Settling in

Casey has been away at school for seven weeks. He is just now settling in and not getting so homesick. It made me heartsick for him to be so miserable homesick. He is finding his way and something that happened last week has made all the difference.

Monday night, actually it was Tuesday morning, a note was put in my inbox on facebook. It was from Casey. He proceeded to tell me that "he found it". He had recommitted his life to the Lord earlier that evening. He had been struggling within himself for almost one year. We knew that he was struggling and continued to pray that God would just keep His mighty hand upon our son and guide him through the difficult times and decisions that come with trying to grow up. Our prayers were answered Monday night when he realized that all his anxiety, and "demons" as he called it, were from running away from the love of the Savior. Casey stated that he feels once again like a kid. I remember how that felt, when the burdens were lifted from me. Sometimes I let the burdens pile up too. Well, Casey says that he is happier and more peaceful than he has been in a long time.

One thing that I was glad to hear was how he was reading his Bible with renewed zeal and understanding. He told me that he just "got" it. He is letting the Holy Spirit guide him and give him understanding of what he reads. Now, he wants to make sure that all of his friends from high school know of his rekindling of his "first love" with Christ. I am praying for his tender heart as he shares his new excitement with friends who may scoff and ridicule. He knows that may happen, and he says that he must do it.

I thank God for the college that he attends and for the Chrisitan influence upon the students there.

So, my happy, contented boy, needs your prayers as well, as he sets out on this mission to enlighten the friends from his "old life".

Congratulations, Casey!

Graduation Day, Saturday, May 24th

An official High School graduate

Final Day

Today is the last day of school for my youngest.

As he left the house this morning he turned and said, "Mom, when I get home today, I will be an alumnus."

Graduation ceremony is this Saturday at 10:00 am. We are hoping to share the day with friends and family to wish Casey well in his future.

He read these verses from the first chapter of Joshua at Baccalaureate service Sunday night.He also made brief comment on them:

8 "Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.

9 This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

Senior Activites

This is the last full week of classes for Casey. Monday was a field day. All the seniors went to the baseball/softball complex and had a day of fun and play. He came home a little sunburned, and still itching from the poison ivy he contracted while camping out last Friday night.


Tuesday, at noon, was the Senior Slide Show. It is always a tear-jerker. It begins showing each Senior as babies or toddlers, and then progresses on until it ends showing their Senior Panel photographs. Of course the ending song was ridiculously sappy, causing everyone to cry..."The Time Of Your Life (Good Riddance)" by Green Day.

This morning was practice for Baccalaureate service. At 2:00 was the Senior Tea. There were a lot of empty places and a lot of Seniors who attended alone. That was sad. It was nice to see that many of them "dressed up" for the event. I could not get Casey still long enough to get a shot of him. I tried to take some candid shots of him talking to his friends and some of the parents of his friends, but I was unsuccessful.

For the most part, high school is pretty much over for him. He still has to attend classes for the remainder of the days, but it is just a formality.

*Extra note*
Today is my 25th wedding anniversary.

A Boy And His Dog

Not too long ago Casey and I were changing some furniture around in some of the rooms. That always requires quite a bit of cleaning and throwing away...

I was using an antique dresser in the living room and using the drawers as storage for some magazines, CDs, and youth literature. Casey was going to move it into his bedroom so I had to clean out the drawers. I found a certificate that read, "Ol Roy Dog of The Year" and the recipient was Casey's dog, Jack.

Casey was seven years old when his grandpa gave Jack to him. Jack is now eleven years old. He was from a litter of Jack Russell Terrier pups born there at his grandpa's house, and Jack was the smallest. When we brought him home, he could wiggle through the links in a chain link fence. He surprised us all by becoming a fairly tall Jack Russell Terrier.

He has had many, many disasters in his dog life. He jumped from the bed of a moving pickup at 65 mph, skidded across the asphalt and lived to whine about it. The children carried him around and outside to relieve himself for several weeks. He limped around, but came out of it. He didn't seem to be affected by it later, as he is faster than lightning, and can jump as high as my 5' 2" head from a flat stance, even now. Other calamities in the "Saga of Jack" have been eating rat poison, being hit be a car (more than once I think), and numerous dog fights with dogs much, much, larger than he. We often joke that he must not be full blood Jack Russell, and must surely be part cat because of his nine lives.

