Hello, My name is Mary. It has been two weeks since my last confession. I write this evening in order to put an end to the starvation of my audience for enjoyable tales and epics of woe from our family's experience.
Rhode Island seems as though it is but a twinkle far back in the distance. We had a lovely time, but have since been so busy that I have hardly had time to unload all the dishes from the dishdrainer, let alone blog about it.
I participated in a Women's Retreat the first weekend in April. It was great. I got lots of good ideas for difficult spots in my life and on a variety of subjects. From intimate spouse things to practical scheduling for the children I came home loaded with ideas, inspiration, and energy. Then we had a progressive dinner for the Bible School and all my energy left me in less than 48 hours.
I had a great time mind you. I enjoyed making some fun things: Chevre Grapes, Welsh rarebit in Toasted Breadboxes, Smoked Trout Mousse on Cucumber Slices, Lemon Chicken Salad in Poppy Seed Tartlets, Eggplant Crips (with fresh mozarella and oven dried tomatoes), and Pina Colada to drink. It was all very beautiful and fun to make, but I confess, I over worked myself- especially given the fact that I ended up with TONS to do for the remainder of the week and I was very unprepared.
From Wednesday until Friday I was busy with preparations for the Bible School Class trip. Brandon and I were planning to go as well as I was planning the menus, taking care of the groceries, and preparing my family for the trip as well. Thursday morning it all got a lot harder as I discovered that Jonathon was sick. One after another each family member got sick until all four children and Brandon were miserable on Saturday. Friday evening enough people in the family were sick that we decided we couldn't go on the trip. I was disappointed. Mainly, I wish I was going because I see our job here at Bible School as an opportunity to be a part of the students' lives. If we aren't with them, then how can we know how to help them and love them best? BUT, there will be good things about staying here as well. First of all, the family comes first and since we are staying I can focus more on their needs. Second, we can all rest up and get the place back in working order. Jane and I can work on the room we are painting, and I don't have to run the risk of having children sick in a location that is inconvenient for nursing them back to health. So, all in all I figure that God knew that I wanted to go and he could have kept the children from being sick, but He didn't, so this must be what He wants us to do this week. My biggest hope is that I won't squander them time I have, but will be able to use it wisely.
Hope you all had a marvelous Easter. That's all for now.
She spends almost as much time in her kitchen as I do in mine....ok, not quite, but she loves it. She almost 11 months old and still isn't walking- just keeps stepping around the furniture as she has for almost 7 months now. I suppose you could look at this as contentment with her current conditions...maybe this trait will pay off later in big ways!!! 
The boys decided to make a campfire on the porch today, only instead of finding logs and sticks in the woods, they just used what was readily available- the furniture. This is not a joke. They really were doing this, pretending to have a campfire. It's a good think they didn't have any fire, the children would have been burned as well. James later threw his boots on the "fire" to add more to the pile. We, of course, made them put it all back when we discovered the fun. Mean old parents! 
