community activist

i was annoyed to find out that the city planned to make it illegal for me to cross the street near my house. i cross at this intersection, maybe, once a month to go to the local park. it turned out that they decided that since there are a few irresponsible high school kids crossing there during high traffic times, they should ban all people from crossing at all times. i say no. so i wrote to the city and said "no thank you". then took the older boys to visit our city engineer. he was fabulous and invited us all back to his office and showed us how he can see all over the city on his big flat screen right there in the office by looking at different traffic cameras! it was really neat and he was great with the boys.

still, i thought they should only ban pedestrian crossings during high traffic hours, so this afternoon, i went to the city traffic commission meeting to say so. turns out a bunch of elderly neighbors also cross there to get to the shopping center on my side of the street. consequently, they decided to take a better look at it and recommended only restricting pedestrians during high traffic hours. yay!

my new job on the AYSO board

this is my 4th year on our AYSO (soccer) board. i have served as volunteer coordinator, CVPA, and now secretary. this year, the guy who has always made the game schedule is gone, so i had the privilege of making the schedule. it was fun for me, like a big puzzle - making all the games fit, having teams play each other an equal number of times and coordinating games for coaches with 2 or 3 teams or special needs. but the best part has been the lack of complaints. so i'm just bragging a bit that i did a good job. yay me! :)

sy's first soccer game day

getting ready - got the jersey on, working on the shinguards!

tired of outings

i'm not tired of going out. but going out makes me really tired.

i forget this because i feel fine, then i go out and get myself exhausted. :)

thursday we went to the science center. it was fun because there was a man showing a real pig heart and since we're studying anatomy this semester in CC, it was perfect timing. he was at a small table and the kids got 4-on-1 time with him and the heart. neat! (but it made me tired).

friday we went to the nature center (i think i remembered i may get tired, but i felt guilty for not taking my kids anywhere for the past few weeks.) we walked the 1-mile instead of 2 and i took breaks when i needed it, but ultimately went home really tired.

saturday was the first day of the fall soccer season games, so i was at the fields (sitting - which is not normal) cheering the kids on!

mom and dad visit & soccer tournament round 2

mom & dad flew in for a funeral (a short stay). everyone was happy to see them as it's been hard not having them "close" like they were in phoenix. again their trip coincided with a soccer tournament weekend, and they were able to catch a game before flying out.

they also brought to the kids the long awaited stuffed animals that have traveled the world. each animal was sent on behalf of one of the kids and was passed from traveler to traveler, keeping a log on the way and sometimes taking pictures of its adventures. the kids were so excited to get these after 8 months of waiting!

i am still recovering from being sick. i am still tired and it seems it may be a while before i'm back at full steam. (i did, however, attend our CC orientation day last tuesday and will teach my first class tomorrow). may the Lord sustain me.

also, dad moved back home. it's sad not to have him here and not to have his help (funny how that turned out). i think he may have stayed longer if we had tv. :) but it's good for him. he's even using a cane a bit now. so just under 6 weeks after surgery, he's on his own.

Bible Bee

my first "post" sickness outing.

the boys competed in the annual national Bible Bee!

they both did okay. there was a lot less studying going on in our home this summer. we've had a lot going on!

i was really pleased that they both still competed and ultimately, that they were able to hide more of God's Word in their hearts to be used by Him later in their lives.

update: both boys did well on both the written & oral portions. they did not place very high, but we weren't really shooting for that. BUT our good friend Everett (who we started this Bible Bee adventure with 2 years ago) took 1st place in the entire nation!!! we studied together a bit our first year, then last year, he didn't participate. this year, he asked his mom if he could sign up. she let him know that she didn't have a lot of time to devote to helping him, so he would have to study mostly on his own and this 10-year-old boy said that's what he wanted to do! he studied 4-5 hours a day for most of the summer and seeing his devotion, mom joined him part way through. he even got a perfect score for his oral recitation and now he is going to compete at the final bee in nashville, tennessee in november! congratulations everett!

"mystery virus"

sunday, 8/14, we went to an evening celebration to hear about our neighbors' missions trip to ecuador. monday, i got super sick. (and i didn't even get to GO to ecuador!)

anyway. i had a high fever (like 104) for almost 14 days. it would spike 3 or 4 times each day for a couple hours then go down. but monday night (8/15) it had the symptoms of meningitis, so after a trip to urgent care to verify it wasn't the regular flu or something else non-deadly, we made our way to the ER to get a spinal tap to test for meningitis. 3 taps later, we were told i was negative and could go home and ride out whatever i had! (i was quite relieved to find out i probably wouldn't die and therefore didn't push to know what it was i actually had - we just labeled it the "mystery virus").

well, it has been a ride! every time the fever spiked i had scary hallucinations. not fun. i decided to play either the Bible on cd or worship music at all times in my room and that way i would at least have some good input going on while i was delusional.

so i was in bed for a week, then on the couch for another week. during this time, the kids had to take care of quite a bit, because grandpa still couldn't put on his own socks and now mom was down too! however, by this time, dad had been meeting with OT & PT who both wanted him to start doing some things for himself so that everyone could see that he could survive on his own at home. consequently, he had the opportunity to do more and was actually helping me by the end of this! (which i may not have let him do if i was well). God's perfect timing!

and can i just say "praise the Lord" for all the amazing families that are bringing my family dinner while i've been down. seriously an amazing blessing this family of God that takes care of us!