You asked for it!

You asked for it, so here it is. My "personal" blog.

YIKES! Why do I succumb to peer pressure so easily?

Am I THAT exciting that I deserve to write only about myself and my family?

Well, ok then....here goes! :)

I can't sleep. It's almost five in the morning and I have decided to just stay up (oh yeah, and disregard the time/date stamp....I have not figured out how to change it. It is currently 4:56 a.m. and the darn thing says 2:35!). The five hours that I've already gotten must have been enough (?)!! Well, I can always take a nap later in the day. In the morning, however, it is off to school to pick up my books for the next semester - it starts next week! Where did the time go? Microbiology and Advanced Anatomy and Physiology, for those of you interested. Eight credits. Yep, not an overachiever here!

Yesterday our priest left to visit his family - for four weeks. He is from India - so he only goes home one time a year (the round-trip airplane ticket is $1000!!). Son saw him leaving and announced it to the family. Daughter #3 immediately broke down. Seriously! Tears and the whole bit. Lasted for about 15 minutes too! Poor little thing. Through the sobbing I was able to decipher that she understands that Father misses his family and he needs to go home to see them, but she is going to miss him. Poor, poor kiddo!

Daughter #1 came down with the flu yesterday - so we weren't even able to say good-bye to Father. We will e-mail him though and let him know that we are thinking and praying for him. Especially praying. I really hope he doesn't get the flu! Hubby and Son took Father to the local dairy on Saturday for cheese curds. Daughter #3 was sick New Year's Eve....me the next day....hubby that night....Daughter #1 yesterday - looks like a trend. I can only pray that the rest of the kiddos stay well. In the midst of all of this, I do thank the Lord though. Glad that Hubby got sick when he did, because he will be better tomorrow for work.

Yesterday, around three p.m., my uncle died. He was also my godfather. Bittersweet. Thanking God for the time that he had and that he is no longer in pain - but also knowing that his two girls are in lots of pain. The death of a loved one is hard - a parent is worse. My mother-in-law has been gone for 2 years this July. Most days, it still just feels like she is on a short vacation with my father-in-law (an over-the-road trucker - a few times a year she would ride with him on some longer trips). I still pick up the phone to call to tell her about a new milestone that one of the kids has met, or a new sewing project I'm doing, or to tell her what one of the kids said or did....or just to chat. I haven't actually dialed the phone in a long time - so I guess that it is easing some. In the first year - there were many times that I would actually pick up the phone and begin to dial the number before I would remember.

I think that the holidays may be harder just because it's "the time" to get together. I still find myself coming up with ideas for her gifts for her to get for the kids and Hubby. Mother's day is a hard one too - less because of celebrating it with her - but more because she had always given a gift to each of the girls - daughter or daughter-in-law - on Mother's Day telling us that we were the mother's to her grandchildren! She was indeed a special lady.