The Saturday 7

1. First things first - thank you to whomever donated to our fundraiser after my guilt trip about Lena's video last week. She was so excited, and you did indeed make her day. I'll drop the link here again just in case anyone else is feeling guilty . . . 😁

2. Secondly, I know you're waiting for an update on my yearly foray into sports via March Madness. I chose Villanova to win it all and they got out in the first round, so that's all I have to say about that.

3. I read three books this week

Where Only Storms Grow by Alyssa Colman - a very clean and interesting middle grade novel about the Dust Bowl. I read it all in one sitting.
Neverending Mercy by Latisha Sexton. This one is frequently recommended in the Christian fiction community, and it's gotten rave reviews, but it just didn't do it for me. I listened to it on audio, which is always less enjoyable for me, but I still didn't love the storyline or the writing.
The Huntress by Carrie Cotten - another one getting a lot of buzz in the Christian fiction world. This one lived up to the hype and I devoured it. Unfortunately, it's not on Prime, any library I have access to (digital or otherwise), or Everand, so I have to decide if I actually want to pay for the sequels. (Spoiler alert: I do and I will.)

4. And now for one of those stories that will go in the file set aside in my brain called, "Stories to tell if I ever do stand-up comedy," right next to the time I went into the wrong room for my hearing test because I misheard my name. This story isn't actually that funny (which is why I don't do stand-up), but it might at least make you chuckle . . .

On Tuesday, Lena made me late for work, so I worked a few minutes late to get my full 7 hours in. Then I had to wrangle Saylor's carseat into my van, corral all my children into the vehicle, and run to my mom's to pick something up. Lucy was starting a new Bible study with her friends that day, and they'd made plans to meet at the Koffee Haus in town at 3:30. We zoomed into our driveway at 3:30 so she could grab her Bible, then we zipped over to the Koffee Haus. She asked me for money and I told her she should've brought her own. She hopped out of the car and I busted on home because Levi, Nash, and Saylor were being obnoxiously loud and my tight work pants were killing me. As we filed into the house, Justin was standing at the top of the stairs with the home phone (our shared family cell phone) in his hand saying, "Someone just missed a call from Amilia." I knew that was one of the friends Lucy was supposed to be meeting with, so I took the phone and decided I better check the recent texts. Sure enough, there was a text thread with all of Lucy's friends saying, "Hey, the Koffee Haus closes at 4. Maybe we should go to Biggby instead." The message was sent at like 3:20, and everyone responded in the affirmative. I quickly responded, "Hey this is Lucy's mom. Are any of you at Koffee Haus? I just dropped her off there." Eventually someone answered, "We're all at Biggby." 🤦🤦🤦 I hopped back in the car and rushed back to Koffee Haus lamenting that I had left my teenage daughter at a coffee shop that was closing in 10 minutes with no phone or money. Still wearing my uncomfortable work pants, I hurried into the shop and found Lucy sitting at a table by herself reading her Bible. I started gushing about how sorry I was and how this is all my fault because I'm a mean mom who won't let her have a phone, and this is what happens when everyone else has a phone and you don't. She just laughed and said, "I figured they went somewhere else. I was working up the courage to ask the barista if I could use her phone." Eventually I got her to the right location . . . and gave her $10 to assuage my guilt.

5. Honestly, this is one of those scenarios that would have been commonplace 20 years ago. But cell phones have changed the landscape and made us into helicopter parents. Even if I hadn't figured out she was at the wrong place as quickly as I did, Lucy would've been fine. It probably would've been good for her to have to approach a stranger and ask for a phone. She just filled out her first job application and will hopefully be getting her license in a matter of months. She's going to have to be able to navigate the real world without me very soon. *sob* And truly, I was less concerned about her safety than her state of mind. I didn't want her to be sitting there scared and alone. But she handled it, like the capable nearly-16-year-old she is, and I have hope that she'll be able to continue making those baby steps out of the nest without my constant hovering. That said, she is getting a phone on her 16th birthday. 😂

6. That whole debacle was just the icing on the cake of an already crappy day. I don't even know what made everything seem so awful, but I literally opened my cycle tracking app to see if that had anything to do with my terrible mood. It did not. I was just ornery and irritated all day - from our late start in the morning to my library kids being annoying, to the stupid cold weather, to accidentally stranding my daughter at a coffee shop. And that wasn't all! Did I tell you about the leak in Levi's bedroom wall? We had it fixed at the beginning of February, but repairing it required tearing out all the flooring and drywall in his room. He's been sleeping on the couch since then, because Justin hasn't had time to refinish the room. We closed the door and rarely even step foot in there. But for some reason on Tuesday, Levi went in, and immediately shouted up the stairs, "There's water all over my floor!" 🤦🤦🤦 We had gotten torrential rainfall all weekend, but never thought to see how the repair was holding up.

The white panel on the wall is where they fixed the crack. I can't tell where the water is coming from, but I'm terrified that it's a separate problem, and despite the lifetime warranty of the original repair, they're going to tell me, "Oh that's something different. It's not covered under warranty." The company is coming out to look at it on Monday, so we'll see . . .

My depression was still rough on Wednesday, but by Thursday I had started to turn the corner, and I thought to myself, "What changed? Why am I feeling better today?" You know what was different?

The sun came out for the first time in days. This infernal winter is killing me.

You don't even know.

7. Pics and memes

I actually ended up playing with him for almost an hour. It's not very fun, because we're both so bad that we just end up chasing the ball all over the court instead of actually hitting it. But we had two or three solid volleys. I'm going to be sore for days.