They were sitting at a picnic bench. I watched as the mom left the area to place their order for dinner. The man and his two daughters were eating chips and salsa, all three in a row, smallest to biggest. The smallest one fell off the bench which was connected to the table. The man tried to act quickly to get to the smallest one but in his haste, he too fell from the bench knocking down the middle girl. Once the man freed himself from the bench he quickly picked up the small one and bent over towards the middle one who was laying on the bench.
His fist closed.
His arm raised.
His fist pounded the middle one on the back of her hip.
The middle one scurried to the ground. She yelled and cried and moved to the next table huddled around the base yelling things at the man.
My husband spoke to the man. My husband called the police.
I spoke to the middle one, trying to get her to come to me so we could find her mother.
The man said to stay out of it. To leave the girls alone.
The mother came back to two screaming girls and an angry man. She came back to another man talking to the police on the phone. She came back to a woman cleaning up her children. She told her man to take five. She huddled with her girls. She listened as several people told her that the man punched the middle one.
I told her we would not leave her until the police came. She asked me what to do. I asked if this had ever happened before. She cried and said yes.
The police came.
They found the man.
They spoke to the woman.
They spoke to the girls.
They spoke to us.
And then we left.
My children are shaken. They stuck close by my side. They couldn't process what they saw. My boy said he can't get the image out of his head. My girl said over and over what the man did.
My husband...is a good man with a soft heart. My husband acted quickly. My husband stood his ground.
A Many Family Blog
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
7/23/11
5/19/10
We've Got Neighbors
Check out our awesome neighbors! They're the ones with the chickens!
http://www.hgtv.com/videos/hobbit-house/1710.html
http://www.hgtv.com/videos/hobbit-house/1710.html
12/28/08
11/13/08
Sunshine, Reflection
Friends and Family, I am sitting in sunlight! The sky broke sometime this morning and the sun is streaming into my living room. Tank is following the rays around the room curling himself into a ball and sleeping peacefully at each spot. It feels good!
So I've been working on a posting in my head for a while now. It all started like this:
I made dinner the other night- a stew if you can believe it- and it tasted so good. We were all sitting at the table slurping the warm goodness, enjoying each others company, trying to make August focus on good things that had happened to him that day. When dinner was over Trey announced that the kids would be cleaning the dishes and the table this evening. Nice! I retired to the living room and within a few minutes, Trey joined me. We lounged on our comfy couches and I proclaimed that this was how it was supposed to be. The kids were supposed to help make the kitchen clean. It's how my folks raised us and August and Hazel are now officially old enough to do most of the things needed to clean the kitchen.
It reminded me of an essay I wrote a long time ago. I know I've posted some of my old writings here before, but I can't remember (and am too lazy to look through last years postings) if I've had this one up before. So here it is, I call this one JOBS:
***Taken around this time but missing a few key players...Rick is not in this picture***
We all had our own jobs. Being one of 10 often made that part of home life a bit easier. The list of jobs rotated among the children. Either Mom or Dad cooked, but we secretly hoped it would be Dad; he made the best enchilada’s. Mom, however, cooked most of the time. Her specialty was pizza, and she made the crust from scratch. We hated it, but no one had the heart to tell her. Years later she would agree with us; Dad is now in charge in the kitchen.
My job that night was to sweep the kitchen floor. This task was not the best one on the list, but it sure beat washing ten sets of dishes. I scanned the floor as I approached the table. It was already a mess with some dried tomato sauce crusted in the corner looking suspiciously like blood. Must have been Richard’s job to sweep the night before.
Richard was the first child my parents adopted. He came to live with us when I was a year old. Richard was with us for 10 years before the adoption became official. He was originally from a Hispanic family and he is mentally handicapped. The court system wanted to make sure that a Spanish speaking family wasn’t available before they would allow us to officially adopt him. Richard was non-verbal.