He and Casey have grown up together. Jack is old now and is beginning to show a lot of gray. He likes something soft to sleep on now, and prefers the people furniture. He pretty much gets to sleep wherever he wants to sleep, unless we have guests, then he goes to "his room", the laundry room, where he has a big, fluffy pillow to keep his old arthritic bones off the hard floor.

Jack has been a good friend to Casey all these years. He's been a good pet, and is a fierce watchdog. He is also an accomplished escape artist, for he finds ways out of the backyard that I can not even see!

Casey spends much more time away from the house now. He is with his friends, or playing music in his free time and doesn't spend a lot of time with Jack anymore, yet Jack doesn't seem to hold it against him. They both look very happy and satisfied in the pictures.

Thanks, Jack.

The Countdown!

Ten days until Casey's high school graduation...

No more pencils

No more books

No more teachers' dirty looks...

...at least until the fall college semester begins in August...

Time Of Decision

The end of the school year is drawing near. There are many decisions to be made, and Casey is having a rough time making them. I always pray for my children, but it has been much more important as of late. In fact, I find it hard to keep either of them off my mind, and so it seems I am in a constant state of a type of prayer. It is not a worrisome prayer, just rather a "keeping them before the throne" type of prayer, I think. I really have left them in the Lord's hands many years ago when we dedicated them to Him as babies. I know they will find their way, but, being their mother, I want it to be easy and pain free. However, I know that it will not be either way.

I have experienced a calamity of sorts...my washing machine quit this morning! Yes, I just bought a new dryer a few weeks ago, so naturally I am going to have trouble with my washing machine. As of now, it is full of water, with the clothes still inside. The pump must have burned up. I smelled an electrical type burning smell this morning, luckily, and went into the laundry room. I turned off the machine, which wasn't doing anything anyway, and lifted the lid, only to see the clothes floating about in a full basket of water. I have been trying to think of a clever way to include this experience in my devotional blog, but alas, nothing yet. (Hm, I wonder if this yucky discolored water that we experience from time to time has anything to do with it? YUCK!)


Back to the "end of the year" school activities...I have, as of today, received six graduation announcements of high school graduations. All of them, but one, is from a family member, and they are all out of town graduations. We knew this was coming this year...all of us cousins having children the same year! It does make for fun times when getting everyone together. I probably won't be attending many of the graduations since we have one of our own, here, and things to plan, but "the check's in the mail."

What's For Dinner?

What's for dinner? That is always a good question.
Sometimes I have a ready and exciting answer
and at other times, I have no idea what to prepare,
or actually, have no desire to cook. Today, I will share a photo history of dinner a few nights ago.

Several of these, sliced, rolled in flour and sauteed...






..a few pieces of one of these (although not these exact) ...tender venison backstrap...







It was a meal fit for a king. (at least for the king of my castle)

What's for dinner at your house?

Why, oh why, can't I?

Those words bring the closing of the song made famous by Judy Garland in "The Wizard of Oz". Since Russell has started his second job, he has lost 60 pounds. I wish I had a recent picture of him to post. Casey has lost at least 30 pounds recently. He has been very busy with school and his senior year activities. Of course, a 6 foot 7 inch boy can weigh quite a bit if he wants. He is looking slimmer too. That's where the words to the song come in, "why, oh why, can't I?"

I know! I know! The answer lies in consuming more than one burns. I get that. I just can not get motivated to burn more than I consume. The past weeks I have really tried to watch my eating, but I still can not get motivated to exercise. I have walked quite a bit, but I need more. I really hate to admit this, but Richard Simmons does it for me. Well, in an aerobic sense. His "Sweatin' To The Oldies" series is so easy to do and gets such good results. I just have to get up and do it!

I feel good, but I know that in the future, and as I get older, I will not feel so great if I don't get some weight off. I am looking forward to time spent with Russell, so I don't want to jeopardize any of it! Although I am not working outside the home anymore, I still find it hard to find the time to exercise. When I was working, I got up at 5 am and met a friend to exercise. (There's another story in that for later.) Now it seems that although I have more time, I have less time. Strange that we will always find something to fill our time. One thing I have done is I have been able to spend more time in study and reading. These are very sedentary activities, thus the "spread".

Well, now that I have admitted that I actually know the answer to the above question, all I can do now is say, in my best "testimony service voice", "Y'all pray fer me!"

