Last ones to start

The kids (finally) start school tomorrow. They are the last school to start, as most schools have started either last week or the week before. The kids are ready but they are nervous.

If you can remember, can you say a prayer for the kids tomorrow? Each one of them will be "the new kid." That is a lot of stress on a mom's heart. And then you've got the empty nest, not ready for this! I will go home from dropping the kids off and the house will be quiet and empty. I know that sounds like a dream to most people, and maybe in time I will appreciate it but for now, it makes me sad.

And pray for Luke. He is so nervous. His tic has come back and is nearly constant again. We have been expecting this but still, it's hard to hear. He keeps saying he's "worried" or nervous. I wish I could calm his fears but I can't.

Actually, I have found a way. The other day when I was at adoration, a woman gave me a little pamphlet about calling on the name of Mary. And so we have been calling her name all day. I've tried to encourage the kids to adopt this practice and make it into a habit....it's said that the very name of Mary chases demons away.

Luke asked me what Mary has no idea which "Mary" he's calling on. :-)  I told him that just like a kid shouts his mother's name in a crowd of people, and half of those people turn their head (because many are mothers as well), only one mother recognizes the voice of her child. I take comfort in this in Mary's role with us. I told Luke: you are her child and so she responds immediately.

So we will continue to call on the name of Mary and you can please also call on her too, for Luke and all the kids. They are all a little nervous--excited too--but nervous. Let it be an easy year for once. No drama, no regression, no sicknesses.

Learning perseverance, a personal lesson from a famous gymnast

Today we had the opportunity to meet the famous Gold Medalist Gabby Douglas. Oh, that was fun!

I try hard to steer my kids away from pop stars and famous people in general. I don't allow the kids to have posters of them in their room--not because I think they are bad or anything, but mainly, because it's so easy to idolize them for their looks, fame and money. And pretty soon, our lives seem to pale in comparison. It's easy to get off-track about what our life really is--and life is hard enough without getting caught up in superficial things.

But when it comes to Olympic Athletes, that's another story. These athletes have set a goal and worked hard all their life to get it. Their lives tell a story about working hard to get what you want. And my kids need these inspirations.

Now true, we can get this from the saints as well, and I do use the Saints as examples. But having a real life example who happens to be in your neck of the woods is too hard to pass up!

Meeting Gabby Douglas gave me a chance to tell the kids the little bit that I have heard about her. That she was an energetic child and was put in gymnastics to help burn off a little bit of her energy, only to discover that she had amazing talent. That she had a dream to get to the Olympics one day and had to work really hard to achieve that dream.

One thing I've noticed about my kids--they are all afraid of failure! I guess this is normal human fear, and I also have been afraid of failure. But the anxiety that I see from them over the possibility of failing is worrisome. Sometimes when they do fail at something, I'm actually glad. Because now that gives us the opportunity to work on learning to try again!

Gabby Douglas signing Anna's gymnastics uniform

I suppose that sounds weird to hear that I want my kids to fail once in a while. It's weird to write it too. But I think there's nothing worse than not trying because you're afraid of failing. And nothing more inspiring and rewarding to achieve something that you worked hard on. Not because you're good at it, but because you kept trying! That's inspiring to me.

(Worth watching! A cool video on Gabby Douglas "failures")



So yes, I use whoever and whatever I can to inspire my kids to keep trying. I don't mind them putting a poster up of someone who worked hard for something. Saints and athletes, that's what graces my walls.

Anna is in gymnastics and Lucy's in ice skating. Both are pretty good at what they do, but they're finding out the higher you go, the harder it becomes! The skills get harder, the hours get longer, the coaches get tougher. They expect more out of you and push you to do your best. That's good for the kids and they feel so good about themselves when they finally master something that was really hard for them to do.

Last week, Anna's coach couldn't pass her because Anna didn't master her Bridge Kick-overs. But, she gave Anna another chance: if she practiced all week and got that mastered, then she could move on to the next level.

Anna practiced for maybe a day. That skill did not get mastered.

And then, she met Gabby Douglas today! She had no idea who she was until I told her, and she was inspired enough to try harder with her Bridge Kick-overs. And she did it!



You see, this is all I want the kids to learn! To just keep trying. I don't care if they succeed the first time or maybe not at all. I just want them to try.

I've never been good at school. I remember in high school vividly studying tests and still getting D's. It was really hard on my self-esteem and I wondered why I was so stupid.

Now in my adult years, I can see that those tough times taught me about endurance and trying again and again. There were times that I didn't succeed but I couldn't fault myself for not at least trying. And I knew that if I ever had kids, that besides our Faith, that would be the one thing I would want them to learn: to not get tripped up on their ego and be afraid to try again.

Lucy's prayer tonight warmed my heart: "I want to be like Gabby Douglas and work hard on what I want. Except I don't want to be a gymnast, I want to be an ice skater."

Whatever she wants! Just so long as she tries her best. Then Mama's happy.

Not an ordinary Sunday!

