusiasm.

Thursday, July 3

Through the morning and into the early afternoon, I got to know my cousins, one I had seen maybe three or four times in my life, and all of those when I was very young. The other, I'd never met at all. Their mother is my dad's only sister. My dad and aunt lost track of each other after their mother died in the '70's. My uncle never stopped looking for this sister and earlier this year, he found her. She and her daughters live not too far from where my dad and his siblings grew up, just an hour and a half or so from where my uncle lives now. My dad died in 2005, so it brings me a great deal of pleasure and comfort to know where my aunt is and that she is well. My cousins are entirely delightful women, who I long to know more. They are beautiful and funny and kind. Maybe some of it will rub off. There are no photos. I am a loser.

Look! It's the Boxcar Children! A train car is a cool place to spend the night!

We left the comfort of family for the open road, our little band of travelers, and made our way to Chattanooga, TN, to the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, where we checked in to our very own sleeping car for the night. Now that was fun! Our car had a queen bed and a daybed and trundle, with a bathroom and all the other accommodations the three of us would need for the night. It was cozy, and all wonderfully Victorian. We loved it! The bad news was that there was no getting the harp up the steps and through the passageway into the room, so we checked it behind the desk. The good news was that Olivia got to tune and play a little in the lovely and acoustically amazing lobby of the hotel the next morning to a small but appreciative audience.

Friday, July 4

One of the passengers is not convinced
of the safety of the Incline Railway

We took in a couple of the wonders of Chattanooga: the Incline Railway and Rock City. The railway was interesting and fun, Rock City was beautiful with lots of walking up and down steps. The weather was perfect and we had a great time with each other. Jesse was such great little sightseer! He loved everything we saw and wondered at the big and small things around every turn. He asked loads of questions and came up with interesting theories and was just plain fun to be with.

We stayed pretty late, grabbed Krystal burgers (growing up, we called 'em gut bombers - I still love 'em!) on our way out of town, and watched fireworks as we drove a couple of hours through the mountains to Dillard, GA, where we checked in to the Holiday Inn Express just before midnight. As I was checking us in, the desk attendant turned away at least five others looking for rooms. It was Friday night, and a holiday, but this was a tiny town in far north Georgia and she's telling these poor souls that there is not going to be a room for at least an hour in any direction. Grateful for our reservation, I check us in and we move in, settle in and shut it down for the night.

Saturday, July 5

We slept in, took our time getting around and checked out at 11, with a couple of hours to do some last minute shopping and grab lunch before taking Olivia to Rabun Gap Nacoochie School (ever heard of Foxfire magazine? It started here.) for two weeks of harping. Again, no pictures. Worst mom ever. The school is interesting to me, as it is a functioning boarding school and day school in the fall, winter and spring. The notion just gives me such pause. Students from grades 5-12 live there, an idea which, jokes about whether they take mid-year transfers via FedEx aside, is very foreign to my homeschooling mind. It is a beautiful campus, in a beautiful part of the country and my baby will be fine there for the two weeks I'm willing to let them have her, but make no mistake, I will be running back to get her at the end of the session and I will hug her and kiss her and will possibly try to fold her up into my pocket when I get her back. Our world is off its axis when one of our people is missing.

When Olivia was settled, checked in, toured and oriented, Jesse and I left. We drove to Atlanta, left the van in a park'n'fly lot, took a shuttle to the airport, where we caught the sky train to a hotel, checked in and promptly donned our bathing suits because by golly, we had earned ourselves a swim. It has taken him until age 5½, but my Tiny Wonder is getting the hang of swimming and he swam and swam in that pool and I watched him and watched him because Mama does not have any desire to immerse herself in cold water, nothankyouverymuch. Back in the room, he took a bath to get warm and I ordered an indulgent room service bedtime snack of cookies, milk and ice cream. We ate, drank, and slept.

Sunday, July 6

We got up at 5, were out the door just after 5:30 for our 7:10 flight. Back on the sky train to the terminal, we checked in and made it through security. This was Jesse's first experience flying since he was an infant, so he was fascinated and so curious. Seeing this whole process through five-year-old eyes ought to be mandatory for every traveler at least once. We had fun. Every part of the day was interesting and glorious and worth noting and something to be remarked on. This kid has a theory about everything. Many of them are pretty plausible, and all of them are entertaining. My favorite exchange of the day, probably of the trip, was when our plane from Atlanta to Dallas got above the cloud cover:

Me: Look! We're above the clouds! See how the clouds go out as far as you can see? All the people  under there are having a cloudy day, maybe even a rainy day, but up above the clouds, the sun is always shining.

Jesse: That's just like Jesus. Even when we're having a bad time, he's always our Savior and he's always shining.

He gets it.

We landed in Dallas, took the train from terminal A to terminal C, spotted Charley Pride, caught our flight home, Jesse got to sit in the cockpit and I got to take my Sunday afternoon nap in my own bed.

