Gearing Up

Joseph's Spring Break will be coming soon.  G's prayers for his brother's return home will be answered.

AND.

In a fascinating twist, Joseph will be bringing 3 friends home with him for the Break.  4 college boys in the house for a week.

Of course, my main thought is HOWEVER WILL I FEED THEM?!?!

For someone whose "meal planning" consists of coming home each night and hopefully opening cabinets & freezer... this should be interesting.

I can't wait.

Which makes two of us.

Brothers

Mama, waz dat smell?

Uh - what does it smell like?

Yucky.

Where's it coming from?

Joseph.

G has worked on annoying his brother, but mostly he has just reveled in Joseph being home.  Joseph has been babysitting for us, and there have been no problems.  Well, no behavior problems.  There have been a few "why is my house a pigsty" problems.  I haven't been worrying while at work.  I've been able to ..(dramatic pause).. run errands.  Joseph has even run some errands for me.  Glory.

I asked Joseph to stay but he insists that he has to return to college.

Let the wailing & gnashing of teeth begin.

Parenting

Hi. 

I'm practicing.

So this is how you write a blog post?

Yeah, I remember this.


Sorry I've been absent.  It's really a tragedy, since life has given me SO MUCH GOOD MATERIAL.  Had I been writing, you would have laughed, you would have cried, you would have marveled at the ridiculousness my life.

The biggest news is that I just gave birth to a baby boy. 

And then he left for college.

It happened that fast.  Seriously.

The "taking him to college" part was an extreme blur.  The college had tons of parent activities planned.  Of course, I was also zipping back & forth, tending to G's needs.  We were flying nonstop at supersonic speeds, and then there was one moment where everything suddenly shifted into slow motion...

It was Saturday night.  We'd moved Joseph & all of his stuff into his dorm.  And all of his stuff.  And more stuff.

No joke.  Joseph even took an extra bookcase to college because he could not conceive of living without bunches of his books.

Anyway.  It was Saturday night.  The parent meetings were all over.  There was a nighttime dorm social that Joseph had to get to.  [Time is suddenly slowing down.]  He turned & gave me a hug & said Good-bye, and then he said, "Well, you can pick me up for church tomorrow."  [Each second is passing like it's a 1/2 hour.]  And I have to respond, "Actually, I think it's time for you to find your own church now."  And he was like, "Yeah, right.  Bye."

And we left.

SO strange to be utterly consumed with the job of Parenting for 19 long years.... and then have it be done.

I know - blah blah blah not done blah blah just different blah.

It feels done.

And yet only beginning.

Separation

Joseph said to me: "Remember how the house was so empty after Baxter (our dog) died?  You'll probably feel like that again after I go to college."  His comparison made me laugh.

I had to sit alone in church today.  Someone was definitely missing. 

It felt a little like when Baxter died. 

Unbelievable

He was just born a few months ago, but here we are.

Proud of him.

Blessed

I don't want to live like "Wow, I'm blessed.  I have great kids; they're healthy; I have a job and a house....AND I have Jesus."

As if Jesus is the gravy.

I want to live like "Wow, I'm blessed.  I have Jesus.  I was without hope - doomed - when Jesus paid a price I couldn't pay to rescue me.  Great news!"

As if Jesus is everything.

Love this, from Hebrews 12:

¹ Therefore... let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. ² We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.

(If you happen to know Emily, please note that she can do a fab re-enactment of this verse.  Also note that I'm referring to Emily, my friend, not Emily, my niece.  What with my niece being 9 months old, she's not really big into the re-enactments.  Yet.)

My pastor once said - If someone asks you what's important in their lives, you don't want to hear "Well, first is God.  Second is my family.  Third is my work...."  You want to hear "First is God.  Period."  And then you love your family through your love for God, not just in your own strength.  You do your work through God's equipping and for God's glory.

What with me not being a pastor, I'm sure that he said it better than I just did.

Anyway - that makes sense to me.  I want to live like that.  Running the race set out before me... with my eyes fixed on Jesus... with purpose in every step :)


That was a long intro.


So - God just gave my family a huge gift.