Dad called Kathy for the fourth time to join the rest of the family for dinner. My Dad always prayed before every meal and the whole family had to be present before we began. We waited as Kathy slowly walked down the stairs. Finally, everyone was seated, crowded around the table: Scott, Richard, Kathy, Dawn, Matthew, Jamie, Virginia, Cindy, Rick, Mom, Dad and myself. Dad said the prayer. He was usually pretty good about keeping it short, thanking God for the day, for the family and for the food. Every once in a while he prayed for something specifically, if one of us had a test he would pray that we would remember what we studied. Dad was sure to give us the ‘talk’ when it came to praying about an upcoming test. He reminded us that God can refresh our memory, but not pop things into our heads out of the blue. Therefore, we were always expected to study. Believing in God never got us off the hook.
In our house dinnertime was a social event. Everyone was expected to attend. We all had our jobs to do: one of us set the table, one of us cleared it, someone swept the floor, someone washed the dishes, someone else dried them, and someone else put them away. These jobs were rotated throughout the children, we even had some nights off. The lucky kids with nothing to do would gloat that they had to do a chore last night but were going to read a book while we finished up the kitchen that night. We were a well-oiled machine. Some of us needed a bit more oil here and there, as the kitchen floor proved on that night. In the long run, things were pretty smooth in our house.
Everyone was talking at once. Scott was getting ready to move to Tennessee for college. Rick was excited about his new job switching from Domino’s Pizza to Dolly's Pizza . Kathy was her melodramatic self and was huffing and puffing at everyone. Richard babbled all through dinner, but for the most part we understood. Sometimes his language was a bit rough. Matthew and Jamie were young then, they just looked around and smiled at all the activity. Dawn was a watcher, it took her a while to get started, but once she opened her mouth she was on a roll. Mom and Dad were asking questions around the table. Everyone was trying to get their two cents in. I talked about how much I hated middle school. I could not wait to be done.
Scott was going to be gone in just about a month. I wasn’t looking forward to his departure. I always felt close to him. Looking back I realize that I was just his younger sister. He picked on me about the amount of make-up I wore, the clothes I chose, and the friends I had. He was a good big brother. I didn’t want him to leave me. Kathy caught my attention when I noticed that she was wearing one of my sweaters. I couldn’t stand when she took my things without asking. I asked her where she got it, she responded by informing me that she had gotten it from my closet. Dad must have known we were about to argue because he threw a piece of corn at me.
It bounced off my head and landed in my milk.
Mom gave Dad a knowing glare. Dad simply shrugged his shoulders. He succeeded in defusing the argument; he also succeeded in starting our weekly food-fight. I picked up a chunk of meat loaf and lobbed it toward Dad, only to miss him and hit Rick square in the forehead, a shot I could not have made if I tried. Rick stared, dumbstruck and made the official announcement. The fight was on.
Food was flying. The walls were like a Pollock canvas; splattered colors everywhere. Dad was always very active in our food-fights but it was very hard to pin him down. He was sneaky about his launches. He would look at one person and hit someone else, his college baseball days prepped him well. Mom would always threaten us. We were never to involve her, which just made it more fun to accidentally get her. The best part of our food-fights was watching Richard. He would sense the impending fight like a prairie dog sensing impending danger. His head would lower towards his plate, one arm encircling it to protect it from oncoming shrapnel. He would not throw his food, which he saw as a waste. Richard was at the table to eat, not waste. Dad would inevitably attempt to grab some of Richard’s food only to have his hand swatted away.
Once all the food was either eaten or thrown, it was time to clean up. The person who had to clear the table had quite a task ahead of them, that night it was Kathy. She complained the whole time. Scott washed the dishes, Richard dried them and Rick put them away. I had to make the floor appear as though there was never a food-fight that night, which was easier said than done. Some night’s we could get away without mopping. This was not one of those nights. I began by sweeping around the chairs, trying to get under the table without moving things. Dad unfortunately came into the kitchen while I was doing this. His tip for the night was to move the chairs out of the kitchen so I could sweep under the table effectively. Dad was always good for these tips. He was also known for calling whomever washed the dishes back to the sink. He would inevitably explain that washing the dishes included cleaning out the sink when you’re done. You’d think after hearing it every night, we’d remember. Maybe we just wanted Dad to give us some one-on-one attention.
