Merciful heavens

Family emergency. Again. This time, it's my older brother. I'm so upset, I don't even want to think - much less post - about it.

I'll be working on this month's den newsletter today and making some calls.

Mostly, I'll be trying very hard not to freak out until I know exactly how bad this thing with my brother is going to get. I don't see how it can by anything other than catastrophic, but who knows.

Aren't I just the shining ray of joy and happiness this morning?

The sad thing is this is my idea of being optimistic.

ROTFL!

A Day Off...WAHOO!!!

Spring St Block Party/Anti-Drug Fest was cancelled due to rainy forecast for the day, rescheduled for May 12th so that's my entire afternoon free. Plus, we had to take our car to the garage yesterday afternoon. Been an evil knocking in it for over a week. Mechanic welded new muffler clamp on (already knew muffler was loose), but we also need new break rotors, can't be done until Monday. Mechanic said the care was safe to drive, but we all need a break, anyway, so we're NOT taking the kids to Lowes Build & Grow workshop this morning, either.

A day off.

I may faint.

Boy, do I need it, though. My house is a disaster area and that's putting it mildly. Always is during our busier weeks, but this one was particularly busy, even for me. Today is for cleaning house and fun with the family. Our kids share us a lot with other kids. They need fun time alone with us, too.

We ended up doing Friday After Five on the downtown mall yesterday, btw. Had a BLAST! We went through 4 boxes of baking soda letting kids erupt the volcano leftover from our last pack meeting, had a few parents ask about scouts. Did a free drawing for Jumanji DVD for our 4-H booth that we set up right next to scout display and still have to call our winner. Will do as soon as I feel more confident that the car will hold together to deliver the DVD. :-)

Another btw -- Scouts are good to go for having the gym for our Blue & Gold banquet. One less thing for me to stress about.

Plan B...And Many of Them

It's raining cats and dogs and supposed to continue raining all day so most unlikely that we'll be setting up displays for Friday After Five. Works out better for me, though. As long as it keeps raining, we'll have our regular 4-H meeting tonight instead, which will nullify the need for a make-up meeting next wk. Which means I'll have meetings 3 nights next week instead of 4.

Also...Minor disaster. Found out at Nominating Committee Mtg last night that WMU is hosting a dinner in the fellowship hall the night we're supposed to be in there for our scout Blue & Gold Banquet. Turns out, our church secretary hadn't pencilled scouts in for ANY 2nd Thursday in the fellowship hall. I nearly wept. I may still. The gym instead of the fellowship hall is a viable alternate. The gym has a small kitchen and would actually work out better for us. We'd have more space and the bridge we'll be using for the Arrow of Light ceremony is pretty big. Plus, all that space for games to break up the ceremonies some for boys with the wiggles. But I have to make sure no one's scheduled the gym for practices or what-have-you that night. If I can't get the gym that night, I don't even want to think about what my life would be like.

Ex-wife also called last night, trying to stir up trouble. And succeeding, of course, because yes, I'm mad and upset. Typical ex-wife nonsense. She's off her meds. It isn't like behavior like this is a surprise. Hey, it isn't a surprise even when she's taking her meds. LOL. When that woman feels like yelling and screaming (literally -- the nastier, the better it makes her feel or so it seems), anything is an excuse. Anything. She's ranted long and loud because we dared to pay child support on time before. I kid you not. She didn't want it on time. She wanted it two weeks early -- how dare we...Ad nauseum. This time, she decided to rant about my daughter, though, and that's a first. Thus necessitating implementation of yet another Plan B for my stepdaughter's graduation. No way do I want this woman anywhere near any of the kids in the mental state she's in, especially when she's zoned in on ranting about one of them. I don't even like her anywhere near my stepdaughter, but I don't have a say about that. I do, however, have a say in how much she's around the other kids. ZERO.

I have no idea when I'll be able to go back to working on my next paper for the site, but the next several weeks are pretty jam-packed...

MIA To-Do List...ACK!

Doom.

Despair.

I lost my list of things I need to have done by Friday, with still a good 1/3 of those jobs undone.

