Sometimes...

it feels like I have NOTHING of interest about which to blog. Sometimes it seems like it is all I can do to just get THROUGH every day, and arrive at the next. And that bothers me. I am thankful that I AM able to see the blessings in each day, as they come. But the overall view of life...not so great. I feel, at times, that I am just slogging through the murky waters of each day, with no real purpose in mind, no real destination, other than to get through it.

I wish I could SEE that this is what is happening, when it happens. But there are no revelations in those days, just the next hill, the next task. But then I come out on the other side, and suddenly there is joy. As a Christian, I am sure that it is ALWAYS supposed to be that way. It is amazing to me how weak we actually are. How MUCH our flesh gets in the way of serving our Lord, of living our lives as He would have us live, of proclaiming His Son to the very lost and dying world. It really IS true...we see through a glass darkly. Oh, how I long for the day that I see Him face to face! Now THAT is JOY!

Anyhow...we are fine. My eye is doing SO well. I am down to one drop in the eye every OTHER day, for another 4 times, then done! And I go back to the eye Dr. the end of August!!! Now THAT'S progress. I really did think I was going to go blind in that eye...and frankly, I think the Dr. thought so, too! THANK YOU LORD!

Friday night Shao went to the end of the year 7th grade social/dance. She had a blast. But we had a LONG talk about how people there "presented" themselves. She said most of the girls wore full-out makeup, had extremely short skirts on, and didn't even look like themselves. Frightening to me. So far, she thinks this is all SO unnecessary, and so immodest. We are reading through and discussing a book together, that is all about modesty, and I think it may be life-changing for her. Not that she is exactly immodest NOW, but sometimes I think that she is doing this because I say it must be so, NOT because of her own convictions. I really do think, if she takes what this book says to heart, that it will change the way she thinks about a lot of things. So far, she really likes the book. I am reading it TO her, and we discuss points as they come up. Very cool!

Saturday (yesterday) I went tag-saling with my niece Jen and the two baby girls. Oh, did we have fun! Those little ones get sweeter and cuter, and more dear every day! They were full out laughing yesterday. At one point I was talking to Hayleigh, and she was laughing hysterically at me, when I turned and looked down at Cadence, who was smiling from ear to ear at me, and when I spoke to her, SHE began to laugh as well. I love those babies, I truly do! I bought some clothes for Shao and a necklace and hairband for her. Jen bought a whole bunch of clothes for the girls...we stumbled on a tag sale of a family with 22 mo. old twin girls! How perfect was THAT?!?! Fun was had by all!

Today we went to church. Man, I love my church. I cannot TELL how wonderful it is to look forward all week to going, to be EXCITED that it is Sunday and we can go to church! Today the Youth Pastor, Ryan, preached again. Man, I love that young man! What a precious heart he has for the world! This was the second part of "Jesus & Culture." Today the message was about how WE as Christians CAN and SHOULD affect the culture and world around us. Very inspiring, thought-provoking, and challenging. Man, I love my church!

Shao is spending the afternoon at a friend's house, and tomorrow she will be marching with the Jr. High Band in the Memorial Day parade here in town. Pretty much all my family is gone away, so no picnics or family stuff for us. But I have some plans. The open house for the "Katherine Hepburn" memorial theatre in Saybrook is tomorrow...she lived nearby, in the Fenwick section of Saybrook, only 20 min. from us. Her will gifted the town with a place/venue for shows, etc. It is finally ready. Thought that might be interesting. Then nearby a local Morgan Horse farm has an open house. They have two new foals (possibly three...one was due this week!), so it should be fun. Plus I want to scope Shao out to see if she might like to volunteer there on the farm. It is one of the premier Morgan farms, working hard to keep the breed alive, and Mary Jane, the owner, is quite up in years, thus many folks volunteer. The volunteer system is loose...you just show up, no real schedule, so it might work well for us! :)

That's about it for us. A short work week for us, then the following week is "Production Week" at the ballet school, culminating in the recital at the Schubert in New Haven Friday evening. Then 2.5 more weeks of school and SUMMER! We leave the morning after school gets out for New Hampshire, to see our beloved Donna and Ron/Gramma and Grampa! They are coming up from Florida the first week in June. We are so excited...it's been much too long since we saw them last! It's hard to be so far apart!!!!!!!!!!!!

