Visiting Churches

Since everyone seems to think an 1,100 mile commute for Sunday morning worship is "unfeasible," we're having to find a local church. (I kid. It's important to have community. But boy, were we blessed with our church of the last three years.)

One of the things I have so loved about the Anglican communion is found in the Fifth Article of the 39 Articles of Religion:

VI. Of the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures for Salvation.Holy Scripture containeth all things necessary to salvation: so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the Faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation.

This means that an Anglican community cannot require of anyone for salvation things which are not required (and cannot be proven to be required) according to Scriptural proof. And this is huge. As Hamilton said, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." But we know that we are not. If we were, we wouldn't have needed either government or redemption. Mankind has a propensity for corruption linked with power, and this particular Article helps keep honest men in positions of power honest, and it helps to keep the theology centered and unified across Dioceses and Congregations. That's a comfort, really.

Article 34, however:

XXXIV. Of the Traditions of the Church.It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly like; for at all times they have been divers, and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times, and men’s manners, so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word.

means that you're going to get distinctive flavor in each church. If you attend an Anglican church in Ethiopia, it is going to have the same theology and the same catechism, but it will have a cadence and tone to the liturgy that is very different from one in, say, Amesbury, MA. Why? Because the cultures, the needs, the histories, and the people are different. (Our church in Huntsville actually had incorporated an element from the African churches, and it was such a beautiful way to refocus us onto the cross and away from the cares of the days that often get us down.) Anyway, you'll get the same gospel, and the same communion, but it's going to be presented in the way that best meets the needs of the community the church is in.

So. Same in many ways, but different in many ways. In this context, I am always reminded of the striking differences that crop up in newly married households that arise from the little things among in-law relations, like Holiday menus and family vacation habits. It's crazy how much stress that causes.

"What do you MEAN you open presents on Christmas Eve?"

"What do YOU mean that you don't do it until Christmas morning?"

Eventually, most of us find a way to remember that those aren't the meat and bones of marriage or life, and they aren't deal breakers. They are traditions, and traditions are a reflection of the culture and the people. Although that is usually the first time most of us realize just HOW different groups of people and their cultures can be, even when they are seemingly homogeneous on the surface. We humans are just like that, and it's good to come to grips with it so that we can enjoy this vast and diverse world, and encourage others the way we hope to be encouraged. Just as this reminder applies to marriage, it also applies to corporate worship and finding a new church.

Anyway, there's a running joke that every Anglican church is different, and everyone knows the right way to do liturgy is... precisely the way your church does it. 😉

So we've looked and prayed, prayed and looked, then left it off until we came out here. We're hoping we will soon find where we are supposed to be. I've had a sense of where we'll end up, but the last time I pushed what I thought, we ended up spending a very awkward year in a place that we really didn't belong. It wasn't good for anybody. So I'm navigating right now, but letting Z drive, and bringing the whole family in for input on where they need to go. And did I mention prayer?

Because honestly, it's good to make plans, but it's also a total sanity saver to remember that there's already a plan. Our job is to be where we've been placed and be ready to answer the call when we're needed. That's going to look different for each person, depending on their call. But the thing about being called is that if you're not listening, or if you haven't willingly stayed within earshot, you're likely to have a hard time hearing. So we have approached this part of the move very prayerfully.

This morning we visited one. They have two services, and we attended the early one. Next week, we'll visit the second church. The week after, we'll attend the later service at the first church. And then we'll see.

Even if this is not where we need to be, it was really nice to have communion. It was important to share in confession and absolution, to hear the Gospel and worship corporately. They were very welcoming and clearly Christ-centered. They do many things differently than we are accustomed to, which was a little weird and disorienting ("Wait, I thought I knew this prayer! What? Wait! What?), and we all had to laugh at ourselves when we got back in the car afterword, because we all know the right way to do liturgy...

Anyway, be encouraged!

~ Dy

The End of the Adrenaline

We've been beasts this week! Go, go, go! Lift, load, shift, hang! Go back for more! Beat that garage back!

Get it done! Get it out! Make the calls! Visit the places! Corner the people! Make it feel like Home!

There has been little rest outside those glorious sunrise coffee-on-the-porch sessions (which may have been what kept me going - those are really nice!)

But I found the end of the adrenaline on Saturday night -- at 9PM, the biggest wall you've ever not seen coming hit me square in the face and I was done. I haven't been that done in ages. Oof. And on that note, I had to pull an executive veto on Sunday's plans.

The day started with an update from Granny (Z's Mom), who had called from the hospital on Friday. She's been on chemo and was feeling pretty puny, punier than seemed right, so her sister called an EMT neighbor to come take a look at her (perks of small town life). He suggested she call her doc or pop on over to Lubbock. She figured her doc would send her to Lubbock, anyway (downside to small town life - it all balances out), so off they went. Yep, her white blood cell count was way too low. They signed her in for a weekend at the spa, complete with complementary gown, fresh IV, and all the tests.

Turned out she had appendicitis! So they got her into surgery Saturday and squared away. She is doing well and her white blood cell count is already back on the rise. That's such a praise and a relief! But it was a humdinger of a day, emotionally.

John and I headed out early that morning for Day 3 of Trying to Register for Classes in Person. (Remember, he MUST be a full-time student to live on base with us.) We spent a lot of time crossing and re-crossing the "holeway" (rather than the hallway - I love that!)

It should have been a pretty straightforward thing, and we had begun the process back in July to make it go as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, the school hadn't processed his ACT scores (which I know I personally requested and paid for back in July), and they hadn't processed his transcripts (which I know I also paid for the beginning of August and had sent as soon as the semester grades posted), so nobody in the EMS program will talk to him or return his calls.

