ARCHIVES AUGUST

Tuesday August 29, 2006
The Moral of the Moral
When Nathan was smaller, I tried to teach him not to touch something dangerous. I would pretend to touch it and then yell "ouch!" I did this a few times to demonstrate how it could hurt him. Finally, Nathan looked at me with tear filled eyes and yelled, "Mommy don't touch it again, it will hurt you!" Needless to say that he never touched it again.
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Nothing, Zilch, Banana
I feel bad that I have nothing to say this week, so here is a letter we received from Nathan's teacher. :o)
I wanted to let you guys know that Nathan has survived 9 days of school with his teacher really having high expectations of him!! As I told you before, we have been working on his "sorry, sorry" and he is now aware that sometimes "sorry is not enough". He told me that himself today...I don't exactly know what happened but I heard him say "SORRY, SORRY" to someone during Math stations and by the time I looked over at him he had his little head down saying "ooh, but I know that sorry is not enough if I want to be helpful". Then he just smiled and kept working with the pattern blocks--which he LOVES by the way. I have made progress;-)My next goal is to work on him putting things in his mouth: his backpack, nametag (which is why his shirt sometimes goes home with orange streaks on the front), fingers, other people's backpack, you name it and he is putting it in his mouth. Most of the time it is not a safety hazard like he is going to choke or anything you just never know where stuff has been (among 43 other sets of hands, feet, and mouths). I know that this too shall pass.He had an awesome afternoon at dismissal. He tends to like to be the "funny guy" acting out and rolling around when he has an audience. They called his name and I could not find him...he was sitting right in front of me just looking around at the other kids and "studying them" with nothing or anything in his mouth, not rolling around, not bothering anyone just sitting and chilling--ok maybe he was sleepy but NOW I know he can do it. When he left I told him I was very proud of him and to let you guys know but I know that most 5 year olds don't care;-) So I wanted to wish you a wonderful weekend and let you know that he had an awesome day! Steve, don't mess him up this weekend. Sarah, he got a little upset when he did not get the Cherrios and pouted a little and ate his animal crackers. When he got to the carpet a friend asked, "Why didn't Nathan get cereal?" His reply was, "are you crazy, it had strawberries in it, I can't have strawberries". Somehow, he did remember our converstation this morning.
Posted by at 10:41 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Friday August 25, 2006
30 minutes
I don't know about you but we were one of those families who sat glued to the TV during the winter olympics. Whether you like the sport or not, there is just something about these men and women working their tails off for a passion and a goal. Who wouldn't want to spend all of their time doing something they love?! One thing that impressed us most was after Shawnee Davis won the gold, he said that he wanted to thank his mom for taking him out to run a mile every day before school. I am not sure what was more impressive, his mother's dedication to her son's sports, or the fact that his momma could run a mile every morning. I know I couldn't. So after taking a long look at Steve and my sport's life, I knew something had to change. On Monday, we enrolled Nathan in soccer. It's not the Carebear version either. It's hardcore, three on three, everyone is accountable soccer. We did this because Steve lacks focus and Nathan is following in his Father's footsteps. We want Nathan to find something he loves and is good at and focus on that. I wanted Nathan to try gymnastics first, mainly because he started doing cartwheels and front handsprings in the living room, but he said he'd rather play soccer, so soccer it is.
