Life Actually

I really want to be doing this bloggin' once or twice a week. So far I'm stinkin' that up. It's the holidays, people. And for us that also means five birthdays, our first-born, college senior coming home with his amazing girlfriend-whom-we-adore & little bro in tow, me baking and cooking like a freak, decorating (and UNdecorating, bleck!), movie-watching, game-playing, stray-sock pick-upping. 

And now that the holidays are almost over (three birthdays in two days left -- this Thursday & Friday will finish them up), that dirty word SCHOOL has started back up. Ugh! Plus, hubby is away with our most recent 13 year old on a manhood weekend. Since his birthday is in winter, they're doing something none of our other boys (who have summer bdays) will have done when they did their big-13-manhood-away-with-Dad-weekend... dog sledding. Yep. Dog sledding. How cool is that?! (It's all a big secret, so I'm not s'posed to tell... so shhhhhh!) 

Add to that my only daughter is jetting off to Europe in a mere five months to fulfill her life-long dream of living there, so we're ticket-buying and visa-getting, and I'm all, "Tito, get me a tissue." More on that another day. Right now, I'm in denial, so we'll just be done talking about it.

So hubby's gone & I'm holding down the fort, doing what I do and not blogging. Another reason for that is that I edit things TO DEATH, so I need a mountain of time to write and eventually post a blog entry. I'm working on this (in fact this is my first shot at "letting go" of a post), but for now, it's a problem.

While I'm wishing-I-was-blogging-but-still-not, I've learned of some friends who are facing some really heart-wrenching realities with their first-born. Actually, they've been walking this road with their little guy for 13 years, but over the last six or so weeks, things have shifted significantly. So significantly that life as they and their other three children know it has screeched to a halt. So significantly that they are having to think about things no parent should ever have to think about. And I am undone. I think... Lord, are you kidding me? And yet, this mom, this woman who has already faced and overcome so, so much, she's blogging and she's blogging well. 

I've been her fan for a long time. Let me tell you, this woman can write! If you haven't yet read her blog, do yourself a favor and check it out. Most of her entries are hilariously spot-on in the department of real life. She captures it all with striking accuracy, but along the way she also tells her story. She tells of extremely high-risk pregnancies, of losing her precious twins, of her incredible premies, of adoption, of life as the wife of a rock-n-roll husband, of love. 

If you've checked in here lately and have wondered where my next blog entry is, just know, I'm still feeling this whole blog thing out, trying to get a rhythm and not be so anal about the editing process. In the meantime, and even after I get a decent rhythm, go check out my friend's blog http://radiantjess.blogspot.com/. Look around a bit and make yourself at home. You will cry tears of joy and sadness. I guarantee you, you will laugh your head off. And please, when you read her latest blogs on her little guy, Richie II (R2), pray. Pray. Pray for his healing. Pray for Mommy and Daddy and his siblings, Toby, Brynn and Tristan. Pray for peace and comfort in the unknowing and the waiting. Pray for R2.