Good morning!

It is 7am and Madi is already off to take the PSAT/NMSQT.  I was a little nervous that she'd be a little nervous last night, but she's got it under control.  Her feelings..."I'm not going to be a national merit scholar anyway" and "driving a friend that's more nervous than you are is a great way to not be nervous."  She took it last year too, she's not this!  I mean probably not the national merit scholarship part, but she should ace the part about going there without throwing up.

My young son, you know the one that's not yet 12.  The kid that knows every Seinfeld episode by heart (literally by heart...he replays episodes in his mind when he's nervous {like at the dentist}).  He is also very well versed in even less appropriate shows like Big Bang Theory and Friends.  You'll never guess what show he is hooked on now...Telly Tubbies!!  It is now available to stream on Netflix and he's hooked.  He's even convinced Joe to at least pretend to like it (sorry Tiffany).  I can relate a little bit though.  Guess what book I am currently reading...Starring Sally J Freedman as Herself!  Yes I do this thing where I reread most Judy Blume books once a year or so.  Silly, I know.  Sometimes adult life (or adolescent life) is hard and we have to go back to feeling like a child for a little while.  There could be worse coping mechanisms I'm sure.

Like for example the coping mechanism by which I stare at my phone like a wild woman until I get the text from the teenage driver (s) that says

 

or this...

 

 

That "or this..." was supposed to be in the middle of the two, but whatever!

 

Also now my mail photos save in downloads instead of pictures (no time or patience to figure that one out), so I almost put this picture from last year at this time on here by mistake...

 

Another thing...this is guy now NINETEEN!!

 

What I've been doing while I'm not blogging...

 

Teaching my kids (and talking to them every chance I get)

 

Spending time with Mike who is liking his new job which has him sometimes traveling and other times working from home in his jammies all day.

 

tutoring

 

taking a friend to chemo/dr appts

 

leading two different small groups at church, plus teaching 9th grade religious ed, plus another group thing

 

laundry

 

not cleaning my house

 

driving Jake places which sometimes involves waiting in long car lines

 

praying for my driving kids

 

praying for hundreds of other intentions

 

and a thousand other things

 

 

We spent 48 hours on the road for a day and a half in Albany, NY to attend my cousin Patrick's wedding and captured the moment with this...

 

And finally today is take two (or sorta take three) of maybe Jake will be getting his braces off...

we don't have our hopes up...