2006 Archive

Latest News

29 December 2006—Wrapping it Up

Just a quick final note as we wrap up the year. It’s been fun looking back over things as a whole, and seeing how we’ve handled the changes in our lives. God is constantly using us, and using our experiences to grow the way He intends.

Many people, reading of the events in our lives this year, would probably have to stifle a yawn. After all, there’s nothing earth-shattering here; conspicuously absent in our immediate family have been any births, deaths, marriages, divorces, moves, major health crises, significant travels, problems with the law, religious conversions, as well as new hobbies, habits, allegiances, memberships, and only a couple of new acquisitions (a genuine accordion among them). We didn’t come within a mile of the “Top Ten Stressors” list.

26 December 2006—The Day after, and a Year later

And then it was now, that strange neverland of time between Christmas and the New Year. There is no school, and for most people there’s no work, but duty still calls for Mommy and Daddy. Lydia is spending the week with the latter at his workplace.

Christmas itself was a joy, as we’d hoped. We love to report on the generosity of people, especially toward Lydia. She’s got several new objects that will challenge the ingenuity of her parents for quite some time. We never did get out of the house, but it was such a murky, cheerless day outside that that was no loss. We were able to converse with several friends and family members, and are delighted that most appear to be in good health and spirits.

Christmas, of course, didn’t take place in a vacuum, but had several days of interesting activities leading up to it. Of note:

On Monday the 18th we again witnessed the living nativity display at the First Baptist Church in Ypsilanti. We were joined there by the ladies in the Betzig family. After the performance was done, we went inside for some snacks and conversation. Lydia eschewed these to befriend the pianist in the corner, and alternatively sang or danced to many of the Christmas tunes being plunked out.

Wednesday found us wrapping up the Awana season for a few weeks. Lydia’s T&T group did something festive, and Daddy’s Sparks watched a Christmas video and were treated to extra calories at the end of the night. We must note that several of the clubbers came bearing gifts for their leaders, and Daddy came away with some very nice stuff, most of it edible. There was also a poinsettia and a music CD. Love to see generosity among the kids!

Friday was a particularly interesting day for Lydia. First, it was “Allen Pride Day,” and she got to come in clad in the school colors. Second, it was also the day of the Read-a-thon, and she got to bring a book, a pillow, and a stuffed animal to sack out and read with. Then, as if to add to the festivities, they lost all power in the building and were plunged into darkness for nearly an hour. Unfortunately, Lydia had not brought “Kooky,” her stuffed elephant whose gizzard doubles as a night light.

Don’t know what could have caused the blackout. It certainly wasn’t the weather, which was disappointingly warm and mild. Indeed, we would find out later that there wasn’t even snow in the upper peninsula (for only about the fourth time in forty years). “Dreaming” of a white Christmas, indeed.

On Sunday, between morning service at Grace and Christmas Eve service at Crossroads, we had a delightful visit with Mrs. Schaffer and her daughter Laurel, up from the DC area to visit the former’s mother. We lunched together and spent some time at one of Lydia’s favorite haunts, Chuck E. Cheese’s, where it was uncharacteristically quiet—all the better for letting the ladies get caught up.

Much of the rest of the time was spent in miscellaneous get-ready-for-Christmas chores, including the shopping and the wrapping. This has resulted in a bruised wallet and battered fingers, but we think it was worth it.

Now, as 2006 draws to a close, we’re going to take a look back and view the year as a whole and take another look at this latest step on our journey. What did we do? How did we do? This Friday we’ll try to answer some of that. Till then!

18 December 2006—Christmas Blessings

Zipping through the week: on Monday we spent a good time visiting friends in Milan; Tuesday saw Lydia have yet another appointment with her brace maker to examine a recurring spot on her foot; Wednesday found us busy at church as usual; Thursday we were busy with something nondescript; on Friday we went over to Crossroads Community Baptist Church to watch their Christmas program (“Repeat the Sounding Joy”—and very nice it was, too).

Ah, but the weekend, that was the really notable stuff. On Saturday we rented a car again (this time it was a little silver Kia Rio, and aside from good mileage and great steering, the experience was rather regrettable), and headed over to Coldwater for the annual pre-Christmas Christmas. Lydia had, in addition to Mommy and Daddy, one grandparent, two great-grandparents, eight aunts and uncles, ten cousins, a big goofy dog, and even the boyfriends of three of the cousins thrown in together in one single-story house with but one restroom. Chaos, right? Well, no, not really, as I think we’d all agree that the proceedings went well. The older that Mommy and Daddy’s generation get, the more often the gifts come by way of gift cards and/or the occasional presidential portrait. But hey, we enjoy the convenience, even if it was a bummer not getting to unwrap a nice set of new socks.

On Sunday after church, we stopped by Daddy’s workplace so that Mommy could attempt something on Daddy’s computer (ours at home is but a shell of its former self), with little success. After a quick stop at home, we headed to Saline to an open house at the Hodges’ for our Sunday School class. The spread was even more impressive than it had been in Coldwater, and there were lots of people to converse with, for those who are into that kind of thing. When we left, we took advantage of our rented wheels and zipped up to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland in Frankenmuth, where we hadn’t been since Lydia was in a stroller. It was truly a jolly time there, as we not only got to gape at the displays, but we had a nice chat with Wally Bronner, and topped it off with a visit with Santa (who very cleverly asked the children if they had anything in addition to their Christmas list—what a time-saver!).

Well, that will wrap up the entries until after Christmas. I hope that everyone out there reading has a truly blessed holiday. Spend it with family and friends, by phone if not in person. Enjoy some good music. Take in a classic holiday film. Read or re-read the story of why we celebrate Christmas to begin with. Reflect on the blessings you have, and lay the groundwork for the year to follow. Make it a great one!

12 December 2006—Sleigh Bells Ring, Are You Listening?

No, we didn’t actually get to ride a sleigh, but it’s one of our hopes for some day.

Still, we’ve been making the effort to get in lots of Christmas music, from tuning in to WNIC (they started their marathon several weeks ago—literally nothing but Christmas music up to about New Year’s), playing Christmas CD’s at home, singing Christmas songs at church, and also going to a special Christmas concert, back at the Towsley Auditorium at Washtenaw Community College. It was last Tuesday, and we once again were treated to the talents of the Ypsilanti Community Band; we also got an unexpected bonus, as the evening started with a performance by the Ypsilanti Community Choir. Indeed, the evening finished with the Choir and the Band ganging up on us—both in front and behind—and drenching us in decibels. (Still not as loud as the unadjustable radio in our car, alas.)

Aside from the usual suspects like Awana, the Sunday morning service, and a trip or two to the library, we’ve memorialized the week with a special event at church for the ladies, as Sally Powell, the wife of our previous music pastor, came to minister with both words and music. It was a delightful time for everyone there.

The weather went back north of the freezing line, which is regrettable—Christmas decorations just look better with a nice blanket of snow beneath. We’d have to cope with scraping windshields and shoveling sidewalks, and wearing boots and tracking snow into houses, and the incompetence of some drivers, but on balance, we’d still rather have it back. I trust it will take another dip next week, and stay there for a while.

The weekend was one of those “so busy with mundane stuff it’s not worth writing about” deals. Lydia and Daddy were parked at Daddy’s workplace for a good stretch while Mommy did some shopping (of the secret variety).

4 December 2006—Birthdays, Be-Bop, Birds, Brass, and Brrrrr!

First came Mommy’s Birthday on Tuesday; we didn’t do anything really special, in that we’d already had enough special days the previous weekend.

On Wednesday came the big rehearsal for Lydia’s dance class, the Be-Boppers; it cut into both school and Awana, but we persevered and got everything done.

Thursday saw the big show itself, with performances by not only the Be-Boppers, but also the Chart Toppers and the Hit Rockers, who collectively were known as the Show Stoppers (sounds like the telephone operator phoning the nearby towns in “Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel,” doesn’t it?). Lydia was terrific, as were the other kids. As an added bonus, we got to see a performance by local dance teacher Gina Thompson and her Hip-Hop classes. Mommy invited several people to come watch, and we got one in Lydia’s former school caseworker, Mrs. O’Neill, who was delighted with Lydia’s size, skills, and general demeanor.

A quick note about Friday is that this is when the weather... changed. Two days before we’d hit 65 degrees, and even sweatshirts sometimes seemed excessive. This morning it was around freezing, with nasty cold rain and high winds. Still, we got off easy, as many places had several inches of snow and/or ice; schools were closed and lots of people were without power in many places north and west of us. Decembrrrr is here!

We reserved Saturday for the bunch of chores that we should have done the previous weekend, but we did get out for a trip to the library (Daddy picked up a wonderful video that he hadn’t seen since elementary school: “The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes”) and a few other places. One memorable moment occurred right outside our home, as we spotted a full grown red-tailed hawk (female) sitting in a low branch of the tree nearest our front door. Daddy got several pictures, including of a tense moment when the hawk and a squirrel were eyeing one another. The hawk, apparently not in the mood for hunting, still decided to give the squirrel a fright by swooping in its direction before flapping away.

27 November 2006—Signature leaves its Mark

My goodness, what a stretch of days we’ve had. There was a Lydia-Daddy day on Wednesday, and it was largely filled with preparations for the days to come. We did sneak in a visit back to Daddy’s workplace (which to Lydia is a mini-vacation), but the rest was of the “pick up the rental car go to three dozen stores and also AAA for traveler’s checks and in your spare time deal with some stuff at home” variety. Thankfully, we were given a night off from our Awana duties, but we still made it to church that evening for the Thanksgiving service. So much for Wednesday.

On Thursday we motored up to Lansing and spent most of the day with Daddy’s Uncle Marvin, Aunt Katie, and cousin Anna. They had the family letter (a letter that makes a circuitous route over much of the U.S., encompassing many people from Lydia’s Grandpa Brattin’s family), so the visitors were able to quickly read the lot, and type up a quick installment. There was a great deal of conversation and reminiscing, updates on other family members, more tidbits on the hosts’ museum-like display of old telephones, a delightful phone conversation with M&K’s granddaughter Tabatha, and of course the Thanksgiving meal, in which we slaved over a hot restaurant, i.e., we went out to a place called Fire Mountain and ate ourselves silly.

Friday found us in Coldwater for most of the day, hobnobbing with Lydia’s Grandma Brattin, Great-Grandma and Grandpa Crabtree, Great-Uncle Roy, and even briefly with Uncle Brian and cousins Caleb (who, though taller than most almost-ten-year-old boys, has been caught up to by Lydia) and Caitlyn. We’re especially thankful that Lydia’s recent cold symptoms subsided for this visit, as the pristine health of her aging relatives is but a long-ago memory.

We turned south on Saturday, taking in three special events down in Toledo. The first was the Children’s Wonderland Christmas display, where we saw lots of neat Christmas stuff, both religious and secular (Lydia got a train ride and a chance to converse with a talking tree while there). From there we zipped up the road to the Toledo Zoo, and enjoyed a good romp in the unseasonably warm weather. A new highlight was the komodo dragon, a creature which Daddy has always found inexplicably attractive (he is also fond of snakes, bats, pigs, and several other animals that get the cold shoulder by much of the populace).

21 November 2006—Teddies and Turkeys

It was the last week before the Thanksgiving break, and for the most part, it didn’t provide much out of the routine. But since our routine generally has school, child care, work, more work, church, Awana, sometimes more church, and a special class for Lydia (in this case, the Be-Boppers dance class), plus a trip or two to the library, it can be difficult to find more interesting things to shoehorn in there.

14 November 2006—Getting Stuffed

Okay, what happened this week? Well, first there was Election Day, where we went to stuff the ballot boxes. Glad to see that the voter turnout was so good, and once again the ladies running the place were delighted to see Lydia (since they see her only once or twice a year, they get to marvel at her latest growth).

Mommy and Daddy had a rare dinner out, compliments of Ms. Betzig, who also took care of Lydia the while. This was in return for some favor we’d done for her; in our judgment, we still owe her for many years’ worth of favors, but she will insist that she still owes us. I’m sure we’ll never have that straightened out. We stuffed ourselves at the Macaroni Grill, at which a meal tends to have more decibels than calories. Still, we enjoyed ourselves.

