I hope everyone enjoys getting these newsletters. Occasionally someone will email or tell me that they do. When I first sat down to compose this edition I had a bit of writer's block and wrote the following for the introduction.
This has been one of those weeks where nothing really unusual happened, our routine activities have kept us all busy and I can't believe its Sunday again. It's like I have traveled somewhere and when I got to my destination I felt like I was just here. On a positive note, I think I enjoyed the trip.
Now that I am finished and have reread it I realized that this week has been a good week and I really did enjoy the trip.
PROGRESS REPORT. If our kids ever survive us through their childhood.... What do I mean by that? The mid-term progress reports were given out at our schools this week. When Jenna came home Vicki got her report out of her "take home folder." After looking it over she read aloud to Jenna, "Jenna is progressing and is a wonderful student." Then, without missing a beat, Vicki added, "...but she picks her nose in class." You should have seen the look of horror on that poor child's face.
Vicki, looked up and continued the fun by asking, "Jenna, you haven't been picking your nose in class have you?!" Jenna looked up and the only answer she could manage was a slow, guilty nod of her head. Vicki felt terrible that her joke went sour so she apologized and gave her a big hug. But now we all know....
A CAR WASH. I think I have mentioned Scoop before--the back hoe character from Bob the Builder that we have as a riding toy. Nate has taken it over from Ben now (Ben has moved on to a plastic motorcycle Nate got for his last birthday). I got a good laugh when I came in from work the other day. As I was taking my coat off I looked into Nate's room. I could see that he was busy doing something to Scoop. He looked up at me and said, "Daddy!" and went right back to work. When I looked more closely I discovered that he had gotten into the wet wipes and was washing Scoop down.
SCARED TO DEATH. The other night after supper Ben came upstairs to play on the computer. There must have been a print job that didn't get completed when it was shut down because when he booted it up and logged in the printer came to life. He came running downstairs, eyes real big, saying, "Daddy, the printer just started printing all by itself. I didn't make it do that and it scare me!"
GIRLS NIGHT OUT. Thursday night Vicki went to a Girls Night Out meeting at Springfield Baptist. Some 550 women were there to hear Kay Dekalb Smith speak. Smith is often billed as the Carol Burnett of Christian comedy. Vicki said she laughed so hard that she cried and really enjoyed the evening.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO NATE. Nate is two years old today. We celebrated his birthday with a trip to Hollywood's in White House for supper. They have a tabletop train set for kids to play with in the dining room and Nate thoroughly enjoyed playing with it. He was really sad when he had to stop to eat.
Ben and I played a game of air hockey. He got so excited whenever he scored that I wished I had the camera with me to catch his expression. Afterwards we went to Pauline's for cake and to open presents.
SCRIBBLE. If you have never tried to read Aunt Mar's handwriting you will not get the full implication of this story. The kids at East Robertson are allowed to receive mail at school this month (up to five letters). Partly for Valentine's Day and partly to teach about correspondence or friendly letters. Aunt Mar sent Jenna a note. When Jenna brought it home Vicki looked at it and asked Jenna if she was able to read it. She replied, "Parts of it but I think she wrote it in a different language."
GOOD NEWS! I got an email from Brian and Melissa Whaley the other day. They are friends from our UT-Knoxville days and are in the process of adopting a girl from India. Their paperwork has moved through the system faster than anticipated and they are now getting things set so they can travel. They still don't know when they will be leaving to get Morgan but it should be sometime in the next few months. Please keep them in your prayers.
Joe