Blessings...Nancy

I may even live!

Saw the eye Dr. this AM. He was "very pleasantly surprised" by how much better my eye is. I guess putting those eye drops in EVERY hour was working! So I am on the same regime today, and have to go back AGAIN tomorrow morning. He wasn't kidding around when he said they were going to treat me very aggressively, because if they didn't I could easily go blind!

Meanwhile I have not been able to work, so I have no CLUE how I will pay rent next month...it was going to be tight, as we have 6 days off this month, what with Good Friday and April vacation week. Now it's gonna be impossible. (sigh)

BUT...God! He has never failed me yet, so I will cling to His promises, knowing that He owns the cattle on a thousand hills! Can I have just one cow, Father? :) A Jersey, please...I don't want to eat it, just milk it! :)

Anyhow, I am HOPING the Dr. will release me to go back to work. After all, I have been driving the 1.5 hour round trip to go and see THEM, so I think I am okay to drive!

My girl is busy cleaning her room, as she is having a weekend guest over. Krista is coming tomorrow night after dinner, and staying til Sunday afternoon. Unbeknownst to them, I intend to put them to work a little on Saturday! There's lots to do around here! :) And I might as well take advantage of TWO sets of hands!

Since I couldn't work today, I went to see the babies! Oh, my goodness! They change SOOO much in just a matter of days! They are 2 mos. old now, and weigh 12lb 4 oz, and 12lb 12 oz. They are chunky monkeys. When I walked in, the entire living was covered with either babies, baby equipment (2 swings, 2 bouncy seats, one play mat, one changing table, 2 carseats!), or baby clothes everywhere...clean and in stacks...Jen was folding laundry. She is beginning to weed out their 0-3 mos stuff, as they look like little sausages in them! :)

Gotta go put drops in my eye...or on my eyelid...or on my cheek. I am NOT very good at getting it in my eye. Drives me nuts! :) BTW, MUCH less pain...very minimal now, and very seldom. I am SOOOO thankful!

Blessings...Nancy

I'm BAAACK!

Whoa! Long time, no post! Not quite sure WHY this is so. Guess I got a bit lazy over vacation, then coming back to work hit like a ton of bricks and then my brother went to FL. What does my brother going to FL have to do with me not blogging, you ask? I am so glad you DID, so I will tell you! Mike & Mom have a package deal with Comcast Cable, for their phone, TV and internet. Now, the internet is highspeed, SO...I use his internet service, since I do NOT have it. Thus, for the past several weeks, we have been rejoicing in the pleasure of it, as compared to dial-up, which we used to use. And THEN. Mike went to FL. And apparently, he unplugged his modem. And so no high speed for another 10 days. Sadness. I, the computer/electronic illiterate, figured this out by calling Comcast and telling them Mom had no phone service, as well as no internet. Who knew that the phone was hooked into the whole cable/internet thing?! Not me, that's for sure! I got the guy laughing hysterically. He asked if I could go and look for the modem to see if it was unplugged. He said usually they are near the computer. I told him I would be happy to, EXCEPT...my brother padlocks the door to his room when he goes away! Not kidding! I told the guy I didn't want to KNOW why he did this, but that I THOUGHT Mike was probably harmless enough. He couldn't stop laughing. Oh, yeah. My brother is ....hmm...odd.

Going to a "Pam*pered Ch*ef" party tonight. I know, I am a wild thing. My sister has become a consultant, and this will be her first party as such. Should be a hoot. Guess I will book a party of my own, to help her out. The best part about it is that my niece Jen is coming, with the babies! :) Oh, happy day!