Saturday found us stretching the possibilities of our car, as we motored over to Albion’s Kids ‘n’ Stuff children’s museum. There was a gathering of Girl Scouts (seven from our troop, and several other troops besides), and they got to take part in several science displays. We all got to experience the whatchamacallit machine where you touch it and the static electricity makes your hairs stand on end. Works with beards, too!

We had some of our usual stuff as well, what with work, school, child care, Awana, church, dance class, library, and a truckload of errands. We find that we’re going through an awful lot more gasoline than we’d originally intended, and the Bullfrog, alas, has an enormous appetite, so we have to stuff it frequently.

Some good stuff to report, in that we have already used our latest Boonshoft memberships (and we just got the cards a couple of weeks ago) to have about half-paid for them already. Can’t really say enough about what a good deal it is. Otherwise, we would have had to cough up another $21 for stepping into the Hands On Museum, as we did again on Sunday. They had several special displays purportedly based on “Women and Science” (don’t remember any gender-specific stuff, actually). Mommy got to pet a painted turtle and Daddy got to cuddle a corn snake named Kernel.

On Sunday evening we had a congregational meeting at church, and we voted to sell a portion of land and use the money to upgrade our building. The expansion project has been trudging along for years now, and this was a big step forward. It was nice to see that it seemed to have unanimous support. (Hey, did I just type a whole paragraph without the word “stuff”? I’ll have to come back and fix that.)

Meant to write all this yesterday, but didn’t get around to it. Had a fun evening out last night, but I’ll save it with the rest of the stuff for next week.

7 November 2006—The Howell of the Wild

One of the added joys of being a member of Awana T&T is being able to go on overnight campouts, and Lydia got to her first one this weekend. She was one of about two dozen children, along with a good handful of adults, who made the trek to a campsite near Howell for hiking, cookouts, music, hayrides, making of s’mores, and other aspects of a traditional campout, with the addition of a good Bible lesson. They left Saturday morning and came back around noon on Sunday, and by all reports everything went splendidly for Lydia and everyone else.

Last Monday, Daddy left work early, scooped in Lydia at school, and they motored downtown to visit Mommy’s workplace and do a round of Trick-or-Treating there (yes, Lydia was once again dressed as Snow White for the occasion); when this was done, they walked along several blocks nearby to take advantage of several stores that were doing the same thing. And when that was done, and after home and dinner, it was out once more, this time for old-fashioned Trick-or-Treating around our own neighborhood. All told, Lydia made a terrific haul, and got to keep about a third of it (allergies, don’t you know). As of today, she’s barely touched her stash, only doing away with one or two a day.

Those were the big items; aside from standards like church, Awana, and dance class, we had a few others to take note of:

On Thursday we had parent-teacher conferences at Lydia’s school, and spoke to both her teacher and her special helper. We were delighted with their report.

Daddy gave blood on Saturday, making it his 52nd time—halfway to another gallon pin.

After church on Sunday we went to the Hands On Museum, which had a special display of dissectica. Ah, that smell of formaldehyde takes one back!

Coming in a day later than usual, as yesterday was a day off from school, so Daddy took the day off from work, and they made a fun day of it. Over all, a good start to November!

30 October 2006—Music, Monsters, Museums & More

A very full weekend topped off a very full week this time around, and much of it was a lot of fun.

On Tuesday we went over to Washtenaw Community College to listen to a performance by the Ypsilanti Community Band, as they presented “Humor in Music.” It was great stuff, and we have every intention of returning in December, when they perform “Holiday Fun.” Lydia, perhaps taking her cue from the Lawrence Welk Show concert last March, climbed on the stage at the end to personally thank all the performers she could make eye contact with, including the conductor (who, like the Welk family, appeared to be delighted to have such an enthusiastic young fan).

Wednesday was the night of the annual Awanaval at church, and our high hopes for Twist & Shout the Clown (“I twist a balloon & shout out a tune”) were easily met, as she used balloons, ‘magic’ tricks (she doesn’t like to call them that), and some mind-numbing jokes to enthrall the audience in the session before the games. Later she stayed on to make balloon creations for individuals. She called up Lydia to be her final volunteer, for a special card trick—we hope to get a video clip of that. Lydia, and about 250 other children, enjoyed the other activities as well. It was a great night!

On Friday we went to another concert, but much different than the earlier one. This was at the Greenhills School in town, and the students combined for a jolly evening of music, dramatics, and even a couple of book readings for the younger set, all on a Halloween theme. It started with the “cauldron” scene from Macbeth, and finished with a rousing chorus of “The Monster Mash.” Lydia got to don her Snow White costume for the fourth time this season, and found a similarly-clad teen that she went up and talked to. We don’t know any specific connections to Greenhills, but we did run into Lydia’s pediatrician, Dr. Chamness, there. Hey, doctors have to relax, too.

Saturday was one of those days where we make a huge list and consider ourselves fortunate if we get half of it done. After a round of errands in the morning (and, mind you, this was in a cold drizzle), which took us to five stores and a hospital, we made a quick stop at home for lunch and to pick up Lydia’s costume yet again. Then we made the rounds of several places allowing the kiddies to go Trick-or-Treating within, often combining this with other activities. First it was Meijer (where we also got a terrific picture of Lydia done in the photo department), then Briarwood Mall (where roughly 30% of the smaller stores were participating; moreover, they had a photo shoot going on, and Lydia got to pose with an adult Snow White, not to mention two animated Bobs, Sponge and the Builder), and finally Kroger. When all this was done, we headed over to Matthaei Botanical Gardens for a nice little shindig that the folks at Therapeutic Horseback Riding threw, as a big Thank You for having met their fundraising goals. Indeed, they did so with 50% to spare, collecting $37K when they hoped for $25K (not to mention that their $25K was matched by a group of philanthropists, giving them $62K altogether—wow!). There was a great spread of food, and some raffled prizes (Daddy won a couple of Christmas ornaments that look like horses; Lydia won a large pot full of purple mums.). We also enjoyed the hobnobbing with other riders and their parents, other volunteers, and the like. Lydia got a thrill when she was reunited with her old friend Oscar, from preschool—four long years ago.

Sunday was another packed day, starting with church and then carrying on to the annual festival at the Exhibit Museum (Snow White to the fore once more; this time Lydia saw another Snow White who was younger than herself). We roamed the halls, collected treats, did the occasional craft, ran into more old friends (this time the King family, with whom we sat together a couple of Independence Day parades ago), and also took part in the great reptile display. Lydia and Daddy handled the critters, and Mommy handled the camera. Only once did the roles get reversed, when Daddy got a shot of her patting a formidable tortoise.

Then it was off to Lydia’s dance class, and we followed this with a trip back to Briarwood, to their theater to see the movie “Cars.” A fun footnote on a good but busy weekend. We needed all 49 hours of it!

The only damper of the week—besides the weather—was the kittenesque final to the World Series, which saw everything fall apart for the Tigers, as they lost, four games to one. But hey, you have to look at the season as a whole, and they were exceptional (or, to quote the late Thurl Ravenscroft, “They’rrrre Grrreat!!”). Furthermore, they can build on this and come out roaring again next season, which should be lots of fun.

24 October 2006—Car Whoas

Perhaps it’s not fair to highlight the one bad thing in what was generally a good week, but it’s what came to mind first. Daddy went out on Tuesday to get the car from the Park & Ride lot, pursuant to driving over and getting Lydia from childcare, and he got in and turned the key, and... nothing. Not a sound. All the lights on the dashboard came on, indicating that it probably wasn’t a battery problem. Still, diagnosing—much less fixing—car problems has never been one of Daddy’s talents, so after several fruitless attempts to get it started, he dashed back toward work to either catch a #7 bus or else to phone Mommy to explain the difficulty. Just at the opportune moment a #7 pulled up (if it hadn’t been, perhaps providentially, several minutes late, he couldn’t have caught it), rode as close as possible to school, and hopped off for the final ½ mile hike. He made it, huffing and puffing the while, with a minute to spare before closing (and there are nasty late fees). From there we were fortunate to get a quick ride home from one of the childcare workers, and after a ten-minute break for dinner, zoomed out to catch another bus (and a transfer to yet another bus, then another hike) to keep our appointment with one of Lydia’s doctors. When we got out, we had another hike, and another two bus rides home, and the wait for the first bus nearly turned tragic when Lydia fell through a space in the bus shelter where there should have been a window (and in the darkness it was all but impossible to tell), and tumbled in and bonked her head on the brick floor of the place. Raised quite a goose egg.

Okay, that was Tuesday. The rest of the week went pretty well, including getting rides to and from church on Wednesday (thank you, Mrs. Betzig!). Lydia and Daddy used the rise-early-ride-the-bus-walk-the-rest system to get to school and work, which is fine for weather like this, but may be a problem when winter really hits. By the way, Daddy tried starting the car again on Thursday, and it fired right up; looks like the starter is a-starting to go. Put that one on the list of woes.

Monday saw the finish of this session of therapeutic horseback riding. Daddy not only had his standard stuff to do with the stable fork, he and Mommy and other parents were given containers of candy and asked to stand at different spots and pretend to be Trick-or-Treat depots. Lydia and the other riders were dressed up for the occasion (Lydia is Snow White this year), and each would pull his or her horse up to a candy-dispenser, say “Whoa,” and then “Trick-or-Treat,” and then “Thank you,” and finally, “Walk on.” I wonder if anyone out west ever did Trick-or-Treating on horseback. We will show up for a new session next April.

Lydia got her 3rd grade photos back this week, and are they ever adorable! I’ll eventually have a scanned shot to share. One of Daddy’s co-workers says that Lydia is finally showing signs of taking after her Mommy in appearance.

Friday night was a special occasion at Lydia’s school, namely, Movie Night. We hunkered down on pillows and blankets with hundreds of others and watched “Over the Hedge,” which was delightful. Can’t wait for it to make it to the library so we can check it out and watch it again. The main antagonist in the film is a big, horrible bear that shares Daddy’s first name as well as his appetite.

On Saturday Daddy took advantage of our freebie phone rates to catch up with several in his immediate family. Both Grandma Brattin and Aunt Debbie expressed a desire for more contact. Well, yes, but that lime in the parking lot, don’t you know, we just don’t know how much we can trust it. We did venture to take it out a ways south that evening, as first we trekked into Lenawee County for a freecycle stop (Mommy got two terrific coats in the deal), and then to Milan for their annual free festival. There were games, hayrides, crafts, as well as lots of good food and some ear-shattering music. We weren’t picked in any of the drawings, and some of the games we remembered from years past were no longer there, but it was still an enjoyable time for all of us. And, yes, Lydia got to be Snow White for a second time. When Daddy or Mommy were little and would dress up around this time of the year, it was just a one-shot deal.

Sunday had its usual, with church and Lydia’s dance class. And, despite the nasty weather, the baseball game went through as planned, and saw the Tigers winning game 2, tying the World Series at a game apiece. Game 3 is tonight in St. Louis, and we’re all hoping for the best!

16 October 2006—Baseball, Snow, and Blasts from the Past

Been a busy, busy week for Lydia and family, especially as said family was augmented by the presence of Grandma and Grandpa Dunham, visiting these last several days from their home in southern Pennsylvania. They were both in good health and spirits, and it was a delightful time that we shared; they were particularly impressed with Lydia’s behavior as well as her growth—seeing her every day as we do, it’s harder for us to notice, but several people have suspected her of having shot up several inches in ‘06. Then again, after being treated to La Shish, Applebee’s and Damon’s (not to mention a business lunch at Old Country Buffet on Friday), Daddy’s waistline surely had a similar growth spurt.

