The Week in Review

How can it be? The "summer" is almost over - in the sense that school starts in 12 days. Care Bear will be in second grade and Feisty will be in kindergarten. I have a prayer request in this regard - many of you have prayed for Feisty over the last couple of years because of her frequent UTIs - caused from constipation for the most part. She is still struggling with consistency, is on a medicine to prevent infection, and large doses of Miralax. Nobody wants to keep her out of kindergarten, but this is a huge blockade. Please pray for her little mind and body as she prays about it every night!

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August is a busy time in our town. There are three major events to promote community togetherness. Interestingly enough, I don't participate in any of them. I'm not much into crowds on hot summer Saturdays.

The first one was last week-end when the county fair hit the scene. The big girls got to go with great Aunt Grace to see some of it last week. It was before the rides were set up, and they hoped all week that someone would take them back out there for some more fun. But all of a sudden it was over and we never got out there. Well, maybe next year!

This week-end is huge. I've mentioned before that our town has become a huge center for the arts - particularly bronze sculptures. This week-end is Sculpture in the Park - an event that brings people from all over the world to enjoy sculptures - and buy - and spend lots of money in town while they're here. It's less than a mile from our house, but we've never attended.




Across the street in another park is Art in the Park where dozens of artisans set up their wares. We usually try to make it to this one - it's free! But the north end of town is a massive mess of traffic for the week-end. If we do go, we'll walk or ride our bikes.

Then in two more weeks is the annual Corn Roast - an event that was held for years, then stopped, and reprised about 6 years ago. There is a parade, a corn shucking contest, a corn recipe contest, and lots and lots of corn eating. The committee gets 10,000 ears from Sakata Farms. This year Sakata was hit by a horrendous hail storm and there was great fear that there would not be 10,000 ears of corn available. But, happily, tonight's paper told us that there were enough ears salvaged for the event. Whew!!

A couple of weeks ago the downtown association hosted a large bar-b-que contest, and a cherry pie contest. We went last year, but decided not to go back - too many people. We're kind of party poopers, I guess. But I'm glad so many people do attend.

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So - as I mentioned - school starts very soon. Care Bear arrived the other morning and said, "Can we go school clothes shopping, Grandma? There are three good places to go school clothes shopping - Target, Wal Mart, and K-Mart. I think K-Mart is the best."

"Why do you think K-Mart is best?"

"Because I saw a commercial and they said they're the best place for school clothes. And I know they wouldn't lie."

I really thought I should tell her the truth about commercials!

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One of the best things about this blogging world is the sharing we do of our good and bad days, prayer requests, answers to prayer, just plain things we need to talk about. I have a question -- Lately I have been having some numbness in my feet, especially when I've been sitting, sometimes when I wake up in the morning. It is kind of a band around the middle of my foot. Now I do plan, of course, to mention this to my doctor whenever I find the time to get in for my annual physical, but I just wondered if any of you had any experience with something like this.

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When I showed the picture of the babies playing on the old couch cushions, someone asked me to show the new furniture. So I gladly oblige --

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Has anybody found the teeny tiny Popsicles that are out this year? At least I've never seen them before - they had them one night for VBS snacks, and I found them at the store last week-end. They are just the right size for the littles - supposedly they don't melt as quickly, but that's not really true. But they are just so cute!

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We had an amazing, traumatic experience yesterday afternoon, and proof to me that we have angels watching over us! I decided we'd walk to the mailbox, which is at the end of the cul de sac. Care Bear was wondering if her friend was home, and was about to go to her door and knock when suddenly the garage door opened and their two huge dogs came lunging out into the yard - straight at the 4 girls. All of us began screaming - the rotweiller was all over Care Bear - I was in such a state of shock. I was holding Emma, and Katie was standing innocently on the sidewalk. Feisty, who is already afraid of dogs, was hiding behind me, I think. I was trying to rescue Care Bear and keep the stupid dog from knocking Katie over. I have to say, and hope it doesn't offend anyone, that I am not a fan of large dogs - and particularly ones that aren't well behaved. I have watched enough episodes of Judge Judy to know what can happen when uncontrolled animals are allowed to be loose.

Suddenly, the neighbor guy came to the rescue. I didn't even know who it was at the moment. Care Bear was so "freaked out" as she says, that she went literally sprinting, screaming, back to our house, holding her head, her glasses lost somewhere, and one flip flop left behind. I found that she did have a large bump on the back of her head, with a bit of an abrasion.

The grandma, who was caring for the girls, came running down to our house carrying the glasses. She was in tears and we hugged as she apologized over and over - she felt responsible, because she thought the dogs were in the back yard, not in the garage. She just opened the garage so that the girls could get their bikes out. She told me she has been after her son to get the dog trained, "fixed", and to spend more time with him. The other dog is older and gentle, and didn't cause a problem.

I have to tell you, when I awoke early this morning, the whole episode kept playing itself over and over in my head. I believe it was the most afraid I've ever been. I am just so thankful that it was not worse. Thank you, Lord!

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I'm going to close with a quote from the book I'm reading right now. Have you discovered the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series by Alexander McCall Smith? I love these books - they give me somewhat the same feeling as the Mitford series as I read them - peaceful, but in a totally different way, as life in Botswana comes to life. I find myself smiling as I enjoy the author's way with words. I love this passage:

"Nothing was forever; not her, not Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, not the house, not even Botswana. She had recently read that scientists could work out exactly when everything would come to an end and the earth would be swallowed up by the sun - or was it some other planet? - and there would be nothing left of any of us. That had made her think, and she had raised the issue with her friend, Bishop Trevor Mwamba, over tea outside the Anglican Cathedral, one Sunday morning . . . 'Is it true?' she had asked, 'that the sun will swallow up the earth and that will be that?'

"Trevor had smiled. 'I do not think that this is going to happen in the near future, Mma Ramotswe,' he had replied. 'Certainly not by next Tuesday . . . And, frankly, I don't think that we should worry too much about that. Our concern should be what is happening right now. There is plenty of work for love to do, you know.' "

"There is plenty of work for love to do. That was a wonderful way of putting it, and she had told him that this could be the best possible motive for anybody to have."

Check these books out, if you haven't. Let me know what you think.


Well, I'd better hit the sack. Have a wonderful week-end!