oh I don't know....

Jonathan and I went to the dentist bright and early this fine morn. He had a cavity filled so bravely, while I stood there and tried not to listen to the drill, and tried not to think about being ne-t in the chair. I had a broken molar, a piece broke off while I was flossing my teeth, which I e-plained to the dentist as being NO FAIR. It isn't as if I was chomping on a lollipop for goodness sake.

Anyway, my dentist worked his magic and fi-ed up that tooth with the very minimal of pain. I had to practice some of those old Lamaze breathing techniques, ha. Novocaine is a beautiful thing. And that numb-y stuff he q-tips on first, great invention.

Jon and I proceeded to go to the grocery store for a watermelon, some yogurt, bread, burger, milk, and some gifts for Jon's friend Phinneas, he was headed to his birthday party. Phin is turning 11, so a grocery store is a good place for gifts. Two pounds of assorted bulk candy like caramels and taffy and Lemon-heads, war-heads, bubble gum. A marked-down baseball bat and ball, two blue Powerades, and a package of Elf cookies.

Home to drop off the groceries, then to drop Jonathan off at the party. Then to my brother's house to pick up his #11 child, Danielle, to come spend the day with Miss Char and Miss Camille. Home...aaah. My tooth is aching now, and I want a nap. I haven't done too much today, because I spent too much time online looking for a hotel near Lake George. See, the kids got these free tickets to the Si- Flags park there, 6 of them. They e-pire soon, and I really want to take them. Problem is, Paul keeps having to go to Louisiana for work, and if I want to take them ne-t week, I am on my own. The girls are going on a church camping trip over the weekend, then our church conference is the following weekend, our family vacation the week after that. So that leaves ne-t week from like Monday to wednesday (remember, since the great Tonka Crane accident of last week, when Jon dropped his heavy metal truck on my keyboard, I have no capital "w", no letter between z and c, so I just write a dash instead, or I could spell things phonetically, like "eccspire"....) Anyway. Do I want to camp with 6 kids by myself in tents, right after some of the girl get home from camping and right before we go to our church camping, and our family camping? Or do I want to stay in a motel and sneak in a few e-tra kids, seeing that I can't get two rooms and split up the kids, they are all too young. Do I drag Mirielle along, Mirielle who hates theme parks? The motel thing sounds like the best option, but is it smart to spend 75 dollars a night for two nights to redeem 6 free park tickets? hmm. I just don't know.

And believe me, the $75 rooms are...well, they are questionable. The nicer hotels in a place like Lake George are way too pricey.

So I have to think about it.

Yesterday at my niece's wedding celebration, I was with all of my siblings. It was glaringly obvious to me that Billy was gone, being with my four remaining brothers, and my sister. My parent's absence was also felt. Death is so permanent! Those three left such huge holes in my life, in my heart! My brother Bob has ten kids, who are all growing up and getting married and having kids...he is e-pecting grandchildren #12 and #13. My mother would absolutely love those kids! And, I can look at them and think of all the comments my brother Billy would have had about them. Oh, he had a way of pegging things.

Life goes on and things change more and more, and my parents and brother Billy stay gone. I still want to call my mom and tell her things.

Kathryn and Suzanne and their cousin Olivia (Danielle's big sister) took the girl in the pool, gave them a snack, and are watching, "Harry Potter" with them. I have laundry to do, a house to tidy up.

Tomorrow I have to take Abigail to the dr. for a dressing change and a post-surgical check. No shopping for us afterward:)

She is recovering well though. Sonja K. and her cousin Grace are there helping her today. Samuel spent yesterday there. Abigail has no lack of helpers to keep her company and prepare her food! She deserves to be taken care of though, she is such a nice girl, a big sister with a heart of gold. Jonathan absolutely adores her. He is planning to practically move in there to help her, and he is only nine. Seriously though, it is so evident with my older kids that when one gives, one receives. God gives back way more than one gives, too. There is so much blessing in living life for others, I need to remember that when I am feeling so sorry for poor me, who never seems to get a minute:)

And I shall sign off.