A Bit of An Update

It's been so long since I've consistently shared my daily musings...

Here's just a few of the random thoughts clogging my brain:

- Record snowfall. Here in Jerusalem, we've had over 70" of snow this winter. We've proudly beat the record set in 1978. Hint: if you want to hear about the winter of 78 (or 82 or 26 or 39...), just ask any local. They'll be glad to give you a play-by-play of each snowflake, abandoned car on County roads, and not-so-daring stories of how they survived.

- Minky. Minky is studying dental health in school. He's actually considered the idea of brushing his teeth without being reminded.

- Minkyism. The other day, my mom told Mink that she was hoping to come visit for my birthday this Spring. She apologized for not being able to make it for his birthday, to which he replied flatly, "It's ok, Gramma. I'm used to you never being here for my birthday."

- Rab. Rab, in his ongoing soft-pedalling midlife crisis, continues to ponder what occupation is calling to him. In the meantime, he's continuing to be a stay at home dad. The role shift is a little weird, but overall it's really a great thing. And it definitely gives the locals something to be fully and deeply confused about. Rab's arranged an after-school routine and homework regime, and he's redone Minky's bedroom (bright, licorice red, pictures forthcoming). Rab's still in midstream with redoing the dining room. Please don't ask how long I've been living with a multi-colored (all bad), patched up dining room. The topic only makes me cranky.

- Sony. Sony is doing really great (big surprise, I know). He's thoroughly enjoying middle school and voluntarily comes to Confirmation each week with great fervor. He's actually not supposed to start confirmation until 7th grade, but heck, if the kid wants to be at church I'm certainly not going to stop him. Maybe his enthusiam about confirmaiton can help asuage my guilt over all the times I left the kids at home on Sunday with Rab so that I could worship peacefully.

- Spiritual Direction training. I continue to love SDDP (the acronym for my spiritual direction training program). I met my supervisor a few weeks ago and she rocks. Well...as much as a peaceful, calm nun can rock anyway. I'm loving the reading. I'm grudgingly getting through the required verbatims (argh...memories of CPE!).

- Estate of My Greatest Fan. I'm still serving as personal representative for my Dad's estate. For awhile there, my sister was calling every day with her anxiety and panic about the business buyout. She has some reason to be frustrated but it really began to wear on me personally. We ended up serving a notice to creditors to a nearby business that may (but really shouldn't) have interest in my dad's dough due to contamination of the land we own now. For the meantime, we're waiting out the 30 day notice period and the break in daily decisions and news is a welcome one. The entire estate stuff, overall, has been a real source of disappointment and energy drain. It's a long story I'm fairly sure I shouldn't share here (and you, dear reader, probably really don't want to hear it anyway). I talked to one of our lawyers yesterday and in order to transfer one of Dad's investments, I have to get a "Medallion Signature Guarantee" on a bunch of papers. Well, as one might imagine, Jerusalem has no bank that offers such a service. As soon as the paperwork arrives, I'll be heading about 35 miles North to get to a bank that can provide the service. Just where the hell am I living?!!?!?!?

- Therapy. Ever since Dad died, I've been sustained and strengthened by therapy. I'm so thankful for it. Just wanted to share.

- More Minky news. We've started with a new psychologist/psychiatrist team. They're solid, reputable, good guys with a no prisoners attitute. Last night, Rab and I introduced THE NEW PLAN, which includes black and white rules, clear cut boundaries, an all-or-nothing points system and other counter-intuitive (to me) stuff. As we were stating that part of the plan includes the expectation that there will no longer be discussion or negotiation on Minky's part, he interupted with, "Well, what if I really have something I need to say?"

If you've made it this far, I'm impressed. Hope to hear from you and to find out if anyone is even still checking the blog.

Spiritual Direction Training Here I Come!

Tomorrow, I head to the Franciscan Spirituality Center to begin my training as a spiritual director.

The kids, predictibly, are both sick with stomach flu. The dog needs to be groomed - he's stinky and no longer huggable. One of my favorite parishoners is in ICU. I could work all weekend and still not be 'caught up' on everything. And, instead of reveling in the glory of my life, I'm escaping for 48 hours of anticipated sanity and serenity. Aaaaahhhh...