I love road trips!

Just Another Frantic Friday

How did May get so stinkin' busy? Back in January, after a nice long Christmas break, I was all, "Just get me through April, Lord!" And, make no mistake, April was b-i-z-z-y. In fact, April's busy-ness actually began in March with a week-long trip to North Carolina for training in my new role as a Support Manager with Classical Conversations. It was a great time of deep thinking surrounded by some really brilliant folks who love God and are passionate about Christian, Classical home education. The highlights for me, by far, were the long, deep discussions I had with CC's founder, Leigh Bortins. Her determination to equip and inspire parents to disciple their children unto the Lord is unflagging, and the lengths to which she is personally willing to go to accomplish that is, in a word, awesome. Of course, April was full of end-of-year homeschool stuff and prep work for the homeschool conventions, then came the actual 6-day stretch of the two events (color me pooped!), followed by a week of standardized tests, piano recitals and competitions and wrap-up/follow-up of the conventions. Next week, the kids and I will be joining CC families from OK and TX at Great Wolf Lodge, next Friday is Hannah's 21st birthday (WHAT!?!), then there's an OCHEC board meeting followed by a 3-day speaking engagement at a local homeschool event. I am by no means complaining. It's the good kind of busy, and most of what's on the calendar is stuff we do as a family, but I'm just caught a little off guard by how full this month has gotten. Around here, a full month seems to coincide with a full laundry hamper and an empty pantry. I must remedy both tomorrow.

So...whatcha dooooin'?

Hey. It's me. Dana. Are we there yet?

It's May, which makes me want to go camping. Not camping camping, mind you. What I really want to do is load up the kids, stake our claim in a cabin somewhere (indoor plumbing? yes, please!) and spend a week or so drinking my morning coffee outside and drinking in the family I love so much. Maybe we'll get around to that this year.

I've been looking back through pictures and watching digital videos and feeling all "Sunrise, Sunset"-y. I've read back through the posts on this blog and the old, defunct blog and realized that a LOT of life just keeps whizzing by, and that I rather like having these little word-picture snapshots. Here are a few that come to mind...

I miss my mom. I don't say it, I don't Facebook it, but I miss her. I just combed through tens of thousands of digital photos to find all of the video snippets of her so I could hear her voice. And then I thanked God for digital video recordings and thought of all the people all through time who never heard that voice once it was silenced on Earth. It's not a particularly remarkable voice, but it's the one that plays on the tape in my head, and I miss hearing it with my ears. Mom did not like to be photographed or recorded. I don't either. Looking through my photos, though, makes me want set aside my preference in favor of recording the only mom my kids will have. I'm surely not remarkable, but I love them with all that is in me, and that is worth capturing.

We have seven kids now. ZOINKS! The original five are still around. Hannah will be 21 next week, Olivia is 15, Seth is 12, Claire is 7 and Jesse is 3. We are also honored to be caring for two children in foster care, a toddler girl and baby boy. Baby Boy will be going home to his mom in the near future. Interesting story...and one that is still being written. I'll tell more of it another time. Toddler Girl's situation is complicated, which means that we could have the pleasure of her company for a long time. Again, more on that another time. It's busy, messy and loud here, and that's a good thing.

We did the homeschool conventions last week. Six days straight of setting up, conventioning, taking down, setting up, conventioning, and taking down. It was exhausting and glorious. Just about the time we all get good and rested up, it will be time to do it again, which is fine by me. In talking to a friend, I described it as planning all year for a week-long party, and then having all of your favorite people show up. Do you homeschool? Do you attend a homeschool convention regularly? I highly recommend it.

I've got thoughts, funny stories and goo gobs of things I hope to remember and write down. Let's see if I can do it before another year goes by...

In the Good Old Summer Time

Last July, as I recall it, was hot. Looking at my calendar from that month, I see that Mom was in the thick of doctor appointments and chemotherapy. She was committed to the chemo, but Iwish she hadn't done it. It made her so sick and SO not herself. When the cancer was discovered, the lung tumor was quite large and it had spread to her liver and bones. She was in a lot of pain in her back, and I'm glad her doctor was committed to providing her with all the pain relief she needed, but the chemo didn't make anything better. I hope I have the courage to ask my doctors the difficult questions should I find myself in a similar situation.

Anyhoo.

The highlight of last July was the trip to Salt Lake City with Olivia to participate in a week-long harp intensive. I LOVE driving trips and I adore one-on-one time with my kids! Olivia was performing in a summer theater production the weekend before the harp institute, so I drove first to Colorado Springs to stay a couple of days with my dearest and bestest friend ever, and then on to Salt Lake City where I collected my girl from the airport when she flew in ALL BY HERSELF. Well, of course, there was a pilot or two, some flight attendants and assorted other personages, but MY BABY GOT ON A PLANE BY HERSELF. She flew as a 'UM', unaccompanied minor, so she was shepherded and supervised by airline personnel, but, when she got off the plane, you'd have thought I was snatching her from the jaws of death the way I grabbed her and kissed her whole face. Which, as you can guess, she LOVED. Or not.

