Christmas and Cookout

This photo was taken the first week in January. That's our undecorated Christmas tree and our just-used grill.

One of the blessings of living in the Sunland!

A Jeremy Moment

The Scene: eating supper with Bethany, Justin, and Jeremy.

Bethany: I don't know why everyone thinks Jeremy looks like Justin. He has my ears, my eyes, my hair color.

Jeremy: Mommy, do you want your ears back?

Quote

We have been in God's thought from all eternity,

and in His creative love,

His attention never leaves us.

Attributed to Michael Quoist
From The Heart of a Mother is Love Perpetual Calendar
That sits right next to the monitor on my roll top desk*

Addiction

I have drunk the only Pepsi I allow myself this day. The heavy glass, sitting on a coaster to the right of my monitor, holds only unappealing watery soda and melting ice cubes. Will I avoid tossing fresh cubes from the freezer into the glass? Will I resist the temptation to open another twelve-ounce bottle? To pour the carbonated, bubbling, foamy beverage on top of and into the current dregs?

I will resist. I must resist.

The white and blue flexi-straw leans away from me.

The glass mocks me.

But I will not give in

. . . to my Precious (visualize Frodo's glaring stare in Mount Doom).

The Truth Is Out!

I've been keeping a secret from my daughters for about three weeks now. But when I called Bethany from my car just before pulling into her driveway, the truth came out!

When I say that I was calling Bethany from my car, I mean exactly that . . . I was calling her from the phone number assigned to my 2009 Pontiac Vibe by OnStar. As fun as it was to make a call, that's not my favorite feature of the Vibe. No, it has something even better than its own phone number. It has . . .

A SUNROOF!

Unraveling Threads

The tag clerk asked for a phone number and Nate gave his cell phone number instead of our home number

The title is in his name . . . and only his name.

The insurance clerk "moved" him from my car to his own vehicle.

He'll be getting his own E-pass account for the toll roads.


The threads that bind a child to his parents continue to unravel and today it unraveled into a long loose string of a new kind of freedom and responsibility.

Joys of Being a Field Mom

Yep! That's me -- a field mom. As in "track and field." Nate doesn't participate in track. He participates in field. This means that, for more years than I can tell you, we have collected dicuses (or would that be disci?). Let's just call them discs. Who knew there could be so many differences between one discus and another? Things like balance and rim thicknesses.

A couple of discs have taken up residence in the back seat of my car and a few more are in the trunk of Jeff's car. Others are in the garage.

Last week, we got a new field implement -- a very long, colorful, pointed javelin. Nate and I went out in the back yard today and he showed me how to throw it. Not how to run and throw it, just how to stand still and throw it.

Sorry, there was no photographer to record the momentous event. But isn't that a cute photo of my flying high son?

At least, the javelin doesn't get left in the car. No, when it's not being used, it's in a long cylindrical tube leaning in the corner between the doors to the utility room and the garage.

I love being a field mom, I really do*