Since he's missing both test scores and prior learning evidence, he can't register online because he's not cleared in the system as having met the pre-requisites for anything. He can't get an appointment with an EMS advisor because they don't see that he's met any of their requirements for coordinated entry. And the whole process of transferring to another school is a brand new one! Wee! For a fairly timid, quiet young man, this is like living in Munch's Scream.

He took in his NREMT certificate, high school diploma (he's got 36 college credits and is coming in as a transfer student - I'm not sure why they needed that, but they pinged him for not having it, so he provided it), and his BLS certificate. He emailed the student ACT report directly to a counselor (it doesn't count officially, but it did give her the latitude to issue overrides for prerequisites, at least), and then he scrabbled together a full-time schedule out of whatever required courses for an Associate's still have seats available ... 48 hours before the start of the semester. It's an odd semester, and two of the classes are online and don't have times posted, but it's a schedule. And he got a bus pass, so now he can get around town. Yay! He's still hoping to get in front of an EMS faculty member Monday and start getting plugged into their Paramedic program, but at least we won't have the Feds beating down our door to evict him for not being a full-time student. That was a huge relief to have taken care of.

Jacob is still actively dying. I think he's the most sensitive to altitude changes, anyway, and with the dry air, he's having 5-10 nose bleeds a day (the Ponaris should be here Monday or Tuesday). And yet, he made it to Nutcracker auditions. He says he did poorly, and he's very disappointed in himself. I don't know how he could have done more, though, really. I'm neither sick or out of sorts and I can barely get in a shower and a load of wash every day; he's had classes every day since we've been here, made the call on a studio, AND hit auditions -- on top of all the unloading, unpacking, hefting and shifting. I don't know. I'm impressed. I hope they loved him.

We ran down to BIL's house to get some things for the shoot and got to see the vineyard. These are the Sangiovese cuttings - the wee sticks they planted last fall - in the ground and growing! They're so pretty!

On the way home, I checked my phone and saw the reminder for the Regency Ball. D'oh! Noooo! I texted the boys, "Are you ready for the dance? We'll be there in 20!" (They weren't. They, too, had forgotten about it.) But they were ready to roll by the time we got home. We switched vehicles and I drove the boys while Z unloaded the Suburban.

It was sometime on the drive back from dropping them off that I hit the wall. Perhaps it was when the Suburban driver's window wouldn't roll back up after I went through the gate. Perhaps it was when I saw that something had leaked on the front porch. Perhaps it was when I walked in and Z said we had to run back down to BIL's that night because he'd forgotten something we'd need for the shoot. I don't know. I just know that that's when I realized we were going to come apart at the seams if we didn't slow down, if only for a day. And I used my veto power on leaving the house Sunday.

We NEED rest. We NEED to put the house together. We NEED to find the school books. School, co-op, dance, everything starts Monday in earnest, and after that it'll be Life As Usual with little time for the things we really need to have squared away going into it.

Bless Z, he offered to retrieve the boys. I went to bed.

Sunday, we rest. Because you really can't do it all.

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

The Good!

I mentioned that there has been so much good, and there has!

One, the weather. Z had suspected that loading a U-haul in Alabama August and unloading in New Mexico August might help soothe the souls of the uprooted. He was right. It's been absolutely gorgeous here, with light breezes and bright skies.

Bunnies! There are cottontails all around the housing areas and in the desert. They're about half the size of the ones the kids are accustomed to, and they are exponentially higher in population. If it's possible for a little girl to die from squealing in delight and tipping over every time she sees a bunny, Em may not be long for this world.

Co-op! Okay, this hasn't started yet, but the leader of the co-op has been in constant (gentle, not-pushy) communication throughout the move. She has offered help, offered prayers, and just really done such an amazing job of walking that line between keeping you in the loop and pushing so hard that you wish you'd never signed up. I cannot wait to meet this incredible woman and give her a great big, space-invading hug!

Schole! We're going to be discussing Pride & Prejudice after co-op. How's that for fabulous Mother Culture?

Family time together again! This, of course, is the biggest perk. I pulled up to the house the other day and saw the Suburban parked out front. Oh, yeah! Z can come home for lunch! How cool is that?

We'll not be able to visit a church until next Sunday. Z scheduled us to go to a silhouette shoot this last Sunday of the month. He's been looking forward to that since the day he left Alabama. There's no way we could miss it! But even that's a good thing. We get to spend the day in the mountains together, enjoying the weather, the air, the company, and the shoot!

Jacob found a new ballet studio that he is excited to join! And he was offered an apprenticeship with their Company, which thrilled his uprooted heart no end!

Parks and trails and neighbors (not the adjacent one, I don't think, but the others all seem kind).

I'm sure there's more, but the kids could hear me typing and now they're all in here, talking around me and I can't think in complete sentences. So I'm going to go listen to them chatter and ponder the many good things we have today. Together.

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

Move In Day!

We had opted to live on Base for the first year. It seemed like a good idea. We'd had such a great experience with Hunt Property Management through the Army, and we thought that going from post to base would make the adjustment easier on the Littles. We were scheduled to get the keys Monday morning at 10:30. We pulled up just in time, the weather was fine, and ...

And I'll be honest, the grossly abbreviated story that follows has soured me quite a bit. I'm working on it, because nobody wants to live with a soured heart, but I'm not there yet. (Honestly, I tried to convince Z to jettison the entire idea and go with something different in town. We could not come to an agreement, and it's really challenging for everyone to negotiate plans remotely, so we powered through on this one.)

There had been some confusion earlier (starting in July) with our application, as John turned 18 over the summer, and they wanted to know that he was a full-time student in order to allow him to live with us. A letter of acceptance for the fall term at the local college didn't count. They insisted on a verification of enrollment form showing a current schedule of registered classes totaling 15 hours (which the lady claimed is "full time" in New Mexico - heads up, it's not, it's 12 hours, just like every other public school in the lower 48 - and it's six hours for Summer Term, but she knows what she knows).  Of course, most kids don't take summer classes between high school graduation and Freshman year of college, but John took 14 hours over the summer, so *whew*! He sent a verification of enrollment from Calhoun, showing full-time status in good standing. There, done.