Emapthy

Last Friday was the official start of Spring Break here in our town. Casey took off to visit one of his cousins in a neighboring state on Thursday afternoon. I expect him back on Saturday. He is making a good long vacation out of it. For the most part, the weather has cooperated. It has been cloudy and windy on some days, but for the most part it has been mild and pleasant weather. I decided to do some outside work, so on Saturday I began a major clean up of the backyard. It was a mess, and even now still needs a lot of work. Two of the lab pups had been given full run of the yard for quite a while and they left a huge disaster area. There were bits and pieces of everything imaginable strewn all over the yard. I figured that the bending and all would be good exercise for me. I hadn't, however counted on pulling muscles on my side. I just wasn't thinking, I guess, and I pulled a huge container of stinky water to the alley to dump it. I yanked and tugged at it, of course, using my right arm. I was a little sore on Sunday, but it was nothing to brag or complain about, either way.

Last night, it hit me and I had to take Advil before I went to sleep. Oh my goodness. The entire right side of my torso was aching and when I moved certain ways it would just spasm! I sure didn't want to complain about it. I felt bad for even grunting a little because of all the pain and aggravation that Russell has had with the broken and fractured ribs. It really made me feel guilty for feeling "miffed" when he would ask me to do things for him when I was busy doing other things. I was feeling so miserable and just getting myself up out of a chair really hurt. I just can't imagine how much worse he must have felt, especially those first couple of weeks, and even now, after working all day.

Well, Russ got up at 5am today. I set the coffee pot to start brewing at 4:30 so I wouldn't have to get up. He was already up before 5am, so I turned off the alarm clock, thankful that I would get to keep sleeping. After he left, I got up and took two Ibuprofen liquid gels (they are great!) and laid back down. I took two more at 3this afternoon. I don't even want to act like I'm complaining to him, because I know he is going to so achy and tired when he finally gets home tonight.

Empathy is a wonderful thing. It teaches you so much more than mere sympathy. Sympathy has it's place, but empathy brings things much closer. Every time my back and side twinge today, it reminds me to pray for Russell, and ask the Lord to keep him from hurting so bad, and to make his jobs go quickly and easily for him.

I talked to Mom for a long time this afternoon. I guess we both had our talking shoes on! I had been cleaning up the laundry room, cleaning out my refrigerator, taking out some trash and picking up some trash that had blown into the back yard. I was contemplating trying to tackle some of the junk on the deck, but then she called. I took it as a "sign", so after we talked, I just stayed inside. will begin supper soon. There's always tomorrow. (or is there?)

Back In The Saddle Again

Three weeks, ago, on February 22nd, Russell fell off a ladder while working. He fell onto a wooden deck from roof height. He broke his fall by breaking three ribs and causing many more fractures. It was rough going for several days. Naturally, as most everyone knows, nothing can really be done for ribs that are broken, except to bind them, and to rest. He has rested for three weeks, going to back to work a few days on light duty. However, this past Wednesday he dove back into work and spent a large portion of the day finishing his designated jobs, just making it home in time for church. After that very full day, his load was lightened a bit for the rest of the week. This morning he only received one job, so it should be a good day for him. Last Wednesday when he had so many jobs to do, I prayed for him all day long. Not many minutes went by that he didn't cross my mind, so I said a prayer. I know that God was with him that day, helping him finish. I was proud of what he accomplished that day.


Now, the past three weeks have been interesting, to say the least. He is a huge baby when it comes to pain, but I think he did pretty well. My problem was having him in the house all the time. It is so funny how you get used to things being a certain way so quickly. I mean, you really settle into something and you act as if it has always been. Not, so, however, for only a few months ago, I was gone for close to ten hours each day. Now, since I am CEO of the house once again, I treat it as my domain, and don't appreciate any interruptions from my routine. Am I getting old or what?

It took my quite a while to get things back in order in our home. I got more done after Russell began his new job, because he was out of "my way". Once things were in order, it was easier to keep my routine. Well, three weeks ago my routine flew out the window. It is such a selfish thing, too! It is only my time, but I had to share it all day with my ailing patient. Oh, of course, I didn't mind, but I think it amusing how I settled into my nest so easily. I have heard so many women say that they would "go crazy" if they HAD to stay home with nothing to do. I find just the opposite is true. Now that I am more free, I don't have enough time to do all the things that I want to do. It is great to be able to plan a Bible study of my own. I actually began two "Mother's Journals" recently, one for each of my children. I have been praying about a small group study. The Lord hasn't given me the go ahead on that one yet, but I'm looking at studies and praying about it.

