My life these days seems, at a glance, ordinary and repetitive.  As I was sitting here, checking email and listening to the washing machine spin, I realized that a lot of little things do happen each day that others might enjoy reading about.

Last Tuesday night I babysat for some neighborhood kiddos, and while standing outside with them I was approached by one and told, in a very matter-of-fact way, that I am fat.

Now – I’m going to go back to about a year ago.  When I arrived here in Atlanta, Cole was about the same age as this kiddo.  At that age kids are very open, and there’s really no “filter” made yet.  Cole very often would tell me that I was large, that I was fat, that I should grow up and be a “sumo wrestler”.  I had to remind myself of his age and try to take the hurt out of his words and we began to work on seeing beauty comes in all shapes and sizes.

That morning, while I was doing my workout (31 pounds lost and counting!), I turned to see Cole standing in the door of the playroom.  He had a bit of a smile on his face, a kind of absent-minded, loving look that I see quite often from him.  He then proceeded to hold his arms out clear in front of him and say, “Aunt.. your belly used to be this big,” and then he moved his hands in closer by half, “but now it’s only this big.  Good job, Aunt on losing weight.”

So when, that evening, he heard the neighborhood kiddo say this to me, he quickly hastened to my defense, “Aunt’s belly used to be this big,” he showed her, “but now it’s only this big.”  And the look on his face when he finished was the  sweetest, saddest expression.  The neighborhood kiddo informed him that it’s good because my belly was too big!  And he shook his head.  I asked him why he did not want my belly to be smaller, and he said “Hello! Pillow!”

I’m so very proud of him.  Where once he would look at me and see “fat Aunt”, today he looks at me and sees me as beautiful. He’s proud of me, and loves me, no matter my size.  And I think that I’m blessed that God has chosen me to be the one to teach this incredibly important lesson.

Grace calls yesterday: lasterday and last night: yesternight.  I think her teachers are trying to fix that turnabout of words, but Scott and I are holding on to it as long as we can, since puzzles are no longer peezles.

Cole retains everything.  I mean .. everything.  Last year he repeated something his Daddy had said in passing to me and when we both looked at him, his response was “Daddy, my ears are always on”.  As we continually are reminded.. yes they are, Cole.

One of Cole’s first school projects this year was to write a story about the class Teddy bear and have a picture taken with it to send in to school.  Cole’s story was about how he and the teddy listened to his Daddy tell Evil Dr. Daddy stories.  We’ve had quite a few of those type of projects this year so far – Cole is writing more and more now and working on sounding out words.  He has also discovered that some of his favorite play things are not so easy to write.. instead of falling back on his favorite “few lettered” play thing – legos.

It’s a tradition in the evenings for the kids to go into the playroom/piano room and watch a movie to calm down for the night.  Sometimes the snacks are eaten through quickly (they remind me of hobbits: May I have snack #2 now please Daddy?) and sometimes they are just wiped out, as evidenced above.  And you can see ever faithful “Pink” there with her.  Pink even has a special spot near the door so Grace knows exactly where she is when we are gone.

I’m going to try and keep posting up a bit more faithfully.  I do miss writing, just time seems to slip away from me.

Gracie started her 3 year old pre-school today.  This morning she was a little iffy on going but after some cheering up she quickly got dressed in her first day of school outfit that her Nana (my mom) picked out.

I’m glad the school year is here – especially with my new students and the chaotic schedule they bring.. but I do miss having these two around the house during the day.  And look at those pictures!  How fast they grow.

Things have been stressful lately. The hardest part of going through a family break-up is trying to maintain a low level of stress so the kids don’t react. It’s amazing how in tune with my feelings both Cole and Grace are, and how willing they are to give me a hug or huge smiles whenever they think I might be sad or unhappy. Our bond has grown leaps and bounds since last fall and more than ever I am thankful that God has taken care of me, despite all the struggles I’ve had with anger and despair over the last few months.

Now that the divorce is in the final stages I feel as if we can finally start releasing some of the stress. Plans for this summer are the busiest plans I’ve ever had for a summer. We have my mother visiting (she arrived last night) for two weeks, and in that two week period we are heading to Disneyworld. Plans there include the Pirate and Princess party as well as me being able to hook up with an old friend.

After we get back from Disney the kids will be heading to Colorado for their first of two long visits to their mother in Colorado, so I will be heading to Seattle to visit another two great friends that I haven’t seen in several years. I love Seattle so much and am very much looking forward to spending some of the hot Georgia June time in nice, cool Seattle.

After we all get back the children are here for another two weeks then back to Colorado they go for another three weeks. When those three weeks are done it’s nearly August already and we’ll be looking at back to school time. I feel like the summer is already over when I look at our calendar!

So that is what is happening in a nutshell around here. Prayers are coveted. Please keep Cole, Grace and Scott in your prayers. My students are having some major health issues (one had a heart attack and another a relapse in cancer), so prayer for them and for a few more students for me would be appreciated.