I just got off of Facebook with a good chuckle.  A Facebook friend of mine posted a pretty picture of some daisies in her garden and wrote, "Oh, ordinary Sunday, show me your beauty!" It's funny how things change from one neck of the woods to the other. While her neck of the woods showed her flowers, rainbows and sunshine, mine showed this:

Max had been wanting to take the dogs to a park so I decided that this would be a good day before it rained. We had just all piled into the car and stopped at the library to drop some books off when I noticed there was a funny looking cloud in the sky. Not a tornado, but a strange lump that was hanging from the bottom of a cloud. I didn't think much of it and we proceeded to go to the park.

Not even five seconds later, I happened to look in the review mirror and I couldn't believe my eyes--there was a tornado streaking down in rapid speed towards the ground! It was like something that I have seen so many times on National Geographic and weather channels, and yet, here it was, right in front of me (well, technically, in back of us.) I began to say, "Oh God, oh God, oh God!"

Now I never say God's Name so the kids knew something was up. Odd that they didn't call me on saying His Name (Max especially), instead they all began to ask what was wrong. I choked out, "There's a tornado right behind us."

I am terrified of tornados. I have the same two bad dreams over and over--one of me being in a bad car accident and the other trying to outrun a tornado. And here I was, living one of my worst nightmares.

The kids looked behind us and began to cry. I feel bad about that--I am not calm in these situations, though I try with all my might to be calm. I encouraged them to pray and we all began to pray little snippets of the Our Father and Hail Mary's, asking for God's intervention. In the meantime, you can bet I turned the car in the opposite direction of the tornado and headed out of there!

From another source



 

I kept looking in the review mirror as we drove down the highway in the opposite direction, expecting the tornado to come bearing down on us any second. Even though I could still clearly see it, I was relieved to see that it was getting smaller in the distance. Just when I began to breath a sigh of relief, I saw another form and head to the ground! TWO tornados!

 

No lie, this is just like my nightmare, except that I'm at home. Everything will be calm and sunny and then I happen to look out the window and there are tornadoes everywhere, streaking down from the sky.

 

I shouldn't have said anything but I couldn't help it. "Now there are TWO tornados!" I said out loud, and the kids looked and began to cry harder. "Drive faster!" Max said, sounding scared, who normally loves storms and tornadoes.

 

"What happened to wishing you could see a tornado?" taunted Luke. Even then, I couldn't believe how Luke chose his moments for teasing.

 

I drove as fast as I dared. Apparently, the people ahead of us had absolutely no fear of tornadoes or didn't know that there were two on our tail. But as I drove and kept checking my mirror, I could see that the second tornado, which was pretty wimpy, had already disintegrated and that the first one looked like it was heading back up to the clouds. I kept driving anyway, I didn't want to be in a storm where tornadoes were forming. I had no desire to be in that situation again.

 

I called Dennis as I drove, who of course, had a hard time believing the story. The sirens had never gone off, which I thought was weird (and I still do) and so he thought that perhaps it was just a dust funnel or something. You know what they call dust funnels?? Tornadoes!!

 

Ok, anyway, he was convinced that I had seen something that looked to be like tornadoes but could see nothing on the weather radar. I looked too (I pulled over, don't worry), and saw absolutely nothing about severe weather or tornado warnings. I began to feel really stupid, wondering if what I had saw were tornadoes?

 

Thankfully, my pride was saved when Dennis forwarded me the pictures (seen on the blog) from other viewers both from Glencoe and Norwood. Thank goodness I wasn't the only one! Later, it was confirmed by KARE 11:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked up "landspout" and it's still identified as a type of tornado, but very weak:

A landspout, on the other hand, does not have all the same ingredients that a supercell tornado does. A landspout begins by horizontal tubes of air that get tilted upright by an updraft of a thunderstorm. Usually there are no wall clouds that are associated with landspouts. The look of the funnel is usually narrow and hard to identify until it starts picking up debris.
Landspouts typically are short lived and weak. However, some landspouts have been given the rating of EF-2.

By the way, this was definitely an EF-2

So that was our adventure for the day. Good grief, I don't know how God thinks I can handle all this excitement.

We are home now and the sun is shining. So now I can laugh and also agree with my Facebook friend, that yes, this Sunday is a beautiful one--but in no way ordinary!

Post Script:

I should add before I am scolded for outrunning a tornado (I already have been), that I could tell that the tornado was in the next town. Even though it was close enough to see that it was coming towards us, I also knew that it was probably about 10 miles away or so, and I had a good distance from it. Normally I would never put the kids in danger by trying to outrun a tornado if it truly was close by!

Also, I can't help but question that this truly was a landspout. I'm not meteorologist, but I saw the tornado forming when it was just a strange lump in the sky, and then forming from a downward spiral. It's said that landspouts usually start from the ground and go upward, while this started from the clouds and went downward.

I guess we will never know...(but I will always call it a tornado!)

She did it!

After listening for about a month to Lucy go back and forth on whether or not she should get her ears pierced, I'm happy to say, she finally did it! Whew! These little milestones of growing up, fitting in, are so exhausting! I believe that I was more nervous than she was!

