A psychic God

Mark and I are "homeschooling" Hope and Hannah for religion classes, using the Faith and Life series and the Baltimore Catechism.

Tonight, I was teaching Hannah.

Mom: God loves you.

Hannah: I was HOPING the book would say that!

Mom: Because He loves you, He watches over you day and night.

Hannah: And He reads minds, too!

Using his mind

Noah: What are we having for supper?

Mom: Food.

Noah: What kind of food?

Mom: The edible kind.

Noah: No, I mean WHAT are we having?

Mom: I was thinking maybe pancakes, or spaghetti.

Noah: NO! I don't want that!

Mom: Maybe you want to go to bed without supper.

Noah: I think my mind is changing.

It's so HARD to get the kids up for school some mornings. Hope usually bounds right out of bed with no prodding, and although still sleepy, gets dressed and is generally compliant.

Hannah is notoriously hard to get moving in the morning.

This morning, it was just the opposite. I whispered to Hope that it was time to get ready for school, and she said, "Awwwww, why couldn't you just WAIT until my dream is finished?" and covered up her head again.

I woke Hannah and got their clothes ready, and tried to wake Hope again.

"Just give me time to finish this dream," she said, covering up her head again.

Five minutes later, she popped out of bed and said, "SEE? I just needed to finish it. I'm done now."

Must have been a good one.

At our bank's drive-up window, they always give the kids either balloons or stickers. Today, the kids all got Scooby Doo stickers.

"Man, Scooby Doo is a CLASSIC!" exclaimed Hannah.

We are so blessed that our children all seem to love each other. Hope's teacher told me often last year how much Hope talked about her sister Hannah, and how good of friends they are. They play together at recess every day!

Some recent exchanges with the girls that illustrate their feelings for one another...

Me, discussing plans for a trip over a recent weekend: "Hannah will go with Dad, and Hope will stay home with me."

Hannah, frantically grabbing and hugging Hope: "But I'm a WRECK without Hope!"

****************
On Friday, discussing when Hannah would return from her class field trip to Hutchinson...

ME: "Hannah may not get home until after bedtime."

HOPE: "NOOOOOOOO!! I miss her so much I need to squeeze her!"

The third anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attack on the United States... I'm avoiding TV today, because I don't think I can handle it, emotionally. Being pregnant makes me unable to handle a lot of things.

A thread on the NFP board has people recounting "where I was when..." I certainly will never forget. I had stopped at Mark's workplace on my way to work to get a morning Pepsi. I was filling my cup when Mark walked up and told me that an airplane had crashed into the World Trade Center. My first thought was, "So?" It just didn't register. I put the lid on my pop and walked with him to the counter to pay.

Then we both glanced over at the TV in the snack area, and just then, a second plane had hit the WTC. We both sat up and paid attention, then.

I sat down in a booth with Mark and we watched the news coverage, and were watching when the towers fell, when the plane hit the Pentagon, when another plane was reported missing, when that plane crashed... it was horrible, and numbing, and terrifying. I never made it to work that day. Dozens of people were standing around watching the TV with us. I'm so glad I was sitting next to Mark as it all happened.

That day changed the world for me. I didn't feel safe for a looooooooong time afterward, and in many ways, still don't. I'm terrified of flying. I'm scared of being in major cities now. I'm more patriotic.

My kids are still pretty much oblivious to what happened. They were and are so young. They just knew Mommy was crying a lot, and Daddy was upset. They don't really remember. Thank God.

The night of Sept. 11, 2001, I had to attend a sorority meeting. That was the night we did the "candle ceremony" to announce my pregnancy with Elizabeth. It seemed so strange to be celebrating a pregnancy in the middle of all the tragedy.

I remember that weekend after Sept. 11, too; Mark and I had to leave our children and give an Engaged Encounter weekend. We did NOT want to go, and we did NOT want to leave our children. But duty called, and we went. Ironically, we have been called to do an EE next weekend. And once again, we are expecting a baby. Life does move on.

ME: Hannah, please take off your clothes and go take a shower. It's almost bedtime.

HANNAH: OK, but it won't be pretty!

An interesting sight I witnessed last night... a butt-naked Elizabeth on her gallant steed (a stick horse), galloping through our living room and out the door, clear across the yard before I could rope her in.

We now call her Lady Godiva.

Hope: Mom, why does Ronald McDonald have big shoes?

Me: Because he's a clown.

