Here we go, yo...

2016 is back upon us.

Mom and Deb are back in California.  Have been, in fact, for nearly a week.

Robert and I are back to work. 

The younger kids return to school tomorrow.  Joshua resumed his ukulele lessons today and finished his driver's education instruction.  (Next step:  DMV for test to obtain his permit.)  Grace has been studying all Christmas break for a spelling bee when she returns to school tomorrow.  She has mastered all the words through 5th grade, and probably 90% of the words for 6th grade, most of the words for 7th grade, and about half the words for 8th grade.  We are really proud of her.

The oldest kid has been working and pursuing taekwondo, earning her yellow belt over the Christmas break.  She has yet to land on a plan for her future, but has been thinking about things.  Prayers are appreciated for wisdom and direction.

I make resolutions.  I know most people poo-poo it but I think it is good and healthy to assess your life here and there (I usually do at the beginning of the calendar year and the beginning of the school year as well) and make goals.  Sure, I fail a lot, but is that any reason NOT to strive for better?

So I have two floating around in my mind, not counting the spiritual goal of working on application as I mentioned in my last post.

First, I want to read more, and specifically, more Agatha.  I've long wanted to read all her published works in order, and I've yet to do it.  She has published more than 80 novels, so it is highly doubtful I can cover all that in a year, but I'm going to shoot for about half in 2016.  In addition, I'm reviving my Dear Agatha blog to help me stay on track.  (The linky is on the right of this page.)

Probably more importantly, I have a health goal, the first real one I've made in years.  Sure, every January, most "fluffy" people think in their heads that they'd like to lose weight, but this one is serious.  Weight loss may or may not follow ~ but the real goal is to get my blood glucose figures into target range.  They have not been where they are supposed to be for a long time.  I had a little bit of a "wake up call" discussion with my doctor last month.  It's time to do something.  Seriously.  So I've been working on baby steps with that for about a month now.  My numbers are improving, but I still have quite a ways to go.

You, faithful readers, are granted permission to keep me accountable.  :)  For both goals!  A healthy mind - one stimulated even by fiction writing, much more valuable than Facebook reading - is as important to me as a healthy body.

What about you?  Any goals for 2016?

All is well

I just didn't get a chance to blog last week while I was at work, and at home my netbook does not apparently like me to blog (although I'm kind of wondering if that new router my Ro installed this weekend might help that...)

But we are good, fine, A-OK, and still kickin'. 

Christianne has returned to work at the soup kitchen - I mean - Panera.  They were happy to have her back and gave her a little bit of a raise so that always helps.  She/we is/are currently processing her separation paperwork from the Navy and have quite a bit to figure out over the next few months - including whether or not she wants to go back in or not.  We are moving forward as if that were a yes, but there is still much to determine ~ whether or not she can re-enter as a CTI, whether or not she can get waivers for the items which separated her.  She just returned to work, so we will begin attacking those other things soon.

Master Scott (he is officially a Master, now, by the way, earning his 3rd degree black belt two days ago) has graciously been allowing Christianne to train for free at the dojang until she returns to the Navy.  She is finding that she is loving it, especially sparring, despite the beating (no pun intended) her body took last week.  Her foot was badly bruised and her sternum hurt when she laughed, or ran.

Joshua and Grace are out of school this week, and I dare say I will not likely see much of Grace as she has friends who seem to adore her and keep her for long periods of time.  She, too, has been doing well, scoring first place in forms at a tournament last week, and earning her promotion to red belt after testing last week as well.  She has been studying taekwondo now for about 3 and a half years and this red belt signals a definite turning point as all things now are training for her black belt.  It will be at least a year in the making, probably more.  She is so excited, though, as are we, and we're all very proud.  I will figure out how to upload some video of that in another post.

Josh has indeed earned all the money he needs for his trip to Europe in just a few months.  Actually, if you would, please pray for our boy and the trip and the circumstances in Greece and other parts of Europe that give us a little pause in our excitement.  Josh has worked so hard, and continues to work hard, and has been learning to balance a heavy work load on top of a heavy school load with a little bit of social life and driver's ed training thrown in.

Happy Thanksgiving!

That boy...

Fast forward 16 years.  (How can THAT be?) 

I will tell you up front that this post will sound like I am bragging.  Maybe I am, but I am an incredibly proud mama and I mostly tell these wonderful things because it is not by MY parenting - At. All.  This is by the grace of God.  I had no idea how to raise a boy.  I still don't!

There are so many things I love about my Josh.  He is handsome and intelligent.  He is brave.  (Once he tried to protect us from an intruder with a giant spoon.)  He is good, like that kind of deep goodness that is true and sincere and comes from within.  He has a heart for others, a servant's heart.  He doesn't like the limelight.  He would probably hate that I am posting this.  And He. Is.  Funny.  Oh my word, that boy brings so much joy to my heart and so many smiles to my face.  I love him so much.

