the glad game...

So this morning, I had to play the Glad Game. You know, Pollyanna? She wanted a doll for Christmas, but in the missionary barrel was a pair of crutches, so she decided to just be glad she didn't need the crutches...anyway.

This morning, I woke up to SURPRISE, Duke should have gone out one more time before bed last night! He's getting old, and he doesn't always hold it 'til morning...not just pee, either. A nice trail from Jon's room, down the hall, in the living room. It took the better part of an hour to clean it all up. For some reason, while I was cleaning it up, and counting my blessings rather than cursing the dog, I started thinking of my son Benjamin, and what a blessing he is. I texted him, and ended up calling him, we had a wonderful conversation. We talked about being happy about having a job instead of complaining about having to go to work (him, not me).

Having pets isn't always all sunshine and wagging tails, especially when they get old. In my humble opinion, the blessings far outweigh the trials, but then I don't have young children underfoot as I clean poop off the carpet. In the old days, our dogs only could go on the rug inside the door, not have free reign of the living room like our two Labs have now. They are part of the family.

Anyway. My day started out pretty $hi##y, ha. Because no matter how you look at it, it's not pleasant to step in it.

I'm waiting on a call from the Dr.'s office regarding Sonja. They have to review the report from the E.R. to decide which dr. she needs to see, and when to fit her in. Such is life, the mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.(prov 16:9)
We were thinking of our Adirondack trip this week. ha.

I can't help it, my heart is heavy about Sonja. She LOVES soccer. She lives and breathes it. She follows the international games, and talks about it all the time. She practices with Jonny every day, and lives for practices, games, and tournaments. She is hoping to be better by next month for the big tournament. And hopefully she will be. But I have my doubts, and I hope I'm wrong. I am thinking if she has ligament trouble to any extent, it's going to be a long road ahead, and not out of the realm of reality for her to never play again, but again, that is me crossing bridges before I get to them, jumping right off of them. I love her so much, don't want to see her suffer, don't want to see her face if/when she realizes the extent of the impact of this knee accident. I hate this part of being a parent. I hate how I hurt so much for them, how there's nothing I can do to ease it for her.

We did stop for Chinese take-out on the way home, and I got her a raspberry iced tea from Dunkin. The interesting thing is that I have been thinking so much lately how I need to spend some time with her, and voila! I got to spend the day with her! And yes, ha, my hair was clean.

So I am trying to be hopeful, trying to get myself in the right frame of mind, because I know that God causes all things to work together for the good. I know that. But that doesn't mean that my heart doesn't hurt when my kids suffer. That is one of the things that's hard about loving them all so much, it's such a vulnerable feeling. They hurt, I hurt.

But on a good note, Camille likes to get me coffee, especially if I let her get a cup for herself...she only gets an inch, but she likes to be big.

On another good note, Benjamin, his wife Ashley, and little Anya are coming again from Washington state at the end of the month!!!

And, Abigail and Margaret are coming home from Norway in August! They've been gone for a full year!!!

And on a really really good note, Paul and I are going on a little trip in August....:)