Monday

My husband and I had a great time celebrating our anniversary over the weekend. We had a weekend-not-away, which means we went out Friday afternoon/evening, came home to sleep, and went out again for the day on Saturday. My wonderful mother-in-law came both days to stay with our children. She is the best and our kids love her! (thank you Grandma Reen!!) My wonderful hubby let me sleep in on Saturday morning by getting up with the kids and doing breakfast duty. That almost never happens. I slept until 11:00!

We saw the movie Charlie Wilson's War which is sortof an odd choice for an anniversary, and one which I can't in good conscience actually recommend since it's rated R (for hottub nudity, really bad language, and some scenes of violence) but which I will admit we really enjoyed! It was fascinating to learn more about the war in Afghanistan in the mid to late 80's. I felt ashamed at how little I was aware of it even at the time. Charlie Wilson was a congressman from TX who virtually singlehandedly brought an end to this conflict by orchestrating and funding a covert CIA operation. It was all the more fascinating because it's true (or rather, based on a true story). Lots of food for thought. My husband and I had several great conversations about it afterwards.

We also had fun spending about 2 hours at a large "everything for your home" store where we lounged in some very comfortable recliners and watched a huge flat panel TV that we could never afford. We picked out all kinds of stuff for when money is no object! :-) It was lighthearted, and relaxing, and fun.

So anyhoo.....why does it always have to be so hard to get back to normal life?

Our SPD child had a very hard day today. I am worn out, and also sad for him. Our oldest shed some tears when she was not done with her work by 5:00. Though she really wanted to pass the blame she knew it was her own fault and that knowledge was really hard for her to accept. I calmly listened and offered her suggestions for keeping distractions to a minimum (like working in her room at times, etc). Then I told her she had to finish. To her credit, she did, with no whining. I pray today's lesson won't need to be repeated any time soon. It's so hard to grow up. I hurt for my children when they go through hard times, yet I know they need these times to grow and learn and mature. And I know their "hard times" will get harder as they get older, so it's better if they can practice responding now.

Sigh.