Once the kitchen was clean, our parents would inspect it like drill sergeants. We would then disperse throughout the house. Most of us ended up downstairs to watch TV. My parents watched TV with us; it was a family event for the most part. We watched programs like Northern Exposure and Moonlighting. We were not allowed to watch channels like HBO or MTV. We saved that for times when our folks weren’t around, when we were sure we could get away with it. This meant that only certain siblings could be around. Dawn was not one of these siblings. She was a timid girl who would tattle on you without intending to. It was hard to be mad at her so we just didn’t do anything ‘wrong’ in front of her.
Mom and Dad would eventually disappear after a show or two and we would smell the sweet aroma of cookies or pudding. They did this for us often. It was our special thing -- warm dessert after a job well done. They would call us up, one by one. The serving system was a bit different, as Dad would give us a bowl and tell us to go down and give it to one of our siblings. Everyone served and was served to. Everyone was involved in our family, regardless of the activity. Whether it was a food-fight, cleaning, or eating, everyone was involved. My parents worked hard at seeing to this.
Being part of a big family had its drawbacks, but our job ultimately was to fit in and to get things done. I think my parents had a hard task; they had to prepare us for the future. They gave us jobs, responsibilities and a sense of purpose, in order to accomplish this monstrous undertaking.
So I've been working on a posting in my head for a while now. It all started like this:
I made dinner the other night- a stew if you can believe it- and it tasted so good. We were all sitting at the table slurping the warm goodness, enjoying each others company, trying to make August focus on good things that had happened to him that day. When dinner was over Trey announced that the kids would be cleaning the dishes and the table this evening. Nice! I retired to the living room and within a few minutes, Trey joined me. We lounged on our comfy couches and I proclaimed that this was how it was supposed to be. The kids were supposed to help make the kitchen clean. It's how my folks raised us and August and Hazel are now officially old enough to do most of the things needed to clean the kitchen.
It reminded me of an essay I wrote a long time ago. I know I've posted some of my old writings here before, but I can't remember (and am too lazy to look through last years postings) if I've had this one up before. So here it is, I call this one JOBS:
***Taken around this time but missing a few key players...Rick is not in this picture***We all had our own jobs. Being one of 10 often made that part of home life a bit easier. The list of jobs rotated among the children. Either Mom or Dad cooked, but we secretly hoped it would be Dad; he made the best enchilada’s. Mom, however, cooked most of the time. Her specialty was pizza, and she made the crust from scratch. We hated it, but no one had the heart to tell her. Years later she would agree with us; Dad is now in charge in the kitchen.
My job that night was to sweep the kitchen floor. This task was not the best one on the list, but it sure beat washing ten sets of dishes. I scanned the floor as I approached the table. It was already a mess with some dried tomato sauce crusted in the corner looking suspiciously like blood. Must have been Richard’s job to sweep the night before.
Richard was the first child my parents adopted. He came to live with us when I was a year old. Richard was with us for 10 years before the adoption became official. He was originally from a Hispanic family and he is mentally handicapped. The court system wanted to make sure that a Spanish speaking family wasn’t available before they would allow us to officially adopt him. Richard was non-verbal.
Dad called Kathy for the fourth time to join the rest of the family for dinner. My Dad always prayed before every meal and the whole family had to be present before we began. We waited as Kathy slowly walked down the stairs. Finally, everyone was seated, crowded around the table: Scott, Richard, Kathy, Dawn, Matthew, Jamie, Virginia, Cindy, Rick, Mom, Dad and myself. Dad said the prayer. He was usually pretty good about keeping it short, thanking God for the day, for the family and for the food. Every once in a while he prayed for something specifically, if one of us had a test he would pray that we would remember what we studied. Dad was sure to give us the ‘talk’ when it came to praying about an upcoming test. He reminded us that God can refresh our memory, but not pop things into our heads out of the blue. Therefore, we were always expected to study. Believing in God never got us off the hook.
In our house dinnertime was a social event. Everyone was expected to attend. We all had our jobs to do: one of us set the table, one of us cleared it, someone swept the floor, someone washed the dishes, someone else dried them, and someone else put them away. These jobs were rotated throughout the children, we even had some nights off. The lucky kids with nothing to do would gloat that they had to do a chore last night but were going to read a book while we finished up the kitchen that night. We were a well-oiled machine. Some of us needed a bit more oil here and there, as the kitchen floor proved on that night. In the long run, things were pretty smooth in our house.
