Caleb Memory

When I woke him up this morning & told him happy birthday, he did it.

He asked for the story about the day he was born.

I told him that he was born by c-section a week early and was my 2nd biggest baby at 8 pounds 4 ounces. He was taken away to the nursery while I did my time in the recovery room.

I had to stay flat because the meds in the epidural made me sick but when I was settled in my room, I rang for the nurses to bring him to me. Then I waited.

And waited. Way too long I waited. Hours.

Finally I called again & finally they brought this sweet, chubby almost red-haired boy to me. He turned to look at me when he heard me speak.

Then he went to sleep.

"They called you and said you knew me " he said.

"Yes. They came to take you back to the nursery about 11:30 so I could get a good night's sleep but I told the nurse that you'd be wide awake within the hour so she might as well leave you. She just laughed at me and rolled you away."

"But you were right." He grins his sleepy smile.

"Then about 12:30 my phone rang and I could hear you wailing in the background when I answered. The nurse said, "You really know your son. Do you want me to bring him to you?" And I told her, "bring him on."

"You knew I'd wake up." He snickers a little and shakes his head. Surprised that I already knew his middle of the night wide awake habit? Maybe thinking Mom was cool to know him when the nurse thought I would not, to be right about him on the day of his birth?

I reminded him again to get up because after 16 years I also know that he would happily go back to sleep. :-) I ruffled his sleep mussed hair.

Have I mentioned that I love that kid?

Sweet 16?

You know if someone says SWEET he'll say, "CHEESE!"
But he would agree on the 16 part.

Happy birthday to my SWEET boy, here modeling his favorite & newest pet, a bearded dragon named Natu.





I had to include this photo to show that he will argue vigorously debate with anyone. Even the dog.

I love that kid!

Oh yeah, I love the one next to him too. :-)

Mo' Scratchin'

I know I just blogged about this but if you can't scroll there from here, here is what this library looked like to begin with.













So my wonderful volunteers worked with me again today then my best friend came to check out how the shelves are acquiring books

and to give us a ride home.


As of today there are over 600 books input & around 400 on the shelves.

I like it when a plan comes together. :-)

Government Class

At the beginning of this first Government class, Mr. Cook reminded us how banks teach their tellers to recognize counterfeit money. Do you know? By handling real money, becoming so familiar with it that the fakers just shout out: I am not the real thing!


What exactly does that have to do with government you may ask? Simple. When you know the truth, you can spot falsehood. Knowing your Bible enables you to discern doctrinal lies. Knowing the foundations of our country and studying the constitution & other foundational documents helps us recognize how our government was designed to run. We will see if it still maintains that original scriptural-based model. I expect you already know the answer.


After speeding through the history of law and following the Roman and English roads through the Magna Carta, Model Parliament, Petition of Rights, Glorious Revolution, English Bill of Rights, House of Burgesses, the Mayflower Compact and the Great Awakening brought us to the Declaration of Independence and formation of a Federal Democratic Republic, Mr. Cook gave us a break then expounded on political parties so that the group could form parties in order to convene a nominating convention at our next meeting.

Dads were encouraged to seek the highest office and since as Christians we all have the same core values on the heavy issues, to base party platform planks on creating a new national holiday, an ethnically themed snack, creating a homework policy and answer the testing question: do we have them and how many?


The room buzzed with around 30 voices offering opinions and suggestions.
Final tally: 3 parties.
Mr. Stanley & Mr. Stallings heading up the Freedom Ice Cream Party
Mr. Thompson & Mr. Handley running under the Patriotic Pizza Party Phlag
and Mr. Geiger, as the Third Party (the name they chose) candidate


Sorry to say I forgot my camera, BUT
we participated in this class in 2005 too.

Scratching Along, Library part 2

Work needed, in no specific order:
Sort materials > started by other folks there & continued by us.
Input media info into the program > currently my baby.
Process for check out > all hands welcome.

