End Bits

A few more tidbits to round up my report on this week and then I'll be finished here...

I just had my tutorial on coordinating the co-op. My head is spinning. Unfortunately, the warehouse in Iowa City has recently changed their ordering system so it was nothing this other gal could actually teach me. And when I tried to open the manuals on the computer, they wouldn't! However, their customer service seems quite helpful, so I'll get it figured out - I hope. Otherwise, I'm going to have a lot of unhappy members come next delivery day!

Tuesday night I had my second Christian moms support group. I love that thing! This month we had a speaker from Boone who has written a book on special needs parenting. She spoke about "living in the day" and I really felt convicted as I listened to her. I haven't done that with Ben very much. I've been so focused on "saving" him and when I haven't been researching and trying new things, I've been fretting about his future. And I think, along the way, I've missed out on just enjoying him. I bought her book and I am looking forward to reading it. I did get a chance to talk with her personally afterwards and had her autograph my copy. She wrote, "To Sarah - may you feel God holding you up as He reveals His dreams for Ben." Now, I'm sure she probably writes a variation of the same thing for every book she autographs, but the inscription really touched me because one of the things I've been praying is that God would show us things - dreams - that we can foster in Ben.

Ben's SS teacher told me recently that a few weeks ago she asked the kids to go around the room and say what they'd like to do when they grow up. They got to Ben and he said, "Hmm - I've never really thought about that before." And then, " I think maybe I'd like to mow lawns someday." When Joan was telling me this my first thought was, ugh - yet another indication of my inferior parenting! I don't think I've ever actually encouraged Ben to dream. It hasn't been a conscious decision, but I'm sure it's because I haven't wanted Ben to develop dreams that he might not be able to ever see fulfilled. That's really sad - I should have been better at that. And then my next thought was, "Not lawn mowing! He'll chop his fingers off!" I'm pretty certain he would, too!

This author I talked to is planning to call me next week. She is working on her next book and needs some parental input. So, my thoughts may make it into print at some point - we shall see if I can offer anything she can use. Kind of cool, though! I'll keep you aprised if that should come to fruition.

The other night Paul popped into the house and asked me, "Have you been listening to Sam?" Since he was outside and I was inside and listening to the radio, the answer was no, I had not. So, I stuck my head outside to see what Paul was talking about. Sam was over underneath the fort, playing with the matchbox cars. And he was singing at the top of his lungs! It was so cute! I could hear him singing, "Jesus, Bible, Mom, Daddy!" and a whole bunch of gibberish. What a dollbaby! The next day when I took Ben to school, Sam tagged along and he sang all the way there and the way back. Last night I was attempting to watch "Marriage Ref" (we've just come to love that show in recent weeks - it's so funny! (except for when they feature gay couples - then we turn it until that segment is done) and Sam was singing on the couch. I had to hush him so I could hear my show. I hope he loves to sing for all his life!

Last night Sam was coloring on a piece of construction paper. He had a pile of crayons in front of him and he would choose different ones for different scribbles. At one point he exclaimed, "Hey! Not working!" I had to laugh when I saw that he had just used a yellow crayon - on yellow paper. I'm sure that to him it did seem as if it wasn't working!

Well, I'm caught up on my blogging now. We have a graduation open house to attend early this evening and then I'm sure Paul and Will will be up late digging footings. We're supposed to have a cement delivery tomorrow at 9am so they have to be dug out first. I plan to spend tomorrow crossing things off my "to do" list and helping the boys finish up their Camp Coin requirements.

Oh, before I forget: I could use some input on Bible reading. I finally finished up Romans today (it took forever!) and I need another New Testament book to explore. I'm sure any one of them would be good, but I'd be curious to see what you all would recommend. I'm really enjoying my McArthur study Bible. It's so nice to read his notes underneath the Scriptures. Yesterday I was reading the story of Gideon again and I discovered some kind of grisly things in that story that I had completely missed before. The notes were what opened my eyes to that.

Anyway - gotta go get ready to go. Have a good weekend!