Confirmation retreat and morning ramblings

Sunrise...

I love the early morning, when everyone else is still in bed and I can sit at the computer and watch the sun come up. Since the trees are not covered in leaves, I can see the sun rise. Right now, the sun is a beautiful shade of pink/purple. The house is quiet and I have a delightful cup of coffee made by my wonderful, teenage son. Tucker and Matt have left for school. I got to spend a few quiet moments with Tucker before he leaves and that is always nice. He still gives me a hug and tells me he loves me before he goes. "I love you Mama!" It's the best! He has always been so affectionate.

This is the best part of the day...before the chaos of feeding two toddlers and getting them out the door to Elise's preschool. Lately, I've been sleeping in and missing this time. I always regret when I do. This is my time, even if it's just 30 minutes. Gordo even likes it...he gets a good "rub-down" in the mornings and then goes out to watch the world go by as he lays on the sidewalk declaring his position as "Supreme Chow" of the neighborhood. He's just too funny~our land manatee.

Last weekend was spent at Tucker's confirmation retreat. I wasn't sure he was going to go~we've had our ups and downs lately. Tucker is experiencing the "teenage years". This school year has been a challenge for both of us. All of the freshman in Lakota school district (15000+ students in all grades) go to the same school. We have two high schools that have the 10-12 grade students. So the freshman school has around 1300 students in it. It's a zoo! The administration does a pretty good job with the situation, but it's hard on some of the kids. Next year, a new freshman school will open and the Lakota East freshman will attend the new school and the West students will stay at the old school. And did I mention that freshman girls are just "MEAN"! I'm talking hateful mean. Some of the boys aren't much better. I'd like to spend a week with a few of them. We'd see if they are all "high and mighty" after a week with me. That's not a very healthy attitude, but it breaks my heart the way some of these kids make other kids feel about themselves. I've been covering him in prayer (which I should have been doing all along) and things seem to be getting better for him~Praise God! But I digress...

Tucker~claiming the new house as "HIS HOUSE"

Back to the retreat. We went to Camp Kern and it was a family retreat. But I didn't feel that it was a good place to take the girls since we were sleeping in dorm bunk beds and Amelia would need a port-a-crib, blah blah blah. So Baba stayed home with them. It was one night, so not so bad for him. Tucker and I shared some good thoughts about God's grace. It was such a wonderful blessing to share those feelings with him. I believe he gets it~but his inquisitive mind has so many questions. I just pray that his heart remains open to the our Lord!

There was a moment during the retreat when he was holding my hand and I yearned for those days when I could hold him in my lap. Do you ever look at your teenager and think about just that, holding him or her in your lap? I guess you kind of forget about it (at least I did), but with the one girl or both sitting on my lap all the time, I tend to think about it. It was one of those special moments when I just wanted to hug him. Naturally, it's not cool to sit on your mom's lap at the age of 15. It was so strange that my heart ached a little for that. But in my mind's eye, I was holding a little tow-headed boy, his head tucked under my chin, head resting against my chest, listening to my heart beat. I could still smell his hair and feel the softness of his hand in mine. We were at Ichthus and it was during the alter call. He looked up and told me he loved me. Do you have a memory like that? A memory that you can go back to and remember everything about that child at those point in time? I always try to make those memories with each one of my kids so I can go back to it some day. I can't remember where I picked that up, but I'm glad I did.

We were able to participate in a high ropes course. It was so much fun. We went through 9 different areas and my favorite was when we used a rope to swing across a bridge. I was told that I had to do a Tarzan yell while swinging. Oh happy day! I LOVED the Carol Burnett Show! I watched it faithfully and her Tarzan yell was amazing. So I grabbed a hold of that rope and with my best "Carol Burnett" impression, bellowed out my Tarzan yell as I swung back and forth across the bridge opening. Tucker was mortified. I was positively gleeful! Tucker was even more shocked when he learned that one of the boys got it on video. His mother emailed it to me this week. Take a look.....you can see Tucker standing off on the right side of the video. Body language says EVERYTHING....



Well, the troops have risen and I must clean up the body glitter that has found it's way to my child and the kitchen table. The fun never ends