Keeping things roughly in chronological order, last Monday saw Mommy get her first day off since starting work, due to it being Columbus Day. Unfortunately, she didn’t get paid for it. Fortunately, she was able to go in both early and late the remaining days to make up the lost time. Unfortunately, that meant getting up a good deal earlier. Fortunately, it proved to be no great problem, just a change in our usual pattern: this time it was Mommy taking buses, and Daddy driving Lydia to school and then off to work. And double fortunately, the car is still humming along, for now.

Mommy went to a meeting with Mrs. Betzig Monday evening, leaving Lydia and Daddy to go to therapeutic horseback riding alone. The only thing worth commenting about is that the horses seemed to be unusually happy to see Daddy there, and provided presents left and right. Six trips for just four horses, go figure.

On Wednesday evening the temperatures dropped like (insert cliché here), and the next day saw the first snow of the year. We didn’t get any sticking to the ground, but it swirled about rather well. Turns out it was the earliest day that Detroit (and very likely us) has had snow, beating by one day the snowfall of 1909. I swear, meteorologists can get as trivial as sports fans.

Speaking of which, the baseball world is still reverberating with the effects of our mighty Detroit Tigers by having not only prevailed against, but by sweeping the Oakland Athletics in the American League Championship Series. The fourth game was playing out on several handy TV screens while we ate at the Applebee’s restaurant on Saturday, and when we left the score was tied with two innings to go. We got home, flipped on the television, and two seconds later saw Magglio Ordoñez absolutely crush a fastball into the left field stands with two men on base (bottom of the ninth, two outs—the standard for real baseball dramatics) to win the game and send the Tigers to the World Series. Yahoo! Daddy has been a longsuffering Tiger fan for much of his lifetime; Mommy has a more casual interest, but is also enjoying the current success; Lydia is showing signs of becoming a budding baseball fan, and just at the right time!

Oh yeah, there was some football played as well. UM defeated Penn State to keep their record perfect, and even the hapless Lions tripped up and won a game on Sunday.

But lest I forget, Saturday’s main event was our journey to Dearborn with Grandma, to the Henry Ford Museum. Mommy and Daddy hadn’t been there for about a decade, and Lydia (naturally) not at all. We had a jolly time among the trains, buggies, cars, bikes, motorcycles, airplanes, steam engines, jewelry, clocks, and oodles of other displays, with the old favorites (the quadricycle—shown above—the Bugatti Royal, the presidential limousines, the Airstream, the bicycle built for ten, etc.) and some great new things (an Oscar Meyer wienermobile, a car that held the land speed record for many years, the bus on which Rosa Parks made history in Montgomery AL, etc.); Lydia’s favorite was the wing-walking display, on which a person could stand on something that looked vaguely like an airplane’s wing, and the large video display in front of you would show the scenes that those crazed people would actually see while in flight. And, no, I don’t think she’s looking forward to doing the real thing some day.

9 October 2006—Working Stiffs

Mommy, as noted last week, has started her new job, with JSTOR (short for Journal Storage). She’s had three days so far, and so far, so good. We are thankful for her re-entry into the workaday world. Not that there hasn’t been plenty of tiresome stuff at home as well, especially getting the house all ship-shape with (gulp!) her parents’ impending visit this next weekend. We pray that all will go well, and for safe travel.

Daddy’s job continues unimpeded, with little to report. However, on Thursday he got a surprise when one of the obituaries he received was about someone he once knew: Raymond Roberts, who was principal of Central Intermediate in Midland when Daddy was in 9th grade. It was Mr. Roberts who started up Central’s chess club, and Daddy served as its first president. He passed away, still in Midland, on September 26, age 73. Another piece of the past gone.

Saturday was hectic. First Daddy went off to church to take part in a Work Day. He helped erect two windbreaks in the front, placed hooks and hanged a carpet, did lots of raking of freshly-chopped weeds, and moved several large chunks of concrete pipe. When it was done, he legs ached for the remainder of the weekend.

When he finally got home, the family quickly had lunch and trotted out to catch another bus to go back downtown and visit the Hands On Museum. The normally 20-minute ride took us a full hour, as downtown was absolutely choked with traffic and pedestrians in anticipation and celebration of the UM-MSU football game taking place just a mile or so away. Many had colorful shirts, some were sporting different amounts of paint on their persons, some wannabees were tossing footballs over the crawl of the traffic. It was quite a display.

Grandma Brattin called that night and asked what we’d thought of the game, and we had to ask “which one?” Never mind that football nonsense (UM won 31-13 to stay undefeated), had we seen the baseball game (the Detroit Tigers had trounced the New York Yankees to advance to the league championship series)? Yes, we’d seen some of it, and knew the results. We’ve been delighted with our Tigers this year, and never more so than now.

Sunday had an unusual event, in that our Adult Bible Fellowship (we used to call it ‘Sunday School’ for some reason), which has been going through a series of talks called “Life in a Bag,” wherein the designated person or family would bring a bag of items and give a quick talk about themselves, using the items as props; well, this time it was our turn, and so our “30-40 Somethings” class featured the Brattins. We had a computer keyboard, a bike helmet, a chess set, a Sparks shirt, sandals, juggle balls, a coupon book, a zoo toy, a special beach blanket, and perhaps one or two other things. Daddy in particular enjoys public speaking, and they had to work hard to keep things short.

We opted to not go to Lydia’s dance class that day, as we had the opportunity to show support for one of our fellow church members, the younger Mrs. Geddes, whose brother died the previous week in a training exercise in Iraq. We rode with the elder Mr. and Mrs. Geddes to the viewing at a funeral home in Clarkston. We knew no one there that wasn’t named Geddes, so had no desire to stay too long. We were very impressed with the display, especially so of the honor guard, which consisted of two marines standing at attention on either end of the casket. They were so perfectly motionless that Lydia, in her curiosity, went up to one and gently prodded him, trying to prove to herself that he was for real. Got to give the gentleman plenty of credit for not losing his composure! We should note that the ride itself was thoroughly enjoyable, with sparkling conversation (Lydia tossed out several favorite jokes) complemented by absolutely perfect autumn weather.

Before we leave the week, I’d like to note that Lydia finished her “Start Zone” in T&T, and thus earned the right to wear the Awana T&T uniform. I’m sure we’ll have pictures of that soon.

And why, you may ask, is there an image above of the skeleton of a cow? Well, I was going to put in a human, to signify Daddy’s aching and aging bones, then realized that that would have been rather tasteless to do so in a passage where two human deaths were mentioned. So I substituted the cow. Found it in “Graze Anatomy.”

2 October 2006—The Long Wait is Over

God is good all the time. It’s just that sometimes it’s more obvious than at others. Case in point: It’s been more than five months, more than a hundred resumes sent, and a handful of interviews taken, and finally last Thursday Mommy came home to find messages from two different places, both offering her a job! One was clearly better, and she called and accepted: she’ll be starting at J Stores (it’s downtown, and affiliated somehow with UM) this Wednesday, and back to banging away on a new computer. It’s a temp job, but is scheduled to go from six months to a year, and could lead to even better things. Score one for Mommy’s perseverance and patience! We will have to cope with new schedules, particularly in the mornings, but we have no doubt that the good will outweigh the bad in this case.

The rest of the week had its usual activities, but the weekend was rather packed. First, on Saturday, Mommy went with Mrs. Burgener to the annual Awana Leadership Conference, way out in Spring Arbor. Daddy and Lydia had a Daddy-and-Lydia Day, which involved a fun trip over to Chuck E. Cheese’s (after conscientiously getting done with homework, laundry, and several other tasks).

25 September 2006—A New Be-Bop-aginning

It’s been said that whoever expects to grow is young. With that in mind, it’s a joy to watch Lydia as she takes on new tasks and develops new talents. On Sunday she had the first in a long series of dance classes at the Cultural Arts Building, the same place where she learned the rudiments of ballet last spring. This time the dance, though called Be-Bop, is mostly modern, and—we’ve been assured—both the music and the movements will be age-appropriate. Her instructor is Miss Jennifer, who seems to radiate both exuberance and self-confidence (hey, whoever heard of a shy dancer?). The parents, after a quickie orientation, were ushered into the hall to pass the time of day with reading, conversation, or juggling if they happened to bring their equipment.

Going back a day, we encountered some of the best and worst of human behavior on a bus trip to purchase Lydia some new shoes (for the dancing class). We bought a new pair of shoes that are identical to her current pair, but unfortunately we took just too long coming to that decision that we missed our return bus. The next one wasn’t due for an hour, and when it arrived it was an extra half hour late, probably due to the negative effect on traffic that UM home football games routinely have. We sat in the on-again-off-again drizzle for those 90 minutes. At one point a car pulled up next to us, and a young man asked, “Hey, do you need an umbrella?” Before Daddy could answer, “No thanks, got one right here,” the man had tossed a brand new one out the window to us. “Oh, that’s okay, keep it!” he said cheerily, as he started off.

Alas, another encounter around that time dampened our spirits more than lousy weather or late busses. We had seen across the street that a lady who had taken a taxi home had inadvertently left behind her private grocery cart (we’ve got one ourselves, so we know how useful they can be). Mommy made several phone calls to the cab company to see if they could reunite the lady with her property. Before anyone could arrive to take it to the lady, a young boy discovered it and decided it would make a fun plaything. He then decided for some reason that the wheels would be more fun without the cart attached, and violently kicked them off. Mommy went across the street to confront him about what he’d done, and the boy’s mother, rather than condemning her son’s deliberate destructive act, set forth a series of lame excuses on his behalf (“Well, maybe the lady abandoned it because the wheels were loose”). We couldn’t help but shake our heads at this, and we wondered freely at what was going to become of someone receiving such poor parental guidance; a home on Cooper Street in Jackson seems likely.

Fortunately, in the last few minutes of our wait, we were joined by a lady and her daughter who were very kind and personable; Lydia and the daughter (Kayla?) became instant friends, and set about playing pretend games with their umbrellas. This kind of encounter makes life seem a lot more bearable.

The week before, seeing that we’re going backward here, had the second Awana of the year—things are going nicely—and the second of the current session of therapeutic horseback riding. Lydia got to trot aboard April for the first time. Since the latter animal is relatively new to the program and gets excited/distracted easily, Lydia had to do her trotting in complete silence, which is rather difficult for her (often the motion and the enjoyment results in a delightful series of giggles). Still, she managed. Daddy had to come running with the stable fork a record five times; surely the horses are conspiring in wait for him. A final note, as we made another donation of old towels and blankets; the green towel that Daddy got as a high school graduation gift nearly 25 years ago (emblazoned with his name) was handed over, as was a red blanket of similar vintage which went through several incarnations, including the “giggle and wiggle” tarp for when we went on long drives when Lydia was a toddler. Lots of neat memories there, but frankly both had outlived their usefulness for us, and we hope the horsies enjoy ’em.

Also last week we unwittingly discovered another major problem with the Bullfrog. First the muffler went kablooey, thanks to a mountainous new speed bump in the complex drive. Mommy got this fixed, but the mechanics noticed a condition far more serious, in that the engine mounts are ready to give up the ghost at any moment. Whether this means that the engine will drop like a rock onto the pavement if we hit a significant bump, we’re not sure. We certainly have to be careful with where we go and how fast we do it.

Oh, did I mention it turned Autumn last week? This is a favorite time of year, because of the general appearance of things as well as many special events, which this time even includes post-season play by the Detroit Tigers (the first time since Daddy was 23 years old); the Lions, on the other hand, have started 0-3, which is hardly news. UM is undefeated at present, which is kind of neat; maybe it even justifies what they do to the local traffic on selected Saturdays.

11 September 2006—Time for T & T

Well, not too much we can write after having written only a few days ago. The highlight of the weekend was when we answered an invitation to attend the annual block party over at the New Grace Apostolic Church. They had lots of the same attractions we enjoyed at similar shindigs at 2nd Baptist, Ann Arbor Baptist, etc., e.g. friendly people, good food, and various forms of entertainment. Lydia took advantage of two giant inflatables, got a quick tour of a visiting police car and fire engine, tried the cakewalk umpteen times without success, but got lots of neat freebies at other activity/information booths. We had a nice brief chat with the lady whose husband had founded their particular church, and she did a commendable job trying to get us to come regularly.

