Some Journey

A conversation I enjoyed with Joseph

ME: (singing) ". . .My heroes have always been cowboys. . .and they still are it seems. . ."

JOSEPH: You're heroes are still cowboys?

ME: Not really. It's just how the song goes.

JOSEPH: So that song didn't really happen.

ME: No.

JOSEPH: But the Lord really happened.

ME: Yeah. He happens every day.

JOSEPH: Yeah, everybody knows that, Mom.

ME: The sad thing is, Joseph, not everybody does know that.

JOSEPH: But He still does happen, even though they don't know it, right?

ME: Yep. And the amazing thing is, He loves us and takes care of us even when we don't know He's happening. Even before we believe He's real, He loves us.

JOSEPH: Just like how you love me even when you spank me, right?

ME: Exactly.

*sigh* Suddenly all the whining is worth it.

Just for the record

We had a Ladies Game Night at church last night, and it was loads of fun. It was interesting to see the different mix of folks who showed up compared to the "usual suspects". The table I was at played a game I had never played before but am adding to my "Game Closet Wish List": Whoonu? After a couple of rounds of that we switched to one of my all time favorites, Boggle. However, this was Master Boggle, and you can't use three letter words, which definitely upped the ante, so to speak. Which brings me to the point: I used a word which I could not define and no one else had ever heard of; therefore, I willingly relinquished the point. However, if you know me, you know that I just could not sleep thinking that I was certain this was a word (I believe my most recent experience with it was in Eragon, and it stuck in my mind because I was unsure of how to pronounce it), but just couldn't remember what it was. So, for the record, here it is:

weir (wîr)
n.
A fence or wattle placed in a stream to catch or retain fish.
A dam placed across a river or canal to raise or divert the water, as for a millrace, or to regulate or measure the flow.
[Middle English were, from Old English wer.]

Ashton McClain Clark

Our niece, Luanne, and her boyfriend, Daniel, welcomed their daughter, Ashton McClain, into the world this afternoon at 5:30. She weighed in at 7pounds 12 ounces. Luanne went into the hospital to begin induction shortly after midnight this morning, so both parents (and attending aunts) were completely exhausted, which of course goes with the territory.

When Luanne lived with us (for about three years) the kids often called her their "sister-cousin". When Noah was born, Syd took respite in the fact that she at least had Luanne in a house full of brothers. So after a day off of school where the boys all played together leaving Syd feeling left out, she was overjoyed when the opportunity was given her to be in the room when Ashton was born. The birth of a new "sister-cousin". Syd, who has been an avid Discovery Health channel fan since age 2 and wants to be a doctor when she grows up, found the whole experience delightful. I asked her if it was kind of gross, and she said, "No, Mom, Ashton's little face was so cute when that was all that was sticking out! She was adorable! And I was really surprised at how fast her body came out after her head was out all the way."

I've put together a little photo album at my flickr account, which you can get to here.

Harry Ibach 1, Oct 2005-January 7, 2006

We are sad to report the demise of our beloved little lizard.

Harry passed away peacefully in his sleep following a week's battle with impaction caused by eating the sand in the bottom of his cage. Apparently, baby lizards cannot digest the sand and become impacted and die. I desperately wish that the countless books and webpages I read which said that sand was the best substrate for beardies had included that little phrase, "except those less than 10 inches long". Also, the mealworms we fed him the first two days we had him compounded the problem. Apparently mealworms have a harder shell than crickets and baby beardies cannot digest it properly either. All of the pet stores in the area were out of crickets the week Harry arrived. I asked the pet store employee what to feed him. He asked me how big he was, then told me small mealworms would be fine. He was mistaken. So was the other pet store employee who told me that sand was a good substrate for baby beardies as long as you used the calcium based (more expensive) sand. Lesson learned: ask someone who specializes in reptiles, not Joe Blow pet store employee who pretends to know what they are talking about. So now we have blown over $100, a week of nursing a sick lizard, and have nothing but an empty tank to show for it. (Well, there are still a couple of stray crickets hiding here and there). There is just no way we can afford another $60 lizard right now, so we will just have to be patient and wait to replace Harry.

In other news, our dear neighbors, the Blansits, moved out this week. Ty is planning to finish his undergrad degree this semester and hopes to enter seminary in the fall. They did not know how long it would take to sell the house and needed to lower their overhead, so went ahead and put it on the market this past fall. They closed on the sale Friday and moved to a duplex a few miles away. They are still close by, but it will just not be the same. Our boys have spent countless hours at their house, and their boys have spent countless hours in ours. It's almost hard to imagine not having BJ in our yard every afternoon. It's going to be a difficult adjustment for us all, and we will miss having them across the street.

The good news is. . .2006 is bound to get better. . .right?