Criminal Record

As Andrew is preparing to leave for Germany, I periodically ask him questions.  Only periodically.  After all, he is 21, and surely he knows all the questions to be asking right? Right.  Everything seemed to be in order and he was just waiting on an email with his travel plans in it.  So Saturday I asked if he had heard anything from Germany.

"Yeah, I got an email with my travel itinerary in it.  Then I got another email saying something had showed up on my criminal record that they were going to have to 'look into'."

"Really?" I asked being careful not to ask too many questions.  I did raise my eyebrow though, and probably my voice intonation, as well.  I'm sure he knew I had a barrage of questions just waiting to fly off the tip of my tongue. 

"Destruction of village property," he said.

"OH, you're kidding!  That's on your criminal record?!"

(Insert here the condensed version of the story of a 17-year-old that got cut off in traffic, and swerved onto the sidewalk, toppling a concrete planter.  Again, toppling is the key word here.  There is no room in this account for the word "destruction".)

So for three days we have waited to hear whether Andrew will get to go to Germany.  Never mind that he has lost his roommate, his apartment, his job, and his cat.  Ok, never mind the never minding of those things.  That's a pretty big dealio.

Today while I was at work, I got a text from Andrew.

"i am going to germany. whew. i can breathe again".

I'm pretty sure I would have overused exclamation points in that short text.  But exclamation points or not, we are all excited for Andrew.  He leaves Sunday.  This Sunday.  For thirteen months.  Thir. Teen. Months.

My reply text?

"Oh! I am so happy for you. and a little sad for me.  But mostly happy for you!" 

That put it perfectly.  Happy for him.  A little sad for me.  Mostly happy for him.

What did you do at 10:10 on 10/10/10?

I saw on K's FB page that she had just gotten back from a "10:10 on 10/10/10 Party".  Fortunately I am two time zones behind her, so I had the heads up, and the clear impression that I should, also, do something at 10:10 on 10/10/10.  Clearly it is too late for a party, especially since I am tired, already in my jammies, and can hardly keep my eyes open.  So, that leaves me 25 minutes to decide what to do. 

Road Trip

These two will be getting in a car tomorrow with their mother and aunt.  They will be going to the great-granny's house for the weekend.  They will be driving for twelve hours.  Pray for them, that their mother and aunt will behave for this very long trip! 

I live here!

Where's Waldo?  

Ok, not really, it's Kris. 

He and Jim got to spend the whole day on this river.

Catching and releasing.

Sportsmen.

Overheard in the Church Lobby

"Hey, Alex!  How's it going?  How's married life?"

It's great, man!  Great!"

Yeah?  That's good!

You bet!  Today when I got home from work, she had burgers grilled and ready!  Marriage is totally worth it, even if just for the food! 

Baby Shower Advice

I went to a baby shower yesterday.  A sweet youth worker at our church is expecting Baby #1.  And she's 24.  Who does that anymore?  (Well, besides Christa!)  I just smile when I see W and her husband.  They are young.  They are hard working.  They love my kids.  They love to do things for others.

The shower was well attended with nearly 20 ladies.  She got alot of nice gifts, always a help with those new Little Ones.  At several points of the shower, the hostess asked anyone that wanted to to share some advice with W.  She had no takers until nearly the very end.  And even at that point, I just couldn't come up with any advice.  Really?!  I suppose I'm a bit timid in group settings, especially those that include people I don't know, about sharing advice, especially since the jury is still out on a couple of my kids!  :)  Several spoke about the importance of praying with your children, keeping them on schedules (to which I had to bite my tongue!), consistent discipline, knowing your child, but I suppose I appreciated the lady that said "My advice is to listen to others advice, then go with your own instinct."

Yes, listen to others, but let your heart speak the loudest.  I guess that's true of a lot of things in family life.  Not just how to feed, discipline and raise your children, but also how to let them go.  Some people wonder why I'm not a basket case with my chicks strewn out all over: Chicago, Tulsa, Colcord, Germany, and living with a Muslim family.  Sometimes my heart screams at me "THEY ARE TOO FAR AWAY!"  That's when I realize my heart is solely consumed with itself.  Mostly my heart tells me that they are fine adults, capable of making the best decisions for their lives.  So I will continue to listen to others, sometimes I have no choice!  :)

I will listen to others, but let my heart speak the loudest.

Garage Sale

Andrew and Emily are moving out of their apartment, so yesterday we had a yard sale.  They didn't have a whole lot, so maybe a "driveway sale" is more accurate.  Some of the highlights of the day were: 
1:  Having Em spending the night with us, and waking early Saturday morning to her smiling face!  I miss her.
2:  Wishing we had donuts, over and over. Even though neither of us really like them, it just seemed like the right thing to have for a yard sale day.
3:  Watching Em dicker prices as people offered less than the marked price.  She was a tough cookie!
4:  Em laying down in the middle of our street in protest of "Drive By" shoppers.  I told her I totally do the same Drive By Yard Sale Shopping, too, so I understood.
5.  Getting chastised by Em when I donated some goblets to a ladies church group.  She deducted $12.00 from my total. 
6.  Humiliating Andrew and Em by using the binoculars that were for sale to watch the shirtless roofer on the house across the street.  They said I was not being sneaky enough. I say "What roofer?"  It's just so fun seeing my kids squirm!

We didn't make a lot of money, but sure had a lot of fun!