Mon., Tue., Wed., Sep. 24-26

Monday was a lovely, lovely day. Jeremy had been wanting to have a family adventure for some time now, so he took us to the zoo. Reid Park Zoo here in Tucson isn’t as big as some of the more famous zoos in the country. However, it is our favorite we’ve seen so far, and we’ve been to some huge, great zoos! It cost our whole family only $16 to get in, and the entire zoo can be walked, comfortably, in about two hours. Additionally, each habitat is ‘closer’ than most zoos. The feeling is almost like you’re in there with the animals, in some cases! (more pictures to come)

Jeremy feeding a giraffe.

Natasha feeding the giraffe.

Justus feeding the giraffe.

This is what happens when someone besides me is behind the camera....

N & J with the giraffe.

This is the water park at the zoo. They had to put it in the 'Africa continent' part of the zoo so they could use this great creative name for it!! :)

Justus napping "with no shirt"; look how great his head gash is healing!

After our time at the zoo, since we were on the east side, we shopped for new shoes for me (Crocs), N, & J, and then had lunch over there as well. All four of us napped in the afternoon … still recovering from the weekend. In the evening Jeremy and the children watched a Saints game while they Lego’d; I did the grocery shopping and got my hair trimmed while I was out.

Actually, the same girl who cut my hair a couple months ago is who cut my hair on Monday. Remember that she and I had spoken at length about homeschooling, and she’d requested some ‘getting started’ help, via e-mail, in case she and her husband were to actually decide to go ahead with homeschooling their 5th & 3rd graders this year? Well, she told me that they have, indeed, begun homeschooling! I’d like to think that some information I shared was of some assistance toward that end. She also opened up to me a little bit about their struggles with homeschooling: challenges, insecurities, but also about some of their 'victories', including discovering that neither child knew anything about, for example, the three parts of our country's federal government.

I’m also very proud of myself for following up on my original e-invitation for their family to attend a church meeting with us. She said, “I don’t know anything about that; my husband read the e-mail and just read me the parts about homeschooling! I’ll have to go read it for myself!” I said, “I don’t know if it’s something you’re interested in at all or not, but for those who are interested in the Bible and Jesus, we’re always happy for anyone to come visit.” I wrote the address and meeting times on the back of an old receipt (no business cards printed up yet … needless to say, I did that TODAY), and her eyes were bright and receptive, so … maybe they’ll come?? I think her husband is Filipino. His name is Mansoon. Also of note about this day is that there were no puppy accidents. I ended this day with another TERRIBLE migraine. (Hence, no blog.)

Yesterday Jeremy planned to be running errands all day, but after finalizing the budget for this month it was decided that the things he was going to do are going to have to wait one more paycheck, so he stayed home and our family accomplished some work around the house. First, we got the garage in much better working order than it has been since we moved in, so that feels good. The children worked together to pick up the back yard, throwing away the dead toys and ‘putting up’ the rest of them; it’s much better now. I did some prep in the garden to make it easier for Jeremy to till it, Lord willing, tomorrow (Thursday afternoon). We were surprised to receive a desperate call from Shavon, whom we love, who was calling from work asking if she could come over on her lunch break “to talk”. ??? She needed godly counsel and chose to come here for it. Wow. Her work situation has been BAD this past month, so we talked about it quite a lot and coached her through the decision and then executing her decision. The whole process took about 3 hours! Good thing we enjoy spending time with Shavon! heehee Then it was naps for the rest of the afternoon and in the evening we went to Southside for Tuesday’s lesson of the Gospel Meeting. It was nice. Problem: lately I have this bad habit of getting home from the grocery store without one or two key items from some of the recipes I’d planned to make. IRRITATING! That happened for our supper last night (so I’ll make it next week) and we ate out at Chili’s last night!! Mmmm!! (I should foul up my menu plans more often, eh?? lol!) There was a present-but-bearable headache during most of yesterday.

Today was a mostly-at-home day. I got some computer chores completed, did a bunch of laundry that had been neglected, and fed the family. A few ‘church secretary’ phone calls were in order too, and I got to talk to both Mom and Stephanie for shorter-than-usual phone conversations. I made supper, and then we headed off to Southside for the fourth day of the gospel meeting. We ate our veggie and our dessert on the way over there, and then our main dish and rice we ate when we got home. It worked.... Tonight was Jeremy’s night to speak and his lesson was great. I enjoy listening to his lesson so much! They are full of good information that is often life-changing (the POINT!), the illustrations are powerful, and the delivery is effective. SO PROUD! ;) I think this evening marks Jeremy’s highest-paid ministerial work so far. Hm! There were no puppy accidents this day. Is it possible we’re making progress??? [When Cecil was here on Friday night he told us that he’d learned that at least one month of Jabba’s time with the previous owner was spent with a pet-sitter who lived in her car with another dog!!!! No wonder we’re having issues!] I now look forward to going to bed after having only a niggling headache through all of this day.