Field Trip and Friends

It's so amazing to see how much of a difference there is between first grade and second grade. I'm always so amazed when I see the writing of my children and see what their little minds have come up with. I laughed so hard one day when I was reading sentences that Ethan had to write in school. He got to make up the sentences using some of his spelling words. Here are a few of his sentences:

My dog is sad.

My desk is a mess.

My house has dust.

There were a lot more like this, but these are just a few. But basically, Ethan's sentences were all glimpses into his real life and not "made up" things at all. For example, I asked him about the dog being sad sentence. He said that Marley was really sad that morning when they went to school because she had to see them get out of the car because I was taking her to the vet. And when I asked him about the dust one, he said, "Well, our house DOES have dust!" Ha-ha! And of course Ethan's desk is a mess. Everything Ethan owns is a mess. :) What I think is funny is how Ethan only writes in non-fiction, just like he only likes to read non-fiction stuff.

And then I have Emily, the complete opposite of her brother. She loves to be creative and draw and write stories about make believe stuff, yet her room is almost always clean. If she is writing a story about something, you can almost always guarantee that it will be some type of fantasy and involve talking animals. In fact, just this evening she was upset because Ethan never wants to play with her with her toys and he is always just wanting to build with his Legos or she plays with him with his toys. She just kept whining and whining and whining about it. I did something tonight that I am not proud of, but was kind of necessary. I paid Ethan off. I paid him to go and play with his sister. Not only did he have to go and play with her in her room and with her animal toys, that also had to include the animal sounds and pretend voices that went with it. And the deal was that Ethan was NOT allowed to tell Emily that I was paying him either or the deal was OFF! :)

Emily went on a field trip last week at school and she had such a wonderful time. She went to Dr. Dykes vet office. It also happens to be the vet that we use so she is used to going there when we take our pets. Although she was very sad that I could not be there, she was very excited to tell me all about the trip. She got to see a baby kangaroo, and lots of other animals. She also told me all about the operating room where they do their surgeries. She told me about this table that has holes in it so if an animal is bleeding, the blood can just drain through the holes. My child is just so practical at times and is fascinated by the oddest things.

Friday night Emily went to a slumber party. It was the party of one of her best friends, Molly. This is going to be one of those times when I need to take a moment to acknowledge somebody else in my blog and that would be Molly. You see, I have to say that overall, I am so proud of both of my kids and who they have always chosen to be friends with, but let me just tell you how special Molly is and how much I adore this sweet child. Emily has known her since kindergarten and been in a class with her since 1st grade. I always knew that Emily and Molly were two of the little blond foursome that were best friends, but it was when her first grade teacher and I were talking one day toward the end of the school year last year and discussing teacher assignments for the next school year that I really understood how important Molly was to Emily. I found out what a little mother hen Molly was to Emily throughout the school year. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but strictly in a caring and compassionate way. If Emily was hurting, Molly was the one to check on her and make sure she was okay.

We were lucky enough to have Molly and Emily in class together again this year. And on Friday, the day of Molly's slumber party, Emily had a really bad day in school with several headaches. She was pretty bad off and even fell asleep in the corner of the classroom for a while. When she got home, I was concerned about her going to the party and she said, "Molly told me that if I get a headache then she will make sure and find me a very quiet place where I can lay down." My heart just about melted for the sweet compassion of this seven year old friend. Well, Emily did end up going and luckily she didn't have anymore headaches. However, when I picked her up the next morning, Molly's mom told me that while everybody was dancing around in the middle of the floor, Emily tripped and fell. Molly jumped up and yelled for everybody to STOP!!! Then she went over and asked Emily if she hit her head on anything and made sure she was okay before anybody continued to dance around. Emily assured her that she was fine and she got back up and the party continued. Again, I have to say that I seriously LOVE this child and don't think that I could ask for a better friend for Emily.

Before I close, I need to give an update on my dad. Today was supposed to be the final date of his surgery that had been postponed several times. It ended up being cancelled altogether, though, in light of new information. Dad is now being seen by a new group in Mobile at a cancer institute. Before they saw my dad, they required more testing as well as went over all of the previous test results. Unfortunately, some suspicious spots were found in Dad's brain. They cannot confirm that these spots are cancer, but they need to have further testing done on them. The new doctors have said that surgery is just not an option anymore for this type of cancer. You can't treat just the one area. You have to treat the entire disease. That means with some type of drug therapy like chemo. They are looking at trying to get Dad into a clinical trial in New Orleans, but this can't take place until the spots in his brain are dealt with. Dad will have more extensive testing done later this week and will consult with more neurosurgeons. Again, I am asking for prayers for Dad as well as all of us.

Ethan and Emily go over and see their papa as much as they can and it is just like it has always been. However, with Emily, she is really being affected by his illness now. One night she started talking to me about heaven and about how beautiful it is and how happy Jesus is to see you when you get there and how you get to see the people and animals that died before you. She had honestly painted such a beautiful picture of everything that it was so hard to be sad about such a difficult topic. Another day she told me that while she was at school she prayed for Papa to get through all of this. And then she got really quiet and said, "I prayed for him while I was in the bathroom. Is that okay?" I just smiled and said that of course it is okay. I told her that that is probably one of the quietest places you are and so it makes a good place to pray. She just smiled.

So, if any of you have it in you, and happen to find yourself in a quiet place like the bathroom...could you please say a little prayer for my dad?