Tales of Christmas

I think Nate said it best when he said, "This year was the best Christmas ever!" It was a great Christmas in spite of the rain. Now we're about to ring in 2010. Time flies so quickly, it seems like last year that everyone was worried about the Y2K computer problems.

SILENT NIGHT. Jenna sang Silent Night as a solo at our Christmas Eve service at church. She did a great job. We were all really proud of her.

Jenna had been practicing this for a few weeks, and the funny thing about it all has been her practice location. She wanted to practice alone, but in our house that's not really possible so she'd been going outside to sing. Even out in the yard just any old spot wouldn't work -- it had to be private. It turns our her private spot is the large boxwood bush on the west side of the house. This bush is about twenty feet across and almost as tall as the house. If you push your way through there is an empty space in the middle which is perfect for a kid's hide out so all through December Jenna has been serenading our boxwood. Pauline happened to be out in her yard one day and heard singing but never could figure out where it came from. Now that Jenna's solo is behind her I wonder if the boxwood misses her?

CHRISTMAS. I think the biggest hits of Christmas this year were the Wii Sports Resort and Lego Indiana Jones games for the Wii. The kids have about worn those games out already. That's not to say that we've thrown the video game and them and left them alone. We've all had a blast playing Uno Spin together as well as one on one games like Mastermind and Rummikub. Jenna is at the age now where she is enjoying the clothes and shoes she got for Christmas more than anything else.

Vicki had told me she wanted a new vacuum cleaner for Christmas (which she did get), but as I in the store shopping I kept thinking, "A vacuum cleaner is no present to get your wife." So, I surprised here with a pair of new nightstands to replace the mismatched ones in our bedroom. Jenna and I slipped them into place as she was taking a shower Christmas morning and then simply waited for her to notice them. It took her four trips to the bedroom before they caught her eye.

As for me, I've had a blast watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy again (the extended versions of all three films).

We also enjoyed our traditional activities: dinner a Pauline's Christmas Even night, brunch at Mrs. Connie's Christmas Day, and upper at Aunt Mar's that night.

Tuesday evening we drove to Ashland City to enjoy more Christmas with the Dee and Bradley families. Amanda and Derek have added a new master bedroom to their house and it looks fantastic. Unfortunately, neither Aunt Mar nor Pauline felt like going. All the cousins did have a great time though.

The Jones family is here for a visit this weekend so our kids are enjoying even more cousin time as we ring in the new year.

On that note, I’ll sign off by wishing everyone a happy new year!

Joe

Christmas Eve Eve

Thirty-five years ago it seemed to me that Christmas would never come. Time simply drug by. Christmas Eve night I would be so excited I could hardly go to sleep. I am blessed to relive that through the eyes of my kids. I am especially humbled when I remember over half of the world’s population lives on less than $2.00 per day.

Yesterday was our last day of school for this semester. I think Robertson County was the only school system in the area to have classes this week (which means we’ll return to school later than our neighbors).

I think I’ve mentioned before that the kids and I pray together as we are driving to the bus stop. I am blessed to hear my kids prayers as they start their days, but yesterday Nate made me laugh so hard I almost ran off the road. Right in the middle of his prayer Nate said, “And God, I don’t know why we have to go to school this week when everyone else got out last week, but I’m glad today is our last day.”

We had our Christmas musical, Once Upon a Holy Night, last weekend. The choir did a great job. Vicki and Jenna both sang in the choir. The musical was directed by one of our college students, Michael Johnson. It was also his own creation in that he used music from other sources and wrote a lot of the narration. Michael has played piano at church for years and is very talented. He did a fantastic job, and it was great to see him come into his own with this project.

On the social front, Vicki and I enjoyed a date to celebrate her birthday Friday night. We dined at the Korea House restaurant in West Nashville and then went to McKay’s Book Store. Sunday night we were invited to a Christmas party at Kelly and Kathy Ragland’s. Tonight we’re going to Kenny and Lori’s annual Christmas Eve Eve party. Tomorrow night we have the Christmas Eve service at church and dinner at Pauline’s house. Then it will be time to get the kids home and in bed.

So to all you, our family and friends that we hold dear, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year (though I plan to write again before then).

Joe

The Big Four-Oh

I am writing from the middle of a marathon -- at least I feel like it. Vicki and I hardly see each other. Last night Vicki and Jenna came in from church as the boys and I were going to bed. Vicki said, “We only see each other in passing anymore. It’s like we’re in two separate orbits.” She definitely has the inner (faster) orbit right now. I’m just trying to hang on until we close school on Tuesday.

RADIATION UPDATE. Pauline has completed her 4th radiation treatment with 16 to go. While we don’t know what’s ahead physically I think one of the challenges will simply be getting into the routine of the daily trip to Skyline Medical Center just to receive a quick zap. The blessing from all this is Pauline and Vicki are getting a lot of good mother-daughter time together.

THE BIG FOUR-OH. A week ago today Vicki celebrated her 40th birthday. She has finally arrived at the crest of the hill (though many people are saying the hill is now at 50 which is fine with me). We went out to eat at the Depot in Springfield as a family after Jenna’s ball game that night. The real party, however, was the night before at AWANA.

I had been working on a surprise party at church for several weeks and somehow we got about 50 kids to keep the surprise quiet. Every week Vicki will recognize kids’ birthdays during the opening for AWANA. This was where we sprung the surprise on her. I gave her a dozen roses, and all the kids sang Happy Birthday. In honor of Vicki we designated this as a theme night and told the kids they could come dressed as a senior citizen if they wanted (or they could simply wear black). We had several to do this. We had also told the kids they could memorize Proverbs 16:31 and recite it to Vicki for 50 extra points. That verse reads: “Gray hair is a crown of splendor; it is attained by a righteous life.” Finally, we served cake and ice cream during game time. Everyone had a lot of fun celebrating Vicki’s birthday and I think Vicki was truly surprised.

A SICK BOY. The hardest thing about the party was getting the last minute stuff ready. I had planned to pick up the cake after work last Wednesday, come home, and then go to church for my final preparations. As luck would have it, Nate got sick at school and had to come home. The weekly church staff meeting is on Wednesdays so I needed to come home to keep Nate by 12:00. I was able to pick the cake up early, but I was about 1:00 getting home. Vicki missed a surprise lunch party the staff had planned for her (I did not know about these plans either).

Nate is better now, but he wound up missing his mom’s birthday party at AWANA and a field trip he had been looking forward to at school the next day.

NATE THE ORGANIZER. Nate has turned out to be a pretty good cleaner if you keep him separated from his brother. (They tend to fight about who’s doing more work when they’re together.) The other day Nate took it upon himself to organize our pantry. Now all our food that is within four feet of the floor is neatly arranged on the shelves and easy to find.

