A random laugh

Alex asked me what Ben use to do for a profession before he was married. It is really quite a difficult question as he was an entrepreneur and used his talents in many crazy jobs, but I responded he worked in the oil field. Alex then said, "I thought he worked in the greeting card business." That was news to me. Imagining Ben with a chewed-up pencil in the corner of his mouth contemplating sentimental nonsense that ryhmes with roses, made me laugh.


P.S. If you come across one of his highly-classified greeting cards, I'll pay for postage.

Newly-formed Lake Bronson

The deepest part I discovered was eight inches above my knee. The water was cold and Jane was hesitant.




The water in the adjoining parking lot was quite shallow and as warm as bath water.



Walking on water...or submerged park benches.



Due to the eleven inches of rain and a creek overspilling its banks, Bronson Hospital (in the background) now boasts private rooms with lake view. This use to be a large grass field.





We live five minutes from the hospital, but with the flooded roads it took Ben 45 minutes to get to work.




Well, a nice policeman thought I was crazy to let my kids wade and play in "stagnant" water, but the water was irresistible even to this grown-up. And it was doctor approved. Frankly, I was only to pleased to get their bathing suits and fritter away an afternoon at the park. We had so much fun that I took them twice within a few days.



Emily is thrilled Cubbies has started again.


Necklace models.

A Saturday Walk

Details

The funny incidents of our day are in the details.

Situation 1:
When Emily needed a spanking for talking back as we were leaving the park. I decided it would be better to spank her when we got home. Well, she outsmarted me. She was the first to rush in the door. Meanwhile I was cleaning feet and carrying in all the various necessities you take with you when you are trying to keep four kids entertained while your spouse and you play tennis. Ten minutes later Alex reminded me that Emily still needed a spanking. What a thoughtful big brother. I proceed upstairs and can't find Emily. She was hiding under her bed with the trundle bed pulled in so I couldn't see her. Clever girl. I did indeed spank her.

Five minutes later she comes downstairs slightly stormy-eyed and asks me to call her Princess Emily. Okay. I can do that. I say, "Princess Emily, I love you." She then tells me with some attitude that princesses don't get spanked. What do you think? Was I entrapped? Inwardly I was dying of laughter.

Situation 2:
As Fritz and Emily work on their letters for school I have been cutting out pictures for them to paste. "B" is for bicycle and so forth. I find it fascinating which pictures they choose. Fritz wants bold, graphic pictures. He is very particular how the cars look and who is riding the bicycle. Emily on the other hand willingly takes Fritz's reject pictures. She will get the cat with ordinary markings and the ankles that Fritz refused. She glues quite contentedly. When I gave Emily the choice of which bathing suit she would like...she choose the boring one. The one piece suit. She didn't choose the cute floral bikini. Does she have a sense of modesty?



Situation 3:
Fritz is sewing yarn through his cardboard letter "B", he is orderly and precise. He matches the yarn to the crayon color. If there is too much yarn for his pattern Fritz wants it cut off. On the other hand, Emily is messy with her "E". The colors are applied randomly and don't seem to match. Just like her style in dressing. Alex wants to contribute a letter "A". He draws pictures of airplanes, asteroids and angel fish. Instead of viewing his yarn as too long, Alex keeps punching holes in which to thread it. It isn't messy like Emily's, but it isn't meticulous like Fritz's either. It is somewhere in between. They had the same project but went about it in three different ways. I find that fascinating.

Situation 4:
Jane is talking dozens of new words daily. She wants to pray at breakfast. During her prayer, I can hear her say "thank you" several times, "Jesus loves me" and even finish with an "amen". She is so cute. When we read books, she claims all the baby dolls in the pictures are Jane. Today as she was coming down the stairs she was chanting to herself, "Nanny Nanny Boo Boo." Well, Ben had just said the other day that whoever invented that phrase was genius. Jane is making her papa proud. Her mother has no comment.

The Nats at the Zoo

Every summer we have free passes to the USTA Junior Nationals due to Ben providing physician coverage. The boys played some terrific tennis and the weather was gorgeous.









The 18 boys play like men. Many of them will get tennis scholarships to college. This year I noticed more college recruiters than ever before. Even our alma mater was here. Aggie tennis. Whoop!



Playing in the gardens was as much fun as watching tennis. Jane hides a tennis ball in her dress and reveals her ball-shaped belly.


