- Sitting at a donut shop with my two little girls, Phoebe said- at the top of her voice, "WHOA, A LOT of people that got SILVER TEETH come here." Yes, yes, thanks for noticing so boisterously, Phoebe.
- Same donut shop, a lady tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Who did her hair?" It was a woman from the Senegalese braiding shop we walked out of in October because they were so rough. Oddly enough, I felt like I was caught doing something wrong and hesitated before I answered. Phoebe jumped in and said, "A nice lady did it!" Ha. That's not awkward at all. (And yes, the lady asking had silver teeth.)
- The doctor was giving me advice about what Lydia is old enough to do. She suggested Lydia could be trusted with some chores. I just politely nodded and listened. When the doctor left the room Hope went off about it. "MOM, that doctor is giving you advice??? She knows you have seven children! What in the world?!?!" It was super patronizing but I can fake nice for a few minutes of patronizing behavior; Hope apparently cannot.
- Sunday we were gone for a few hours and the five kids were home. This is a new thing and not something we had done in Haiti. Isaac and Hope are supposedly in charge and there are lectures given. No wrestling, no playing with matches, no using scissors, knives, or ice picks. No cooking on the stove, no using the Internet, no playing on scooters or bikes. Basically they are to read, do math, watch Netflix cartoons, or stare at a wall while we are away. When we got home Isaac said, "Oh, did I tell you I found $200 dollars today?" We had been home a while. I said, "Wait, you found $200 and you are just now telling us? Do you know that $200 is a ton of money?" He went on to tell the story of how he was walking on the sidewalk at the house next door he looked in a pile of leaves and saw two one-hundred dollar bills on the ground. He picked them up and came home. We fussed and informed him that $200 is no small find and marveled at his good luck. The next day Troy looked at his back-pack he carries almost everywhere and saw that there was plastic toy food sitting in the pocket where he had shoved $200 a friend generously gave him on Saturday. Troy went to Lydia who confessed she took the 2 $100 bills and went outside with it in her pocket. When she checked her pocket later it wasn't there. When she heard Isaac found $200 she never thought to mention that small coincidence that she was missing the exact same amount.
- Lydia also played with $20 of Hope's money. We have some sort of serial thief on our hands. Shocker, that money is also lost. When my voice got loud and demanding and I asked her to find it right now. She said, "I don't want to look for it. I just want to pay Hope back with Dad's money." She went to her bed with crossed arms over the injustice of my veto of that ridiculous idea. Guard your wallets from this kid, people.
- Paige and Troy had a class together this semester at the local community college. The stories from this have been so fun to hear. Students have made commentary to Paige "Your Dad" this and your dad that. Troy delivers food to her in class when she is dumb and forgets to plan ahead. This is Troy's post from their second to last class period together .... "Thankful for the semester I've been able to spend in school with this amazing girl. Blessed to be with her on the hard days...and will never let her forget the ones like today where I provided her Kleenex, granola bars, a phone charger, cough drops, and laughs to get her through." Troy just shook his head at her two hours of sleep and no breakfast and said, "What happens when we leave her?" In four weeks we will all find out.
bad day photo documentation
- When Chestnut (the greatest puppy ever) pooped I asked Lydia to clean it up. "I don't want to - I have a smelling issue", she said. I mocked, "Oh, a smelling issue, huh?" She got serious and said, "YES! I do! When I smell something yucky it makes me not be able to smell other things good anymore." So, I cleaned up the poop - because I have zero smelling issues.
- As I am known to do when I feel like I might lose it, I sent the five kids on a walk the other day. When they came home they said, "Oh my gosh Mom, we met another homeschooling Mom. She said she wants your phone number because she has kids our age. They are named Audra, Luke, and Taylor and we are going to be their friends. I said, "Oh, okay, did you mention that you are leaving Waco, TX in four weeks?" Isaac, said, "No, because I could tell she liked us and I didn't want to wreck it." So, it appears we have new besties nearby until January 5.
- We were driving to the library and talking about marriage and future spouses. I asked Isaac what type of person he's searching for. He thought a minute and said, "I'd like a girl JUST like you except less temper and sarcasm maybe." touche.
The last three years Christmas Extravaganzas ... 2013 coming next week.
2012
2011
2010