Somewhere Over the Rainbow - TT style

The boys and I went to the Castle today to visit friends and get away from the stresses of the week. After errands to the mall and Cancer Society (best clothes in town!), the boys bought new DS games. On the way home, with the boys deeply invested and involved in their DS adventures, I put on some full-tilt girl music.

As the dramatic version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow hit it's finale with "if blue birds fly...over...the...rain...bow....why....oh, why.........can't.......IIIIIII," TT, in tune and with the same pace and drama sang boldly, "Because....you're not.....a....biiirrrrrddddd."

Do ERs give frequent flyer miles?

Tuesday night at 9:40 p.m., we headed hurriedly to the ER. Again. Not for a parishoner. For Sony. He was having intense pain on his left side that doubled him over in tears and agony. Rab called our 24-7 nurse helpline and they said to take him to the ER. Rab volunteered to stay home with a very worried Minky (who desperately wanted to go and make sure his brother was ok) and I headed to the next town with a screaming, crying, hurting kid.

The admitting person was getting someone back to room and said she'd be with us in a moment. This was understandable but made me growl internally - here was a kid in obvious distress and the people looking at magazines further back in the nurse's station couldn't assume the check in lady's task? A nurse who was walking out of a room heard Sony and caught my eye. She immediately came over and took Sony back, but I couldn't follow because he had to be checked in. I hate paperwork details - especially when the rules separate me from my child.

A few minutes later, I was able to go back to him. The nurse was absolutely fantastic. She was very patient and caring and attentive. Sony could barely speak and she worked with that reality. Far, far later - much too much later - the doctor finally saw us. I've worked in hospitals and I understand triage but I was not impressed with the pace - even if the nurse had determined we could be at the bottom of the rotation (which I guess is what happened).

Twice while we were waiting, I went to the nurses station only to find the two doctors on staff chatting. Grrr. Once I went out to let them know that Sony's pain was worsening. "Ok, thanks for letting us know," was the doctor's response. But still, nobody came into our room. Then, about 1/2 hour later, I saw our nurse in the hallway, caught her eye and asked her to come see what Sony was doing (he was flinching and involuntarily moving his head). She came in and took a look. Eventually - my guess is that it was 1.5-2 hours after we arrived - the doctor came in.

She literally yelled at him, screaming, "You have got to stop that! I can't hear your heartbeat," and "HOW AM I GOING TO HELP IF YOU WON'T COMMUNICATE!" and "This is just not going to work." When I tried to answer questions, she stuck her hand out and snapped, "I've got this under control, Mom!" Yeah, sure you do lady, that's why you're screaming at my kid. Oh, and by the way, maybe if you tried being kind, my son would not be turning away from you. Just a small hint...She was HORRIBLE! I have never been so unimpressed in my life.

When the nurse came in to see if he'd gone to xray yet, I told her, "You know, I'm normally pretty patient with doctors who don't click with me or my kids, but that woman will not come back in here as long as my son is in this room. Do you have another doctor around right now or should we begin the process of changing to Hospital in the Next Town?" We were quickly transferred to another doctor's case load and suddenly treated very well. It was a bit disgusting how important we'd become when the hospital realized they might lose our business.

Long, long, long story short, we ended up coming home around 2 a.m. after two rounds of blood tests and an xray. Today, we head to Sony's regular doctor to follow up on some of the concerns that were found in the bloodwork. It all looks managable, but I'm seriously considering calling the hospital and lodging a complaint.

Is the Weekend Over Yet?

This weekend, Cartoon Network has hosted a million hour marathon of every Naruto episode ever made. The last one just aired. Thank God. That's all that's been on our TVs. Even Rab has been hooked.

Simpsonized Family

Instead of watching the Today Show after the last post, the fam gathered around the computer and Simpsonized ourselves. Nothing like a little Friday morning family bonding. Here are the results:

Day 5 of VBS, 2 sermons and a loaded council agenda

Here in Jerusalem, we've turned country this week. Our VBS theme, Avalanche Ranch, has been littered with bad Southern accents, tons of food, and a bevy of willing and enthusiastic volunteers (if only the Stewardship committee could be so enthused....). 65 kids come through our doors each night - the most Jordan has seen in a long time. It's exciting to see all the frenzy and flurry - especially the frenzy of panicking kitchen staff who exclaimed on Monday, "There are too many kids!!!" I walked through the kitchen just in time to hear that comment and responded with glee, "What a wonderful problem!! Too many kids in the church - I hope that problem never goes away!" My comment was met with confused and bewildered stares.