(In fact, Robert told me yesterday that he had told Josh that he (Josh) was the funniest person he (Ro) knew.  I will admit that made me a little jealous. Ha!)

I have been blessed to have three children with character, so incredibly blessed.  But since this post is about "that boy," I do want to share with you two recent and, I think, amazing accomplishments.

Joshua took two AP classes last year as a sophomore.  (This year I believe he has three.)  He also took two AP exams for those classes last spring.  If you don't know, that means that if he scores well enough on those tests, he does not have to take those classes in college, earning college credit with the passing of the test.  There are definitely sophomores (and probably even some freshmen) who take these AP classes and tests, but the majority of students taking them are juniors and seniors.  The books aren't the traditional textbooks that the public school offers for free, but college texts - meaning:  $$.  And the tests cost about $100 a pop as well, so this was definitely a small investment into his future as well.

But, as I'm sure you are expecting, it paid off.  Joshua scored a 5 on each of his AP exams for AP Psychology and AP US Government.  That's the highest score you can get.  And yes, college credit earned.

Even more than that I am proud of what he has accomplished this summer.  Josh decided at the end of the last school year that he would like to take an educational tour next spring break (March 2016) with a handful of his classmates and a teacher or two to Florence, Rome, and Greece.  Can you even imagine what kind of an opportunity this will be?  Greece and Rome alone have had such an impact on our history and culture!

However, opportunities like that don't come free.  We were concerned because at the same time he brought this information home, we learned that our beloved State of Colorado was going to aggressively seek the back taxes that we have owed them. 

So he got a job.

As soon as school was out, he began applying for jobs.  He applied for several before he got a call from Good Times.  Here's the thing about Good Times.  Although they are a fast food restaurant, they pay above minimum wage.  In fact, he is making more than a dollar above minimum wage!  His base pay is minimum, but he earns an incentive by being on time and having good attendance that brought him to more than a dollar above what Chris made after a year working for Panera.

The other funny thing I've learned is that the manager in his store doesn't hire teenagers as a general rule.  He said he tends to find them flaky and they don't have their stuff together.  He had a good feeling about Josh and took a risk and has been very, very happy with him.

So that trip... the cost for that trip is about $3613.  (I may be off a little bit because I don't have my numbers in front of me.)  Joshua got paid today... and taking into account that money and what I expect him to get back on his income taxes ~ Josh has just about $300 left to earn to pay for the trip entirely himself.

Isn't that amazing?  He worked a lot of hours this summer!  He has a good work ethic and is willing to pick up shifts and I am just so incredibly proud of him.  He is still working about 27 hours a week although school has started because the store has been in a bind, but he will cut back to 10 or 15 soon - probably right after the trip is paid off.  Then he can start earning the spending money to boot.

Sigh. 

I am so blessed.

Story #3: About the boy they told me would be a girl

Let's just start there, shall we?  Let's just start at the very beginning.

Remember my plan, the plan to have four little girls?  They might've been named Meg, Beth, Jo, and Amy in my mind at least.  Christianne came along, just as planned.  And then I was pregnant again, just as planned. 

My pregnancy was uneventful, except that I was considered high risk as with Christianne because of gestational diabetes.  As I think I mentioned before, that meant monthly ultrasounds.  I had ultrasounds just about every four weeks the entire pregnancy, and since we were veterans now at that parenting thing, we decided with this child to learn the gender of the baby in advance.  (We were surprised with Chris, although remember, I had planned to have a girl, so I pretty much knew she would be a girl.)

Multiple ultrasounds.  Multiple echoes of the same verdict:  she's a girl!

I was given a baby shower, with lots of pink, and a pink girly-girl shower cake.  I got lots of dresses and cute little girly-girl outfits.

We had somewhat decided on a name (although not a spelling) ~ she would be Hayley or Hailey or Hayleigh or some variation of that.

Because she was due in May and Christianne had been born in May, it was perfect.  I got out all of Christianne's old baby clothes, washed them, and hung them in the closet.  Everything was sized correctly for the seasons, because, after all, I had planned this.

Often, the big sister-to-be would kiss her baby sister through my belly.  She would tell her Hailey/Hayley/Hayleigh that she loved her.  We had bonded with this new little girl and couldn't wait to meet her.

It was perfect.

My pregnancy began to wind down.  I was tired.  I was emotional.  I was hormonal and ready to be done.  I went in for the final ultrasound before the baby arrived at Kaiser in Lancaster.

The ultrasound tech had no personality and seemed bored with life. (I don't get that - how can you not be filled with awe and wonder seeing these developing babies every day?)  He was a nerdy-looking guy, with blond hair and glasses, and he spoke in a monotone, when he spoke at all.  He went about his business capturing images, measuring, and making notes.  Trying to lighten things up a bit, I asked, "She's still a girl, right?"