DEDICATION. I mentioned last time that we are involved with a Cub Scout pack in White House this year. We didn’t get hooked up with this pack until several weeks into the school year, and because of this Ben missed a chance to get his bicycle belt loop with the rest of the boys in his den. His den leader, Mr. Kermit, promised Ben that he would take him on a bike ride to help him make up what he missed. Between weather and work schedules it has taken two months for this to happen. (I was planning to do this with Ben as well, but weather and schedule have worked against me too.)

I have to admire Kermit for sticking with his promise. He and Ben got their bike ride in Tuesday evening. It was dark and the temperature was below freezing, but they got their ride in.

BASKETBALL. The boys have started basketball practice now (on Tuesday nights). Both of them have coaches they’ve had before. Their games start next month.

Jenna is getting a little game time playing on the JV team, though she’s not put in until the last few minutes of the game, if then. Last Thursday she did have a good assist on a goal!

THE TOOTH FAIRY FLIES AGAIN. Nate is so happy! He lost his first tooth Monday night. He’s been wanting to pull it from the first sign of it wiggling a week or so ago, and its been hard to make him wait for it to be loose enough to come out. Monday night was the night and Vicki reached in with her fingernails and plucked it right out. I think Nate was one of the last kids in his class to have not yet lost a tooth. He was so happy. Now he’s trying to figure out a way to keep his teeth and receive cash from the tooth fairy.

Joe

A Nice Break

The corn and soybeans have been harvested and the wheat has been sown. Winter is starting to assert itself. I have finally pulled out my long sleeve shirts.

A NICE, SLOW THANKSGIVING. We had the best Thanksgiving! It was nice to slow down and enjoy a few days off. The day before Thanksgiving we finished getting all the leaves out of the yard. This was the first year in a long time where weather and schedule have cooperated so we could get this done by Turkey Day.

On Thanksgiving we enjoyed a very nontraditional meal. We had chicken spinach lasagna which happens to be one of my favorites, so this was fine by me. We also had hommade spaghetti and meatballs. The meal was simple and took far less effort to fix than what Vicki has done in the past. We all ate over at Pauline’s.

Black Friday was our day to pull out the Christmas decorations. We started with the tree and then worked on the knick knacks around the house. We also put up Pauline’s tree. This continued with the outdoor decorations on Saturday. As we were pulling out the nativity scene Ben reminded me that there was a bit of snow on the ground when we set up the nativity scene last year. I don’t remember snow, but I do remember it being cold. This year we were working in short sleeve shirts. That evening we all went out to eat. Aunt Linda and Uncle Bob had driven up for a visit so we made our traditional visit to the Catfish House.

By Sunday evening Vicki was starting to feel a little sick so the kids and I got out of her hair and went over to Aunt Mar’s for a while. While there we got out all her Christmas decorations and set up her tree. I don’t know that I’ve ever had all three trees up before December.

SNOWFLAKES. It may not be snowing here in Cross Plains, but we have snowflakes at our house -- big one. Ben learned how to make paper snowflakes at school this week and he has been obsessed with making them. He even has his brother and sister in on the act. Now if we can just get him to throw away all the little bits of confetti he leaves on the table when he’s been making snow...

CHRISTMAS PARADES. Cross Plains held its annual Christmas parade this morning. Boy, was it cold! Our children’s ministry entered a float this year and it sure looked great. I got nominated to pull the float so I enjoyed the warm comfort of my truck cab. Our float was made by Todd and Sherree Totten, Buzz and Tammy Graves, and Brandi Clark. They made a big gingerbread house to sit on the trailer, and did a fantastic job.

We had several adults walk beside our float during the parade. This was partly for the safety of the kids and partly to pass out flyers about our AWANA club. I kept trying to drive at a comfortable walking speed, but the floats in front of me kept running off and leaving me so our escorts were pretty tired by the time we got to the end of the route. Vicki has already had one severe leg cramp.

I said parades above because we took in a second parade today. White House had their parade this afternoon. Our boys are involved in a Cub Scout pack in White House this year so they got to ride with their fellow scouts this afternoon. Vicki, Jenna, and I were glad to be spectators on this one.

RADIATION. I mentioned last time that Pauline had wrapped up her chemo. This week she saw a radiologist who told her she has some 20 treatments ahead. She will go in next week to have a form made to fit her body, and the treatments will begin sometime after that. She was told she shouldn’t expect any major side effects.

Joe

Being Thankful

When I was a kid I used to long for Saturdays to roll around. It seemed like Saturday would never get here. On Saturday I could get up and watch cartoons all morning and play all afternoon. I would be so excited about watching cartoons I’d wake up before any TV stations signed on the air for day. (Remember when TV stations were NOT on the air 24/7?) Now it seems like weekends come and go as fast as fence posts when you are driving down the highway.

THE WEEKLY SCHEDULE. One thing that make the weeks fly by is simply the schedule for each week. I believe the extracurricular things take over. The boys have Cub Scouts on Mondays, and there’s church (with our AWANA Club) on Wednesdays. Now that Jenna is on the ball team many of her afternoons are tied up with practice and there are games on Mondays and Thursdays (as a 6th grader she plays on the B team so her games are early). When Upward Basketball starts up in a couple of weeks that will take another night and Saturdays out of the loop.

If you read this and think I am complaining you have misunderstood the spirit in which this was written. I am thankful we can do all these things. It is so easy to go through the year and take our health and opportunities for granted. It is too easy to forget how many people in the world (and throughout history) have simply struggled to survive. All the things that are a normal part of our lives -- a comfortable home, an abundance of food, good health, and leisure time to to pursue things we enjoy -- are simply an unattainable and unimaginable luxury for so many. If I am sort of down about any of this it is because of the question that keeps nagging me from the back of my mind, “Am I pleasing God with all this excess?”

BASKETBALL. As I mentioned above, Jenna’s ball schedule is on full swing. She’s played in two games so far (and gotten about two minutes of playing time in each game). I haven’t seen her play yet. I had an eye appointment scheduled on top of one game and was teaching a workshop during another. Vicki sys Jenna is discovering middle school ball is totally different from Upward ball.

THE CHEMO IS OVER. Pauline has completed this round chemotherapy! She’s had a scan after it was over and the spot they saw back in August has shrunk about 80%. She will consult with a radiologist after Thanksgiving. We’ll keep you posted.

A CLARIFICATION. I want to make a clarification here since my article about the Upward Basketball evaluation prompted a couple of you to reply to last week’s newsletter. I will agree, that really isn’t an experience a kid should have in a ministry based organization, and Ben had every right to feel the way he did that night. However I was so pleased to see Ben decide on his own to focus on playing harder and better that I never pursued it any further. I knew that kind of fight was in him somewhere, and I was glad to see it come to the surface.

I must thank Sabrina Freeland for the additional information I can give you this week. To make a long story short, Ben misread the form that night. The Upward Basketball Registration Form has a section that is filled out by a coach when the child is doing their evaluation. When Ben was done the coach handed him his form so naturally he looked to see how he did. This section has places to record left-side, right-side, and lane shooting as well as dribbling with either hand and doing the defensive slide (or shuffle). What happened was that Ben’s eyes strayed up to the section the PARENTS are supposed to fill out where he saw the question “Would you be willing to coach your child’s team?” Since I know nothing about basketball and Vicki is too busy we marked “no.”