Now that Russell is back in the saddle again with his job, this week being his first full week back, I will also need to get back in the saddle again around the house. After all, as most of you who know me will attest, I do prefer a nice, slow trot to an all out gallop!

Sunday

Today is Sunday--a day I enjoy. It is a day to reflect and relax. Of course, we attend two services at church each Sunday, but between services we have time to relax and talk. Casey works at his job at the grocery store between services to relieve those working on Sunday, so that they may have a lunch time. So, on Sundays it is usually just Russ and I.

We eat something simple, sometimes, even just a sandwich. Most of the time, I try to prepare something ahead of time, on Saturday--something that can be put in the crockpot so that it is ready when we come in. Casey has usually eaten and gone by the time we get home, so it is nice for him to have something that he can just eat and leave. By the time we both get home, we are starting to unwind. I did cook today, but we were out of service earlier than usual, so it was ready pretty early. We ate, and sat down to rest.

The sitting down to rest, has now become lying down to sleep for Russell. He is in the bedroom with the fan on taking his nap. I will join him as soon as I finish this. My eyes are getting very droopy. I don't take naps during the day any other time, except Sunday. The Lord did say that he wanted us to have one day to rest, so I think our bodies are just obeying His command.

My dad preached this morning at the church where he and Mom attended when they lived in the City area. Cari drove over to the church to hear her grandpa preach this morning. She has already called and is on her way home after eating lunch with her grandpa, and the pastor and his wife. She enjoyed hearing him and being with him.

Our service was good today. Russell has been bringing some wonderful messages. He began in Genesis and is taking us from the beginning. It has all been good. He preached from Genesis chapter four today. It was the story of Cain and Abel, and their tragedy. God told him "sin is at the door." It is so wonderful that God loves us so much that he chides us to do right and even warns us, as He did Cain. He gives us the choice, but He so wants us to make the right decisions. One thing Russell said today, as he reflected upon Cain's life, was how Cain was angry at God for the decisions that he had made for himself. He talked a bit about how we still do that today. We are upset with God when we are only reaping consequences for the decisions that we have made ourselves. We make the wrong decisions, yet we still blame God for our plight.

Speaking of Cain, he went off to the land of Nod. The word means "wandering", but we also use it for the time that we "nod off" to sleep. So...I've also gone off to the land of Nod for a few minutes.

High Anxiety!

This week has been Russell's first full week of working his new second "job". He is very anxious, thus the heading for this post. Everything that he tries to do, he succeeds. He is talented in various capacities, from music and cooking, to carpentry and plumbing. However, he is a technological dinosaur. He admits it. He still has the original ring tone that his cell phone was set on. The reason? He doesn't know how to change it! He is older than most, if not all, of the technicians that trained with him, and he feels quite disadvantaged, as the younger guys are all fairly tech "savvy".

It has been a week of severe ups and downs in our home. Because he is anxious, Casey and I are anxious for him. Some days were really bad for him. Some days were easier. I prayed every day, all day, for him. After having a difficult and very lengthy day yesterday, today is better. When he left the house this morning before 8 am, his eyes and face were disheartened-looking. Although he slept well, he still woke up with the experience of yesterday heavy on his mind. I try to encourage him as much as I can, but he doesn't always "take it". I encouraged him as he went out the door, and I walked a little further with him.

I had a meeting in another town this morning at 11 am. Upon returning home, after 2:00 this afternoon I noticed his truck in the driveway as soon as I turned the corner. My first thought was, "It was an easy day for him". Then, I grabbed his anxiety, I guess, and thought, "Something went wrong and he couldn't do the job." You can imagine my relief as I walked through the house and found him napping. He had finished two jobs by 1 o'clock this afternoon, came home to eat lunch and took a nap. He is now off to finish his last job for the day. I have a feeling that even if he does encounter some problems this afternoon, that it will still be counted as a "good day".

If you are reading this, pray for him as he gets used to his new job and the trouble-shooting that he has to perform. Pray for him to have more confidence in himself. Pray for Casey and I to be an encouragement to him.

Time To Adjust...Again

Monday began the first week of Russell's new and extra job. Over the past four weeks he has been training in class and in the field. Now he is on his own. He spent the biggest portion Monday at the office because when he went to pick up his equipment and tools, he was not even in the computer. As a result, he did not go out on any calls or fill any orders on Monday. He also came home with only a small potion of tools and equipment that he needed. The warehouse seems to have a problem keeping the technicians stocked.