Nathan is scawny, and lanky but I noticed that my poor child has turned into quite a couch potato. He's still wild, but I think it's because he sits on the couch until he's about to pop and then pops all over the house driving us crazy and hurting his sister. All this to say that Steve and I decided this week that we would spend 30 minutes a day focused on sports. Today was our trial run. We went out as a whole family to the soccer fields near our house. Nathan and Steve did drills for an hour running back and forth between the goals, doing passing drills and taking turns being goalie and the kicker. Nathan had so much fun. Please don't think wrongly of us, we aren't psycho pressure parents, it HAS to be fun, but I also think that within that fun there has to be a small challenge. Nathan took that challenge and not only had fun, but pushed himself a little too. We got back to the house with a worn out, calm boy. It was SO nice. He listens better when he's not wizzing past.
Kalea, on the other hand, did not fair so well outside, so Steve and I made a pact that we would switch out every other day and take Nathan out 6 days a week to play frisbee, do soccer drills, play with the big ball or something that will get him out and running. We'll see how long we can keep this going!!!! I hope that we can keep it up until Nathan becomes the best he can be at whatever he chooses to be. :o)
Posted by at 20:11 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Thursday August 24, 2006
Yes...
Everyday Kalea and I walk Nathan down the sidewalk from the parking lot to his school. One side of the sidewalk is lined with bushes that fill the air with the sweet smell of nectur. It is sort of a clean, fresh smell that I've grown to enjoy each passing day. Nathan, however, has a different idea about those bushes. Everyday he yells, "YUCK! MOMMY WHAT IS THAT SMELL??!" then he dramatically plugs up his nose with his fingers as we pass eht long row of bushes. Everyday after Nathan's dramatic routine, it occurs to me that perhaps I just don't bathe Nathan enough, so he just doesn't know how to enjoy the smell of clean. Today was I caught completely by surprise when I walked by a small hispanic girl, dramatically gripping her nose yelling "oy mama! WHAT IS THAT SMELL?!" Aparently I am not the only mom who doesn't bathe their child enough!
Kalea is pretty grumpy about this whole waking up early business. Whenever a toy touches her the wrong way, or a baby doll looks at her weirdly, she shreaks "uuuhhhhh!!!" and pushes it down. During her baths Kalea likes a lot of toys in the tub with her, but now instead of playing with them joyfully, she sits in the tub scornfully and whenever a toy drifts by her and touches any part of her small body, she yells "Mo!" and pushes it away. I tried to just put less toys in the tub, but she just stood by the edge of the tub pointing at the toys yelling "more! batheee more!"
Kalea is also started picking up on the manners we are still trying to instill in Nathan. When you hand her something she now says "dee doo" as a baby sort of way of saying 'thank you!' and if she wants something she will say what she wants and then say "eeeeeeeeese!"
Posted by at 09:37 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Tuesday August 22, 2006
Top Ten
Top ten reasons why it's good to live in the ghetto.
By SaRaH Saenz

