Here are a few videos of some very thankful people. (Tip: keep tissues close.)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twmS_2kTGto
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVIhiVnQ3UY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qly3VCw1YNQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrl3XS4Bk_g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B04B2BJ-IFo
I just checked my own blog to see if there were any updates. (Oddly, there were none:) I need sleep.
As a mother whose heart spans continents right now, I ache for this family. Please visit their website and help in any way you can. (They tell their own story much better than I can, so I'll leave the details to them...).
http://www.bringedenhome.com/
Do you know the word "nemesis"? My kids do, thanks to a 7th grade basketball legend passed on by my husband (the protagonist) at our 2 hour dinner tonight. TOOOOONYYYYYYY MUUUURRRRRRPHYYYYY (must growl and scowl for proper pronunciation) menaced Josh's middle school basketball career with his evil antics. I'm not actually sure who came out on top of the rivalry [at the final showdown, Tony's (TOOOONNNNYYYYY's) team won....on his birthday, and Tony apparently put up pretty good numbers of his own] but Josiah and Olivia appropriately rally around their Dad and his Schwartzenegery "You're mine. I have not forgotten," Jedi speech during a key play in their much-lauded last matchup. We listed all the nemeses we could think of after Daddy's story (apparently Olivia has a nemesis in her kindergarten class....his name is EEEEEAAAAAASSSSSSTTTOOONNNN -- don't forget to squint and scowl.) --- Luke and Darth (or is it the emperor?), TMNTs and Shredder (or is it really Crang). We talked over the roots of the term in Greek mythology and then moved on to my stories of a cross country nemesis in high school. You know, cross country never drew the crowd that basketball did in my high school....or in any high school, I'd venture. And my kids' forced interest in my painfully dramatized story about KKKAAAARRAAA WIILLLLHEEELLLMMM only served to salt that wound. But we will likely be scowling about TOOOONNYY MUUURRPHHYY for years to come. And, although I'm confident that Tony has evolved into a kind man, probably a caring father and productive member of the workforce...I think we'll hang onto that 7th grade snapshot because it's pretty fun to have a family nemesis!
My kids unloaded this moment on me several weeks ago, but I thought I'd mention it. We read a crazy picture book about a couple who wins three wishes in some fairyland twist of luck, and somehow the woman winds up with a sausage stuck to her nose (if I had a nickel...). We (my mom and I) asked the kids what they would use three wishes for, and here are their responses:
Olivia: "Let Josiah go first."
Josiah: "I would wish for a toy that doesn't cut you or hurt you or break." (Good luck with that one, Josiah! Have you seen the recall list lately!?)
Olivia: "Okay, I would use my first wish to wish for wisdom to know how best to use my next two wishes." (Seriously.)
"Then, I would wish for 100 more wishes." (100:Olivia, A Zillion:Amy)
"And last, I would wish to have a baby when I grow up."
There, I wrote it. Now, when I inevitably forget to remember it, I might accidentally stumble upon it during a blog day update....Whew.
