wow, thanks!

Thanks for all the notes you guys! This last week has been better. I have been better. Work still has a lot of the same problems, but your prayers must have made a difference! I also have been praying about it and I appreciate your advice!

I had to realize what part I played in making the problem worse. And yes, I need to think a lot more before I speak. And pray about whether I should say what I am thinking. Praise the Lord!

Each week is so busy I barely have time to think, so I have not been on here much. Today is Saturday, so I have a little time on my hands.

Since I wrote last we have had vocal concerts, a vocal competition, auditions for several things and preparation for those auditions, a friend here from out of town (who left today) that we entertained a little. Also my son and I started watching a TV series together. It is very much his kind of thing and I am surprised I like it too. It is a cartoon, anime type of cartoon in japanese with english subtitles. i guess it is on TV here now but with english dubbed in. my nephew had downloaded these from the internet, put them on a disk and now we have watched all he had. So my son downloaded some… yeah, like all we need is more viruses… so we watched one of those.

My son quit his job so he will be home more now. He only worked 2 evenings a week, but I kind of liked having the house to myself when he was gone. Hub and I would go out to eat sometimes, if hub was home. But son just feels bad having to get someone to work for him because he is in so many activities, and now going out of town because he made it in to an honor choir. He also made it into the honor band, but he had to choose which one, and he chose choir. of the 3 years he was eligible for this competition, he made it in orchestra year one, band year two and now vocal year three, and he graduates this spring. not many kids can say they even got in, let alone 3 years in a row, and three different categories. the orchestra was a fluke, he was supposed to be in band, but someone checked the wrong box, we think. Interesting.

Anyway, his bosses like him, and after he put in his 2 week notice, the next time he worked they asked him if he changed his mind. nope. but he had said he would be interested in coming back when school was out and they said they would be glad to have him back. I suggested him being on call, but no one really liked that idea where he worked. They have a reputation for being very hard to work for. I think it is because they expect employees to actually work instead of put in their time. Anyone who works hard and doesn’t stand around is treated fairly. Son has worked very hard. He has made some mistakes. he broke something on their dishwasher once when he was still washing dishes (which he actually preferred) and he felt so bad. I told him it was probalby going to break anyway and it made him feel better. But they didn’t get mad at him or anything. They knew he worked hard. And they trained him to do higher tasks so he wasn’t washing dishes any more. it made it a little harder to find someone to work for him as they had to be trained to do that and not just dishwasher employees. It makes me feel good that they like him there.

When he worked for hub’s company over the summer two summers ago there was a guy who claimed my kids just stood around and he complained that they did the tasks wrong (he taught them to do it wrong and then reprimanded them). My kids are smart and they were pretty shook up that they didn’t do a simple task correctly. So, they were afraid to do anything out of fear of getting reprimanded. I was so mad. So last summer I said I didn’t want them working there. And they didn’t. Even tho it is better money, I don’t care. It made me have a lot of compassion for the guys who work there and are put down and reprimanded all the time for this supervisor’s stupidity. No wonder they don’t do anything right. They are not told how to do it correctly and they are afraid of getting reprimanded or fired. Wonderful work environment huh? Yeah, it is the same place I work only in a different building. I used to work out there and people were not afraid to talk to me about their work, and they were adequately trained before we put them on the floor. How quickly things fell apart once this stupid supervisor took my job. And it is my own fault, because I quit out there. I told them I needed to be home with my kids, and I was not going to waste my kids high school years out in a factory working all hours of the day. I did not want to miss out on what was going on in their lives. I still don’t. But once son shine graduates, I can go back to all hours of the day. Right now I am only part time because I want to be able to go to these competitions and stuff. After this they will be done and I won’t have any more to go to. Why miss them when they are happening?

The swing choir son shine is in competed and made it to the finals and were in the evening concert last weekend. ANother group won by .3 of a point, but we would not have been second. I actually think another group deserved 1st. The judging is pretty fair for the most part, but you never know. Our group is never judged well cuz we are from the wrong town as far as some of them are concerned. We beat them in instrumental music hands down all over the place and so when we are pretty average in something else they can judge us pretty tough. Thats OK. It is no big deal. If we deserved to win, we probably would have. But we didn’t.

I am feeling bad about something. Well, several things, but I intentionally lied about something and it is really bugging me. It is no big deal but I did it. It was actually making someone else look good, but a lie is a lie. It makes me realize how I fall short and I am so glad for the grace of God and His salvation. It helps to write it down here… so I might elaborate. A friend and I put an article in the paper and two of the three kids had top roles and we weren’t sure how to handle the third kid as we didn’t want to make it look like she was any less than our two kids… so we just stated that they all had lead roles and left it at that, knowing full well that she didn’t. Sigh. Now I feel like I have been a bad witness and I feel terrible. I do talk to that mom about other things and I feel like it is just a fluke in a way that we did that. I didn’t feel bad until after it was in the paper and I saw it. Then I realized it was wrong. Now, why didn’t I realize it was wrong BEFORE we did it? I knew it, but I thought we were doing a better thing by doing it than being truthful. I should have known better. Next time I will know better. Here I am at 46 years old relearning lessons I already know. How frail and weak we are. Thank the Lord He helps us overcome our weakness with His strength! Praise the Lord!

faith hope and love, but the greatest of these is love.