It sounds like Daddy was the only person who didn’t make it to church on Sunday (yes, those viruses—viri?—have still got something of a grip on us). Before he goes in and deals close-up with people—handing out bulletins one hour, teaching kiddies the next—he wants to be more sure of his health.

Our great hope now is that things will finally clear up within the next three days, because Awana starts up again on Wednesday. Even at this late stage, it’s not sure who will be filling certain roles, and Daddy has been in no condition to orchestrate. Still, we hope for the best. As for Lydia, she, unlike her parents, has moved out of Sparks and up to Truth & Training, where she’ll have a new bunch of leaders and friends to work with, not to mention different schedules, different materials, and different activities. We will hope for the best here as well.

Just a quick final note, as tonight will also start the newest session of therapeutic horseback riding. We’ll find out soon if Lydia will still be attached to the mighty Fable, or if she gets placed with a different horse this time. Either way, we’re looking forward to it.

7 September 2006—3rd Time’s the Charm

Lydia charged into 3rd grade this last Tuesday, and so far, so good. Her teacher is Mrs. Clyde, which for the second straight year gives her a teacher whose last name is also a man’s first name, with the first and last initials matching to boot. If the pattern continues, she’ll soon get taught by Mary Martin. She also has a new special helper, a Ms. Bedzinski (sp?). Again, everything seems to have started off just fine, and we have every hope that it continues.

So much has happened of late that it’s hard to decide what to talk about first. Well, I already decided that, but what’s next? I guess it’ll be the car. Yes, with the help of some connections at church, we have acquired a “new” car. It’s a 1993 Pontiac Bonneville, and it was test-driven 216,173 miles before we got it. Yes, you read that right, that was six digits, and the first was a two. It eclipses by 50,000 the total of any other car we’ve ever had, and for us it’s only the beginning. How long will it last? No idea, really. It’s got its own list of, well, idiosyncrasies, but over all we’re glad to have it. Many thanks go to people at church who made it possible.

It’s dark green, rather squat in shape, and was strangely laden with dead insects within, so we named it the Bullfrog.

The state of the family health hit a new low, as Daddy finally succumbed to the bug (missed three days of work, plus church, and another meeting at church, etc.); like Lydia, he ended up with high temperatures and coughing fits. Mommy never got the temperature hike, but lost most of her voice and her coughs have either caused or aggravated a problem with her back. Spooky stuff. There have been several more doctor trips—even one for Daddy—but as I write this we’re all going about our business with only occasional medicinal aids, so we have hopes that these professional visits will soon begin to dwindle. (“Hello, Packard Clinic. Oh, you again?”)

Mommy’s job hunt continues, and we’re grateful to see some more action on the part of possible employers, as she was called in to another interview on Tuesday. No word yet.

Lydia and Mommy went to the State Fair on Monday (Daddy continued his imitation of a potted plant back home), riding along with the Morrises, as there were some special events planned for Girl Scouts. The two families got to march in a parade, and also got to see a circus performance (the Anastasini Circus & Elephant Encounter) while there. Lydia got two repeat thrills, acting as a magician’s assistant (to Jamahl Keyes) and getting to ride an elephant. They also got to add another juggler to the lists, a lady named Lisa Lou. We’ll have photos up before too long!

Just have to pause a moment to mention yesterday’s singular weather. While waiting for the bus to take him home, Daddy was standing in bright sunshine, but it was nevertheless sprinkling, plus there was a raging thunderstorm just a block to the north, and to the east, against the backdrop of some more nasty-looking clouds, was one of the most elegant rainbows he’d ever seen. Alas, the storm clobbered both him and the rainbow well before the bus arrived.

This is being written several days after the usual, partly because of the Labor Day bump, but also because Daddy’s had to take extra time to (a) get his work caught up, and (b) figure the ins and outs of his new computer. The latter’s got its own list of, well, idiosyncrasies, but over all he’s glad to have it. Something old, something new....

28 August 2006—Is there a Doctor in the house?

Last week was kind of a jumble, with little, it seems, to differentiate the weekdays. Mommy had another job interview, but in the meantime, she’s taken steps toward a couple of other positions she’d rather have. Not at all sure what God has in mind for her.

The overriding concern of late has been the state of health of the household. Lollipop the goldfish still goes about, apparently unconcerned, but the rest of us have had our moments. In fact, most of us have only had moments of relative wellness. Mommy and Lydia have been to oodles of doctors of late, and that doesn’t even count the visit to Mr. Bush to order new braces for Lydia’s feet (despite everything, she seems to be growing like a champion). Mommy totted up the score, and notes that ten of the last sixteen checks she’s written have been either medical co-pays or for pharmaceuticals. Thank goodness for Daddy’s health insurance!

And what, you may ask, can be wrong? Well, it’s still not certain. Lydia’s high temperatures have ceased, but she still has the occasional coughing/wheezing fit of the chandelier-shaking variety. One possible suspect was whooping cough, and another is mononucleosis. The latter possibility came about through a strange mix-up at one doctor’s office—a different patient’s blood was to be tested to mono, and they ended up testing Lydia’s instead, and scored a bulls-eye. The doctors suspect the latter was a false positive, however.

Mommy has apparently picked up some of the same stuff, and has had her own little bouts of coughing, sniffling, and general blahs. One of the doctor visits, indeed, was for herself. Daddy has managed to steer clear of the ladies’ ailments, but has his own list of imperfections, such as a foot that feels like it contains a broken bone—and no, he doesn’t want to go get it checked out, either.

On Saturday the three of us went by bus to a few stores, then Lydia and Daddy parked themselves at a library while Mommy went to a few stores more. On Sunday, after Daddy got home from church (the others stayed home again, as Lydia is probably contagious still), they went out shopping again, this time to ready themselves for Lydia’s upcoming sojourn into 3rd grade—they got a new backpack and lunchbox. In a delightful turn of fate (unless you believe that these things are supernaturally ordained, and they might be), our dear friend Mrs. Betzig spotted us at the store and volunteered some chauffering services. We were delighted to accept, especially as it had begun to rain and we were woefully unprepared for it. And the strange thing is, she still thinks she owes us when it comes to favors. Friends like that don’t come along very often—when you have one, don’t ever let go!

And yes, the car-less episode continues. We had one potential deal fall through last week, but we’ve got our eyes on a couple of other possibilities, and some others are helping us look as well. We have to believe that something will turn up.

21 August 2006—Hellos and Goodbyes

We’ve now entered that somewhat sad phase, the waning days of summer. It’s not that autumn doesn’t have its own charms, and we’re anxious to have Lydia’s third grade and the new Awana season start up, but, like when we wake up in the morning and wish we had just ten more minutes of sleep, we don’t want the current situation to end.

Like we mentioned last week, Mommy had a job interview; no word yet. While it was happening, Lydia came to stay with Daddy at work. As usual, she stayed nice and quiet, and was no trouble. She even got to play on his computer for a while, and listen to his personal music library.

On Tuesday Lydia and Mommy went to Mallett’s Creek, and caught once again the juggling/comedy act of Josh Casey, whom we’ve seen several times before. Alas, it may have been for the last time, as he announced that he’s soon moving to Eureka, California, which is about two thousand miles off our bus route. Despite a packed house of children, Lydia once again got to be one of his assistants in his simultaneous ball-spinning routine.

But, even as we’re saying our drawn-out Goodbye to summer, and had to say a quick one to Josh, we’ve had more opportunity of late for Hellos.

Thursday had a “blast from the past” moment, in that Lydia and Mommy got to go to Briarwood Mall to see an old friend of Lydia’s, namely, Barney the dinosaur. She had seen the PBS icon once before—at a concert in Detroit when she was four—but the music and the surroundings were so overwhelming at the time that she cried through much of it. This time, though admittedly much older (and much taller) than the standard Barney fan, she enjoyed it immensely. Can’t wait to see the photos!

The big event of the weekend was the church picnic we attended, over at 2nd Baptist. They were very well organized, and had lots of great food, music, and games. Daddy, as usual, had his trusty juggle balls with him and enthralled bunches of kiddies who’ve obviously never seen Josh Casey. He also got involved in a tug-of-war match, and by pulling his weight (no mean feat), he helped his side to victory. At the registration table, a lady noticed Lydia and handed Mommy an information sheet about an upcoming girls’ activity—for 11-to-13 year-olds. “Not yet, she’s only eight,” Mommy assured her. Another quick note, as we saw Lydia’s old friend and former classmate Imani there.

Lydia, unfortunately, has come down with another bout of nasty high temperatures, which, coupled with a persistent cough, has made life less enjoyable than it otherwise would have been these last few weeks. She took Sunday off from church, to the latter’s benefit; as we write, Mommy has taken Lydia to the doctor (again), and they’ve confirmed she’s got a virus of some kind, and is likely to be contagious. Ack. Hope we didn’t spread anything at the picnic. Her sickness is something that we wish we could say Goodbye to.

14 August 2006—The Ultimate Answer

... to life, the universe, and everything, is 42, as any fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will tell you. To those who haven’t a clue what this is about, I’ll summarize: a race of people assembled a supercomputer to give them the ultimate answer to life, the universe, and everything, and after mulling it over for several million years, it gave the entirely unsatisfactory answer of “42.” Then they had to create an even bigger, better computer to give them the ultimate question, whose answer would be 42. After a good deal of twists and turns, we discover the ultimate question to be “What do you get when you multiply six times nine,” which only goes to prove that there’s “something fundamentally wrong with the universe.”

And what does any of this drivel have to do with today? Not much, except that Daddy turned 42 last Friday, and there’s precious little else to say about such a number (Lydia also turned 8½ that day, which is an even more obscure number). We could add that he got into a bizarre car accident on his 21st birthday, exactly half his lifetime ago. Even back then, God was watching out over him.

The week was fairly typical of those of late, in the sense of our modes of transportation, anyway. The Glasers once again got us to church and back, and we had a little help from Mrs. Betzig again, but primarily it was the bus system that got us to and fro. Mommy has calculated that the month-long passes she got for herself and Lydia have already about half paid for themselves, and this after only a week. Got to use it or lose it, I suppose.

Had an uneasy week, healthwise. Lydia’s been battling a nasty cough ever since camp, and Mommy had to quickly get checked out when her sitting heart rate was up to 160 per minute (both of these resulted in doctor visits and reassurances that nothing was really wrong; no prescriptions given). Daddy seems to be having some trouble with his knees, which may have something to do with his age and/or his weight and/or all the walking he’s been doing. For the most part, however, we’ve all been fine.

Got to help out Mrs. Betzig again with additions to her new home. We picked up a hutch on Monday, and moved a washing machine to her basement on Wednesday. We still think we’re well behind her in the race to do favors, but she will insist it’s the other way around.

Freecycle, or whatever they call it, came through again, as Daddy acquired two pair of size 15 shoes; he actually wears 14’s, but these fit fine—word has it that they pinched the feet of the original owner, who is undoubtedly a freakishly large fellow. Among our Saturday errands, we made another Freecycle drop-off/pick-up, this time acquiring a bunch of craft supplies for Lydia. Lydia has, of late, become utterly enamored of craft projects, and spends a good deal of time with markers, scissors, tape, staplers, paper plates, paper cups, etc., and fashioning them into some amazing items, many of which are very clever indeed.

Daddy took Friday off from work, and much of the weekend was spent either in frantic pursuit of buses or waiting impatiently for same. We went to many places: stores, a church, the Secretary of State’s office (Daddy renewed his driver’s license; unfortunately, he didn’t look his best that day, and his photo for the next several years will show the image of a nearsighted swamp rat), and a few places for fun. We had a trip to Putterz on Friday, and to both McDonald’s, for a rare meal out, and Colonial Lanes for some bowling on Sunday. Mini-golf and bowling followed the same pattern, with all of us doing quite well, and Mommy with the lead at the half-way point, with Daddy just pulling ahead at the end.