Nope. They insisted that that wasn't full-time (???Freaks.), and even if it was, it wasn't at UNM (nothing in the rules states that the student must be at any specific institution), and we just really need to understand the rules and since he's not a student (by what metric, we couldn't discern, but they insisted), he can't live with us. Maybe we can re-apply when he's actually a student and we understand the rules. And finally,

"Oh, yeah, that's a new policy we haven't fully implemented yet. It doesn't apply to him, He doesn't have to be in school. He just needs permission from the Base Commander for an exception to policy to allow him to live with you."

So we filed that. And there was more, so much more. They wouldn't give us a lease without base IDs for everyone (but, of course, you can't get a base ID without a reason for being on base, and if your reason for being on base is that you live in base housing, you need a lease...) All of this, however, was supposedly squared away before we ever left Alabama.

We pulled up Monday morning and were told John can't live with us because (wait for it)... he's not a full-time student. (Ah, you caught us! He is not, in fact, actively taking classes BETWEEN SEMESTERS!) They lost our background checks. We have to file a new Exception to Policy form. Oh, and the policy that wasn't implemented three weeks ago was fully implemented while we were on the road, so we DO need all that paperwork, after all. But they tossed the ones we'd submitted before.

Ah, but I have photos of each of them! (Because I do catch on, eventually.)

Oh, so sorry. We have new forms, now. So you'll need to re-do those, as well. No, you cannot move in until all of that is done over. It'll only take 3-5 days, but don't worry because it's a process. Trust us. We're the government, and we're here to help!

We have spent hours each day this week getting this sorted. There was some kind of act of benevolence that allowed someone to recognize what a cluster this whole thing is and issue an order to allow us to move in by using the 30-day grace period they have (that. no. one. thought. to. mention. before...) Today is Friday, and he is finally on the lease as of 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

Of course, the badge system is down, so none of us has base IDs yet. We had to get extended temporary passes yesterday morning before Z left TDY because we can't renew without him, and ours were set to expire five hours after the office closed on Friday and one hour after he returned from his trip. So that could have been an awkward impromptu night in a hotel! Bless, bless, BLESS the kind airman who laminated our temporary passes for us so that they'll last the month! Truly, he has been the absolute highlight of the move-in process, and I hope he has a long and fruitful career in the Air Force. He's my favorite!

In the meantime, I'm playing heck establishing John's NM identity! You can't get a library card or NM driver's license without proof of residency. You can't apply for EMS licensure in the State without proof that you live here. And you can't apply for a tuition residency waiver without a NM license and proof of residency. (All sane requirements. Normally, it's not this blessed difficult to get a kid put on a lease!) But that's okay, because we still haven't been able to get him registered for classes, which start Monday.

So this particular part of the move hasn't been a hoot, I'll be upfront about that.

However, there has also been so much good! I'll fill you in on that tomorrow!

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

The Move, Days 3, 4

We were going to go to Amarillo and stay the night before heading to Uncle Bo's place on Sunday. Sometime Friday evening, though, Uncle Bo called to say it really wasn't that far from OKC to his place and that we were welcome to come on ahead and stay a couple of nights with him. So that's what we did. We pulled up at the ranch, poured out, and enjoyed two very beautiful, pastoral, comforting days with Uncle Bo.

There was so much to see and do while we were there. Em and Jase thoroughly enjoyed being able to be outside and be comfortable - they threw rocks, experimented with levers and cantilevers, roamed and wandered. We looked for arrowheads (actually, they get distracted easily, so they mostly just looked for pretty rocks, of which they found plenty, so it was a successful outing).

We walked very cautiously past the cows and the bull. We sat and enjoyed the dry air, the cool breeze, the magnificent lightning storms all around us. The kids' biggest surprise was the intensity of the sun! Although it wasn't hot out, the sun was so bright and so piercing that it caught them off guard. They rolled with it pretty well, though.

Uncle Bo shared stories and fed us pretty well, also, which we all appreciated and enjoyed. By the time we loaded up Monday morning for that last leg, we were refreshed and ready to get "home"!

Be encouraged!

~ Dy

The Move, Day 2

This was the longest leg of our journey west. We drove from West Memphis to just west of Oklahoma City. It rained the whole way (not a big deal for me, but Z was driving a 26' U-haul towing a 12' trailer - I imagine he had a much different drive than I did).

The kids were going to trade off vehicles each day, but the Littles so enjoyed riding in the big truck, and the Bigs really dug being able to stretch out and play their music, that we just stuck with that configuration for the whole trip. It worked well.

Of course, I love time in the car with one or two of the kids at a time. It gets quiet, and then they talk. It's wonderful.

We wanted to get past Oklahoma City so that we could avoid the morning traffic the next day. That worked well.

We were parked in the back of the hotel, facing a Cracker Barrel. The Littles' bikes were on a bike rack on the Highlander, and we considered bringing them into the hotel, but they were secured pretty tightly and we didn't figure it would be a problem. That did not go so well. When we came out the next morning, all the straps had been cut and somebody's got two brand new bikes.

The Littles were upset, of course, but they handled it well. They thought up a few apt curses upon the thieves, but haven't dwelled on it or allowed it to ruin their trip and the move. I'm pretty proud of them for that.

Z headed out with the Littles while the rest of us stayed to give a police report. If they're found, we have someone local who will hold them for us. I haven't heard back, yet (and haven't had time to follow up), though, so I'm not feeling optimistic. Lesson learned. Expensive lesson, but at least we know it'll stick. Always take your bikes in!