My taxes are lower than yours!!
You don't need a metronome, you can just keep time to the 'boom, boom, boom' of the bass of the people driving by.
There are so many pit bulls running around that your kids won't pressure you to buy a dog.
The only sales people who come by are the people wanting to mow your lawn.
When the people start coming by asking to mow your lawn, your husband will get the hint and landscape the entire yard.
It's ok to walk outside in your P.J's because your neighboors will always look worse than you.
The police don't patrol the school zones because there are too many pot holes to drive quickly any way.
When you tell people that you don't have any money, they actually believe you.
Nobody will ask you to host any parties for church, school, or other.
You won't get robbed because....
A. You don't HAVE anything to rob.
B. What thug is dumb enough to rob their own neighboor?
C. There are too many pot holes to make a clean get away.
D. There are too many rabid pitbulls running around.
E. All of the good stuff is across town.
Posted by at 13:39 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Monday August 21, 2006
The Reason
Today I've discovered that the reason why police don't patrol the school zone around my son's school is that the pot holes are so bad that you can't drive over 20 mph any way.
Yesterday, I discovered that the reason why cats don't count as family members is because they don't share. Kalea had a cookie and she let Steve and I take a bite, then she took it over to Nathan who also took a bite, and then she took it over to our cat, Lola, to give her a bite. I told Kalea "no" and tried to make it over to her in time, but Lola had already delicately taken the cookie from Kalea's hand and ate it. Kalea was so upset. She crumpled to the ground and cried, "mo, mo, mo ookie." (Roughly translated into "no, no, no cookie.")
Last week, I realized that the reason why kids verbal abilities can't be understood to the outside world until they are around 4 years old is God's way of giving parent's time to develop their own lingo. For example when I say "Stop the water! You can't bring this manga into the house, her skirt's so short- you can almost see her knuffle bunny." It means...well... you can figure that one out, but don't think too hard.
Posted by at 09:02 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Sunday August 20, 2006
One Sleepy Girl
I haven't blogged in a while. School has started and so has the busy life of a soccer mom. Today's sermon was about how we often miss our calling because we aren't satisfied with the road God creates us for. I don't know how many times last week that I thought about how life would be easier if I actually worked in an office instead of at home and how it would be a million times nicer if we lived close to the church instead of 20 miles away. I thought about all of the other jobs I could do, but I know in my heart that God knit me for the one I have.
Friday was Nathan's birthday. He got to be the king and sit on the 'throat.' His queen was a little girl with glasses named Jessica. She was a cutie pa-tootie. Some day when I am not so tired I'd write about it. Nathan's favorate part about Friday was (not the 44 cupcakes I baked for his class) his party at Gatti Town where he got to drive the bumper cars with Steve.
Saturday we had a Pirate Party at the park. I made a pirate ship cake, eye patches for the kids, and pirate head scarves. I painted mustaches on the boys. The kids when on a scavenger hunt, played on the playground, did cake and then they played on the splash pad. It was a lot of fun and God blessed us with great weather. After that we had a 'big kid' party with family and older friends. Nathan said his favorate part was the scavenger hunt.
Today was church and Nathan said that his favorate part was being able to color during big church.
Posted by at 23:09 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Friday August 18, 2006
New School, new school, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah, rah
I am sitting here in our million degree house at 11 o'clock at night cooking 44 cupcakes for Nathan's school birthday party. I always knew I'd be the type of mom who cooked them instead of buying them, but I never imagined myself up so late barefoot in front of the stove pouring cupcake batter into 48 little cups. The stove is heating up the entire house so that the 106 degree heat outside feets good compared to the 350 degree heat inside the house. So you're probably all wondering about Nathan's first day of school.
Nathan's first day of school started out much better than I expected. I woke up Nathan by turning on his light and cleaning his bedroom. I strongly resisted the urge to sing "Rise and shine and give God glory, glory...." as my mom did for many years until I discovered the alarm clock, but I could not resist the urge to clean up that boy's room. Nathan's cute freshly head poped up from a heap of blankets and pillows and a big grin formed across his face. All smiles, he tottered, not quite awake, to the living room where he started at alarm at the window. "Mommmm," he gasped in a truely shocked voice, "the sun's not even up yet!!" "Yep," I tell him, "that's what it's going to be like every morning." My voice sounds really calm, but in my head, I am really freaking out. Can I really get up this early EVERY morning?! I didn't even bother with the you-need-to-get-dressed-NOW fight. I just stripped my baby down and put on his uniform. He complained about his tummy hurting, but I had to explain that it's just not awake yet and that's what happens to us skinny folk in the mornings. I packed his lunch, got Kalea dressed and ready to go and realized that I hadn't fed anyone breakfast. I was already running on a-drine-a-line, but panic began to set in when I thought about breakfast. Thank God for Carnation Instant Breakfast, because in an instant, my babies were out the door with breakfast in their sippy cups.
