It can't be Sunday already. Where did the week go?

Just as I was suspecting by last Sunday night, baby Genevieve arrived pretty much as soon as I was safely out of town. I am so sorry to have missed her birth (and the associated drama!) but I am so happy to have seen and held her this week and welcomed her to our circle!

My two days and nights away, though somewhat of a whirlwind, were wonderful. It was a combination of business and spending a bit of time with my mother, who seems to be doing very well at present. I love getting to see her and I love her guest room :-)

On Wednesday I leave again, this time for the East coast to visit Annie's and Kristen's families. I'll be gone for six days, long enough to meet baby Judah and love on the other six. It's so convenient that both families live in the same townhouse building so that I don't waste time going back and forth between them!

Isn't it amazing how smells are connected to memories? I made a dish this week that I haven't made in a long time, and my kids about went wild with nostalgia. I didn't realize that this was one of the things lodged in their memory banks from the 90's and before...but the minute the cooking scents were out in the kitchen and the family room I could hardly keep them out of the pot. They all commented about how it reminded them of their childhood (and they're so old, right?) and we all ate until we were groaning. Makes me wonder what other secret olfactory memories they have...

I will not get hooked. I will not get hooked. I will not get hooked.

This semester Aubrey and I are sharing the load in homeschooling in some different ways. I'm going to tutor Jonathan in math and writing on Fridays, and she is going to take Tim with her boys to a P.E. class in Boerne on Friday afternoons. We'll keep Sam here during that time so that he won't be exposed to the dusty field where the kids meet. It's very nice to have our own (very small) co-op where we can take it a semester at a time and decide what works for us that might not have worked last semester. Or that we might not have thought of until now!

Okay, so we're home from taking Nathan to college. The interesting thing is that we brought him back home with us!

First, I have to tell you that I think it borders on immoral how much "dorm" life has changed. Oh, I don't mean the good ol' days were all that good...just that if I had to suffer, I think my college freshmen should, too. When we pulled up and saw this:



I was sure we were mistakenly in married student housing! I kept looking around to find where the REAL dorms were. We did see some as we entered the campus. You know, the ones that are one step above a slum? But evidently, they've mistakenly assigned him to quarters meant for the associate professors or something...because no undergraduate should have a life this easy! It's just wrong!

Still believing there was some error, we unlocked the door and went in.



Nathan is in a unit that is basically a four-bedroom apartment. Each guy has his own room,


and he will share one very large bathroom with one other guy.



There's a common living area



and a small kitchen.



There's also a nice "clubhouse" for the 26 units to share, and it has a very large kitchen in case they want to cook something fancy (for the nice girls, no doubt) or cook on a large scale.

So we got him all unpacked and made his bed and thought we'd be saying goodbye when he discovered that he'd brought the wrong suitcase! The large one that he packed with essentials was left behind, and the one he brought was nested with other suitcases. So since he doesn't have any mandatory activities until orientation, he came back home with us to collect the right suitcase and some other things we discovered he might be able to use once we saw his dream home dorm room. CJ is now headed back to Kerrville to leave him once and for all. He tried to get me to let him stay until tomorrow night, but prolonging this is not helping my heart any...and he needs some time to get used to his new home away from home, so I gently encouraged him to return tonight.

We're praying for you, son. Your dad wants you to win the class :-)

Book update: I know it will be hard for some of you to believe this, but trust me. If you love Mitford, if you love Jan Karon, you have got to read Home to Holly Springs. I think it's BY FAR the very best of the Mitford novels, even though this one is supposed to be a different series altogether. (Shhh....don't worry, it's really still Mitford. I think that J. K. just couldn't stop even when she said she would, so she's continued the same series under another name.) Anyway, there are profound themes of forgiveness of others and of yourself, poignant explorations of relationships with parents, and a sensitive look at race relations in the mid-20th century...and all woven together with Karon's characteristic gentle humor and insight into human nature. And once again, her clear understanding of the gospel and its healing power are unapologetically present. Please, even if you haven't read the others, don't miss this one.

A great big ALOHA and hug to our MCC Ohana at Mililani today. The Papa got to visit there this morning and could hardly pull himself away from the warm welcome and our beloved friends there...we miss you!

A belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my Great-Aunt Dorothy, 88 on Sunday. She is the last surviving sibling of my maternal grandmother, and on her birthday she sang a solo in church! She has never stopped singing, never slowed down a minute in her life and I fully expect her to outlive me!

Snip, snip, that's all folks. On to get ready for the next school week.

Labels: Babies, Books, Family, Food, Grandkids, Grandparenting, Homeschooling, Kids, Memories, Sundays, TV, Vacations