Speaking of Jen, ShaoXi & I went out for supper last night to the local small family restaurant. And JEN was working behind the counter! She is a pistol, that one! She smiled and said "I needed to get out of the house, without the girls!" I'm sure she did, but I think she is amazing to choose to come to work, after just 4 weeks. She can't carry anything heavy, so she's not waiting tables, but what a woman! And she looks incredible. You would NEVER know she had just had a baby, never mind two. She is back in size 8 pants. Amazing!

So...gotta go help my sister get ready. And maybe, if I'm lucky, Jen will get there early and I can get a baby to hold before people start getting pushy! :)

Blessings...Nancy

This and that

Yesterday I got a baby fix! Oh, my! Those two girlies are so very sweet! Their poor Mama is exhausted beyond belief, though! Say a little prayer for her, willya? Also, the Drs are keeping an eye on the twins' weights. Jen's milk hasn't come in (she is nursing...or trying to!) and Cadence lost a whole POUND! YIKES! Hayleigh lost quite a bit, too. So, they are not allowed to sleep longer than 3 hours; they are to nurse for 12 minutes, and then be "topped off" with a bottle (breast milk if available, otherwise formula. Between nursing, caring, and pumping, Jen got 3 hours of sleep in 24. And there is little we can do, since she is nursing, and trying to establish her milk supply. Patience...hopefully in a month, things will have evened out!

Yesterday we had early dismissal, due to the snowstorm. So I spent the afternoon holding the girls, and putting tiny bows and barrettes (which I made!) in their hair! Daddy was out plowing snow, so I was filling in! No problem! :)

Today we had a 90 minute delay, which is nice in terms of sleeping in, but CRAZY in terms of the day, because it squishes all my runs together, giving me little time in between the morning and noontime ones. Basically, I had just enough time to run to our town's food bank and go "shopping"...yep, we are that poor! Well...money poor...but really, we are blessed...we have a home, each other, and folks we dearly love and who love us. What could be better?!? And thanks to the the food bank, we have food! They don't have meat, or much fresh stuff, so that is a bit sparse around here. But we have lots of canned goods, thank the Lord! We will never starve! I had 10 min. to run it home, then it was off to work again.

Tonight was ShaoXi's Winter Band Concert. She apparently liked performing, as she came home and said she decided she WOULD take band again next year. She was sure she didn't want to, but I am glad she is going to hang on a little longer. This is her third year, and I hate to see three years go down the tubes. On the other hand, this is one area I won't push her in. If she wants to quit, she may, although NEVER in the middle of the year. That is BEING a quitter, which I don't tolerate. But she is SO dedicated to her ballet, and dances four days a week, and so many hours, that anything else she does above that is gravy. Of course, grades are paramount in our home. And she does well. Last year she was high honors all year. This year the first trimester was honors. Truth is, as long as she tries her best, and gets at least a C, I wouldn't be upset. I mean, C is AVERAGE...if the teacher is truly using the "bell curve", then the biggest majority of the class is getting a C. Anything above that is better than the norm, in my book. Do I love to see the A's and B's? You bet...but she pushes herself far harder than I ever would, really. This is a kid who will never allow herself to just let slide through anything. She is motivated and eager, for which I am thankful.

That's about it from here. Tomorrow is one of my favorite days of the week: Thursday. It is the ONE weekday that Shao does NOT have dance, and so it is much more low key, and we can have a nice dinner together. I like that. Summer will be nice...no dance after the first week in June. While she misses it some, it is also nice to have 3 months of down time. She is pretty good about keeping limber, and practicing, etc. Like I said, the kid is motivated! She sets her alarm clock, gets herself up, dressed and fed every morning, and off on the bus by herself. I'm there, but I don't get up until she comes in to say goodbye on her way out the door. What a kid! Blessings....Nancy