When we pointed this out to Ben he gave us a sheepish grin. All he would say was, “I’m still going to play extra hard,” but I think he was glad to know the coach didn’t say that about him. Thanks again, Sabrina!

COMMUNITY THANKSGIVING. Our church hosted a community Thanksgiving service tonight. Five other churches participated. We kicked things off with a meal (each church was responsible for different foods) and then had our service. This is one of those things I look forward to every year and this year lived up to expectations. I was really blessed.

THE EXPRESS LANE. I didn’t run sound a church tonight, but they had so many gremlins in the sound system during rehearsal I decided to sit in the balcony to give them a hand in the service if they needed it. Ben sat with me. We served the Lord’s Supper during the service so when that started I slipped down to relieve Jeff, who was running sound, so he could go receive communion (we learned a long time ago never to leave a sound system unattended). Ben saw me get up and assumed I was going down to take communion right then.

For those of you who have not been to our church we have what’s called loge seating on either side of the sanctuary along the steps going up to the balcony. When I noticed Ben was not with me at the sound board I looked around and spotted him just as he was sitting on the handrail at the top of the loge. I could only shake my head in disbelief as I watched him slide down the rail past about ten pews of people to the foot of the loge and right to the front of the line. All I can say is that I’m trying to raise my heathens right.

Joe

Fall Is For Falling Leaves

I always wondered why autumn, of the four seasons, has a second name. I think Nate voiced the reason I had always suspected (that “fall” is for falling leaves) the other day. We were driving through town. There was a slight breeze and leaves were drifting down everywhere. Nate said, “Look! It’s snowing leaves.”

LEAF REMOVAL SERVICE. Each year I am amazed at the amount of leaves the 50 trees in our yard produce. Most of them collect between all the buildings in the back yard. Last Saturday the boys and I moved eight loads of leaves to the cornfield behind the house (the Pinsons had cut the corn the week before). The bad part of all this was that I had to have two tires patched from driving through all the corn stubble. (Too bad the soybeans haven’t been cut yet.)

A second side effect of last weekend was the sinus infection I got. As far as I’m concerned Amoxicillin is the miracle drug right now.

Yesterday afternoon Vicki and Jenna joined us in the fun. I have no idea how many loads we hauled out of the yard (to the hay field this time), but we have at least two thirds of the yard clean now. We only have two trees in the front that have yet to shed all their leaves. Hopefully we’ll have them all hauled off by Thanksgiving.

WAITING FOR THE BUS. Waiting for the school bus in the mornings is always interesting. If it’s wet there are puddles to throw rocks into. Now that the corn is cut the boys like to explore the edge of the field. Sometimes Wil is out there to catch the bus adding to the fun.

A lot of times someone will say, “There she isn’t!” And when everyone else turns their heads we get, “Ha, made you look!”

One day Ben said, “There she is!” When no one moved he said, “Really! It’s coming. I saw the blink-blink through the trees.” That’s the most creative name I’ve heard for the strobe light that flashes on the bus roof.

Speaking of the bus, Alice, the bus driver, broke her foot the other day stepping off the bus. The kids will probably have a substitute driver between now and Christmas break.

SPEAKING OF CHRISTMAS... Each year Vicki and two friends (Michelle and Tracey) go to the Christmas Village at the state fairgrounds. Vicki buys a few things for Christmas, but the trip is more about a girls night out. This year Tracey wasn’t able to go, but there were additions to the crew -- Jenna and Maegan (Michelle’s daughter) and another friend were invited along. It’s sort of a milestone to be part of a girls night out with your mom.

GOOD BIG BROTHER. This week we had to talk to Nate about the amount of food he was eating after school at Aunt Mar’s house. Mom and Aunt Mar have a good snack ready for the kids when they get off the bus, but Nate overdoes it and sneaks into the kitchen to get more -- so much so that he’s other not hungry for supper.

We confronted Nate about this, but he didn’t want to admit anything. When this came to a head and it was obvious he was not cooperating we sent him up to his room. Some time later he came down and owned up to what he’d been doing. He apologized and then said, “We should honor Ben. You should give him and honor because he came and talked to me about this.”

YOU HAVE TO ADMIRE THE ATTITUDE. Since Jenna made the ball team at school only the boys are playing Upward Basketball this year. We went Monday night for their evaluation. (This is done to try and balance ability levels across all teams.)

The evaluations included dribbling, shooting, shuffles, etc. As the coaches were watching the boys do these things they were recording their observations on the player’s signup form. When Ben was done the men who were observing him handed him his form to carry to the table out in the hall.

Later, as we were leaving, Ben commented that the coach who evaluated him didn’t want him on his team. I asked how he knew this and Ben replied, “He said so. I was reading how I did on the form and one of the questions was, ‘Would you want this child on your team?‘ The coach answered, ‘No.’ So he doesn’t want me on his team.”

I was trying to think of how to respond to this when Ben said, “Well, I’ll show him. If he doesn’t want me on his team I don’t want to be on his team and I’ll play extra hard when I play his team.” That’s better than anything I could have said.

Joe

Anakin Skywalker Had a Great Fall

We have been enjoying the best fall weather! It seems like the fall colors have lasted longer this year (it appears the trees didn’t all peak at one time). I’ve really enjoyed taking some walks around Springfield on my lunch break.

TRUNK OR TREAT. We had our third annual Trunk or Treat in the church parking lot this year. Vicki got the idea that she and the kids would dress up as bees and I would be the bee keeper. Vicki made an awesome queen bee and I borrowed a bee keeper’s suit from a friend (complete with dry ice in the smoker), however, the kids didn’t go for the idea. Jenna dressed as a witch, Ben was an alien, and Nate was Anakin Skywalker.

There were a lot of people at our trunk or treat. I was behind our van most of the time and could hardly look up from passing out candy, Vicki was working a table where she was passing out information about AWANA, and the kids were hanging out with their friends. Everything was going really well until someone ran up to me to say that Nate had fallen off a wall.

Nate and Ben were with several of their friends playing in the grass right behind the church building. The yard does not slope down to the back door so there is a retaining wall to hold everything in place. Nate was near the wall and backing up when his foot caught on the top of the wall and he tripped over it. He fell about five feet to the asphalt below. Vicki got to him before I did and helped him walk inside the church. When we didn’t see any external swelling we decided he needed to go to the emergency room.

To be brief, the CT scan showed no damage so he simply had a hard lick to the head. Nate was lucky that he fell on his left side which softened the blow to his head. He was also lucky that he didn’t have his arms out trying to break his fall. By the next morning his headache was gone and he was a bit worn out with everyone at church asking him if he was okay. I am thankful to God that it came out like it did and I can crack jokes like “the Force sure wasn’t with young Skywalker that time” or “we’re looking for a Humpy Dumpty costume for next year.”