Another item important to a guy in charge was for books to be on the shelves (the donor may want a photo) so some of the organizers made use of the available space - and notice two round library tables with chairs!
A homeschooing benefit is being able to take school with us wherever we go. Here my favorite two students are flying through their work, completing all they brought in under two hours. Amazing!



And beneficial:
Instant volunteer labor for me!
They went to work sorting, stamping and attaching spine labels.








They only whined complained a little.

And the next time we came, they brought more school work to do. :-)


Don't all those books on the shelves look good?
They'll look even better when they're ready to check out.
The ones on the cart are in the pc.

See the desk near the front? That's the official librarian post. I'm still happy losing everything on this long table though. It's a good work site.

I plan to share up-to-date photos after our next visit.

So don't get yer knickers in a knot, Peggy! :-)

A Library from Donated Scratch

Well over a year ago, I told a friend who works for a non-profit that I would be happy to help with the setting up of their library. They had many donated books, a computer & a room plus a company had promised to provide shelving but had yet to do so.

So we waited.

This summer someone (else I believe) donated those shelves! My friend told me they would put them together & then I could come work.
My first sight of the library. Look at all the welcoming space!

See the various boxes and piles of books? Wouldn't it be fantastic if there were some organization inherent in that apparent disarray?

Wonderful idea? Yes!
Reality? Not so much.


See my friend peeping over the wall? She was concerned that I'd scream & run. :-)
She's obviously never seen my children's bedrooms.

Yes. That is on purpose.


Here is the workspace where most of 2 days was spent just getting the bugs out of the programs. I got to experience the amazing remote computer controller as the software tech guy ("Hmm. That's not supposed to do that...") investigated the problem while I worked on organizing some books.

Him: "Mutter, mutter, mutter"
Me, phone in one hand to ear; mind, eyes & other hand on books, "Did you say something to me?"

Great fun.
You should try it sometime.

Jump In

I figured that with as busy as our summer turned out to be, that life would slow down some with the arrival of official school days. Surely it has, right?

NOT!

One new thing on my agenda is for me alone. Sound selfish?

With the grace of God, everyone around me should benefit as He (Lord willing) works to mold me into the likeness of His precious Son. That is my prayer. Yours too? Fantastic!

That one new thing?
It's a returning thing for me: Bible Study Fellowship!

Never heard of it? It's been around for YEARS. 50 years is being celebrated with a gala in it's headquarters city of San Antonio in November.

Members meet weekly during the school year for music, lecture and a small group discussion then take home a packet with notes and questions aimed at the Bible study passages to be completed prior to the next meeting. If you don't write down your answers to the questions (in the tiny spaces provided) you may not comment during small group time. Incentive for talkers like me! :-)
Members are not allowed to use study materials other than their Bibles. We are not allowed to discuss our churches, politics or negative family matters in meetings; our focus is to be on the Word & the Lord.
Here's a site link.

I was in for parts of 3 years while dealing with babies & Stan's changeable work schedule in San Antonio: Genesis, Israel and the minor prophets & the life & letters of Paul.

Now I'm in a group, carpooling to the mtgs with some church friends & excited about the study of the gospel of John plus (new this year) First John. And next year they start a brand new study of Isaiah which will make it an eight year rotation rather than seven. What a great way to celebrate a 50th birthday.

Warning: Guard Snake on Duty

Andrew took Slick out of his tank the other day.
It's been months since he's been out.







The reason is because Slick is so curious and active. He alertly keeps his eyes on movement inside and outside his tank.








It takes a lot of nerve to grab a snake who is warily watching you, moving toward your hands to investigate, potentially ready to strike.

A bite from this 4.5 ft. yellow rat would hurt, most likely even break the skin but we know he probably would NOT bite. This we tell our pounding heart.










Slick did well for Andrew so I took a turn too. And Slick only opened his mouth enough to stick his tongue out at us. :-)

21 is OLD.

But still cute.

He has to work all day today so if you get a chance, stop by & wish him a happy one.