A Sad Night

It's a sad night in our house tonight.  Our Auggie Doggie is gone.  When Charlie went to feed him dinner, and he didn't respond, Charlie found him laying in his dog house.  He must have died in his sleep.   He was a good little basset hound, and we loved him.  We'll all miss him alot.

Patience

I actually forgot all about taking this picture, even though I was really excited about it at the time.  I guess I've been preoccupied with my surgery last Friday, and then a busy weekend full of activities that I muddled through with my bandaged hands.

I've been trying to take a picture of this little guy for weeks.  Literally.  OK, well...  I've been trying to take a picture of this little guy, or one of the other 200 of his buddies that look just like him, for weeks.  They live in the beautiful, massive knockout rose bushes at Grab-A-Java on Hedley Street.  Every day, I pull in and take my place in line, patiently waiting for my turn to order coffee (which I never actually have to order because someone always has it ready for me when I pull up to the window because they are THAT good there).  I usually sit next to the rose bushes for at least one car's order time ahead of me.  And every day, I try to take a picture of the little birds.   I roll down my window about half a block before I turn in.  I even started holding my camera up so the little guys wouldn't be scared by the movement of me lifting it.   All to no avail.  Half a second before every shot, they always fly away.

Until last Thursday.  Last Thursday morning, after I had my coffee in hand, and was about to pull out onto the street, I looked over and saw this little guy perched so nicely, as if he was patiently waiting for me.   I rolled down my window.  He didn't move.  I lifted my camera.  He didn't fly away.  I took a picture.  And another.  And another.  He stayed.  Granted, it's not the best picture ever taken, but...  it's a start. 

If you know me much at all, you know I've taken hundreds of pictures of birds.  And if you know me much at all, you know that only 3 or 4 of said pictures are any good.  I guess I keep taking more (and more) pictures because maybe I'm just not ready to give up.   Maybe I just need to be more patient.  

I'll work on that this week.

Post-Op Day 2

I had a little ganglion cyst removed from my wrist, and also a tiny little cyst removed from the tip of my middle finger, early yesterday morning.  Of course, as would be my luck, both hands were involved, so I was mostly useless yesterday, laying around with both hands iced, and propped on pillows.  But today is a totally different story.  I'm really surprised at how good I feel.  I know the doctor told me it wouldn't be bad, and that I would be back to work on Monday with just band-aids, but I expected at least a little more pain than I've had.  I'm thrilled at how I'm doing.  Just a little tylenol, and I'm mostly fine.  Granted, I can't lift anything very heavy, and I don't have full dexterity right now, but overall, I'm having a "normal" day.   Especially with a little (OK, alot of) help from the H.H. and from Jack.

Tonight is our church's major fall fundraiser - a chicken dinner, and I didn't get any desserts made for it "pre-op" on Thursday night.  I was feeling bad that I wasn't contributing this time, so Jack helped me out by whipping up some brownies.  I love the fact that he likes to cook.  And the fact that he's getting good at doing alot of it on his own. 

With my "semi-down" time, I have been able to get a little bit caught up on my Picture Of The Day page.  I may not be able to type very fast, but I can type, and thanks to spell check, it ends up alright.  Hopefully, I can get completely caught up, and then keep up on it.  I've had to manipulate the dates a little to keep the pictures in order, and I hope I'm keeping that all straight.  Lots more updates until I'm finished, but I'm at least finally making headway!

The Pictures

Bear with me over the next few days...  I'm going to make a concerted effort to catch up my pictures of the day blog.

I use Project Life, and the kids seem to like being able to check it out as it progresses. (even though I'm always behind on updating that, too...) But there are so many others at a distance who are interested, so....  I think I'm going to take the approach of using the same pictures, and basically copying my journal card comments to the blog entry for the day.

Hopefully, I'll get myself in order in the coming days...  stay tuned.

About That Card...

Well, I wish I could add my little endorsement into the post WITH the card image, but that's not working out, so...  I'll just tack on another post. 

I gotta say "Hooray for Shutterfly"! If you aren't signed up to get their special offers, you really must sign up... I received an offer via email today for 10 free (yes, I said free) cards, so... I decided to take advantage of it.

I used my current fav flower pic - the sunflower on the Mustang preserve outside Eagle Butte, SD. I can't wait until they come! There's no replacing a real, live, hand-written note, and I've been slackin' about sending those. What timing! Shutterfly offer came just in time for me to turn over a new card-sending leaf.

Yay!