INSULATED. The walls in our house are insulated now. This is something I’ve wanted to do for years. One thing that held me back was knowing that many old houses like ours were built with cross bracing in the walls making it hard to blow insulation in. After pulling some clapboards off we discovered our house was built with storm bracing making the cavity between each wall stud completely empty from top to bottom. Storm bracing is where 3/4 inch tongue and groove flooring was nailed up to the outside of the wall studs before the clapboards were put on. These boards are set diagonally eliminating the need for cross bracing through the wall studs. The storm bracing had the side benefit of allowing us to pull a row of clapboards off right under the eave, blow in the insulation, and easily put the clapboard back. We didn’t even have to plug any holes like you see on some houses where the insulation is blown in later!

Our house feels cozier now, but the true tests will be seeing our heat bills through the winter and sitting in the living room on a 20° night when the wind is blowing.

A TASTE OF TURKEY. Why is it every year I feel like we’re ramping up for holiday activities earlier than the year before? Mom invited Pauline. the boys, and myself to the Byrum-Porter Senior Center in Orlinda last night for their annual Fall Harvest Dinner (which is a fund raiser for the center). They served turkey and dressing with all the trimmings. I enjoyed it, but the boys and I felt a little out of place -- we were among the youngest people eating there (most of the people my age were getting take out plates).

If you are wondering where the rest of the family was, Aunt Mar was a little under the weather and stayed home, Jenna was spending the night with her friend Mackenzie, and Vicki was in Chattanooga for an AWANA Commanders College. (From the sound of it Vicki has had a great time and has picked up a lot of ideas.)

I had to laugh at me and the boys as I went to bed. We came back from our meal at the Senior Center, watched a movie, and turned in by 9:30. Maybe we were in better company at the Senior Center than I first thought.

Joe

Fall Fun

Over the last month the trees have been changing from that tired, dark green they have at the end of summer to begin revealing their true fall colors. Everywhere I look I see yellows, oranges, and reds become the more dominant color of the landscape. This will all reach a peak during the coming week. Hopefully I won’t run off the road trying to take it all in.

OUR LADY INDIAN. Last week Jenna decided to try out for the middle school girls basketball team. She made it! We’re so proud. We don’t know the game schedule yet, but she’ll be practicing five days a week (except for game days). The boys will play Upward Basketball again, so it looks like our lives are going to revolve around the round ball from now through the end of February.

FALL DECOR. Of course, this is also the time of year when the color white can bee seen decorating a few select trees. This comes in the form of long streamers of toilet paper. Several of the trees in our year are part of this club as we were rolled last night. Whoever did it was really quiet. We were watching National Treasure 2 while it was going on. They even slipped up on the front porch and decorated the swing and we didn’t even know.

Now I’ve rolled enough houses back in my day that I have no room to get all bent out of shape over this (it was an eight roll job), but the boys weren’t quite sure how to take all the toilet paper in our trees the next morning. They kept asking me if it was illegal, and I suppose it is, but they kept insisting that we do something about it. I finally asked what they would do if we could ever figure out who did it. Nate decided they should pay each of us a dollar.

ROLLING GONE SOUR. As I mentioned above, I’ve rolled my share of yards. I’ve been caught by an angry homeowner once, but never the police. On one adventure the kids were home alone when we came to roll their yard. They got so caught up in the fun they contributed toilet paper to our cause (go figure). Another time I was home and watched some guys rolling my yard from the window. When they left I gathered up all their toilet paper and returned the favor.

Another time some cousins and I decided we would roll Kenny and Lori. Somehow they figured out we were coming so they hid out in the pasture beside their house and waited. I think they were about to give up when we came, but when we got there we were greeted with water from two hoses.

The time I remember most was when we decided to roll David and Lynn Henry (Kenny was in on this one). We loaded his trees, and just as we were finishing up David came outside and caught us. Rather than get mad he invited us in. What we didn’t know was that he had arranged for someone to come and clean up all the toilet paper from his yard and put it all on Kenny’s yard while we were inside. This plan worked and we were shocked when we finally came out, however, it came at a cost. While we were in David’s house we went everywhere rearranging knickknacks, swapping pictures, hiding kitchen utensils. It seems like there were things they didn’t find until they moved about a year later.

PICKING CORN. When the Cotters were here we went over to Mom and Aunt Mar’s house for supper one evening. The cornfield behind their house had been harvested by this time and all the kids had a lot of fun walking over the field picking up ears of corn the combine had missed. Alex even took a bag of corn with him to feed the squirrels the next time he went camping with the Boy Scouts.

Our kids have continued the fun all last week. Usually when I come to pick them up after work they are watching TV, but all last week they were sitting on the patio shelling the kernels of corn from the cobs they had picked up. By Wednesday they had filled two, one gallon ice cream buckets which Mom and Aunt Mar gave to a neighbor to feed his chickens. I assume the fun will continue until the Pinsons plow the field.

GIGGLE BOX. When I hug Ben he usually likes to wrap his feet around my legs. This results in him sliding down to my feet -- sort of like going down a fire pole. This is not ideal when you are wearing sweatpants as I was the other night. The words, “Stop! My pants are coming down,” were barely out of my mouth when I discovered my pants were at my ankles. Ben started laughing so hard I thought he was going to hyperventilate. This went on for quite a while. Every time the laughter would die down he would reenact the scene and get tickled all over again. I guess we’re all the butt of someone’s joke at one time or another. (I got him back with a cup of cold water in the shower later.)

Joe

Making Do with Rain

We’ve had one chilly, wet, messy Fall Break. The Cotters got here Monday evening and left Saturday morning. I don’t think we saw the sun the whole time they were here.

COUSIN-MANIA. Our kids and the Cotter boys didn’t let the weather dampen their spirits or their play. I believe everyone had a great time together. When it wasn’t raining they played outside. Our old chicken house in the backyard is a big hit for that. When indoors they had Nerf guns, video games, board games, and movies to keep them busy.

Alex introduced Ben to Risk this week. This isn’t to say that Ben is any good -- he needs a lot more experience. Every time I walked by Alex had Ben cornered in Australia with only a handful of armies to fight with. I guess I need to start playing Risk with the boy so he’ll be ready next time.

As I said, we all enjoyed watching movies together. At home we watched flicks like The Absent-Minded Professor, Flight of the Navigator, and Treasure Island. We also went to Springfield to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

Speaking of going to Springfield, we found several things to do there throughout the week. We ate at the Catfish House and Baldwin’s Barbecue. We also enjoyed bowling where the owner of the bowling alley was kind enough to take us on another tour of the pin setter area in the back (the Cotters had never seen this). Jim and Dianna browsed around the Antique Barn for a while (they skipped the movie), and Jim, Alex, Jenna, Ben, and I went to the Robertson County Museum.

