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Dad update: Dad is at a facility that can provide some skilled nursing care for a while while he gets his systems in order (oxygen, blood pressure, etc.), then they can provide physical therapy to help him regain his strength. My sister is out there for a couple more days and my brother will arrive this afternoon. They are amazing. I am going to write some posts because Dad has his laptop and a recliner, so I’d like to provide a bit of content. Love you, Dad!

This week has been AWFUL. I cannot stress that enough. AWFUL. Not just the worry and concern over Dad, but the children. Oh. My. Lands. I recognize that some of this is on me – I need to step up my game and problem-solve some of the behavioral issues, but my guys are driving me batty. One bright spot this week was the Reformation Walk that St. John school put on. Granted, this was a headache for all the teachers – Deborah and Sam included – but they did a great job and it kept my children from clamoring about Halloween for a couple of hours. Thank you.

Three of our preschool classes walked over to tour the ten stations with activities about the Reformation. My class was lucky because we are paired up with the 5th grade class as pen pals, so my supervision was much easier.

I made a video to send to my kids’ parents, but I realize now I didn’t put any background music with it. Oops. Not gonna fix it now.

Dad had his surgery – a partial hip replacement – on Sunday. The surgery went well, but his blood pressure was very, very low and they kept him in recovery a couple of extra hours. His oxygen has also been very low, so they have kept him in the hospital to try and figure that out. He is supposed to be transported to a rehab facility today, so we’ll see what’s happening with that.

My sister, Keren, is out there now. She is navigating so much – communicating with the doctors, keeping Dad company and making potential plans for where Dad could go after rehab so he can be in a safe environment to gain strength. My brother Mark is heading out there soon to do the same. I have pretty incredible siblings.

So, as always, your prayers are welcome.

(That’s an intentionally missing ‘h’.)

EDIT: I batch-wrote these posts before Dad fell, so if I seem a little cavalier, remember that Lauren of the Past was the author.

I like our school. There are good things about it and, of course, there are things that need to improve. We were discovering that new staff – and even parents – were having trouble finding classrooms if you just said ‘Mrs. Sommerer’s room’, if they didn’t know who the teacher was. So, we wanted to name them.

Wait. I’ve told this story before. Let’s take a minute and go back in time:

Click HERE, then come back.

Since that time, we have added a morning-only preschool class that meets in the Birch room (the kindergarten/1st grade afterschool program). The teacher in that room wanted to have a separate tree name for her class, but the problem was, when we told a new staff person to go the Magnolia classroom, that word wasn’t anywhere.

It happened enough times that I just bought some new lettering. I was going to take the old letters off, get everything centered just right, and it would be lovely.

I started with the ‘H’ in BIRCH.

DANG IT!!!!!!! It’s not like I was careless, either. I worked very slowly but the paint just came along for the ride. I had several adrenaline-filled, stomach-churning moments trying to remember if we had enough paint that would match, and then I decided to Lauren it.

I put up the new words and used remnants of the unused ‘H’ to fix it. (My letter sizes were smaller with the new words, but I made it work.)

Good enough.

….. but it bugs me that it’s all off center.

My dad had a fall on Saturday and broke his hip. Surgery is scheduled for today, Sunday, and your prayers are very welcome. My sister is headed out there today, and my brother will head out there after she returns. That’s all I know for now.

I know that these posts are not in real time, but that’s what we’re working with, people.

October 14th was supposed to be Partial Eclipse Day. I was excited because it coincided with The Conference, but then I realized that the eclipse would be over before the main part of Saturday’s activities began. As it turned out, it was cloudy here anyway and nobody saw anything. (In fact, Lloyd and I were chopping down that tree when it happened.)

Prior to my extreme disappointment, I had heard that you can use a disco ball as a pinhole camera – actually, as several pinhole cameras. The image that is projected beyond 6 feet isn’t just a shiny square: it’s the image of the sun! I was so excited, and I knew of a store that sold cheap disco balls. (It’s called Five Below, and I’m sure they still have them. They are not eclipse-specific.)

I took one around campus the weekend before and tested all the places that might work. I even took one home and played with it there. It’s so fun.

Up close, tiny squares.

Far away? Sol! Actually, sols!

Again, though, it was a bust.

On a walk later in the week, though? I saw a much better eclipse:

Sorry, guys – I really don’t have a lot going on in my life.

There is a table-thing in the guest room that Lloyd and I have owned since we first moved back to Seward. I believe it was purchased at a Service Merchandise. It’s a counter-high table that came with two stools and it has served us well. The only problem with having it in the guest room is that it sticks out pretty far from the wall and has sharp corners. I have knocked my hip on it a few times.

Well, let’s just fix that now.

Better! Except, mistakes were made and I shouldn’t have cut it flush with the back legs. I didn’t account for the baseboard below, so it took some Lauren-ing to make it work. I am too ashamed and lazy to show you the feet I put on the bottom to raise it up past the trim. Trust me, it sort of works.