2016 Week 43: Crises and Counting Blessings

I confess this week has had more than one disconcerting crisis, but I am choosing to count the daily blessings.

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed seeing son Samuel, back from his intense work-related travels and with his whole family to watch Elijah play soccer.

Mondays, for me, are dedicated to teaching--prepare all morning, class all afternoon--which makes dinner at Stephan's such a treat. This time there was the added surprise of seeing Sam and three of the boys again.

Tuesday, Mike was dealing with heavy ongoing concerns regarding Team 1720's new location in the Madjax building. The move-in date has been postponed several times which could make it impossible to function during build-season. Other weighty matters keep him awake, like where will the money come from. Sponsors are not forthcoming.

Meanwhile, the team continues to add new students and mentors, the Saturday EV3 (LEGO Robotics) Level 1 Workshop was well attended and staffed.

Wednesday, Michael went to the dentist and got the bad news of a root canal gone bad. Arghhh . . .

Leah, on the other hand, had a very successful visit Thursday. In a month, hopefully, her long road of dental repairs will be over for now anyway.

Friday and Saturday, Karen and I attended a writers' conference at Anderson University. She lives quite close, so the first day, I drove to their lovely place and then rode with Karen.
I enjoyed seeing their fall-colored landscape, the variety of chickens roaming about, and the three stages of rabbits--babies, toddlers and teenagers.

Mama rabbit with "toddlers"; Stephan's favorite "teenager"

That evening several robotics friends gathered at our home to play card games. Some had just experienced a 24@Taylor. Moriah also got her first lesson on using the pottery wheel.

On my way back to the conference Saturday, I was blessed by the sun rising above the Indiana corn fields.

Three grandsons came to spend 24 hours at our house. Mike took Elijah to watch a soccer game at Taylor. I played with the younger two.

Jude ran ahead of me exploring new paths. I discovered the other side of the huge fallen tree that Skye and his friend worked on several days.

Sunday afternoon, while Mike was out riding his bike, the boys rode his other vehicle around.

The day wrapped up with a celebration of Sam's birthday coming up next Sunday, November 6th, when he is gone on another work trip.