a mixed bag

I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to catch up a little of what has been going on around here.

We are down to our last week of summer baseball. I suppose I should be sad, but I'm not. Baseball three nights a week has really thrown a kink into our "normal" routine. Now, I am not what you would call a "scheduled" person, but I do like to be at home some and for the last couple of months we have been going at least 4 out of every 5 weeknights. Ugh! On the bright side though, JW's team is still undefeated. Of course, the best part is that he has had fun and I think has made good progress this year. I will definitely give credit to his coaches for the progress. They have been wonderful ... not once all year have I heard them raise their voices to the boys on the team, except to cheer them on. When correction has been needed, they have done it quietly and with lots of positive encouragement. They have done a great job boosting my very timid child's confidence and have helped him to have a desire to get better and play harder next year. I'd call that a successful year of ball.

We have also ended another great year of dance for LB. She has now completed 5 years of dance and loves it as much today as she did when she started. As a matter of fact, I think she loves it even more now than she did at the beginning. Last year, she did her first solo in the dance recital. She did great and we were extremely proud of her. This year, she and a friend decided that they wanted to do a duet. Their teacher approved and after some discussion, she chose for them to do a tap number to Sea Cruise. They did a great job on their duet, though they did forget a few steps in their 2nd recital, and I think they learned a great life lesson ... when you make a mistake, just keep going. They also learned that sometimes it is easier to dance solo!

On a less positive note, our van is dead. Well, not the whole van, just the transmission. Which, in a van older than my marriage, (it's a 1996) with 175,000 miles, it might as well be the whole van. While we take our time and try NOT to make any mistakes in buying a new(er) vehicle we are driving the car that my mom bought the year I graduated from high school. Early on, my mom was very protective of that car, but gradually, as it began developing symptoms of old age, it became my dad's junker ... the one he uses for trips to the hardware store and such. It has no air conditioning (have I mentioned that I live in the deep south? and it is June!) and we have been admonished to drive it like Daddy ... which means that we can't drive over 40 miles an hour. Let's just say that it has been really, um, interesting for the last few weeks. Oh, and I guess I should also mention that this is a REALLY small car and I have 3 children who can't ride in this car without touching each other ... really interesting.

I shouldn't complain, though and, I am extremely thankful that my parents have allowed us to use the car so that we can take our time in finding a new van. Well, actually, we are looking for the used van that we want to buy. We have already spent more time praying about this decision than we did about the other two vehicles we have bought combined. I guess the up side is that I am looking forward to having something reliable to drive (and it won't hurt that it will probably look better!) and I can honestly say that we have matured enough to know that this is not a decision we want to make on our own ... again!

It is late and I have to get up early to have the older two kids at the 1st of 3 Vacation Bible Schools they are planning to attend this year. This one is at the church where some of our home schooled friends go and will be the kids' 1st experience with a daytime VBS. Later this month they will go to my parents' church and then next month will be our church's turn. Unfortunately, D can't go to any except ours since he is still only 3. It is okay though ... he will get to hang out with Mama most of the week and even has a play date with a friend one morning ... I think he'll survive.

With ALL that said, I hope everyone has a great week and now I am going to bed!