On the same day. Woke up quite late, because I had stayed up ’til 3 am migrating stuff. Decided to make “lazy suman” (rice cooker, glutinous rice, half a can of coconut milk, 2 teaspoons salt, enough water to reach up to first joint of middle finger). The kids had it with Milo while I continued to work. B too.

Stopped for Latin and laundry — Migi taught (we just started a schedule this week where I teach Mondays, Aisa Tuesday and so on). Our favorite is still Rident stolidi verba Latina. “Fools laugh at the Latin language.” The boys did their math before lunch, while I cleaned the MBR. Both are progressing well, though this phase of MUS seems a bit too easy for them; after we get back I think we’ll switch to 2 lessons a week until they get to more challenging lessons.

Lunch was leftovers, at around 2:30 — the Afghan chicken stew, the Indonesian fish stew, the mock Bourbon chicken from last night, more suman and whatever else the kids could scavenge around the kitchen.

This is what happens when I get focused on a project that I don’t want to delay any longer. I tried working on it 30 minutes a day the past few weeks but it drags on so; it’s really better to just get it over and done with. Yay. Cancelled my hosting account and I don’t have to pay for it anymore!!! Wahoo! Problem is I can’t get the subdomains setup properly, so those aren’t working at all. Will have to put that off for after we get back.

Meant to go out with B in the afternoon after we were done working, but we both needed a nap, so I read Yena two stories from

, then we had a bit of sharing on the Trojan War, after which I took a nap while they cleaned the living room and dining room to earn timeout to work on their WeeMe’s.

We had planned on going out for our monthly date (it is the 15th after all — 17 years and 3 months married, 19 years and 3 months together… seems like a lifetime, and yet we’ve only just begun …:)) … but B wasn’t feeling up to it at the last minute because of his cheek, so I got up and recruited the kids to help me set the table up nicely and clean the kitchen while I shopped. Dinner was fancy, in celebration of B’s miraculous recovery (I’d never heard of 1-week shingles before! Thank you to all of our loved ones who’ve been praying — I do believe we witnessed a miracle here!)…. and I spent more than I planned (so what else is new), but it was all worth it. I put together my tried-and-true quick-but-extra-special dinner:

• Mixed Baby Greens with grape tomatoes and mustard vinaigrette
• shrimp cocktail (on sale!) with homemade cocktail sauce — B’s favorite starter
• Indoor-grilled Sirloin steaks
• steamed lobsters
• garlic-sauteed mushrooms
• sauteed green beans
• brown rice cooked in chicken stock
• tater tots
• Knudsen Sparkling Organic Apple

I haven’t had the chance to contact OXO for the replacement basket for the spinner, so I sent Paco out of the house, the salad greens washed and stuffed into a clean pillowcase, which he whirled around his head to get rid of the water — a really funny, but effective trick I had read about years ago and used quite a bit before we got the spinner. If you see your neighbors looking at you like you’ve lost your mind, just smile and ignore.

The steaks were on sale(6 little ones, just enough for 1 for each of us, at $3+ for a package of 2, so the lot came to ~$10)!, as was the sparkling juice which became an instant favorite (a fight almost ensued for the last few drops), and the shrimp. It was the lobster that was a bit OTT (over the top), but hey, I haven’t cooked lobster in months! Paco and Aisa helped make the dressing, and Yena made the cocktail sauce (I considered buying a bottle, just $1.99, but after looking at the ingredients — ack! a bunch of chemical sounding names — I opted to make our own — it’s so easy anyway: ketchup, prepared horseradish, freshly squeezed lemon juice, Tabasco to taste, salt (optional)). Migi took care of the tater tots. I am proud to say we also got him to try some of the salad and the grape tomatoes tonight.

After dinner, we took a quick run to pick up Migi’s coat from a scouting friend’s house, then to the new drive-thru Starbucks to order our usual — a venti Caffe Mocha, decaf, no whip, with soy, which B and I shared as part of our “dessert”. Home again, and the “real” dessert — Haagen Dazs Raspberry and Mango sorbets, fresh strawberries, and Lindt dark chocs. I was planning to make the chocs in the little fondue pot with some soy milk, but B wanted to sit and work on our trip-planning, so we just ate the chocs as is.

Finished up the night with our family prayer, after making 4 hotel reservations. The kids are so excited!

Read a bit more of this pm. There’s this chapter I keep going back to over and over, I can’t seem to wrap my head around it yet, or I’m a bit overwhelmed by it. I’ve been feeling Mary’s call and the urgency to respond the past couple of months, but I am still resisting, though I’m not sure why. Well, actually I do. I think about all the little things that give me pleasure, and though they aren’t sinful I know they aren’t getting me closer to her or God, and I’ve been meaning to give them up…. I’m sure a complete giving of myself to her will not make life boring — on the contrary, I think life is just about to become VERY interesting … but I guess I’m still afraid of committing myself so completely. And yet I think, if not now, when? If not me, why not me? And what is it exactly about my life and my activities and my projects and my fun that would be worth trading for God? There is nothing!

It’s like falling in love all over again. And me being a head person first. I remember telling B a month or so before I said “yes” that my head was already there, and yet my heart wasn’t. In my mind I knew he was the perfect guy for me. He was the answer to my dreams — everything I had prayed for, and even a few things I was scared to pray for because I might not get it — he was all that and more. He was my “too good to be true” and my head knew I would be a complete fool to refuse the gift…. but my heart just won’t let me take that leap of faith yet. (Where is faith anyway, is it in the head, the heart, the soul — all of these? That will be another subject for contemplation, another day…) I remember him asking quite incredulously, “What are you saying, my mind is in love with you, but my heart isn’t?” and I had to sit there and nod, looking stupid but being totally sincere.

That’s where I am right now with this true devotion thing. There is no good reason for me to say no. No good reason for me to refuse the gift. Perhaps I am just afraid of the commitment it will require of me. Just like 19 years ago when I was considering committing myself to B. And oh, what an immense blessing all these years have been after that initial yes! How could I possibly doubt that saying yes to my Mother would be anything less?