7 August 2006—Return of the Happy Campers

Lydia’s time away at summer camp will probably go down as one of the major events of the year; perhaps not quite as big as the Live Lawrence Welk Show concert back in March, but in its own way, just as special.

We zipped back up to Evart and picked up Lydia on Tuesday. She had had a wonderful time, and even got a special award at the end for displaying courage (notably, she was the first to try out the “Flying Squirrel” contraption). They sang songs, played games, did crafts, swam, rowed, and occasionally even ate and slept. We have every reason to suspect that this will become an annual thing—and starting next year, she’ll be gone a whole five days.

Since we still had the rental car, we took advantage of it and made a visit to Coldwater to visit Grandma Brattin and Grandma & Grandpa Crabtree, and got a bonus in getting to see Great-Aunt Shary as well (the latter is on furlough from her duties as a missionary in New Mexico). We eventually ended up home around midnight.

Mommy ran some errands on Wednesday before taking the car back. Altogether we put just over a thousand miles on it in five days.

Wednesday was the final day of our current nasty heat wave, in which the heat index frequently soared to the 105° mark. Fortunately, in exchange for putting her seat back into her van, we were treated to another session in Mrs. Betzig’s new pool that evening. The one thing better than having a pool is having a friend with a pool!

Saturday found us being rather busy. After a good stretch at Mallett’s Creek, we were picked up by Mrs. Betzig, who, in another exchange of favors, did some taxiing for us, and we moved a formidable desk into her car and later into her house. We tried a couple of freecycle stops (the first item—a unicycle!—turned out to be much too small; and the proprietor wasn’t home for the second stop), then stopped on a whim at a garage sale and got some other goodies.

The Glasers came to the rescue yet again on Sunday (Thanks!). In the afternoon we all flashed our bus passes and went first to Value World to find some clothes for Daddy, then back downtown for another lively session at the Hands-On Museum, then a short trip to the downtown branch of the library, then home. In the evening we went for a quick jaunt to a fairly local gas station for a newspaper, and had some fun at the park halfway home. We’re still getting by fairly well without a car, but we know that’s got to change soon, especially as Daddy’s birthday is coming up this Friday, and we’ve got to get rid of the van or renew its license plate. The latter sounds especially silly.

The newspaper, by the way, gave Lydia the chance to read her favorite comic, “Shortcuts,” which each week focuses on a particular topic, and weaves some history, trivia, and a few mind-numbing jokes therein. Lydia, quite naturally, goes first for the jokes. Something about them seems to be rubbing off on her, as on the way home she hit us with a dreadful one of her own: “What type of flowers should you have at a wedding?” “I don’t know, Princess, what type of flowers should you have at a wedding?” “Marry-golds!” All groaning aside, we hope she never loses her sense of humor, nor her desire to be entertaining, even in somewhat trying times.

31 July 2006—Happy Campers

24 July 2006—Summer splash!

Another week, another VBS for Lydia; this time it was at Knox Presbyterian (thank you, Mrs. Brace, for arranging the rides for us!).

As mentioned last week, Fable and the other horses took the evening off to cope with the heat. Mercifully, the temperatures have dropped back to a comfortable level, and they should be prancing and pawing again soon.

On both Wednesday and Friday we were helping our good friend Mrs. Betzig in the early stages of moving to her new home. At first glance it looked rather small, but it’s actually got oodles of space inside, including a full basement. Best of all, it has an in-ground swimming pool out back. In between Freecycle (oops, sorry, that’s E-Cycle) pick-ups and carrying large objects from cars to the house, we had swim gear at the ready and were able to take advantage. Daddy quickly learned that anybody his size shouldn’t dive off the diving board, because the sloping bottom of the pool and the sloping front of his bulk came unsettlingly close together. It would be okay for Mommy, but frankly you couldn’t pay her enough to go off a diving board, no matter how deep the water. Lydia will probably want to try it some day, but we won’t push it.

This was also the week of the Ann Arbor Art Fair, a crazed activity that holds far more fascination for the rest of Ann Arbor than it does for Daddy. Still, we made a minor appearance on Saturday, its finale. Mommy and Lydia got there first, and took the time to watch a special organ concert at the Michigan Theatre. We found a children’s craft table area—under the direction of some volunteers from the Hands On Museum—and there ran into the Petersons from church. We’ve made a strange habit of bumping into the latter. The bus ride home was distinguished by Mommy and Daddy having to stand, while Lydia sat in a nearby seat and made some new friends.

Sunday was truly a day of rest, by golly. After the morning service—made notable by the amazing image of Pastor Glupker with facial hair (he later asked the Sunday School class to vote on whether he should keep it or get rid of it)—we spent a pleasant afternoon at the library. Later on Lydia wrangled an invitation to share in a neighbor’s kiddie-pool. You might think that after a real pool that a small inflatable puddle would lose its charm, but not to Lydia. Well, our car’s still not working, and we have other problems to cope with, but we are blessed in many other ways. The generosity of friends, the availability of buses and libraries and things... yeah, life is still pretty good.

17 July 2006—Our Low-Car Diet Continues

Thanks goes to the Ann Arbor bus system, not only for timely rides to and fro, but also for that frightful pun of a headline. And when the buses were insufficient, we generally managed to get by on the largesse of friends, especially those with the largesse amount of space in their cars. Our Camel, meanwhile, is sitting like Stonehenge, and either enjoying a good rest, or else fretting about its future. It’s hard to tell what cars think.

We got to therapeutic horseback riding on Monday (thanks, Mr. & Mrs. Geddes for getting us there, and to Mrs. Betzig for getting us back); the latest innovations for Lydia included doing the “round the world,” which means getting the feet out of the stirrups, lifting one foot over so that now the rider is facing the horse’s side, then doing the same maneuver until the rider is facing the back, then the other side, and finally the front again. The horse, meanwhile, is motionless. They also had Lydia jump off her horse at the end, rather than drop down while sliding on her front. Hey, whatever helps build both confidence and balance, don’t you know.

The main event of the balance of the week was the nightly VBS at Crossroads Community Baptist Church. Lydia, probably because her size made it necessary, was put in with a group of older students. Mommy stayed with her throughout, and much of the time it went well. On Friday Daddy joined them for the finale, including the party afterward (they were going to have a bouncing room or two, but these had to be cancelled due to late afternoon thunderstorms).

In the meantime, we’ve also been hit with the nastiest heat of the year so far. Both days this weekend it climbed into the mid-90’s. But, frankly, we’ve got off easy compared to some. We heard that much of South Dakota—where they were wearing snowshoes a couple of months ago—was pushing 120. And out west they’re coping with a bunch of out-of-control wildfires. Yeah, we haven’t really suffered all that much.

Still, we try some things to beat the heat, and this meant a good long library trip on Saturday (downtown this time), and two long stays in two different neighbors’ kiddie pools in the backyard on Sunday (Lydia only, although Daddy did thrust his head into one). I hope we never stop appreciating the generosity of those around us. Speaking of which, thanks again to the Glasers for another ride to church on Sunday morning; they said they’d be available for more of the same if needed.

And now it’s Monday. We just got a call from the horseback riding place, and they’ve decided to cancel for tonight, in the interest of the horses’ health. Hey, I wouldn’t want to prance about in 95 degree weather with a blanket, a saddle, and a child on my back. By all means, let them get a good rest, and hopefully they’ll push the fluids.

We also pause to acknowledge that today marks the 9th anniversary of the car accident that we were in that destroyed our last car, before we starting buying a series of mini-vans. We ended up in the hospital, but if it hadn’t been for our seat belts, the hospital wouldn’t have been necessary. They saved not only Mommy and Daddy, but also Lydia, then just ten weeks in utero. They didn’t do an ultrasound until the wee hours of the morning, but when they did they found that she was no worse off for her thrill ride. We sometimes wonder what she was thinking: “Whee! Can we do that again?!”

10 July 2006—Arise, go Fourth

Actually, we didn’t manage to see any fireworks displays this year—although we were treated nightly to unofficial productions in the nearby neighborhoods—but we did make the fourth memorable nevertheless.

But, backing up a step, I’d like to highlight a special event the evening before, at Lydia’s therapeutic horseback riding. After a time indoors, the horses (only two this time) were led outdoors for some further exercises. This was brief, because it started to rain. Back to the indoors, and the leader decided that Lydia was a good enough rider (and aided by a slightly damp and sticky horse), that they removed the saddle and let her ride, for the first time ever, bare-back. “I’ve never ridden a bare naked horse before!” Lydia declared joyfully. The leader, in her turn, exclaimed, “Lydia, thank you for drying off my horse!”

Then came the Fourth. We packed up lawn chairs, cameras, water bottles, and tubs of sun-block and zipped over to downtown Ypsilanti for the festivities of their Independence Day parade. It was the usual march of the military, politicos, civic and church groups, but it’s always enjoyable. Miss Washtenaw County (Ashlee Baracy in real life) remembered us, or at least did a good job pretending. Daddy called to Rep. Alma Wheeler-Smith, who came over for a brief chat; what a personable lady she is! As is our usual, we ran into someone from church (regrettably, we couldn’t remember the young lady’s name). We also had an encounter with a friendly pug—first time we’d ever been up close to one of them that we could remember. When it was done we walked down to the parade’s end in hopes of some more hobnobbing, but we couldn’t find anyone we wanted to see; they’d probably been whisked off to some other parade.

After this we drove over to the Ann Arbor Baptist Church, which had a “come one, come all” picnic, complete with lots of food and other fun stuff. We spent many hours there, much of it in pleasant conversation with a family with eight children (“That’s nothing,” the father said, “our assistant pastor and his wife have fourteen.”). The festivities included a pony ride—Lydia rode a large dapple-white model named Lucy—and a couple of inflatable whatchamacallits, one a jumping room, and the other more of an obstacle course.

Back in to work on Wednesday, Daddy found that more than one person had brought in treats to share. “What’s the occasion?” a co-worker asked, and Daddy responded, “It’s to cushion the blow from having two Mondays in the same week.”

Mommy had a job interview on Friday; it was late enough in the day that she dropped Lydia off at Daddy’s work, where she kept out of the way and quiet, so there was no problem. She wished for some time to play on Daddy’s computer, but that would have to wait for another time.

Friday evening found us paying a return visit to Angell Hall, at the open house of the UM Astronomy Club. The main telescope was zeroed in on Jupiter this time, and the smaller telescope on the roof was keyed in on different stars at different times, including Alberia, aka the Wolverine Star. We also took in the planetarium show; in fact, we did this first, in an effort to let the sky darken some more before we went to the rooftops.

3 July 2006—Final Respects

26 June 2006—Time Marches On

Many things happened this week, most of which will get only passing mention, because one event made everything else seem rather inconsequential. It was Thursday, and we got a phone call from our old friend Janice Knowlton that her husband Mike had passed away that afternoon.

Mommy has known the Knowltons from their mutual days at Southern Illinois University—about 25 years or so. Daddy first got to meet them about 13 years ago, and Lydia has known the family all her life. We’ve enjoyed visiting them at their homes, and they moved with remarkable frequency. First Florida, then Maryland, then Michigan (Port Huron), then Ohio. We last saw them a year and a half ago at their home near Dayton. (We never got to see their homes in Illinois, Indiana, or Missouri.)

20 June 2006—Soyonara, 2nd Grade
And Goodbye, Good Friends

Lydia hit a new landmark this last Thursday, as 2nd Grade came to an end. All told, I’m not sure she enjoyed hers as much as Daddy enjoyed his (2nd still remains one of his very favorite school years), but she probably learned more. I suspect all 2nd graders learn more nowadays than Daddy did, at least in this school district.

Even though school’s out, the summer promises to be busy. We started it off with a bang with the events of Saturday. First, Daddy went and donated blood; it was his 51st time, and, as usual, there were no problems.

5 June 2006—June Fool’s Day!

“Life,” Mommy sometimes says, “is one fool thing after another. Love is two fool things after each other.” And on this special day we pause and remember our favorite fools, as Mommy and Daddy celebrate their 14th wedding anniversary. Thankfully, time has flown, but the dishes haven’t.

