Shock and Awe

Mrangelmeg came home tonight and informed me that we are leaving tomorrow evening at 4:30 for a Valentines day trip to Brown County.

We will be staying at a The Cornerstone Inn in downtown Nashville overnight, and then spending the morning together in Brown County and driving to Indy to eat lunch at my favorite steak place The Ram . Then of course we will be just a hop skip and jump from the Godiva Boutique in Circle Center so we will have to stop there.

He made all these plans just for little old me.

Wow, now I guess I have to shave my legs, I mean it is the least I can do.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone.

Pax

Two Weeks till We Return Home

I just realized that we only have two more weeks until we return home. It will start to set in here in a minute that I have to pack all of this stuff up (including all of the stuff we have purchased since we got here) and then I will really start to panic.

I have promised beautiful autistic daughter that we will be spending lots of time in the next two weeks at the beach because she loves to go to the beach to make sand castles and look for shells. I think we are going to start going in the mornings instead of waiting until mrangelmeg leaves for work in the afternoons though.

I also have to figure out what to do with all of these books. I know we got them all here, but I am wondering if it wouldn't be smarter to just package them up in a box and fed-ex the back home rather than taking them back in the car. It sure would save space.

We have one more big deal thing we want to do while we are down here, but we plan on doing that on Monday because mrangelmeg has the day off. Then it is just back to beach and pool (I know, nice work if you can get it) for the duration.

I don't even want to think about packing yet, but I really should be at least thinking about it. Like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll think about it tomorrow.

Pax

A Good Day!

Yesterday was a good day. I wanted to spend a few moments this morning writing down my thoughts so that I don't forget how blessed I am.


1) I got a call from third daughter's school (she is away on a mission trip with 9 other high school age kids helping to rebuild a house in New Orleans this week). The school secretary said that word from the work site is that the kids are all learning a great deal and things are going very well. Daughter couldn't find her cell phone before she left so we have only heard from her once all week. we miss her terribly.)

2) The School Secretary also personally invited us to the School Awards Night next week because Third Daughter is going to receive awards (note the plural)! Mom couldn't be more pleased with how well daughter is doing at this school. Sadly mrangelmeg will be flying back from a very long grueling business trip that day and have to miss the festivities.

3) Second Daughter stayed after school to finish up a Computer Graphics assignment and was exactly where we had asked her to be exactly when we had arranged to meet her to be picked up. This is a very huge thing for her because she is High Functioning Autistic, and has a tendency to wander and lose track of time. Yesterday was all good.

4) Son remembered to stop by Grandma's house after work to mow the lawn, even though she had called to tell us that she didn't think the grass was long enough to need a mow. Grandma lives all by herself in what has become a not so pleasant part of town, so I am sure that she loved the company. Son is becoming more and more responsible as he grows into adulthood. This is very nice to see.

5) First Daughter and I drove to Indy (she drove I just went along for the ride, I hate to drive in Indy-rush-hour traffic) to see an advance screening of a new movie Waitress starring Kerri Russell and Nathan Fillion. We met one of my best friends from my Gradual School program who works and lives in Indy and she came to the movie with us. The movie was funny, and touching, (the morality was way off base, but once I let go of moral judgements I really liked it). I am still puzzled over the why of one plot point, but I may never figure that one out. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to see something that will make you laugh out loud. It did that, all the way through.

6) When we got back at midnight, mrangelmeg was still up and we had a chance to talk, he had had a pretty good day and with Friday being the last day of his one and (thankfully) only Gradual School Economics class, things will be much better for him after class today. Well, and after he completes and returns his final too.

7) I have completed four chapters of the book I started writing. It is really funny; I thought I had the entire story plotted out in my head, and then yesterday as I was writing a new scene the action took an unexpected twist that will bring a very interesting nuance to the plot. This development brings so many new shades of color to the characters and how they will interact, and how the story will develop that I actually can't wait to find out what will happen next.

My only sadness is that in my rush to get everything in order so that I could go to Indy yesterday I completely forgot that I had planned to call our retired pastor and make lunch plans one day this week. I am horrible. I really want to go out to lunch with him but in my excitement about writing every day (some days I am at it till noon or later) I just completely forgot him. Oh well, maybe I will call him on Monday and make plans for next week while mrangelmeg is out of town.

Pax

God's Personal Comedy Central

I am sure you have heard the old addage:

If you want to make God laugh, make plans.

That is exactly how I feel at this moment. I had my entire semester planned out, I was going to be taking a weekday course with the seminarians at Saint Meinrad on Mondays and Thursdays and still be able to visit my mom on Tuesdays as I have been. Things were looking pretty good in that direction. This was going to keep me from taking two Philosophy courses, which you all know that I love so completely, at the same time next summer.

Well, as things turn out, what a difference a week makes. I got a call from my sister yesterday and it seems as though my presence will be more necessary than ever at my mom's house next semester. My sister and I will have to trade off spending a week at a time up there to take care of mom so that mom can stay in her house instead of going to a nursing home. My other sister who is doing this care now has decided that she no longer wants to be there and until we can get better arrangements in place this will have to be how we work this out.

We have talked about this all along, I was just hoping that we could put this off till next summer or fall.

So, I will be spending every other week with my mother instead of two days a week with seminarians. To be honest I will prefer her company to theirs, but don't tell them that. There must be some reason that God wants me to take the two classes at the same time, and I am sure that it will become apparent to me when I am in the thick of them this summer.

And just so I don't get buried in reading this summer I can get a jump start by getting the reading lists for the two classes early and get started reading Aristotle and Plato and Augustine and Aquinas while I am at my mom's house.

Hey, stop laughing, it could happen!

Pax

Milestones Reached

I met with my advisor this morning and I am set to register for my penultimate class in my Masters Degree program.

I am going to take a class this Spring Semester at Saint Meinrad on Monday and Thursday mornings. Which will mean a commute, but it is the only way to get the class I need and not have to take two philosophy classes at the same time (every other weekend) next summer. It will mean taking a class which will be mostly seminarians except me. and having to trust that the weather will cooperate, but I am praying that I have a good experience.


After that I will have a class in the summer in Indianapolis, and then a final in the fall and I will be done.

Who would have thought that I would be so close to this goal? I am sure that when I began this journey way back in the fall of 2003 graduation was very far from my mind and here it is right around the corner!

Who knows what I will be doing with my degree, but from where I sit now the future looks filled with promise, and I am very excited about the opportunities I have to explore.

Keep me in your prayers, after all these last two classes are both Philosophy classes. I may just die before I get through them.

Pax