I thought I had something to put together on here, but that was before we got home and the Skyping began, Facebook's obstinate album creator gave me grief, and Star brought the boys back from their day out. Now, it's almost 1 am, so we'll just see.
The pictures were of the kids' day skiing, rounding out the Febfest. Alright, I'm gonna assume anyone who's read or knows much about me, surely has figured out that, for lack of a better word, we "homeschool". So, today was "Homeschool Day" at the slopes - great price of $21 a head for gear, lesson, and time. We've been taking advantage of this for several years and are very glad we still live close enough to the mountains to make it worthwhile. All but Madalynn ski or board; she got to try out ice skates for the first time, having the whole rink to herself, since yesterday it was so warm that it melted down to the coils. Thankfully, it stayed in the 40's for a good portion of the day, warming suddenly though, and the layer pile started in the lodge. When we got there, I sat a bottle of sunscreen in the middle of the table. Did anyone use it? No. Will they regret it? Yes. Why didn't Mom do it? She was following a grumpy 3 year old around the lodge. Besides, anyone heard of live and LEARN? This has happened before.
Nothing too eventful went on with the kids except Michael getting stuck on the lift for 1/2 hr. What's funny is that he decided to take off the skis and jump when a patroller ran up and screamed for him to stop AND to pass that message down the line. Sincerely thankful I am that none of us were hurt in the fun. I enjoy watching the testing of themselves with new skills every year, taking calculated risks. We were surprised to run into several old friends. I sat a little with my circle of moms, who didn't have the homeschool look or "air"- instead were fit, colorful, silly, confident in their God-given beauty. (Status quo is no way to be, especially if you're talking about the mom/teacher look.) These ladies are not only playing out their most important roles to the max, but are running rental companies, going to nursing school, writing school curriculum and speaking regularly, travelling the world as the wife of a diplomat (who left the Congo this year and is headed to Cambodia), and, yes, there's me - truly the "stay at home" mom, very content in that, but sometimes hoping for a way to help out my husband.
This diplomat's wife was actually sitting in a corner minding her own business, when I interrupted her quiet, lowlit world needing a seat on the couch to keep Madalynn in a stronghold long enough for her to calm down and accept sleep. I did the kind of furious rocking that one does with a frantic child. I looked like a lunatic but it worked and I was finally able to have a meaningful conversation. She's only been teaching her children for 4 years and I for, well ever since I had kids, we all do really. Anyway, I told her I don't have any particular gifts; I tend to break machines; I don't bake and I didn't teach the girls to....but what I told her is that I "enable" them all and she eloquently replaced my word with "facilitate"....perfect, because when I see a bent forming in a child, I pray about it and find the resources, the places, the masterful to grow them there... God most often has already set it all in play; we just have to seek it out.
While we were sunk down there, Mike called saying I had to return a call he'd gotten 'cause he was in MA. Low and behold, I dialed up the Animal Control officer. He said, "Ma'am, I believe I have your horse." Through a broken signal, I said, "Oh, that's funny I already have it worked out to have him brought back to you tomorrow." Not knowing the nature of the original rescue from last fall (and that's one for another day, us not knowing he was a repeat offender escape artist, on top of several other things), the officer paused and asked, " You WANT me to take your horse???" "Yes, that would work out great for me," I said, sooo wishing I could see the look on his face. Catching a wayward horse and hauling it off are two fewer things on my list for Thursday. Man, that was easy, I think, that is, IF he actually caught it. Another lesson learned, you DO get what you pay for when you give $100 for a horse. Now, the horse the children had the honor of working with yesterday is an entirely different story. Reining that Percheron ("closest of modern horses to the medieval WARRIOR horse") down those rows, plowing up the earth was a notable experience. For me, just watching that gorgeous beast at work was a pleasure.
Back to Boone, Pizza Hut there after skiing has become part of the tradition. For some reason, they sat our big bunch of Harpers right in the middle of the room and I hammed it up with our server over it. (I got outta there eating 2 pieces, well, not counting the roll.) When it came time to leave, we'd noticed a group of homeschoolers parading into the other room - long skirts, could live with (and have, another story for another day) BUT in combination with tennis shoes, NOPE, no can do. I told him, "We're homeschoolers, too, and we like it better our way." He got a tremendous kick out of that. It's not that I give that much negative thought to what really are good intentions of others; I just don't care to fit in anyone's box. Being part of any category other than simply Christian ("no more, no less" as a friend says) is not for us. On the way home, the older girls came up with something that could be "for us". They laughed hysterically at their cleverness in creating a new government post: successful, experienced parents who should have permits to discipline other people's kids (when parents, who are out amongst the rest of us, won't discipline their own), kinda like a public service .... with a paddle permit! ;)
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