Everyone was talking at once. Scott was getting ready to move to Tennessee for college. Rick was excited about his new job switching from Domino’s Pizza to Dolly's Pizza . Kathy was her melodramatic self and was huffing and puffing at everyone. Richard babbled all through dinner, but for the most part we understood. Sometimes his language was a bit rough. Matthew and Jamie were young then, they just looked around and smiled at all the activity. Dawn was a watcher, it took her a while to get started, but once she opened her mouth she was on a roll. Mom and Dad were asking questions around the table. Everyone was trying to get their two cents in. I talked about how much I hated middle school. I could not wait to be done.
Scott was going to be gone in just about a month. I wasn’t looking forward to his departure. I always felt close to him. Looking back I realize that I was just his younger sister. He picked on me about the amount of make-up I wore, the clothes I chose, and the friends I had. He was a good big brother. I didn’t want him to leave me. Kathy caught my attention when I noticed that she was wearing one of my sweaters. I couldn’t stand when she took my things without asking. I asked her where she got it, she responded by informing me that she had gotten it from my closet. Dad must have known we were about to argue because he threw a piece of corn at me.
It bounced off my head and landed in my milk.
Mom gave Dad a knowing glare. Dad simply shrugged his shoulders. He succeeded in defusing the argument; he also succeeded in starting our weekly food-fight. I picked up a chunk of meat loaf and lobbed it toward Dad, only to miss him and hit Rick square in the forehead, a shot I could not have made if I tried. Rick stared, dumbstruck and made the official announcement. The fight was on.
Food was flying. The walls were like a Pollock canvas; splattered colors everywhere. Dad was always very active in our food-fights but it was very hard to pin him down. He was sneaky about his launches. He would look at one person and hit someone else, his college baseball days prepped him well. Mom would always threaten us. We were never to involve her, which just made it more fun to accidentally get her. The best part of our food-fights was watching Richard. He would sense the impending fight like a prairie dog sensing impending danger. His head would lower towards his plate, one arm encircling it to protect it from oncoming shrapnel. He would not throw his food, which he saw as a waste. Richard was at the table to eat, not waste. Dad would inevitably attempt to grab some of Richard’s food only to have his hand swatted away.
Once all the food was either eaten or thrown, it was time to clean up. The person who had to clear the table had quite a task ahead of them, that night it was Kathy. She complained the whole time. Scott washed the dishes, Richard dried them and Rick put them away. I had to make the floor appear as though there was never a food-fight that night, which was easier said than done. Some night’s we could get away without mopping. This was not one of those nights. I began by sweeping around the chairs, trying to get under the table without moving things. Dad unfortunately came into the kitchen while I was doing this. His tip for the night was to move the chairs out of the kitchen so I could sweep under the table effectively. Dad was always good for these tips. He was also known for calling whomever washed the dishes back to the sink. He would inevitably explain that washing the dishes included cleaning out the sink when you’re done. You’d think after hearing it every night, we’d remember. Maybe we just wanted Dad to give us some one-on-one attention.
Once the kitchen was clean, our parents would inspect it like drill sergeants. We would then disperse throughout the house. Most of us ended up downstairs to watch TV. My parents watched TV with us; it was a family event for the most part. We watched programs like Northern Exposure and Moonlighting. We were not allowed to watch channels like HBO or MTV. We saved that for times when our folks weren’t around, when we were sure we could get away with it. This meant that only certain siblings could be around. Dawn was not one of these siblings. She was a timid girl who would tattle on you without intending to. It was hard to be mad at her so we just didn’t do anything ‘wrong’ in front of her.
Mom and Dad would eventually disappear after a show or two and we would smell the sweet aroma of cookies or pudding. They did this for us often. It was our special thing -- warm dessert after a job well done. They would call us up, one by one. The serving system was a bit different, as Dad would give us a bowl and tell us to go down and give it to one of our siblings. Everyone served and was served to. Everyone was involved in our family, regardless of the activity. Whether it was a food-fight, cleaning, or eating, everyone was involved. My parents worked hard at seeing to this.