The Salt Lake City trip was a really nice time for us. Olivia spent her days playing harp with girls from all over the country and we spent our evenings with some generous family friends who showed us around and kept us company. Some of the highlights:

Driving to Colorado Springs and then to Salt Lake City by myself was one of the coolest things I've ever done. I think I need to do something like this once a year or so just for good measure.

Olivia got permission from her father to ride on a DONOR CYCLE with his childhood friend Hoss (who goes by Andrew and is now a Utah Highway Patrol Officer. Whatever.). I followed them in my 4-door, fully enclosed CAR all the way to The Great Salt Lake, and then to some canyon. For the record, the mama in this scenario was not in favor. Not that it mattered.

Most of our days were spent in rooms that looked like this:

The concert on the final day looked like this:

80+ harps on one stage. It was beautiful!

We took the southern route home from Salt Lake and stopped by a little crack in the ground

And then we were home. And then things began to unravel at an alarming pace. How kind of God to give me a week and a half of calm and beauty and rest and peace.

June, 2010

Last June's page on the calendar is pretty bare. We made up a couple of missed parenting classes for our foster care certification. I took Mom to her doctor appointments and the older girls' mother/daughter book clubs each met that month. The main even of June, 2010 happened on Sunday the 27th when we went to Dan's hometown to celebrate his grandparents' 70th wedding anniversary.

I am blessed to have married into a Christian family. I am grateful to Harold and Dorothy for the heritage of faith that my children enjoy. I know that they pray for each member of their (now quite large!) family by name every day. To my great shame, there are days that go by when I don't even pray for my own children by name. It is humbling to think of these two believers, now in their 90's, holding us up in daily prayer. Lord, may we walk worthy.

We don't see Dan's extended family much any more. I'm really glad we took to opportunity to be with them last June. It would have been even better if I'd taken even ONE stinkin' picture. Missed photo opportunities are the bane of my existence. That and people who say "nuke-yew-lur".

Looking back. Again.

May, 2010 was a busy month. Beginning with the last week of April, we had the Oklahoma Homeschool Conventions. Plural. As in, we did TWO of 'em. Dan and I serve on the Board of Trustees for the Oklahoma Christian Home Educators' Consociation which has as its mission to equip and encourage current and potential home educating families in Oklahoma. Way back in the summer of '09 it sounded like a good idea to host a satellite convention in Tulsa during the week preceding our usual OKC event. By spring of '10 that idea was beginning to look a little overwhelming, but we did it. Set up in Tulsa on Monday, Convention in Tulsa on Tuesday and Wednesday, take down on Wednesday night to set up in OKC on Thursday and have Convention in OKC on Friday and Saturday, take down on Saturday and collapse into a heap by Sunday.

Guess what?

We're doing it again. This time the midweek event is in OKC (whoa, Nellie! the pushback we got for moving the OKC event!) and the weekend event is in Tulsa. We have just over a month until the conventions and the amount of administrative and logistic work that remains to be done is daunting to say the least. But, you know what? It will all come together. Or it won't. Either way, the sun will come out and the earth will turn. We will work and plan and fix and pray. We will plant and water and trust God for the increase. It won't be perfect, and people will complain to us about the most inane, unchangeable things, but we will enjoy each other and learn some stuff and resolve to make it all even better next year.

Lots of changes in the convention format this year, but my favorite one is that first-time adult attendees can come for free! If you live in Oklahoma and you've never attended an OCHEC homeschool convention, please come as our guest. Details are on the OCHEC website (link above and in the sidebar). Even if you're just curious about homeschooling, we hope you'll pay us a visit and give us a chance to answer your questions.

I'm particularly excited because I invited Mary from Owlhaven to speak to our attendees about all the stuff she's so good at and SHE ACCEPTED! She's doing two workshops at each Convention! I'm working on arrangements for a blog meetup or two just for folks who love Mary and love blogging and want an excuse to get together. So whether you're coming to the convention or not, if you're in Tulsa or OKC and would be interested in a meetup the last week of April, let me know.

In other year-old news, we began our preparations to be certified as foster parents last May. In October, I brought 8-day-old baby J home from the NICU. He's still with us and is a pure joy! His life is very complicated, but he hasn't the faintest notion. He just coos and squeals and grins his way through every day being the darling of the household. We wait and pray for God's provision of a forever family, grateful for the opportunity to love and nurture this delightful boy. He's a little under the weather these days, so this mama needs to get to bed in case the wee one needs attention in the night.

And that's all I have to say about that.

Wonder if I should just wait another couple of weeks?

