Another driver-in-training

 Joel and I drove to St. Helens, an hour away, for his driver's permit test. With COVID and the DMV being backed up, that was the closest I could get near his birthday. I scheduled it for the day after his birthday and made a couple other appointments in the days following in case he didn't pass the first time. Several kids we know have failed at least once. Joel had some added pressure being an hour away, but he came through with a pass! I was so happy when I got the thumbs up! The drive home was a happy one, knowing we didn't have to come back the next day. :-) 

Joel's 15th birthday

 Joel's birthday celebrations lasted over a week. His real birthday (a Wednesday), his family party (the first family get-together in a very long time), and his friend party the following Thursday. 

My post on his birthday:

Today (and on two other party days ) we celebrate this guy turning 15 years old. Joel is kind, witty, and easy to get along with. I love the relationships my kids have with each other. The photos show how Joel loves his siblings. We’re proud of the way he is striving to walk with Jesus, to live with integrity, and to love others.

For his friend party he and Greg arranged a big X-box playing night. His friends brought over their x-boxes and monitors. It was quite the set-up with 6 TVs/monitors in our downstairs. My job was to keep the food coming. We had ten 15-year-old boys to fill up. Phase one was pizza, salad, oranges, and soda (shocker--none of the boys ate the caesar salad). Phase two was mozzarella sticks, wiener wraps, and swedish fish gummies. Phase three was ice cream and hot fudge. I successfully managed to keep them full and happy. I will never understand how playing video games for 4 1/2 hours can be fun, but they all had a great time together. It was very loud. :) Aubrey had two friends over, and Kate came to keep Kari company. It was a full house! Grant was in heaven being included in the fun with the big boys. Joel is a good big brother. 

Wisdom Teeth

We followed our family's long bout of illness with Kari's wisdom teeth removal. Funny timing, huh? Actually, Kari was pretty funny right after surgery. She was laughing hysterically when they brought her out to me, stumbling to the care with two of us supporting her. She laugh-cried the whole way home, trying to talk through the nasty, bloody gauze hanging out of her mouth (made me nauseous). At one point she gestured wildly to change the radio station, saying that song makes her cry (it did--she had tears streaming down her face). I called Greg to come down to help get her inside as we pulled into the driveway. I had to jump out and run around the car to keep her from trying to walk in on her own. She said, "I can do it." She couldn't. Kari with no filter is entertaining. We had Grant sit with her in her room to make sure she didn't try to get up while we prepped ice packs and got meds ready for her. She was hilarious.  She swelled up quickly and had VERY puffy cheeks for almost a week. Joel said she reminded him of Cindy Lou Who. :) Four days later she went on the high school retreat, though, puffy cheeks and all. By the end of the weekend, swelling was down, and she was just left with green bruises on her jaw. She's pretty tough!

New Year's Eve

 We rang in the new year with a half-hearted toast of sparkling cider at 9:00pm. Greg was feeling chemo terrible, and I still had no energy from COVID and a sinus infection. We were pretty pathetic. Our true New Year's celebration will be in March when Greg is done with chemo treatments. This has been one of the weirdest, hardest, most challenging years of our lives. We are hoping and praying that 2021 is a better one. 

I kept this 2020 balloon up on the bookshelf in the living room ever since my friends brought it to me back in June. It shows one star out of five--"Do not recommend." It made me smile every time I looked at it, thinking about rating 2020 and of the care and love friends have shown this last year during a very tough season. I took it down January 1st. Out with the old...!