You remember how Joseph applied to several colleges, but he only wanted to go to THE ONE?

     ...and then he got accepted to THE ONE.


          ...He just got a scholarship!

               ...a FULL RIDE scholarship to THE ONE!


I feel some kind of crazy-blessed.  Which, if you read my intooooo, is not exactly how I want to describe things.  How about:

We were already fully blessed. 

And we were just gifted with some mad gravy.

Thanks God.

School Projects

Both of my sons brought home artwork from school.

How sweet.

Um.  From Joseph we have a sculpture of a decapitated eyeball-less screaming head.  On an unusual pedestal.

And from G we have some exquisite cutting/pasting of a decapitated gingerbread man.

Please don't psycho-analyze my family.  We're fine.  Really.

"Headless but creative."  That's us.



A letter arrives

Joseph received his college letter from THE ONE.

(drumroll)

... And he's ACCEPTED!

How he will afford to attend remains to be seen.  But today, we celebrate.

College Acceptance

Joseph got his first acceptance letter!  I asked if he wanted to go out to dinner to celebrate.

"No, we'll celebrate when I get accepted to 'THE ONE'."

All hopes continue to be in that basket.

Awkward

Joseph had an interesting experience last week. 

He was called into the principal's office.  There, he was faced with a stammering school official.  Apparently, the conversation went something like this:

"Well, uh, Joseph.  We.. congratulations.  I mean, your nomination for National Achievement Scholarship, well, that's.. It's just that.. Well, your records.. Because it's significant.. If you just.. I mean, right here (turning his computer to face Joseph).. You know, the qualifications for that scholarship include.. And you see.. You'd need to be of African descent.. So, it's just that, uh.. You're records show.. If you see here.. It says that, uh.. You're White."

First Day of School

My first "First Day of School" with G.

(Preschool.  Because - you know - he "graduated" from the 2-year-old room in May.)



And my last "First" with Joseph.

(He was delighted to pose for me while the neighbors looked on.)

News & Observation

(There's more Vacation to share about, but it has to wait.)

News first.

Ever since Joseph first started thinking about college, there has only been ONE destination in mind.  The dream college.  The goal.  The ONE.

It was while trolling this school's website that Joseph discovered their summer program.  He applied, was accepted, and loved it.  Along the way, he's met lots of folks there - even the Director of Admissions.  And every single minute on that campus has only served to cement its ranking as The ONE.  The looming question of "Will I be accepted?" has been anguished over in our home on many many occasions.

Today Joseph received a form letter from The One congratulating him on his "standing as a high scorer in the PSAT...program."  AND - at the bottom of the letter was a handwritten note from the Director of Admissions: "Hi Joe - I was so excited to see your name on our PSAT list!  Congratulations!  Am really excited about the possibility of you being at [The ONE]."

Oh my word.  The joy.  The hope!  It's really fun to see your child's excitement.  Do you think that when your child's dream comes true it's better than if one of your own dreams did? 

Plus - Joseph's joy factor impelled him to both trim our bushes and scrub out G's little pool - furthering my joy :)

I did remind Joseph that if The ONE doesn't provide a SERIOUS MAJOR LOT of financial aid, then they will be The Impossible.  We shall see.


The Observation

I had really looked forward to my sister's family meeting G and getting to see how funny he is in person.  The kid is a riot.

Only - when they were here, he was not funny.  Not really even once.

As soon as we were back to our regular lives, he blossomed again.  I've been wondering about that.  There are a few different possible explanations, aren't there?  In any case, it's good to know he blossoms at home.

One little example happened tonight.  G gets to choose 3 books for me to read before bed.  Tonight he carefully chose and gave me 2 books.  Then 1 more.  Then -very deliberately-without making eye contact with me- 1 more.  And then again - 1 more.  And then, with exaggerated carelessness, he waved his hand at me & started to lead me towards the bed: "Let's go, Mama."  I held it for 2 beats, but had to burst out laughing.. and he joined me.  He was totally trying to pull one over on me!  And he thought it was hysterical that I busted him.

I love my boys.

Catching Up

It seems I left you looking at a photo of my toilet.  For over a week.  Sorry about that.