Hello. I'm Dana. This is my blog. I last updated it 50 weeks ago. Part of me thinks I should wait another two weeks to blow the dust of the old thing, but the other part of me is sitting in the comfy chair in the bedroom, feeling the effects of a looooong Sunday afternoon nap. So, fueled by the two Braum's ice cream sandwiches I had for supper (not with supper, FOR supper), I'm feeling chatty.

Now, while I guess I don't really need to account for the entire YEAR that has passed since I wrote last, I think I do want to do a little catch-up just to get some things down in writing. Let me see now...I last posted in April, 2010. A look at my calendar and photo folder for that month tells me that we were just living life...planning the homeschool convention, going to birthday parties, winding up our homeschool year...the usual.

The thing that sticks out from that month happened on April 24. I'll get to that in a minute.

If you go back a post or two here on the blog, you will read that Mom had been diagnosed with lung cancer last winter. While it made me very sad, I must say that I expected it. My mom began smoking at age 17 or so. When I was 18, Mom's dad died of emphysema. We literally watched him waste away and essentially drown. When Mom continued to smoke after Grandad died, I knew that something similar lay down the road for her, and that my future children (there would be three, all girls, with rhyming names) would likely someday watch their grandmother die a horrible death. Have I mentioned my adolescent proclivity for the morose?

Fast forward 25 years, and there we were. The day Mom called with the definite diagnosis, I clearly remember thinking, "Okay. It's happening." When we hung up, I prayed, "God, please let this be the thing that causes Mom to fully trust in Your saving power. I can live 40 years here without her much easier if I know she's eternally Yours."

Back in 2006, my stepdad died suddenly. Mom came home from work to find that he had passed away at some point in the afternoon. In the weeks that followed, we had some good talks. She told me that she regretted that she'd never been baptized and asked if a certain pastor friend of mine might talk to her about that sometime. I spoke with him and of course he agreed to meet with her any time. I gave her the number, but she never used it. She didn't bring the subject up again until after her diagnosis. This time, I made the call for her. As I spoke with our pastor friend, I gave him some of our family history and what I knew of my mom's spiritual history. He went to visit her and found no reason that she shouldn't be baptized. I so appreciated his faithfulness to the Lord and to his calling; I knew he wouldn't just go through some motions to make a sick lady feel better for a moment.

On April 24, 2010, surrounded by several believing members of our family (some who had come from out of state!), my sweet, sick mama was tenderly baptized by our dear family friend.

This is Mom in December, '09. She came with us to see Santa and help the kids pick out their annual Christmas ornaments.

And here she is just 4 months later, on the day of her baptism.

She died just four months after that, on August 8, 2010. I miss her every day. The rest of my days here will be a little lonesome, but that's alright. They are nothing more than a vapor; my real life, and my sweet Mama, are with Christ in Heaven. Come quickly, Lord Jesus.

I'm Aware!

I wish I could wear your eyes for a day.
Hear what is rattling around in your ears.
Know what is grabbing your thoughts.
Understand what makes you giggle, and why you’re crying.

Opening lines to the poem "For Jack"; visit Finding Jackson to read the whole poem.

It's World Autism Awareness Day. I didn't even know such a thing existed. My world is aware of autism every day, thanks to my beautiful Seth. To honor all of the families who are trying to love and teach and train and reach these quirky kids, I offer a Seth Story:

A couple of weeks ago at our homeschool co-op, one of the moms told me she had nominated Seth for one of the weekly awards given by the campus director. Then she told me why.

It seems that Seth encountered a maintenance man patching and painting some dings in the walls in the nursery area of the church. He stood a little too close, and leaned down a little too far over the man's shoulder, and the man just kept on working. After several minutes, Seth said, "You sure are doing a good job with that."

"Well, thank you, young man!" was the response.

"Is that 'encouraging speech'?" Seth wanted to know.

"Why, yes! Yes it is!" the man said, looking at Seth, who was characteristically averting his eyes.

"I'm working on telling encouraging speech," Seth informed him, before ambling away.

When Seth was diagnosed with "moderate to severe classic childhood autism" at just less than 3 years of age, a dialog like the one above was considered to be categorically out of the question. We've been blessed with the very best education and help, amazing therapists, and the desire and ability to home educate, but all credit, praise, honor and glory for every accomplishment large and small belongs solely to the One who saw Seth's unformed being in my womb, and wrote down every day ordained for him before one of them came to be.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

Jude 24-25

What Would YOU Have Done?

It's the day before The Blizzard of the Decade. Again. Conveniently though, today's high was 70º, making it not only possible, but, in my opinion mandatory to expose the progeny to fresh air and sunshine and citified waterfowl. We went downtown, ate lunch outside next to a fountain. That was super fun. If by "super fun" I am understood to mean "whose idea was it to bring the toddler downtown, untethered, at lunch time, during Big XII basketball playoffs?" We left the fountain area and went to feed the ducks, geese, and a few fish. It was super fun. See extrapolation of "super fun" above, and add water. And goose poop. It will be nice when those Clues I won on eBay finally arrive...

