Well, this is it. That day on the calendar that I've been so looking forward to and also quite dreading. The one that marks the last day that Carson (our oldest) is home with me. Tomorrow, he starts Kindergarten. I'm thinking of all that I have to do between now and then--pack his lunch (will he be able to open the yogurt top by himself? don't forget to send a spoon!), iron his little uniform (did I buy the right size pants? are his shoes solid-color enough to keep him out of the principal's office? for heaven's sake, don't forget his belt!), show him one more time how to use his alarm clock, make sure the camera has batteries (and plenty of free memory), read "the kissing hand" together (and try not to cry) and most of all PRAY (for his protection, for his learning opportunities, for his friendships and for all the other things I might forget or not even know to pray for but somehow that God in his grace will cover them anyway).
When we went to orientation on Friday, his new teacher greeted him and in the sweetest and most sincere voice she said, "Oh, Carson! It's so nice to meet you....I have been praying for you!" Yep, my tears instantly welled up a bit. How blessed we are to send our child to a place where he will be loved and cared for. It won't be like home, of course, but it will good in different ways. Heaven knows the child is ready. He reads everything he can to me and he hasn't had a day of school yet! It'll be awesome to see how much he learns this year.
Thankfully, my parents are coming over tonight and will be here to send Carson off in the morning with us. They'll also serve as tissue fetchers for me and as some distraction while from 8:15 until 3:00 I watch the clock and wait to go pick up my baby.
God is teaching me, though, that it is HE who loves Carson the most and it is HE who provides guidance, protection and who orders the steps of righteous men (and children). So, I'm reminded almost daily lately that even though he'll be out of my care, he's never out of our Father's care and I can rest and rejoice in that!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Back to the future....
Remember that part in Back to the Future where Michael J. Fox is standing in front of that giant tv screen and things pop up on demand? Or the scenes in Star Trek where people talk to the faceless whatever she is and ask for things and they appear? My house is slowly (or quickly) headed in that direction.
I have a degree in software engineering. I do understand a few things. But I am completely amazed at what Richard is doing in our home with the network. Somehow (and only he really knows WHY!), we have both DSL and Cable running into our house. We have servers that still do work for our business providing email and web hosting. We have cable tv (a recent switch from DirecTv). We have Tivo again (thank God because I hated that ridiculous HD-DVR from DirecTv). We have an XBox 360. We have our personal PCs and laptops.
Somehow he's engineered this place so that through our wireless network, we can share files across all of the devices. We can watch a slide show of our wedding photos via the XBox on the tv downstairs. We can download a movie off of the internet, store it on one of the servers and then import it into our Tivo box and watch it in the bedroom. We can listen to internet radio through the Tivo. It's unreal.
Pretty soon, the kids will be sending me video of their recess through their cell phones, I'll get a notification on my laptop and then send the video downstairs to watch it on the XBox! :) HA! Won't that be great.
"COMPUT--AH.....make my dinner, please!!!"
I have a degree in software engineering. I do understand a few things. But I am completely amazed at what Richard is doing in our home with the network. Somehow (and only he really knows WHY!), we have both DSL and Cable running into our house. We have servers that still do work for our business providing email and web hosting. We have cable tv (a recent switch from DirecTv). We have Tivo again (thank God because I hated that ridiculous HD-DVR from DirecTv). We have an XBox 360. We have our personal PCs and laptops.
Somehow he's engineered this place so that through our wireless network, we can share files across all of the devices. We can watch a slide show of our wedding photos via the XBox on the tv downstairs. We can download a movie off of the internet, store it on one of the servers and then import it into our Tivo box and watch it in the bedroom. We can listen to internet radio through the Tivo. It's unreal.
Pretty soon, the kids will be sending me video of their recess through their cell phones, I'll get a notification on my laptop and then send the video downstairs to watch it on the XBox! :) HA! Won't that be great.
"COMPUT--AH.....make my dinner, please!!!"
Thursday, August 2, 2007
Oh, no she DI-IN'T!
I struggled with a title for this post because the story herein is so traumatic that I had trouble naming it with enough gravity. I think this one captures it....almost.
We took the kids out to the park tonight. It's a park that has one of those monstrous two-story ground-hog tunnel contraptions where kids can crawl hands and knees up to the top and slide down with glee. We were the only ones there and our kids were enjoying having the playground to themselves while Richard and I sat on a nearby bench in a rare moment of refreshing silence.
Avery came bounding over to us all cute with pony tail bouncing and skirt swishing around her knees. "Mom, I have to go pee." "You're gonna have to wait." "AWWWWWWWWWWW IIII CAAAN'TTTT" I've heard this before. Yes, she can wait. I responded with a sarcastic, "Well, I guess you'll just have to pee your pants then." She chirped a much too chipper "OK!" and ran off back to the playland. Richard was concerned that she took me seriously and I scoffed, "No she didn't! She knows not to pee in her pants."