With a VBS service and an I-hate-children-who-don't-sit-silently-in-worship prayer service this week, I have two very different sermons to prepare on two different texts. As I sat down to write yesterday, I thanked the Holy Spirit as I noticed that the theme of each text is fairly similar: our unpredictible God and the call to live in faith nonetheless. Last week, the sermon was about whether we live in faith or in fear.

Next Monday, we have Church Council. A look at the agenda causes me to wonder if we'll all still be there next Wednesday. There are 16 items for old and new business - all topics that the President and I agree need to be addressed this month.

On the homefront, Rab is fulfilling the role of stay at home dad this month. Minky's meds have been a bit off kilter and we decided that it was worth the financial sacrifice to have Rab home keeping Minky's life stable and predictible. While we still believe this to be true, it's hard when push comes to shove and we find ourselves with mounting bills and down to one car because we can't afford a new tire for the truck. Thank God for a mother-in-law who takes pity on our plight and sent money for a new tire.

We found out yesterday that Minky's beloved psychologist is not on our insurance (we thought he was), so we now owe over $1000 that our "out of network" coverage will not pay and we are on the hunt for a new psychologist. This is just what Minky needs: another transition in his life. I absolutely hate insurance companies and their rules and loopholes. Even with what many would consider great insurance, we have consistently spent between $7,000-$10,000 annually for Minky's uncovered medical care. Such insanity.

So that's what's going on here in Jerusalem. I suppose I should get back to watching the Today Show and sipping coffee on this partial day off. Then I'll need to gear up for the final day of speaking with a corny and probably bad Southern accent.

Pictures from the Trip

For some reason, posting pictures to the last post became tricky. Instead, here are some pics and links from our adventures thus far.

The Badlands
Corn Palace, Mitchell, South Dakota

Yellowstone National Park
Bear Country

Mount Rushmore
Reptile Gardens

Cooke City, Montana
Needles Highway

Flintstone Village
Devils Tower

Our Trip So Far (pre-accident!)

We set out Tuesday for our 3 week family vacation. After an appointment in the big city, we headed North to see Mark and his 3 legged dog, Pogo. On the way there, our brakes began to make ungodly noises but we made it there safe and sound. The boys were so thrilled to see the duo and they sheepishly presented Mark with a copy of Uncle Jim’s song, “I am a Three Legged Dog” just for Pogo. What a wonderful night of catching up as well as simply enjoying each others' company. It was great to reconnect.

Wednesday was 4th of July. We determined that we’d might as well continue the drive to Custer, South Dakota as planned, regardless of the strange brake noises. Of course, the noises became more and more ungodly as the day progressed. But we didn’t let it dampen our spirits or our plans. Instead, we wound our way around South Dakota in true tourist style, stopping at the Corn Palace (corny and cheesy), Wall Drug and the Badlands. At the Corn Palace, we spent more money on two servings of Dippin’ Dots than on lunch for the whole family. As we ate, though, we got to hear one gift store worker talking to our cook/cashier/waiter/new friend. The worker shared her tale of disbelief at tourist antics, telling us how one woman asked to go through each box in the store in search of the correct sized T-shirt for her overly indulged child. The lady looked for over an hour and finally found the shirt.

By the time we arrived in the Badlands, the boys were ready to get out of the van and move. Luckily, the Badlands have ample room for rogue children. What an amazing sight. When we finally reached the end of the Badlands road and found ourselves in Wall, South Dakota, Minky was on the verge of an over-tired, over-hungry meltdown. Needless to say, the Wall Drug experience left me yearning for drugs – Xanax, Valium, any form of sedation would do…

After 45 minutes of nail biting indecision in the gift store, Minky chose a sligshot and Sony picked out a pirate super ball that lit up when bounced. We were on our way, squeaky brakes and all. We arrived in Custer late Wednesday night, after an adventurous drive through Custer State Park where Rab drove 35 mph and I hollered “left” “right” “two on right” “up the hill” as I spotted deer after deer alongside the road.

