How fun does this sound?

Check out this link. I guess if you're not a knitter or don't want to be one, it might not sound very fun, but it sounded kind of magical and amazing to me!

Thoughtful Friday

This being human is a guest house.

Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meaness,

some momentary awareness comes

as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain all!

Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,

who violently sweep your house

empty of its furniture,

still, treat each guest honorably.

He may be clearing you out

for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,

meet them at the door laughing,

and invite them in.

Be grateful for whomever comes,

because each has been sent

as a guide from beyond.

Jalal ad-Din Rumi
Beloved Persian Poet

And it all comes crashing down

My computer, that is. It's crashed again :( So we're sharing my mom's computer again. It makes me wonder if we are doing something wrong. Maybe it's just 5 people using one computer and it wears it out?? At least 4 of us now use it with regularity. Anyway, besides that this week has been one crazy week. I started back to school on Monday, we had a loooooooooooooong day of enrollment on Thursday, and Ellie was in the community theatre play "Honk" the last three nights. Also, Erin came home from camp and promptly got sick. Her 16th birthday party is supposed to be Monday and we're hoping she's feeling well by then. It is a party at East Lake and it won't be much fun if she still has a cold. I took her to the immediate care clinic this morning and the doc went ahead and prescribed her amoxicillan (sp?) to treat strep without testing her since Emma was diagnosed with strep last week so she's had direct exposure.

And I can't believe school starts in less than two weeks!!! Amazing.

Photos from the play with my next post . . . gotta get some sent to my mother-in-law before I post them here I think!

Haircuts

How cute is this? People didn't notice she even got it cut and that ticked her OFF majorly. I wish I were half as photogenic as my kids.

And then there's me. Unfortunatly, it looks just like me :) My haircut is a major change and it feels REALLY REALLY short to me. But it will grow. I like it best at the in-between stage, which I'll be at in about 2 months.
This post is about 2 weeks (or more) old. We've been busy with play practices (and other things). Since I can't say no, I've been making props and helping with costumes(if you go to the play . . I made the big hoop snowflakes, the seaweed and the wind and I helped tie-dye the froglet costumes) for Honk!. If you live in Newton I think it will be a great play for families. I haven't really seen that much of it, but it looks really cute and it has 60-70 cast members, ranging in age from 7-60ish, from the community. Ellie is a froglet.

Hi-ho hi-ho it's off to work I go.

Thoughtful Friday (on Saturday)

Thanks for the comments and the prayers sent our way. I'm feeling a little less freaked out today.

I thought I could change the world. It took me a hundred years to figure out I can't change the world. I can only change Bessie. And honey, that ain't easy either.*

Annie Elizabeth (Bessie) Delany, 1891-1995
African-American Author and Civil Rights Pioneer

*Although I do think we can change the world, and we DO change it every day, in little ways (which ripple out into big ways), I loved the humor in this quote. I think there's some truth too, that we get so worried about changing the world (and everyone else) that we forget about the fact that we have something to do with the big picture too.

Freaked

Out.

I know, in the big picture, this probably isn't a huge deal, but . . .
I took Emma to the doctor today because her throat has been hurting off and on and then her ear started hurting. He was examining her and he took a long time listening to her chest and back. Then he had her hold her breath and he listened some more. Then he said something like "did we know she had a heart murmur?" Well, no, as a matter of fact, we did not know that. He went on to draw us a little picture of the type of heart murmur he thought he was hearing. He explained that sometimes this is caused by some muscle in the middle of the heart being swollen (or something) and sometimes when a person exercises or does sports it swells so much it blocks the blood from coming through at all and they DIE IMMEDIATELY. He said that. He really did. He didn't say that was what Emma has for sure, but he said no sports or vigorous activity until she can have an EsomethingG and she has to go to a pediatric cardiologist because she is under 16 and they can't see her til Sept. 24. TWO MONTHS. I held it together amazingly well. She had to have a strep test too, and she is the worst for having anything put in her throat. It was all just traumatic. When I told my mom, and Everett, I fell apart a little bit. And everyone is very reassuring . . .lots of people have heart murmurs and are fine. I know that's true. But he said people die immediately. I know there are lots of other health issues people face with their children every day that are more traumatic and life altering than this. But this is the biggest we've dealt with about our kids. And it feels pretty big right at the moment. Emma is being a trooper but she's sad about tennis. She was looking forward to playing in high school. And her throat and ear are still really bothering her, although they said it isn't strep (I won't be surprised if they call tomorrow and say it is, after the culture has done it's thing for 24 hours). Thanks for listening.

And when she dreamed . . .

They were technicolor go-go dancing dreams.