Let's shut this month down

Life rating A.

So we went ahead and did a second round of the stomach flu this week – just for the heck of it. I am actually hoping we got it out of the way for the rest of the year. But... I seriously doubt it.

Jarod did pass his kidney stone right before … (wait for it!)... he and I went on a wonderful 3 day trip ALONE!! Ohhh... how romantic (and RARE). We went even though Kingson says we are too old to be romantic and kissing in the kitchen makes nine out of ten people in our family uncomfortable.

Sadly, the one it doesn't make uncomfortable is Lucy – not because she is too young to understand it but because she is ALL OVER romance. The other day Jarod and I and the kids were having a little private lunch and the topic of romantic love came up. Jude said the obligatory “yuck” - looked down into his soup pretending not to hear us, and Lucy proudly (and swooningly) proclaimed – “ROMANTIC LOVE - that is what I have for Isaac!!” It was disturbing. Especially because at age 5 this is her fourth proclamation for such emotion (fifth if you count her love for her oedipal father).

So ANYWAY.. we had a great time in Kansas City and Lawrence attending our friend Pete's wedding. And we were all alone – except for the constant companion of Suri. Which I am proud to announce that after the weekend – Jarod has officially dumped his electronic girlfriend. The upgrade apparently makes her entirely useless to him and since she is also not very romantic – I WIN. Also, I think it is good they broke up because he was very abusive to the poor thing. He treats me much better even when I can't find the nearest Starbucks.

In other news - we have pumpkins and gourds coming out our ears and though the beautiful fall weather is delightful enough to put me in a chipper mood even while scrubbing my bathroom floor – it has really kept people away from farmer's market. These people are missing the best of the summer produce, I tell you, but then again with the ½ in of rain we got we have time to put up produce for winter.

Today I am making a big batch of beirocks in honor of Oktoberfest weekend – We made a 20 foot marshmallow roasting pole in preparation for the upcoming bonfire – mom and dad both enjoyed their 45^th class reunions – Jarod yelled at only one poor drunken crowd outside of our house throughout the entire homecoming weekend - Jude is pre-testing for his next belt in Aikido – and laundry, bills and October await... 

... and against my better judgement I am considering trashing a bit of time watching our government shut down.  I hate getting political... (mostly because I am nihilistic about the whole thing) - but WHAT IS WITH THESE people??  That last comment I heard was that congress could not accept the healthcare it is placing on others because it would in effect be a massive pay cut and they would have to quit their jobs because they wouldn't be able to "make ends meet".  Who are these people - and did I miss the memo on what ends we are all supposed to be meeting?  So bring on October... with or without a government I guess.  If all of civilization collapses - head on out to the farm - we've got butternut squash soup, some common sense, and we love company.  

Here's the fam for the fall.

The great romantic... milking a fake cow at the state fair.

Hey look - my kids are being nice.

Surprise. Surprise.

Hey look - we are being romantic.

Surprise. Surprise. Surprise.

hard curve

Life rating:
I'm going with a B-.
Here is why.  I grade on a curve - and by comparison and my life is so generally wonderful that a kidney stone, a sinus infection, a knee surgery, and two cases of the stomach flu in the family within ten days qualifies as a plague.  I know - for the general population it is nothing.  For modern medicine it is a laugh... but I'm telling you it felt a bit like a plague.  Also - two kids in 3rd grade common core math homework. That is a plague as well.  Seriously - I'm calling all math teachers - WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS SYSTEM???


My mom is the chattiest sick patient ANY hospital employee ever met.  She should get an AWARD of some kind.

Who is living with us:
I introduced them already so I'd like to do a highlight the birthday girl.  Bianca turned 20 this week!  She told me the most beautiful story about how her mom called in tears on her birthday saying she never imagined it would come to this... her little girl so successful studying in America.  Doctors told her that Bianca would never make it and the pregnancy was a danger to her life so she should terminate the baby.  She chose life for Bianca - and the preemie little Kenyan girl now stands six foot tall proud in my kitchen laughing while washing dishes - holding a U.S. high school diploma and making her way quite nicely through college.  She has blessed my world.  So Maggie of Nairobi - thank you for making such a sacrifice 20 years ago - may God continue to bless you greatly!!