When we got to school, the panic grew to cat-a-strop-ic porportions. I had no clue where to drive, which way to drive, or where to park. We circled the night-mare-ish school a million times weaving in and out of cars and kids and buses....ok so maybe just two or three times, but it was horrible. I finally parked in a neighborhood just one street away from the street where all of the drive bys occur, and my babies out of the car and treking to school. Half way to school property, we found a lose dog. It was one of those evil violent ones that attack all of the kids around here but EVERYONE has one. I told it that we didn't have time to be attacked and it left us alone. I guess it figured that we were pretty stringy folk and that it wasn't worth the effort. To get Nathan walking faster, we sung "Flight of the Bumble Bee" and we pretended to be bees, flying to the hive. Even Kalea got into it.
We arrived at the classroom in record time. Nathan's best pal J was sitting outside with his sister looking like a lost puppy. I asked them if J was ok, and his poor sister explained that she couldn't coax J into his new class so I took J under my wing and we went to Nathan's class to check him in. His teacher was there to greet us and all of his new friends were already on the floor watching "Franklin's First Day of School." We found Nathan's cubby, said "hi" to his teacher, and then Nathan went to join his new friends. I am a bolter, I am not one to stick around and coddle my children, so after a hug and a kiss, Kalea, J and I were off. I dropped J off in his class with a quick hug and made sure he was settled with his teacher and then Kalea and I were off on our own.
Two thirty came much quicker than I expected so I woke Kalea up from her nap and plopped her in the car to pick up Nathan. I was very panic-y at first because, once again, I had no clue where to go and how to get there. I got in line and waited FOR-EV-ER!!!! It was 106 degrees outside and Kalea was sweating up a storm. A man came by and put a green piece of paper on our windshield and I thought, "that's it, I am in trouble for being in the wrong line!!!" After about 45 minutes of paniced waiting, I got to the school where I saw a big boy wearing Nathan's backpack look somewhat like Nathan. Then I realized that it WAS Nathan, but a more grown up version. Nathan had so much fun at school. He talked about seeing his friends, and learning Spanish, and getting to see pictures of all the teachers on some sort of mural, and getting to eat his lunch in the cafeteria. He had so much fun on his first day of school. Nathan said that his favorite part of school that day was looking at all of the teacher's pictures.
Posted by at 00:46 Permanent Link Comments (1)
Tuesday August 15, 2006
Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus!!!
Mo Willems is the greatest children's book writer ever!!!
Today was Nathan's first day of school, but I am not quite yet ready to write about it. He is my baby after all.
Here is our my space account for our band. I know that I can get fired for having an in-crim-ma-nate-ing one, but it should be pretty good to the eyes of the Lord. Steve has been working a super long time on it, so please leave a note telling him how great it is!!
www.myspace.com/pcfx
Posted by at 14:05 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Sunday August 13, 2006
Church Vs. Nathan
At Nathan's oral proficiency test at school, the teacher read Nathan a story about it raining on a snail and then had Nathan repeat it back. Nathan said, "It rained on the snail because God made it rain, and then a rainbow came because God made the rainbow. It means that He loves us. And then....oh and I am going to church tonight!"
Today was Nathan's first day in the Children's Wing at church. Nathan went to Children's Church and then he was supposed to go line up to be in the Kindergarten parade. I was due to meet him in the hallway, but he had turned up missing. It turned out that Nathan and his pals convinced a teacher that Nathan was supposed to be in First Grade. When I went to get him out of the first grade class, Nathan stood up and yelled, "MOMMMM I AM IN THE FIRST GRADE!!" Fun stuff.
SOOOO tonight, was Nathan's first night in big church. I explained big church to Nathan, got him a special 'church' workbook that he could only play with during the sermon, and then we sat in the Youth section. Sitting in the Youth Section was like sitting in a bird cage. There was much pitter pattering of whispering girls all around us and it dawned on me that the reason why the music minister and his wife moved across church to that section was because she couldn't stop talking either. Nathan's wiggles blended in with the whispers and the little flirty junior high girls played peek-a-boo with Nathan during the music time. Overal, Nathan was pretty good. The only thing I didn't anticipate was communion. Nathan was VERY upset about not being able to take communion. I explained that when Jesus came down into his heart and he accepted Jesus as his Lord and Savior then he could have communion. Nathan said that Jesus was already in his heart (we've been telling him this all his life.) OK new approach. I told Nathan that this was the body and blood of Jesus and his body wasn't ready to eat the body and blood of Jesus. Nathan said that it was because we already drank all of Jesus blood! OK next approach. I offered to go out to get ice cream to celebrate Nathan's first night in big church. Nathan collasped in tears, "noooo I wanted bread!!!" OK, so we went and got him some french fries. They, after all, are close to the bread catergory.
Posted by at 21:25 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Thursday August 10, 2006
Texas
I hate forwards, but this one was too funny. It sums up living in Texas perfectally!!!
Just moved to Texas! Now this a state that knows how to live!!!