5x7 Folded Card

Picture In Landscape 5x7 folded card

Click here to browse Shutterfly's modern graduation invitations.

View the entire collection of cards.

Homecoming Success!

The girls both had a fabulous time at homecoming!  I'll admit, I was a little worried for a while - what with all the fuss about fixing hair, and finding shoes, and all that junk.  I was, indeed, a little worried that they wouldn't have a good time. 

But they did.

They really did.

And they looked so beautiful!  And so grown up. 

I didn't get to take the pictures of Kathryn and her friends before they left for dinner.  I was frantically curling Sarah's hair.  It took longer than I'd anticipated to get her lovely locks transformed into loose, tousled, flowing curls.  So...  I sent the handsome husband, armed with the Canon, to snap some shots.  And he did a fine job!

Both girls went with a group of friends - Kathryn with a smallish group...

And Sarah with a rather large one...

 

Sarah's group of friends met at one house for pictures and dinner.  The girls, in particular, had fun with the pictures.

After lots and lots - and lots - of picture taking, the kids all had dinner together (served to them by us parental-type folks) and then rode together to the dance in one big RV.  It was a great send off!

And Sunday was spent retelling story after story about what a great time they both had at the dance, which is EXACTLY how homecoming is supposed to go.   Guess my little bit of worrying was for naught.   :)

Homecoming!

I should be slogging, not blogging...  but here I am.  Unable to motive to put on those running shoes, worried more about my zillion loads of laundry and pile of dishes that need done.  (OK, well, not THAT worried, obviously, since I'm sitting at my little desk blogging away... but you know what I mean!)

It's homecoming weekend for us, and I'm SO excited about it.  Yes, I do realize that it's silly for me to be excited.  After all, I'm not going to get dressed up and go to a dance.  It's a different kind of excited.  It's a parent kind of excited...

Kathryn's a Junior this year, so it's a whole different kind of homecoming for her.  She's almost all grown up.  She's an upperclassman.  Ah....  upperclassman.  I remember those two years....  you're the "big kids", the ones who set the tone for just about everything in the high school.  Juniors really do rule.  Seniors are mostly coasting - just about over high school, ready to get out and start living life.  And the underclassmen are still trying to find their niche, figure out the pecking order, and settle into high school.  Yup.  Juniors rule.  So it's GREAT year for Kathryn.  She's going to homecoming tonight knowing she'll make it a fun night with friends.

Sarah, on the other hand, is a Freshman.  Everything's new to her this year.  It's her first big "dress up" dance.  She'll walk in there tonight, and be so excited just to be experiencing it all.  I remember that feeling, too, and I remember it's such a great feeling!   It's sort of a "I'm really in high school" feeling.  She's finding her niche, and figuring things out.  She's going to have such a great time at her first homecoming dance, learning so much about the fun part of high school life.

And they are both going to look fabulous!  It's so fun for me to see them all dressed up, with hair and nails done, wearing heels, and beautiful dresses.  I can't wait!

But, now, in the meantime, I really do have to get busy on the laundry and cleaning.  I've procrastinated slogging completely out of my morning, but the chores just won't go away. 

The REAL Rest of the Story

I had no idea what to expect at the youth center, so when we pulled up the front door, and were greeted by volunteers coming out to help us, it was a very pleasant surprise.   As with every task, having lots of helpers made unloading the shoes an easy task.   We got everything moved from a piled high van to a nicely organized gymnasium in just a very short time.

With so much excellent help, and everything in place for the shoe drive in record time, we took a few minutes to take a tour of the youth center, talk to the director and to some of the volunteers, and learn a little about what they do there.  And let me tell you...  what they do there is great!

They give the community, especially the kids, a place to go where they can create opportunity for themselves.   To me, one of the coolest things they do there is art.  I grew up learning that art touches every part of society, and every part of life - through the radio, architecture, storefronts, photography, magazines, newspapers, television...  EVERYwhere.  Art is ingrained in us.  So to see a place where kids can learn that, and express themselves, was a huge thing for me.  I especially loved one project in particular that had been done.  They'd used ceiling tiles as canvases, and so there was art above us.  LOVE that idea!

That weird feeling that I had coming into Saturday kept going strong while we were at the shoe drive.  I met a woman there who was volunteering who seemed particularly familiar.  Turned out she was from a neighboring town, and had worked in Springfield for years before retirement.  We even knew people in common.  And being inside the youth center, meeting and talking with the volunteers and staff, I had that weird feeling that I belonged there.  I was very much at ease there all day.