Another day we went up to Cross Plains for our traditional meal, complete with milkshakes, at Thomas Drugs. We also went to the Cross Plains Museum where we looked at old school pictures of Mom and Aunt Linda.

This is skipping over a lot of details, but last week was a very nice visit with the Cotters.

ETHAN’S BIRTHDAY is not until the end of the month, but they celebrated Tuesday, a couple of weeks early, because of an upcoming chemo treatment. Ben was one of several boys invited over and from what I hear they had a blast.

Ethan has been doing well lately. His dad stopped by earlier and said each treatment is actually getting easier than the last.

KUDOS TO DONNA HALL. Speaking of feeling well, we had our annual Health Fair at church Saturday (a joint effort with NorthCrest Medical Center). This year we gave out about 400 free (seasonal) flu shots!

Ben has never handled shots well. I remember two years ago practically needing a straightjacket in order to give the boy his shot. This year Donna Hall came up to Ben and said, “You know Benton, you need to get your flu shot so you can stay well and be able to play with Ethan.” She led him off to a room and when I got back there to check on him she was done and putting a band-aid on his arm. I could have hugged her neck because Ben sure was scared about getting the shot as we were driving to church.

CAUGHT ON VIDEO. Ben has complained about Nate snoring for years. Nate has always refused to believe this. When Alex and Chris were here they told Nate he snores. Nate refused to believe them too. That’s where the video camera came in handy. Nate fell asleep during a movie Saturday night so I filmed him. I was careful to film Jenna and Vicki in the room as eyewitnesses which came in handy later because when I showed him the video the next morning he accused me of making the snoring sounds as I filmed him sleeping. When I reminded him that Mom and Jenna were there watching him snore in person he knew he had lost and he clinched his fists and growled at me.

INNOCENCE LOST. I knew my mom was in the dark on a lot of things in this world, but I could hardly believe my ears when she asked what a wet willy was. I will only say the look on her face when she got a personal demonstration was priceless. It was one of the few times she’s been rendered speechless.

Joe

Ready for a Much Needed Break

This holiday weekend is the start of Fall Break and our vacation. Last year we were heading to Disney World. This year is more of a staycation since we had such a busy summer. This weekend we’ve been cleaning the house in preparation for the Cotters coming to visit us. They will arrive this afternoon.

Vicki told me cleaning the study was my responsibility. It was a job I knew needed to be done so I dove in Friday evening. I finally got done yesterday evening. The hardest part is tackling that big pile of miscellaneous stuff I don’t want to toss but have no idea where I should put. I file too much of my life under miscellaneous.

MORE THINGS TO DO. Ben’s to do list worked so well the other week when he was waiting for Wil’s birthday party he and Nate decided to make another one to keep them busy today while they are waiting for their cousins to get here from Florida. Here’s the list (again, I am expanding these from one word items):

Make our beds

Watch TV [written twice]

Clean [written twice -- wow!]

Get dressed

Shower [hopefully not in this order]

Eat [written twice]

Find Nate’s flashlight

Play on the computer

Play the Wii

Read a book with Dad

Say hello to Alex and Chris when they get here

BOWLING WALNUTS. I’ve said before that I take the kids to catch the school bus in front of Kenny and Lori’s house. Recently Wil has begun to ride the bus in the mornings when Lori is out of town with her job so we sometimes see him and Mrs. Connie. There is a big walnut tree right beside their driveway, and this is the time of year for the walnuts to fall. What’s so funny is watching the kids and Mrs. Connie roll the walnuts back and forth down the asphalt. It’s usually the four kids against Mrs. Connie and they keep her busy -- so much so that she had to come out of her jacket one particularly cool morning.

YOUTH ACTIVITIES. Our kids have been young for so long and with Vicki being our Children’s Minister it’s hard for me to realize that Jenna is now part of the youth group at church. But she goes to the Youth House every Sunday and Wednesday and has a good time.

A few weeks ago I took Jenna to the See You at the Pole prayer service at the school flag pole. There was a good turn out that morning. We stood in a circle around the flagpole and those who wanted to prayed aloud. I was impressed with the number of kids who prayed that morning. (There was a SYATP at the elementary school as well. Vicki took the boys to that one.)

Last Wednesday the FCA at school had a Fields of Faith night. (Well, we’d had so much rain it moved to the gym and turned into Courts of Faith.) They served food and had music to kick off the evening. Jenna participated in a skit. A children’s choir performed, and a sign language team did a couple of songs as well. The featured speaker for the evening was former Tennessee Titan Chris Sanders. Both Vicki and Jenna said he was a great speaker and the evening was really fun (I stayed home with the boys).

While not a youth group activity Jenna took in her first concert this weekend. Friday night Vicki and Jenna went with a large group from our church to see Casting Crowns in concert. Vicki said it was a really good concert. I think Jenna had fun too, but all I can get out of her is, “I liked it.”

This morning Vicki took Jenna to the doctor to have the required checkup so she could try out for the basketball team at school. Tryouts are next week.

Joe

As if on Cue

With summer officially over last week it’s as if the weather was on cue to get that cool, crisp, fall feeling in the air. We’d had a big weather system camp out over the area and dump rain on us for the last few days, but everything cleared off Sunday and we’ve had beautiful days ever since.

COBWEBS. I wish I knew what kind of spider it is that comes out this time of year and builds these big webs around the yard. The spider is brown and about the size of my thumb. The webs are usually stretched from a lower tree branch to the ground and are about 2-3 feet in diameter. They are really fascinating to look at until you run through one while mowing.

About three weeks ago the kids and I were coming in from church and noticed a web in the backyard by the swing set. This web just happened to be under construction. This was the first time I had seen a spider spin a web in person. Truly fascinating! What was even more amazing was the speed with which the spider worked. We took pictures and filmed it.

I was really looking forward to seeing the finished product the next morning so you can imagine my surprise when I went out and it wasn’t there. I looked around and found only one anchor line the only evidence that a web had even been there at all. The ground showed our tracks where we had been out the night before, but no tracks going through the web. I can only assume an owl or something flew through the web during the night. All that hard work gone.

TO DO LIST. Ben was invited to Wil’s Saturday night for a birthday party sleepover. He had been looking forward to this all week, and when he woke up Saturday morning he knew he still had several hours to wait. He could hardly stand it. To solve this problem and help pass the time Ben wrote out a to do list of all the things he wanted to get done before the party. This was all his idea, and he took it very seriously, even crossing things off when he had done them. Here’s his list (well, he wrote one word for each thing to do):

• Play with Legos
• Make my bed
• Play with my car
• Eat
• Watch TV
• Get dressed
• Play the Wii
• Read a book with Dad
• Clean my room
• Wrap my present for Wil

By the time Ben was due to go to Wil’s house at 3:00 he had completed everything he had set out to do for the day. Oh, to have a to do list half that fun. Oh, to be able to complete my to do list each day. Such is life.

