A Family Project

It's been a busy month, but in a good way. My son's summer program will be over in the blink of an eye and I need that NOT to happen just yet. You see, this is not a camp just for having fun. This is a literacy camp where culture and spiritual values are taught in an integrated way along with reading and writing and learning to play chess and trips to museums in-state and out, etc. It is WORK, let me tell you. Work to get him there for 8 in the morning so he can eat breakfast because at home he is simply too slow. Work to get him there at 4:45 in the morning for his latest trip to Philly (I think we'll have to be there earlier when they go to Maryland this week). But most of all Work to help him with a scrapbbook project due in 8 days.

I hate scrapbooking. I am a creative person so I have no idea why scrapbooking makes me cringe, but it does. Still, this is the project for this year and it's about who he is and who he is becoming. That means a version of a family tree, among other things, but it all has to connect to who he is and may be one day. We knew at the beginning of the program we'd have to do this but darn it, time flies when you're trying to get kids places early. Plus I had two projects to do for my business also due this month. (One is done, the other is for the same camp so due when the camp is over in 2 weeks.)

When I dropped off Son at 4:45 in the morning this past Friday, there was a parents' meeting and we talked about the scrapbook project. I walked out with a friend and she too had not officially started. She's got a brand new baby so her excuses are as valid as mine, as far as I'm concerned. Still, mommies rule the educational program in our homes and we both know we have to take the lead with things like this, even though our husbands will help. They just don't start the stuff! So, I went home, jumped on the computer and finally laid the thing out. I had already given Husband a "tree" earlier in the week to fill out regarding his side of the family, plus his family reunion is going on this weekend - how perfect is that? I also gave my mom, at the same time, the job of getting me some photos and family info since I have none of that type of thing with me in Connecticut. She loves that stuff so no problem there. After I laid out what was going in the book, I gave a copy to Husband whose job is to gather the info I already asked for and to take pictures of Son doing the various things he enjoys, plus some other things. I also gave him the task of cutting out the book's cover. I think I have this well in hand, don't you? Rhetorical question.

So after church today, there is grocery shopping and back here to start figuring out the embellishments for this thing. OK, so maybe I don't hate it THAT much. It's still creative thereby getting my juices flowing. And it is nice to have us all working on it together, and when I say "all" I mean Husband getting into the act. But I give him credit. He's very active in his children's education, something my father couldn't do much since his work had him working overtime a lot or traveling. And something my father-in-law didn't do much of either, according to Husband. But FIL didn't live to see me pregnant with child #1, let alone getting to enjoy them. I can only assume he's living vicariously through us from his heavenly home.

So when I return later today, I'll get to the actual Part 2 of The Substance of Things Hoped For, which I was supposed to be doing right now as continued from Wednesday.