The families we met during the event were simply fantastic.  The kids were all fun and full of energy and life, and the parents were some of the friendliest, most genuine people you could hope to talk to.  One family, in particular, made a special impression on me.  They are a blended family, with 10 kids.  The mom works part time, takes classes, and manages that household.  (And I think it's rough sometimes with just the 5 of us!)  They, like all the families we met, were a joy to share time with.

 At home, at too many of the charitable events I've been at, people are not grateful. In fact, all too often, those receiving help don't just not say "thanks", they sometimes say they are entitled to more, or that what they are receiving is not "good enough" (as in hamburger isn't as "good" as steak). It wasn't like that at this event. Every family, every adult, every child was grateful and appreciative. One grandmother talked to us about how her grandson had gone through "another" recent growth spurt, and didn't currently have any shoes that fit. It made me think of the weekend a couple of years ago when Jack grew seemingly overnight... He came to me on a Monday morning, as he was getting ready for school, and was very concerned about his pants and shoes. I couldn't do anything but gape in amazement at him. His new pants were suddenly two inches too short, and he couldn't even get his foot into his shoe! At the time, our budget was extremely tight, and I remember standing there, wondering how I was ever going to juggle things to buy new clothes. I knew exactly what the grandmother was talking about, and it broke my heart to hear her talk about struggling. I think she said "thank you" at least 30 times. Naturally, being in middle of my peri-menopausal hormonal mess, I cried.

I cried lots of times that day. I suppose I cried because it was all just overwhelming for me at the moment. I really had no business driving half way across the United States, even if it was for a good cause. My house needed a roof, my kids were about to start a new school year, my husband needed a new car, just to name a few of the reasons. But there I was, 100% confident that I belonged there, and 100% confident that everything would be OK, and that God would provide for us exactly as we need. And He has. My house still needs a roof. And the Handsome Husband still needs a car. But the kids got back to school with everything they needed plus some, we've taken care of several other unexpected "emergencies", and we're doing OK.

I also cried that day because I was so very, very grateful to be able to help people who truly needed it.

The day wasn't all seriousness and emotional breakdowns, though. It was alot of fun, too. The girls had a great time hanging out together, and a great time working with the young children that came in. 

And at the end of the shoe drive, one of the student volunteers at the center gave us each either a streak of color in our hair, or a painted faux feather in our hair. It was a blast!

I think meeting the student volunteers hit a soft spot in my heart.  I remember way back when, there was a time when I was much less reserved, and much more free-spirited, and would have signed up in a heartbeat to do what those kids were doing.  I remember having a royal blue wash over my dark hair, and putting together some crazy outfits - all in the name of creative expression. 

Then I "grew up". 

Or did I really just "give up"?  I read a post earlier this week about conformity versus conviction. It struck that same nerve... Tugged at that same spot in my heart...  Made me stop and think.  I think all too often, we equate "growing up" with conforming.  We leave the comfort of high school or college, get a "real" job, and suddenly we become zombies in khaki pants, leaving our "wild ideas" of youth behind for the perceived security a new found conformity will bring to our future.  Or we make new friends. and in our effort to fit in, we discount the importance of our convictions and go along with the crowd, thinking folks will be more likely to like us if we are more like them. 

Phooey.  I've been doing all that conforming stuff for a long, long time, and (thankfully!) I'm realizing that it's not really helping me out so much.  So I'm going to make a concerted effort to stop conforming for the sake of, well...  for the sake of blending in, I guess.  A new, more expressive, true to her convictions, Mary is coming BACK around.

I guess maybe the North Dakota trip was the beginning of that.  Like I've said, I really had no business going, if you look at it from the conservative, conforming vantage point.  But look at it from another viewpoint, and it looks quite different.   It looks like the action of someone with great faith, who knew that if she did what she felt was the right thing - the sort of thing that God was leading her to do so that she could learn and grow - that everything would fall into place.   And, indeed, it is doing just that.

Even during the last day of that trip, I had more reminders that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  Twice more as we drove across South Dakota, Iowa, and Illinois, I met individuals whom I am certain I've met before, though rationally I know that's not probable.   And the feeling of familiarity stayed with me.  Every stop we made, every road we travelled along, every sight I saw, felt "right", and felt reassuring.  It's the weirdest thing, and I know I can't fully explain it.  All I can say about it is that I was comforted and energized by those signs of reassurance that were placed along the way. 

And that brings me to the close of that story.  I have a feeling, though, that it's really just the prelude to a much longer, terrifically epic story in my life.    I can't wait to find out about that one!  :)