Hey, at least it's an update.

So in an effort to reassure the 4 people that used to read this blog, I'm posting an update. Yes it's a list, and yes, I'll use bullets. I'm naming this list "The Things I Would Like to Blog About But I'm Too Busy Living Them" list.

• We had a great visit with Jerrod and I fully intend on blogging about my observations of the weekend sometime in the future.
• Our minivan? The one that just a few short weeks ago I renewed my love for? It has turned on us. For the last 6 mo or so, we've been tossing money in to it. $100 here. $250 there. But about a month ago, it started overheating on me. And the estimate to fix it was $600. That's a little harder to swallow. . .$600. We chose to fore go the repair and use a liquid sealant to bandage the problem while we searched for a new family vehicle. Honey has enough car sense for the both of us (and a little left over for my parents, too), and he's been on the prowl for something different and within our price range. Well, Monday I barely got the van home from making the after school run, and after Honey's careful inspection, he deemed it wounded beyond liquid sealant repair. My reaction? It's dead to me. Just get it out of my sight. And put something in it's place that will run. Fortunately for me, Honey has been talking to a nice man just outside the city limits. He likes our van and will give us money for it even though it is wounded beyond liquid sealant repair. And he has a newer, blue, clean, way less miles, Chrysler Town and Country that he thinks we would love. So, yesterday, Honey took the day off, dropped me and the kids off at school, secured our financing, made the trade, and picked me and the girls up from school in a "new to us" van. So far I like it, but I've only taken it to Walmart and made the morning school run. We are still getting to know each other. But I think we will have a long and lasting friendship.
• Last weekend Honey and I made a fast trip to my Favorite Christian University. It was my 10 year Reunion Homecoming Weekend. Once I got past the fact that it has been 10 years since my college graduation, I had a wonderful time renewing old friendships, sharing precious memories, holding new babies, and meeting new husbands. There were a couple of people that I missed because they were unable to attend, but I also got to see 2 out of 3 of my roommates. Neither of whom I'd seen in several years. In fact, I met one husband for the first time, and met one child that I didn't even know had arrived. We had a great lunch together and enjoyed watching the FCU Homecoming football game. It was so great to reconnect with my roomies and I know we will all keep in better touch from now on.
• One of my roomies, Cat, and her husband Eric, live in the San Diego area. While they were at FCU for the weekend, their neighborhood was evacuated because of the raging wildfires. Their gracious neighbors rescued their dog and cat, their wedding pictures, and a precious family heirloom. But that is all that Cat and her husband have from their house. They returned to San Diego last night as planned, hope to return to their house sometime this week. Just like many of their friends and thousands of others, they aren't sure what they will find. Please keep these families in your prayers.
• Last night, while on the phone with Cat, she mentioned that among other things, this tragedy has made her passionate about coming up with a better emergency plan for her and her family. If they had been home, they would have had a couple of hours to pull some things together, but where do you start? I mean when you have a couple of cars to haul stuff and only a couple of hours to load. . .what do you take? Does your family have an emergency plan? Cat mentioned that she knew where all of her important documents were, but they weren't all in one place that she could tell her neighbor to just grab the file and go. What would you tell your neighbor to grab for you? I know it's all just stuff, but it's worth some thinking on and maybe a little bit of planning, and backing up, and re-organization.
• And, it's 7 days until Halloween. 3 out of 5 of us couldn't be more excited.