You can see it coming

I love summer rain showers. Especially when they are accompanied by thunder. However, our 10 year old is not fond of thunder at all. No matter what the season.

Today we had a doozy of a storm. I was out running errands, getting drenched. Jack was home with his big sister. This is what I came home to.

Yup – he’s learned how to look up the local weather report and follow the radar imaging. What you can’t see is that he was watching Jaws 4 on Netflix streaming at the same time.

Then tonight at dinner we were talking about sharks, as you do. Chelsea mentioned that she’d prefer swimming in clear ocean water. That way you can see the shark coming. As if an expected shark bite hurts less than an unexpected shark bite.

Just like a severe thunderstorm is less scary when you can see it coming on the radar…

Dog Days of Summer

We've been dogsitting this week. Gina and Lola are two of our favorite dogs.

They just come in and make themselves at home.

With three big dogs in the house I sometimes feel like I'm in the movie "Seems Like Old Times" with Goldie Hawn. Everytime a door opens, or a truck drives by, or a dish rattles in the kitchen, or a squirrel rustles leaves outisde, everyone is up and running to check it out. And everywhere we go, there is a dog.

They love to go on our daily walk.

And they love attention.

We'll miss them when they go home.

Home of the Brave

Yes, it’s the 4th of July, and I am ever-grateful for those who went before us and stood up for our freedoms. And I am continually grateful for those who choose to fight to keep our freedoms and to gain freedom for others around the world.

But that’s not what this post is about. I looked up the meaning of the word brave. It says “displaying or possessing courage.”

This weekend, as we celebrate the home of the brave, we have seen a different display of courage in our home.

Friday, our 10 year old, underwent surgery. It was nothing major. At a well-check a few weeks ago, his doctor detected an issue and referred us to a specialist. The specialist then decided that surgery was necessary and scheduled it for 3 days later, which was this past Friday.

Jack is not a fan of all things medical – medicine, dentists, shots, talk of disease, etc. He’d just rather not think about it, much less talk about it or experience it. Fortunately, he’s been our healthiest child so we haven’t had to deal much with his fear of all things medical. Until Friday.

In the few days we had to prepare for his procedure, we talked through a lot of fear and anxiety. As we drove to the hospital that morning, Jack said to Dave, “Dad, you played a pretty good psychologist last night. I’d give you a B.” Eventually that fateful moment came when we walked into the hospital.

Jack took each moment in stride and we did our best to work through the emotions and balance that with distractions.

The cool thing was that he could draw on his sheets.

He had to make sure that they knew his name is Jack even though the records say John.

Eventually they came to wheel him away and he was on his own facing his fears. Later he told me that he wasn’t brave because he cried when they wheeled him away. I reassured him that his bravery was exactly that – his tears were an honest display of how scared he was. And it took courage to keep control of himself otherwise and follow the directions of the nurses and doctors.

A little over an hour later we were in the recovery room with him as he fought the yucky feeling of waking from anesthesia and realized what “you’ll be a little sore” really means. And then the realization that he had not one, but two scars, to remind him of this day.

A little while later we were packing up and heading home – which is exactly where Jack wanted to go. Here he is in his ride out – he told the nurse the two-seater wheel chair might be a bit much for him.

So on this weekend as we celebrate the home of the brave, we’ve been home with our brave 10 year old, who now has quite a story under his belt…

It's summer. Our family schedule is all over the map. There is no consistency week to week and no structure to many of our days. But we still like to sit down as a family for dinner as often as possible. It's just about the only time of day we are all together.

But the schedule of summer, along with the heat, means I need to come up with recipes that 1) are mostly pleasing to everyone 2) not too time consuming in prep and cooking and 3)not heavy on the stomach or too hot in the body.

Last night I made one of my favorites. A friend shared this idea with me a couple of years ago, and it's been a hit with most of the family. (very few foods are a hit with everyone in our family....)

It's easy and requires a grill - keeping the kitchen nice and cool.

For each person, assemble the following:

On a square of foil (I use the non-stick kind) layer:

- Thin slices of potatoes.
- One thin chicken breast

- Feta cheese sprinkled on top

- Seal up the foil packet tight, place it on the grill for 15-20 minutes.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can vary it for each individual, depending on preferences, since everyone gets their own little foil packet.

Last night I used sweet potatoes for Dave's and mine. The kids prefer regular potatoes.

Also, our chicken was marinated in a hot sauce, but not the kids'.

I also used reduced fat feta cheese, keeping in check what we eat.

Served up with a leafy green salad, it was a great balanced meal.

Do you have any fun, favorite summer recipes?

Project Patio

We have a project underway at our house. We’ve reached the point of no return, so I thought it would be fun to blog about our progress.

When we bought this house 4 years ago, it had a wood deck in the back yard. The deck wasn’t in great shape, and we knew it would need some work in the near future.

Well, the future is here. And instead of “repairing” the deck, we decided to remove it and start over from scratch.

Our plan is to give a more landscaped, yet still natural, look to the back of our house.

So after much sweat and hard work on the part of the boys in our house, the deck is gone.

And anytime you remove something from a house, especially one as old as its owners, you never know what’s waiting for you behind or underneath.

What did we find? Well, besides a little rot on the house, we found a concrete slab. About 4’ x 3’ and about 4” thick. I suggested we pay the “trash takers” who will come haul away our wood to demolish the slab and take it away. But Dave was determined to keep this project as low cost as possible.

So now we're ready for the trash-takers.

