We have liftoff!

That was last night.

This morning, she began making a beeline toward the first open outlet she could find.

Here we go!

The Barber of El Campo

If you like the style of it, I'd be happy to share the name of the stylist. He's a bit young and inexperienced, but as long as you catch him before naptime, he's pretty easy to work with. Oh, and don't be disturbed if he wears a pirate hat; that's just his thing right now.

Raise your hand if...

... you have memorized the Veggie Tales' Pirates Who Don't Do Anythingsince it was discovered on Netflix four days ago.

[hand raised]

Naptime has returned to our household!*

*It's possible that this won't last, so I'm going to brag about it while I can.

Praise the Lord!!

I'd like to thank my mother, and her timely suggestion of a technique I am calling "Operation Guard Mom." It's a simple plan in which I place the Child in his bed - sans toys, books, and light (as much as possible) - and sit nearby in a comfy recliner to read my book. If there is movement or noise from said Child, a Consequence follows immediately. So far (two whole days), the experiment has succeeded in producing REM stage in less than 45 minutes. And I've gotten far more reading accomplished in the last two days than over the last two weeks!

As I sat there today, it dawned on me that this is probably what the old lady was doing in that rocker in the great green room.

Conversation

Luke [wearing Longhorn football jersey and sitting on the couch with helmet and soccer ball beside him]: Mama, sit with me, Mama! Sit with me!

Me: [sitting down beside him]

Luke [brightly]: Mama, are you sitting next to a football player? [big grin]

Rose Vannoy

Today is Mrs. Rose's birthday. I'm especially enjoying a memory of Mrs. Rose describing her own mother as often standing in the kitchen with one of Shakespeare's plays propped up above the sink to read from while she worked. Now that's my kind of woman! And so was my dear friend, Mrs. Rose.

I began listening to Eric Metaxas's biography Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy this morning, and from the beginning, Metaxas makes it clear that Bonhoeffer came from a long line of interesting and esteemed personas. As I think about Mrs. Rose's mother, and Mrs. Rose herself, I am convinced that chaplains to kings and apprentices to great artists have nothing on these strong, godly women who have gone before us.

At the risk of being entirely too lengthy* in this post, I'm including below a piece I wrote about Mrs. Rose, in case you didn't know her yourself. But perhaps you did know her - or someone like her? I hope and pray you were blessed by such a mentor - or perhaps have begun your journey to fill that role for someone else.



*If you're brave enough for more than the first two paragraphs, be sure to click "read more" at the end of this post, and you'll be directed to the entire piece in all its glory. (Or something like that.)


~~~

ROSE VANNOY

February 2, 192? – November 4, 2005

I know Mom’s particular tone of voice now, as soon as I answer the phone. And it’s probably best that I can guess that it’s bad news before it comes: gives me time to brace myself. And it often gives me time to think of the worst – and then sometimes the reality isn’t as bad as the horrors I’ve imagined.

But when you lose people who are important to you, it’s never that easy, no matter how happy you are for their new place with the Hosts of High. Mrs. Rose is my fourth experience of this nature, and while I’m not such a pro at dealing with the grief, perhaps I’ve learned that I need to express it in words – before I also lose this gift of Time to think, to grieve, to love her more fully than I ever have before.

From the desk drawers of the (over?) educated...

And these are just the ones I'm throwing away today. 

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An Ex-English Teacher's Collection of Mostly-Used Red Pens