Life has been full.  I managed to get together with my "when I was at Firstar" friends.  We enjoyed a couple of minutes of grown-up conversation at Starbucks - in between me picking up bits of things G had hurled to the floor.  I get the feeling sometimes that I serve as a lovely reminder to women everywhere: "Why I am glad that my children are not toddlers any more."  Glad I could help.

I hosted a surprise birthday party for my friend Pam.  My kind of party....  Asked my co-worker to make a cake (yes) +  Asked some of our friends to come (yes) + Asked Pam to come (yes) = Party!  Nothing fancy, but it was fun.

I survived my 6-month adoption home visit.  Why will the social worker not examine my bathtub cleanliness or test my fire alarm?!?  Does she not know that I PREPARE for her visit?  It was supposed to be my final visit, but with the adoption not yet completed, she is going to keep coming every six months.  Which is good, because I really should clean my bathtub at least twice a year.

We picked Joseph up on Saturday.  He was sad to leave his friends.  He spoke at the graduation ceremony and did a fine job.  The program leader shared something special about each graduate.  About Joseph, she noted his real love for learning, and she encouraged him in his plan to become a teacher.  I was -of course- proud.

Guess who was REALLY happy to see Joseph? Oh my. At one point I had to remove G from the auditorium. As I carried him out to the car, he was throwing his hands back towards where Joseph was, while yelling "Waiiiiiittttttt. Wait Dadesh (Joseph)! Wait Dadesh!" He did not want to lose his brother again.  Can you blame him?...

Some News

Last time I wrote that I wasn't inspired to post.  Since then, I've thought of a million things I want to tell you.. but Joseph has been married to the computer, working on a thesis paper.  Finally, I again have access.  I'm glad you didn't give up on me.  Here's some news...

Joseph had TWO band concerts and a band practice last week.  Doesn't that seem a bit extreme?  G's ability/inclination to sit still is improving; I got to enjoy a couple of the songs.  The last concert was Joseph's last concert since he's not taking band next year.  Another chapter finished.

A common occurence while driving is to hear this exclamation from the backseat: "AHBUHZ MAMA, AHBUHZ!"  The boy likes to spot "a bus", for sure.

Just News

All is well.

Thursday we spent the morning at preschool and the evening at college. 

Friday - back to college.  Wheaton put on a GOOD show.  Seriously, there is something special about that school... energy, vibrancy, polish & friendliness.  G only had one meltdown.  Fortunately it was during chapel, and I'd gotten him downstairs, so it was largely unnoticed - except for the ?Filipino? cleaning woman who tsk'ed loudly and informed us several times that G shouldn't be doing that.  Thanks for the tip.

Weekend - nonstop running around.

I had to wash THREE batches of dishes before all were again clean.  Yeah, it was bad.

And the big news....  G started day care today.  It seemed to go well!  Just one hour, but I didn't see any tears (and didn't ask if there were any while I was gone).  I still love his fab teacher.  G has been very demanding / clingy / disobedient tonight - maybe reminding me that his adjustment is still "in progress."  We'll see.

He has a longer stint at day care tomorrow.. plus another vaccination.  Our first IEP meeting is Wednesday (prayer request).  In general, this will be a busy week.

Worth a smile: my favorite new G word is "weh-we" ("ready").  It's spoken as a question, and usually means that he's about to hurtle something for me to catch.  It's helping my reflexes.

The bottoms of all my t-shirts are stretched out from being pulled on all day long.  Annoying.  And my face keeps breaking out, which I'm sure is from G's hair cream rubbing on it all day long.  Also annoying.  How long did I wait & dream of the day when I'd be pulled & loved on?  And now I get annoyed?

The recipe book from Diane is working!  G downed a full serving of carrots today.. disguised in his mac n cheese.  ah ha ha ha!

Three bits of Joseph news...

1. I got a mid-term report this weekend, showing that he's FAILING History (his possible college major) (provided that he gets accepted to college).

2.  He got his ACT score today.  It's good!

3.  The History teacher sent an apology for the incorrect report of failure.  Good thing I took the original news so calmly.  ahem