Beautiul sunny days and warm balmy evenings. What a place! it is beautiful. I've found my home.

June 14th. Really heating up. Got 100 today. Not a problem. Live in an air-conditioned home and drive an air -conditioned car.
What a pleasure to see the sun everyday like this.

June 30th. Had the backyatd landscaped with western plants today. Lots of cactus and rocks. What a breeze to maintain. No more mowing the lawn for me.
Another scorcher today, but I love it here.

July 10th The temperature hasn't been below 100 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat.
At least , it's kind of windy though. But getting used to the heat is taking longer than expected.

July 15th. Fell asleep by the community pool .(Got 3rd degree burns over 60% of my body). Missed 3 days of work. What a dumb thing to do.
I learned my lesson though. Got to respect the ol' sun in a climate like this.

July 20th. I missed Lomita (my cat) sneaking into the car when I left this morning.By the time I got to the hot car at noon, Lomita had died and swollen up to the size of a shopping bag then popped like a water baloon.

The car now smells like Kibbles and Bits.
I learned my lesson though. No more pets in this heat.

Good ol' Mr. Sun strikes again.

July 25th. The wind sucks. It feels like a giant freaking blow dryer!!
The home air-conditioner is on the fritz and the AC repaiman charged $200. just to drive by and tell me he needed to order parts.

July 30th, Been sleeping outside on the patio for 3 nights now,$225.000 house and I can't even go inside.. Lomita is the lucky one. Why did I ever come. here?
August 4th.Its 115 degrees. Finally got the air-conditioner fixed today. It cost $500.00 and gets the temjperature down to 85. I hate this stupid state.

Aug 8th, If another person asks,"Hot enough for you today?" I'm going to strangle them. By the time I get to work,the radiator is boiling over, my clothes are soaking wet, and I smell liked baked cat.

Aug. 9th, Tried to run some errands after work. Wore shorts,and when I sat on the seats in the car, I thought my butt was on fire.

My skin melted to the seat. I lost 2 layers of flesh and all the hair on the back of my legs and butt...Now my car smells like burnt hair, fried butt and baked cat..

Aug.10th, The weather report might as well be a recording..Hot and sunny, Hot and sunny, Hot and sunny.Its been too hot to do anything for 2 months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week..

Doesn't it ever rain in this state? Water rationing will be next, so my $1700.00 worth of cactus will just dry up and blow over.

Even the cactus can't live in this heat.

Aug.14th, Temperature got to115 today. Cactus are dead.

Forgot to crack the window and blew the windshield out of the car..The installer came to fix it and guess what he asked me??? "Hot enough for you today?"

My sister had to spend $1500.00 to bail me out of jail. Freaking Texas.

What kind of sick demented idiot would want to live here.??

