PUMPKIN MADNESS

Hello Everyone,
Saturday night, my kiddos just left and I'm tired. I didn't think I would get through this past week alive. The weather change has everyone wired, we are doing Aquity Testing, and it is Pumpkin Festival week in the Valley. Chaos rules the land and all young brains turn to mush. I do believe this place could qualify as a research habitat if some enterprising university would look closely. Suddenly an 8th grade Honors Student finds fractions much too difficult to comprehend. A 6th grader challenges ME to a duel. And sadly, a bright, beautiful girl decides to quit eating. My heart breaks and I'm laughing my head off during the same lunch period. Do I look like I can DUEL? And why oh why are bright, beautiful girls in such need to control something in their lives? What is going on that they can't just be young and carefree and healthy? A former student showed up at the end of the day and cried that her babies were taken from her. ..and her husband just got out of jail. ..and she's just been released from rehab... and she has no money and no where to live...can I help her? The last time we saw each other, I gave her $500 to take her babies and go to her mother's up north. She bought pills instead, got busted and lost her kids. Oh, yes, she's pregnant again. Looking at her, I see my last 20 years go up in smoke. Why did I think I could help anyone? The world is way too big and bad to defeat.
Jill, you are right, we can't do this anymore. Let's retire and run away.

The other side of the coin is my family, my friends, my co-workers and most of the kids in my school. I love them for being normal and gentle and supportive and sweet and non-threatening and excited about life and the future. I am so blessed to have everyone of you in my life. Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the others. I'm sorry I let that happen.

Our weather is turning cool and the sky is absolutely magnificent at times. The clear blue is contrasted by the bright white of big, puffy clouds floating through it. The trees are just beginning to turn; each day brings more color. The humidity which seems to blur the air for the entire summer has gone, leaving a clarity that was forgotten. Everyone is struck by it, no one seems to remember it being this bright, this clear last year or ever before. I recall hearing this every fall of my life. It makes me happy that people still notice small things like the weather. We aren't quite so caught up in the rat race that we aren't aware of God's blessings...yet.
I've always felt safe and sheltered in our hills of Southern Indiana. How can the flats of your Northlands offer protection from Nature itself? I suppose the trade off is wide open spaces for hillls and hollows. I wonder if I could have survived in Kansas or Nebraska where the Plains roll on for days without a break in the horizon. I think not. I find comfort in small rooms, small houses, small towns.
I am so excited that most of us are planning to be in Indy on the 13th. Angela, I hope it will work out for you to be with us. Staci, Carrie how about you? I can get a third room, no problem.
Courtney is coming home for a visit on the 24th, we pick her up in Chicago. I hope she stays till after Thanksgiving, but don't know her plans yet. My niece, Stori, adopted 2 Congolese boys and they will be here Nov. 7. Courtney will stay with Stori and her family to help with them for a week or two, I'm sure. They are 6 and 16 months old, Jamey and Stori have an 8 year old boy and a 10 year old daughter. We all are over the moon over getting these babies home. What a wonderful, selfless thing for this family to do. We are so proud of them.
Our family is well, no N1H1, just coughs and sniffles. The boys are growing like weeds and are beautiful. Maddie is as long legged and thin as a colt, doing real well in 4th grade. Mackenzie was inducted into National Honor Society last Sunday in a beautifully quiet ceremony. We were excited and proud that she made it in as a sophomore. Shayla is sporting a new hair style today. Clipped short and spikey, very edgy. She looks much more her age than usual. She will be 21 in December. Such a sweet heart, I worry about her future when Nina and Trent are gone.
Thank you, my girls for letting me bend your ears tonight. I needed to talk. Looking forward to tomorrow. Stephen King and I may go for a long drive. Good night, Gaggle.