day off

Day off from school, and for a very good reason. What is so shocking about racism, is how much it still exists, and how recently in our past laws such as "Jim Crow" were enforced. I have never been able to understand racism, personally. God made everyone, and God is so brilliant, that He made all sorts of men....unique, but all somehow in His own image. Which leads to a question: if God made man in His own image, how can any race be better than any other? People are so stupid. My parents raised me right, I guess. When I was in kindergarten, I had a beautiful teacher, Miss Grant. She was so nice. I remember overhearing that my mother was surprised when she went for her parent-teacher conference that my teacher was black. (African-American wasn't invented back then). I didn't mention that about my teacher, because I did not notice. After she said that, I noticed, but never gave it another thought. Years later, my mother told me that for Miss Grant, in 1970, things were still tough. She apparently confided in my mother that she was encountering trouble fitting in. How sad. (by the way, that was the way my mother was, she was the kind of person who truly cared about the person she was with, and had a way of connecting to people).....Anyway, I am glad that the world is smartening up. Okay, so smartening probably isn't a word.

Yesterday I got to see my niece's baby, Will. He is a fussy little guy, he likes to cry. Oh, seeing him made my arms ache. He is absolutely precious.

Today, I am going to lunch with my brother. We tried to set up a lunch with our siblings, but I think he and I are the only ones going. I am not sure how many of the kids I will bring. It is at a Chinese buffet, cheap, but it adds up fast, unless they are little kids.

I don't know if I was very clear on a point I wanted to make in my post about how we can afford so many kids. The real answer, is: I have no idea. I can only say that God has given us what we need, and much more. Regarding accepting children, we have never listened to our reason, but that does not mean that we just sailed through stupidly. We were both tempted with many anxious thoughts. Even now, with the economy like this, no one is exempt from the threat of losing their job. And basic things are so expensive. But it isn't like you just trust God, and that is it. No, day by day, week by week, there are trials and temptations, and testings of faith. We have not sought to have a nice, easy life with a big comfy house, and golf games on the weekends, or whatever. We sought to live a life pleasing to Him...

I think it is very funny that my husband is almost 47, and the "new" vehicle he is going to be driving back and forth to work, is a mini-van. I told him maybe the next one can be the red convertable. But our lives are our kids, and our kids need to get to youth activities, so we need to be practical. We do still have the big huge van, but none of the young drivers can pilot it.

Last night I had to put my foot down with Jon about something, and he did not like it. (who does?) We got through it, then when I was tucking him in, I told him that I loved him. "Why were you so mean to me then?", he asked. I guess when you are four years old, and your mommy won't give in and let you stay up later than your sisters, because you are tired and fussy and it's after 9pm, your mommy is MEAN.

We puzzled a while last night. They like to glue the finished puzzle and hang it on a wall. We have found the puzzle storage mat to be such a help, as if we leave the puzzle out on the table, it is in the way, and the kids might touch it. With this mat, the puzzle just rolls up into the mat. Pretty cool. We like to stay up late and work on them until we are so silly and then when we go to bed we dream about puzzle pieces.....then Camille woke up at 7:30 this morning. She did not know it was a day off...