Will write later to let you know how the trial goes,

Sue
Posted by at 21:29 Permanent Link Comments (0)
X-Rays and D.J.'s
The kiddos had their well baby/kid doctor's appointment today. Kalea gained 2 pounds in 6 months (4 if you count the two that she lost and gained back after being sick) and Nathan gained 0 pounds in a whole year. The doctor told us to up his fat content. I would up his fat content if he'd actually eat the fat. We are already sneaking in the whole milk (Nathan swears he can taste the difference) and giving him boat loads of Nestles Quick and Ovaltine. Ok so maybe I am drinking it all, but I am not fat either so there! Other than being freakishly small, Nathan's head comes to a point on top. It's always bugged me, but I can never remember to say anything until today. The doctor felt around, said that Nathan looked normal but sent us across the street to get X-rays. Nathan was a very good boy. The first X-ray he was a little if-y about but by the second one, he threw his hands behind his head and looked like he was at the beach. It reminded me of my ultrasound with him in my belly and we couldn't measure his head or his arms because he was reclined in my belly just as he was on the x-ray table. The lady took two more x-rays of Nathan's moppy head, and then we had to wait alone in the starch white x-ray room while they checked out the results. While we were waiting, Nathan asked questions about everything, how each piece of equipment works and why. He even asked me why they put the metal blanket over his part. I told him that it was to protect his belly and he didn't even question the fact that it barely touched his belly. Before Nathan could run out of questions, the lady came back, gave Nathan about 10 "I Was X-Rayed Today!" stickers and sent us on our way. The nurse should call with the results soon.
As far as Kalea goes, the looks she gave the doctor as he checked her out were hilarious! She gave him the most dirty-you're-invading-my-space kind of looks any girl can muster. We got a script to get rid of her diaper rash, and the doctor gave us a fair warning about the terrible twos (I think they're here already!!!). Right now she is changing Elmo's diaper. She has him laid out on the changing pad and has the wipes and medicine out around him. Opps! She's mad now. We have to go meet the teacher night at Nathan's school and then we are playing a show. Fun stuff!
Posted by at 18:18 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Tuesday August 08, 2006
OOPPS!
I spelled a Biblical word wrong (the Veggie Tales guy so nicely pointed it out) and having a degree in Religion, it really bothered me so I went back to correct my 'Spilling the Beans' blog and accdentally deleted it. Edit, delete, they're all the same. I tried to rectify the situation, but alas, you can't get back what you let go. Speaking of Veggie Tales, because I wrote Veggie Tales in my Spilling the Beans blog, I got 24 viewers. So if you ever want free publicity, just type, Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales, Veggie Tales.
Today we took the kiddos to the (Local College) Aquatics Center where the kids got to look at bugs under mircoscopes, make fossels, touch and feel strange things and the coolest thing.....feed the fish, snakes, sirenes, and turtles. Nathan got to feed small fish to a bigger fish (I think it really freaked him out to hold a fish in his hand), some sort of turtle food to a pool of turtles, and a worm to a snapping turtle. Steve took a picture of Nathan holding the worm. It was so much fun. I love this city. I love how it gives me opportunities to look and learn with my kiddos. I love how it provides me with a 4,000 member church family who prayed for my blind baby, and who daily thanks me for my work for the Lord and who always makes me feel loved and valued
Posted by at 21:38 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Things We've Done This Sumer
Things we've done this summer:
Gone to the zoo 1,000 times
Read 69 hours worth of books...and counting
Met the Mayor
Gone to Shlitterbaun (Steve and Nathan)
Watched lightning bugs
Watch fireworks
Had a few picnics
Gone to a few State Parks
Went to the beach
Had an adventure at the Rainforest
Sat through one wedding
Played a lot of shows
Climbed in Big Rigs
Fed worms to snapping turtles and live fish to bigger live fish
Went to Sports Camp
Watched the Watermelon Parade
Rode trains
Went to a bike rodeo and Nathan won a free bike
Pet Snakes
Visited Moody Gardens
Went canoeing across a lake
Watched a Jungle Jim show with giant bugs and reptiles
Learned Aggie Cheers
Nathan got a new loft bed with a tent canopy
Sarah read the entire Chronicles of Narnia Series

