Hey, there

Thanks, all, for the hugs, fervent prayers, wishes of blessings. They make all the difference. Always have, always will. (Insert cheesy but earnest grin.)

The court news for the week, in summary: It's all been continued to Monday, 6/25.

In walking the fine line that honors both truth and grace, I've been vague in speaking of the ongoing legal proceedings taking place between the kids' dad and myself. I'll continue to be so, since there's not much to say that's both honest and kind. Whatever else takes place herein, I deeply need to be able to look back on all this and know, know that I did my very best to be polite and stay out of my own way and that of our children. They deserve at least an occasional pass on large portions of the crap that floats their way. So I'm trying to minimize it from here. I realize that in so doing, I run a glaring risk of being the bad guy in their minds. Again, that fine line. But what're you gonna do? A mama loves her kids, talks endlessly with, to and at them about what lessons we might learn from whatever circumstance we happen to find ourselves in. A mama hammers constantly on leading with love, compassion, mercy, understanding. A mama hopes, prays, breathes her kids are getting that the whole point to being a Christian is the relationship thing: it's how we deal with each other. Period.

So I hope that's at least most of what's driving my efforts here, even if it is leaving you all in the dark. You can call me for a more detailed explanation, if you like.

In other news, I'm in love. With Homeschool Tracker Plus. Goodness, I'm just cheesy tonight. Must've gotten some sleep. Heh. Back to HST: I've spent hours on it and haven't even begun to input lesson plans yet. But I don't care. It's been nearly twenty years since I learned a software program by reading the documentation, but this is not only working, it's replacing my desire to do other things. Clean house? Who needs it? I have details to select! After the presentation the nice HST lady did at the homeschool convention thingy, I was sold. I've downloaded the free version twice (once in CA, once here), but have loved the portability of my Lakeshore Learning Center paper planner so much that I just "never got around to it." Not possessing a laptop which could be carted to swim lessons, the library, park, etc. for my favorite kind of planning--squeezing it in whenever one can until, voila! It's all done! No more of that.

Here's what sold me: First, the legendary tech support. Everyone who uses it raves about the awesome HST people. Second, only $35 and free upgrades for life. Boy, are they worth it. The spellcheck feature alone is worth it, never mind the color coding, drop and drag, and general facility. Yea, verily, this brings us to the third reason, the singular shining aspect which drew me as Paris Hilton is drawn to crazy people with cameras. Are you ready? Every year's worth of planning, can, at the touch of a few buttons, be applied to the next kid in line. Customized, even. To that very child! Yes, the ability to generate transcripts, grade reports, track progress are lovely. Even compelling. But to not have to replan Saxon math from scratch every year for every kid? Priceless. Besides that, as long as a particular program works for each kid, I figure at some point I'll reach critical mass: I'll have everything in the universe planned and will need only to add in the dates and appropriate kid's name and school year, thereby enabling me to be so efficient that I can finally take a nice, hot, scented bath again. Alone. Score!

Seriously (swerving wildly), thanks for thinking of us. Knowing that all civilization is praying for my little group just is so awesome. I truly feel the love. Thanks too, in advance, for prayers on Monday. The judge is a good guy (what horrid things he must hear), my attorney and her whole office rocks, now all we need is the best thing to happen for the kids. Fingers crossed, eyes heavenward.

I'm going to watch Q very carefully for any further "dropping off" in his personality. The neuro guy will re-evaluate this med this week, so maybe he'll end up with a reduced dose. This would be fine with me. I miss my chatty, perky boy. At naptime today, I was rushing to get the med ready (crush between two teaspoons, combine with tiny amount of food, add sugar to further mask flavor, stir with toothpick in the bowl of the teaspoon), Q fell asleep. No problem, I'll just lay him down to finish his happy nap in peace and quietly rejoice that the big hairy drug wasn't needed this time, right? To my disappointment, he startled when I laid him down in his crib. I was so hoping that he could do, say, just one dose a day or something. Who knows. Maybe he'll grow out of it?

This weekend brings campmeeting to a close here. The kids have loved, loved, loved it. We've had fantastic dinners with friends at their tent on campus, we've renewed old friendships and struck up new. We've glued foam pieces of sundry craft projects. We've sung songs about Jesus and heard whole, complete thoughts given in good sermons--because the little monkeys were busy with their foam, glue, and Bible games. I've enjoyed a filling up time and hope you're blessed to have the same sort of space in your life. Renewal is a precious blessing and too rare in a bone-weary world.

Be kind to yourself this weekend, rest well, tell your beloveds just how much they are to you.

Peace.