At least they left the kayaks. I suppose those are harder to make a nonchalant getaway on.

Again, learn from our mistakes:

ALWAYS TAKE YOUR BIKES IN!

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

The Move, in Retrospect

We're here, now! And it's glorious!

But let me fill you in...

We had help with the packing and loading the last two days we were in Huntsville. Wonderful people, but they wouldn't just get IN the U-haul. So we're going to have to find more (which, at the end of life, is part of the Good Stuff).

Pizza. Cold beer (not for the minors, of course). One last game of Werewolf. James was still hauling his stuff to the RV and had one more load to go as the U-haul pulled out.

I assume he got it all. I haven't had the oompf to ask. (Although he is alive and not starving, and he has wonderful people around him, so that's really all I care about. Stuff can be replaced or gone without. He, however, is irreplaceable.)

It started to rain as we pulled out of the drive, which seemed an appropriate send off.

Then it rained all the way to West Memphis, where we stopped for the night. All safe and sound! All in one piece!

So, that was Day 1.

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

Not Quite A Countdown

It's ...

1 day until we enjoy the 4th of July festivities with our wonderful peeps.

10 days until John takes the NREMT. (Please pray he passes on the first try - it's not whether he knows the material, but facing testing, for that one.)

17 days until I get my dancing boy back with all of his stories, laughter, commentary, and debris.

15 days until I get to do one last road trip with one of my best friends here. And Circe. Woohoo!

18 days until I see my honey again. And my boy. (Z will be here to retrieve him from Nashville. But he can do his own countdown.)

21 days until the REAL packing begins and we start eating off paper plates.

37 days until the end of Summer Semester, when I'll have an official Sophomore in college and a second semester Freshman! Wow. Where'd that time go?

About 40 days until I'm a New Mexican again! (We don't have specifics, there, so that's just sort of a vaguely shaded in section of the calendar.) I'm definitely leaving a big part of my heart here in Alabama, but I would be lying if I said I'm not looking forward to green chiles and cool nights, to dry air and dusty trails. Mostly, at this point, I'm looking forward to having Zorak back. Miss that man something fierce!

That would be one decorative, complex paper chain, wouldn't it?

Today we've mowed, packed the linen closet, done some laundry and some school.

The kids learned the word "prosaic" this week, which is a very cool word. It's also delightfully ornate considering it's meaning. That just tickled Jase.

We're nearly done with Dandelion Fire and Lurker at the Threshold. We've caught up with Father Geoff on the Book of Judges. (I'm looking at this reading list and thinking we need to throw in some lighthearted reading ... that's all a bit dark for warm summer afternoons.)

I've got to get more packing done, and shift a box of goodies to Jacob while I'm out today running errands. Don't really want to, but the post office isn't open at two in the morning, when it's cooler out.

What are you looking forward to?

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

Tech Stuff

So, right after I poked fun at James for his tech rescue proclivities, I have to fess up to what we did ...

John needs a laptop for school. Em and Jase need some kind of dedicated devices for their writing classes and other projects, and I'd kind of like them to be portable because we are entering a season of travel and wandering off, so laptops sounded good. I kind of need a new laptop because this one's had a hard few years of use, abuse, and dropping from high places.

Enter GovDeals auctions, where you can bid on things "they were just going to throw away" (only they weren't, really - they were going to sell them - but they might sell them to someone else, which is kind of the same as throwing them away, right?)

Since a wiped laptop with no OS would about as useful for me as a book that's glued shut, I haven't really pursued it. I have looked at the auctions, and there's always fun stuff: 30 office desks (who couldn't use that?), 15 dressers (come on, how much fun would that be?), 3 arc welders (this doesn't excite me, but Z gets a twinkle in his eye when he sees these listings ... James totally comes by it honestly, and he gets it from both of us).  You can find all sorts of things on there.

"Ohhh, we could clean these up and sell them!"

"I'll bet we could find someone to split the lot with us! Yeah?"

"Listen, I can find a use for all 30 of those desks, so stop looking at me like that."

And so the conversations go. But we never bid on anything.

Until I asked James to check the auctions out and if he saw something among the laptops that would work, and something that he thought he could fix up, would he please let me know. We'd bid on them, and if we got them, cool. If not, no harm, no foul, and at least it would be an interesting experience.

Well, he found some listings. And he bid on two of them - one for us, one for him. (Actually, we had to enlist Z to do the bidding because James was in class when the auctions closed and I don't have enough room on my plate right now to set my fork down and take a drink. He was awesome about that.) So we got 10 laptops! They had to be picked up in North Carolina, but fortunately, we were going that way on our way to Arlington! What's a five hour detour when you're already driving 12 hours? (Well, it's a 17-hour drive, that's what. But I didn't think about what that actually meant in time.)

So we picked them up and brought them home. They live on my breakfast bar. James has been installing Linux on them as he has time and handing them out to those that need it. He's happy - it's like having someone support you in your rescue attempts. I'm happy - it's nice not to be paying full retail for a gazillion people to get upgraded tech. Z is happy - just because he's generally happy to see his people doing what they do.

And now, to figure out how to get my hands on some dressers and welders ... Right?

Be encouraged~

~ Dy

Missing One

Jacob is off at his summer intensive, and the house is shockingly quiet. (On a tangentially related note, do you know of any robust earbuds that can survive a 14yo boy? I'm resigned at this point to replacing them every six months, but I hate the waste.)

In some ways, not much is different. We still chat about news over coffee in the mornings (yay for technology!) and he still sends me photos of cool things he finds while he's out and about. I love that part.

But he's gone. I miss seeing him spinning in the kitchen. I miss hearing his laughter when he reads something funny. I miss hanging out in the kitchen with him while we cook. I miss hearing him talk about the book he's reading or the upcoming Falcon Heavy launch. I know that's part and parcel of raising children to be autonomous, productive adults. But I sure do miss him when he's off being active.