And we have our patio stones for the re-design.

But first we need a few trees removed. And we can’t do that on our own. Our trees are so tall you can’t see the tops of some of them. Like 80 – 90 feet tall.

So that’s the next step. Stay tuned for our progress....

Writer's Traffic Jam

I haven’t posted in a while. I’ve been having a bit of writer’s traffic jam.

It’s not that I don’t have anything to say. In fact, I have started several drafts with updates of what’s going on in hour house, thoughts on parenting and letting go, and so on. But the thoughts, along with the activities in our house, have been overwhelming. There has been much reflection over the last few weeks and much melancholy. And there have been many activities and a house full of guests. I simply haven’t had the space to collect my thoughts into written word.

But I do want to acknowledge that we have graduated our eldest.



We celebrated all weekend with grandparents in town.

And I must add the classic quote she spoke to the principal as she received her diploma.

“I love the red scarf, Mr. T….” I don’t know what sort of one-liners he got from the 350+ grads that day, but that has to be a classic.

Later that night as we feasted in celebration, Dave gave a little speech of how proud we are of our little girl.


She has taught us so much about parenting, loving and life in general. We are humbled to be her parents and honored that our title remains no matter how old or independent she becomes.

Now it is summer. No normal schedule. Maybe I’ll find time to write. But today the pool is our priority…

Public School...

When you hear the words “public school” what thoughts come to mind?

Most often when I hear those words spoken, they are surrounded with negative words regarding poor funding, limited programs, bureaucratic leadership, biased and inaccurate curriculum, the sketchy-ness of the students or the lameness of the teachers, I’ve heard it all.
Seldom do I hear positive words about public school.

So this blog post is meant to surround the words “public school” with positive.

What I am most grateful for in our years of public school experience is the number of teachers and school staff who have spoken into our kids' lives. These words have carried much weight. They have come not from Mom and Dad or extended family or a Sunday school teacher or a youth leader. They have come from random adults that our kids have encountered in large settings. They are adults who may not hold the same philosophy or worldview as us. They are adults who work with dozens and dozens of kids daily, week after week, all year long. Then they do it again for another year. So when these people speak into my kids, it makes an impact.

Here are three examples of how our kids have been impacted. Only three. I could write several pages from the past 13 years. But these are the reflections I have had from this school year that is coming to a close.

1. Jack, our 4th grader, brought home a note card back in March. It was the last day for the TA in his class who had completed requirements for her teaching certificate. Here is an excerpt from the note she wrote to him: “Seeing you each morning perked me up and just set me up in the right direction…. You are a quiet leader in groups. The students look to you for help and you take the job seriously. You listen to others but you stick with your own ideas when you know you are right. This is a wonderful trait.” Wow! What does that do to a 10 year old’s confidence?

2. Sam is finishing his sophomore year in high school. He’s our family smarty-pants. He remembers everything he reads and is a natural at math. He could take a solid schedule of academic classes and carry a stellar weighted GPA. Last year he dabbled in drama as part of the spring musical. Then the budget for drama got cut. Fortunately, they saw fit to bring in a new drama teacher mid-year and Sam was once again part of the spring musical. But this teacher did more than her obligatory spring musical and teaching electives. She invested heavily in the drama club. Sam realized earlier this week that he has been staying after school almost every day for drama since January. It’s true (just ask this taxi-mom). The spring musical, Shakespeare Festival, and One-Act plays have given him opportunities outside of his academic pursuits. It has opened up his curiosity for the arts. His decision to choose arts electives in his schedule seriously compromises his class rank. I love that. (OK – I’d be proud as punch if he were #1 in his class, but not at the expense of exploring a balance in life.)

3. Last week Chelsea, our senior, walked confidently into her AP Calculus exam. That day I did a lot of reflecting. It was a big deal. You see, math has never been Chelsea’s “thing”. Especially in the few years that we homeschooled. She was always on level, but so often approached math with trepidation. And many days there were tears of frustration. Then she entered high school. We registered her for the year-long Algebra class (as opposed to completing it in one semester.) We checked with the teacher often to make sure she was keeping up. Always he was confident in her. He made math fun – and he saved her the prized seat every day. (I’m not sure what was prized about it, I think it had wheels on it or something.) With each successive math class she took, there was no less confidence from the teachers. And they did not tolerate any negative opinions she had about herself and her aptitude with math. But when we got the call from the school counselor that she had to register for AP Calculus in her senior year because of budget cuts (go figure) that trepidation returned. She never had planned to take AP Calculus. Who wants that frustration in her senior year? I even warned the teacher, as did Chelsea, that this class was forced upon her and she would likely not sit for the AP exam. I vaguely recall a chuckle from the teacher when I said that back in August. So when Chelsea confidently walked out the door last week with her pencils, ready to tackle Calculus for 4 hours, it struck me what an impact the math department, of all departments in the school, had made on our daughter.

In the fall Chelsea will be a freshman at North Carolina State’s Education Department – with an emphasis in math and science. That’s right, she’s going to be a teacher – likely teaching math to elementary kids. I have no doubt she will be best at speaking into to the lives of those kids that freeze at the sight of a math problem.

I used to think, in our many years of exposing our kids to public school, that we were blessed, or lucking out, because of all the great teachers our kids had. 13 years after registering our first-born for kindergarten, I am realizing that there are too many teachers we have “lucked out” on. So perhaps it is not luck. Perhaps there are great teachers throughout our public school system, and the bad reputation comes from the exceptions.