Today also marks the 19th anniversary for Uncle Roger and Aunt Marian, what would have been the 44th for Lydia’s Grandma & Grandpa Brattin, and (drumroll for this one) it’s the 64th for Great-Grandma & Grandpa Crabtree! (Cue the confetti and kazoos!). Moreover, today would have marked the 86th and 88th anniversaries of two sets of Lydia’s great-great grandparents. As a footnote, Uncle Brian and Aunt Julie tried to continue the pattern, but when June 5 rolled around eleven years ago, it was, like now, on a Monday. They opted for Saturday the 3rd.

The week was a short one due to Memorial Day, but made memorable by a few events. Lydia had another field trip—amazing how many of these are happening at the very end of the school year—this time to the UM Art Museum. Lydia was probably looking around for Da Vinci’s greatest hits. The weather gave up a few of its stifling degrees in exchange for several good thunderstorms, one of which knocked out power for three hours and also caught Daddy on his walk home—by a miracle of timing, Mommy found him at the one spot where their paths cross on their ways home, and so Daddy’s walk was thankfully cut short.

The annual fun-fest at Lydia’s school took place on Friday evening. Three things made the event special for us: Mommy and Daddy were, for the first time, a couple of the volunteer workers, and took a half-hour section of the running of the cakewalk. Daddy played carnival barker with the microphone, and Mommy ran the music. The second special thing was the performance by Jeff Wawrzaszek, undoubtedly the best magician in the area. His first-ever magic trick was spelling his own name. And third, Lydia won a raffle prize, a magic set (neat coincidence!). She cuddled it in the car all the way home.

30 May 2006—Like a Bat out of... Church?

It was kind of a weird week as we finished up things before the short holiday break.

We started Monday with a visit to Dr. Sohoni, who gave us some recommendations for some possible medications for Lydia. It’s still not clear at this point which path we’ll eventually take.

That evening we had horseback riding again, and came unnervingly close to a deer en route. Still, it gave a couple of little jumps and then a majestic leap over a fence and was gone from view. Riding was its typically fun self. And, like last week, three of the horses decided that the stable smelled a bit too plain, and promptly took action. Daddy came running with a stable fork and effected a rescue.

On Wednesday and Thursday we helped out in a truly monstrous project that was going on at church, namely, the setting up of things for a garage sale. The items gathered filled fellowship hall, and leaked out into the narthex, various hallways, a couple of other rooms, a courtyard, and a fair amount of the outdoors. We left the task of deciding monetary values of things to wiser heads than ours, but we pitched in with moving and organizing stuff where necessary. The second night a thunderstorm rocked the building, and the hall with lots of suits and jackets got inundated with rainwater. Daddy came running with the bucket and mop and effected a rescue.

We also came away with a few nifty items ourselves, including the odd toy, book, article of clothing, and kitchen device.

Friday found us having a brief session at the library. Earlier, Daddy’s workday was hectic: in addition to his usual stuff, and several special projects, and—as often happens before a holiday weekend—the office was permitted to leave two hours early. Oh, and it was his turn to clean the kitchen. Daddy is probably the only person who ever cleans the tops of the refrigerators (and they get mighty dusty).

Lydia had a field trip during the week, to Scarlett Woods. Mommy, in addition to helping out at church and with the normal grind, had a job interview over at Willow Run. She later found that she hadn’t got the job, and was at least partly relieved. Surely something better is around the corner.

22 May 2006—A Stable Environment

May, it always seemed to me, was one of those months that trudge along at a maddeningly slow pace, and suddenly it’s gone and we turn around and say, “What happened? Where did the month go?” And sure enough, we’re already coming into the home stretch.

Last Monday we started off with another session of therapeutic horseback riding; they don’t seem to have as many volunteers there as they did last year, a fact that has resulted in Daddy being called upon to rush in with a stable fork whenever the horses get a nature call. This time three of the four horses, probably conspiring, did the dirty deed within moments of each other. Daddy has now dealt with enough horse apples to qualify him for a minor political career. But hey, it’s the serving that counts.

We had a special event on Wednesday, that being the end-of-year ceremony for the Girl Scouts. Names were announced, pins were pinned on, photos were taken, and truckloads of sugary goodies were consumed. Oddly, our troop will still be meeting for a couple weeks or more.

Friday found us following up on something we’d learned the previous week at the Falks’ home: that both Hannah (singing) and Karissa (piano) would take part in a recital at Pleasant Lake Baptist Church. We went there, bringing along Mrs. Betzig and daughter Sarah, and also Mrs. Adams, all of whom, like us, have been friends of the Falks for years. The reunion was joyous in itself, but we also got treated to the good music of the different piano and voice students—ranging in age from four to mid-teens—and then downstairs for more truckloads of snacks. I dare say our van got worse mileage on the way home.

Saturday morning was a time for a particularly onerous task, in Daddy’s point of view, namely, gardening. He hasn’t the talent, the drive, nor the patience to cultivate a successful garden, especially for something so basically purposeless as flowers; now if he could do a good patch of venus flytraps, on the other hand.... For a couple of hours he overturned lots of dirt (thankfully this had been greatly softened by the frequent rains of the last two weeks), excised weeds, and then carefully planted a flat of impatiens (feel free to insert your own pun here). It’s certainly a quiet activity, if you don’t count all the vile names Daddy’s knees were calling him.

Later, after another fun session of ballet class, we headed down to Saline for the season opening of Rentschler Farm. Once again, as in the autumn, the neighboring strip mall of businesses had various specials going on, and there were some of those big inflatable “bouncing rooms” set up in a cordoned-off section of the parking lot. Lydia always enjoys the latter. One of them was shaped like a ship and was given the groaner of a name “Mutiny on the Bouncer.” Daddy, meanwhile, sat down on the pavement and took out his handy juggle balls and enthralled people while they removed shoes and/or waited in line. At least one person thought he was part of the day’s official entertainment. Unfortunately, Daddy didn’t notice until several hours later that he’d been royally cooking his arms and face in the direct sunlight, and was a fairly bright pink for the balance of the weekend. The farm itself had its usual charms, including the homemade merry-go-round that Lydia can still ride, some musical acts aimed at the elder set, and some baby animals, most notably chicks and piglets.

On Sunday after church and lunch, Daddy wasn’t feeling well, and went to sleep it off, only rising again in the evening. Lydia and Mommy, meanwhile, had their own little outing, first with a trip to the library, and later doing errands. We finished off our busy week with a game involving flash cards; we finally had to abandon it due to the late hour. Fun’s fun, but not at the expense of a good sleep. We sometimes learn that the hard way.

15 May 2006—Mom’s the Word

Yesterday we stopped to salute our moms. Mostly this was done with phone calls—and consequently we were brought up to date on other family business (moms as a rule are nothing if not good gossips)—but Lydia had some nice little gifts for Mommy that she’d made in school and/or child care. The good thing about tissue paper flowers is that they don’t die. The bad thing is that they’re never alive in the first place. There’s always a balance to these things.

The week was its typically busy self, which is fine. We like to stay busy. Unfortunately the weather has been busily dumping cold rain on us for about a week, and plans to continue the same for some time.

Aside from weekly specials like horseback riding and ballet class, we note the passing of time with meetings at church (Deacons & Elders on Monday, Awana Year-End Round-Up on Wednesday), and with Girl Scouts on Friday. After the latter, we drove out to visit our old friends the Falks. Food (you grill a great steak, Ken!), conversation, and playing with the kiddies made the time fly.

Saturday found us south of the border, as we visited the WPOS radio station in Toledo—they had a visit there from a trucking ministry that Mommy had read about, thought was interesting, and wished to investigate—the weather was too foul to go to the zoo as we’d hoped, but we consoled ourselves with another trip to the COSI science museum. Lydia even got to ride on a bizarre contraption called a “boyo” (presumably a contraction of “body yo-yo”). Although they didn’t know the machine’s limits, Daddy figured he was probably too big for it, and Mommy decided she was too much of an adult. Oh, and we should note that Lydia bested Mommy in the 10-meter dash in the sports area. “I wasn’t trying to let her win,” Mommy admitted.

Sunday really was a day of rest, for the most part. Hopefully Mommy got the most.

Time is over for overtime. Daddy went in to work on Sunday evening and finished up his allotment. Once again, there’s a good way (more time) and a bad way (less money) to look at it.

8 May 2006—Good-Bye to Sparks

The big item of the week was the great finish to our Awana year, the Awards Ceremony. Lydia was one of eight clubbers who got her Sparky Plaque for finishing all three books. In the Sparks portion of the evening, Mommy (aka Madam Secretary) passed out the awards, and Daddy (aka Mr. Vincent, the Director) did the announcing—and incidentally cemented his reputation as the church’s premier flake with a fairly good Veggie Tales voice impression—and also posed for pictures with the clubbers. Everything went well, and it was a real credit to the people who put it all together.

And what of Awana now? Well, there’s an all-workers meeting this week, and there will be a celebration for the directors at some point, and then a good rest punctuated with some eager recruiting for more leaders—Sparks is losing at least six of our regular helpers of this last year; so far we know of two new ones coming aboard, but obviously we’ve got some work to do to make up the difference. When autumn comes, Daddy and Mommy will be back at their old stands (Daddy will be beginning his 16th year), but Lydia will move on to the greener pastures of T&T.

Oh, and yesterday in the morning service, they showed a video of various Awana workers (Daddy prominent among them) giving some of their thoughts, including highlights of the year and the joys of working there. Perhaps recruiting will be easier with this nice advertisement in mind.

Mommy took advantage of her first week home from work to do lots of errand-running and also more in-depth job searching. She has already done an online application for one UM job (very near Daddy’s workplace, in fact), and has done the paperwork for at least two others. We trust that God will be gracious in providing a new position before long.

Lydia had another session of therapeutic horseback riding on Monday, and of ballet class on Saturday; we’re very glad to have her taking part in both.

1 May 2006—Our Little Ballerina

April closed with a typically busy week, the highlights of which included:

The return to therapeutic horseback riding on Monday (Lydia is back aboard Fable, and Daddy even got to help out with the aid of a big fork-like instrument that’s used to help keep the stables nice and clean—don’t ask for details);

Awana on Wednesday (the last regular night of the year, and also Pajama Night); also Grandma Brattin’s birthday (we got to talk to her that night);

Library, and Mommy’s last day at her job, and Lydia’s finally being able to do her long-awaited Maiasaura report, on Friday.

The weekend was momentous. On Saturday morning Daddy rode with our old friends the Hendees to church to take part in a special spring work day. He ended up toiling with three other bespectacled deacons smoothing out the land to the southeast of the building, an area that had been rather chopped up by snowplows. This involved rakes, shovels, and wheelbarrows, and resulted in backaches and blisters. Still, the four guys, though amateurs, did a pretty decent job.

Mommy, meanwhile, was trying to get an oil change for the car, and this was proving strangely difficult. This involved going to two different places, and eventually everything was dealt with (she had collected Daddy en route to the second place to stand there and look formidable). Then it was off to the Eberbach Cultural Arts Center, for Lydia’s first session in a beginning ballet class. The adults were cordoned off, and got only fleeting glimpses of the proceedings, but it looks like Lydia did a good job staying on task and following directions, and she clearly had a good time. Her instructor is a very nice lady named Miss Dianna. Later Lydia got to go finish the brain games that she’d started the previous Saturday, while Mommy and Daddy tried to stay awake in the waiting area.

Sunday was one of those days that found us at church both early and often. Daddy was ushering, and later took his turn at lock-up duty, with Lydia’s usual help (she loves to turn the lights off in the auditorium). Back for a meeting in the afternoon about the ushering ministry, and later Daddy got to take part in his newest ministry duty, as the assistant with baptism. We also had communion and a quick business meeting.

Maybe in May we’ll be able to relax a bit. Somehow I doubt it.

P.S. On Monday, we discovered, to our shock and dismay, that the building at Camp Hilltop, where Mommy and Lydia had had an overnight campout the previous October, had burned to the ground the previous afternoon (about the same time we were at the Leslie Science Center). Investigations since have turned up evidence of neither negligence nor wrongdoing. As to Hilltop’s fate from here, we’ll have to wait and see.