Ten minutes later, Carson came running toward us and proclaimed...."Mom, Avery peed in the playland!"
It was one of those instants of maternal terror when you're worried not so much about what your child just said but if anyone in earshot was able to hear the horrific announcement. Seeing that we were alone with this jewel of knowledge, I probed for confirmation, "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Where?" "At the top of the slide."
Avery came out then looking normal as ever. I asked her to turn around and sure enough, the entire back of her skirt was soaking wet. Not only did she pee in playland, she didn't even have the courtesy to pull down her britches. I hung my head half wanting to laugh, half wanting to cry. I told her that I hadn't meant what I said, but of course couldn't scold her. It's not her fault she didn't get my joke.
I contemplated bolting. I mean, no one was there to see our little "crime" and no one would ever know. Heck, it might have evaporated before tomorrow! But, my conscience struck and so Richard went to the van to find something suitable to clean the mess. All we had was my swim cover up in the back of the car--not nearly heavy duty enough for this job, so my dearly beloved husband sacrificed the t-shirt off of his back and began approaching playland. I said, "No, this is my fault, I'll do it."
And I set my face toward playland and marched up to my fate...
Have you ever seen an adult in a playland? There's a reason why not. It was 95 blazing degrees in there, a claustrophobic, buried alive, grave-like experience...in which I could maneuver only on my backside and/or my knees. Carson led the way through the maze to the very top where I found it--a medium-sized puddle of my daughter's yellow pee spreading across the bottom of the hot green plastic tube. I started sweating and feeling very nauseous. I wiped up the pee with the t-shirt and slid out of there as fast as possible. Breaking free, I saw across the way my sweet husband (shirtless) bucklng my daughter (naked as a jay-bird) into her car seat.
They say that pee is sterile. I sure hope so. Because some poor, innocent kid is going to crawl around up there tomorrow and never know the difference. One thing's for sure....it won't be MY kid!
Why is it that the strongest displays of love between parent and child almost always involve some sort of bodily fluid?
We took the kids out to the park tonight. It's a park that has one of those monstrous two-story ground-hog tunnel contraptions where kids can crawl hands and knees up to the top and slide down with glee. We were the only ones there and our kids were enjoying having the playground to themselves while Richard and I sat on a nearby bench in a rare moment of refreshing silence.
Avery came bounding over to us all cute with pony tail bouncing and skirt swishing around her knees. "Mom, I have to go pee." "You're gonna have to wait." "AWWWWWWWWWWW IIII CAAAN'TTTT" I've heard this before. Yes, she can wait. I responded with a sarcastic, "Well, I guess you'll just have to pee your pants then." She chirped a much too chipper "OK!" and ran off back to the playland. Richard was concerned that she took me seriously and I scoffed, "No she didn't! She knows not to pee in her pants."
Ten minutes later, Carson came running toward us and proclaimed...."Mom, Avery peed in the playland!"
It was one of those instants of maternal terror when you're worried not so much about what your child just said but if anyone in earshot was able to hear the horrific announcement. Seeing that we were alone with this jewel of knowledge, I probed for confirmation, "Are you sure?" "Yes." "Where?" "At the top of the slide."
Avery came out then looking normal as ever. I asked her to turn around and sure enough, the entire back of her skirt was soaking wet. Not only did she pee in playland, she didn't even have the courtesy to pull down her britches. I hung my head half wanting to laugh, half wanting to cry. I told her that I hadn't meant what I said, but of course couldn't scold her. It's not her fault she didn't get my joke.
I contemplated bolting. I mean, no one was there to see our little "crime" and no one would ever know. Heck, it might have evaporated before tomorrow! But, my conscience struck and so Richard went to the van to find something suitable to clean the mess. All we had was my swim cover up in the back of the car--not nearly heavy duty enough for this job, so my dearly beloved husband sacrificed the t-shirt off of his back and began approaching playland. I said, "No, this is my fault, I'll do it."
And I set my face toward playland and marched up to my fate...
Have you ever seen an adult in a playland? There's a reason why not. It was 95 blazing degrees in there, a claustrophobic, buried alive, grave-like experience...in which I could maneuver only on my backside and/or my knees. Carson led the way through the maze to the very top where I found it--a medium-sized puddle of my daughter's yellow pee spreading across the bottom of the hot green plastic tube. I started sweating and feeling very nauseous. I wiped up the pee with the t-shirt and slid out of there as fast as possible. Breaking free, I saw across the way my sweet husband (shirtless) bucklng my daughter (naked as a jay-bird) into her car seat.
They say that pee is sterile. I sure hope so. Because some poor, innocent kid is going to crawl around up there tomorrow and never know the difference. One thing's for sure....it won't be MY kid!
Why is it that the strongest displays of love between parent and child almost always involve some sort of bodily fluid?
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