Trouble sleeping . . .

I made the silly mistake of trying a new vitamin enriched energy drink tonight and now I can't sleep. I keep replaying my day over in my head. I especially keep seeing my two little boys faces as I was leaving the house for a meeting tonight. They were sad. I had been working at the church today. So they were not happy to see me go tonight and I was not happy to have to leave them and miss bedtime, but unfortunately I had to go to some training at church. Aidan said, as I was walking out the door, "but I wanted to have a club with you tonight . . ." This whole working thing, be that it's only a few hours a week, can be difficult. Knowing that Aidan is starting Kindergarten in one week makes leaving him ever even harder. I never knew that I would want to be around these little boys so much.

Tomorrow is our day together, though. It's library day for us . . . It's always crazy to see what kinds of books the boys pick off the shelves. Urbana has a just built a new, beautiful public library. It's wonderful. The kids section is so much fun for us. I love that I have a little boy who loves books almost as much as I do. I wonder if I can take some pictures of them "book hunting . . ."

Aidan and I have spent time with a little boy who will be in his Kind. class and his mom. She also works (full-time as aprofessor). She pointed out to me that even when I was home with the boys full-time, wasn't I able to find something to feel inadequate about. She's right. There's always something. Did I feed them a good enough breakfast? Am I spending enough time with them today? Am I being too imapatient today? Have I shared God's Word with them today? I can never feel really confident, no matter the geography of us, that I'm doing the very best for them all the time. Sometimes it's overwhelming (i.e. right now). But sometimes I just look at them and think I'm doing a pretty good job. They're lovely kids.

Those wacky kids!

So here's my wacky boys! These two knuckleheads keep me laughing, nearly at all times, especially that little one in green! That one peeking out from behind the chair has his moments,too. He had a few musings today that I just have to share . . . here goes.

In the car today, we heard the song "Celebrate good times. . .c'mon . . .woo hoo . . ." (you know the one. Aidan with a distressed look on his face said, "You know, you don't HAVE to celebrate good times . . . but you can if you want." (The first person to find philosophical fault with that song . . .my son.)

Second musing of the day . . . During our after dinner clean-up time in the kitchen, we were listening to a CD of Andy Griffith Bluegrass music (strange within itself) and Aidan in his excitement yells, "This music is ANDY GRIFFI-CAL!!!!"

Later, putting on his underware briefs after his bath, he looks at the tag and asks, "Why does it say Fruit of The Loom in my underware, shouldn't it say Fruit of The SPIRIT??"

And to cap the night off . . . at bedtime prayer, as I pray for him to grow up to know and love God, he interrupts with, "I already know and love God, Mom, . . . well, I guess I don't know all His powers yet."

What a kid. He brings an outrageous amount of joy to my life in the form of hearty and frequent laughter!!!

Yeah, we're CCH alum . . . jealous?

I wanted to just write about our recent experiences at the newly improved Campus House (for those of you fellow CCH alum) but it appears I've been tagged by Shawanda, so I'll first respond to: "5 Reasons I am a Dork."

1.) I really do have a secret dream of starting a Pat Benatar/The Pretenders cover band. (Supremely dorky, says my husband.)

2.) After neatly folding and putting away the towels in my linen closet, I open and close the closet door several times just to see the neat stacks of towels I have created.

3.) My 5-yr.-old son knows more state capitals than I do.

4.) I occasionally tap dance in my kitchen, all in the name of "a good workout."

5.) I have danced with reckless abandon to musical themes from Bob the Builder, Rescue Heroes, The Backyardigans, and The Wiggles.

I'm not sure else to tag, so I'll just tag my husband for now. This outta be good, Henry!

Now on to CCH stuff . . .

Josh and I went down to Charleston a few Saturdays ago to help with a work day on the new building. Josh helped move book shelves out of Roger's office, shovel some rock, and help remodel that nasty men's bathroom in the old basement. He said he never thought he would be helping to clean it, let alone remodeling it!

Danah and I painted the new conference room. Roger gave me a few painting tips . . . which felt much like the instructions he used to give about who could touch the Cov House thermostat and when. Yeah, no pressure there. I became nervous after he used the phrase "no tolerance policy" in his instructions. I think we did a good job, though. The work day was made fun for us by watching Bill Whitsman's feats of athleticism on the furniture-moving carts. Also, Bill tried to sell us a pop-up camper throughout the day, which was also a little interesting.

We stopped by this weekend, too, and can say that things are really looking great! Some carpeting had been layed and most of the painting seemed to be done. It's pretty excting. I stared at the empty gravel space where Cov House used to be . . . a little strange. But man that new "sanctuary" is very cool.

We heards while in Charleston that a Charleston landmark, meaningful to us had closed . . .E.L. Krackers. Awww. Josh and I got engaged there and had been meaning to go there again someday for sentimental sake. Too bad.

So that was our day at the new CCH.