Still dancing!

Dayton Flyers won yesterday!  It was an unbelievably dramatic game with OSU going ahead with something like 10 seconds left, but UD drove down the floor and scored with less than 4 seconds remaining.  OSU drove again, but just ran out of time to make a shot fall.  It was so exciting!

Then we flipped over to watch Harvard knock off UC.  Many people might think that us southwest Ohioans would firmly be rooted in Cincinnati's corner, but not so folks!  In fact, I would've rooted for Harvard anyway, the fact that the Bearcats were knocked out is just an added bonus!

We then watched THREE overtime games last night (I didn't stay up late enough to watch the fourth one) and were thrilled when North Dakota St. knocked off Oklahoma.  There were some absolutely fabulous games to watch yesterday, and I told my husband that I was so very grateful that he took these two days off to watch the games with me.  It's much more fun than watching alone.  And I'm so grateful that we've pretty much cleared our calendar in order to be able to do this.  We really, really needed something to focus on besides some of the stress and sadness that has been occurring in our lives the last several months.  I am so looking forward to another slate of 16 games today!

Their picks

Every year we have had the kids fill our their own NCAA brackets.  In years past, they've usually chosen places they've been, or just things with which they were familiar, and one year Thomas even made sure who know the mascots of each one and chose based on that.  This year Robert's bracket is pretty straight forward and normal (although he is the first person I've seen with Iowa St. going to the Final Four).  I literally laughed out loud when Thomas handed me his bracket.  He has Dayton beating Harvard in the semi's before beating Arizona to win the national title.  We are very much Flyer fans in this family, and my uncle is a Harvard grad so Thomas is still going with what he knows!  As Catherine hands me her bracket, she says, "I couldn't decide who would win the final...Dayton or Michigan."  Since we are not only huge Flyer fans but very anti-Michigan in this house, I was astounded when she then added, "So I just went with Michigan."  Um, we simply don't choose Michigan in this house!  Thomas asked who she had picked and then said, "Seriously??"  Catherine responded with, "I'm just not sure Dayton has what it takes so I went with Michigan."  I'm completely amused that she doubts Dayton's ability but still has the #11 seed advancing to the finals!

The sports world

One of my favorite weekends of the year is coming up this weekend...NCAA tourney!  Andrew has taken a personal day for Thursday and Friday so that he can stay home and watch the games.  Our Flyers are even in this year!  It's going to be awesome!

And, in only two weeks, the baseball season will be officially underway.  That really makes it feel as though spring must certainly be on the way, although when Thomas and I were waiting for the bus this morning the wind chill was 11.  Not feeling too close at the moment, but we are on our way...the sports seasons tell us so!

Not what we'd planned for the weekend

We had an incredibly busy weekend planned.  But of course, Thomas awoke yesterday with a fever over 101.  I HATE fevers.  I never like my children to be sick, but for whatever reason, fevers just terrify me.  Fortunately, it has been very well controlled with ibuprofen, but it's still there this morning and he vomited when he first got up.  He mentioned yesterday morning and this morning that his throat hurt, but he said it went away after he got up yesterday so I attributed it to sinus...now I'm wondering about strep throat.  We had to adjust our plans for yesterday, and flat out cancel the ones for today.  I don't mind, although it was with friends we'd only seen once in the last eleven years, but hopefully we will be able to reschedule.  I just truly, truly hate having sick kids, and it's just contributing to my weariness lately!

Really, really long week

This has been an amazingly long week.  Yet, it pales in comparison to what the family of the young lady in my previous post is dealing with.  This town, and especially the school community are doing a tremendous job of rallying around them, but I can not fathom the depths of their grief.

Middle school is an absolutely horrible time of life.  I am not going to go into details, but suffice it to say it just completely stinks.  I remember back to my own childhood, and sixth grade was definitely the low point for me.  High school holds more opportunities, and it's really a chance to branch out a little more.  You aren't stuck in the "mold" you might've found yourself in during middle school.  We made the challenging decision of asking that Robert not be in Andrew's class.  It was a very tough decision.  As a parent, I want all three of my children to have Andrew.  My number one reason is that from everything I've heard, he is the best freshmen teacher, and of course I want my children to have the best.  But, we decided that we needed for Andrew to just be his father, and not to add even more issues to the challenges already on the table.

I am tired this morning.  I am tired to the core, and weary.  However, I am grateful that my heart is still full of gratitude and hope, and I'm grateful for my faith and the opportunity to pray.

An unspeakable amount of sadness

The heavy rain around here matches the mood in our hearts.  In all of our hustle and bustle yesterday, we learned a high school freshman had committed suicide.  Andrew did not have her in class and I did not know her, but Robert did and he is friends with her brother.  I do not know the circumstances surrounding her death, and honestly, it doesn't matter.  It is absolutely heartbreaking and there are no words to describe what her parents must be feeling.  I am certain it is 1000 times worse than what I could imagine.  Andrew was with the principals and counselors last evening when they were alerted, and I had to attend a meeting later with people who knew her well.  I did not speak about it until it was brought up, and then it was only to confirm that it was indeed accurate information.  Apparently this girl was the model student.  Many people said she was always smiling, was very popular, and was a leader in everything she did.  It is so very sad that there was apparently so much pain in her heart.

We sat down and had a long chat with Robert about it last evening.  Sadly, because so many teenagers passed away while I was in high school, I was able to provide him some insight into how teenagers react.  While I expect things to be mostly normal at his middle school, high school, especially in Andrew's freshmen classes, will be far from normal.  As I explained to Andrew, there is no "go-to game plan" for dealing with such a thing.  You just have to follow the kids' lead and go where it takes you.  Of course counselors will be available to all during the day.

Last evening I was even having trouble praying for the family.  I have an incredibly deep sense of faith, but praying for peace and comfort seemed futile...unattainable.  It's all I can do right now though, and I ask that you please join me in doing so.

Living in a bit of chaos again

One of my husband's dreams has always been to have a larger bed.  I don't particularly care one way or the other, and before we moved it would never have been an option.  The full sized bed we had barely fit up the stairs as it was.  Moving here however, provided possibilities, so half of this year's tax refund is officially spent.  I do acknowledge it will be nice to have a new mattress and box springs, as the one we'd been sleeping on is pretty old.  However, it isn't as simple as "out with the old, in with the new."  We asked Catherine if she wanted our bed and I was surprised that she did.  She has a fabulous bed that my uncle made for my cousin, but it's a twin and she wanted a larger bed.  So we will need to tear down her old one and put ours back together in her room.  However, she has the newer and nicest mattress and box springs set, so Robert is getting it.  I can't take his bed apart however, until I am able to move our old mattress out of the way...and you see how it goes.  Honestly, I think I've done a pretty fabulous job considering I've been doing it by myself.  Of course this is the evening that Andrew won't be home until about 6:30, as I'm walking out the door for a meeting, but we'll get it done eventually!