Extraordinary

Last Friday, Emma and I were on a "Girls Only" trip to Seattle. We had a wonderful time with my old, old friends who treated us like princesses. Maybe later in this week I will re account our happenings there, as a distraction from our lives current events. 

Unbeknownst to me, last Friday, my friend, Bellaartgirl, wrote a post about the happenings in my family. My husband was "Riffed" last week, but I didn't have the heart to write about it then. Bella eloquently drew a picture with her words of how our family and their family were affected.

Little did either of us know or would make any sort of prediction that the next week I'd literally be on my knees helping her get from a walker into a hospital bed. 

Here's part of what she wrote-

"It is amazing from one day to the next how the winds can change, the horizon flatten, the world flip. That may sound dramatic and it is but that is how it feels around here as we learned that a dear friend of ours lost their job. Their family is as close a heartbeat as you can get. We have walked so many roads together and will walk so many more. My husband works at the same company as our friend and none of us feel "secure" in our jobs. This makes the national news vivid and real.

I know that when hard things happen that they are, and can be, opportunities to grow and move on. But I think that A) no one likes it when the choice is not theirs, and B) there is still a grieving process for the change, and C) we still need to be each other's angels in the everyday and in the extraordinary."

Unplanned

It's interesting when one thinks they have a plan.

My plan for this week was to tackle some of the organization in the house, and get ready for my Mt. Hope Chronicles friends to come and play. 

Instead of being home, I was with my friend Bella caring for her after her accident.

 I am honored to be helping her, as I know she would do the same for me. It's more difficult for me to be away from the hospital, even though I know she's in good care. Perhaps it's that we're so used to sharing a good portion of our week together- teaching the kids, field trips, recounting our weekends, doing each others dishes, finding the chocolate stash, and on and on.

The year before last, I helped teach a Bible study to a group of girls, including Emma, on the subject of trials and sufferings. Now, I knew that teaching a group of middle school girls on such a topic was a risk, but I taught on it anyway. I felt I knew the subject well, yet it was hard to convey suffering when the girls were so young, and so loved. 

But perhaps this lesson was for me, again.

Looking Forward

I had looked forward to blogging about recent events it my life, when all of my events and seemingly important "stuff" in life has come to a screeching halt.

My last post(written a while ago, but posted today) said if  you wanted to know what I was doing, to check out my friend, Bella Art Girl's blog . 

When one experiences life in community,  we embrace great joys, and endure great sorrows. 

I am trying not to be in a fog right now, but that is how my body responds to such a blow. One of the closest friends is in such pain. It's difficult to write much more. I want to write much more. 

Please pray for my dear friend. She will need so much encouragement.

I will write a post if I can. I don't want the reality of the situation to be such, but I will only need to endure a minuscule fraction of what my friend is facing.

While I was in the emergency room with her I thought of one of the passages in the Bible where some friends of a crippled man tore open a roof and lowered him into a building where Jesus was teaching, so Christ could heal their friend. 

That's what I would like to do.

The Found Notebook

I did find the notebook I was looking for...It seems as though I've looked for many things this past month. Getting back to work as a homeschooling Mom has proven more difficult than I had thought. We are now on our tenth week of Classical Conversations, and I'm still trying to fit in all the work that is assigned. The curriculum of CC is good, great, wonderful work to do, but life in general in very demanding of my time(and the time vortex of facebook). 

If you use facebook, I may be caught up with you, but unless you can follow the "thread" of my conversations, you'd probably say, "Huh?" in regards to the happening of my family's lives, as I have difficulty following myself as well. 

In an effort to catch you up (you-one of those people who keep looking at my pages with great disappointment)with myself, I will reveal(that word makes it sound like something exciting or "juicy" will be "revealed," but not so much) what it "was" I wrote in that notebook. I do have editorial license over the content, it that, I can change what I had previously written, and add to it as well.

Here goes:

"Saturday (Oct.11) our visit to P-land was probably my quickest visit yet, as I am still recovering from my surgery. My intent to "take it easy" in recovery, seems to be going just fine. Paul drove up and back for me, and I must say I appreciated being the passenger. That's a rarity for me.

Van and I did EEL work for Classical Conversations most of the way up. I teach best when I'm strapped in, as the seat belt was suffice.

The shower for Morgan was absolutely lovely. Elsa prepared a tasty spread for the guests. Scrumptous food,  and beautiful flowers were plentiful. Lindsay did confess to creating some of the georgous flower arrangements.

The guest included many of the ladies from my family, along with some of Lindsay's long time guests. 

Morgan received adorable baby clothes and some entertaining toys for baby Owen. I'm fairly sure that Carlos will enjoy them also.

Although most of the ladies of our family attended the shower, I didn't have much time in the way of catch-up conversations. It seemed much like what speed dating would be like-but you're not trying to date your relative.

We did have some time with a smaller group: Matt, Elsa, Morgan, and Lindsay, post shower. Aslan the Nelson's ginormous puppy came out to play. Matt has met his match. Aslan is on of the biggest "puppies" I'd ever seen. 

While Emma and I were enjoying the shower, Van and Paul took a trip to see the house that Matt and Elsa were in the process of buying."

So, that's what I was able to write during Van's grammar class three weeks ago! 

Morgan hasn't had her baby yet, as he's due next week.

Matt and Elsa did get the house in Lake Oswego.

Now if you want any other details of this past month, check out my friend, Bellaartgirl's blog, we'll you'll find me and the kids.