Ben had a great time with Wil, his family, and friends Saturday night. They all went out to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and have pizza for supper. Then they came back home and played together until everyone wore out -- well, almost everyone -- Lori said one boy didn’t go to sleep until 5:30 am!

While Ben was doing all this Saturday night Vicki, Jenna, and I were helping with the Cross Plains Heritage Commission’s Barbecue Supper, and Nate was staying with Pauline.

R/C TRUCK. Ben has always wanted a radio controlled car so he’s been saving his money to get one. When we were shopping at Wal-Mart for Wil’s present Ben found a little Hummer he liked and bought it. I think he’s already gotten his money out of it. Sunday the boys and I walked about two miles on the Greenway in White House and Ben drove the little car almost the whole way. It was starting to get weak by the time we got back to the van, but I was impressed with how far three AA batteries will go.

PAPER FLIGHT. While Ben likes his R/C Hummer Nate likes paper airplanes. He is still learning how to fold one, but once he has one he flies it until it’s no longer airworthy. When I was a kid Mr. Lind sent me a book on paper airplanes. I ran across it some time ago and showed it to Nate. He was thrilled! It has some really fancy planes in it. We’re still folding basic planes for now though.

PAULINE’S BIRTHDAY. Today is Pauline’s birthday, but we had a dinner for her Monday night as she had a chemo treatment yesterday. I know meatloaf gets a bad rap sometimes, but Vicki found a recipe and made an outstanding meal. That recipe is a keeper as far as I’m concerned. Pauline also enjoyed all the handmade cards from the kids.

Joe

Ahh, Fall!

It seems to me like farmers are later getting their tobacco in this year. Since I last wrote Bill Chatman has finished cutting the tobacco on Mom’s farm and has been housing in the barn next to our house. I am also meeting a lot of combines on the road as farmers are picking corn.

GOOD ATTITUDE. I want to brag on Ben a bit here. He has always made good grades, but he’s the kind of kid who puts a lot of sweat into every point he earns. Spelling words are his biggest challenge. Jenna and Nate seem to be able to look over their spelling words a time or two and know how to spell them, but not Ben. Math is Ben’s forte.

We were really worried about school this year because doing homework with Ben last year was not a pleasant experience. He was miserable with the chore and many times did all he could to make us miserable as well. We also know that in many ways the party is over after Second Grade.

Well, Ben has pleasantly surprised us this year. His attitude is great! He’s a completely different kid. I think his attitude goes a long way toward helping him do his homework successfully. This is not to say that spelling words are his favorite thing to do though. On Sunday Jenna asked how many weeks until Fall Break. When I answered Ben said, “Oh no, three more spelling tests!”

MORNING ROUTINE. All three of our kids have been really good about getting ready for school on their own this year. I don’t think we’ve been rushing out the door to get to the bus but one time. A lot of mornings the boys are ready 10-15 minutes before it’s time to leave. This morning was no different and they were upstairs playing while I was getting ready. Hearing this Vicki decided to go down the checklist to see if they truly were ready to go.

She yelled up from downstairs, “Boys, have you eaten breakfast?”

“Yes,” in unison.

“Are you dressed?”

“Yes,” again in unison.

“Have you brushed your teeth?”

“Yes!”

“Are your backpacks ready to go?”

“YES!”

“Have you made up your beds?”

“YES!” Then Nate quickly changes his answer to “no.”

“Is your room clean?”

“Ye..,” Ben answers alone but then stops after the first syllable.

We can only assume it wasn’t.

MEN’S RETREAT. I’ve been to Coldstream Camp two weekends in a row now. Last weekend we had a men’s retreat there from our church. I had a really good time. There were fourteen of us who went. Most of us stayed at the camp, but a few commuted. We enjoyed fishing, playing cornhole and washers, and eating together. We also had some really good discussions about various aspects of manhood and what God calls us to be as men. I hope this will give our Men’s ministry at church a boost.

FUN PLAY TIME. I haven’t written about Ethan in quite a while. If you live in our community then Ethan is probably never far from your mind, but for those of you who don’t have a Cross Plains connection aside from our family I will simply remind you that Ethan is Ben’s good friend who was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year. Ethan went to the hospital today for another dose of chemo so he’ll be feeling pretty rough for a few weeks, but the last two weeks have been really good for him. Tuesday afternoon Ethan called and asked if Ben could come over to play. This was the first time the boys have been able to get together in a long time and I think they both had a blast. They enjoyed two hours of playing the Wii, admiring each other’s Bakugan collection, and just being boys. Please continue to pray for Ethan and his battle with cancer.

CONFESSIONS OF A PEN THIEF. Last November I complained about my “kleptoPENiac” wife and how there is never a pen to write with at the computer desk. I will admit to being a bit anal about this. My cousin Judy even took pity on me and gave me a box of my favorite pens, the Pilot Precise V5, last Christmas. I almost always have one of these pens in my back pocket.

My wife’s habits have not changed in the last eleven months. Just a few weeks ago I caught myself complaining that I was still having to dig out a brand new pen every time I needed one at the computer desk.

Well, we got a good laugh last week. Vicki cleaned out her purse. She pulled out 22 different pens, pencils, and markers. Seven of these were my pens! Her purse is noticeably lighter now. For the time being I can sit at the desk and grab a pen any time I need one. And if I can’t find any I know all I have to do is find Vicki’s purse. Of course, she never puts her purse down in the same place twice. I think there’s a conspiracy going on here.

Joe

Good-Bye Summer

It’s always nice to survive to the first holiday of the school year. It doesn’t seem like we should be cruising into fall so soon. But then this summer has me all messed up. I just noticed cicadas singing the other day. We usually hear them all through August. I guess it hasn’t been hot enough for them to come out.

AWANA UPDATE. Now that our AWANA Club is under way I wanted to give an update. We had our first club meeting Wednesday before last (September 2) with over 50 kids there! What’s more important than the numbers, though, is the excitement! I have not seen kids this excited about what’s going on at church as they are with this, and we’ve always done some pretty fun things for kids at church. One thing that makes this so evident are the comments kids are making. One little girl came up to Vicki last Sunday and proudly recited the Bible verses to “Mrs. Vicki” that she already had memorized for Wednesday night. Someone else ran up on two boys drilling each other on their memory verses while waiting in the lunch line at school. And at our house Nate was really enjoying the Bible stories Vicki was reviewing with him when he asked if these stories were in the Bible he got from his Sunday school teacher. He was really impressed when he found out they were there.

This is even spilling over to the adults. One friend of mine, Buzz Graves, volunteered to help with AWANA. This past Wednesday I walked by Buzz and he had the biggest smile on his face. When I asked him about it he explained that he never expected to see the kids retain what they had studied from the previous week and be so eager to tackle the new material. We’ve also had another fellow become a Christian for the first time. He was baptized today. I know God has been working in his life, still I can’t help but think that his involvement with helping in AWANA, young as our club here is, had something to do with that decision.