Brief program at my sons' school this morning. I'm at Pastoral Care this afternoon. Nominating Committee Mtg (6pm) and Scout Leader Mtg (7pm) at church this evening.

Otherwise, I'll be trying to remember what all else was on that list. EEK!

Wednesday Already?

Since we already have 4-H and Cub Scout displays put together (finished yesterday), I agreed to set up both at Friday after Five on the downtown mall this week. Which means running back to Walmart this morning for another bucket of gum (boys will be giving gum away at Scout display) and another $5 DVD (free prize drawing for 4-H display). Not quite as big a stress as the block party, though. My husband will be off Friday evening. Somebody to spell me if I need a break. Somebody to walk my kids around the other displays. And if I get fed up, I can leave when I want. LOL

I'm at pastoral care this afternoon, home for a quick dinner, then on to Awanas tonight...From this point on, I literally have my mornings, afternoons and evenings blocked out clear through Sunday afternoon.

The good news is Def Leppard is touring this summer. Gives me a bright spot to look forward to. We're planning on taking the whole family this time, even our boys (my youngest, particularly, is a fan, LOL). Concert t-shirts for the lot of us and a family picture of us all wearing them. I'm already teasing my husband about using the pic on our Christmas cards, wouldn't that be a hoot? LOLOL!

May not be everybody's idea of a vacation. Probably nobody's idea of a vacation, but it's the closest shot we have at one this summer. My husband's vacation time is traditionally sucked up by Vacation Bible School, fair and we're adding cub scout day camp to the mix this year. Some lovely day, we'll get to take a traditional vacation like normal people. Learn to hang out on a beach or something with nary a glue bottle or sign-in sheet in sight.

But alas, this is not that day. ;-)

More Scout Work...

Running errands early this morning so we'll be done in time to meet our Charter Rep and Treasurer at the bank to set up pack checking acct. Our Charter Rep, btw, is likely to be mega displeased with the lot of us but especially yours truly. She wanted to set up the checking acct and books so that they were for cub scouts and boy scouts both, got one EIN to use for both. We balked. I balked. We know little to nothing about the boy scout troop connected to our pack. We have no troop roster, no by-laws, and as far as I know, no dues have been turned in from the troop. So I applied for and received an EIN for the pack only. If that makes me a big, bad meanie, oh well. I'll just have to be a big, bad meanie.

After the bank, I'll work on the cub scout display and make copies of our 4-H club flyer.

No work on the site. My last day off (so to speak) before the horrifically busy part of my week starts. If I get any extra time to myself today, I'm chilling. ;-)

Aggravation Continues...

Have decided NOT to have a club-specific display for 4-H. We'll take the 4-5pm time slot for the general 4-H table in grand hopes I'll be able to float between 2 tables (4-H + Scouts) rather than 3.

Various and sundry aggravations re Cub Scouts as well, with both the display and setting up our pack checking acct which we are supposed to be doing tomorrow. Plus plans for summer, including camp.

And still more aggravation from bipolar ex, more specifically from my stepdaughter. She's due to graduate at the end of May but has missed so much school we simply don't know if she'll be able to pull it off any more. She hasn't made up the work she's missed -- AND she keeps skipping! My daughter has been calling her every morning for over month, to make sure she's awake TO go to school and still, she skips. My husband and her grandmother are taking turns on school days, calling her every night to make sure she went to school...

Did I mention that I'm planning and doing the ordering for EOY stuff for Awanas, too? And starting to prep for VBS (Vacation Bible School)?

Look up stress in Webster's.

Yep, that's my picture, right there.

And if it's not there, it should be.

Boy, Was I Ever Wrong...

Did I say I was back in business?

*SNORT*

Well...Maybe now...

Probably not.

LOL!

The Great Escape 5K run was yesterday, the race my husband was co-organizing and a lot of this past week was caught up in preparing for it. We had a gorgeous day, 123 runners. A couple snags on race day, but nothing catastrophic. AND we raised approx $1K for the Employees Club!

Now, I'm focusing on the Spring Street Block party on the 28th. I hadn't planned on doing it. In fact, both my husband and I told the block party organizer no. Repeatedly. But...Long story short, we sort of got drafted. I'm not pleased. At all. But what are you gonna do?