24 April 2006—Back in the Saddle again

In more ways than one. For one, Daddy is back to his old daytime homestead after a week of vacation, and second, Lydia will begin a new season of therapeutic horseback riding tonight.

13 April 2006—The Tomb is Empty!

If you’re going to celebrate with eggs, bunnies, jelly beans, etc., hey, that’s okay. Just don’t forget the real reason we have Easter in the first place: Jesus Christ rose from the dead, and thus made a way for us to share eternal life with Him. If you don’t get the real message, then it’s just another Sunday in spring, only more caloric.

A pre-vacation peep (speaking of which, those marshmallow thingies are good, too) here; taking off after work today, and not returning for a couple of Mondays. The schools are doing it, and it makes more sense for Daddy to drain his vacation supply than to jeopardize Mommy’s job or to fork over the funds for childcare. So, Daddy and Lydia are looking forward to a week together, away from their normal cares.

In this short interval we’ve had some noteworthy things happen: on Monday we had a Girl Scout get-together, moved as it was from the usual Friday (the upcoming one being Good, don’t you know); Daddy reached the incredibly trivial 500 month plateau on Tuesday, and Wednesday saw Lydia acting in a Sparks Council Time story for what was probably the final time.

10 April 2006—Ice Scrapers & Golf Clubs

In a repeat of last week, we reserved Saturday for our long list of errands, and had our fun and memorable stuff on Sunday.

Sunday started, like so many of late, with Daddy having to scrape the ice off the car windows. This is no big deal, of course, but since our afternoon temperatures have sometimes climbed thirty degrees, it makes it difficult deciding what kind of clothes to wear.

At our morning services, Lydia got to take part—along with about sixty other children—in a boisterous sing-along in the front of the auditorium while waving palm branches. It was a good rendition of the joyous celebrating that took place at the triumphal entry.

3 April 2006—We’ve got showers (no foolin’)

March stampeded away in a blaze of glory, namely a good crashing thunderstorm. Actually, all of our weather so far this year is of the “leftover” variety, i.e. the remnants of what was really remarkable a couple of days and two or three states ago. The best we’ve had this year has been an extended tornado watch. To anyone who has seen a real tornado (including Daddy in a memorable moment of his childhood), tornado watches are old hat and nothing to get excited about.

Mommy’s job has been extended, which has its good points ($), and its not-quite-so-good ones (Daddy has to siphon more of his vacation time whenever the schools are off). Still, he’s looking forward to the Spring break with Lydia, and they will make an effort to do some memorable stuff this time, rather than spend all of it straightening the house.

Saturday was one of those busy, fulfilling days that’s just no fun to read about. We made lists of things (errands and chores) to do, and by golly, we did a good job with it. Let’s move on to Sunday.

Many people at church did a tremendous amount of work for the children on Sunday morning. What was assembled was the “Elementary Easter Journey,” and the kids—one class at a time—moved from one special display room to another, where a certain aspect of the Holy Week story was presented. Daddy got to do something he thoroughly enjoys, but doesn’t get to do as much as he used to, namely, theatrics. His part was a one-man show, acting out the part of Malchus, the poor fellow who got his ear chopped off and subsequently repaired by Jesus just before the latter’s arrest. Since only one class came in at a time, he got to do the performance five times that same morning. It’s been said that eventually Daddy’s going to play every male role in the Bible except Zacchaeus. Read up on it (Luke 19:1-10) if you don’t understand why not.

After church we stayed for a meeting of the Awana directors, as we got each other on the same page for the sprint to the finish. We were also permitted to partake of a potluck lunch ostensibly for the college students. Our compliments to all the chefs!

The remainder of the afternoon found us downtown at a couple of favorite haunts, first at the Hands-On Museum, and later on at the library. At the former we watched and took part in some special displays by students of the UM Physics Dept. Especially interesting was when they made flames dance with different sounds, and the amazing things they could do with liquid nitrogen (“How high will this racquetball bounce?” Smash!).

April brings a rash of birthdays in the family, notably uncle Roger on the 2nd, cousin Chey on the 3rd, great-aunt Helen on the 5th, great-Grandma Crabtree on the 6th, great-uncle Jim on the 15th, aunt Laura on the 19th, and both aunt Julie and Grandma Brattin on the 26th. Hallmark, anyone?

20 March 2006—With a side of Applesauce

Lydia got the thrill of her young life—hey, we all did—when we attended a concert in Dearborn last Thursday, featuring a good handful of performers from the Lawrence Welk Show. (Quick note: Lydia has been a passionate fan of the program for more than a year now, which must make her a prodigy of some kind.) We sat practically within reach of the stage, and we later got to meet the stars for some photos, autographs, discussions, and—in Lydia’s case—big hugs. We took some great pictures, and once we get this photo-download thing worked out, we’ll have them to share here.

We didn’t need anything else special to mark the day, but we got one nevertheless: the building (the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center) includes an art studio, and they were showcasing a bunch of puppets, including one that Daddy remembers vividly from his childhood: Applesauce the Dragon. We’re still hoping to get to a puppet show so that Lydia can see Applesauce in action.

The weekend was—with the exception of such errands run both in and out of the home—a time to relax and reflect. Daddy also marked the occasion by donating blood for the fiftieth time. It’s always good to be able to do one’s share.

15 March 2006—Damocles’ sword is no more

My goodness, what a week it’s been! Mommy revealed to our adult Sunday School class our need for help in the clean-up of our home, especially with the time-frame that we had. In the time since—most notably this last weekend—we had great numbers of people over, and together we removed a tidal wave of papers, gave out tons of clothing and books for donations, and dented the garbage bins with stuff tossed out (regrettably, there were some things among them that we didn’t want tossed out, but the alternative would have been much worse).

Perhaps the best way to summarize what happened would be to copy the body of the Thank You letter we sent when it was over. Here it is:

Dear all,

Well, the moment of truth has come and gone. Pastor contacted me and said that the inspection is done, and things are fine. There are some recommendations for the future, but at least the sword of Damocles has been removed.

We can’t tell you enough how incredibly thankful we are for all your efforts! In the last 1½ weeks, we were frequently up ‘til 2 or 3am, sorting things, moving things, and removing things. But, in truth, our efforts would not have even come close had it not been for the collective work by our church family.

And if you are reading this and you were “only” able to support us through prayer, thank you! Without your prayers, I shudder to think what might have happened.

I started to write out what each person did, but there was just too much to remember, and I didn’t want to miss anyone’s contribution. So many things were cleared out, cleaned up, and hauled away that the difference in the place is hard to comprehend. We thank you for the time you took, the sensible suggestions you made, and, perhaps most of all, for the uncritical attitude you showed. Any of you could have asked, with a censorious wag of the finger, “How could you have let things get like this?” (We’ve asked ourselves this a million times, but something—lack of time, lack of ambition, lack of organizational skills—kept us from getting it done.) Instead we were met with smiles, hugs, and handshakes, and a “Let me help make this better” demeanor that made all the difference.

I realize that there were times when we may have seemed uncooperative or ungrateful (“What? Get rid of my fake juggling eggs? Why, I use them once every three years like clockwork!” or “Do we have to throw out this fingerpainting that Lydia did as a two-year-old? I know it looks like a car accident, but still...”), and for that we apologize. And if, in the rush to de-debris the home, some valuables were lost, we know we’ll just have to live with it.

We made a vow to ourselves, now that we have this fresh start, to keep it as much like this as we possibly can. Indeed, we are already looking forward to lightening the load in the basement and closets.

It’s so wonderful to have a home that, not only can we be proud to live in, but that we can be proud to show off. Our church family really came through in our time of need. If there were a stronger word than “Thanks,” we’d be using it.

Thank you again, and God bless you,

Vincent, Susan, and Lydia

p.s. Please put me at or near the top of your list if you need a favor. —Vincent

So now we can relax a little, but afterward we have to remain vigilant lest our pack-rat habits creep up on us again.

There was one other activity of late worth mentioning, namely Lydia’s trip with the Girl Scouts to Detroit Metro Airport on Saturday. She got a tour of the control tower, and got a great view of airline jets landing. She also was thrilled with the inter-airport subway ride. Wish we could have been there, but....

Just a quick extra note to acknowledge the wacky weather of late. Most of last week we had nasty cold drizzle. Saturday started with an intensely thick fog, but later not only did things dry up, but the temperature shot to the mid-60’s, and t-shirts became the outdoor fashion again. Then that night we were hit with violent thunderstorms. On Sunday, while under a tornado watch the whole day, we stayed dry but had to cope with occasional 60 mph wind gusts. Meanwhile the temperatures were nosediving. On Monday morning we were dealing with blinding snow, in little pellet form. By midday that had stopped and we were on our way to a decent day out again. It’s only March, and we’re already riding roller coasters.

6 March 2006—... And dust to dust

Very briefly, the Girl Scout activities went splendidly, both with the cookie sales and the overnight outing at Camp Linden. For the latter we had four kids and five adults, which was a good ratio for avoiding problems. Daddy once again didn’t get to embarrass himself by trying to start a fire—one was started at the big lodge, and we went thither and borrowed it—but he pulled his weight (no jokes, please) with other tasks.

The Lydia/Daddy week didn’t go quite as planned. Lydia wrestled with a cold early on, which necessitated more indoor time than either one really wanted. Then came a notice that everything had to be moved away from the front door to permit an inspection of it, so we had to stay indoors for that as well (my, that organ is a tough one to budge!). Immediately afterward Mommy and Daddy went on a furious campaign to conquer the household clutter, which has meant getting rid of a lot of old things (throw away, recycle, E-Cycle, donation, you name it), and the swamping of the house in dust. Pretty ghastly stuff, dust. Makes you wonder why God chose that to create a human out of.

Thursday alone should count as three days off school for Lydia: (1) vacation, (2) the overnight ice storm that closed every otherwise operating school for several counties around, and (3) she got notably sick the evening before, a consequence of pilfering snacks. If there were any justice in the world, the latter activity would ensure that Daddy would be sick all the time.

There were some highlights along the way, including a fun time with “Guess Who I Am” night at Sparks Club on Wednesday, and a quick trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s on Thursday, and a day-long venture to Kids ‘N’ Stuff with the Morris family on Friday. The latter expressed every intention of return visits.

But now it’s Monday, with a load of work to get caught up on, and a futile effort to remember all my passwords.

24 February 2006—The Storm before the calm

Checking in on a Friday, in that this Monday I will be unable to get to my computer. Tuesday, too. In fact, I’m taking the whole week off to coincide with the schedule of the public schools. Lydia will have her “mid-winter” break, so Daddy will be staying home so she can keep him company.

But before then we’ve got a flurry of activity (and if the weatherman is right, we’ll get a flurry of other stuff, as well), as we combine a couple of time-honored Girl Scout activities into the weekend. First Lydia and Daddy will spend time in the lobby of a local store, exhorting the public to indulge in their passion for Girl Scout cookies. Afterward the family will be off on a camping trip with the rest of the troop. Daddy will get another chance to prove that his “Troop Camper” training last year wasn’t completely in vain. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Forgot to mention that we got a new door put on our house last week. It’s got a half-circle window on top, with the “peephole” down around Lydia’s level. The chain-lock is upside-down from before, and the metal plate below the door is notably, even uncomfortably, higher. Still, they used the special paint and caulk that Mommy ordered, and the resultant fumes have been much less significant than they would have been otherwise. I guess you’d have to call it a mixed blessing.

In fact, the whole complex has been getting a face-lift, as we change from a red to a creamy brown color (from sunburn to suntan, perhaps?). Hope to have pictures available before too long!

20 February 2006—Cain is able

We had a busy weekend to top off a busy week. Mommy had her first week at her new job—scheduled to last to the end of March, at least—and Lydia had her first week doing childcare at her school. Most of the time it has gone very well, and she’s learned things, made things, got some exercise, and had fun.