This is the second week. It's both flying by and inching along. Time is so weird. I'll be gone when he wraps it up, and Z will get to see the performance at the end of the session. He'll enjoy that, since he missed the school sketches in May.

I do hope, though, that Jacob's up for a marathon of something ridiculous with snacks and root beer floats and hanging out in the kitchen in July.

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

The Birthday Outing

So, it was 11 degrees on Em's birthday. Not inside, obviously, (thankfully) but just knowing it's that cold has an impact. We didn't even get dressed until noon. So, the manicure and the lunch with the boys will have to wait.

BUT, we did go out that day, and we fed her little heart.

First, we went to Anthropologie. I don't shop there. Mainly, because I have very little money. And I have to explain what I've done with it, which would be very hard to do if I spent the entire grocery budget on a throw pillow and a new coffee mug. However, I knew that it would satisfy an aspect of her heart to just BE in that environment. To see things that were designed with an aesthetic that she appreciates. To touch fabrics you don't find at Target or Kohl's, and to peer into designs that are inspired by something bigger than things close to home. To be inspired by what can be done when you have a vision.

We were there for an hour and a half, folks. An hour and a half in a tiny store, and she was not bored for a second. She was awed, and she was thrilled, and she was just quietly enthralled. I followed her around, letting her explain everything to me.

"Mom, feel this bead pattern, now feel this one. See how they feel different?" (For the record, no. My hands are calloused and I hadn't thawed out from the walk to the store yet. But I listened, and smiled, because she was showing me how she experiences the world.)

"Oh, look how they get different results with different knots. Also, they used knots. That's brilliant."

"Ohhhhh, squeeze this. Just grab it in your hands. Isn't that fantastic?"

"We need to find out where you can get this fabric and make one of these."

"Did you touch that plate? You should. It's amazing."

She comes to a dead stop. "Sniff, right here. Do you smell that? What is that?" So we sniffed around and couldn't find the source. We asked an employee to help us find it. She couldn't, either. We have no idea what we were smelling, but it was Stop You In Your Tracks lovely.

Then, we headed to Justice, where she got what I can only describe as her Tween Uniform.

It's adorable. Blessedly, they have a lot of decent, cute stuff this year. It's not an Anthropologie wardrobe, but it works. The ladies who work there were so kind and fun. They made the visit enjoyable. She got a water bottle that the boys won't steal and lose. She got some leggings and some t-shirts. We laughed and poked around. It was a very different vibe, but just as fun.

And now, she is 12. Gosh.

I haven't said it in a while, because (obviously) they aren't babies anymore, but still ...

Kiss those babies!

~ Dy

Birthday Ideas

I've accidentally published this post twice without meaning to because the pads of my hands keep bumping the little track pad on my laptop, tabbing me all over the place, one spot of which seems to be the Publish button. I need a little pad protector to put on it so that I can type without having to worry about my fat hands engaging that pad. (James would say I need to install Linux, which has a two-second delay before the thing activates, or something like that. I am almost there ...)

Anyway, with Em's birthday coming up, I started pestering her for ideas back in August. Because that's how you have to do with the gentle thinkers. You can't just hit them up at Costco the day of and say, "What do you want to do today? Sky's the limit!" They freeze, and you end up buying them an .89 bladder buster and a 30-roll pack of paper towels. I learned this the hard way.

After much mulling and thinking (seriously - it was January before she got back to me on most of this), she decided she'd like to get her ears pierced, get a manicure (she's hoping this will help her not bite her nails), go to lunch with the boys, and redo her room.

So, we started putting a plan in action. She got her ears pierced this weekend.

I've no clue on the manicure, and haven't had the bandwidth to track that down, but I'll do that today. Lunch with the boys will be at the 88. That's where they eat. It's what they do. It's their thing. It's also the only place in town you can get spicy squid, which is Very Important to Jase. (And? All this time, I had no idea they had a website. That's so cool!)

Her room is functional, but it's a mash-up of Stuff Her Brothers Didn't Want, Stuff She's Duct Taped or Sewn, and then things that usually began with, "Oh, crap, you probably need sheets (shelves, hangers, etc.), don't you?" So, it's functional, but other than the constant craft debris littering the floor, you'd never guess anyone lived there on purpose. She wanted to fix that.

She's been going through it, fixing up what she can with what we had on hand (this isn't as sad as it sounds - we have a lot on hand) and making a list of what she'll need. She's been making little changes, such as snagging a mint green sheet from the linen closet to go with her pink bedding, hanging lights above the window shades, adding pastels here and there, hanging drawings on the walls.

She asked if we can paint her bookshelf white with pink, yellow and blue distressed spots. (I said yes before I realized we were actually going to have Winter this year. We have to paint in the garage or outside, so she may be able to do that for Easter. Or Memorial Day. It's not happening on her actual birthday, though.)

Last week, she asked if she could "do something about that sad brown lamp shade". Of course. Good thing she'd asked for "virtually unlimited duct tape" and "gel pens of my very own" for Christmas! It's the gift that keeps on giving.

I only recently realized that what she really asked for for her birthday was to be left alone to craft. LOL! Clever girl. So that's what we shall do for her birthday - give her glue and stay out of the way. It's how she knows she's loved.

Be encouraged!
~ Dy

The Nutcracker

Well, THIS was exciting. A year ago, Jacob sat in the farthest row of the highest balcony at the Von Braun Center and watched, mesmerized, as The Nutcracker played out before us. He leaned forward, spellbound, the entire performance, but particularly watching the men's parts - the Nutcracker Prince, the Rat King, the dolls. He was captivated by the power and strength of the dancers. When he asked if he could do that, we had no idea that this December would find him backstage, preparing for his own parts.