Tuesday morning, he headed back out at 5:00 am to the main office and warehouse to finish getting outfitted, but, alas, they were still lacking things that he needed. He got what he could and he did make three service calls. He was nervous, since this was his first time "flying solo", but he did fine, as I knew he would.

Wednesday morning...back to the city. He finally got completely outfitted with tools, and equipment, or at least enough to finish a few jobs before having to go back to the city. His jobs on Wednesday were all installs. The first one had four units. He had nine units so things were looking good. However, some of the receivers would not work so by the time he finished the job and hooked up and unhooked several receivers, it was late in the afternoon, and only two receivers left...

Wednesday afternoon...he finished his first job in record time...NOT. It was 4:30 in the afternoon before he was able to get it all finished since he had to replace so much equipment. By the time he got to his last job it was getting late, but he was on his way to finishing, when the dish that he installed had to be removed because something was blocking it's signal. AAAGGGHHH!!!
Next, when he went to install the two receivers, only one of the two remaining in his truck even worked! Needless to say he was very frustrated.

Wednesday night...he got home between 10 and 10:30 pm. He hadn't eaten all day and looke almost ashen faced when he finally got home. I had supper in the crockpot to keep warm (venison and rice), so I spooned up a good bowlful for him. He only ate about half. He was just so exhausted. He was tired mentally as well as physically.

This morning our alarm went off at 4:30, as it has been all week. Today I got up with him and made sure that he ate something before he left and sent something with him. He has hypoglycemia, so not eating is not a good thing for him to do. Along with his scrambled egg sandwich, I sent a can of peanuts and some cashews, as well as some bottled water. That should do. He called me around eight am and said he was on his way back from the city, and finally, he thought that he had everything he needed to work for a while. His team leader even shortened his orders today because he knew about everything that had happened yesterday. He had two calls to make today One of them is a service call, and I guess they never know what they are going to find when they get those. The other is the install that he could not finish last night becasue of the faulty equipment. Hopefully, he will be home sometime this afternoon and will be able to rest tonight.

He is working so hard. I want to be sure that everything is good for him when he gets home each night. For so long, when I worked, he was home before me and he cooked the evening meal, or at least he had it started. Now, I can do that for him, (except I also clean up after myself. lol)

All Is Well...so far

Russell passed all his tests and got his certification Friday. He is very relieved and we are all very proud of him. It's been a very long time since he had to take any kind of tests like that...in a classroom situation. Today, Saturday, he spent the biggest part of the day modifying his vehicle so that he can begin work Monday. I am so thankful that he is able to do things like that. It saves a lot of money when he can do it, as opposed to having to buy something or have something custom made.

Cari has been home for over a week. She had no job interviews or calls last week. We submitted her application and resume to several places this week, so hopefully she will get some calls next week. Her unemployment checks are still not coming when they should. She is missing two, and has an appointment at the OESC next week to get it straightened out. I hope and pray that she does. It's tough. She will be going back to her apartment on Monday morning when her Dad goes up to check out his equipment and such for his new job. She won't like getting up so early, but can sleep all the way, and go back to bed as soon as he drops her off, which, I'm sure she will do.

For the first three weeks of Russell's training, I got used to just being here with Casey, and him being at school all day, and then at work during some evenings. Last week, with Cari here I felt kind of crowded. That is so funny, considering that it was just the two of us here during the day. I am glad she was here, though. She seemed so very tired and down in the dumps. She also had very dark circles under her eyes. She slept a lot, and a couple of days she ran some fever. I don't know if she had a bug or if it was allergies "gone wild". She is feeling better now, or seems to be. I just keep praying that she gets some kind of employment. At this point, I don't really care what it is, just to get her by until we can figure out some kind of transportation arrangement. Since wrecking her car, she has been so down. She has to depend on others for everything it seems. She has always been the one who ran here and there picking up the pieces for all her so called friends. Now, she has found out who reallly are her friends. I fear, she had less than she thought. Don't we all? She does have a few good friends who check on her and when they get ready to run to the store, they call her and ask if she needs to go, or if she just wants to go to get out a while. I guess, or at least, I hope, that she is learning something through all of this.