Being part of a big family had its drawbacks, but our job ultimately was to fit in and to get things done. I think my parents had a hard task; they had to prepare us for the future. They gave us jobs, responsibilities and a sense of purpose, in order to accomplish this monstrous undertaking.
8/29/08
Last Week of Summer
We had Mike and Rebecca in town for the last week of summer break. Our time was spent "back to school" shopping and exploring the Locks in Ballard and playing Wii.
The kids were super sad to see them go and Tank...well, Tank spent the day sulking on the couch in protest of their leaving.
The kids were super sad to see them go and Tank...well, Tank spent the day sulking on the couch in protest of their leaving.
8/27/08
Many Wedding
We also attended the wedding of Trey's brother in North Carolina this summer. You can find the pictures (which include a few from Hazel's point of view) at my MobileMe Gallery:
http://gallery.me.com/jennifermany
Here's a quick sampling if you don't have the time to look through them all:
http://gallery.me.com/jennifermany
Here's a quick sampling if you don't have the time to look through them all:
8/24/08
It was the summer of 2008
I feel like I owe you all so much after being away from the computer for so long. We've done so much this summer, here are some sneak peeks into all our comings and goings:
We did a bit of shopping.
Celebrated our 10 year anniversary.
Took the kids out to eat.
Finally saw the flamingo's.
Went to the dog park a bunch.
Got henna tattoo's at a street fair.
Saw some movies.
Had a picnic or two.
Recorded a song.
Celebrated Jonah's birthday.
Ate some Top Pot.
Had friends over.
Went swimming with Jonah again.
And Again!
Visited family.
Saw Uncle Justin in a whole new light.
Went to Sasquatch!
Got our nails done!!
Went on trips.
Slept on planes.
Cheered for Aunt Kathleen.
Celebrated Rosie.
Had Royal over.
Spent some alone time.
Went to Mexico.
Read a ton of books.
Celebrated Sub Pop.
Celebrated the Shoop wedding.
Watched Nicole sing.
Ate some GOOOOOD food.
And that's just part of what we've done. I still have to get the pictures from our trip to North Carolina and Michigan. But this is all I can get through now. I'm looking forward to the kids coming home so we can get everything ready for the school year. Hazel in 1st and August in 4th! We have school clothes to buy and lists of school supplies to tick off.
I'll post more memories as they flood my computer.
I have some pictures from the Shoop wedding up at this website:
http://gallery.me.com/jennifermany
Feel free to poke around.
We did a bit of shopping.
Celebrated our 10 year anniversary.
Took the kids out to eat.
Finally saw the flamingo's.
Went to the dog park a bunch.
Got henna tattoo's at a street fair.
Saw some movies.
Had a picnic or two.
Recorded a song.
Celebrated Jonah's birthday.
Ate some Top Pot.
Had friends over.
Went swimming with Jonah again.
And Again!
Visited family.
Saw Uncle Justin in a whole new light.
Went to Sasquatch!
Got our nails done!!
Went on trips.
Slept on planes.
Cheered for Aunt Kathleen.
Celebrated Rosie.
Had Royal over.
Spent some alone time.
Went to Mexico.
Read a ton of books.
Celebrated Sub Pop.
Celebrated the Shoop wedding.
Watched Nicole sing.
Ate some GOOOOOD food.And that's just part of what we've done. I still have to get the pictures from our trip to North Carolina and Michigan. But this is all I can get through now. I'm looking forward to the kids coming home so we can get everything ready for the school year. Hazel in 1st and August in 4th! We have school clothes to buy and lists of school supplies to tick off.
I'll post more memories as they flood my computer.
I have some pictures from the Shoop wedding up at this website:
http://gallery.me.com/jennifermany
Feel free to poke around.
7/28/08
Birth Control
I'm sitting here watching Jon and Kate Plus Eight and I just realized that every commercial break consists of anti-aging creams and birth control pills!
6/7/08
Faces, Balls and Accountants
The kids and I took a few hours out of our crazy schedule today to watch Kathleen and Justin play kickball. 
Oh My Goodness! I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long!!
