Going ..... going ....... gone!

Many families experience the Business Trip as a regular thread in their family tapestry, but not this family. Every now and then I disappear for a day or two, but it is rare. Once a year, however, the daddy person, the man of my dreams, flies to Washington, D.C. with a large number of eighth graders to do the nation's capital for five days. This year the number of students is SIXTY (makes me shudder just to imagine it) with plenty of parents and chaperones coming along to make it safe and sound. The pace is rapid, the number of sites and sounds seen and heard is huge, and everyone (mostly) has a great time. Occasionally there is a bit of a problem (there was a hair lighting incident one year, and one or two rude students that made the chaperones earn their keep) but it always turns out to be a memory making adventure for the travelers.

On the home front we have had our share of excitement, too. The first year my husband did this tour, I was eight-plus months pregnant with child #3, and my "older" children were the ancient ages of 2 and 1. Needless to say, as I waddled into the airport with my double stroller at ten o'clock at night to greet my husband upon his return, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief that baby saw fit to stay put until Daddy got home. Since then we have had abscessed teeth for one child, babies that were only six weeks old (1996 and 1999), and the most recent trip included three full days in bed with bronchitis for yours truly . My nine-year-old daughter said at lunch today, "I wonder what will go wrong this year?" Truly, something big or small does go wrong each year, but it becomes a part of the jokes and "remember whens" of our life together.

This is a week off for our school program, so the routine will be different. Tomorrow I am taking my two older boys to the airport to see the travelers off, and then we are heading down the highway to the closest IKEA store to buy bookcases for us and some dear friends. I am sure we will take some time to evaluate the success (theirs) or the failure (mine) of our NCAA tournament teams, and sing along to some of our favorite tunes. But, they are thrilled (shocked!) that I have decided they can bring the laptop and watch Star Wars on the drive. It's about a two-and-a-half-hour drive (unless it is rush hour in the Bay Area, and then it could be five or more...no kidding) so they will enjoy the never-before-experienced movie in the car thing. The drive should be fun, but when we get home the job has only begun. Three bookcases will (hopefully) have been added to our family and we want them built and set up before my husband gets home. We'll see how that goes. Could it be part of the "what's going to go wrong" story for this year? We will soon find out.

Gardening, books, correspondence, cleaning the garage, writing, running, and, most importantly, preparing our hearts for Easter Sunday, are all on the list for this week. But, I have other ideas as well. Last night I sat in a dark living room with a little girl on my lap. We had turned off the lights so we could watch the lightning flash across the sky. The rain was pouring, and the hail was pounding on the skylight. It was exactly what we needed -- some special time to be quiet together. I am hoping and praying for time like that with each of my children this week, even if it means the weeds grow taller and the garage still looks like it has been ransacked. Hopefully there will be time for most of the list, but taking time to remember the lessons of Holy Week, and creatively arranging time for each child's heart to be heard, these are the important things. It's good to remember that before the week takes off running.

One quick side note: I want to thank you for reading A Circle of Quiet. I haven't made any public declarations of appreciation, and it is long overdue. What a pleasure to get acquainted with new people, to see those site meter numbers register higher than I ever could have imagined, and to have the double bonus of a place to remember what I consider important and to share it with others. I am grateful to you all for joining me here. REMEMBER that even though I continue to maintain my non-commentishness, you can always email me at the address linked on the sidebar. I have appreciated hearing from those that have written, and I like to put names to those site statistics. Thank you again!

Happy Spring to each of you!