Last night we had several friends over as a good-bye party for Sarah. Her sister broke her neck in a car accident a few months ago, so she's been in Florida with her. She needs to go back to her home in Colorado to help her family, while her mother is with her sister in FL. We don't know if she'll be back. Fortunately her sister won't suffer any significant damage from the neck injury. The Lord is good.
Little Mark got sick in the middle of the night, and threw up outside our bedroom door, and then in our bed. Unfortunately this seems to always happen after getting together with the cousins. The cousins are more exposed to germs in their preschools than we are, so they are walking incubators of stomach bugs, runny noses, and ear infections. But, really, it's not a big deal right now. Hopefully he won't pass it on to the others.
We are going to go to the library today to get the kid's prizes for the summer reading club--french fry coupons, or ice cream cone coupons. I think I'm going to try Brothers Karamozov again. I can't seem to get past a certain point in any book these days and it's driving me crazy. Mark showed me an article called "The 41 Page Syndrome" by Will Manely, which was about a man who was a voracious reader all of his life, but who suddenly wasn't able to read past page 41 in any book. After many months of suffering from this problem, he discussed it with a friend who had a similar ailment. Together they discovered that it began happening after the birth of their children. Unfortunately the article didn't discuss the cure--or whether the man was ever cured. Since I'm no longer nursing, LMark doesn't try to crawl in my lap when I sit down to read. However, all of the kids think I'm their personal mattress so if I recline on the couch with a book, they have to join me, and at least one ends up sitting on my head...which isn't conducive to reading. I've been thinking about setting out bright orange pylons when I don't want to be disturbed.
Tonight I need to put together Rose's syllabi for her various subjects. I meet with the curriculum counselor tomorrow after church to discuss what we have chosen so far, and to get some ideas for what else we need to do to comply with their regulations. At least I'll be able to get some barbeque afterwards. I truly believe that barbeque makes me happy.
