Long Weekend

WOW… I didn’t post all weekend long. Did you miss me? Well, let’s talk about this weekend’s events!

Friday night I worked at Bennigan’s for their St. Patrick’s Day party. My sister, Katie (the ‘good’ sister) is a Manager there and we usually help her out that one day of the year. I sat in a booth and sold everything from t-shirts to beads. It was exhaustive, but rewarding (I got paid!). I left Friday morning for work at 7:30am and got home at 3:30am. Yepper… long 18 hour day!

Saturday was pretty uneventful. Chris and I talked about it and took the kids off restriction. Two of them that we know of (Kayla and Justin) are going to get F’s on their report cards. So why take them off restriction? You can look at their class printouts (shows the date, assignment and grade of everything done in the class) and see where they went terribly wrong. In the beginning they didn’t do a lot of their work (and/or did it and failed). I attribute that to the school change. At their last school (a D school), they could pretty much do anything they wanted to with no consequences – at this school (an A school) they must do their work and if they get into any trouble, they are sent out of the class. When you look at their printouts, you can clearly see Dec and Jan were F’s and D’s (most grades) – then Feb and Mar were A’s and B’s with a few C’s. But it’s climbing out of that hole that hurts the grade so bad. Chris and I decided to chalk it up to the learning curve and let them start over. We’d also like to finish the year (the final 9 weeks) with a lot more positive motivation, praising them for doing well and trying not to seem as if we are ‘waiting for the next F to show up’. I think we are going to make a ‘WOW Wall’ – where they can post all papers with A’s and B’s – we’ll make a big deal out of it and keep them posted all 9 weeks. (The kids are very visual)

Saturday the girls also got the camper outside set up, and they are VERY excited about it. We have this hi-low parked by the side of the house (behind a fence). The kids thought it was tiny and when Chris opened it up, the girls went nuts. It sleeps 5, has A/C, a table, sofa, fridge, oven, microwave, sink, toilet/shower, and even cable TV. They had no idea it was as nice as it is. **grins** They’ve decided to sleep out there over spring break. They call it their “home”. It’s very cool to see them so excited about something.

Saturday afternoon Jonathan had a Birthday party at QZar (laser tag!). He had a great time with his friends. I know… you’re thinking… his birthday was a month ago! Well, his quartet had gigs on his birthday weekend, so we put his party off for a few weeks.

Saturday night Chris and I had a fight, and I hated it that the kids were there to witness it. They tell me that their mom and dad only argued one time in their marriage. I’ve tried to tell them that… one argument in 14 years is not healthy for a relationship. But I guess if God wants me to show these kids what a ‘normal’ family is like, you gotta take the good with the bad.

Sunday was pretty uneventful and quiet. The boys went to Quartet practice in the afternoon and the girls went with their Grandma – Chris and I had several hours alone at home. Although we didn’t do anything together, it was nice having somewhat quite time around the house.

Speaking of quiet time… Doug! Remember that Chris’s father lives with us after suffering from a stroke a few years back. He’s always been rather quiet and ‘to himself’. Well, when Gwen came down he started to really ‘open up’ and talk more… and he hasn’t stopped since. He’s now talking to himself all day and all night long. Some may laugh at that thinking ‘at least he’s talking’ – but, I’m not sure how healthy it really is. I mean… all day long he’s in there just chatting with himself. He’s also been getting a lot more demanding and he’s doing a lot more. For example, let’s talk about his entertainment center in his living room (for those who may not know – he has his own living room, TV, chair and bedroom downstairs). For over a year now it’s just had our basic ‘entertainment center’ stuff in the shelves. Now he’s pulling stuff out, putting what he wants where he wants in it, dusting it off, etc. This IS a good thing, I know. But then he’ll come get us for every little thing. For example: Chris and I were trying to watch a recorded episode of “The Sopranos” on Saturday afternoon and we had to pause it at LEAST 5 times during the hour as he wanted me to get up immediately and fix something or look at something or tell me something. That’s an example of one of our hours in the day. Times that times all day and you get a pretty clear picture. But again I’ll say it IS a good thing most of the time. I do enjoy seeing him more engaged and talkative throughout the day. Since he can't move much on his right side, when he gets physical like he's been doing he can also make more of a mess and/or break things... so we really have to watch him. He also has no qualms about yelling at the kids and us now… no wait… yelling is the wrong word… verbalizing his feelings to the kids and to us… that’s more accurate. For example last night I was loading dishes in the dishwasher (the kids had done them after our supper, but I was cleaning up from their dessert and Doug’s dinner). He came in stating that I shouldn’t have to do that with 4 teenagers in the house. Or he’ll sternly tell the kids to get in there and clean up the kitchen.

So – I have a busy few days coming up. Tomorrow night (Tuesday) I have to go for a family meeting with Dr. Vergeese and Karen. Wednesday night I have to go take Kayla to her Psychiatrist visit (her first – I can’t WAIT!) Next month starts the dental visits… fun fun. I also need to get Kayte and Justin into the psychiatrist office – I just need to find 2 more hours to give for this. **sigh**

Chris just called – the boys have been fighting this morning and apparently it got quite bad. Chris was supposed to go to work down in Riverview to mow some lawns down there for the property company he’s working for. He decided to bring the boys with him to help him and for them to ‘work out’ their frustrations. Ha ha!

One last thing – about Julie. She sounded better the minute she got to the hospital – which is very weird. Some family members even wonder if she was ‘faking it’ to get into the hospital. It’s just – odd – that she stopped slurring and seemed much more focused as soon as she went into the hospital. We’ll see what Dr. Vergeese tells me tomorrow night. She said that the problem was that she was on too much medication and they cut her down quite a bit. I personally can’t imagine it was from taking her prescriptions as prescribed. I would, however, believe that she was taking too much of what she was prescribed. For now, since she’s talking better, I’ve allowed her to talk to the kids on the phone, but I’m still not going to allow visits yet. I’ll talk to Karen and Vergeese about this tomorrow as well and see what they think.

And lastly (boy this is a long blog, eh?) to those who have asked how I’m feeling… (my last blog was rather somber) – I’m better. I keep telling myself that God has a plan and to trust His plan. This week in Church we discussed “The Daring Raid” with some kid, Jonathan, who went after an army because he knew God “Promised” things would turn out okay. I think of that, and then think of my life. God didn’t really ‘promise’ me anything… so I think it’s okay that I sometimes wonder or worry about things. But if I keep in mind the big picture, I think I’ll be okay. Even when I’m down, I’m confident that God is working in my life. Sometimes I may doubt His work, or His plan, or my ability to play the role He has set out for me… but I don’t doubt that He is involved – and that is important.

Speaking of God and Church... I need an opinion on something. The Church has a summer camp thing that all the kids want to go to. But, there is NO way I can afford for all 4 kids to go - I can't even afford for just Jono to go right now. But... the kids said their teacher told them they might be able to get scholarships to go (from the Church). I'm not sure whether or not I should ask for this. I mean... the church has been awesome for us... and do I really want to ask for something else? **sigh** I don't know. Please let me know your comments on this.

Keep all of us in your thoughts and prayers. Pray that the kids will have a relaxing and uneventful Spring Break! And pray for Julie… Please also feel free to comment on my blogs. It's nice knowing people are out there reading about our daily ordeals, and nicer still when friends and family think we're doing a good thing here.