All week, he kept whispering at random, "This is what started it all. And I'm here." He was in a bit of a dream world.

He gave his all to every role. As a Party Teen, he was so exuberant and festive. He was so, so great with the little ones on stage. He was a delight to watch.

As a gypsy, he was beautiful and vibrant. I got to watch from the wings one night when he danced that part, and the look on his face as he landed in the final position ... I will carry that image with me to my grave. I've never seen him look so happy, so at home (and this is a kid who is at home in most any setting, so that's saying something).

As half of the dragon, he was entertaining and delightful.

But most of all, he was kind, considerate, and engaged. He even goofed around with me a little bit!

The atmosphere backstage of a Huntsville Ballet Company production is one of the most professional, courteous, and team-driven endeavors I've ever been fortunate enough to witness. (I got to help, too, which was fabulous. Everyone should help backstage at least once, just to appreciate what goes into making the magic happen when the curtain goes up.) I could not have been more proud of him, or more pleased with where he is. They're a good fit, and I'm thankful for that.

For all the things we wish we could go back and do differently, or do better, I really feel like we've hit the sweet spot in encouraging them to pursue excellence, and to work hard at what they love. It's one thing to dream, but it's another to put your effort and hard work into achieving it. That's huge, and I am so thankful that he's doing just that.

Be encouraged!

Dy

So, what do you do with all your extra time?

And I thought I'd be able to write more once we moved! That's so cute!

We're moved in. We're loving life Five Minutes From Everything. It's truly very nice. The boys appreciate the extra study time for school, the extra bits of sleep in the mornings, and the ability to pop out to a movie or coffee with friends, or Bible study without having to pack a full daypack and hydration bladder to make it happen. The Nutcracker performance week, and tech week leading up to it, were smooth and efficient and wonderful.

Personally, I'm loving the ability to call housing if there's mold, or if something breaks, and these delightful men arrive within an hour to fix it. There's no having to put it in the budget, shop around for parts, and then carve out time to make it happen. I really, really love our maintenance team!

That said, Z got a job offer ... Out West. New Mexico. (I'll write about that whole set up at another time.) The offer came in shortly after we'd signed the lease on base. It's a good move, with promotion potential. It puts him closer to family, able to help out more often, and it might even afford him a path to Colorado one day (something that just isn't an option from here). It made sense for him to take it. He expected a start date in the Spring, but they had the day before Thanksgiving (this Thanksgiving) in mind. Uh, no? What? No relocation package, and you want us to move when? Uh-uh. He negotiated to start the second week in December, though, which bought us a little time to finish all the things on the Forever Home. (New carpet, new back deck, replaced the flooring in the kitchen, installed a lovely new exterior door in the master bedroom, and the Holy Grail of my last five years, the beadboard ceiling in the kitchen/living area! It's gorgeous!) Then he left. *poof* He's staying with his brother and sister-in-law, who were so very gracious to open their home to him. The kids and I will follow sometime this Summer.

We couldn't uproot and go right now. James is going to stay behind. He has a wonderful job, and he's survived the first semester of college (he has no humanities this coming semester, so he'll likely knock out a 4.0 on that one). But he was staying at home and commuting - we couldn't shuffle him into the dorms at the last minute. John's pursuing his EMT certification, and we couldn't just yank him out of that. And Jacob is dancing with the Junior Company for the Huntsville Ballet (this is the first step in their pre-professional study track, and he is wholly committed to it). He might just turn into a real, live Gollum if we pulled him out of that and dumped him in an unknown community past the audition dates for anything. So. We're staying until we can extricate ourselves a bit less violently. We want the move to be good, for everyone involved, and that's how we're moving forward. Being separated isn't much fun (less fun for Z, who doesn't have the routines and familiar surroundings to buffer him), but we both acknowledge that a few months out of 22 years together isn't going to break us, or warp us, or damage us. We'll be fine.

Good Times. Or, it will be Good Times. Right now, it's all just a bit surreal. We haven't listed the Forever Home yet, because there's a beautiful, wonderful family that wants it. They've listed their home, and we're all just waiting on their house to sell. If it hasn't sold by Spring, or if they give up, then we've found a realtor and will list it with him. In the meantime, we're floating two and a half homes through the Winter. It will be okay. But they need it. They really do. It's worth the wait. No regrets, there.

And now, we have a routine. We have a plan. We have a little breathing room. Later than we'd anticipated, but it's here. That's good.

Welcome to 2018!

Seven Days

I told you I was like a kid at Christmas!

I'm half planning to load up my bed, a suitcase, a box of bacon and the coffee press, and call it good. If they want anything else, they can come back for it. Oh, and the patio furniture - I do love our patio furniture. That should be plenty, right?

We had a week off from ballet while the school was on fall break. Nearly missed trash day, woke Z up early on a day he didn't have to go to work, and accomplished very little in the way of returning library books that week. Evidently, we can't use a calendar without some kind of external anchor to remind us what day it is. Also, to Jacob's Russian teacher, I apologize. He comes by it honestly.

However, I remembered that I can, in fact, cook quite well when I have the time to do it. So, that's been fun. I'm really looking forward to getting settled and doing more in the kitchen again.

We animal-sat for friends over the long weekend. It was good, and we're glad we were able to help them out, but we are so not cut out for farm life. It probably would have been easier if we didn't live 50 minutes away, and often had to wear the rest of the day whatever we wore to tend the animals. That was kind of gross. Or, if we had any idea what might cause a goat to fall over. That was scary. (The goat is fine, and John rocked the medic training - he devised a carry sling and we let him tell us what to do, so we didn't completely suck at whatever it was we were supposed to be doing.) They'll be back today, and I am so incredibly glad.

