A New Kind of Normal

Well, Hello....Again! I admit, it has been way too long since I have blogged. Sometimes, real life is enough. Recreating it on a blog would just be overwhelming. In the past few months, many changes have taken place around our house. Some of them are rather significant, so it has taken up much more of my time.

To begin with, Paige is now schooling at home. She is attending OHVA (Ohio Virtual Academy) and is really happy. Finally! Trust me, we have heard ALL the negative comments about virtual schooling. Why is it that people are slow to pat you on the back and quick to condemn? Hhhmmm.... Human nature, I am guessing. Anyways, I have been pretty impressed with this system. I didn't really know much about virtual schooling at first. But now that we are participating, you can see how this is such a good thing for many students. Not only are there students with disabilities, but there are amazing athletes, young mothers and yes, disciplinary problems as well. It takes all kinds to make up the world. But the flexability has been wonderful for Paige. She is able to take her acting and voice classes, work out at the Y and is considering adding in some guitar lessons.

Onto other things.......

We had a visit from one of our most favorite presidents. Let me introduce.........George Washington.

Ha! Today, Trent's class created a wax museum of historical characters. Each child was assigned a character. As you proceed around the "museum," you were to push the button next to each character. The character would then speak, reciting interesting facts about their lives. Did you KNOW that George Washington was THAT good looking?? And might I add, its NOT easy getting a 3rd grade boy to agree to the ponytail!

Another president stopped by: Abe Lincoln (aka. Trent's friend Alex)

And....one of my personal favorites (I bet you cannot tell by the wig): Albert Einstein

I CRACKED UP at this little guy. For some reason, his true personality seemed to fit the character he was assigned. He would stick his tongue out anytime someone tried to take his picture so I snapped a quick photo while he wasn't looking!

Not to be outdone, darling Charlie has taken on some new traits of his own. Charlie is now 15 1/2 years old. Mike and I keep making comments to the kids that he isn't going to be around long. I have stepped in more "little puddles" around the house than I would care to admit. The vet thinks he could be having some kidney failure. He basically has no hearing and the eyesight is starting to go. But, when he comes into the house with a spry step, I cannot think of putting him to sleep yet. Oddly enough, he has become more "clingy" with age. Now, every morning after Mike leaves for work, he has found a new place to relax:

And the guy next to him doesn't seem to mind!

Hopefully, I will see you tomorrow - friends!

Down Memory Lane...........

I received an email from my friend, Chris and few weeks back. I saved the email and today seemed to be the perfect day to blog it! WARNING: Definately for the "Over 40" crowd!

REMEMBER WHEN:

You could hardly see for all the snow? Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go. Pull a chair up to the TV set, 'Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.'

My mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning.

My mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too.

Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.

Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring)-- no beach closures then.

The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system.

We all took gym, not PE, and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries, but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now...

Flunking gym was not an option, even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.

Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches.

What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything.

I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself.

I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.

Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!

We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked. Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.

We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home. I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front step, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck.

To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family. How could we possibly have known that? We needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes! We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?

Considering these economic times maybe it isn't such a bad idea to reflect on the past, realize how good life can be with "a little less" and then SIMPLIFY!

Hugs!

Thankfulness!

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 5:18

He's Done.

Well, it has finally happened. I knew this day way coming. I have tried to avoid it. I have pretended as long as possible, trying to be "on guard" at every turn. Yet, in was inevitable. It happened.

Last week, Mike, Trent and I were having dinner. All of a sudden Trent blurts out of nowhere "I don't want to go see Santa anymore." I immediately kicked Mike in the leg. Then he said "I think I have outgrown that. Those are all little kids and it is boring." At this point my heel was digging into Mike's foot. "Okay, I understand that...." I said. It felt difficult speaking over the lump in my throat. The conversation grew into ideas on his list that "I" could buy him. It sunk in that Trent is no longer believing in Santa. We never mentioned whether he believed or not. I never like to break "the truth" during the holiday, so I think we will breech the subject again in a few months. But, I feel sad. My VERY LAST child is no longer a believer. For a few days, it changed things. But, once I was finished feeling sorry for myself, I was able to get back into the holiday spirit!

May I say...thanks to Bakerella (http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/) for introducing me to cakeballs! More specifically, thank you for introducing me to cakeballs that look like turkeys! I'm pretty proud of my tastey little project. I think it turned out pretty cute!!! Hopefully they will last long enough to be a centerpiece on the table.

More news.....Paige is almost 1/4 through her first year at Lutheran West. She finished her volleyball season last month. Although the team wasn't that strong, I thought Paige played well. Now, she has started cheerleading. She is cheering for the Lutheran West Freshman team. Good Fun!!! Did I mention that one of the best parts of cheerleading is the clothes. Yep, you heard it here first. The girl (I supposed like every other high school girl) is a clothes horse.