Speaking of eBay, it is dead to me. By way of explanation, I got a little moolah for my birthday and I decided that I wanted a particular purse. Or, I thought I did. I found the purse, bid on it and won it. Then it got here and I loved it not. Oh it was all "item as described" and "super-great condition A++++++++", but we just didn't mesh. So I turned around and put it back up for sale. I had bid against about 4 other people down to the last few seconds, so of course selling it for what I'd paid (or more...probably MORE!) would be no problem. And it went fine. Except for the problems. It sold twice, fell through twice and finally sold for the third time. For 37% less than I'd paid. Not that I'm keeping track. I gave away over a third of my birthday money. Blergh.

OCHEC Board of Trustees meeting is scheduled for tomorrow. So is the BotD. Will we meet? Will we postpone? How late is too late to cancel the catered lunch I ordered? You see the besetting difficulties with which I wrestle.

Here's your procedural politics lesson for the day. You're welcome.

Aaaand, GO!

I'm up too late, and my unplugged laptop has 19 minutes of battery left, so I'm doing what any sane person would do: updating my blog.

Just a few things to say before I call it a day...

Thanks so much for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers for our family and for my mom. We don't know anything more yet, so we're waiting, trusting and loving. It's kind of what we do best.

The Homeschool Moms' Winter Summit was incredible! The love and grace and all the real was almost more than I could bear. My first presentation was alright, but I went over by more than 10 minutes. Grrr. I was so disappointed because I really really hate speakers that do not know when to shut up. My second presentation felt very all-over-the-place and wonky. I know why, but I can't decide if I'm brave enough to spill that particular can of beans on the old blog...maybe in a year or six when it starts to be more funny than ridiculous and pathetic.

My dear, real-life friend Tracy is having a miracle delivered tomorrow. It has been years (6? I think?) and tears in coming, and tomorrow's the day. I'm excited for my friend and for her family, but is it okay to say that I'm kind of excited for me? That what I really need right now, for a lot of reasons, is to witness the awesome power of our loving God and to have a front row seat, watching with hope-filled eyes and tear-stained cheeks as "all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God" through my precious friends. I'm so grateful that God is too big to be fathomed by my finite mind. I'm also grateful that He allows a glimpse now and then. There, my friends, is comfort.

Lastly, my handsome, brainy, God-fearing, family-loving, awesome nephew has a blog. The pictures are amazing. He's 20, a hard-working husband and dad, a student, and a captivating photographer. Warning: the pictures of my grand-niece will make your ovaries hurt. Don't say you weren't warned.

Who Feels Like Prayin'?

So, tomorrow and Saturday I'll be here. I am praying that there will be a lot of mamas from all over our state that come to listen, learn, and be blessed. And I'm also praying that they will have the collective need to visit the Necessary Room between 1:15 and 1:45 and again from 3ish to 4ish on Saturday, because that's when I'm scheduled to speak. Here's how I'm feelin' about that:

If you think of it, would you mind to ask the Lord to keep sweat from running down the backs of my legs and pooling in my shoes? Also, it would be a grace gift if I could keep the 'ah's and 'uhm's to a number somewhat below the amount of my current library fine.

Insert clever segue here...we've got a meeting tonight in Tulsa about the homeschool convention our state homeschool organization is hosting there. Time's growin' short, and it's starting to get really exciting. If you live in/near Tulsa, we'd love to have you drop in April 27-28. The Oklahoma City convention is the following Friday and Saturday, April 30 and May 1. It'll be a busy week, but it will be fun. It's like a family reunion minus the weird cousins and warm macaroni salad.

And there's no easy way to say this, so I'll just put it out there. My precious mother and dearest friend has been diagnosed with lung cancer. As you all know, I have extensive medical knowledge and hold an MD from Google University. Sometimes the Google, it is not our friend. Mom is blessed to have a doctor that she likes and trusts, and we're still in the information gathering stage, but it's hard. There was a biopsy this morning and she'll have a PET scan soon, so we're hoping to have a plan as soon as all the test results are in. There is a lot that we don't know, but it seems to me that the most important things are already known:

God is sovereign and in complete control. As Corrie Ten Boom would say, "There is no panic in heaven. God has no problems, only plans."

He has promised never to leave or forsake us.

There is not a disease so awful that it can take Mom's life one second before God has ordained for it to end. There is not a doctor or a treatment powerful enough to keep her here one second beyond when God has ordained for her to go. This article by John Piper has been an inspiration. It's worth the read if you have a minute, and, let's face it: if you weren't beside yourself with boredom, would you be here? That's what I thought.