Today is John's last day at work. They've been so good to him, and it was a wonderful experience for a first time job. With the move, though, he'd be working to earn the gas money to drive ... to work. Plus, he starts clinicals near the end of this semester, and that will take up a lot of additional time. He picks up another class at the CC on the 21st, as well. He has a plan and he's moving on it. It's neat to stand back and see that play out, see where he wants to go and how he's making it happen.

Today is also the last Harried Tuesday! Hurrah! No more! This time next week, I can drop Jacob at ballet and GO HOME to wait! There shall be scones! (We tweaked a keto bagel recipe and it's like lovely, decadent scones, only with scads of protein and few carbs. So good!)

Be encouraged!

Dy

14 Days

In 14 days, we move. Because it's a local move, I can't convince anyone in the house that it's a legitimate move or that it needs any actual preparation. I guess we'll teleport.

Whatever works, folks. Whatever works. I don't have the bandwidth to force the issue on the front end, so I'm just going with it for now and I'll fix it the following week, when everyone is surprised that their approach wasn't terribly efficient.

If Life has taught me anything (and it has, actually, taught me many things), the most recent is that sometime you just have to step back and let people do what they will. This is, perhaps the hardest lesson for me, so far.

Maybe.

Actually, I think any lesson is the hardest lesson (ever!) when we're in the middle of learning it, don't you think? It's not until after you've mastered the skill, or internalized the lesson that it becomes easy and self-evident. I'll be truthful with you - I am soooo ready for me to master this Letting Go thing. Just let it go. Let it be. It's fine. No worries.

In (mostly) unrelated news, we're spooling up on our wine knowledge. Ha. No, really, that is unrelated. We're doing the research now to see about the viability of a vineyard on the family ranch. We've sent in soil samples and met with a viticulture specialist. That's very exciting, and as with any industry or endeavor, there is so much to learn! It's overwhelming, but it's also exciting.

And there's wine.

So, serendipity, and all that. 😉

Brilliant Plans and... Other Ones

Yesterday was a rest day. Well, it was a school day and a rest day. OK, actually, it was a school day, a few small projects, a little more cleaning, and a rest day. But when Jase talked to Z about his day, he told him it was a rest day, "so we didn't do much but hang out, eat and read". Then he gave me credit for it! So it's officially going down as a rest day that I instituted. Because I don't often get credit for the occasional cool things I do. (This incident is not a prime example, since it wasn't actually a rest day, but I don't even mind at this point.)

We replaced the worn dry erase board in the linen closet door and cleaned and repainted the air return register. We washed some more walls. We made more lists. John had Favorite Child status for several hours because he dug around in the basement to find the panel that I knew was down there but which none of us had seen in ages. Many people thought it was a myth. I had even begun to think perhaps we'd thrown it out at some point. But no, he found it! And he cut a new panel and got it switched out.

Today, we all overslept. I awoke at 7:37, immediately registered that we were behind the 8-ball for an 8 o'clock hair appointment, and bolted out of bed to wake everyone else. AND we made it! We weren't coherent, or clean, or functional, but we were there. After that, and a hair cut, I needed a full-on shower. I was still a little sleepy, however, and didn't want to do the bag-wrap-tape routine on my finger (I sliced the tip off last week - rookie mistake that's more irritating and inconvenient than damaging, thankfully). So I grabbed a mechanic's glove. It worked great until I reached down to shave and the glove immediately filled up with water! Oops! Lesson learned - tape the wrist!

Jacob got his schedule recommendations today, so we're plugging things into grids to see what's going to work. I found a lot of schedule templates online that skip weekends, or end at 5. None were quite what I needed, but then I found one from Apache, an Open Office spreadsheet that was dead handy. If you use Open Office and need a planner template, this one's quite functional. I had to tweak the margins on my page set up a titch to get it to print on one page, but it's pretty good, otherwise.

We're all about to head into a completely new world with school. I feel like we're skydiving for the first time -- no clue what to expect and vaguely surprised to find us here even though this was the plan and we very intentionally got to this place. It's so strange. If you're kindly inclined, please keep all of the young men and women who are heading off to college, to internships, to work, in your prayers. They're in for some amazing adventures, but it doesn't hurt to have people actively pulling for you.

Be encouraged!

Dy

Good Saturday Morning!

It is T-2 until liftoff! How ridiculously exciting!

The Littles and I visited Miri and the Babies yesterday. She set it up for them to make homemade wikki stix, which was very cool and I think we're going to have to do that again in the future! The kids played while we visited, and although I really didn't want to run more errands yesterday, it was nice to do something for the Littles. And a little something for me, getting to spend time with a sweet friend.

While we were in town, we ran errands, as well. Found stuff sacks large enough to use as bear bag bags (which is awesome, thank you, Cabela's!) And lashing straps for John's pack (although I should have bought the ones at Walmart last week, to be honest - longer and less expensive for the same material, there). Live and learn.

Today, John and I will do the final pack up and make sure everything is secure, there's room for additional troop gear and the tents, and see if we've forgotten anything. Honestly, I've got food, I've got a good sleeping pad (and a repair kit), and I've got proper clothing. Anything beyond that is gravy at this point. We're ready to hit the trail.

Oh! My new Vibrams came in yesterday, too! I realized that I've trained in this one pair the whole time, plus our teen hikes, plus I wear them to the river, to the store, to work on the property... It's been a good year! The last thing I wanted, however, was to have a blowout on the trail and get stuck buying boots at the camp after I've done all my training in these. So I ordered the same size, style, and brand that I've been wearing. They look so pretty and new! And, seeing them side-by-side, I was glad I got another pair! The soles on my first pair are not as, erm, healthy as they seemed. Fortunately, once you're used to wearing Vibrams (which can take some time), the shoes themselves don't have the break-in period for a new pair that traditional shoes require, so they should be good to go by the end of this week. I'm taking the old ones as camp shoes and back up, though. Figure they deserve to see the desert mountains one more time.