The next morning found us with a very full agenda, a limited amount of time, and a hostess from Heaven (HFH). I had stayed at HFH’s hotel a few weeks ago when I came to Custer for Small Town Girl’s ordination. HFH is an adorable lady and it was wonderful to see her again. Rab and I asked her for suggestions on mechanics, preferably one who could help us that day and she suggested two. Rab called the first one and the owner was currently out of the office. The person Rab spoke to was not sure if they could squeeze us in. Rab called the second shop, DJ’s Service and connected with Ski the magician. Ski said he could help us out around 4pm as long as we picked up the parts and brought them with us.

Given the choice between relatively flat roads toward Rapid City and the twisty, windy roads of Needles Highway and Mt Rushmore, we decided to visit Reptile Gardens and Bear Country before taking the van to Ski. Both venues were wonderfully touristy and full of animals. The boys loved them. Afterward, we headed back to Custer and Rab dropped the boys and I off at Flintstone Village. I’d love to say we stopped here for the kids’ sake, but I must admit this stop was all for me. Luckily, the boys humored me and managed to have a great time at the most wonderfully cheesy stop of the trip. It was awesome! It is probably a good thing that Rab went to Ski’s while we played in Bedrock. I think the village may have been just a touch too tacky for Rab. But, again, I loved it!

Rab had his own wonderful experience with the van. Ski not only fixed it in less than an hour, he also charged us the “friends and family” rate because Rab had mentioned that he’d hoped we’d make it to Oregon where my dad’s shop could fix the brakes. Then Rab found out that DJ’s Service stands for “Doing Jesus’ Service.” Ski, it turns out is an angel as well as a mechanic.

Thursday afternoon and evening came to a close after a trip through the Needles Highway, the Custer State Park Nature Loop and a 10:15 pm drive by of Mount Rushmore. At the Nature Loop, we were able to experience a herd of bison as they crossed the street and headed to wherever bison head at the end of the day. Listening to them grunt and snort and talk to one another was somehow holy and magical. It reminded me of the experience of listening to whales. It was truly incredible and awe inspiriting.

Friday morning, we headed to Mt Rushmore, which was actually cooler than I’d anticipated. If you ever go there, take time to walk down to the Artist’s Studio where there’s a large model of the original plans, a ranger talk, and a great bookstore. That one stop was the highlight of the stop. After our patriotic experience, it was off to Devil’s Tower in eastern Wyoming. The pictures made it look like a big giant rock in the middle of the prairie. I went along with the plan because Rab seldom asks for any particular stops along the journey. After 17 years of being married to this fairly consistent, easy-going guy, I saw no need to argue with a detour to a big rock in the prairie. Besides…it allowed us to use our National Park Pass once again thus making the $80 purchase even more worth the price.

It turns out that the Big Rock in the Middle of the Prairie actually was pretty cool. It too had a holy quality to it. For many, many years, this rock has been the subject of many legends. Many of the stories involve the idea that a bear created the rugged sides of the rock. Speaking of bears, our day ended with a climbing drive up 10,000’+ Bear Claw Pass, a winding, twisting, turning highway leading to Cooke City, Montana and the Northeast entrance to Yellowstone. I think I’m glad we drove the pass in the dark of night – some of the postcards for the Pass have the words “Don’t look down!” on the pictures. It’s a pretty sharp, jaggedy and cliff-like road.

We spent Friday and Saturday night in Cooke City, Montana. The place gets approximately 220” of snow a year –definitely not the place for me! In the summertime, though, it is lovely and bustling with visitors. It seemed like everyone we saw had a dog and Minky needed to introduce himself to each of them (the dogs, that is). He had pictures taken with the largest (a St Bernard) and the smallest (a dachshund) dogs of Cooke City. A few more pictures with other people’s pets and we could make it into a calendar.

Yellowstone was amazing. There really is no way to briefly describe the experience. We saw loads of bison, many magpies, lots of ground squirrels, a lone coyote, and a fair share of elk and deer. At one point, we were within about 30 feet of a grizzly (EEK but COOL!). The falls and springs and Old Faithful were all wonderful. I only wish we’d had time to simply be in the moment rather than going from one sight to the next to the next. There were glimpses of peace and serenity, mostly sprinkled alongside Minky’s borderline fits and quick lunches of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and fruit.

Lessons from Archery Camp

After the first day of archery camp, Minky jumped into the car full of excitement. “Every shot was a bullseye, Mommy!” he embellished. “I love archery! I’m really good at it!”

