Back In the Routine

It is tobacco cutting time here in Robertson County. It is not uncommon to get behind a slow moving load of tobacco on my way to work now. The smell of tobacco barns will permeate the community soon. I remember when I was a teen it was an excused absence to miss school for cutting tobacco if it was your family’s crop. And while I never exercised my rights, it was also okay to smoke, dip, or chew at school in designated areas.

OFF TO SCHOOL. Ben began his educational career on Monday. Like Jenna, he was escorted to school with a two car procession (we drove separately so I could start my work day at his school and Vicki could go back home). I think he was real excited because he came back home talking about what a good time he had. I was glad to hear that because I have always been afraid he’d be like one little girl who was asked what she thought after her first day in kindergarten and she replied, “Oh, it was okay. I just wouldn’t want to do it every day.” As a matter of fact, Ben was really upset yesterday morning when Vicki told him she would be picking him up before nap time. It seems he wanted to ride the bus home. His evening prayers include his happy feelings about school. We are thankful he is adjusting so well.

Ashlyn Wright is one of Ben’s classmates. Her family also goes to church with us. Ben came in from school one day talking about her. He finally concluded his thoughts saying, “I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to be her ‘girlfriend’ or not.” Vicki had to suppress a laugh at this.

HAND ME DOWNS. So while Vicki is dressing Nate this morning, he looks himself over and says, “But these are Benton’s clothes.”

Vicki replies, “No, these are your clothes now.”

Perplexed, he looks down again and asks, “Did they grow little?”

Vicki laughed and exclaimed, “No, you grew into a big boy!”

Nate agreed with a hearty, “Yes I am!”

PLUMBING BLUES. Any time you call a plumber it is expensive. That’s why I hated to call mine up earlier this week. I gave in when I just couldn’t locate a leak I was hearing. After taking a grand tour of the underside of our house he concluded the leak was somewhere in the waterline between the meter and the house, a very expensive repair. To be brief, we have had a major stroke of luck in discovering that all but the last 20 feet of this line is PVC and in good shape. The only section that is being replaced is right behind the kitchen. I’m sure it won’t be cheap, but at least it will be a lot less than the original $1700 estimate.

I’M PROUD OF VICKI! She joined Weight Watchers back in June, right around the time we were doing Vacation Bible School. Slow, steady (and healthy) progress was made each week and Vicki has lost exactly 20 lbs. as of her last weigh in. This is the first time she has ever dieted, and it has been a lot easier than she ever thought it could be. She enjoys all foods and keeps track of her helpings. The plan is to lose about 30 more. She’s already talking about buying a new wardrobe in a few more months.

She has also started exercising to some work-out DVDs. Ben decided to do some of the floor exercises with her one morning but gave up pretty quickly. A bit later he sympathized from the couch saying, “Oh Momma, I know they hurt. I know they do!”

A HEART FOR MINISTRY. Sherri Traughber is the secretary at my office. She is a good friend and someone I respect deeply. Since coming to work with us she has made several mission trips to Romania to minister to the Romani people. This people group, commonly known as Gypsies, are treated very poorly in Romania. From the picture Sherri has painted for me I will venture to say they are seen as sub-human by other Romanians. It is here Sherri feels she has found a special calling for a life ministry. To this end she is going to college in preparation for this work.

Through the connections she’s made, Sherri learned about a Romanian family in need recently. To help out she organized a dinner as a fundraiser. We went to this Sunday evening where a Romanian wedding feast was served. The meal started with a meat ball and vegetable soup (Ciorbā de Perisoare). This was followed by slaw (Salata de Varzā), tomato and cucumber salad (Salata de Roșiiși Castraveți), roasted chicken (Carne de Pui), mashed potatoes (Catofi Pireu) and vegetables, and thin pork loin that had been cooked in batter (Şințel--similar to Country Fried Steak). This was all topped off with chocolate eclairs and cookies. Afterward Sherri spoke and showed pictures from her latest trip. Many of the stories she told were heart wrenching.

Sherri is planning to return to Romania in November. I am sure she would appreciate your prayers.

