Oops, today is Wednesday.  In my last entry I said my childrens ages as of Tuesday.  Joey was born on January 31, 1986.  He is officially an adult in the eyes of the world today.  In my eyes, he will always be my little boy.  "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as I'm living my baby you'll be...."  Sung to the tune of On Top of Old Smokey, it is rather touching-- at least to a mom. 

Joey has always been a very literal person.  One of my favorite stories about him is when he was little, around 2-3 I would say.  We were eating lunch at the dining room table.  I have no idea what the food was and I have no idea why I let my young son use a glass bowl.  When were done I said Joey could you please take your dishes out?  As I headed to the kitchen, he headed to the front door and threw his bowl outside!  Like I said, it was glass....

Another favorite memory is when Joey was playing a game of chess with my mother.  Some move was made and they argued about it.  Whatever the situation, my mother completely changed her mind about what had happened to come around to Joey's way of thinking on the matter. 

I also remember worrying about him when he was young as he took a long time to begin to speak.  I thought something was wrong with him.  My mother said not to worry, that he was fine.  His older brother did all the talking for the both of them.  He finally started talking sometime around two and a half and it was in complete sentences. 

As far as what to get him as a gift, that has always been extremely difficult.  One year for Christmas lists, our oldest son had one of the mile long ones with many obvious unattainable things.  It was rather like Hannah's from this last year.  That same year Joey had a blanket and a calendar on his list.  Maybe that was the year my mother crocheted the blanket for him.  It was fairly ugly (pink and blue) and only within the last year did Joey relegate it to the basement....

He is an extremely intelligent man.  His test scores throughout school were always high.  One year, I think it was 7th grade, a mom of one of his friends asked what score Joey got on a Basic Skills test.  I said it doesn't really matter as I didn't want to tell her he placed in the 99th percentile.  She then offered that her son had gotten a 71 and proceeded to beg me to tell her.  I relented and told her what Joey had received.  She asked incredulously "How did you do that?"  I only remember being taken aback and saying I hadn't done it, Joey had.  I wish I would have had the presence of mind at the time to tell her God had done it and it was up to Joey to use that gift.

We are still waiting on the using the gift part.  He will come around.  Just like my mom told me when he was two, he will be fine. Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Happy Birthday, I love you son! 

Mom

Hello everyone....

It, as always, has been quite some time since my last post.  I've been working like a fiend and haven't had much energy for anything else.  In case some of you didn't know or realize, I'm working at the USPS right now as an RCA.  RCA stands for Rural Carrier Associate and is a non-career position which could eventually lead into a full time position around 1-8 years down the road.  In the Lititz office it is most likely 8 years.  My job is as a substitute on Rural routes where you either drive your own vehicle or a postal vehicle depending on the route.  The typical route has around 500 homes/businesses on it and you sort all the mail down into those 500 deliniations and then pull it out and deliver it along with any packages that you have that day.  You are expected to be "on call" and also you work every Saturday.  It is so much fun (MAJOR SARCASM)!  It is however where God wants me right now.  He was gracious enough, through a friend at church, to give me some affirmation about that this last Sunday.  Also for those who didn't know I did work for the Postal Service from 1987-1998.  Ironically, my last position there was in HR and I hired copious amounts of RCA's.  I often wondered why they quit so much.  I now know.  The learning curve for the position is huge.  I have put in a request to be reinstated to a career position as a clerk.  If I get that it would mean I would regain my vacation and retirement time from my prior service.  The Postmaster I'm sure is hesitant because of the great need in the RCA area - ANYWAY - enough of this boring stuff.... 

My children are doing fairly well for the most part.  One is experiencing some major life difficulties right now.  Please pray for them - thanks!  Please don't ask for details either- thanks! 

I'm going to be taking a trip to Iowa this next week.  I'm driving myself to Baltimore in the middle of the night for a 6am flight next Wednesday.  The trip is for me only this time as I'm not going to be able to take off any time at Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I'm not having a pity party about it because it is what it is....  Hopefully I can convince David that he needs to take Hannah and Brady out at Thanksgiving time.  Joey and I will be fine at home alone.  I know I will be exhausted from working so much that week. ( I forgot to mention my days are usually in the 11-12 hour range).

Well - I know this was boring but that is all for now.  Love to all,  Mona