Hope: But he's not funny.

My 7th and 8th grade Life Science students have been complaining about their insect collection assignment. "We can't FIND any bugs!" "I don't want to TOUCH bugs!" "What if I can only find one bug?"

I told them that the 1st and 2nd graders seem to find plenty of bugs at recess, and maybe they should ask the little kids for help. I mentioned that Hannah brings home a couple of bugs a day to feed our turtle, Neville.

"Wait a minute... are you Hannah's mom?" asked Cody, a 7th grader.

"Yes, I am. Why?" I replied.

"Hannah POKES me," he said. "She just walks up and pokes me all the time."

I laughed, but did ask Hannah about this after school.

"Hannah, have you been poking a 7th grade boy named Cody?" I asked her.

She looked at me with wide, innocent eyes, and said, "But Mom, I don't poke him very hard."

So... my challenge today is to liven up my science classroom. Not being a science teacher by training, I'm nearly clueless about how to do this.

Noah and Elizabeth didn't want to stay put in the nursery today -- midway through hour 2 of 7th/8th grade Life Science, my classroom door opened and Elizabeth strolled in. "I FOUND you!" she exclaimed.

I'm not sure this no-babysitter thing is going to work.

TWO FREAKING YEARS? I can't believe it's been more than two years since I started this blog, with nobile aspirations but nonetheless abandoning it immediately. Somehow, though, that seems typical of Me. I often start projects I never finish. Chalk it up to ADD.

OK, I have now deleted all my old entries, and will start again anew with an update on my family.

Hope is now 8 and started third grade last week. Cliches are cliches because they are true and there are no other, more creative ways to say them -- so here is one: Time flies. Really. Hope was a baby just minutes ago. Now she's a loving girl who obeys her parents, helps with her younger siblings and around the house, and often has her head in the clouds, dreaming flights of fancy... takes after her mom. Currently, she is planning to be "a mom and a writer," just like me.

Hannah is an independent sort -- 6 and looking so much forward to 7 in October. "Artistic entomologist/zoologist" would best describe her. If she's not drawing horses, she's collecting bugs or stray cats or tadpoles. Ya gotta watch her, or she'll sneak in a loose frog, a couple of crickets and even a slug in a jar. Mostly, we just call her Hagrid. Though she just started the first grade and hates reading, she does enjoy her classroom with all its many bug collections. She will be adding to it tomorrow with a grasshopper and two garden slugs. And some slug poop. Hannah intends to be a veterinarian.

Noah has one obsession, and it is all he thinks about: trains. He sleeps with them, carries them in his pockets, plays with them, reads books about them, draws them, dreams about them. Did I mention "obsession?" He plans to be a "train driver" when he grows up, and at this point, I have no doubt that's where he's headed. Noah will begin his Kinderprep career the Tuesday after Labor Day. He is 5.

Elizabeth, or "BeBop," is a wickedly intelligent 2-year-old... fiercely independent and the only blondie in the family. "Stop it, Noah!" is her favorite saying. She is the first child of ours who has insisted upon surrounding herself with a menagerie of stuffed animals before she will go to sleep -- and they must be arranged "just so." Tonight her crib includes Barney, two cats, a puppy, a baby doll, a panda bear, another teddy bear, a zebra, a tiger pillow, and a talking Winnie the Pooh.

Baby H5, who we're currently calling "PJ," is set to arrive sometime in early December. My due date is Dec. 10, but with a planned c-section (unfortunately), it will probably be a week earlier or so. We will have an ultrasound next week and hope to find out which of the many boxes of stored baby clothes I need to dig out of the attic.

On to me. I lost my job this summer. I was notified in May that my contract was not being renewed, and I have taken up a new career as a science teacher. :) No, really. I'm serious. I'm teaching 7th/8th grade Life Science and facilitating the high school Biology and Chemistry classes at the local Christian school. Unfortunately, I am not getting paid; but my children are getting their tuition covered, so it's a real blessing. I have become a FertilityCare Practitioner Intern with the Creighton Model System, and someday I hope to finish my internship. I just need clients. I am a moderator at "the" NFP board, which is basically my home on the internet.

Mark is still a seed-selling guru, and I can't seem to keep him off his bicycle. He put in 65 miles on it yesterday. I am proud of him, but between work and cycling, I don't see him a whole lot lately. This is how summers are, though -- he'll be around a lot this winter. ;)

That's an update from our corner of Kansas.