Day 288 Will Dan Lane Make It For Cake?

Dear friends,

Stephen is still in therapy for his shoulder. He seems to be making incremental progress, but it's very, very small. This is the kind of thing that could drive you crazy without the right attitude. Which he has. Every little bit is precious to him. Some days I want to simply crank that shoulder up and make it do what it ought to do. Hence the differences in our personalities. This morning I was telling Smitty about something that was annoying/frustrating me with our first born, and he very calmly told me that we don't understand Joseph's perspective on this, and we need to give him a little room to figure things out for himself. Wow. Patience. Wisdom. Now don't get the idea he never blows his stack, because indeed he does. But it's become more rare since November 8. In truth, the only laid back thing in our house is Cosette. Everyone is intense in their own way. But I cannot understand where our kids get their drama queen tendencies...

So every now and then, especially after a blue blog like yesterday's, I just want to pitch out my once-in-a-while bullet points. If I ever get a website going (which is in the planning stages), I will probably put these babies on there for fun. If you've been reading, you've seen these before:

Weather Outside: Gray, recovering from soggy, but I'm not at the beach. (Judy the Good and Mark the Lion Hearted brought the perfect sunshine with them last week. I wish everyone on vacation could have that kind of weather...)

Food for Thought: I made a Chili this afternoon, which I couldn't eat because I had to go to work (for the first time in 10 days!) Brother Steve B. and the one and only Sarge came over to share it with Smitty. At Albany Med, someone left a box of Krause's homemade chocolates for the staff as a thank you. That's what I'M talkin' about!

Children: Joe is on his last 2 weeks working full time, and should be going for his license within the next month. Miss Rejoice finished both her summer projects for school. We did not see her for several days as she holed herself up for the writing process. She, unlike her brothers, is looking forward to returning to academic life. David was last seen goofing around in the front yard with one of his BFF's, Joshua, doing something with various sized sticks. Don't ask.

What I'm awash in: Unfinished lyrics for songs for the Dessert night, stuff to do for the Dessert night, questions about creating a website.

Music in my Head: You'll hear it at the Dessert night.

Books I'm Reading: The Everlasting Man by GK Chesterton. Can't read anything else, that book is so dense. Entire paragraphs escape me. But the ones that don't, they make it worth the ones that make me feel like a "valley girl".

The Ponderings: What I'm really thinking about is what I wrote about yesterday. I'm on the lookout for moments to get outside of myself. I'm examining my priorities and wanting like mad to do the Philippians 2:3 thing:

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves."

Take a look at the permanent sidebar that Peter the Great whipped up for me. (He set aside his priorities to help me in 10 seconds flat!) Peter put a blurb there about the Smith Family Thanks You Dessert Night. There's an email address so you can send me your name and how many are coming. You wouldn't want me to run short on brownies now, would you? The Fabulous Hannah W. is going to help me make an invitation for all the non bloggies, especially for the firemen, emt's, policemen, doctors, nurses etc... who I have to reach by mail or hand delivery. The Amazing Officer Ernie is going to be put hard to work gathering up all the folks he can who were on the scene that fateful night. If any of you know people who prayed, helped, called, visited, or in any way were involved with this incredible experience, and they are not technically oriented, please email for them until I can get the invites done. Anyway, I need your replies if possible by September 30. I emailed the Fantastic Daniel Lane (Army Medic) at his base in Ohio. We'll see...

Your friend on the pilgrim road,

Loriann