Pray with me, won't you, for the comfort and guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the grace to endure whatever is ahead with gratitude.

What's NOT in My Crock Pot?

Connie wants to know what's in all of our Crock Pots. And since I'm more in the mood to blog about what's in my Crock Pot than I am to, say, fold laundry, here I am posting for the second whole day in a row. I'll pause here for a minute while you catch your breath from all the successive-days-of-blogging-ing.

So, here we go. Crock Pot. The real question is what's NOT in my Crock Pot?

Pot Roast

1 beef roast

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

1 envelope onion soup mix

2T corn starch

1/4c water

If you thought ahead and thawed the roast in the fridge overnight, then you can rub the roast with minced garlic and sear it in a pan on the stovetop before placing in the crock pot. If you're me, you plunk a frozen cow-brick into the crock pot and call it good. Either way, then you mix the mushroom soup and onion soup mix (no need to add water), and smear it over the roast. Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours (closer to 8 for the cow-brick). Remove the roast to a platter, pour the juices into a sauce pan and warm over medium heat. Stir 2T corn starch into 1/4c cold water. Whisk into meat juices and stir constantly until slightly thickened. Serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles or rice or Ding Dongs, depending on the time of the month.

BBQ Round Steak

2# or so of round steak, cut into serving-size pieces

2c of your favorite BBQ sauce (bottled or homemade...we like Head Country)

Brown the steak portions lightly if you like, but you don't have to. Depends on whether you have a kid assigned to kitchen duty to clean up the extra pan. Place round steak portions in the Crock Pot and cover with BBQ sauce. Cover and cook on LOW 6 hours or longer. Sometimes I serve these with mashed taters, sometimes with buns for BBQ sandwiches. Sometimes with Ding Dongs. See above.

Apple Butter

4# or so sweet apples (I use half Gala and half Fuji)

4t cinnamon

1/2t cloves

Wash apples and remove stems. Slice apples into wedges (or the shape that makes you happy), and fill the crock pot until the lid will barely fit. I overfill by 1/2" or so, because they cook down so far. Cook on LOW 12 hours or overnight, or until someone says, "Hey. What's all the brown stuff in the crock pot?" Remove the lid and blend the apples with an immersible (stick) blender until smooth. Stir in spices. leave the lid off, set on HIGH and let the apples reduce another 8-12 hours. I lay a tea towel or piece of cheesecloth over the crock pot to discourage the addition of Monopoly pieces, jacks, or other non-traditional enhancements. Stir occasionally. When the apples are the consistency of softened butter, take a little sample. If you'd like 'em a little sweeter, add white or brown sugar to taste, stir well and let cook another hour or so. Ladle into prepared 4oz. or 8oz. canning jars. Sealed jars are good for months. Unsealed jars should be refrigerated and eaten within a week or so.

For most of my Crock cooking, I use these. When I need Crock Pot inspiration, I go here, and this is my favorite Crock Pot cook book.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Crocking!

I Could Be the Tamer

Claire keeps us laughing ALL. THE. TIME. Thought you guys would appreciate this story from last week...

Setting: MomMobile

Cast of Characters: Mom, Claire

Claire: You know that doo-doo-doo-DOOT doo-DOOT song?...Mom? Do you know it? It's the song on Pink Panther. doo-doo-doo-DOOT doo-DOOT?

Mom: Mmmhmm

Claire: We have enough people in our family to play that song. We could play it if we had some tubas.

Mom: I think they used saxophones.

Claire: Yeah. Those are just like tubas. So, we should all get inster-mints. We would probably know how to hold the inster-mints, but we might have to learn how to wiggle our fingers over the holes to make doo-doo-doo-DOOT doo-DOOT. You know that Pink Panther song, right? doo-doo-doo-DOOT doo-DOOT.

Mom: Mmmhmm

Claire: And you could be the Tamer. You know, the Tamer, right Mom? The one who stands at the front and doesn't have a inster-mint, but just shakes a stick up and down? The Tamer? You could be the Tamer.

Mom: Mmmhmm

Claire: doo-doo-doo-DOOT doo-DOOT doo-DOOT doo-DOOT doo-DOOT doo-DOOT doo-DOOOOOOOOT doodlie-doot-doot...

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled programming, already in progress...

I Haven't Got Time For the Pain

Just over a month ago, I rounded up all the kids I could find that share my gene pool and curious hairline. I bathed them, coiffed them and dressed them in quasi-coordinated clothing culled from the backs of closets, the clearance racks and GapKids (I was desperate). We enjoyed a merry jaunt to my in-laws' home where the only sounds in the MomMobile were the dulcet tones of children bickering over the proper pronunciation of carmel/caramel, accompanied by my desperate pleas that they not wrinkle their clothes, take off their shoes or touch anyone's hair, and occasional shrieks from the little bald one that just discovered volume. We arrived at the in-laws' and began the process of taking family portraits in their lovely garden. We took off our shoes because we're hip and oh-so-casual. Christian and Holly of Prints Charming Photography were veritable fountains of patience and enthusiasm, and things were progressing nicely in the fading light of a warm, early November evening.

