Category Archives: Day to Day

Tonight I have a very special job.  This is the first time I have gotten to babysit Kieran.  He sits on my knee and is trying to help me with the typing.  Actually we are back to the hunt and peck method since he has to be held fairly firmly as he wobbles around a bit still. 

He woke up hollering a few minutes ago and I think he is in need of some nourishment or a change of diaper.  If it’s not one end it is usually the other!

Well that seems to be taken care of – he was hungry.  !!!!! Oh No!!!!  I hear some nasty noises coming from the other end.  And a funny smell!  I think I still remember what that means!  Talk to you guys later.

Yesterday I got to see most of my kids and at least talk to all of them.  I don’t usually do a lot of checking up on them but it seems they know how to find me when they need me. 

My daughter called me a few times from Saskatoon – she is still having problems with student loans although she did receive an educational grant the will allow her to get he study assistance she needs.  And she found a cheaper place to rent where she will be by herself and won’t have to worry about roommates doing crazy things.

I did the usual driving with my younger daughters after work – to and from activities and to the movies to see the latest Matrix movie.  Then to sleepovers.

Christian I saw as he came in and went out.  He was off to a David Usher concert and then out with his friends.  He stopped long enough to ask if I could drive him to work today since his car is getting repaired.

Dave and Annette came over and worked on their slide presentation for their wedding next weekend.  We went over what we all have to get done today as we prepare for that.  I hope I don’t have an exhausted daughter-in-law. 

And then I had to call Patrick about the forms that he hs to fill out for his ID card since he is a landed immigrant and will need to travel next summer.  He and Christian will need it to get back into Canada.  New rules!

And then Eric called.  This is why.  

He was hunting just north of town and was at his mother-in-laws farm.  They had no camera and he had just gotten a nice large deer.  He has to have pictures to send back to his hunting friends in Africa.  Does a hunter hunt for meat or for glory?  They will have lots of venison for the winter and he promised me some deer sausage (if I pay to have it made). 

And I am on call and having another spouseless week-end.  Leo is away trying to supplement the family coffers at a neighboring town where the doctors need coverage so they can get away for a weekend.

And I just got called so will have to work for awhile this afternoon. 

It’s going to be a busy day again.

As I write, my car is waming up.  It’s -22 C out there this morning.  Makes one want to curl back up under the covers and ignore those kids waiting at the hospital.  Well, I won’t have to worry about my lunch spoiling in the car while it sits there this morning.  And as I heard this am on CBC – there are no mosquitos!

It was fun having the girls come to work today(it was take your kid to work day).  They got right into the act, weighing the kids for us before the sedations, putting in movies for the kids who were waiting, filing charts and cleaning up the rooms between patients.  Nicole had to answer a whole bunch of questions about her experience.  Sara just had to do it and enjoy the change – no questions asked.  They go to different schools.  Both girls learned one thing from the experience – that filing charts is very boring work.  I think it is a good thing that they already realize that working as clerical staff is not going to be in their futures! 

And they were fortunate that we had a cancellation right at noon.  We went to McD’s for lunch(on the office) and then Judy took both the girls to Wal Mart for a few minutes of shopping. 

And because of the cancellation I finished another pair of mittens.  A new pair has been started for another of my kids. 

Tomorrow is going to be a super busy day.  A full day of work then straight to a recertification course for CPR then to the church executive board meeting.  I’m not sure what the kids have on their agendas yet. 

Tomorrow is the day when parents are encouraged to let their grade nine kids accompany them to work.  Sara and one other young woman from my assistant’s family will be at work with us tomorrow.  It should be an interesting day for all of us.  We will have crying kids in the morning – it is another sedation day – whoopee!!  And in the afternoon it will be mostly orthodontics.  They will relate to the patients in the afternoon since I have done orthodontics on both of them.  They are going to be at work with us from 8 till 5 so it will be an extra long day for them compared to school.  And only 30 minutes for lunch.  Maybe they will see how hard you have to work to make a living.  That part may not totally sink in.  But I hope it is a good experience for them.

Tonight we had one of those suppers when we were all present at the same time and actually sat down to eat together.  Well, all except the “old guy” as the kids sometimes affectionately call him.  He is still in Washington DC for a course on addictions.  One more day and then he is home again.  Not that I am anxiously awaiting his return or anything 🙂 

Anyway, we not only had supper together but we had a good discussion around the table.  The kids asked my opinion on homosexual marriage and the consecrating of the Episcopal bishop.  So we had a good discussion and it was interesting to hear what they thought and who thought what.  It was easy to see that the reigning opinion is that people are born that way and can’t help it.  I think this is becoming the opinion of the general public.  And some of my kids thought that if that is the way you were born then you wouldn’t have much choice but to act that way.  I threw in the idea that maybe there was some truth in the fact that some people “born this way” but that we are all born with genetic material that we can chose to use or not use.  We should not say that because we have certain genetic tendancies that we can’t help the way we behave.  We make choices that have a lot to do with how we live out our lives.  I also stated that I have not been given the wisdom to be the ultimate judge but that there are some fairly clear statements about what God considers to be right behaviour and that goes for other things too like choosing to have heterosexual sex or express anger or to get involved in addictive substances. 

