Happy Valentine’s Day! Four years ago, Roger and I spent the evening of Valentine’s Day in the E.R. With Emma due to Lyme’s Disease. This Valentine’s Day, I’m heading to the pediatricians office with Travis. I think he broke his toe! I’m not sure how, but it’s turning colors and the swelling is quite significant. It’s his big toe, so he’s feeling the pain. I think he broke it on Saturday while at soccer practice, but here we are heading to the doctor’s office this morning. We will see what they say about it. Edited to add: We did have the X-ray done, but since we never got a call back about the results, I’m assuming his toe is just sprained. It’s not as colorful anymore, but it’s still painful for him to walk on. However, he did manage to get his ice skates on yesterday (Tuesday). He said that the most painful part was putting them on, then the pain wasn’t quite so bad.
In other news, we are surviving the long, slow month of February! I always seem to feel a little bit “blah” and depressed during this month, and it’s been a bit worse this year without having Roger around all the time. But we are getting through one day at a time. Roger will be coming back for a few days a week from Thursday, and we are all looking forward to that! We have winter break next week from school, and I’m not sure who’s looking forward to the break more- the teachers or the students! Currently, I’d put money on the teachers! Burn-out is a big deal everywhere in every school, and it’s the same for some of us teaching in Christian school too. Sometimes I can see the fatigue in the eyes of my co-workers, and it really is the grace of God that sustains us through some long days. I think the single handed one thing that parents could do to support teachers is to teach their children to obey and be respectful. (We haven’t conquered it either, and we are all a work in progress. But obedience is so important to learning!).
This past week, I had the opportunity to have lunch with Allison on Monday. Our lunch times will be coming to a close when we move, but I have so come to treasure her friendship to me. Sometimes we laugh, sometimes I cry, but there I’m thankful for a praying friend. I sure hope that you have one of those in your life!
Garett and Chandler had the opportunity to go snowboarding/skiing with some friends on Wednesday. They haven’t snow boarded in a few years, but they sure were excited about going! They were picked up at 6:00am on Wednesday morning and they got home around 8:30pm. Chandler walked in the door and told me, “I had a good time. I didn’t get hurt. I’m super tired. I’m going to bed. Love you.” Alrighty then! Garett was a bit more talkative, and I had to remind him that we all needed to get up for school the next day. They had a great time snowboarding with Levi and Ava and their family. I am thankful for good, solid Christian families that will invest in the lives of our children. The boys were tired and exhausted, but their minds were full of wonderful memories from the day.
Roger continues to work through some long, cold days as well. It’s hard to be cold all day long, and we aren’t getting any younger! However, we continue to work hard and stick with it. We’ve been doing a lot of praying, soul-searching, and talking about our future, and our children. I have one particular child that I am especially concerned with right now. I want him to be happy with exactly how God created him to be. Sometimes it’s hard to be in the middle with two older brothers ahead of you, an annoying little brother and sister behind you (at least in the eyes of this child). Roger and I have just been praying that he will find his joy to be in Jesus, and to fully be content with what God is doing in and through him. (It’s hard- I know!)
We are in the “talking stages” of missions trip for our older boys. My sister, Jen, takes a group of kids to the Dominican Republic to help with a Vacation Bible School. Garett and Chandler would like to go, but we are still praying about it. Chandler would need a passport, and that was the snag last year. Apparently, you can now call the passport office directly to set up an appointment for a minor whereas last year it was all online. However, the passport office had too many problems with people reserving appointments and then selling those appointments to other people that didn’t necessarily need a passport as badly as some of the others on the list. What a crazy world we live in! Anyways, we would appreciate your prayers as we seek God’s direction for our boys (and their parents).
We made little gifts for the teachers/staff at our school for Valentine’s Day. As we were dipping the strawberries last night, one of the boys said, “I feel like we do this every year.” I replied that I think we had done the same gift for the last few years. I asked him if he wanted to do something different for his teacher to which he replied, “No, I like chocolate covered strawberries and this way we get some too!” Haha! It’s good to make a gift which you also don’t mind eating!
It’s been cold here lately, but the boys have been skating twice this past week. On Monday, Travis’s toe hurt so badly that he didn’t want to go, so I took the three older boys down to the pond and dropped them off. I told Roger it “felt like the old days, when people dropped off their kids and told them they’d be back. Kids without cell phones and just their common sense and brains to rely upon.” And the boys were fine! They had a great time skating, and met and older couple down by the pond. The boys helped shovel off the pond with the older guy, and they had a fun time skating for a little over an hour. On Tuesday, we all went down to the pond and met up with our friend, the Philbrook’s. The boys (and Emma) had a great time skating with their friends. It was still a very chilly day, but the kids certainly didn’t seem to mind. We looked like we had the whole neighborhood out there, but it was really just Taylor’s and our kids! Nine kids out on the ice and laughing and having a great time. Everyone came home hungry and cold, but it was fun time.
Lately, I’ve had the words to the song “Jesus, Strong and Kind” in my mind. The chorus sings, “For the Lord is good and faithful, He will keep us day and night. We can always run to Jesus, Jesus strong and kind.” Whew! I am so thankful for that.
