Saturday, November 6, 2010

Happy Times


There is Will from last night - love that smile! He posted this morning on Facebook that last night was quite possibly, the best night of his entire life. That's quite a statement. Paul didn't tumble into bed until after midnight (and he he had to get up at 6 to go into work today) so they must have been having fun! This picture was taken at Red Robins. Apparently Buffalo Wild Wings was so busy both times they tried to go in - I never thought about it being a Friday night and all.

So now we have a 16 year old. Time flies! Ben will be 14 on the 17th. That's hard to believe, too.

Speaking of Ben, we had parent/teacher conferences this week at his school. We met with his sp. ed teacher first. He showed us Ben's work and told us what a delight Ben is. Ben spends most of his day with that teacher and two other Level 3 7th grade boys. Level 3 is a category that defines the most seriously disabled students. Each student has their own associate.

We also met with Ben's industrial tech (shop) teacher. I really like him. Actually, the decision has been made for Ben to take home ec (which is now called something else; I can't remember what) for this semester. He had a couple of ind. tech classes and the teacher was getting really nervous because of Ben's jumpiness and the power saws. He wants Ben to take the class and thinks it can be done more safely another semester when he would only have Ben, instead of an additional sp. ed student to watch closely. I'm seriously considering having David take that class in another 2 years. He has such an artistic bent and a desire to create things that I think it would be great if he could be in this class, as well as Art.

And we met with the music director. We had a really good conversation about the program last week. She said she had just heard that day that I was upset about how things had gone and said that made her feel terrible. We're going to keep Ben in chorus for now because he loves singing so much. Hopefully with a buddy we won't have the wandering problems and maybe with some stage experience, he won't be so out of step during performances. I hope.

After the conferences we went and voted. That turned out pretty well! I wish Brenna Findley had beat Tom Miller for attorney general, but I heard that she may be offered a seat in Branstad's administration, which would be good. She's so sharp and bright - a homeschool grad, actually. And we got that idiot Culver out of the Governor's mansion - praise be! The best thing of all, though, is that Iowans had the courage and conviction to vote out the 3 Supreme court judges that ruled for gay marriage in '09. We sent a loud message that we're not going to tolerate legislation from the bench. It was Bob Vanderplaats, the failed Rep. gubernatorial nominee (that we supported whole-heartedly) that led the mission to oust the judges. David and I were talking about this the other day and I pointed out to him that perhaps that was why God didn't allow him to get the Rep. nomination. It was more important that he lead the fight and educate Iowans on the importance of getting rid of these judges.

And on a personal note, my week wrapped up pretty good. The summer of '09 I sent an unsolicited manuscript to Reg. Baptist Press. I wrote about Ben and how the church can meet the needs of the handicapped and their families. My thinking was that it would be good for their adult SS paper. I never, ever heard back. And then my friend Kay (who writes for their childrens division) told me she heard that RBP was now recycling their pieces, so it was probably unlikely that they were going to be publishing anything new. Well, phooey! It's always been my dream to write for RBP, but maybe now was not the time.

But the mail came Thursday and there was a check from the GARB in there. My first thought, as I was opening the envelope was that something had gone wrong with my renewal of the "Baptist Bulletin" magazine and they were refunding my magazine money I had sent in this summer. But no, it was a check for $80, with a little note stating they were buying my article that I wrote. Woo-hoo!!!! I am excited! I need to get an email off to the editor, to find out the particulars, but this knowledge alone right now is enough for me. This is literally a dream come true for me.

I am wondering how soon the day will come that I will begin to refer to and think of myself as an "author." This past year the door has flung wide open on that possibility. And I am more excited than nervous to step through that doorway.

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