Wow...

It has been quite some time since I last posted, I'm sure everyone has been anxiously awaiting the next exciting entry of mine where I rant on and on about how busy I am. Well, this one will be a little different, but not much. I will re-cap the past 3 weeks, as they have been very, very eventful.

First of all, the most shocking and difficult news we have had in a long time, Ed's brother-in-law was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident in April. He sustained a head injury and is continuing to recover at Regions hospital. It has been three weeks, and thankfully, it appears as though he will make a full recovery! It was very tense the first few days, as he was sedated, on a ventilator, etc, but he has made tremendous progress in the past two weeks with his therapy and it looks as though he will be going home in another week or two. In comparison to this, all of the busy-ness and activity of our lives here really seems so minor. We are all so grateful for his recovery thus far, and continue to hope and pray for that complete and full recovery.

During the week that he was most critically ill, we also did not have any daycare. Our daycare provider had viral pneumonia. Our backup daycare is Ed's mom, who was unavailable because she was in the cities. It involved a bit of juggling of our work schedules to take care of Lilly while the boys were in school. Thankfully, Honey (my aunt) was able to watch Lilly for us on Thursday and Friday that week. Thank you so much, Honey!!!

So, when last week rolled around (April27), I was very much looking forward to a week where things are back to normal. Well...didn't happen.

On Wednesday morning, I was up early to go for a run/walk to the end of our road and back, when I saw I had a voicemail. I had 2 messages, one at 2 am, and one at 5:30 am. Being the calm, rational person I am, I immediately jumped to the conclusion that someone was dead, because why else would anyone call me at 2 am. However, the person calling was a parent from school who I barely know. I checked the message, and it was instructions to activate our phone tree. Being on the Home and School board at St. Boniface, it is my responsibility to contact about 12 families if there is ever an emergency that would impact the school. We needed to activate the phone tree because of a suspected case of Swine Flu, letting parents know that school would be closed that day. Now, if you live in MN, you are well-aware of this as the media from all of the local TV stations set up camp here in town for a few days. The suspected case was at the Middle School, but St. Boniface elected to close because St. B shares facilities with the Middle School. So, there was no school W, TH, or F that week.

That is crazy enough, but our Boni-Ball, a fundraiser that we on the H&S board have been planning since the beginning of the year was scheduled for Friday, May 1, and Cameron's First Communion was scheduled for Sunday, May 3. I have known for the past 9 months that this particular weekend was going to be very busy, and I could not wait to put those events behind me. Well, now, there was discussion that both events may be cancelled because of the Swine Flu. So for 2 straight evenings, it seems as though I was constantly on the phone, trying to inform my families for the phone tree, discussing our options if we cancel the Boni-Ball, etc. In the end, both events went as planned.

So, Friday, May 1, I took the day off of work to set up for the Boni-Ball, worked until 1am, got up Saturday morning to clean up, and then get the house ready for Cameron's First Communion. It was busy, busy, busy, but everything went off without a hitch! Monday was a great day, as I was relieved to have those hurdles behind me!

This week was much more typical, but I wouldn't say it was calm. Between the level of busy-ness at work (which is a great thing, don't get me wrong), the need to more carefully manage the therapist's schedules because they are getting so full, the Monday night meeting I had, the Thursday night Happy Hour, etc., it was crazy, but at least there was no major drama (with the exception of Ed's car breaking down at work and having to shell out $250 to fix it...).

I am finally home, on a Saturday. The first Saturday since the beginning of March that I have been able to be home all day. We have had dance practice every Saturday, but there is no practice this week. Next week, we have practice on Saturday morning, and our recital is on Sunday. I am SO excited for the recital, I think this is our best year so far in terms of our readiness for the performance. We even have costumes this year! It really is a beautiful thing, watching these girls with all of their challenges up on stage performing. And even more precious, to me, is seeing the joy on the faces of their parents! It makes all of the effort and the Saturdays away worth every minute! If you are able to be there to watch, it is at the Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School at 1 pm on Sunday, May 17.

Monday, May 18, I will officially be commitment-free. My term on the H&S board has ended, we have one final Boni-Ball meeting on May 14, and after the 17th, dance is over for another year. I am looking so forward to being home every night after work with no meetings, and I am looking forward to having Saturdays to be home again.

Here's to a nice quiet day at home today, and hopes for the next few weeks to be boring and dull!