Courageous Joy

Woo HOO – it’s DENTIST DAY AGAIN!!!! YIPEEE!!!

Don’t you wish that was the attitude of children? Ah well. I took the younger five to the dentist while the boys were in Alaska. Today was THEIR turn. Stacia continued to charm everyone in the office. The men get a kick out of Zander….The boys liked the new dentist AND the new dentist said that they have beautiful teeth…no problems at all. Beats the other one who thought we needed extractions, root canals and braces 8 months ago. We’re happy.

While the boys’ teeth were cleaned, I took the younger four to HEB. I’m really missing not having our co-op food. Ugh. I still can’t figure what happened to the order. They suggested that I put “please confirm order” in the comment line from now on and they’ll zip me a confirmation when they receive the order. ANYWAY – I realized that we’ve gotten very use to an alternate eating style. I found myself saying, “Where’s the flax oil?” “Don’t you have Almond Butter?” “Where are your bulk nuts?” The produce guys are getting to know us. They had some “new fruits” for us to try. We tried Dragon Fruit – like big flavorless kiwi fruit….but impressive looking. We also tried lychee. Now this was not new to ME. This was “fresh from Taiwan” but we ate this all the time in the Philippines. Stacia LOVED them. I ended up buying 10 lychee and a dragon fruit for the others to try at home.

On the way home we stopped at the library. Zander has a difficult time when it is time to leave ANYWHERE but he was having a really good time at the library. He began to show signs of an impending meltdown when he realized it was time to go. I asked Jamin to check us out and got down at his level. I said, “it is hard for you when it’s time to leave isn’t it?” He agreed. I told him that we needed to leave and if he got mad when it was time to leave that I would not bring him back the next time I brought Arielle and Nolan to the library. He looked at me and got up. We got outside of the library and he said, “Mom, I am so, so , SO good.” I agreed that he had made a very good choice. Jamin, Josiah and I had a good laugh over his feeling of being so good after being disciplined. I told them I think I would have said he was “so, so, SO good!” if he hadn’t needed the discussion in the first place. {g}

We had hoped to go play this afternoon, but my responsible young men reminded me that we needed to work on their portfolios. We did that.

Josiah and Mike were BOTH home for dinner tonight! This is rare. I made manicotti. I’m STILL trying to find whole wheat manicotti or large shells…anyone have a clue???? I made a big salad, apple crisp, bread and artichokes to go along with the manicotti. Mike ran back to base for a worship team practice…Jamin planned his work day for tomorrow (lawns, John’s barn and something else)…..we all met back in the living room to play with blocks and listen to another chapter out of *The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe*. Jared took a lot of photos…I’ll sort through them in the morning and post some. I’m calling it a full day and heading to bed while Stacia is still sleeping….oh she is getting a rash…YIKES…I want to keep her in cloth nappies.