taking a breather....

There is chicken in the oven, brown rice on the stove, and a pan of taco meat too. I like to cook the food ahead of time for camping, so we just have to heat it up. Tacos are for tonight's dinner though. The chicken will be sliced and frozen in baggies, so it keeps nice and safe in the cooler. We will heat it up in a big foil pan with the rice and some canned veggies. Plain but nourishing, as my father used to tell my mother, which was so insulting I don't know where to start. Anyway.

I took a quick trip to one town to drop off one daughter who is working the baseball game, then to another town to return some Redbox movies, fill the truck with gas for tomorrow, and buy some ice cream and lunch meat for the weekend. No, the ice cream is for tonight:) See, I have some daughters who are doing a fundraising job this afternoon, even though they are ha, on vacation. So I wanted to make them a nice dinner and get them ice cream....

Only four kids are home right now. The little girls are playing with Sonja's crutches...oh yeah, I forgot to tell that story!

The other night at the conference, I was sitting on the back patio, relaxing with some friends, when my niece came and told me that Sonja was hurt. That she couldn't move. Oh dear. Now, this was a surprise, because I had just gotten out of the shower and my hair was shiny and clean! Anyway. Sonja K. had been on this swing (think May Pole with swings instead of ribbons), and somehow she hit the pole really hard, so hard she blacked out. When she came to, she didn't remember what had happened. She was sitting in a chair about fifty feet from the swing. She had walked there, but when we tried to get her to walk again, she simply couldn't, said it hurt her hip/lower back, too badly. Hmm, with a possible back injury, I didn't want to take the chance of just having her go back to the camper and go to bed, then be paralyzed for life because her mother didn't feel like taking a midnight trip to the hospital. Mirielle was with me, and we agreed she needed to be checked out. So off we went, for a midnight trip to the E.R.

She was fine, thankfully.

We arrived back at the camper at 4 a.m. I was NOT fine:)

One of my girls asked me why I was awake so early the next morning, after getting to bed so late. Duh, I said. It's Childrens' Day, the best day of the year!

So tomorrow morning, off we go to the mountains. Paul and I, and at least ten of the kids. I'm not sure if Mali will join us or not. We are taking the minivan and the truck and Abigail's car, and lots of tents. It is going to be chilly up there, but I am still excited about going. There's something soothing about being up there. It helps that there is no cell phone service, and no electricity. That means 100% full attention to each other while sitting around the campfire.

Now on to more practical matters...does anyone else get like a whole grocery store bag full of garbage when cleaning out their purse? Oh, me neither. My purse is like the family suitcase. Right now it has two Snicker Bars, a plastic container of strawberry Mentos gum, three protein bars, a stick of Starburst, three different kinds of mint gum, several pens, a plastic spoon still in a plastic wrapper, a baggy of almonds, a whole can of almonds, several pens,a package of caps for a cap gun, a hairbrush, some hair elastics, a few bobby pins, a baggy of ibuprofen and acetominophen and Pepto tablets and anti-diarrhea pills, a small first aid kit, a baggy of Girl Things, a baggy of wipes, a container of antibacterial wipes, some napkins and tissues, two pair of sunglasses, my reading glasses, two family pictures, and my phone charger. And yeah, that's AFTER I cleaned it out.

Because, hey...you never know.

Does anyone else pack and pack until their brain is numb?

Sometimes I feel like Mrs. Potato Head in, "Toy Story", when she kept putting more stuff into Mr. Potato Head.

Two little Amish girls went missing from a place not far from where we are going camping tomorrow. They were missing for a full 24 hours, and are now home. They were presumed abducted, and it is not clear exactly what happened, but the kidnappers are at still out there, and it is a bit scary, but I am so thankful the girls are back home.

I am tired, and we have to get going early, so I am done here. I will be back on Monday!!!!