God is definitely working in a lot of ways at our church.

RELAPSE. On the other end of the spectrum here I must report that Pauline’s lymphoma has returned. She went for a scheduled checkup a couple of weeks ago and they found a spot about three inches across in her right lung. She began chemo Tuesday. I think this round of treatment will be over by Thanksgiving. So far she’s still feeling pretty well.

RA MEN/BOYS CAMPOUT. Friday after school/work the boys and I headed to Coldstream Camp in Adams for the annual RA campout. It was a one night event.

Nate was too young to go last year so he was really excited. We found a brochure on the campground I had picked up last year and he just poured over all the pictures in it, and I think the camp lived up to his expectations. The beauty of this event, since it’s only one night, is there isn’t much organized activity. It simply provides a time for men and boys to be together and meet new friends from across Robertson County. Everyone can pretty much run free and do what they want. The boys and I enjoyed trying to fish at the lake. Ben rode the zip line once. Nate and I walked part of the nature trail. There was football, corn hole, washers, an obstacle course, s’mores--just anything a kid would want to do. Jeff Garst even brought the stuff for making ice cream in zip top bags.

We got home about lunch time yesterday. I made the boys shower. When they were done I went to see what they wanted for lunch and both were fast asleep in the living room. It doesn’t get better than that!

COMPLIMENT. Nate and I were sitting together in church today (the rest of the family were a bit under the weather) when, in the middle of Bro. Bill’s sermon, he looked up at me and asked, “Daddy, did you shave today?” When I told him I had shaved he smiled real big and said, “You look good!” We’ll be taking him to the eye doctor as soon as possible.

Joe

Time Passes So Quickly!

Almost every time I sit down to write the Swann Family News I am shocked to see how long it has been between writings. So much for my goal of writing about once a week. I have been teaching several in-service workshops the last two weeks so there hasn’t been a lot of time for me in the evenings.

We have the smell of tobacco barns in the air now. Our hot weather has been short lived. This has been the most comfortable summer I can remember.

MIDDLE SCHOOL UPDATE. We have been on a roller coaster with band here at our house. Jenna struggled with this all the way through last weekend. I’ve reported on this the last couple of times. Jenna is now out of band completely and seems to be a much happier girl, but then again, I don’t want her to do something that makes her miserable. With band out of the picture she will now rotate through health, physical education, study skills, and computer skills over the course of the year. She has joined Jr. Beta now too.

NEW EMAIL. Now that Jenna is in middle school we’ve allowed her to have her own email account. She’s excited about this since one of her best friends has email as well. This is just another sign that my daughter is growing up. Of course the rule is, if she wants access to the computer then she can’t change her email password without my knowing about it. If you’d like to write to Jenna send me an email and I'll put you in touch with her.

SICK. We lasted through two weeks of school before anyone came down with some sort of bug. Ben started complaining of feeling bad last Saturday night. Vicki took him to the doctor last Sunday. Diagnosis: strep throat. No school for him on Monday.

Monday Nate wasn’t acing his normal self. We sent him on to school, but Vicki started having second thoughts and made an appointment with the doctor for him that morning. Strep throat. Both boys missed Tuesday as well.

Wednesday morning the boys felt fine, but Jenna was complaining of an upset stomach. We kept her home which was a good thing. If we hadn’t she would have probably thrown up in my truck.

Thursday Jenna was better, but Vicki said she had a sore throat. Her problem seems to be a cold or sinus infection. She’s feeling some better now. I’ve been healthy so far.

AWANA UPDATE. We had a sneak peek for our AWANA club at church Wednesday night. Given this is our first year to do this and we have some space constraints at church Vicki opted not to do any promotion for AWANA right now. Even with the lack of this we had 38 kids present which is a great start. She hoping to at least double this by Christmas.

A DAY OF REST. This afternoon was the first day in a couple of weeks where we have simply relaxed and enjoyed family time. We didn’t tackle the laundry or any other chores, we just spent time together. Okay, we did go to the store because we were about out of bread.

When we were discussing going to the store at lunch all the sudden Nate spoke up and asked, “How much is 11, 9, and 6?”

“It’s 26. Why?”

“That should be enough. Why don’t you go on the the store without us!”

It took us a moment to figure out that Nate felt he, Ben, and Jenna were old enough with their combined ages to stay home alone.

Well, we didn’t buy into that, but we all went for a 2.5 mile walk on the Greenway in White House, squeezed in a quick trip to the store, and then met Mom and Aunt Mar for supper at Pepé’s Grill, the new Mexican restaurant at the Day’s Inn Inn White House.

Joe

School Is In Session -- Whew!

Well, we’ve got the first week of school behind us now. The kids had a really good week. As for me, I think this was the most exhausting start of school I’ve ever had. That means this week will be a better week!

THE MIDDLE SCHOOL EXPERIENCE. Jenna is loving middle school! She has been excited about everything she’s done. We met her teachers at open house Monday night. She has Sheila Leach for Language Arts, Lisa Melton for Science, Randy Adams for Band, and Dale Metler for Math and Social Studies.

I think the one thing Jenna has struggled with this week is band. At first she decided she wanted to do percussion, but now I think she is leaning toward playing a clarinet. Whatever she decides to do I think she’s in for a great year.

ANOTHER YEAR OLDER. I celebrated my birthday this week. Well, it came and went and I was too tired to do much about it. We had dinner over at Pauline’s Thursday night. Yesterday afternoon we took in G-Force (in 3-D!) and then ate at Demos’ in Hendersonville.

AWANA STARTS SOON. Vicki has had a busy summer. Through it all she’s had a goal of starting an AWANA club at our church this fall. She’s had to scramble to get this moving since Vacation Bible School ended. I am proud to say for her that she is on track for getting this to happen. Many prayers have been answered and a lot of people have volunteered to help out. The leadership training happens tomorrow night, and the first club meeting with the kids is September 2. Please pray for her because I know the next two weeks will be really busy.

Joe

Goodbye Summer Break

Steve Freeland made the comment the other day that this has been the year without a summer. I believe he has been correct through July, but August is shaping up to make up for lost time. Both the temps and the humidity are cranking up around here. Its been foggy the last couple of mornings which reminds me of what Aunt Ruth used to say, “The number of fogs on August mornings will be the number of snows you’ll have in the winter.” I’m not saving up for a snow blower no matter how foggy it is this month.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN! Ben celebrated his 9th birthday Monday. Actually, we celebrated as a family Monday and will have a swimming party for his friends this coming Tuesday.

Monday I met everyone in town after work at the bowling alley. We bowled a couple of games while Mom, Aunt Mar, and Pauline looked on. I bowled pretty well considering my expectations were to score better than my age (I think I tripled that). Nate was the first one to get a strike and you should have seen him celebrate. Actually, everyone did well considering we haven’t been bowling in a couple of years.