Posted by at 18:56 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Monday August 07, 2006
Sunday Sadness
So this Sunday, I was leaning more towards being sad that Nathan is going to Kindergarten than happy. Because I am a woman, I have the divine right to bounce back and forth and on Sunday I chose sad. I was sitting in my seat in front of the giant TV in the foyer thinking about Nathan's life. First of all, sitting in the foyer is, in my mind worse than sitting in the back row. It is like eating a meal in front of a homeless guy. It just feels wrong. At this point you're probably thinking that your notions about me being crazy are comfirmed. Why do I sit there if I feel wrong? I sit in the foyer because I am involved in a Ministry at my church and my ministry overlaps part of the music time, so instead of sneaking in under the TV cameras, I just sit in the foyer and watch the sermon on the TVs. Ok so back to my story.... I was sad. I was sad, and moody and tired and thinking of my Nathan. A familiar tune brought me out of my meloncholy and I focused all of my attention on the words of the song the church was singing over the speakers. The song is titled "Still" and the chorus says:
WHEN THE OCEAN RISE AND THUNDER ROARSI WILL SOAR WITH YOU ABOVE THE STORMFATHER, YOU ARE KING OVER THE FLOODI WILL BE STILL and KNOW YOU ARE GOD

The song has held great meaning to me since seeing God's great and awesome hand in Hurricane Katrina, but on Sunday, it brought on even greater meaning. The message is simple. God is bigger than everything that we face. He is bigger than our financial situation, He is bigger than our biggest problems and He will follow my baby Nathan to school. It struck me how sad I was and then I got an even greater wave of sadness that I wasn't IN the worship center worshipping with everyone else. I wanted to sing out those words so badly, but singing in the foyer is like singing with head phones on. I wouldn't be singing with the music, I would be singing above the music. I was overcome with such great sadness that I almost missed it..... The lady sitting close to me was singing very softly in my right ear, and then the lady on the other side joined in. Before I knew it, we were all singing, out loud and to our Lord and Savior. This is my true girl moment, because before I knew what was happening, I began to cry. It was tears of sadness for Nathan, but it was also tears of joy that God is bigger than life. Embarrassed at my girliness, I turned to my right to find that the lady to my right was also crying. At the end of the service, I turned to talk to her and she was gone. She was my guardian angel. I think God put her there at just the right time so that I can and will know that it's ok to be human. To be real. To sing out loud and to cry in public.
Posted by at 23:49 Permanent Link Comments (0)
Nathan Spankin'
In two weeks and one day, Nathan will officially start school. My baby boy is growing up so fast. This week he's surprised me in so many ways. On Saturday, he told our babysitter the difference between boys and girls and this time he didn't say that girls have sweet button noses and soft baby feet. On Sunday, he spent the greater part of the rainy and gray afternoon locked in his room listening to Hank the Cowdog. Midway through the tape, he came out with tears in his eyes pulling himself together long enough to tell me that he is the saddest boy in the world. I took him in my arms and asked him why and he told me all about how Mary D. Cat was crying because she was lonely and all she wanted was some cheese and Hank the Cow Dog was mean to her. I tried my hardest to explain the story to him and urged him to listen to the rest of the tape to unwrap Mary D. Cat's ploy, but Nathan was so heart broken, he could not go on. It was so sad. Nathan, my child who wears his heart on his sleeve and sometimes masks sadness or disappointment with anger, absolutely fell apart at Mary D. Cat's sorrowful meowing.
Yesterday, I bought the very last piece of uniform that we can afford for Nathan. He now officially has three temporarily bight white polos, one shirt with the school's name proudly printed across the front, and one blue shirt supporting the district's high school football team (a must have for Friday's Spirit days), three hand-me down pairs of blue shorts, three new pairs of jeans with reinforced knees, and a blue ball of lent......I mean hooded sweatshirt. The hooded sweatshirt is brand new, but when I went to wash it, it transformed into a giant ball of lent. Sad but true. So now we are offically ready for school. Steve is at this moment whinning about how he doesn't want to go back. I've been preparing for this for the last (almost five years) and yet I am having a hard time letting go. This marks the beginning of Nathan's educational career. The real beginning of his story.
Posted by at 23:16 Permanent Link Comments (0)