Memorial Day Weekend

It's late, and although I'll probably go on and on in my usual fashion, I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet. Uh-huh. Famous last words ...

We had a wonderful weekend, after the whole toe drama (to which I have NO comments, despite my obvious bid for sympathy, LOL!!!). We drove up to Dallas for a church conference (I saw some of you guys there, including readers I didn't even know I had -- c'mon folks, how can I coax you out of hiding into an occasional comment? :-)). We don't often get to attend events like this, and when we do, neither Tim nor I gets to sit in on all the meetings, but maybe because of that, we really, really appreciate what we get. I mean, if you eat, say, smoked salmon every week, it's not quite the same as if you get it, fresh from Alaska, twice a year, know what I mean? Thanks to some willing friends/relatives, I got to attend two meetings and serve with the kindergarteners during another meeting.

For my kids, the highlight was either the pool or the glass elevators, which they rode ad infinitum (the conference took place at the Hyatt Regency). For me, I think it was the fact that between the spiritual nourishment I received and the opportunity to catch up with friends I hadn't seen for various lengths of time, it was just so good to get out of my "box." When I'm here at home, I guess I get caught up in my narrow focus of my family, the quality of my parenting, the happiness of my children and husband, the health of my parents, and my own walk with the Lord. It's so refreshing to be truly broadened, rooted and grounded once in a while.

And another thing that touched me: Ian was, for much of the weekend, rather on the hyper side, as he tends to get sometimes when he's out of HIS box. It wasn't the most enjoyable time in THAT respect ... but. Last night as the session with the kindergarteners got later and later, Ian came next door from his own class just as we adults were starting to really lose our oomph (we had 42 kindergarteners in one room.) Ian literally rounded up those kids, at least the ones who were left, and had them doing freeze tag, 20 Questions, Simon Says, and all manner of games. They were glued to him. They literally migrated from my presence to his. He'd say, "Now, everyone line up here. Make a LINE. Like THIS." And by George, they'd do it. I felt proud of him, but humbled at the same time, like the Lord was giving me some insight if I'd just be quiet and pay attention. This child was glowing, and he KNEW he was doing a good job with these kids. The more he has opportunity to serve, to take on leadership, to be responsible and to exceed anyone's expectations of him, the better he'll do.

And on the way home, Tim and Eliza and I were playing 20 Questions. Eliza had us guessing about someone alive, real, who lives in Austin, whom we'd never met, wearing an orange hat, and we finally got it down to, "someone we saw at Yobel and Priscilla's soccer game." Um, hello? That would be one of the many Lady Longhorns games we attended a year and a half ago when said friends played for UT? We gave up. "The man with the BRAAAAIIIIIDS!" DUH! Such dense parents! How could we POSSIBLY not get that?!?!

I think we laughed for five minutes straight, and she just couldn't figure out why.