The next day, Minky’s brother joined in the fun. He had been absent the first night with a bug. After that night, Sony was thrilled by the experience but Minky was out of sorts. During class, the coach had sought me out to find out Sony’s experience level because Sony, a beginner with two less days of experience than Minky, was actually nailing bullseye after bullseye. Sony was a natural. Minky had gotten wind of the converstaion and had now decided that he hated archery.

“I stink at archery,” he told me the next day during a walk, “I’m no good at it.”

With the love of a mommy I responded, “But you loved it on Monday. You said you were really good at it.”

“Yeah, well…” Minky responded, “that was before Sony came. He’s better at it. Compare me to him and I’m no good.”

While Sony often lives in Minky’s shadow because Sony is a low maintenance, easy going kid and Minky is more high strung and demands more concerted effort and attention, Minky often lives in Sony’s shadow when it comes to academics. On that second day of camp, Minky had discovered that Sony could be good at something other than spelling, reading or math. His discovery of Sony’s natural archery talents had caused his own archery spotlight to dim - at least as far as he was concerned.

“Compare me to him and I’m no good,” Minky said. I responded as only a pastor-mommy could. I responded with God talk. “I don’t want to compare you to anyone, Minky. I want to celebrate how much fun you have when you do archery. It doesn’t matter if somebody is better at it than you. God created you to be you, not to try to be like somebody else.” Years of therapy conversations came pouring out of my mouth – it wasn’t until my 30s that I began to understand and attempt to grasp the message I was sharing with my usually-wise-beyond-his-years 8 year old. I can only hope that the words were planted deep inside the core of who Minky is and that he might already be on the journey of loving and accepting himself as made in the image of God. That's the bullseye I pray for him to hit.

Aaaaahhh....Saturday

Today is Saturday. Saturday has always been one of my favorite days.

As a kid, Saturday meant watching cartoons as my working-outside-the-house mom frantically cleaned the house from top to bottom. After Looney Tunes, my mom, sister and I would go grocery shopping at Fred Meyer, and I'd try to talk Mom into buying me all sorts of unnecessary snack food, toys and stuff.

As young marrieds, Rab and I would sleep in late then go to the buffet at Szechuan West with Honger and Beachball. We'd rotate paying for one another, based upon our paydays. Life was good.

Nowadays, Saturday mornings are my one sacred time. Barring a funeral (I've yet to do a wedding), it is my time. Rab comes home on Friday nights and takes over the parenting tasks after I've lived another week of single motherhood. Rab makes breakfast, plays with the boys, tends to the pets, and I...well...write my sermon, catch up on blog reading, catch up on other reading, stay in my PJs and watch bad TV. Today's selection is Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Believe it or not, I've watched it before - it's surprisingly full of theological themes. And it's funny.

Once the sermon is complete, we usually do some family type thing. We've become particularly adept at having our family type thing involve the need to go to the nearest city.

So here it is, another Saturday morning. The sermon has not yet been written, the movie is still playing, and life is good.

Another Minky-ism to Brighten Your Day

Yesterday, Minky was feigning illness.  First, he woke up and said he had "the strep throat" (why the definite article, I'm not sure).  Then when I didn't buy it, he said his tummy hurt.  Then a headache.  Yet, somehow, he found the energy to play heartily with the dog outside.  

I got him dressed and fed then we hopped in the car.  He thought he was going to a meeting with me.  When we pulled up at school, he threw a minor fit and wrapped his arm around the van door armrest.  After about 5 minutes of prying him out of the van, we headed into school.  All of these sweet kids kept cheerfully saying good morning to him and he just scowled back.  I whispered to him, "That's really no way to make friends, Minky" to which he responded with a growl, "Shut up."

I asked the teacher to step into the hallway for a minute so I could fill her in on the seriousness of his many and varied ailments.  She told me that the other day, she had a riddle on the board that asked, "How do you get a day off from school?"  Minky, not one to normally volunteer an answer, enthusiastically raised his hand and said, "That's easy...pretend you're sick!"

Yay, Minky!

Minky had his 2nd progress check with his vision therapist yesterday. His visual processing speed and ability have increased tremendously over the last 30 weeks of therapy and his tracking ability is nearly where it should be. At his recent school conference, he was at or just above beginning 2nd grade levels for his reading and writing.