On Thursday we had a cold front blow through, dropping us thirty-some degrees in a matter of hours. We’ve seen little or no snow, but the bone-chilling cold is a good reminder that we got off pretty easy in January, and it’s time to pay the fiddler.

Mommy activated her new toy—no, it’s not a toy, it’s a necessity—i.e., her cell phone. The other had been more trouble than it was worth of late. The new one is barely larger than a multi-vitamin and runs a constant risk of getting lost in her cavernous purse, but we’ll no doubt learn to cope with it.

On Saturday we packed things up for an overnight trip to Coldwater. As we sometimes do, we arranged a stop at the Kids ‘N’ Stuff museum in Albion on the way, as it is one of our favorite such haunts. Lydia enjoyed, as always, her visit with Grandma Brattin and Grandma & Grandpa Crabtree. Grandma Crabtree is feeling very weak, but always brightens up when Lydia’s around.

13 February 2006—The Great Eight

Lydia had a great time celebrating her 8th birthday on Saturday; after a morning which included shredding open some neat birthday presents from friends and relatives, she chose to go to one of her favorite places, the Flint Children’s Museum. After a fun time there—save for the moment when Daddy tripped and fell over a puppet show stage, which resulted in a new collection of bumps and bruises—we investigated the playground at the school across the street, and found it to be great fun as well. And if it was this enjoyable in the winter, we’ll certainly have to return there when there isn’t a couple of inches of snow on the ground. We followed up with dinner at a nearby McDonald’s, which had the largest play area we’ve ever seen—and we’ve seen quite a few.

The day also marked the third birthday (?) of this web page. It started as just a single page, and has evolved over time to dozens of them, and all of the writing therein would probably be the size of a novel, if anyone cared to print it all.

And, through that delightful little twist of fate that put Lydia’s and Daddy’s birthdays exactly six months apart, the latter turned 41½; this sounds like no big deal, but it’s the half-way mark between those two landmark ages, 18 and 65. From now on, he is less the whippersnapper and more the geezer.

Sunday gave us a good day at church, including Lydia helping Daddy in his lock-up duties. She loves going into the balcony and helping turn out the lights. The deacons’ meeting that Daddy was going to attend got cancelled for various reasons, but he still came back in the evening for a meeting of Sunday School workers.

Today is a very eventful day. Mommy—after what seems eons of effort—has a new job. It’s full time, and pays better than Daddy’s (which is only right, considering her superior education and talents). We shoehorned Lydia into the morning and afternoon daycare program at her school, and this morning we all got up extra early to cope with the new schedule. We certainly hope to hear later on that all went well.

10 February 2006—Lots of change

A rare Friday interregnum here, as many notable events have happened already, and the next few days promise to be filled as well.

Just as happened last August, we got news—almost simultaneously—of both a birth and a death. Lydia’s aunt Katrina’s father unexpectedly passed away at age 65 back on January 9, and our old friends Mike Rolland and Julie Ramey are the proud, and doubtless exhausted, parents of their second child and first little boy, Shane Michael, born December 28.

Our car, which we affectionately know as the Camel, has been feeling its age of late, and has been getting several parts of its innards worked on, including the transmission. We still have hopes of using her for many miles to come.

Mommy has acquired a new toy, namely a new cell phone to replace the one that’s been causing so many trouble.

Tack on a couple doctor visits, a theme (“Beach Night”) at Sparks Club, and both Girl Scouts and Movie Night (the same “Wallace and Gromit” film we saw at Briarwood recently) at Allen later today, and you have a pretty full week.

And to come? Well, Lydia’s 8th birthday is tomorrow, Daddy may be spending all day at church on Sunday, and Mommy starts a new job (!) on Monday. Whew!

6 February 2006—Winter returns

Well, the groundchuck (ground hog, woodchuck, whatever) was yanked out of its sound slumber and made to look at its own shadow, thus ensuring us another six weeks of winter. Presumably, if it didn’t see its shadow, we only would have had another month and a half. I’m never sure how that’s supposed to work.

But the story of winter this year has been its absence. The first three weeks of December were cold and snowy, with two storms good enough to close the schools. But from then until this last weekend, it’s been above freezing nearly every day, with nary a new flake in sight. I don’t think I got into my boots the whole month of January.

But over Friday night/Saturday morning, we were promised up to a foot of snow; we had to settle for a couple of inches, but even that was welcome.

Well, what unusual things happened this week? We had a fun visit with UM doctor Catherine Lord on Monday; she interviewed Lydia and gave her a bunch of tests in an effort to see what makes her tick. Mommy and Daddy, and a slew of graduate students, hid behind a one-way mirror to watch. Dr. Lord didn’t come to any definite conclusions, but was delighted with Lydia, and said that her IQ can be measured at either 117 or 122, depending on which of the tests she gave. They also did circumference measurements of the heads of everyone in the family: Lydia (58.5 centimeters), Daddy (59.5), and Mommy (62). In a very brief time Daddy will have the smallest head in the household, but arguably will have the one with the highest percentage of fat.

The weekend was taken up with miscellaneous errands (we ran into four other families from our church at one store), plus a time of relatively frivolous fun with a trip to the Ann Arbor Hands-On Museum. Mommy calculated that our current membership with Boonshoft—now just a few months old—has already paid for itself, give or take a dollar. Basically, this means that every zoo or museum trip we make in the next nine months is free. Gotta like that!

We quickly note that Lydia’s Grandma Dunham celebrated a birthday on Saturday, and trust that she had an enjoyable time of it. It probably didn’t involve a trip to Chuck E. Cheese’s. Oh, well.

30 January 2006—Popcorn & Beans

Our Sparks Club got together for an evening of simple fun and frivolity; no special message, no flags, no songs, no prayer even. We came dressed in pajamas, brought bean bag chairs and pillows, and had a slumber party experience eating popcorn and watching the latest Veggie Tales saga, “Lord of the Beans.” Of course, in their amusing way, they always manage to weave a good message into their stories. This one was “how to make use of your gifts.”

Lots of thanks are due: to the Falk family who provided the DVD, to Pastor Rose for setting up the equipment (he also helped serve drinks), and to Hans Sowder for additional technical expertise, drink serving, and all-around order-keeping. Mommy was the popcorn matron and photo-historian, and Daddy served as the master of ceremonies.

On Saturday we made a neat FreeCycle pick-up (Note: some internal squabbling has resulted in the Ann Arbor branch—and many others—to change their name to “E-Cycle,” which just doesn’t have the same ring to it. It should still work the same way, though.): we got a scanner and a computer disk drive. Our computer is old enough that it would be cheaper to replace it than to fix it, so Daddy might be able to take some liberties in tinkering with it, at no great risk. Their other scanner source has recently run aground, so we have high hopes to get this one to function.

Sunday’s weather was fair to partly lousy. Specifically, it was rainy and windy pretty much the whole day. Nevertheless, we opted to drive down to Toledo for our first zoo trip of the year. We only had an hour, but with some rapid movements we managed to take in nearly half of the place. We especially enjoyed the antics of the rapidly-growing Louis the elephant, and the Arctic, Reptilia, and Aviary buildings all had good stuff. We’ll be back, of course, and next time we expect to have both weather and time on our side.

But while we seem to spend a fair amount of our time with entertainment, we should note that there are others close to us that aren’t so fortunate. We’ve heard a couple of cases in the last week of people at church who have lost their jobs, and other cases of people with health problems; Mr. Newell, for instance, is in dire need of a kidney transplant. We talked to Grandma Brattin last night, and found that Lydia’s Uncle Roger slipped and fell on the ice recently, dislocating his shoulder and racking him with pain. If he were to get properly treated, with subsequent long recuperation, his job may or may not be there at the end; hence, he is putting off treatment. Our great hope is that he will somehow emerge from this both healed and employed. We covet all prayers to that end!

23 January 2006—Fun with (classical) Music

Another week goes zipping by. But instead of thinking, “Ho-hum, another week,” we can rejoice in the continuation of the things we have. We have the same home, the same school, the same work, the same church, the same car, and—best of all—we have our healthy selves. It’s not new, and often not exciting, but it’s a blessing nonetheless.

Noteworthy events included “Halfway Night” at Sparks on Wednesday. Lydia’s working on her fourth red jewel, so is on a good pace to finish her book (the green jewels generally go quicker) and thus finish up with a Sparky Plaque.

Sunday had the highlight of the week again, this time with a Girl Scouts event. Lydia and Mommy attended a special event at the Michigan Theater, presented by the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra, titled “Instrument Petting Zoo,” which taught the girls about various classical instruments (with a special emphasis on the music of Mozart, above), and even let them try them out. Lydia tried her hand at both a cello and a violin. She didn’t prove to be a second Amadeus—but then again, how many of us are?—but you never know how little encounters may later pique one’s interests. If we read this again ten years from now and find that Lydia has become an accomplished violinist, we’ll want to remember where it started!

17 January 2006—Old dog learns new trick

It was a relatively uneventful week for the most part. Some of the highlights included Lydia’s return to school after the break (which started and finished a week later than in many other districts), a job interview for Mommy which feels a little promising, and a get-together for the ladies at church on Saturday night.

Sunday evening churned the memories. Our family joined about two dozen others—more than a hundred people altogether—for a spot of ice skating at Buhr Park. Daddy, like Lydia, had never ice skated before. Lydia found the experience rather overwhelming, and most of her time on the ice was in her sled, being towed by friendly folks with considerable skating skill (first by Ellie Hodges—whom Lydia probably outweighs—and later by Carl Hayes; thank you both!).

Daddy looked like the king of the oafs out there, but managed a decent record by circling the rink five times and only falling three. Furthermore, he didn’t squash a single fellow skater in the process. The first fall was relatively harmless; but, for the complete neophyte, getting back up was an incredible trial. The second time he did a forward flop on his fortunately flabby front. The third time he found himself doing the splits (yike!) and came down with some violence on his left knee. Two days later, it’s still tender, but not as bruised as we thought it would be.

Daddy has said that he might try it again in another 41 years. Maybe.

After the skating, many of the families—including ours—accepted the invitation by the Hayes family to come to their home and enjoy a time of games, snacks, and conversation. As is our custom, Lydia did the games, Mommy did the conversation, and Daddy....

10 January 2006—I can see clearly now...

Well, actually the prescriptions hadn’t changed, so we already saw clearly enough. But anyway, getting new glasses was quite an event.

Awana returned after its two-week hiatus, and went splendidly. Lydia is cruising through her climber book.

Daddy donated blood on Saturday morning; it was noted with some irony that the incredibly icy roads that morning could have easily resulted in the kind of accident wherein he might have needed a withdrawal, instead. Careful driving kept things safe. Indeed, we played it conservatively and stayed indoors nearly the whole day (the local news was absolutely awash with reports of accidents).

Sunday saw us back at church for the first regular service since December. Lydia did fine in her class, and Daddy had a new (pre-K/K) class to work with. Later that day he was in a meeting with the other deacons, and still later the whole family took part in an evening service/business meeting. We trust that God will bless the efforts of the people who make decisions for the church.

3 January 2006—Happy New Year!

To you and yours. Lydia and family just got back from a week in Chambersburg, PA at the new home of her Grandma and Grandpa Dunham. A quick run-down of the events:

It’s not a Blog, it’s a Christmas Letter in process

I don’t like to think of the contributions here as constituting a blog, as the term is generally understood: a public internet forum for people to present their take on current events, with an effort to shaping public opinion, and frequently inviting comments from outsiders. What I do is much simpler—I chronicle events that effect us. If anyone reads and is interested, that’s fine (and we do welcome any commentary that gets e-mailed to us), but its main purpose is to keep an accurate record of our own activities; the joys and the sorrows, the unusual and the mundane. As age creeps up on us, it gets harder to remember what we did and when: better, I’ve found, to jot down highlights each week. Sometimes I indulge in a little philosophizing, but usually it’s just a straightforward retelling of events. Like most of my life’s regrets, I only wish I’d started this long ago, but as they say, time only goes forward.