Their team is called "Git Some" and the team they played against is called "Awesome Town". Each player on "Awesome Town" was a towns person- they had a mayor (who played the whole game with his brief case), a snowboarder (who played the whole game with his snowboard!!) and a tiger among other people. But the best towns person by far was the accountant:
This guys stayed in character the entire time. When he caught a ball he quickly dropped it to calculate it on his HUGE calculator that he kept with him. The first time he came up to kick he had all his files with him and when he made contact with the ball he threw all the files and promptly freaked out about the "Thompson File!!!!"
To begin each game the teams must have a skit. Kathleen and Justin came with a spear (that Justin created) and when the time was right...they set fire to it!!!
The kids were a bit hungry so we ran to the Plaid Pantry to grab some grub:
The kids went to town on food I wouldn't normally buy them. I think all the food coloring and artificial flavors had an effect on Hazel!!
Oh My Goodness! I haven't laughed that hard in I don't know how long!!Their team is called "Git Some" and the team they played against is called "Awesome Town". Each player on "Awesome Town" was a towns person- they had a mayor (who played the whole game with his brief case), a snowboarder (who played the whole game with his snowboard!!) and a tiger among other people. But the best towns person by far was the accountant:
This guys stayed in character the entire time. When he caught a ball he quickly dropped it to calculate it on his HUGE calculator that he kept with him. The first time he came up to kick he had all his files with him and when he made contact with the ball he threw all the files and promptly freaked out about the "Thompson File!!!!"To begin each game the teams must have a skit. Kathleen and Justin came with a spear (that Justin created) and when the time was right...they set fire to it!!!
The kids were a bit hungry so we ran to the Plaid Pantry to grab some grub:
The kids went to town on food I wouldn't normally buy them. I think all the food coloring and artificial flavors had an effect on Hazel!!
5/3/08
Turn and Face the Change
So I have been in a funk. It's been hanging around me for way too long and I just haven't been able to shake it. I've been exercising, I've been pampering myself, I've been trying to fill my days with activities...still, the funk lingers. It's really just been a bunch of me feeling sorry for myself, that an me being jealous and envious and...feeling sorry for myself. It didn't help that Trey has been traveling to super fun places these last few weekends, leaving me here to wallow in my own self pitty.
Anyway, I've had some sub jobs lined up for Friday and Monday but on this past Wednesday night I received a call from a kindergarten teacher. She needed a last minute sub for the next day because she's pregnant and her Doctor wanted her to be on bed rest. I love her class and welcomed the distraction so I took the job. What started as a one day position ended as a full time (till the end of the year) position. So, now I'm a kindergarten teacher.
When the principal asked me to take over I thought that it was a great idea. I've been the sub for this particular class all year and the kids would have a smoother transition if they had someone they knew take over. I also thought that it would snap me out of my darkness. And it's worked. All I can think about now is how I'm going to fill the days for the 26 children. How I can get them ready for 1st grade in just 6.5 weeks. And that's the other good thing about this position, I work really well with end dates. If this had happened in January I'm not sure I could take the job, but because it's so close to the end of the year I feel that it's totally manageable.
The other day I was walking the dog while listening to Erwin McManus (the pastor of my brother's church in LA). I listen to the podcast whenever I get the chance. He has this weird way of speaking about things that I'm dealing with all too often. So this particular sermon dealt with a number of things, but the thing I walked away with was that really in everything we do we should do our best. Nothing new really, I've heard it before, but with the mood I've been in I ended the podcast on a bitter note. I didn't have a "JOB", I continued to feel sorry for myself. Then all this happened. And as I was talking to my sister-in-law I realized that this was my chance to really make a difference in a group of kids lives. Let me pause here by saying that I know that working a "JOB" is not the only way I can make a difference...that I have two beautiful children to raise and I should strive to do my best for them...and I do. But like I said, I've been in a funk and I've been loosing sight of how to do that.
Now I go to work in the morning and miss my kids and am not only counting down the days till the end of this position, I'm counting down the days until I can play with August and Hazel for the summer.
And you know what else? I could are less that it's cold outside and it's MAY!!!! I don't have the time to lament the fact that the sun has barely shown it's glorious face as of late cause I'm too busy trying to find lesson plans!
So, that's that. Like so many of my friends out there in blogging land, I'm working now, full time, and trying to keep things together on the home front...but it's all good. And I feel the fog lifting.