Now, Casey has a new girlfriend. She is cute, and seems nice. She hasn't gone to church with him yet, so we are waiting. Of course, his sister is very skeptical. That's what big sisters do! (hee hee) He spends his time at school, at work, playing music, with his new girlfriend, or at Sonic, where she works. His grades were great, so he is doing homework and schoolwork sometimes in between there. He will begin to send in college applications and scholarship applications this month. We will do his financial aid as soon as we finish doing our TAXES!

So, you see...all is well...so far...

One More Week

Beginning tomorrow, the dear husband will, hopefully be in his last week of school, or training for his new job. He will take his test at the end of the week for his certification. I have no doubt that he will do great, but, I think he is a bit nervous. It's been a long time since he had to take any kind of test. Actually, he has been testing all along in this training process, and had done well each time.

I guess we are all kind of anxious about new things. Sometimes we meet the unknown with excitement. Even so, there is still that anxiousness. I can not imagine beginning something new, and foreign to me at this juncture. I am very proud of him.

Hopefully, he will get up at 4:00 AM and feel much better when he woke up Friday morning. That is what I've been praying, anyway.

A New Virus

Okay, when I am ill, please, just leave me alone and let me be sick. I like to be in my bedroom by myself, or in the recliner with blanket. I do not need a lot of sympathy. I just need to get better. Well, shouldn't everyone be that way when they are sick? Oh no! Not my dear husband.

Today was his last day of class this week, but he came home early. He is sick. I talked to him on the phone last night and he was chilled and feverish. Uh-oh! I told him to get some Thera Flu, so when he warmed up a bit he did. I also told him that when he got up this morning that he should take some ibuprofen to keep down the fever. He didn't. So, he left class, almost as soon as it started, since they were pretty much reviewing, and headed home. When he arrived he was really sick with fever, chills, and, I think, a UTI.

"I know that he is sick and feels really crummy, but why can't he just be sick like me?" That's what I felt like when he showed up this morning and crawled into the freshly made bed. Guess what? He is being sick like me today and now I feel guilty. After all these years of marriage, I guess he figured it out, and now I feel bad. What's up with that? So...

Being the loving wife that I am, I put two extra quilts on the bed, gave him some ibuprofen for the fever, brought water and cranberry juice to his bedside, and then went out to get some chicken noodle soup for his lunch. He has now had most of his soup with some crackers, taken a second dose of ibuprofen, taken two doses of AZO ( thank goodness for AZO ), and has kicked back the extra quilts. Bless his heart.

Now that he is working away from home, I know that he wants his time at home to be optimal, or at least do what he wants to do and not be sick. Tomorrow is a new day, and I think he will feel better. I mean, he's already made the sympathy call to his parents, his loving wife used the massager on his aching muscles, brought him hot chicken noodle soup, and even sat on the edge of the bed to talk for a while, so all is well in the world of the sick spouse.

A New Semester

It has been so long since I last posted on this site. I have a lot of other obligations, and some of them are time consuming, one of which is my family.

Obviously, from the first blog, a new school year began for our son, which was the beginning of the end of his high school days. Now a new semester has begun, which will soon come to a close, and with it, the close of those carefree high school days for him. It will also bring a new beginning, as he prepares to leave for college.

I lost my job during the summer, and it has been the biggest blessing that one can imagine. The money has been so very tight, and at times, it has been non-existent, but the opportunity that I have been given has been immeasurable. God has allowed me to be home with my son, during his final days at home. Oh, I know that he will return home now and then, but once he leaves for college, things will never, again be the same. He is my last one. With his departure, a new chapter in all our lives will begin.

With the beginning of this new year, 2008, many changes have come our way. As stated, the good son is winding down his high school years, taking college entrance exams, and making applications to various colleges, as well as scholarships. The good husband has made a huge decision that is affecting all our lives. He has taken a job outside his vocation as a pastor. This new job is in addition to his pastorate. It has been many, many years, since he has worked a secular job, and the decision was painful, but once made, he is at peace about it. He is away from home for several weeks in training. When his training is complete, he will spend a good portion of his time away from us. This will be different, because we are used to being able to have him handy. As for me, I am at home, "keeping the home fires burning". For the last several years, the "home fires" have been randomly tended, so I am enjoying this time.

The next several weeks will, I am sure, be emotional for all of us, as we see our son, and the last of our brood, prepare to leave. For now, we still have time with him...time to teach and listen and continue making memories of his senior year of high school.