Just a LITTLE chilly...

In the pool today. 70.5 degrees. I had to force my legs to go under the water. However, once I got up on my sturdy flotation device, all was well, and I drifted about the pool, gazing up at the clouds. There's nothing so relaxing as staring at the clouds, studying them for 10, 15 minutes. Watching them move and rotate and morph. Today, I pretended that summer is already here. Alright, my mental escape didn't last for long -- still, it was fun while it lasted! Only 6 school days left.

The last Monday -

That's what today is. I won't teach school on a Monday again, until next fall. Yes! This is our last full, grueling week of school. I'm shoving a few last short stories down their little, unwilling throats, and then giving them a chance to regurgitate it all on exam day. Okay, so not a pretty metaphor. I guess it was the use of that word, "gruel."

That kind of prayer

Hi all. I've had a roller-coaster 24 hours. I got news that a dear, childhood friend was very ill. Some air had entered her blood stream through an IV port, done damage to her lungs and to her frontal lobe. Suddenly, a 45 year old woman is in a coma in the hospital. First I was shocked, and then I started to pray.

Now, we Reformed Presbyterian Christians are funny about prayer. We know it's commanded, and we know it's important. But we've been taught so thoroughly (and truly) that God is in control of all things, and that He is unchangeable. This confuses us, and we become limp in prayer. We bookend our prayers with "Only if it's your will, Lord," and we buffer our zeal in pleading with God, as the widow in Scripture pleaded with the judge.

That is, until we're in REAL need, and are desperate. Then, even a Reformed Christian will implore God, and demand (yes, demand) that he DO something. I did pray that way for my husband a number of years ago. Well, yesterday I prayed that way for my friend. I implored the Lord, I implored for his glory and for her healing. I did that odd combination of confident pleading. For a woman who the doctors said had little hope of regaining consciousness, much less memory.

And this morning I got an email telling me that, yesterday, she woke. And recognized everyone, and spoke. The doctors say it is a miracle. I say the designer who made her body, decided to correct the damage. And how thrilling to know that I was part of that healing - even hundreds of miles away. I wanted to be with my friend. How wonderful that God has given us a way to intervene for a friend, at such a distance.

Some might smirk and shake their heads at such thoughts. I know those prayers work. Thank you, Lord.

I would post a photo, but,

I don't think you need even ONE MORE picture of a flower from my yard. Seriously. Don't you feel as if you know every inch of my yard by now? Besides, as usual, I'd have to get up off the couch to take a picture.

Survival mode. That's where we two teachers are now. Nothing matters now except making it through the next 2 weeks. I was about to type "week and a half," but then my brain reminded itself that that was only wishful thinking.

So, it's not really that bad. I have to grade: 14 papers, & the essay portions of 39 tests. Very manageable. I think I need to portion it out, and give myself a daily quota. Let's see, 2 papers each day. I'll be done with them in a week. How many of the tests each day, do you think? 4? I'd get them done in 10 days. But I don't want to do weekends. Hm. Have to work faster than that. Sounds bad after all.

And then there's the final exams, but they WILL be 100% multiple choice, and I can grade one in about 4 minutes. That way, I'm done grading the little suckers before the students can get out the door.

She's a beauty!

The first rose lady of the season. The aphids nearly got this rose before she had a chance to be born. Adam told me one way to scare off aphids was to squash lots of them in your fingers, and smear their remains on the leaves. The smell of dead aphids keeps the rest away. Sounds logical. Are aphids logical? Well, it worked!

Family Fun

Okay, so this is a tradition in our family that we've been observing, off and on, for about 7 years. It all started back in Alabama, where we finally lived close enough to a Blockbuster Movie rental store to partake in the cultural fun...

We decided to all go to the movie store together. This was well before Netflix arrived on the scene. We rented something fun for everybody -- probably a Herbie movie, or maybe "What's Up, Doc?" Then, we all traipsed to Wally-World, and we allowed each child to pick out a bag of candy. That's it! Then we added a few bags of popcorn, pillows, blankets and pajamas, and VOILA! Family Fun Night was born.

Even as teenagers, our kids still ask for this. Peter was the pleader this time. We had a new Netflix coming in the mail - a Nero Wolf, the series pilot, as a matter of fact. Adam and I had already bought the candy. So, we all sat last night downstairs in the den, enjoying a movie (of sorts) together, getting gradually sick on candy. A lovely family scene. No, seriously, how many families with 3 teenagers do YOU know who still sit around the TV together for an evening - without fighting?? Well, alright, so it's rare for them not to fight; but still, it was a fight-free night. They all LOVE Nero Wolf.

I know, in a few years when the older 3 are all gone, I'll really miss these times.

Yee-Haw!

The pool is up! My crazy daughters are already in the frigid water. It does look lovely, but I'll wait, I think.

This is an interesting implement we found in our backyard - an old plowing device. It makes a nice decoration now.
We have WAY more lettuce than a family of 6 can eat! Help! Lettuce overload! Adam promised to make us eat salads straight for 2 months, but even he has backed off. I think the effort of washing it, and putting together yummy salads, is beyond both of us, at this tired time of the school year. 12 class days to go.