Ellen has a fantastic opportunity this week. She has been asked to help with Peer Ministry Training in our diocese. Peer ministers are high-school aged kids who feel called to help their friends in all manner of spiritual counseling. (Sometimes it's easier to talk with someone your own age.) You have to apply to the program, and the costs are pretty steep. But, you spend a week at our Camp & Conference Center where you are given the tools to do this job effectively. Ellen is one of those trainers this week.
What that means on the home front is that I am home alone for a week. Well, not exactly alone. Ellen took Stewie and Munchkin, and I have Beenie and Keke with me. The only concern we had was that this is the second week of my "real job". Fortunately, Martha said I could bring the kids with me. We did that on Monday.
I was frankly afraid that the kids were going to be bored out of their skulls just sitting around the office all day, but we went in to work on Monday and it proved not to be the case. One of the big bribes, though, was "If you're good, we'll have lunch at the Cafe". Needless to say, lunch was good!
I had meetings for a good chunk of the day. The first was about an hour, in my office, so we had to find a place where the kids could play and not be too disturbing. The second was a meeting of the Episcopal Community Services Development Council. This one was in a conference room, lasted about two hours, and included a visit from the bishop. Except for one bathroom break, I don't think any of us even heard the kids for the entire time!
The only glitch in the whole day was that after the kids were so good at ECSF, they had to let a little of that pent-up energy out. Once we were back in the office I had to "shut them down" once, and we had one major beverage spill (an escaping energy issue). But overall they were really good the rest of the day and I actually got some work done.
The down-side to splitting up the family like this is that it really messes up people's routines. Even though everyone got up early to go in to work, the kids were up until midnight (when I went to bed). The problem is that Keke doesn't want to sleep in her room by herself, Beenie wants to sleep in his room, but will sleep on the floor in Keke's room if she sleeps on the floor too. Keke readily agrees to that, but then decides she would rather sleep in her bed. Since she is in her bed, Beenie decides that he will go back to his room. Rather than have no one in the room with her, Keke will move to Beenie's floor. After that there is no telling who will be where! Monday night Keke ended up in Beenie's bed (where she compained that he kept rolling over on her!), and last night she ended up in my bed (where she is less of a bed hog than her mother!). So, everyone's schedule is a little out of whack, but we're having a good time, surviving, and yes, I'm feeding the kids and getting the dishes done! I've not quite reverted to bachelor days.
What that means on the home front is that I am home alone for a week. Well, not exactly alone. Ellen took Stewie and Munchkin, and I have Beenie and Keke with me. The only concern we had was that this is the second week of my "real job". Fortunately, Martha said I could bring the kids with me. We did that on Monday.
I was frankly afraid that the kids were going to be bored out of their skulls just sitting around the office all day, but we went in to work on Monday and it proved not to be the case. One of the big bribes, though, was "If you're good, we'll have lunch at the Cafe". Needless to say, lunch was good!
I had meetings for a good chunk of the day. The first was about an hour, in my office, so we had to find a place where the kids could play and not be too disturbing. The second was a meeting of the Episcopal Community Services Development Council. This one was in a conference room, lasted about two hours, and included a visit from the bishop. Except for one bathroom break, I don't think any of us even heard the kids for the entire time!
The only glitch in the whole day was that after the kids were so good at ECSF, they had to let a little of that pent-up energy out. Once we were back in the office I had to "shut them down" once, and we had one major beverage spill (an escaping energy issue). But overall they were really good the rest of the day and I actually got some work done.
The down-side to splitting up the family like this is that it really messes up people's routines. Even though everyone got up early to go in to work, the kids were up until midnight (when I went to bed). The problem is that Keke doesn't want to sleep in her room by herself, Beenie wants to sleep in his room, but will sleep on the floor in Keke's room if she sleeps on the floor too. Keke readily agrees to that, but then decides she would rather sleep in her bed. Since she is in her bed, Beenie decides that he will go back to his room. Rather than have no one in the room with her, Keke will move to Beenie's floor. After that there is no telling who will be where! Monday night Keke ended up in Beenie's bed (where she compained that he kept rolling over on her!), and last night she ended up in my bed (where she is less of a bed hog than her mother!). So, everyone's schedule is a little out of whack, but we're having a good time, surviving, and yes, I'm feeding the kids and getting the dishes done! I've not quite reverted to bachelor days.
