Updates N Stuff

Bradley had a birthday party with his friends--or friend as it turned out this year. He got to pick out his own cake. That is an ice-cream cake from Fred Meyer (very good). It is chocolate cake with chocolate ice-cream and chocolate frosting. I'm still amazed that we all survived. Death by chocolate is a pretty good way to go. Bradley will be 8 this month. Time flies with children. Bethany is 10. Double digits already. She's also tall. They just keep growing whether you feed them or not. Dan is still off saving lives, rendering safe bombs. We all miss him terribly. Being a happily married single parent is pretty tough, both physically and mentally. It's not always easy being mom and dad. Usually there is a point in the day when I can take my full time parent cap off and rejuvenate. This is usually within an hour of Dan coming home from work. He's been gone all day and enjoys being with the kids. I don't have to monitor all behaviors. I don't have to think up appropriate consequences. I don't have to answer any questions about water, or dinner, or why... There is no more break. Somehow I have to manage to get through the whole day as mom--homeschooling and all. Then I have to be prepared to be mom and dad in the evening. The only way to do this successfully, I've found, is to rely heavily on God. And I still mess it up. And, of course, I don't make as good a dad as Dan. He is just specially made to fill that role and he does it excellently. I find that I am more exhausted with him gone. Too many roles to fill. Too many chores to do. (Well I personally think there are always too many chores to do.) We can't wait to see him again.