Now that the race is over, I'm scrambling to put together displays for our Cub Scout pack and our 4-H club both. 4-H isn't so bad. The extension ofc will have a table so ours doesn't need to be ginormously outstanding and our club makes a booth for fair every summer. I'll just use it and knock together a promo flyer for the Robotics club project we'll be starting in June and have the older kids make posters (which they can also enter into fair!) during our meeting the night before the block party.

Scouts...Well, we still have 5 balance boards leftover from our den meetings and my son's birthday party we can use to draw interest to the table. Stripped my daughter's science fair display board, downloaded some 4-H and scout clipart. PrintShop to the rescue! LOL. Add in some pictures from den/pack mtgs and pack-specific info...

I'll be working on both displays today.

Next week is hideously awful for me, too...No guarantees, but I'll try to be better about posting updates, at least.

Back in business

The past week has been horrifically busy, but I have today off.

Wahoo!!!

I'm not working on the site. I need today to catch my breath, but the next few days should be much better.

God & Me for Good Friday!

We're having our Easter dinner today and will go to church to teach God & Me (religious emblems program for Scouts) immediately thereafter. We only have 5 kids in the class (2 of the 5 are my sons), but that's okay. With Awanas, Scouts and 4-H, we typically have 10-15 per group. Having a class of a more manage-able size is a nice break. ;-) Gives us a better opportunity for one-on-one interaction, makes it more fun for the kids.

Still have not reviewed my omniscience papers for typos, etc...Got sidetracked at the hospital while I was in pastoral care Wednesday. One of the CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) students was looking for a passage that paralled Jesus riding a donkey into Jerusalem during Holy week that involved David riding a donkey into Jerusalem in the OT. I must've looked for 2hrs. If it's there, I didn't find it. *sigh* Regardless, I looked at that rather than my omniscience paper. And I highly doubt I'll get to it today, either.

The kids and I will dye eggs this afternoon. I felt kind of bad, though. The neighbor kids wanted to come over to dye eggs, too, but my sons insisted that coloring eggs is a family activity. It is. It should be. I realize and know full well that some activities should be for our family only. My kids share us so much with so many other kids week after week after week. Some things need to be just for them and them alone.

But I feel bad regardless because I know unless the kids do it at my house, they likely won't get to dye eggs at all. *SIGH*

Plans for today: coloring eggs, Easter dinner and God & Me. Otherwise, I'm chilling. :-)

A day for Cub Scouts...

Den meeting tonight, but my kids finally earned enough conduct stones to get their pizza party so not a huge, hairy deal planning this meeting. I will be working on scouts today, though. I'm building a volcano for the pack meeting and I also have 2 dz more leis to make. Copy newsletter and weather beltloop details for my den...

Basically, a busy Scout day.

Otherwise, still working on my Greek.

My stepdaughter is coming for Easter visitation today, too. With my husband's work schedule, the only time we could fit in a proper holiday dinner while she's up here is tomorrow before our God & Me meeting at 7pm.

At least we'll know she's okay today through Tuesday. Bipolar bizarreness from her mother is trucking along famously -- or rather, infamously. Once my stepdaughter is up here, we can sit down with her and discuss our options. Mitigating collateral damage to her is priority #1. We just have to get her through to graduation. After that, she's up here for the summer. Then, the ex can be as joyfully whacky as she likes.

I am exceedingly fed up with the bipolar people in my life. 2 off their meds at the same time is a bit much.

My week begins...again...

Wednesdays are Awanas and tonight is our Sparkie Easter party. For our lesson, I'll go over Resurrection Eggs with them. If you haven't heard of Resurrection Eggs, they're a series of plastic eggs you open in color-coded order that have tokens inside that represent the events of Holy Week leading up to and including Christ's crucifixion and resurrection. It's a fun way for young kids to learn the true story of Easter -- bunnies need not apply. ;-) I also have He Lives keychain kits leftover from when I taught T&Ts (3rd-5th graders) which I also used in 4-H, but will adapt them for my younger Sparks group so that they'll make bracelets rather than the more difficult keychains. As soon as I wake up a little more, I'll start baking cupcakes (cupcakes are the bane of my existence, I'm thinking, LOL)...

