My dilemma

School is starting next week here. Today, Heidi and I went over to her school, new school for her, to walk around and get familiar with the layout and all. You may or may not know that Heidi and Alex are both legally blind, from a genetic retinal dysfunction called Leber's Congenital Amaurosis. To look at them most people never realize that they are visually impaired, just a couple of (very cute) kids with glasses. Only when they have their white canes, is it apparent to others that they don't see very well.

Anyway, this summer, Heidi became more comfortable and confident riding her bike. So the inevitable question arose. "Can I ride my bike to school". We live too close to the school for a bus, so I was planning on either driving or walking with her to school, weather permitting.

Heidi sees well enough to ride her bike to her friend's house without any trouble, however, we worry that she isn't aware enough of cars to be safe in maneuvering around the school with lots of cars around. And then there is the other thought......

Picture this......little girl riding her bike to school, parking it in the bike rack and then getting her fold up white cane (signifying that she is blind) out of her backpack and walking off to class using her cane. Is there something wrong with this picture? :-)

But how to explain all of that to Heidi. I wanted to say, "No, because I said so!" But no, I hope I explained diplomatically that it isn't safe enough for her to ride a bike to school. Thankfully, she accepted it philosophically enough.

Working Things Out

As you probably know I am the mom of 3 kids. They are all 4 years apart. I hoped that maybe because of the distance in age they would not fight as much as my brother and sister and I did. Well, I was wrong. Especially with the two older girls who have to share a room, the squabbles are ongoing.

So yesterday, Heidi found her camera that she got for Christmas. We put new batteries in it and she was taking pictures of everything.....the dog, the cat, Alex, the t.v. program, and so on. So it is no surprise that she went into her shared room and took a picture of Maggie, or Maggie's bed, I am not sure which. Maggie came out yelling, "Don't take a picture without asking...." She wanted me to talk to Heidi about it and work it out. I told her that she needed to work it out with Heidi, that I was staying out of it. The next thing I heard was Maggie and Heidi talking.

Heidi: I won't delete the picture, but I'll pay you a dollar.
Maggie: Ok!

Not another word was heard about taking pictures without permission or anything else. I was in the other room laughing silently. Apparently we are prone to bribery at any age.

Small Miracles

I experienced a small miracle today. You may know that last Wednesday I lost my keys and haven't been able to find them. I got home from taking the kids swimming and when I tried to leave later that evening.. no keys. So I borrowed Kevin's key and we have both been driving around town for the last 5 days. Below is a photo where I found my keys today...Monday.



I am just amazed and laughing at myself over this whole thing. How did those keys stay on top of our van while we drove it around for 5 whole days? Thank you Lord for small miracles!