Kaleb's Last Day Being 10

We are in the middle of the holiday hustle and bustle here. Kaleb’s 11th birthday is tomorrow. Today he had his two big performances of the Christmas play at His Place Community Church. Saturday he had a practice piano recital and working back through the week we were running here and there all the while the house stayed messy as the boxes of Christmas ornaments didn’t put themselves away. Today, I hope the house gets clean, but I know I’ll have to be the one to do it, so maybe it won’t.

In many ways it feels like the days before Kaleb was born, all the rushing around trying to get this and that done, so maybe it is appropriate that this time of the year is so darn busy - all in preparation for celebrating the greatest birth of all (not Kaleb’s!). I just know the New Year comes with a huge sigh of relief that life gets back to normal, so that’s something to look forward to, but I sure don’t want to miss the advent season by being too busy now. So the house may not get cleaned. Except company is coming tomorrow… Uff da.


Kaleb did pretty well in his Christmas play today. He had a main part and was happy about that. The first service went much better than the second because they had his microphone headset turned off for most of it so his lines weren’t as audible the second time around. First service he had taken some creative liberties with the script and added a few punches that got a good laugh, so the director wasn’t mad he’d done some ad-libbing. He tried it second service but the microphone was off so no one heard it. Funny boy, nonetheless. I’m glad it’s over.


I’m also glad I’m over the hump in terms of my commitments. I spoke at the women’s Christmas brunch at our church on Friday. It went OK. They just wanted me to share all that God did for us in Norway so it was an easy talk to give, but really hard to describe in enough detail to get the real points across. I just hope someone was blessed by it.


We got a call from Norway yesterday that Aunt Ruth fell and broke her hip. We’ve been praying for her non-stop since she was in a lot of pain waiting for surgery. She didn’t want surgery but they didn’t give her that choice. We were worried she’d die on the operating table as her health is so fragile already, but we got a call during church today that she made it through OK and will be in the hospital a while recovering before they send her to a rehab place. Cousin Odd doesn’t think she will ever be able to live on her own again so he assured us when we come in May we will be able to stay in our condo. I’m sure that’s a relief for him since we always crash at his house and next year we’ll be there for seven weeks. But I’m sure Aunt Ruth won’t mind us staying at her place if she’s not there. Now we will pray she doesn’t get pneumonia. When I talked with her two weeks ago and told her we’d be back in just a few months she said, “I might not be alive then,” so maybe she knew this was coming. Who knows. We just don’t want her to be miserable. God’s in control.


Kory got all the lights hung this week and the tree up in the living room. I wish Christmas lasted longer. I’m so not ready, even now. I still have to finish the newsletter and get cards out. Bows are still missing from presents and I haven’t done any Christmas baking. The days are too short and my enthusiasm is waning. Every year I think I’ll do more before Thanksgiving to take the pressure off, and every year I don’t. Tradition! (Ha.)


Last night I had a little Chick time with some old Junior High school girlfriends. We used to have sleepovers back in the early 1970s, and they are still going on nearly forty years later. I couldn’t spend the night this time because of Kaleb’s play today, but it sure was a hoot to get together with those “girls.” It’s nice to have a SAFE bunch of people in my life. I don’t have to worry about being judged or hurting anyone’s feelings – we all just talk about everything we can’t talk about with anyone else because we’ve all been friends since before puberty. What a gift they are to have in my life. I got to brag about Kaleb a little – especially about his piano skills. He played several songs at a home school Christmas party on Friday night, but found it challenging when the kids sang along because they kept a different beat. It was a good experience for him. This week one of the songs he was playing was too easy for him so when he played it for his teacher he crossed his hands on the keyboard and played the right hand part with his left hand and vice versa. She just shook her head and said he obviously needs to be moving along at an even faster rate. Even she is impressed. I love that he tries to challenge himself so he doesn’t get bored. I wish I could do the same.