"Um, nope."

What?!  Wait, WHAT?

And then this guy deadpanned, "Not unless she grew a tail."

Oh my word.  What just happened?

Now many would think this was just not a big deal, but I lost it.  I bawled.  It *was* a big deal to me.  I felt like, in a single moment, the little girl I had bonded with for months was just... gone.  Remember:  I was emotional, tired, and I. had. planned. this.

I was having a boy?

I had no idea how to be a mom to a boy.  I had never planned for it!  I didn't have boy names picked out.  I hadn't researched circumcision.  I didn't know how to teach them to pee standing up.  I knew nothing.  And I will admit, it knocked the wind right out of me.

I still didn't believe I was having a boy when I was sent to the hospital a short time later to induce labor.  We went through baby name books while I was being admitted, just in case.  (Although I love the name Joshua because it means "the Lord saves," I might not have chosen it if I had known how popular it was.)  And even when that large-headed precious bundle of joy came out of me, my first question was, "Is it really a boy?"

Those dresses in the closet?  Packed back up.  Gifts from the shower?  Returned. 

Man plans, and God laughs.

But He does know best.  He knows better than I do.  His plans are better than my plans, every single time.  And how I love this boy, this man-child of mine who is 16 now, this person who seems to get me, I think, more than the others do.  This boy, who is growing up so quickly and maturing into someone I am so incredibly proud of... this boy is a gift. 

They are all gifts, of course.  But this one is different.  It was wrapped in blue.  It was not what I had asked for, and yet it has brought me more joy than I could have imagined.

Thank You, Abba Father, for this boy.

Man Camp

by Contributing Guest Writer, Joshua

My camping trip was awesome!!!! The drive was long, though. :( But when we finally got there, I wanted to put up the tent, but my dad said we had to eat first. When we finished eating the chicken, we put up the tent. Unfortunately, we didn’t have a rainfly and it was going to rain. So we had to take it down and put it in the box(which has guns in it!!!!). Geeez, what a waste of time. My dad’s friend was there and he invited us in one of the tents that was already put up. However, we got the wrong tent. Oh well, what’s past is past and besides, they knew how to turn on a heater!!! Applause for them!!!! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! But when we woke up, we went fishing. Nothing. We ate breakfeast(camp eggs.) and attended worship. Then dad’s friend said whatever we catch, we would eat for dinner. We went fishing again. Nothing. So we decided to go for a walk.And sure enough, we came to a point were there was a few targets, a truck, and every child.Archery!!! I have to admit, I was pretty good.(See the pictures)When we finished it was about dinner. Apparently, we had a few lucky catches. After that we had dinner, than another worship. So after that we had smores. And on the final morning we had breakfeast,worship and Lord’s supper. Then we left. All in all I had a pretty good time.

Delight

Isn't one of the best feelings in the world when a baby smiles at you?

I can have the worst day, be tired and stressed and have a headache, and when my Gracie smiles at me, it just instantly lifts my heart.

Today I watched my grandfather light up when she smiled at him. Recently I was tickled watching my mom interact with her at the mall ~ because she was tickled by Gracie's smile.

It just brings a feeling of... of delight. Maybe it's because at 11 1/2 weeks Gracie only knows how to express herself in two ways: by smiling or by crying. Who in their right mind would prefer the latter? (Especially when that was all we got for the first six weeks or so!)

But last night I got to thinking about Gracie's smile. I thought of my two older kids ~ two of the three greatest kids in the universe ~ and how I often take their smiles for granted. Don't get me wrong ~ there's not much I enjoy more than pleasing my children. I love to spoil them and make them happy. But how many times in the day do I dismiss them because I'm busy or because genuinely I'm not as interested in what they delight in? How many times does Joshua come to me and ask to show me his latest Lego creation, and I say, "Not now, Josh; I'm busy"? How many times do I say the same thing to Christianne when she wants to tell me something that seems to go on and on and on?

The fact is I take my kids for granted. They are wonderful, delightful children. They are smart, creative, funny, and fairly well-behaved. Yet I let myself get caught up with all the things that *I* want to do - important or not - and I don't want to be interrupted. How's that for being selfish?

As a matter of fact, in the few minutes I've sat down to write this, I've been "interrupted" no less than 6 times. At least tonight, for a change, I've stopped what I was doing to hug and love on my kids. After all, aren't they the reason I do what I do? Aren't they the reason we've made the choices we have? And aren't they three of the greatest blessings I've been given?

I don't want to take my kids for granted. I've already seen how fast they grow. They'll be adults before I know it.

I have to quit writing for now. My daughter is putting on a show and I don't want to miss it for the world.

Gifted

Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with Whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

James 1:17 ESV

I am amazingly blessed. Here are four good and perfect gifts my Father has given me.

 

~ 08/12/06, Salinas, CA