While moseying, as we hip/casual types are inclined to do, from an open grassy spot to the wooden deck I happened to step on an exposed tree root. I heard and felt a POP and then I saw little cartoon birdies. And then I took a deep breath and kept right on posin' and smilin' and moving a certain 13-year-olds bangs out of her eyes (what is WITH that?). We finished the portrait session, gathered our stuff and our progeny, and went to our FAVORITE pizza place for dinner to celebrate all of the Me Not Killing One Of The Kids As A Warning To The Others. After dinner (which was, to coin a phrase, a little slice of pure heaven on a Chicago-style crust), I stood up. Then I sat down. The birdies were back, and they had brought stars. The hot burning searing throbbing aching poking pain in my right foot made me wonder if I hadn't pulled a little somethin' when I stepped on that silly little tree root.

We deposited the kids at home, charged the older girls with getting the younger kids ready for bed and decided that nothing sounded nicer than a little visit to our friendly neighborhood after-hours clinic. The x-ray showed no broken bones, so I was instructed to see a podiatrist. The next day, Dr. Walker (not kidding) confirmed the no broken bones, and said helpfully that "it would be better if you had broken something." He gave me a lovely black boot and offered me a prescription for pain relief, which I declined (I later recanted and he hooked me up). He wrote orders for me to have ultrasound therapy and to told me to make an appointment to see him in 3 weeks.

Blah, blah, blah, time passes, and here we are, 4 1/2 weeks and a very uncomfortable MRI (birdies!) later, I've been diagnosed with "a very stubborn tendonitis" (I've always been an over achiever) and a bone bruise. The tendon is swollen and frayed, but not entirely torn, and the bone is deeply bruised but not broken. More physical therapy, trying to get around a little bit without the boot and praying to fall into a deep sleep for, oh, 8 to 12 weeks.

On the bright side, the pictures are pretty good, considering what the photographers had to work with.

Thanks, Y'all

I feel that it is time to update the Blog World on my hair. I read every comment on this post, and thank each and every one of you for taking the time to share my dilemma. I went about 3 months without coloring, and had my hairdresser cut it as short as I could stand it. I tried to love it, I really did, but I just couldn't do it. My hubby's hair, though a touch thinner than back in the day, is still as dark brown as ever. I started to feel a little haggard with my wiry gray outgrowth, especially when standing next to my handsome, dark-haired honey. So I gave in and went back to the brownish with blondish-y highlights. I can't thank you enough for your input.

Need a Sitter?

I'm blessed that our two older girls are such loving and capable sitters. It frees me up to indulge in all manner decadence, namely, going by myself to my Girlie Parts Doctor and having hot dates with Dan that usually end at Target. Actually, to be honest, we haven't had a date that ended at Target since January 26, 2008, when I picked up a pregnancy test on a lark and, behold, we now have a 14-month-old lark. As an aside, by all appearances, this post is sponsored by Commas R Us. Or possibly The Society for the Advancement of the Overuse of the Parenthetical Statement.

Where was I? Oh. Sitters.

There was a time when I was consumed with envy over my friends who had either younger siblings or older children who acted as on-call sitters. These carefree moms could grab their purses, toss a "Back in a few!" over their shoulders and leave the house without two diaper bags, a double stroller, and a change of clothes for every member of the household just to go buy stamps. THAT was livin'! Someday, I sighed...

With 18- and 13-year-old daughters at home, that dream is now my reality. The girls provide excellent care, supervision and nutrition to their younger siblings, engaging them in educational pursuits and cultivating their developing minds. It is a thing of wonder and beauty. Or so I thought, until I uploaded the contents of our family's digital camera recently.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go put my foot up because of the tendons I tore in what I can only refer to as The Unfortunate Incident.

I'm Caught in a Trap

Good morning, and thank you for stopping by for your daily dose of Elvis lyrics.

Today's dilemma: how do I get out of coloring my hair? Oh, how I wish someone had mentioned to me back in 1985 that the highlights I got to camouflage my premature gray would suck me into a swirling vortex of hair swatches and 40 volume developer. Now, at 41, the color of my hair changes slightly (or drastically, depending on the emotional state of my hairdresser) about every 6 weeks or so. For the last few years, I've been applying the root touch-up stuff from the grocery store between visits to Madame Mercurial because my WHITE grow-out line is more than I can take.

Which brings me back to the question of how to get off this merry-go-round. All I can come up with is to skip a couple of visits to the salon and then put a #4 guard on the Wahl clippers and go all GI Jane. Except without all the buffness. When I try to imagine what that will look like, visions of a stubbly Stay-Puf Marshmallow Mom dance in my head. So I consider just going low-maintenance and growing the whole mess all the way out, so that I have 6 or 8 inches of mostly gray, then a little brownish "transition" hair, followed by dried-out streaks of blonde. I'll braid it. It'll be fine. What?

