All of my posts thus far have highlighted the quirkiness of my days, the parts of my days that made me laugh...or just made me shake my head.  This will be my first attempt at seriousness...with a side of Kleenex and a dash (or cup) of grateful heart.  My dad's birthday is today.  It's his 60th , and, yes, he is my hero in many ways.  My childhood was not one of wealth or endless hours of socializing and entertainment.  But I never regret that.   Instead, I cherish my childhood for what I did have.  I have parents who were up before me every day I can remember reading their Bibles and praying.  I can remember them being so tired that I know that being up early was a great sacrifice for them.  But it was important to them, and they did it together.  I have parents that honored the Sabbath, and taught us to as well, though we do so imperfectly.  I have parents that realized I had a gift for playing the piano, and they sacrificed to buy me one when I was young.  Then, they loved me enough to make me practice, even when I didn't always want to.  And they paid for me to take lessons for 12  years, never missing a recital, so that I could use the talent I had to play in churches and to earn a college scholarship.  I remember playing piano as accompanist for church before my toes could touch the ground, and I remember that my father was never ashamed that I only knew a few songs....He always thanked me for my contribution, and smiled on me with his favor.  I also memorized many hymns using that piano, as my father delighted to hear me play and would gather around to make requests.  I appreciate that now and think of that almost every Sunday, because usually I'm holding a wriggling baby and can't always hold a hymnbook....Memorized hymns are a blessing...My father is also a prolific reader...loving knowledge of all sorts, but most particularly theology.  He wanted us to love to learn, and I have come to appreciate his array of knowledge as I have become an adult. (Although I will go to my grave to insist that the mandatory National Geographic readings on snow days was a little over the top, Dad.)  Most of all my dad loves us....and he taught us children to love each other.  Even now when I call him at work, even if he's busy, he still is happy that I called and takes time to see how we're doing.  His voice beams with joy and his interest is genuine.  I have met many people who knew of my father's writings before they knew me, and his writings were influential to their family in many ways.  It was told to me once that a preacher said of my father that he loved my dad because even if my father disagreed with him, he never let it hinder his relationship with him and they always left as friends.....that is a gift that most don't have.  His genuine interest in relationships makes him so easy to talk to and I can never remember a time that he has acted "above" anybody.  He always reminded us that if it weren't for God's grace, we would be in the same situation.  I love my father, and I wish him the happiest of birthdays.  I am thankful for him and my mom in so many ways that I can't even express, and I'm humbled to have been given the gift of being their child.   Happy Birthday, Dad.   Thanks for everything.

Sometimes I want to wring my kids necks, and then the gushiness of just getting to be their mom takes over mercifully and I realize that dealing with the situation pleasantly is just better for everyone in the long run.  Today had been a long day...not necessarily bad, just long.  We took the kids to the pool this evening and got home around 8:30.  I changed quickly so I could go out for my run/walk.  I've been doing a four mile path through our community, and up till this point, I've been mostly walking with short bursts of running thrown in as I've been able.  One of my son's asked if he could go with me on his bike, and I reluctantly said yes even though I was afraid he would slow me down and try to talk to me too much which makes me out of breath.  I probably wasn't as nice about it as I should have been, but off we went.  We each took a drink and I asked my exercise buddy of the day to please put my phone in his pocket which he did.  Doug had loaded some very runnable songs on my ipod and I was pleasantly surprised at how well and how much I was able to run tonight.  It just seemed like all my work at exercise and trying  to build my endurance paid off all of a sudden.  About half way through, my phone rang and Ben answered it and hande it to me. I had a short conversation and handed it back to him, and once again we were off.  I was feeling so great when we rounded the corner for home, although  the soreness was starting to kick in.  Okay, no problem, I'm just going to get inside, take a shower, and start digging my way through that RIDICULOUS laundry pile.  I wanted to just do a celebration dance on the way up our driveway because I had ended up running more than three miles of the total distance.  UNTIL..........

