Women Who Eat Chocolate

Hot and humid is pressing on my window panes.  The air feels so heavy that it's as if I'm walking through jello.  College financial prep drug on forever this summer -- FOREVER!  The girl will be returning to Florida on or thereabouts August 16 which is quickly bearing down on us.  The separation this year won't be as hard.  I'll miss her, but am getting used to the stretching and separating that goes along with your kids growing up.  I'm looking forward to helping her get ready to go.  She'll be flying back this time as so many trips to Florida are hard on the pocketbook.  My younger two will be entering their Sophomore and Freshman years this year.  Growing up way too quickly.  I watch them, dark heads bent together, talking and laughing and realize that all too soon they will be gone from me too.  I look to that day with a little bit of apprehension and also little bit of excitement.  Maybe George and I will take off on our a...

Not sure if it's the slow down that summer brings or if I'm just lazy.  I simply haven't felt like updating my blog like a good little blogger!  Or maybe it's because there are more people in the house from day to day.  When I write, I need complete silence .  Anything, including the TV, and yes, the ever-pulsating iPod booming from upstairs distracts me.  Maybe I need a Facebook vacation.  I'll admit it right here and now -- I think I have a FB addiction.  I get on it in the morning when I check e-mail, I get on at noon, and just about anytime in-between.  My husband is threatening an intervention -- technology style!  I tell him, isn't your laundry done?  Don't you have a hot meal on the table? Then that insidious itch starts to scratch and I just have to know what everyone is up to, even though I don't talk to everyone everyday.  Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook , is a genius who is also an evil mastermind underneath. ...

"How sweet I roamed from field to field, and tasted all the summer's pride."  ~William Blake   Summer is heavy upon us.  The days have become lazy and languid, and I'm taking it all in.  The mornings have been hazy and humid and my kids have taken the opportunity to sleep in some.  Not too late though, as we have been immersed in the soccer World Cup these past few weeks and the first games start at 9:30 am.  Their sleepy heads make their way down the steps to join me downstairs for a little futbol.  The vuvuzuelas (the horns they play at soccer games) have woken them up almost every morning.   It's been a time of bonding.  George snuck breaks in his busy work schedule to watch the Mexico and U.S. games.  I think I will go into futbol withdrawal when the final game is played July 11.  Selena will miss that game because she will be taking off to Chicago, IL for a missions trip with the MYF.  They will be working with the homel...

Seems I haven't had time to blog much as of late.  Belle's boyfriend  left today after a two week stay.  We really enjoyed getting to know him.  Kind of sad to see him go. :(  We're immersed in the World Cup being held in South Africa right now.  Three games a day are on and we're taking in as many of them as we can.  Two garage sales are coming up.  One at my Aunt Fern's in Benton, and then one at Jonni's house.  In between running kids to open fields, and everything else, it's been a busy summer so far!  We threw Selena a surprise 15th birthday party on Saturday.  About 25 kids came and we scared her good!  Music, food, and fun was had by all. She so didn't want a party, but I think it's because she's so not about herself.  Sometimes I have to do it for her and make it ABOUT her.  Belle took her out to eat, then brought her back.  All the kids were hiding in the woods and everywhere.  We had a blast. ...

We have a new friend staying with us for a little while.  Belle's boyfriend from college, Jonathan Pullen, is taking a little road trip this summer and will end up in Copake, New York.  He will be working at a summer camp for kids coaching volleyball.  This is the first time we've met him, and we're all getting along swimmingly!  He grew up in Florida and is the son of Guatamalan missionaries.  He's got quite an interesting story.  For now we're just enjoying getting to know him.  It's made the summer interesting so far.  He seems to be just as crazy as we are, and that's a good thing! 

We're celebrating our anniversary tonight -- 20 maddeningly lovely years .  It's not that I picked George out of a crowd, God led me to him.  I was supposed to do my VS assignment in Phoenix, AZ that winter of 1988.  At the last minute, they changed it to San Antonio, TX.   Where George lived.  God just knows. "By in love she meant the acuteness of the heart at the sudden sight of a particular person or the way over a couple of years of interested friendship one is suddenly stunned by the lungs' longing for more and more breath in the presence of that friend."  ~Grace Paley The wine is chilling, steaks and shrimp are marinating, and a variety of veggies to grill are cut and prepared.  French bread is waiting to be torn off as needed, and two lovely pink candles (a anniversary gift from a friend) are waiting to be burned.  We are setting this day aside for us -- because that's what we were first...us.