Then, head up to the hospital to work in pastoral care. For the last 3 months, my husband's been working days so I've only been able to go in an hour on Fridays to make my home hospice calls, but he's back on evenings now, which means I can go back to volunteering Wednesday and Thursday afternoons at the hospital. Don't be impressed. All I do is make home hospice calls, clerical jobs the secretary needs done, greet clients, and answer the phones. I'm usually busy my first hour there, then have a couple mostly quiet hours while I wait for the phone to ring. Lots of time for personal study! Today, I'll take in my omniscience papers for review and work on my Greek.

Somewhere in there, I also need to work on my Cub Scout newsletter (due tomorrow) and call around for pizza prices for our den pizza party tomorrow night...

I am completely mental

Posted What Kind of God is Jesus - Omniscient, Part 2 to the site this morning, but it's still lacking New Testament theodicy and frankly, I've no idea when I'll get to it. For now, in my spare time, I'm working on my Greek.

Wait.

Spare time?

What, exactly, is that?

LOL

Turning in Cub Scout sub fundraiser orders this morning, running various errands for Easter and Passover...My husband's schedule for the next couple of weeks has changed so that's set my plans into a tailspin. By this evening, MAYBE, I'll have figured out how to shift everything around.

If the bipolar people in my life don't stop pulling their delusion stunts soon, as in pronto, I swear I'm going to be the one needing medication. ACK!

Monday, Monday

After more or less taking yesterday off (I did mat the pictures and start on the leis), back to the grindstone today. Our washer is supposed to be delivered in an hour. I've got a kazillion calls to make and Mounce's book and workbook should be in my mailbox. Actually, I think it was delivered this past weekend, but we've been catching up from the trip so have been ignoring our mail.

Anyway, while waiting for the Mounce text, I got a headstart by working off lesson's available on-line for learning the alphabet, which I knew would be my first priority once the book order was delivered. I suppose I could've continued working from on-line lessons rather than ordering the book and workbook for a basic sketch of NT Greek, but...Since I intend to proceed to Daniel Wallace's text after, working through Mounce's rather than (or in addition to) on-line lessons seemed wise. ;-)

If you're interested in NT Greek and don't have the $$$ for a basic Greek text or a formal class, I recommend:

http://www.inthebeginning.org/ntgreek/index.htm
http://rpeurifoy.com/fuller/fuller_index.htm
http://www.theology.edu/greek01.htm
http://www.biblicalgreek.org/grammar/

Those were the sites I found most useful for learning the alphabet and expanding my vocabulary, at least. Anything more than that, I haven't looked at. Caveat emptor. Buyer beware.

I am going to work a bit on the site, though. Once I'm done blathering away here, I'll review what I've finished in theodicy thus far. If I remember correctly, I left this paper at 14 pages, with theodicy in the NT yet to be added. If the writing's solid enough, I'll post what I have and add NT theodicy later.

Back home

Made it back late last night (early this morning?). Both crises have been temporarily resolved. My husband's ex-wife and my brother's girlfriend are both bipolar. Both decided they didn't need their medicine any more about a month ago. Both are on manic highs that defy description. The blowback has been...Stunning. Horrifying. It always is. The difference this time is I've never had to deal with both going nutty at the same time. One at a time, no problem. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Handling both at the same time, though, has been in a word, unbelievable.

We've worked out temporary solutions for the immediate problems, but since neither one of them are back on their meds, it's just a bandaid. Until the both of them are a danger to themselves/others or admit they need help, our options are limited to protecting the kids as much as we can.

Both situations are very painful and difficult. ALL PRAYERS WELOME AND APPRECIATED!!!

One son down with allergy-related, wickedly sore throat so once again, no church for me.

I'll spend today decompressing, maybe work on Cub Scout stuff. I have 30+ leis to make, a volcano to build, eight 8x10 enlargments of my brother's Hawaiian vacation pictures to mat, and a newsletter to finish. Needs to be done, ASAP, but frankly, my nerves are shot so who knows.