Ben came back to where i was and informed me that the phone had dropped out of his pocket somewhere on the path. 

By this time it was 10:00....and I was really,really, really tired.  Oh, and the phone is one of the bluish gray colors, not easy to spot at night.

So, we grabbed a flashlight, and headed out....just me and my buddy.  The funny thing is that he really realized that this was not a good thing.  I was frustrated and we had just bought that phone...so a replacement was likely to cost several hundred dollars.  But, he was trying to be as helpful as possible.  The hightlight of the search party was when he looked at me and said, "Mom, would you like me to hold dad' phone for you so you don't have to?"(I had taken Doug's phone to try to call mine in case somebody had picked mine up)  I said, "No, thank you, I"ll hold it, I would really hate to drop it and break it. "

He said, in his sincerest little way, "I'd be happy to carry it in my pocket if you'd like."

Um........No thanks, Ben.

After running three miles and walking one, I ended up tacking on an extra two miles of walking.

Funny of the week is again John:

He came down the stairs a few days ago as everyone else was getting ready to eat and he informed me that he didn't feel like eating because his stomach hurt.  I asked him if he would like to just drink some juice and wait till later to see if he felt like eating.  He said that sounded good and he went off to play for a while. After about an hour, I told him we were getting ready to go to gymnastics and asked him if he wanted to eat something before we went. He said, "Yes, that would be good.  I'll just have some bacon and eggs."

It reminds me of that commercial from about five years ago...."What do you think this is, a Holiday Inn?"

He settled for a bowl of cold cereal.

Now, I'm going to try to lift my legs into bed. Have a good night everybody.

Anna 

I can't believe it's been so long since I've written.   Guess that means everyone was down with a virus....and I do mean everyone, except for me.  Even Doug had a bad headache one day.  Thankfully, it's now behind us, and we are ready to move on with a busy week.  Yesterday was shopping for bedroom furniture at IKEA.  Today has been having our bathroom floors tiled.  (Whoever thought of putting carpet in bathrooms should have to potty-train three boys-nuff said)  The tilers will finish tomorrow.  Thursday is gymnastics and house cleaning to get ready for my long-time close-as-a-sister friend Beth whom I've known since college. Did I mention she has four kids-all cute girls-and we are going to the home school conference for the weekend.  So, there will be no time for boredom.   I love the homeschool conference.  I have an unusual fondness for school supplies so it's right up my alley. 

Despite my lack of posting, we have had some funny things happen.  I'll give you just a taste...that way you'll come back for more

1-  Joseph got his first set of head staples.  (that's not the funny part.)  It really is a miracle he hadn't needed them before.  God's kindness has certainly been on him.  Anyway, when I brought him home from the procedure, Elise asked me how it had gone.  I said that it went fine, they had just held a little disposable staple gun up to his head and put two staples in it.  She said, "Is that all they did?  We could have done  that at home."  Just file that away under Whose house not to go to if you get a head injury.

2-  John was sick with the virus for several days.  He was kind of puny one night and I found him outside his bedroom door crying.  I asked him what was wrong.  He said, "I'm just struggling right now. "  I said what's making you struggle?  He said he didn't know.  He was just struggling.  John is very in touch with his emotions. 

3.  A few nights ago, I was doing what we call the Catechism Showdown with the four oldest kids.  It's a very tense battle because the person who gets the most questions correct wins a dollar.  So, invariable there are close-calls (I only missed one word, Isn't that close enough). The last time we did it, Emma had the question, "How is Christ a prophet?  She said, "Because He died for our sins and pleads with God for us."  I said, "Emma, that's not right.  The right answer is "Because He teaches us the will of God."  She said, "Isn't that what I said?"  I said "No, you said........."  She said, "But I got the first part", and I reminded her again of what she said.  The she said, "But I said "Because."    She did not win 1.00. 

Hope everyone has a great week.

Anna