State fair fun




Sorry Maggie - I totally enjoyed scaring your daughter to DEATH on YE OLD MILL

One hilarious or horrible thing the students have said this week:
So pretty much we have had some pretty sassy dinner time conversations recently.  It boils down to this.  There are people in my house who "generally assume that the United States motivation is to take over the world!"  Let's just say in a global household there are some opinions - well thought out and not - about motivations in global interventions.  It also boils down to this.  There are people in my household who think that the best years of life are those which one's face looks the most charming.  It all goes down hill from there. Period.  It doesn't matter the quality of one's life if the face is wrinkled.  I get strange visions of botoxed nations in eternal cold war some times when I leave the dinner table.


Also - at the state fair they learned we could get one gallon of milk a day from a goat and now they want me to get a goat.


How the children are:
Other than the stomach flu - they are doing well.


Ok - this photo is old but was just given to me and it is my new favorite photo.


Or - maybe this one .. from a wedding in May.  This is what the professionals capture folks - so the bad photography of my children is not my fault.


But sometimes circumstances do help :)


Best friend sleepovers.


And crazy hair nights


And cheese billboards at the State Fair where Maysyn had the stomach flu.  AWESOME. That was a B- moment. Poor kid.

How work at Bethesda is going:
Only three weeks of salsa bags and now we are moving into pumpkins and butternut squash.  And it looks as it the butternut squash will last until the next century. Actually - I hate parties but I am considering throwing one for 300 people just to get rid of some squash.

The watermelons are now AWESOME!

About the house:
My cousin Paul is SUPER excited to power wash my garage so I may actually get some stuff painted!! And we are going to get the dormers sided... and maybe the gates finished... so the work carries on.

One thing God is teaching me:

We had our church missions conference amidst our household chaos... and it was beautiful.  To learn about what God is doing in Papua New Guinea and Japan... and church dinners... can't beat those.  Even if my son licked every single cheese ball and put them back in the bowl.  Yeah - so I'd say humility - is what God is teaching me :)

 

Rediscovery of the template

So... I stumbled across the blog template the other day and thought: “Stick to this. Just do this. It needn't be creative – just a record.” 

So I did. Also – my cousins say my blog color scheme burn their retinas.

Sorry about that. For years.

The Template.... take 4.

Life rating:

A. I'm on vacation with family I love and now I am sitting alone in a quite house at 10:00 p.m. - with nothing to do but write. Totally an A.

(Later realized that said house had no internet.  Even better for solitude but bad for catch up blogging... so finishing this up at Aunt Vonda's kitchen table after our flight got canceled.  Poor Jarod... another day of holding down the fort... poor Vonda... another day of my crew... totally an A for me.

Who is living with us:

Alice – China. This is her second year with us and she will be finishing her master's in Communication in December

Annie – China. Also in her second year with us and has another year to finish her communication major

Seonjin – South Korea. Seonjin is back with us after spending May 2012-August 2013 back home earning money for her final two years in English major with an education emphasis.

Bianca – Kenya. First month with us but was previously a student at TMP. She is studying nursing at NCK.

Edward – China. He came to live with us in May but we have know him since he came to the U.S. Last August to work on a IT degree.

Sami – Saudi Arabia. He came to live with us in May and is in the ESL program, hoping to work into a science master's. (But I just found out on this trip he may be leaving and we will be getting another of Salah's cousins this week.)

Salah – Saudi Arabia. Salah has been with us 2 ½ years and will graduate in May.

I could go on and on about each of these students... and in fact I plan to once I have a good profile pic of each one.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing the students have said or done this week:

It is the ongoing assumption in our household that I do nothing. This week Edward thought perhaps I could volunteer to be a full time nanny for a one year old in need of child care. I visualized it. Life just like it is now with a baby on my hip. I giggled a lot and passed.

