Potluck Ponderings

We had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!  It began w/a pizza and movie night on Friday.  Followed by meeting some lovely ladies for coffee and conversation early Saturday morning and we then took off for the NC Zoo Saturday and made a day of it!  I didn't take the camera, so there are no pictures of us looking at the animals.  It was a good day, even if the polar bear was sleeping and we missed the giraffe feeding...maybe next time! Nate spent most of the day asking a million questions about the A-10 Warthog, working out a plan for joining the Air Force so he can fly one...and building a Nater-ized model with duct tape and recyclables from our bin.  The topic seemed to come from out of the blue, but we finally figured out that someone in his class has a A-10 Warthog pilot for a Daddy. Sunday, we went to Lake Tillery Church .  Joe has been planning to visit for quite a while.  We had lunch with friends at The Boondocks...followed by a refreshing couple hours on a dock by the lake.  W

is ending quietly... Pizza, the movie Rio...a game of chess for Dad & Em...a game of Sequence between us all...thoughts of a zoo trip for tomorrow... "Gifts" of today:  people who make messes and are able to help clean them up... Growing kids who are able to sit around the dining room table (or wiggle around the table) and play games that require some thinking... clean sheets... a student body government representative race--Lost...and the lessons learned in the losing co-workers who pitch in...work together...and laugh deep & loud... friends who send emails that give the low down on what their week has been like even though you've barely had time to talk... One more final exam completed!

Can I just start blogging again?  Would Miss Manners say a formal reintroduction is required after a 6 month silence with NO posts, no pictures, no words....no documentation of life being lived... I've created at least a zillion blog posts in my mind, usually beginning in the shower...continuing while I'm blow drying my hair and brushing my teeth...pausing while I yell at the kids that we need to leave RIGHT NOW or we will be LATE...until the moment I'm in the car alone, and then the ideas and thoughts become words flowing again...prayers and thanksgivings...sweet moments of words coming together like a mosaic...reflection of smells and sounds of life with husband and children filling this house...poignant moments and observations while waiting and growing and loving...the stories of living waiting to be told, quickly forgotten as I walk through the front door of the clinic and pin the nurses' cap and smile in place.  Evening will come, and any inkling of words to t