1. The last two weeks have been one headlong rush. The children's birthday party, celebrated with family from near and far, was last Saturday and tomorrow morning (Friday), my honey and I leave for a long weekend away from everything and everyone else. We'll be back home by Tuesday at bed time. Also, for the last 10 days, I've been hosting a Facebook Jamberry show to share the fun with my friends as well as raise money for our church's mission to an orphanage in Haiti. The good thing is, after I get my children off to school tomorrow, it's just me and my honey. The bad thing is, I don't have all my ducks lined up yet in order to allow us to leave. And I probably won't until an hour after we planned to leave. Sigh. Too much too much too much too much.
Alex at the party telling my mother not to take a picture of him. Great face.
2. I'd been doing better with my anxiety until today (Thursday). Trying to get everything ready for us to leave as well as my parents to move in and care for the children, following all the accepted procedures, has been a challenge. Our morning routine on a school day from 6 - 8 am is pretty regimented. It fills a full page. But I've finally got it all written out.
Miranda blew out 8 candles on a magnificent dark chocolate cake that Mimi made for us. Alex passed on candles and the birthday song this year. He's very upset about turning 11. Somehow he's equated getting older with death without anything in between, even with two living great grandmothers. He can't manage to grasp any context for the concept. He figured out what death was, that he didn't like it and now he feels it's coming for him. Ugh.
3. The Halloween costumes are mostly set. Alex's green light saber arrived today. He's going to be Luke Skywalker in black with a green light saber and the Luke Skywalker Angry Bird, who is not in black. Miranda will be a black cat. In black clothes with a beautiful black cat mask. I haven't managed to get her a tail yet. Maybe in the morning before we leave.
The weather was perfect last Saturday and we played in the park behind my parents' house quite a bit.
4. We are spending the weekend in Milford, PA, at the house of a friend who's generously offered us a lovely place to get away, and we are very grateful for her love and support. We may make a day trip or two to the local towns (I think we found this awesome used book store in Stroudsburg on a previous trip that we may look up) or visit with a friend or two who live in the area. Or not. I'm bringing a bag of books, half a dozen movies, a couple of Doctor Who Episodes, etc. And we have each other.
My uncle and his wife brought their delightful dog, Dante, to the party. He was very popular. This is after playing with the kids all afternoon. He's all tuckered out.
5. I need to update my movie list. I think Guardian of the Galaxy was the last time I was in the theatre. Ugh. Strangely, Keanu Reeves' new film has excellent reviews.
A friend and I at the party.
6.
My nephew Collin (not to be confused with my other nephew Colin) likes to build survival structures during family events. This was his best and most complex ever. He got the other kids to help, too. It was quite extraordinary. Cool kid.
Now there is a new edition with a new title (Bathsheba's Journey) and cover and it is now available for purchase, both in paperback and Kindle formats. Find it here.
And here's Jen.