I had a hard time with this one. It seems like the kids are just growing up so fast. These past few years especially. Max has hit puberty and suddenly he's not longer a little kid but a TEENAGER. His voice has changed, and no, it's not British, like he was hoping.

Lucy is suddenly talking about ipods and shopping, browsing the clothes section instead of the toys. It hurts, it really does. Puts a pang in your chest.

I'm comforted by the fact that despite her growing so quickly, Lucy still wanted me to hold her hand during her piercing. (That sounds terrible.)

Well, it was either hold my hand or hold onto her stuffed pillow dog. When Luke said, "You're bringing that to the store??" I shot him a look full of daggers. Her grandpa already finished off her doll phase after saying she was getting to be too old for dolls; and I didn't want Luke embarrassing her about bringing her stuffed animal and finishing off that phase of her life too.

She chose to hold onto her stuffed dog plus my hands. I was so proud of her for going through with it. Not because I want her to wear earrings, but because it was something she really wanted to do. And she pushed herself to overcome a fear without any pushing from me.

It's funny how you can happy and sad that your kid is growing up at the same time.

Here she is before getting her ears pierced. Look how nervous she looks!

And now after.

So proud and happy and sad all at the same time.

My kids are growing up too fast. Please God, distract me with some dog training!

Pink Eye Rant

I am a little annoyed right now and must dump my vent somewhere.

Last week, the school nurse called us to come get Max saying that he had Pink Eye. When we got Max home, even I could see that it was nothing more than allergies and it cleared up within an hour. The frustrating thing was that the school wouldn't let Max come back until he got an "all clear" from a doctor and/or came back with drops. But when we tried to bring him into Minute Clinic, they were closed for lunch and Dennis had an appointment later that day, so we didn't have any way to get Max in and seen and still make it back to school.

So Max got to stay home for nothing that day. Not a huge deal, because we're in the last days of school anyway.

Then Anna got Pink Eye. Now this time, it was definitely Pink Eye. She woke up looking a little bleary eyed and within one hour, she changed into this:

I brought her into Minute Clinic (which was open this time) and it had spread into both eyes. We got the drops, and for the rest of the day, we were dealing with burning eyes and a small fever. Her eyes never stopped running with tears pouring down her cheeks (from the Pink Eye).She was miserable.

The next day, Anna looked like this:

We washed her face continually, and washed all her sheets, blankets and pillow cases.

Three days later, it is much better and she gets to go to school, which all Field Day today.

But now Lucy has Pink Eye and we are starting all over again. She was looking forward to going to school today to participate in the games but when I told her she had to stay home, she burst into tears. This is the frustrating part.

Lucy: But Daddy said I could go to school!
Me: You can't. You're contagious for the first 24 hours.
Lucy: No, Daddy said as long as I have drops that I can go!
Me to Dennis:  Why did you tell her that?
Dennis: Because that's what the school nurse told me.
Me: She meant that you're not contagious until after you take the drops for 24 hours.
Dennis: No, she said that I could bring Max right back  to school right after I got the drops from the doctor.
Me: The same day?!
Dennis: Yes.

I realize that this is only Pink Eye, not the flu, not some life threatening disease. But it is miserable just the same, and let's face it, disgusting. It confines you as it is so contagious and so gross that no one wants you touching anything. So I was a little annoyed to hear this news.

Still, I wanted to make sure it wasn't a misunderstanding.

When I dropped Anna off at school, I decided to bring Lucy into the school to report her absence. Rather than confront them on what I learned, I decided to play dumb to see if the school truly thought it was ok to bring Lucy back the same day with Pink Eye. I also wanted them to see Lucy's eye, so there would be no question that she had Pink Eye.

Me: Hi, can I get a permission slip so you can give Lucy her drops later today? She has Pink Eye, and we're on our way to get the drops right now.
Nurse: Sure (hands me the permission slip)
Me: And it's ok for me to bring her back today, right? Even if she still has the Pink Eye?
Nurse: Yes, as long as she has at least one dose. Maybe after an hour or so. But as long as she feels up to it, she can come back to play! (Like I said, it's Field Day at school. Nice to know she would have spread her germs all over the balls and bats, huh??)

In the meantime, there is an outbreak of Pink Eye sweeping through the school. At first, I thought it was uninformed parents sending their kids to school still contagious. But now I realize it was the school!

So I sent the Principal an email explaining what I "learned" about Pink Eye and that I was told by the doctor that Pink Eye is contagious for a full 24 hours. I hope that it came off informative rather than confrontational. I don't really want anyone to get in trouble but I also want the school to be better about enforcing some of their rules on health and safety.

Because of them, Lucy doesn't get to go to Field Day today and she's been talking about it for a week. But I wouldn't dare think of sending her to school to spread her Pink Eye, even if the school allows it. There are still a few more fun days ahead at school and I know she would be sad if her friends had to miss it--because she gave them her Pink Eye.