As you can see, I need to harness the power of the Internet to solve this besetting problem. You have the floor.

Let's See Now...Where Were We?

Hello, virtual friends! Please don't think that because I haven't written a doggone thing that I haven't been thinking of you with fondness. Because I have. A lot. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's been my problem. I'm so stinkin' fond of every last one of your blessed little souls that I can't bring myself to type out the drivelly mush that's been swimming in my brain. But then I missed you. So I visited your blogs, commented a little here and there and I felt better. For a while. And now I just feel like having a good old-fashioned one-sided chat. You know, like the kind we have with palaverous 4-year-olds who talk without taking a breath. Those are fun. So I'll chatter away, and you can pretend to pay attention and do other things and we'll get along just fine.

Summer has come to the middle of the country, and it's a beautiful thing. If, by "beautiful thing", I am understood to mean "thank God for swimming pools, air conditioning and snow cones." The homeschooling schedule has loosened up a bit, though the three older kids have a few academic goals they're still working on. Mostly, they all need to really cover some ground, math-wise. Progress is being made, so we just need to keep plugging.

We're also continuing to read. The two older girls belong to mother/daughter book clubs, so we just keep on reading all summer long. I can't say enough good things about our book clubs. I've read some of the most wonderful and challenging literature with my girls over the last few years. We've had really fascinating discussions both at home and in the book club meetings, and we've formed some of the sweetest friendships with these moms and daughters. Right now we're working on Pride and Prejudice for the middle school group and Around the World in 80 Days and The Silver Chalice for the high school group. When I look back over the last 3 years at the list of books we've read, I'm amazed and so, so grateful

In other reading news, Seth is now picking up books to read on his own. As you all know, Seth has autism and all language is a challenge for him. It has been a special joy to watch him develop a love for reading. He is so sweet when he reads things to/for Claire that it just melts my heart. Then I find the cup hook he screwed into the middle of the wall in the living room and that brings the melting to a screeching halt. For what it's worth, if I had been designing little boys, I'd have put an OFF switch on that rascally Y chromosome. I'm waiting for that upgrade.

Oh, you should probably know that this post is brought to you by my sweet husband and his resurrected PowerBook. It's not as nifty as my little MacBook, but I'm as grateful as I can be to have it. You see (public service announcement), laptop computers do not, in fact, fare well when doused in ramen soup. Stupid health food. So Dan graciously took all my remotely backed up (the man's a genius!!) data and now this old PowerBook has all my old MacBook stuff on it and the clouds parted and the angels sang and I think I even heard KC and the Sunshine Band. That's the way, uh huh uh huh, I like it, uh huh uh huh. The only drawback is that my photos are now all on the desktop computer, so adding them to blog posts won't be easy. What that means for you is that you will not be subjected to macro-lens photos of things I'm scouring Google for a diagnosis for. You're welcome.

Tomorrow is Father's Day. My husband is an exceptional father. The best. And that blesses me in ways that are hard to describe. And that's all I have to say about that.

Did You Bring Your Brain? Can I Pick It Please?

Yesterday, Jesse and I took a little trip north to Newton, KS. We went with my sweet friend Angela for the purpose of meeting with the director and board president of the Newton Children's Choir. Angela and I are starting a community children's choir here in central Oklahoma.

Okay. Typing that last sentence made me catch my breath a little.

Community children's choir...us...just two moms. Angela is a degreed music teacher, and a mighty gifted one at that. She has a vision for the group, and has been doing extensive research online, over the phone and in person. And I'm, uhm, good with forms. Also, as a French Horn player, I have the ability to count to 4 over and over again. Obviously, Angela has very high standards for her associates.

On the one hand, there isn't a community children's choir in central Oklahoma, which makes us think the avenue is wide open. On the other hand, there isn't a community children's choir in central Oklahoma, probably because nobody wants one. You see the dilemma. I'm sure you're all wanting to partner with me in a bold venture in the near future. I have that effect on folks. I try to use my powers only for good.

We're not affiliating with any church or school, we're looking to have grades 4 through 8, rehearse once a week, perform locally, give two main concerts annually and take trips of varying durations to perform at regional music festivals. We will take all interested singers, musical background not necessary. We will charge tuition, and will be writing grant proposals to keep tuitions affordable.

Here's where you come in: does your area have anything like what I've described? Is there a website we can visit? What do you think? Are families too overscheduled as it is? Would you consider something like this if it were available?

We're giving ourselves a year and a half to launch the choir. We plan to hold our first rehearsal in August of 2010, which seems so very far in the future, but feels like it's right around the corner. I'm anxious to know your thoughts.