DPP2016 Day 7 - Right Here Waiting for You

So I am a little late with this post.  As the kids say, "Sorry, not sorry."   Ha!  I went to be early.  There is some chance this mama is the next to fall with strep.  I am choosing to ignore that right now.  Sometimes I do that when I don't have time for such things; I suspect I am not alone in that.  Today's song Right Here Waiting for You by Richard Marx is a good fit for today.  We did have to exercise a lot of patience.  Waiting at a doctor's office, where you have no choice but to be right there waiting.    Waiting for illness to leave this house.  Waiting for a kiddo to make that connection and have that success while studying; patience sitting by his side, waiting.  It was the perfect song for today.  It even fits for the photo that I choose to post to the Photo Project.  As we work our way through the advent season, aren't we all just right here waiting?  Waiting for the reason for the season?  Waiting and preparing for time spent with family, gifting and loving on our friends, neighbors, and family.  Waiting for those perfect opportunities to share the loves of Christmas.  And for some, this time of the year is making loss and heartache especially pronounced, waiting for grief to find its way to acceptance, waiting to see their loved ones again, waiting to find their happy in this season again.  So here we are.. . .right here waiting.

I found myself cutting through Boystown when my auto pilot (read: my mind was wandering) had thrown me off course.  I stumbled across this beautiful nativity, jumped out of the car, and snapped a picture.  It is way more beautiful in person.  It has a huge beautifully lit Christmas tree behind it.  Maybe you should find yourself lost and head through Boystown.  You won't regret it.  I guess you can say correcting my course to my destination also reset my course for the season.  :)

Today was a day off of work but you would have never known it!  I left home at 9:30 and didn't return home for any significant length of time until 8:00pm.  It started with a very long wait at the doctor's office.  This doesn't make me angry most of the time.  I have been on the other side and I know the situations that cause it.  I know they had to work us in to make time to get a cast.  And I know they hate running behind almost as much as I hate waiting.  I work really hard to never make people wait when I practice.  I never overbook or dilly dally.  But it happens.  Despite my best efforts, it happens.  Here is E, trying to exercise some patience by reading previous posts on this blog to pass the time.  E is not patient.  At one point she said, "I may turn 40 before we are out of this place."  That would be a long wait. . . .

It was really fun today to see one of my former students as a provider.  She was as fantastic as I knew she would be.  She was kind and engaging to E, thorough with her physical exam, and knowledgeable in her information.   E was as particular as you would expect a 12 year old girl to be about her cast.  So she was allowed a dual color cast.

Getting things started.  

Not surprisingly, she had her cast signed before returning home from school.  Impressive.  If you have to have a cast and miss out on a lot of things you love, you might as well have a great time getting your cast signed.

She has had such an amazing attitude through all of this.  She takes the disappointments in stride and finds a silver lining.  I am so unbelievably proud of her resilience and determination.



I should mention that the day started with one more kiddo needing a stay at home day.  This is where he spent his day.  Every time I stopped in at home, here is what I would find.  What is interesting is that I must have awakened him a smidge with my photos because one eye is cracked just a little bit and that eyeball is looking right at the camera.  :)   Now, before you call the authorities for leaving my little guy home alone, Daddy works from home.  He was here the whole time and got him snuggled in to watch TV once he was done sleeping.  Yes, he has a recliner smack dab in the middle of his room.  This kid has slept in a rocking chair more than a bed since the day we took him out of a crib.  For a long time, we fought it but we would find him missing in the morning.  He would wander to the main floor rocking chair or worse, in the basement.  We decided we didn't love him wandering the house in the middle of the night so this became the solution.  He is using his bed more now but when he doesn't feel good, the chair is his favorite place.  He just loves to rock.  I suspect someday this may be a long lost memory but for now, it is our reality. 

With Brandon still sleeping, I was able to grab lunch with a dear friend before time to pick up kids from school.  There was frantic homework to do because there was a birthday party tonight.  After missing two days of school, B got right to work.  I ran to Target to get birthday gifts for the next two upcoming birthday parties.  I am always doing these things at the last minute.  We were off to the party shortly after my return from Target.

He had a wonderful time.  It is a joy to watch him with his friends.  He is a soft hearted kiddo so he can get his feelings hurt easily.  But because of that, it is a joy to see him seeking out those whom are off on their own.  Looking to be inclusive and keeping all friends involved.  It is hard when he doesn't get that kindness back but he handles in stride most days.

When we got home, this was the sweet scene.  I don't know where K found her Santa hat but it is super cute!  I love it when my kiddos enjoy each other's company.  Trust me when I tell you that it isn't always that way.  Some days the best we can do is just send everyone to their own room.

B got most of his homework done before the party but we had one daunting task to do when he got home.  With all the illness and crazy, we forgot a bit about preparing for a certain map test.  This does not come easily for B and it takes time and repetition.  We didn't have the luxury of time, so we would just have to squeeze in repetition the best we could.  It can be such a challenge to sit next to your child and watch them work, struggle, and not succeed.  We went through several missed attempts, developing strategies for remembering how to spell the states correctly, remembering to write nicely enough that it can be read, and making sure everything was in the right place.  We had a few thrown pencils and other expressions of frustration before starting to have some success.  He doesn't have a lot of experience of having to study this way and I think he believed that success would never come.  As I have found it to always be true, when the success came, it was even sweeter after all that sweat equity.  The joy and smile when he got it all right was huge!  Now let's just hope it sticks in there until the test tomorrow!!  But even if it doesn't, he has still succeeded.  He learned a lesson in the trap of procrastination, the value of persistent studying, and to just keep trying.  In our house, the hard work and effort mean so much more than the grade.