They have no idea what they are asking "Just take your kids to the Doctor" means a heck of a lot of rigmarole to people who - A. Have annoying high deductibles B. Have no doctor that they regularly see & C. Have a boat load of kids D. Have kids who have not been seen by USA Doctors in a few years, therefore USA Doctors won't do anything without doing a physical first ... they are essentially asking that we spend about $500 to get some scabies cream. We are of course trying to buck the system and find a way around it by getting one of our Doctor friends to call in a Rx for the cream for us.
The total chaos of Monday and Tuesday melted into something more manageable yesterday ... maybe we can handle this after all - time will tell I suppose. I am tempted to tell Hope and Isaac's teacher not to send them home with things that we will lose ... the parents are not organized enough to be trusted with the school districts library books, please don't send them with the children!!!!
Troy and I decided that our avoidance of things we need to do is going to come back and bite us in the rear. We sat down and made our 'To-Do' list yesterday. The problem with the list is that all things are four and five day projects. It is not a list that says:
- go to post office
- return at Target
- pay bills
- Figure out Lydia's insurance
- Get Phoebe to immunization clinic
- Get photos and write Advertisement for house rental
- Go through and clean out storage room and shed at house
- Decide what to sell
- Sell
- Mow, rake, fertilize, weed, trim trees and bushes ... make yard in Zimmerman look like someone cares a tiny bit about the place
- Take the dock out (on a day that it is not 40 degrees)
- Finish planning Britt's graduation party (food, program, etc, etc)
- Write Thank-You's
- Start writing letter to Supporters to be mailed in November
- Get Troy's presentation ready for Michigan trip
- pay bills, write to USF for Britt, sleep and eat and oh yeah ... try to pay attention to the seven children
So, we have the list. Does it make you feel as nauseous as it does us? Lydia should have been born three weeks ago so I would have the energy to tackle this now.
Graciously, friends from church provided us with meals for this whole week. Thank you Bogles, Foys, and Verwegs! You've saved us from a lot of peanut butter.
On top of this, we decided to torture ourselves with a family photo today. Our old photo that we used for a prayer card is two kids short. We ran out a few months ago. Since Troy is going to share about the mission and the work Lifeline does he needs to have one. Marcia Erickson is coming today to do family photos for us ... seven days after giving birth I am putting myself in front of a camera. Thankfully I have kids to put on my lap. Anyone who has gone for a family photo knows this is a few hours where you all try with all of your might, not to kill each other. You beg your children to hold still and not fall in the grass or mud until after the photos are done. You grit your teeth and try to be nice while you profusely sweat and try to hide your wet pits. It is a great time of making happy family memories.
Troy spoke with Peter yesterday. Things seem to be going fairly well at the mission. They worked out the food order for next month and caught up a bit. Peter is like the grown up Isaac. He is a glass half full guy, and like Amie Sexton said, the glass is not only half full -- it is BEAUTIFUL too. He is the kind of guy you look forward to talking to whenever you can.
Much Love from the Land of the List-
Tara for all of us