The doctor told me that one of the tests in particular had amazing results. Last July, he was unable to complete the entire test, took 110 seconds to do what he could do, and had 40 errors. Yesterday, he completed the entire test in less than 60 seconds and had no errors!

He's made a great deal of progress in the last 6+ months. Next week, we will be transferring his care to another vision therapist whose office is nearer to us. The new doctor is a close friend of our current doctor and is one of the leading vision therapy specialists in the nation. We are deeply grateful that our doctor was able to get us onto this patient load!

So Where's My Servant?

On Thursday, the kids had spring break. Since Holy Week is upon us, they came to work with me and hung out in the youth room while I worked. We brought some strawberries along with us for a snack...here's the conversation that transpired in the church kitchen:

Me: Here's a bowl to rinse the strawberries in, and here are bowls for each of you. Make sure you bring them back to the kitchen and clean them when you're done.

Minky: Why?

Me: Because we need to clean up after ourselves.

Minky (matter-of-factly): Why can't your servants do it?

Me: My servants?

Minky: (again, matter-of-factly) Yeah...all pastors have servants....why can't your servants clean up the mess?

Me: Minky, I do not have servants.

Minky (rolling his eyes in complete and utter disbelief): Mom...I know that pastors have servants...c'mon.

I'm so proud

Last Friday, as I was walking up and down the aisles of Office Depot, I received a call on my cell phone. I have called ID and I saw that the school was calling. I sighed and guessed that someone was sick (afterall, not one week has gone by without an illness since 2007 began...).

When I picked up the call, though, the principal's voice came across the lines. Principals do not call when your kid is sick - they leave that to the school secretaries of the world (Kind of like how pediatricians assign the task of giving shots to their nurses). I greeted him and then:

Principal: (sigh) Yeah...um...Minky. Had a bit of a scuffle at recess today.
Me: Really?
Principal: Well it seems that he and 3 first graders were going up the slide during recess and he was not going fast enough for the others. The boys asked him to go faster and Minky responded resolutely that he would go the speed he wanted to go...with that, one of the boys pushed him up the slide, although he claims he was only helping Minky. Anyway, Minky responded by attempting to choke the boy. Boy #2 responded by punching Minky in the mouth and Minky kicked him where it counts. The boys ended up in a scuffle and...well...I guess the good news I have for you is that Minky looks the best of the 4 boys. I guess he won."
Me: Well, Mr. Principal, I always knew the day would come when I'd get a call like this...I guess I'm glad you're the one calling.

Mr. Principal seemed to understand Minky's intense reaction and how his anxiety disorder played a role in said reaction. Minky lost a couple recesses. And I think the 1st graders now know that Minky is the kingpin of the playground, not to be unnecessarily provoked. I'm so proud of my little PK, types mom with rolling eyes and a shaking head.

The illnesses continue

Sorry...my blog posts are far from thrilling lately. I believe that I have suffered from anti-creative stress disorder in addition to rotovirus, a rat with skin irritations, a child with an ear infection, another child with some post-viral nasty, horrible cough thing, child with said ear infection barfing on the playground today, and various other familial ailments. Rab has intellegently fled to his apartment near the Castle to avoid the living petri dish known as our home. My congregation is probably beginning to wonder if their pastor still exists. Sony's teacher called tonight and left a message that Sony has 26 missing assignments (I find this hard to believe...but we'll find out more tomorrow). Life is good, right? If I keep saying it, I just may come to believe it.

Coming Up for Air

How am I? Well, I'm trying to be good natured, pastoral, patient, creative and wise. Instead, I find myself overworked, in debt, and emotionally spent. I want my mommy to come and save the day. Instead, she's awaiting divorce mediation scheduled for the 23rd.

Since beginning at Jordan in Jerusalem, not one week has gone by where my boys have been healthy. Each week, someone has stayed home sick at least one day. This week is no different. On Tuesday night (or shall I say Wednesday morning) at 1 a.m., Minky's repaglarity must have been all off - he woke up crying and in pain with an ear infection. He stayed home yesterday and was high maintenance. This morning, Sony felt like "someone was cutting his stomach with a knife from the inside." (Don't think he watches too much TV to come up with that one, do you?) He's home today....or rather, sitting on my guest chair in my office playing his DS. The doctor ran a bunch of tests and said he shouldn't go to school until the tests are back. It's now nearly 1:00 and I haven't heard from her...I don't think he's going to school.

