It's a BOY!

Finally the unbloggable news is bloggable! Kyle and Christy, our one married son and his wife, are having a baby. We've known since the end of October, but they were waiting a while to tell everyone just to be on the safe side. Then she kept forgetting to send me a picture and .... well... I haven't exactly been blogging a lot lately. But today was the ultrasound and he's a boy... due June 22nd.

It's nice not to have to worry about anything. Kyle has always wanted to fit in and be like everyone else and he did things in perfect order. Got a job at 14, involved in high school doing what he was supposed to do, graduated 51 out of 100, went to a Christian University, got a degree in four years, meeting Christy his senior year, got a teaching job right out of college, waited a year for Christy to graduate, got married.... waited for her to get a full time job, then built a house, bought a puppy and now... BABY TIME!

So fun to celebrate and not be concerned about things like insurance, and unemployment, and preparedness, etc. like the first three.

We love all our grandkids and this one will be no exception. But it feels good to just be able to relax and enjoy the process this time.

SOS Families providing free childcare -- February 16th

Have special needs kids but want to go out to dinner? Bring them to our church and our new SOS Families ministry will provide free day care. We are looking forward to providing this service to parents, but we are anticipating it will fill up fast.

So if you are interested, get your stuff turned in....

Details here ---

Abiding might just mean being fully in the present

That didn't go so well. On both accounts. First of all, my resolution to blog every day lasted all of 2 days.

And I guess me stating that I was made of rubber just jinxed me becuase I was in tears on Thursday... and Friday... and Saturday... and Sunday. For some reason Tony pushes me to a place I don't even know how I get to... some irrational spot that I hate being in. And yet I follow him there every day it seems.

On Monday I left and came to Philly where I have been in meetings with my fellow branch directors of my "region", a group of very amazing people let by an even more amazing guy who never reads my blog so this can't be considered brown nosing. It was a great couple days.

Right now I'm sitting in my hotel, finishing up the last bites of a room service Philly steak sandwich. My plans are to relax and go to sleep as early as possible because I have to be up and downstairs by 4:40 to fly back and head straight in to work.

I tried turning on the TV. Oh my goodness is that just the most boring boring boring thing ever -- it's depressing and annoying. All those channels and nothing that sounds good at all.

So I'll work a little longer and then maybe watch something on my Ipad or play a few cell phone games, maybe checkout Facebook.

Bart is in Orlando so I'm waiting to at least say hi to him and try to get to 8 p.m. before attempting sleep. I know, i'm old.

Missing my kids, my husband, my friends but have learned over the years how to enjoy alone times when I have them.

One of the biggest insights I have had this past couple days comes from a devotional the boss shared with us yesterday about abiding in Jesus. And I realized something that to me was profound.

I have lived most of my life with my head being in a different place than my body. Always looking ahead or behind, or to some place other than where I was, I wasn't really enjoying the present. But I realized yesterday that God is here -- in the now. He lives with us where we are at. He wants us to be where we are, to take it all in and enjoy it, and to celebrate it with Him. If we want to abide in Him, we need to be where we are.... be fully present, because that's where God is.

Maybe that's a better resolution than the blogging thing since that didn't go so well.

I'm made out of rubber....

Remember that thing we used to say?

I'm made out of rubber, you're made out of glue -- what you say bounces off me and sticks to you.

I was thinking this week that half of that is true. I have been through SO MANY rounds of being lied to, manipulated, stolen from, cussed out, threatened, etc. that it barely makes an impact. I picture myself being made out of rubber and the arrows flying at me and them just bouncing off and lying on the ground.

However, the thought of my kids being made out of glue and things sticking to them just doesn't make sense. . . at all.

SO, back to the first part of the saying. This week my youngest daughter felt the need to lie to me. It's been a while since it happened ... probably more because of a nack of necessity on her part to do so, but nonetheless....

We went around the block again. I pointed out that I thought we were beyond her needing to lie to me. She texted, "we are beyond this." I texted, "we can't be if you did it 15 hours ago. Don't argue with me. You violated my trust." She texted, "I didn't violate your trust...." ad infinitum until I finally just text, "you don't know what it feels like becuase I have NEVER lied to you. Let's stop talking about this."

On top of this violation I've been lied to by her brothers, I've been cussed out daily for years, etc. etc. etc. and it all bores me.

In reflecting on this whole thing I realized how little I cared. I know that is sad to say, but I just really don't have it in me anymore to care that much about being mistreated. I'm used to it. And it honestly seldom bothers me any more.

What do you guys think? Is that a bad or a good thing?

Happy New Year

I don't have many New Year's Resolutions this year. But I'll tell you a couple.

1) To cancel my fitness center membership that isn't doing me any good (or at least change it to a family membership so that i'm not completely wasting my money).

2) To blog daily.

3) To put my anxiety in the right place.

Things have been pretty mellow at the Fletcher's since we moved. It's been good to have a fresh start in a new place. It was really nice to have some psychic space for those few months when Tony and Sadie were both at Job Corps. It's nice to have so many kids over 18 and not be legally responsible for them. In two and a half months we will have only two children and that feels good.

My new job has me a bit nervous about blogging since I am a "figure head" now, in some ways, so I may have to be a bit more careful about what I write. I know, I know...

So you may be seeing more of me.... I feel really out of touch with all of you in the blogosphere.....