Sorry for the long "break." Every once in a while I have to take breaks for myself and I guess that includes blogging. But, I am collected and back!

Have a good one (if you are still reading this blog)!

No words..................

No words can express our sadness at the loss of our friend, Robert Bueck. Robert died on Friday, leaving behind a loving wife and two great kids. I have thought all weekend about how I can post this, what to say, will it express everything.................and I have no words.

To Jen, McKenzie and Ethan, we love you. Your family is a true testament to Robert's life.

To Robert, this world and it's people are better just because you were here. And HOW AMAZING that you have now seen the face of God.

All our love.

This Bears Repeatings.............

A few months back, my wonderful friend Barb sent me an email telling me about a wonderful blog called The Conversion Diary. It is one of those blogs that speaks to your soul EVERY SINGLE TIME you read it. I particularly liked the following post. It was something I needed to remind myself of and I thought maybe you would enjoy it to!

It's easy to love people far away

Earlier this week, I had a falling out with a relative. We haven't spoken since. I've been praying about this (though my prayers are admittedly along the lines of "DID YOU SEE THAT?! I am NOT going to apologize. I did not do ANYTHING wrong..."), and I keep getting this nagging feeling that I'm supposed to do something here, and it's not whine about it more to my husband. As much as it galls me to admit it, I think I'm called to humble myself and re-initiate conversation, even though some pretty bizarre/rude/untrue insults were said to me and it's my opinion that the other party is 100% in the wrong.

Interestingly, about a month ago a similar situation played out with this same person and I was actually able to immediately call them and offer an olive branch, even though, once again, it was my opinion that I'd been gravely insulted for no reason. The person admitted that they were just upset about something else and we had a beautiful, love-filled conversation about how much we cared about one another. But that was back before the spiritual dry spell. Now my attitude is that I have checked the "forgiveness and humility" box once and now I'm over it. Isn't that the way it's supposed to work? We turn the other cheek once to prove to God we're serious and then he'll prevent annoying things from happening to us forever more?Anyway, every time I try to forget about the whole thing and go back to sulking, this quote from Mother Teresa keeps coming to mind:

It is easy to love the people far away.

It is not always easy to love those close to us.

It is easier to give a cup of rice to relieve hunger

than to relieve the loneliness and pain of someone unloved in our own home.

Bring love into your home for this is where our love for each other must start.

I'm sort of a living testament to the first part of this quote right now. I would happily go on a mission to feed the poor, to spread the Gospel in hostile territory, to state unpopular opinions for Christ, give gobs of money to charity (if I had it), defend the truth of Christianity to a group of atheists, write and talk and think about how great God is...anything, anything but actually showing love to someone close to me who is on my last nerve.

I think this is yet another manifestation of the "start by carrying the crosses you already have" lesson, one that Tienne was talking about recently. To act in humility, love and charity when you don't want to, when it's not fun, when you don't even feel God's presence there with you...that's hard! That's painful! That's inconvenient! ...And that's Christianity.

Well...didn't that just smack of reality? It is so me, but I'm gonna work on changing that!

Thanks Barbie, for thinking to send me this blog. It just fills me up!

Hugs! (oh....go and be loving be loving to someone close, even if you don't feel like it!)

There's Your Sign

Many changes are coming to the Blackburn household, and the signs are everywhere! First, our lovely Paige turned 15. Are you thinking, well heck...that isn't a sign Val? You are right. It isn't. The sign would be continually hearing the following statement: "I can get my temps in six months." There's your sign. (Said in my BEST Jeff Foxworthy voice, of course!) Paige is growing up...quickly. Too quickly. And yes people, she is six months away from her temps. So let me just state this now.....FORWARNED IS FORARMED. I now relieve myself of all responsibility. hee hee

(Paige. Aka...The Birthday Girl)

As for another sign, there is this:

We are now the home of a Lutheran West Volleyball player. Birthday girl made the freshman team and is having the time of her life. One good thing about making volleyball your freshman year is that you can meet different people before the school year begins. That makes the first day a little easier. PLUS, she has a few friends on the team who played at St. Paul and were on her J.O. team. So, this should be a fun season! There's your sign.

This, dear people, is the sign of a working man:

I know I have mentioned to a few of you that Austin comes home dirty from work. Well....this is what I'M talking about. I love the filthy hands, but I think the smudge under his nose takes the prize. Yeah....that's my favorite. But, I must say this. The boy is demolishing houses and is earning every penny he makes. That makes me a proud momma. There's your sign.

Let me state for the record, that my "working man" has been using most of his earnings to pay for college and school books. (Again...so proud!) This hasn't made his personality very pleasant. Next time you see him, you may want to mention how AWESOME his parents are and that he will appreciate what he has done FOR HIMSELF down the road. OR you may just want to avoid us entirely until the dust settles. Yeah.....it's not pretty!

God Bless Your Day!

Quote of the day: WHO are those kids, and WHY are they calling ME mom?