Girlfriends and Nuns

I can't believe that in less than a year, we're going to have a high school student. Is it as crazy to everyone else that little B is a teenager? Last week was Homecoming here in M-town. It seems that the whole mum thing has become more of a 7-9 grade thing these days, and the older high schoolers get a flower and stuffed animal or some other sort of more reasonable gift. But B, with insight that he'd have to pay for it himself, told his 8th grade *girlfriend that he didn't think he could get her "one of those nuns". You probably want me to stop right here.

*girlfriend - Though we've discouraged it til now, we have finally and sadly accepted the fact that we can't stop him from liking a girl and from a girl from liking him. You know there has never been a day in his life when he did not like girls! Anyway, it's really just in name only, since there's no getting together outside of school activities. But he now freely discusses these things with us and so we are in the loop about him sitting at the cheerleader table each day for lunch, "nuns", and things of that nature.

Anyway, a friend of ours who has a daughter A's age and another B's age among her brood, is the craftiest person I know. She has countless times saved me from having to figure out what to do for an outfit for a school program, projects, etc. She, naturally, was helping her girls and their friends make mums last week, since they are ridiculously expensive at the store. B called her up and asked her if she'd make one for him to give to the girl. So he took some money for supplies over to her and even helped out a bit with the mum-making. Then he took two of his buddies over with him to do the same for their girlfriends.

I have to say, even though I have trouble just saying the g-word, it was fun to watch the boys making the mums. And when B gave the girl her mum, she gave him a garter that she had made for him as well. He wore it proudly to school and to the game on Friday.

So here we are on the other side of my very first be-cool-about-the-girl-thing experience. And now homecoming is over and he has lasted a full 2 weeks at the cheerleader table, so there's a very good possibility this will come to an end soon. After all, 2 weeks is about as long as these things last in middle school. Just don't tell B I said so. Here are some pics. My sweet, crafty friend also made a mum for Abby, just because she can.

Eeyore-ish???? Not So!

Some have been asking me if my life has been eeyore-ish lately, simply too boring or blah to blog about. That question makes me laugh. But actually, there has been a plethora of blog-worthy topics in my life. For example, Hurricane Ike was eventful for my family down in Houston. Mom and dad's garage was effectively destroyed, along with mom's car, when a ginormous tree uprooted and fell on top of it. All the support beams and everything in the attic came crashing down on top of her car, totaling it. Dad's car got scratched up pretty good, and got a new paint job this week. The tree and garage (what was left of it) had to be removed and a new one (garage, that is...not tree) is being built in its place. So while the garage was torn up, the breezeway that connects house to garage had a gaping hole in it. A raccoon made his/her way in there one morning; I was there when we heard it above us, setting up shop. Mom called the critter catcher, who probably makes a pretty good living in a place like The Woodlands.
Meanwhile, dad had a little stroke in August and September was filled with drs. visits and diagnostic tests. Last week, he had a carotid endarterectomy. That's a fancy way of saying they cut open his neck on the left side and gave that artery the roto-rooter treatment. The mini stroke turned out to be an amazing blessing from God, since the surgeon found a big clot when he went in. Without that warning back in August, he would have been unaware and would have had a massive stroke, or worse. We are all very thankful! And thank you who prayed for him; he's recovering very well from the surgery.
Here in Midlo, things are clicking along. B is in the middle of cross country, and is doing well. I'm tired of the 7 am arrival-to-school time, though. A has been on safety patrol the last 2 weeks at her school, proudly standing at the cone and opening and closing car doors for arriving students. So C is off to work early in the mornings and I sit down to write at a strangely quiet time. Which is good, because I've been working my way through 10 writing assignments, most of which take weeks to complete. You'd think the Hopkins were morning folk, from all the activity. But you'd be wrong.
On top of that, I've been writing devotional material (along w/ my good friend TC) each week for our church. It follows the Sunday sermon, and is printed for adults to pick up and use 5 days of the week. I like doing this, since what I write for LifeWay is so....mysterious once it leaves my desktop. Sure, I get some feedback from editors, but I have no idea how God affects people with it. When writing for my church, there's a greater personal connection, which is nice.
I was asked yesterday to tutor again this year, and I'm going to do it. It's not that I don't already have enough on my plate...it's just that I'll rearrange the plate in order to have the opportunity to interact with people a bit more in a non-church setting.
This blog seems pretty boring; I guess that's the problem with waiting so long between posts. I have to spend all my time catching you up! Thanks for checking in on me despite my blog-laziness of late. I'll try to get back on a 1-per-week-minimum rotation. :-)