Gotta pack for Circe today, too, and get my suitcase to a friend. She's going to meet me there with it so I'm not traveling with a week's worth of business attire to Philmont! I need to find her something that says, "I do not know what I'd do without you!" Maybe a mug that literally says that. But I'd have to fill it with gold bullion or Amazon gift cards or something, because she's really that amazing. And not just for her mad luggage hauling skills, either!

Be encouraged!

~ Dy

New Schedules, New Days, New Foods

It's only mid-week and already the Littles miss their in-house IT man. 😄 I can fix  you up if you've got a gaping wound, need help deciphering new words, or learning how to cook. If you can't get into the something-admin-something of the something-mod in the something-world of Minecraft, though, you're just going to have to wait for your brother to get home. He seems happy with the new routine, and is stepping into it beautifully.

The rest of us are also getting used to this new schedule. It's weird. The Littles and I are on a solid one-week run of getting to the library (I know, it's a wonder they put up with us), and we may make it through June without any  more late fees if we keep this up. John's missing the Volvo (part is en route!) and would like to be independently mobile again, but he's been fantastic about communicating to make sure everyone's got the wheels they need when they need them to get where they need to be. Jacob seems to be all-in on his schedule, as far as dance goes. Not so much the academics, but it's a process. I hope.

I do think Z really enjoys the carpooling action, though. He hasn't had years of that daily commute time with the kids, so this is a nice treat for him to have some regular one-on-one time with James. No clue what they talk about, but they both seem content.

Our gear is arriving! My puffy jacket arrived! It fits! It's so warm! It's so exciting! I hope it's chilly enough to need it while we're there - that would be the best birthday surprise!

Also, I received my Pili Nuts order today. (Pronounced /pee'-lee/.) Before they'd arrived, I'd have told you that the customer service was really something special. The folks at Hunter-Gatherer Foods are a delight to do business with, and I was quite looking forward to checking out the Pili Nuts. Now that I've opened the bags and tried some of their product (the turmeric and black pepper, the raw cocao, and the coconut oil and salt), I will tell you that if you order some (and you should), get the bigger bags. You won't be sorry! I have found my new go-to trail snack, on-the-go snack, and "emergency" food. This is the kind of thing I'm absolutely asking Santa for at Christmas. I also think I'll need to order more before we leave. These four bags won't make it to departure day! (I am not making anything off this - this is just me, telling you about something I found that's pretty fantastic!)

John and I had our physicals today. We both appear healthy enough to the average physician and have the all-clear to head to Philmont! My pulse was a little high - as soon as the nurse called my name, my heart started doing jello-shots of adrenaline like it was ladies' night, and I could not calm down. Z laughed and said it's probably a wee bit of PTSD. I laughed, too, because it's absurd and he's probably right. But there's nothing I can do about it except roll with it. Maybe one day I can get to the point where a nurse can call me back without my body yelling, "Cops! Hide!" Or maybe it'll just be how I respond from now on. Who knows? I'm new at this, and probably bad at this, but thankful to have the opportunity to try, at any rate.

And on that note, I am going to grab a book and head to bed. We've got storms coming in off the tropical depression. We're safe here (just damp), but you all in the path of the storm, be careful, look out for one another, and check in when you can!

Be encouraged!

~ Dy

SO, I didn't die.

That's the end goal, there, and I won. Yay!

THE GOOD:

1. I didn't die!

2. I didn't panic, go limp and refuse to move. (That was a serious consideration at one point.)

3. My Five Fingers are da'bomb! I love these things more than any gear I have ever owned in. my. life.

4. I did the first 10 miles fasted, and those were amazing miles. Most of our day hikes at Philmont are going to be around 10 miles, so I'm feeling uber-confident that I can do this and hold my head up at the end. (Especially once you account for drier air, lower temps, and fewer ticks. Hallelujah!)


THE BAD:

1. Ticks. Lord, have mercy, we never left the trail and there were ticks everywhere.

2. The weather. I wouldn't choose to hike in that heat or humidity for fun, ever. Ever ever. Ugh. Honestly, I am surprised they went through with it in these conditions. It was awful.

3. I haven't bought hiking clothes that fit, and nothing I own that stays up is appropriate for hiking, so I stole James' BDU pants and wore those - they were awesome for keeping the ticks out, but they did not help with the heat or the humidity. Blech.

4. I didn't eat enough when we stopped for lunch (in my head, we had more time to eat, and so I didn't just stuff it in there like it turns out I should have) and I did run dead out of energy around mile 13 or so. It was like watching a drunk stumble forlornly through the woods.

THE UGLY:

1. I am so slow. Like, embarrassingly slow. I can match the cadence, but my stride is tiny, like I'm hobbled or something. I don't know what that's all about, or when it happened. But gosh.

2. I slept poorly the night before, fretting over ticks (which turned out to be TOTALLY JUSTIFIABLE). So that didn't help, any. Also, sometimes I hate being right.

3. But mostly, I realized I need to adjust my pace quite a bit to hang with the Scouts. They go all-out on speed for shorter stints, stop just long enough to catch their breath, and then back at it. This means they stop a lot (and stopping just kills me - momentum, rhythm, slog, focus, all gone), and none of the stops are truly restful, which kind of sucks the fun out of being on the trail. It's like driving somewhere with someone who won't stop at a Buc-ee's just because, or pull over for coffee when you're out. So, I have two weeks to get a grip on that.

******

Today, James and I figured out how to adjust my old Alpine Contour III! That was exciting! I did not realize just how anxious I was about the pack issue until we got it put right. It was as if every care I had in the world melted away. (At least for a little while.)

The rest of our gear should be in tomorrow and then we're just down to a few dodads and miscellany. I am really excited about this trip!

Be encouraged!

~ Dy