In front of a winner board. Alex's ear is near Agassi and Michael Chang. Alex got stung by a bee and wrapped his sore arm in his shirt.

My first nephew

I know only last week I was thrilled to announce a niece. Now, I have a nephew...Michael David. My sister and her husband have been blessed with the fulfillment of a promise. This little boy has been prayed into appearing. Two weeks late and many years of supplication, today is a day of rejoicing.

If You Liked...

Pride and Prejudice (the BBC one) and Wives and Daughters...I recommend Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South (BBC). I watched it yesterday and it was so well-done. The characters are fully developed and the story is fascinating, and of course, it has romance. It is a great way to fritter a rainy afternoon.

Another niece

So happy to announce that my brother and his wife had their second baby girl on Wednesday, August 6th. Cana Elizabeth is said to be exceedingly pretty and have more hair than her father.

Freedom

DF Doesn't stand for Dear Friend

Three weeks ago larvae began crawling under my skin. I am thrilled to report the nasty creatures seemed to have died. Since my legs still have slight trails I have been wondering if I should engage Ben in doing some derm surgery, not on my worm walking paths but on a dermatofibroma (DF) on my lower leg. As long as I'm still covering my legs in public, why not have an incision? The problem is that a DF is deep so the incision has to be quite large. I have been struggling to decide which is better: a round unsightly circle or a long thin unsightly scar.

While sitting in the suede armchair with my companion laptop I researched the best removal method and hit a blog. Wonderful things! A cute petite runner posted her whole experience of having a DF surgically removed from her shoulder. She even cited her dermatologist's care instructions after the surgery. And due to her healing process and visual aids I'm thinking maybe though my spot looks like a perpetual mosquito bite at least it is smaller than a dime. After all, surgery is surgery. I will have a bloody mess to clean up, pain in my leg, and possible infection and recurrence. Is it really worth it?

I have decided no. It may seem incredibly strange for me to be sharing such graphic content. But our spots and wrinkles and gray hairs and lost muscle tone make us approachable. I know I benefited from a complete stranger's blog tonight. So I figure others are struggling to age gracefully, to feel pretty despite stolen looks. Be encouraged that we each deal with our little devils (those things that are so trivial and small but manage to put us in a foul mood or usurp thankfulness for the abundant good things in our lives). Mine just happens to be a centimeter spot that has been frozen twice. I have resigned myself to the reality. C'est la vie.

Complaining isn't Attractive

Due to my pathetic last post, let me tell you about the good things that have been happening. On Sunday night, Ben and I went on a date basically all-paid by his generous employer. We had appetizers at a restaurant and then watched Mama Mia. It was an incredibly beautiful film...saturated colors and unbelievable landscapes. Abba was super catchy and humorous. It was an artistic movie, but sadly SO hedonistic. The end of the movie was ruined by blatant homosexuality and marriage vows being too restrictive for the young lovers. I feel sad when I glimpse the carnality that is being legitimized. I intimately know that human nature is repulsive, and I am the worst of hedonists. Of course, I have been tempted to live without sacred commitments. Who hasn't wanted something for nothing? Who hasn't wanted less responsibility and more freedom? The pursuit of pleasure hypnotizes us into thinking our life will be full and complete; it will have meaning and significance. In reality, self love leads to suicide. You end up where life can't give you anymore and you deserve better. You demand better. Disappointment becomes fatal.

Thank goodness, God is in the process of redeeming. I think the hardest thing for me is to see how subtly my flesh is entangled. It doesn't take much for me to loose focus on what life is about. It doesn't take much for me to have entitlements. Aah, if I could only stay closer to God, to have his virtues rub off on me, what a different person I would be. People would notice my contentment.

Today, it was gloriously cool and breezy at 76 degrees. God gave me a day where I could comfortably wear jeans outside to cover my legs. I'm feeling more optimistic already.

Poor me!

My legs have become a horror story. I am paying handsomely for blueberry picking. At first I thought I had chiggers as only large welts appeared. Now I know otherwise. If you have a weak stomach don't read on. Multiple somethings are tunneling under my skin and leaving puffy, itchy trails. A hot shower makes the streaks more inflamed and even itchier. When I picked up Ben's dermatology book, I read the worst news possible...in rare cases the symptoms can last a couple years. Ok. I am a pessimist. If you were living this, you would be to. If you think of something yucky that triggers you to remember me, please pray that these pest find a hasty demise and my legs won't be terribly scarred.