I wish things were better. I know they'll get better. Right now, life kind of sucks. Life as a pastor is managable for the most part - it's the family stuff that's wearing on me. Oh, and the house in need of interior design and repainting, and the garage that needs to be rebuilt, and the mounting medical bills, and the laundry, and the dishes, and the van making a weird noise when I turn left, and not having any deep friendships nearby, and, and...you get the picture.

The rat, the tonsils and snow

Today was a doctor day for the family. Sony had his tonsils removed at the hospital about 15 miles away. I was so impressed with the place. The doctors, nurses and staff were so friendly, competent and thorough. What a relief! Sony has had strep throat 5 times this winter. After the first time, in November, he began experiencing post-strep joint pain throughout his body. Some days, he could barely move. On a scale of 1 to 10, his pain was often reported to be an 11. It's been a horrible experience to watch my beloved 10 year old suffer so needlessly. Somehow, miraculously, the last antibiotic for strep seemed to eradicate the joint pain that had sent us to more than a handful of doctors and specialists over the past 3 months. There's something a bit ironic about the medicine prescribed by a nurse practictioner doing what several pediatricians, a pediatric rheumatologist and a pain expert could not. The more I use and visit nurse practictioners, the more impressed I become.

Rab left the hospital shortly before Sony returned to his room because the Visiting Vet was on her way to the Cute Gray House to examine Legolas the rat. Poor Leggy has scabs all over his neck from non-stop scratching. Ends up he has some weird rat skin mite thing. The $5 rat cost us $100 today. At least Minky was here when the vet arrived - she let him go with her into her mobile vet unit mobile home and also let him look under the microscope at Leggy's hair. Minky thought that was incredibly cool.

We're in the midst of yet another snow storm. At one point this week and at one point last week, nearly all the snow had melted away. But then Mother Nature reblanketed the place with a new white layer. Argh. It makes me cranky. I don't like it. The weather was so bad last Sunday that we actually cancelled church (not just me, but nearly all the churches in the area). My parishoner/pharmacist gave me a bad time today when I went to pick up Sony's prescription, saying, "Geez...you didn't work Sunday and now you're not working today!?!" I replied, "Well, you know, I'm a slacker." Then I remembered that I had visited a parishoner in the hospital today while Sony was in surgery, so I pointed that out to parishoner/pharmicist and said, "Yeah, if my kid's gonna have surgery, at least I'll schedule it for a day when someone from the church is there too!" We laughed.

Today, the drifts were so bad to and from the hospital that there were places where the visibility was less than 1/10 mile. The roads themselves weren't too bad but the visibility made venturing out a bit scary. The local school, which tends to seldom close or delay, actually released kids two hours early (much to Minky's joy!). I sometimes fear the snow will never let up, which means my garage will never become organized and the moving boxes will take up permanent residence on our porch. The Cute Gray House may need to be renamed the White Trash Gray House if those boxes remain much longer...

Repaglarity

Scene at the Cute Gray House: Music on the stereo, little boy playing Hotwheels on the floor, dog outside, Mom on laptop writing her Ash Wednesday sermon.

Sammy Dog: Arf! Arf!
Mommy: Minky, will you go let the dog in.
Minky: Why don't you do it?
Mommy: Because I'm working.
Minky: Well, I'm working on my repaglarity (pron: repp-uh-glare-ity)
Mommy: What's that?
Minky: I don't know, but it's important.

Guess I gotta go - I certainly don't want to get in the way of repaglarity. :)

Oh, sometimes I just can't believe what my kid does

Oh, TT.

We had a new babysitter tonight - one of my parishoner's kids. She was set up to watch the kids every Sunday so Rab and I could have a consistent date night. Aaaahhhh...the best laid plans. Looks like one date night was enough.

I've yet to get the complete story, but what I know now is that Rab and I were just pulling into the Piggly Wiggly to pick up a few groceries after a wonderful dinner. My phone rang and I answered it to hear a very distressed teenager on the other side of the line. Apparently, when she told TT it was time for bed, there was some sort of run in and he ended up grabbing Rab's Leatherman off the kitchen counter downstairs and threatening her with it. He got pretty close to her at one point.

I am so horrified I can't even see straight.