JANUARY JOURNAL: DAY 14

This morning, I had a headache, left over from yesterday's headache. I woke up too early and without a good morning strategy. I tried to sleep, then I tried to read and pray, then I tried to work out for a bit. Back to my reading, then back to my rebounder. The shower was nice, except a five-year old interrupted and played loudly in the empty jacuzzi bathtub. It was not the peaceful start one would hope for on a Saturday morning.

But the good news is, TJ is home. He was supposed to be in Springfield, IL, this weekend, but his trip got cancelled at the last minute last night due to some scheduling issues by the client and the dicey weather they were expecting there.

So off he and the boys went early this morning to the celebratory parade in Clemson. A friend of ours and his two boys went along with them, while I took Story and Sailor to Tandem to meet my friend Sarah and her little girl there. It was a special time of conversation and friendship. The girls ate well and waited well. I meant to bring stickers, but I can't remember everything. Instead, the girls entertained themselves with Tandem stickers and the mirror from my purse and (don't tell) trying sips of maple syrup from the tiny syrup pitchers.

I tried the Tiramisu crepe for the first time and the Lumberjack for the tenth time. The coffee was good, the patio seating was nice, the conversation was fun and serious and meaningful, and the headache continued.

We moved on from breakfast to the Miracle Hill down the street. It was neat to discover that Sarah and I share a common interest in this thrift store in particular. We stood in the toy aisle and looked for things to spend a few dollars on to entertain our kids for a whole afternoon. We picked up this and that, as did the girls, and we talked about how to manage technology for our kids, or mostly about the fact that we don't know how. To the background noise of the girls on the floor banging on a play piano, I decided then and there that this is something I want to chew on.

I want to care about it and to know what I think. I want to not let technology just happen to my kids. I want to be master over it, not the other way around. It feels daunting to even begin to figure something out, like I should do research, and read articles by other wiser folk than me, and ask for the opinions of those I respect in my school and church community, and then try the ideas on for good measure at home. That makes my head hurt even more.

I can't think about it now anyway. I came home to surprise visitors, old acquaintances who may end up renting the house across the street from us. We had a nice conversation about lake life and homeschool and church and kids. That showed me again that God can bring a blessing out of nowhere. To think of having friends with kids as neighbors is enough to make my headache go away, which must have been part of the cure. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:6)

A bountiful morning of fun for TJ and the boys, fun for me and the girls, anticipation of fun with friends across the street, and maybe the not-quite-so-fun figuring out of iPod, phone, and other technology use for the kids, but it is still rather grand to have kids and iPods and phones and all that. That we get to make such decisions is a blessing in its own way. We get to be intentional and thoughtful, we get to learn and grow, we get to try and try again, and when all is said and done, we get to know that no matter what, we have a God who liberally bestows very good things in our lives.

Things like crepes and thrift stores and football teams and new neighbors. Like trips that get cancelled, headaches that go away, and friendships that do neither.