Joe

Lordy, Lordy, I'm 40!

It is official. As of Sunday, I am over the hill! It sure doesn’t feel like I’ve been around for 40 years, but here I am.

With Riley’s birthday two weeks ago and Ben’s last week, parties have dominated our social calendar lately. To celebrate my birth we had a party in our backyard Saturday evening (44 people showed up). The guests brought side dishes to accompany the barbecue, cake and ice cream we provided. Rick and Sharon Robinson gave me a bag full of medical items I’ll be needing to face the upcoming years (and after emptying the bag Sharon said, “Oops, I forgot to put in the e-ma!”) I think everyone had a good time. I sure enjoyed sharing the time with some of the people who are special to me.

Sunday afternoon Vicki cooked chicken lasagna for supper and we ate over at Pauline’s. Mom and Aunt Mar brought the chocolate cake we all fight over. Since this time we’ve had a lot of leftovers. Nate made the following observation the other day at supper: “Hey, we had this lasterday!”

It really wasn’t my intention to be reflective, but I must say that God has blessed me these 40 years. I have enjoyed good health to date. I have been blessed be born in a home with two people who have loved me, stood by me and prayed for me. That blessing has even extended to a community of relatives and neighbors who have been important parts of my life. God favored me when He sent Vicki to be part of my life and He has blessed us with three wonderful children.

Each day my goal is to brighten the day of everyone I meet, even if they’re already having a good day. Sometimes I let the wear and tear of life prevent me from doing that, or maybe I just get plain ornery. But that’s the basic idea I want to live my life by. I feel it’s one of my purposes in life and I just hope I live up to it all my days.

Joe

School Days Are Here

The start of school is one of the busiest times of year in my job and the first day of classes is tomorrow. We are getting started with a new student management system so things have been especially rough this year.

NEW CLASSES. We went to East Robertson’s Open House on Monday and met all the teachers (not that I don’t already know them). Jenna is entering third grade this year and Mrs. Robbie Kiernan is her teacher. Mrs. Kiernan has a class web site and she had several candid pictures of Jenna’s class posted when I checked it out.

Third grade is one of those hump years where it’s more than a gradual increase in work from the previous year, so I’ve been teasing Jenna that she’s starting boot camp this year.

Ben will be in Mrs. Linda Jakes’ kindergarten class this year. Mrs. Linda was Jenna’s teacher three years ago. He will not be going to school until the 21st due to student screening. He seemed really excited to see his classroom Monday evening. He was also happy to see that several of his friends from church and Mom’s Day Out are in his class. Among these are Kenny and Lori’s son, Wil.

THURSDAY’S BABY TURNS 6! It was six years ago Thursday that Ben was featured on Baptist Hospital’s Thursday Baby commercial. Where did the time go? When Vicki asked him if he felt any different he paused to think a moment before answering, “Naw, I’m still the same ol’ Benton!”

We have celebrated Ben’s big day quite a bit this year. Wednesday evening we had a family dinner for him at Pauline’s. Among the presents he opened was a much better water gun than what he had (Alex and Chris, I know you’ll be interested in knowing that). He also got a Slip-n-Slide.

Thursday night, Ben’s actual birthday, we went out to eat at the Catfish House. After supper we took Ben to Wal-Mart to pick out a new bicycle as the one he has is getting too small. He sat on several bikes that are the next size up but didn’t feel comfortable so he opted to save this present for later.

Saturday afternoon brought another celebration with Ben’s friends. It was a great day for playing with the new water guns (Jenna and Nate also received new and approved water weapons), sprinkler, and Slip-n-Slide. The latter proved to be highly entertaining for the adult audience. All the kids were having such a blast that opening presents was viewed by Ben as a rude interruption to all the fun. (He got over it after the first gift.)

HOUSE GUEST. Among Ben’s party guests were Riley and Harper. We had invited Riley to spend the night so she stayed on after Amanda and Harper left the party. Because of Riley’s party the week before we had rented The Wizard of Oz. After cleaning up the yard I came in to find all the kids piled up in front of the TV, physically still in our world, mentally somewhere over the rainbow. The next morning we treated Riley to a pancake breakfast before church. After church and lunch they got to spend a few hours playing together before Riley had to go home. Riley, we are all glad you were our guest.