How the children are:

Good. They started school. After a 3 hour experiment in home schooling requested by Jude (that ended over limited freedom in “free choice books”), they are both settled in at Washington... other than the fact that I just pulled them out for a week for vacation :). Jude and I ran the 5K color run with Sommer, Izaac and Alie. Jude has also taken to wearing a safari hat to bed and his pajama shorts to school. He's a little strange, but it's the cute one in the frilly pink dresses you really have to keep an eye on.

I just need to record this.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing my children have said that week:

Well, I'm still holding my breath on this one. They are Kansas children and as they were chasing pigeons in the baggage claim and wondering aloud where the pigeons pooped I thought, “It may not be good to bring the country kids to city before they learn to speak with a bit of tact.” We have no tact. Period. (Follow up on this is that they did surprisingly well and I think we MAY EVEN get invited back.)

How work at Bethesda is going:

I wouldn't know. I left it all to Jarod. Oh – how guilty I feel. I remember when mom and I used to escape to NJ and leave dad to batch it at Bethesda. I remember mom feeling bad for all dad had to do. But secretly I think dad just let plants die and ate at McDonald's every day so it really wasn't a big deal. So I am guessing they are all fine without us. I know we had a TRULY great summer. About 20 days of rain and 80 degree weather sure helped. As did an AWESOME summer crew of workers. Mary and Darrren are both back in school but we sure did get a nice taste of what it would be like to have a full crew of hard working staff who the guys LOVED to work and have fun with.

1 Hilarious or horrible thing my parents or the guys have said that week:

Mostly we are just thrilled that Carl is finally chewing with his new teeth!! (Follow up on this is that Carl threw the teeth and cracked them.  I guess I was holding my breath on the wrong front this week.)

And also – my dad could run a day care. These kids love him!!

(Follow up on this is that he is wonderful at insuring a good time... not so great at getting them any amount of rest.)

How my house and yard are holding up:

Let's just say... it's back up to 98 degrees... and oh yeah – I'm gone for a week. Yikes! (Jude keeps calling the rain they get in NJ "magical stuff that makes things grow!!!"

1 Hilarious or horrible thing I have thought that week about my house and yard:

Well it is kind of about my house, but more specifically about our home placement. I realized this last month that I am raising my kids in Kansas. SURPRISE!!! I know: - who would have guessed, right? I guess it FINALLY sunk in... in a happy sort of way. As we watched the water levels of Lake Wilson fall and rise this year I embraced the childhood we have chosen for our children. My dad remembers the topography before they damned the valley. He hunted the bottom of the lake. He knows the coves from his days working at the marina and has skied almost every inch. I grew up hearing about which bluffs were preferred depending on wind direction and crowds. I've backed the trailer at every boat ramp and remember low water levels and the year the water was so high that a jump off the bridge was more of a “step down”. And now this year with the drought and then sudden rains Jude was recognizing water level changes. Knowing that we probably shouldn't get too close to the shore over there because earlier this summer we saw the rocks that lie under neither. They know where the hidden clay is and when the water is high enough to cover the beach. They have seen where the waterfalls and rivers are when it floods. To me – this knowledge means you “belong” somewhere. It is nice to belong to Wilson lake. It is nice that my kids have a history with a piece of nature. It's nice that I finally realized my kids' home will always be Kansas. They belong.

1 thing God is teaching me:

Belong

... and do good there.

Major events past or upcoming that I covet your prayers over:

Probably just that we get on the plane tomorrow.  Not for my sake or the kids - but for poor aunt Vonda and Jarod... we need to get back where we belong.

But for a moment we can belong anywhere... among people we love.

Cousin's camp. New Jersey Style 2013 + trip to Washington's Headquarter's and Edison's Laboratory.

Next Time - Statue of Liberty.