My own opinions on homosexuality are still a bit fluid, so I don’t want to make dictatorial statements to my kids that make it sound like I have all the right answers.  I used to be more dogmatic about what I thought about homosexuality – till I developed friendships with some people who are.  It is harder to be judgemental about a friend.

We progressed to the topic of obedience.  This is what the high school class at church is studying right now.  The kids thought that I was too easy to obey!  I am not demanding enough I guess and should tell them to do things right now and make them do them – like put their stuff away!  This information is very good to have!  I will try to reform!

The down side was that they thought that Leo and I should be better examples of putting our own stuff away.  Silly kids.

When I was a kid, there was no big controversy about Haloween.  It was just the best time of the year to get candy!  And we had to think of something to dress up in in order to get the candy or go around prepared to sing or something like that.  The worst thing about it was trying to think up a costume.

When we were in the Congo we had the most fun on Halloween.  We had a big party and dressed up in the most ridiculous costumes and our kids went around to all the mission houses and collected homemade candy and cookies.  We didn’t worry about whether this was a non-Christian thing to do till one year we had a new family decline to participate.  And we being pretty isolated from the current North American religious scene began to lose the fun that up until that time we had enjoyed without guilt.  I thought it was pretty obvious where the guilt was coming from – from others judgement of us not from God.  Anyway, I still think Halloween can be a time of fun and dressing up and just silliness and that is good.  We need to claim this day for fun and refuse to let evil intentions take it over.

That being said, it takes a lot of determination to dress up and go Trick or Treating in our weather.  These kids deserve a bunch of candy.  And it will keep me in buisness for a long time! 

Tonight was the night of parent-teacher interviews.  It went well.  Thanks to all of you who know how stressed I get about this and prayed for me.  It was impossible to get to all the different teachers of all my kids so I concentrated on 1. the worst problem;  2. the teacher shared by two of my kids with serious problems; 3. the principle.

The worst problem is math.  It was the lowest mark so I waited in line to speak to that teacher first.  She is a good teacher and so when I presented her with the information about my daughter’s learning difficulties, she immediately suggested some appropriate solutions.

The next visit was to the teacher of Christian Ethics for one kid and History for the other.  Sort of killed two birds with one stone.  History can be quite a challenge for a kid who doesn’t( and can’t easily) see the big picture.  And the Christian Ethics problem was mostly about attitudes or lack of good ones.  I still think that if whe was really on the ball and connecting to the kids that she could have made a spiritual learning moment out of some offhand critical snide comments on the part of some teenaged guys with care less attitudes. 

The principle of our kids school is a gem.  She is pretty highly respected by all the parents and students.  She seems to care about them and knows many of them in special ways so that when I go in with my list of problems, she can identify which one of the kids is my child.  She brought some special resources to my attention that should be very helpful for one of my kids. 

At my worst parent-teacher interview, I made the teacher cry.  This is not my usual style but she was being unreasonably, ridiculously harsh and was attacking my baby.  What is a mother to do???  Tonight I would rate as one of the best parent-teacher interviews.  No crying and I came away feeling like the teachers and I could work together to get my kids learning better.

We just came back from a show by Lorne Elliot.  It was one of the best evenings I have spent in a long time.  I don’t think I have laughed that hard for ages.  If you like good comedy and ever get a chance to go hear him – do it.  Leo bought one of his tapes.  And as Lorne was lamenting, we on the praries are frugal.  He usually only sells one tape per show in small town Saskatchewan – then the whole community just passes it around and tapes copies of it.  You just don’t get his body language on tape though!

And we got home and our daughter called.  She will be getting more from the student loan people than she was told – they made a mistake and forgot to calculate in her tuition and books.  And her friends came over and looked at the apartment so maybe she will get some roommates. 

I sit here just having gotten off the phone with one child after dropping off another at a friends.  It has been one of those jam packed days and it’s not over yet.  I should be watching Sara play soccer and I will go there in a few minutes but I need some time to catch my breath!  I am tired.  It was a good long day.

Yesterday, we were in the middle of a crisis.  Today, given some time for everyone to calm down, everyone is feeling much better.  Our daughter who is having such woes, got a shift at work and may have a roommate wanting to move in.  That is cause for rejoicing – even just the fact that she is feeling more optimistic.

And wonder of wonders – she found her lost wallet.  Someone phoned her at work today and had found it.  The cell phone is gone and so is the $5 that was in the purse.  But she doesn’t have to replace all the lost ID.  Another answer to prayer.  She knows we are praying – I don’t think she understands how much she is loved by God and by us even when she gets angry and frustrated and pushes everyone away.