Halloween 2011

I was relatively excited for Halloween this year.  All 3 kids are old enough to walk, talk and carry their own candy.  Jared decided 2 months ago to be Ironman, and never once wavered.  Easy store bought. Done.  Lainy begged pleaded and whined to be Rapunzel.  I rolled it around in my brain for a solid week and convinced her to be a fairy.  Her aunt Shelley had made a beautiful tutu that was begging for public use. So, I figured I would whip up a little sparkly top and wings in a jiffy.  A jiffy it was not.  Though they turned out pretty cute.  Jayce bounced ideas around until he settled on being a trash can.  Not sure where the idea came from, but I couldn't talk him out of it.   

Friday night was the party for church, which was pretty awesome.   Dinner, games and trunk or treating.  Jayce’s costume was not “running around” friendly so he ditched it near a table.  I guess it was inevitable that someone opened it and dumped a half eaten plate of chili in it…   A little rinse with a hose and he was back in business. 

This afternoon was school parties, and I was blessed by the assignment of overseeing an hour and a half of first graders bowling.  Over and over again.  My ab and thigh muscles will thank me in the morning I am sure. 

And this evening. Trick or treating.  The anticipation had dwindled a bit with Halloween being drawn out 3 or 4 days.  Costumes were itchy, heavy, or sweaty.  They lasted an hour.   I carried the trash can, ironman mask, and fairy wings home.  Though the trash can was definitely a crowd favorite.   They didn’t even want to hit the houses on the way back home.  Just wanted to get home.

 

So that wraps up Halloween 2011.   We did miss our traditional annual trip to Grama Jet’s this year…   

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A blessing this is not

Whenever I take a moment to reminisce and think about where life has taken me, I almost never feel a desire to relive a phase.  Definitely do not want to repeat the teenage years.  Loved dating, but man am I glad that’s over.  Love love loved my kids in baby phase, and many moments have passed when I wish I could go back to that one.  I enjoy where I am at.  I don’t even mind the wrinkles beginning.  I have always thought of aging as sort of a trophy.  That I had earned every single line, scar, and stretch mark.  But today…   today I’m not so optimistic.  Today I found white hair sprouting from my head.  What?  What is this?  I’m a hair dresser!  Doesn’t that make me exempt?  This will not be handled with grace.

Move over mountain… please.

I’ve had a few (dozen) whiny moments in the past year mostly about my living and financial circumstances.  I am aware that I am human and to have these imperfect and ungrateful thoughts is within the normal parameters of a carnal minded being.  But I have been meaning to write down some of the miracles that have taken place as well. 

With Jason being in school full time there have been some roadblocks in the process.  Let me see if I can explain.  Jason has a brain unlike most.  (definitely unlike mine)  It’s like a magnet, stuff just sticks in it.   On an average day when a person thinks of something interesting (why do so many have a fear of clowns? or Are dogs mouths really cleaner than humans?)  and we wonder about it for a minute and move on.  Jason actually follows through with every thought left unanswered.  (I’m getting off topic here) Ok, so Jason doesn’t learn in a typical fashion.  He struggles learning in lecture form.  He needs application and to be given the info and allowed to manipulate it in his mind his own way in order to internalize it.  It makes college hard. 

Last semester things had gotten so difficult that we made the decision that if he didn’t pass his Calculus 3 class, we would close this chapter of school and he would go back into the work force. He put everything he had into that class.  Tutor center everyday, study every night. He did well the whole semester until his final.  Which he bombed.  Tests seem to eat him for dinner.   So, that night we started looking for jobs.  We were sad and frustrated after years of prayer and fasting and knowing school was the answer. We had a huge mountain in front of us with no clear way to pass.  

We had forgotten that mountains can be moved. 

That night, the instructor for the class sent him a long email giving him both praise and constructive criticism.  He had made the decision to disregard his final grade and gave him a passing grade.  He wanted him to continue on with his schooling.   Financial aid came through that very evening and we felt an overwhelming confirmation that we were doing what we should be.