UNHEALTHY NEWS. While it has been a fun week we’ve also seen some sickness. Monday night around 11:00 Pauline called and asked Vicki to come over. She had been very sick all evening and Vicki wound up taking her to the ER where she was treated for a “non-infectious intestinal disorder.” She was out of it most of yesterday but was feeling well enough today to go to church for supper this evening.

Nate was the first to be diagnosed with strep throat on Monday. Ben was confirmed today. Vicki asked if Jenna should be checked as a precautionary measure. The doctor would not since she was showing no symptoms. Jenna is crossing her fingers as she already has her sites set on perfect attendance this year. Anyway, the pink medicine is flowing at our house right now.

Joe

Hot and Dry

I mentioned last week that we’re having a dry summer. The rain that came last Monday was nothing compared to the gentle, ground soaking rain we got most of the day Friday. We only mowed the yards two times in July, but we’ll keep the mower running now. The sad thing is that the ground was just as dry 24 hours after the rain as it was before.

SWIMMING PROGRESS. The kids had swimming lessons last week. They all did really well. Jenna’s instructor told her she could join the swim team if she wished (I don’t think this is one of her ambitions though). Ben came home each day excited about new things he had learned. But my favorite comment came from Nate after his first lesson. When I came home from work he enthusiastically proclaimed, “Daddy, I learned how to swim today and I did great!”

SUMMER READING. When I was a boy Moby Books published a series of illustrated classics. They were small with an illustration on just about every page. Each book was an abridged version of some literary classic--Tom Sawyer, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Heidi, Moby Dick, etc. I had about 25 of them.

Jenna loves to read. She didn’t get a summer reading assignment from school, but it wouldn’t have been a problem for her if she had. One of her favorite activities this summer has been trips to the library in Springfield. Well, I had to go up to her room for something the other day and got a good laugh. She had found all my illustrated classics and laid them out on the floor in the order she wanted to read them. Then she had taken a sheet of paper and cut it into individual bookmarks for each book.

CORRUPTED. Most parents have this list of words they don’t want their child using. This list will extend beyond cursing to include words that aren’t particularly vulgar but still impolite. Deciding what to call body parts like the posterior can be a challenge as you want to be descriptive while not making your kids the laughing stock of their peers. For our family the rear end is simply called your “bottom.” (Mom, a “settee” is a type of sofa or couch, not part of the anatomy!)

Well, in spite of your best efforts, you can count on the fact that your kids will be corrupted somewhere. Nate has been corrupted. We learned this as he was in the shower happily singing, “This is the way we wash our ‘butt’om, wash our ‘butt’om, wash our ‘butt’om,....”

WE’VE BEEN TO SEE THE WIZARD! We were invited to Riley Dee’s birthday party Saturday. Amanda had the coolest idea for hosting the party. She had discovered Street Productions, a small theatre company performing plays for kids in Bellevue Mall. The birthday girl came dressed as her favorite character, Glenda the Good Witch, and Grandmother Judy was wearing her own ruby slippers.

The cast works on a volunteer basis and they run a play for about a month. Right now they are doing The Wizard of Oz. They did a great job and we all enjoyed the show. We plan to take the kids back. Jenna and Nate especially enjoyed meeting the cast. The birthday party was starting, but they insisted on getting everyone’s autograph, down to the least munchkin. (Ben was content with three signatures.)

A-MAZED. After Riley’s party we went to eat at the Loveless Café which has been a Nashville favorite for about 50 years. Like many restaurants, their place mats had activities to keep the kids busy while waiting for their food. There was a maze in one corner which Ben tried to do. Unbeknown to him I was solving the maze with my eyes as he was struggling with my pen. When he gave up and returned the pen I took it and drew in the correct trail. When I handed the paper to him he asked incredulously, “Did you win?” Slow to believe he had to check my work and when he got done following my line with his eyes said with disbelief, “He winned it. He winned it!“

Joe