What a world...John's been texting me from Sydney and Canberra, Australia. I'd say the world seems awfully small these days, but then I'm sure he'd remind me that it took him 31 hours to get there from here and it doesn't seem small to him :-)

Our 22nd homeschool year is drawing to a close. We are down to making sure the last assignments are complete for online classes, getting the last few math lessons done, and finishing up the books we're reading. On Saturday, Bethany and Shelley will take their SAT's and since we're not doing other standardized testing this year, that's just about it. Summer calendar is already filling up with vacation, basketball camp, home remodeling/redecorating projects, and other activities. Makes me tired thinking about it, but then I keep reminding myself that "rest" doesn't always mean inactivity...many times it's restful just to change the kinds of activity and we'll certainly be doing that!

CJ will have several tests and appointments this week...a few more steps in the road to finding the answers to her nearly-two-year ordeal. Your prayers are appreciated.

Family Dinner Night (Tues.) this week will be "Dip Night." We love doing this! No, it's not going to win us any nutrition awards but then we don't do it often. We get loads of chips, crackers, etc. and dive into pots of Rotel/Cheese Dip, 1-2-3 Dip (I'll post it sometime), Spinach Artichoke Dip, Guacamole, etc. and we make a meal of just that. Fun, fun! And since my week is going to be full, full, it'll be perfect! FDN's still make us a little sad with the Slaughters gone. Having just 16-18 people here doesn't feel the same ;-(

I found out this week that I'll have surgery on my left leg on the 25th of May. The operation will be an attempt to stabilize the interaction/friction between my femur and the stem of the hip implant. I'm a little nervous about this, but that is mostly because I don't want to face the possibility that it won't help or that it could even aggravate things. The operation itself is much less invasive than what I've been through before and doesn't require nearly the same recovery and rehab time. My goal is to be fully functional again by our July trip to Red River!

This morning there was a feature on Fox News with Jeff Zaslow, the author of the article I highlighted in my post on the phenomenon of praise overdose in the workplace earlier this month. He's been a busy guy since the article appeared, and it seems there's been a backlash against his observations. All over the internet and other media, I've seen Gen Y'ers whining that they're not really whining, they're just misunderstood. Whatever.

Also this week I ran across an article exploring the left's lack of intellectual honesty in explaining the SCOTUS ruling on partial birth abortion. Seems it's all the "fault" of the Catholics on the court! Well, compared to the stands of the Protestants in the black robes, the Catholics look pretty darned principled to me...thank God for 'em. Hey, some of my best friends are Catholics :-)

Well, I have a serious backlog in returning emails, so I'm off to catch up on that. Have a great Sunday evening!

Labels: Food, Health, Homeschooling, Political Observation, Social Observation, The Papa