Anyway, I've had some sub jobs lined up for Friday and Monday but on this past Wednesday night I received a call from a kindergarten teacher. She needed a last minute sub for the next day because she's pregnant and her Doctor wanted her to be on bed rest. I love her class and welcomed the distraction so I took the job. What started as a one day position ended as a full time (till the end of the year) position. So, now I'm a kindergarten teacher.
When the principal asked me to take over I thought that it was a great idea. I've been the sub for this particular class all year and the kids would have a smoother transition if they had someone they knew take over. I also thought that it would snap me out of my darkness. And it's worked. All I can think about now is how I'm going to fill the days for the 26 children. How I can get them ready for 1st grade in just 6.5 weeks. And that's the other good thing about this position, I work really well with end dates. If this had happened in January I'm not sure I could take the job, but because it's so close to the end of the year I feel that it's totally manageable.
The other day I was walking the dog while listening to Erwin McManus (the pastor of my brother's church in LA). I listen to the podcast whenever I get the chance. He has this weird way of speaking about things that I'm dealing with all too often. So this particular sermon dealt with a number of things, but the thing I walked away with was that really in everything we do we should do our best. Nothing new really, I've heard it before, but with the mood I've been in I ended the podcast on a bitter note. I didn't have a "JOB", I continued to feel sorry for myself. Then all this happened. And as I was talking to my sister-in-law I realized that this was my chance to really make a difference in a group of kids lives. Let me pause here by saying that I know that working a "JOB" is not the only way I can make a difference...that I have two beautiful children to raise and I should strive to do my best for them...and I do. But like I said, I've been in a funk and I've been loosing sight of how to do that.
Now I go to work in the morning and miss my kids and am not only counting down the days till the end of this position, I'm counting down the days until I can play with August and Hazel for the summer.
And you know what else? I could are less that it's cold outside and it's MAY!!!! I don't have the time to lament the fact that the sun has barely shown it's glorious face as of late cause I'm too busy trying to find lesson plans!
So, that's that. Like so many of my friends out there in blogging land, I'm working now, full time, and trying to keep things together on the home front...but it's all good. And I feel the fog lifting.
4/26/08
Play Date for Dogs
Let me just start this little blog by commenting on the weather today:
it was both sunny and warm. The kids and I had an engagement in Bellevue at 10 this morning but by the time we returned to Seattle at 1 the breeze was even warm! It's been a long time since we've left the house without a coat...we kept thinking that we'd forgotten them somewhere.
Once we were home we spent some time in our backyard enjoying our neighbors and our neighbor dog, Niko, the Sheba Inu.
Tank and Niko play along the fence and call for each other when they are outside. Every once in a while we are able to throw one over the fence for a full fledged play date.
Hazel got the bubbles out and taunted the dogs with the floating soapy balls of fun while August sat at the patio table reading the 5th installment of Harry Potter. It was a nice afternoon. Later we walked to doggie playtime at our local dog store and wore Tank out further. He's now totally asleep on the couch.
Here's hoping for another nice day tomorrow when we'll get to have August's favorite friend over for a few hours after church.
Let's hope we can make it to the park so the boys can play basketball or soccer or throw the ball around.
it was both sunny and warm. The kids and I had an engagement in Bellevue at 10 this morning but by the time we returned to Seattle at 1 the breeze was even warm! It's been a long time since we've left the house without a coat...we kept thinking that we'd forgotten them somewhere.
Once we were home we spent some time in our backyard enjoying our neighbors and our neighbor dog, Niko, the Sheba Inu.
Tank and Niko play along the fence and call for each other when they are outside. Every once in a while we are able to throw one over the fence for a full fledged play date.
Hazel got the bubbles out and taunted the dogs with the floating soapy balls of fun while August sat at the patio table reading the 5th installment of Harry Potter. It was a nice afternoon. Later we walked to doggie playtime at our local dog store and wore Tank out further. He's now totally asleep on the couch.
Here's hoping for another nice day tomorrow when we'll get to have August's favorite friend over for a few hours after church.
Let's hope we can make it to the park so the boys can play basketball or soccer or throw the ball around.
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