The morning was quiet since Cali was at her sleepover, and stayed there until 4pm. I didn’t get the usual wake-up call, her face inches from my ear saying, “Are you awake mom, because I neeeeeed eggs.”
We skyped with Paul before he went to pond hockey. He is counting down the days until he comes here and so are we. We cannot wait!
Kier was up with the 7:30 a.m. service and wrote a paper until 2:30 in the afternoon. I think she has only slept in one morning since she’s been here. She’s getting older.
The day was a quiet one. Madi did homework in the morning and went to her friend’s house for the afternoon. Cali was gone, Kier wrote her paper.
My task for the day was to find a sleeping bag so Kier could go camping with her friends. At home I would have jumped in my car and bought one in twenty minutes. Here I had to call around to find someone with one to loan to us. I managed to find one on the first call and hopped on my bike to get it. Such a feeling of accomplishment, it’s hilarious.
Kier was explaining that here you drop the tent off at the campground and someone assembles your tent so you don’t have to do it. I told her that doesn’t count as real camping if you aren’t struggling to pitch your tent in the dark, one stake short. Labor is so inexpensive here you can hire people to do just about anything.
Kier called her friends in the afternoon to see if camping was still on. Last time they planned to do this they had to cancel because the one girls’ mom was attacked by dogs. Something I wish I’d never heard. I kept saying to Kier, really? Attacked by dogs? It’s been my experience that they flinch if you make a sudden movement they are all so abused. The mom was taken to the hospital for stitches. Anyway, K found out that camping was still ON, and she was invited because she is not interested in any of the guys, so zero threat.
Her friend came to pick her up at 4pm for the pre-camping get-together on a scooter. I didn’t know there was such a thing as a pre-camping party. Now I know. Before she left I quickly rode my bike to the store to get some snacks and marshmallows to contribute. Off she happily went to go camping with a sleeping bag, bug spray, sweatshirt, and toothbrush. I’m interested to see how this whole thing turns out, because she didn’t have a tent and the girls said she didn’t need to worry about it. Hope it’s true. If not, the campground is about two blocks from here, I’ll go and get her if she calls.
We went to church. It was full today. The message was about what it means to be a community in a place where people generally have a lot of problems, big problems. He talked about how often in church we show up, put on our best faces, but we don’t help each other as much as we could for the rest of the week. Part of this starts with not wanting to show others our weaknesses, not wanting to admit we have problems or ask for help. Really it’s about trusting each other a bit more with our weaknesses, leaning on each other a bit more, being willing to be a bit more vulnerable with each other, less protective of our egos. I liked this message a lot. Sometimes when I’m at church I feel out of place with my humanness, even though I know we are all come in that form, often doesn’t feel like it.
After we got back Madi’s friend called and asked if she could come back over and have a sleepover. Happy Madi. All the girls had a sleepover within 2 nights of each other. If you have girls you understand how that’s just a little slice of heaven for each one. Madi’s friend lives in this big compound with huge walls, security cameras and Mastiff watchdogs. It’s like a fortress. The girls wanted to sleep in the courtyard on the trampoline. I wonder if there is an AfterBite vat that I can dip her in when she gets home. She’ll be full of bites, but will have that post-sleepover happy glow.
All the girls had a great day today, three out of three, stellar.