The Last Few Days

Daylight savings pretty much leaves me in a fog every time. There's been a lot going on in the last few days, but I'm just going to kind of dump it with little attempt at organization. The fog is a bit thick....

This year, the tears came on 14-year anniversary of Whitney's funeral. No tears of despair, just tears of sadness, recognizing the empty spot in our family here on earth.

On Whitney's birthday, Elijah prayed for our lunch this way: Dear God, Please help Whitney to have a good birthday. Amen.

Yesterday, following a few days away from home, we celebrated her birthday a bit late. I made a cake I could actually eat and we had fresh whipped cream on it. My whole family loved it. This NEVER happens.

Before we ate the cake, we sang:

Happy Birthday, to you.
Happy Birthday, to you.
Happy Birthday, dear Whitney.
We'll see you someday.

My arm is slightly less numb, but something is still not right. I am hoping that it really is a vitamin and mineral deficiency and it will clear up with the additional supplements the doctor has recommended. I have a neurology appointment next month and am praying for very clear direction on whether or not I need that consult.

This past weekend, the boys had tons of cousin and grandparent time while Brian and I went away to a Family Life marriage conference. It was sobering to think of where our marriage was after Whitney's death and where we are now. It's all God's grace. All of it. We are together. We are stronger and closer. Not perfect, but so aware of our own humanity, so humbled by the way God has kept us together, and so enjoying the friendship that is such a huge part of our marriage. We came away from the conference renewing our commitment to point each other to God. We also came away without the beautiful, signed certificate where it showed the vows we spoke in a re-commitment ceremony. I was disappointed that I forgot it, but it's OK. Just speaking the vows to each other was incredibly meaningful.

Getting to small group was interesting this past week. Brian loves to be punctual. By punctual, I mean 10 minutes early. I strive to be on time. I mean on time. I planned a simple meal. All I had to do was brown the sausage and boil the noodles. I browned the sausage. The pasta, however, proved a challenge. I mean, I've probably only boiled pasta 8,372 times or so. I'm still getting used to it, which probably explains why I placed the noodles in a pot of cold water. Sometime later, I fished them out and waited for the water to boil. Sometime later still, I turned on the burner. My man was so patient, so gracious. He pretended he wasn't hungry.

Another science experiment fail today. I don't know how, but I fail them all.

Recently, Elijah asked me the following: "Mom, what were George Washington's teeth made out of again?
Me: Wood.
Elijah: Ohhhhh, so they were made out of animal bone.
Me: Ummmm.... (At this moment, I realized the burner wasn't on, the water wasn't boiling, we were going to be late for small group--see above. I should probably re-visit that animal bone thing soon. It might show up on a standardized test. At the very least, my son deserves to know the difference between animal bone and wood. Yes, I homeschool. Is there a problem?)

Today, Joseph wrote the term "rola coaster." Loved it. It reminded me of when he used to say with deep enthusiasm after a good meal, "Wow, Mom, I really barfed that down." (He meant snarfed.)

I am on a 4 day streak of bad hair. Whhhyyyyyy??? My hair has always affected me at the core of my being.

Parental advisory: The next paragraph is somewhere between PG and PG-13 for language. Don't say I didn't warn you.

Remember how Elijah guessed that a word in his first reading steps book was "hell?" Well, we must have issues around here. Today, someone in our family, who will remain anonymous, sent a group e-mail out that began with, "Hell everyone, It looks like we will all be at small group this week....." I desperately wanted to reply to all, "Hot dang, this calls for a celebration." I did not send that reply, but I so wanted to. No, my mother does not know we talk this way. Yes, she'll find out when she reads my blog. Honestly, I didn't really know we talked this way either. In case you're wondering, the anonymous e-mailer did send a correction fairly soon after that began with, "Hello everyone...."

And so ends the account of the last few days.