When we were getting ready to leave the bowling alley I asked if it would be possible to go back and see the pin setters in action. I’ve always wondered what goes on behind the scenes to stand all the pins back up after you knock them down and I thought the kids would like to see it as well. Its actually an impressive piece of machinery when you consider the models we were looking at are older than I am. Ben even got to take home his own bowling pin as a birthday souvenir. From there we went to Arby’s for supper and ended up at Pauline’s for cake. Between the food stops we hit Wal-Mart where Ben spent some of his birthday money on a G-force game for the Wii and a few other things.

STOLEN PANTS. The other day I came into the living room where the kids were playing the Wii. I looked at Ben and all he was wearing was a t-shirt and underwear. I knew I had seen pants on the boy earlier so I asked, “Ben, where are your pants?”

He stood up, looked down, and was literally in shock. Trying to pull his shirt down to cover himself he said, “I don’t know. Someone must have took them while I was playing the Wii!”

“Surely not son. I think you would have known about that.”

He was at a loss for words and a bit embarrassed at his predicament.

We finally got to the heart of the matter when I asked him to think about the last time he saw his pants. He thought a moment and took off to the bathroom. Earlier he had paused his game to use the bathroom. He had taken his pants (but not his underwear) off in the process. Don’t ask me why. He must have been so anxious not to waste a moment getting back to his game that he ran off and left his pants behind. Good thing this wasn’t the halftime break at a basketball game!

DEHYDRATED. Pauline gave us a little scare Wednesday. I was parking my truck at work when Vicki called telling me to come back home. Pauline had called Vicki to say she was sick, and when Vicki went over to check on her she decided to call the ambulance. They spent most of the day at the hospital. At first we thought this was related to her diabetes because all her vital signs were good except her sugar, but with further investigation she was diagnosed as dehydrated. Talk about a best case scenario! Anyway, Pauline is drinking more water and is feeling better. She went back to the doctor yesterday for a checkup.

MISPLACED. Vicki has misplaced some of her keys...down an elevator shaft.

Yes, you read that right. As She and Pauline were leaving the doctor she was absentmindedly playing with her keys while waiting on the elevator. Her key rings are connected with a plastic key ring clip and she was flicking this open and closed with her fingers. When the elevator door opened one part of her keys came off the clip. She watched in horror as they tumbled right through the crack in the elevator doorway and then heard them hit the bottom of the elevator shaft three floors below.

This story ranks up there as one of the strangest things I’ve heard over a cell phone. She went on to say, “These kind of things aren't supposed to happen to me. They happen to Kenny or Lori, but not me!”

SCHOOL STARTS SOON. This is the last week of our summer break. The kids have a half day of school on Monday and classes officially start Wednesday. I am never mentally prepared for this. We went to open house at East Robertson Elementary last night, and I must say the school looks very nice. With all the changes to the building it is easy to get lost in there, which is a bit disconcerting because I attended school there for ten years and have been in and out of the building as an employee for the last twelve years. Our community should be very proud of the facility.

We have familiar faces as far as teachers go. Ben is starting third grade with Mrs. Robbie Kiernan who was Jenna’s third grade teacher, and Nate will be in Vicki Rippy’s first grade class. Vicki had both Jenna and Ben when they were in first grade. As I said last week, Jenna is starting the sixth grade at East Robertson High School. Their open house is Monday night.

THE WORLD CAN END NOW, I’M ON FACEBOOK. I have resisted this for months...years even. The last thing I need is another computer addition when I should be spending time with the people I love most. Wednesday I gave in to temptation and signed up on Facebook. (I’ll blame it on Pauline since I was home keeping the kids instead of being at work where Facebook is blocked.) I think Kenny was shocked when he found out so that, at least, was a good thing. I have been amazed at the number of people I know on Facebook. Several people have asked why Vicki isn’t there yet. She wants me to give her a tour, but we’ve been so busy each evening neither of us wants to sit down in front of a computer after the kids are in bed. As soon as I show her what to do she’ll be there (though I keep telling her to sign up without me as she’ll learn more discovering things for herself.) If I’ve done it correctly I should have our newsletter/blog linked in to my Facebook page.

Joe

Sweet Summer Days

We continued to enjoy unseasonably cool weather most of last week, but now the thermometer is creeping back up to normal July temperatures. It was nice while it lasted. I can say the same thing about our summer vacation as it draws to a close.

VACATION BIBLE SCHOOL is behind us now and I believe it was the best we’ve ever had. I felt this way because it seemed like the air was electrified with excitement. All the kids looked like they were getting into what was going on. Vicki said our average attendance was 227.

We had two mission projects for VBS this year. One was to refill our Care and Share closet at church. We had the kids bring in all sorts of food items. When I looked in the closet Saturday all the shelves were full and stuff was stacked on the floor. Our other project was to raise money to purchase Bibles for Operation Worship (a ministry to put Bibles in the hands of those serving in our military). Our goal was to be able to purchase 60 Bibles (at $5.00 each). We exceeded this by 18 Bibles!

GROWING UP. School will be in session for us in a couple of weeks. This year Jenna will be going to the middle school -- and she’ll be part of the youth group at church. Ready or not, Dad, here it is.

Friday evening Jenna and I drove up to East Robertson High School (this school houses grades 6-12) for an open house for the incoming band members. Jenna has expressed some interest in being part of the band as well as trying out for the basketball team. While there she got to try several different instruments. Right now I think she’s sort of stuck between percussion and the clarinet, but that could change after the school year starts. I believe basketball tryouts will take place some time in August.

Sunday evening Jenna went to a pool party at the Plumlee’s house (Tal Plumlee is our Youth Minister). This party was only for incoming 6th graders. There were a dozen kids there. Looking ahead in the church calendar Jenna now has several things to look forward to over the coming months.

In thinking about growing up the boys are not to be left behind. The other day Ben raised his arm and asked if he had any armpit hair. At least I can say, “Dream on, boy,” a little while longer.

KID-ISMS. One day Nate was in the bathroom and exhaled on the mirror. Naturally this produced a foggy spot on the glass which slowly disappeared from the edges toward the center. Totally wowed by this Nate exclaimed, “It’s sinking!”

Another evening Jenna came in to the bathroom to find Nate looking for something. When she asked him what he was looking for he said, “The fossil.” (He meant dental floss.) Then he added, “Fossiling is just like tooth brushing.

Tonight Nate started running laps around the kitchen as we were cleaning up from supper. When I asked what he was doing he said, ”I like to run!“ It reminded me of a time when Jenna was two or three and she did the same thing. I remember asking her the same question and she simply said, ”Gotta go ‘round!“

DRIVING LESSONS. Jenna and I had to stop at Pauline’s for a moment on our way home from school Friday. Since we were driving across the yard she asked if she could drive home. I agreed and changed seats with her. Before starting the truck she lookd down at the pedals. Pointing to the left pedal first she said, “This is stop and this is not ... it’s the go get ‘er.” I have no idea where that came from, but it left me wondering if my insurance would cover this trip.

Joe