A Day in the Life of the Kelleys

I woke up today and saw smoke.  I thought at first it was the neighbors burning their trash next to our back wall again. But it wasn't that.  It is the slash-and-burning in South Sumatra that is causing a haze to settle over the city and my lungs to feel like they are constantly inhaling smoke and ash, which they are, I guess.

I stumble toward the kitchen, thinking only of my cup of coffee.  Must...have...coffee... When I am intercepted by my dear son S who is wide awake and ready to tell me about the new story he is working on.  It is a longer story than I anticipated.  I sit down and think about my coffee.  When the story is complete I finish my trek to the kitchen. Ahhh! Coffee.  Starbucks...Dark Sumatra.  That's what I am drinking.  Hazy Sumatra is what I am breathing.  I take my coffee to my room for my prayer time.

Check email, check Facebook, get dressed, unlock front door, pull out breakfast for the boys ("pull out" is code for boxed cereal, as opposed to a healthy cooked breakfast), take a pill for the headache and sinus ache from the smoke inhalation.  Really, I'm not kidding.  Eat breakfast.  Chat with a friend who caught me on Facebook.

Now it's 8 O'clock and my two dearies and I begin homeschool.  We do Bible, history, science and Indonesian together and then they work on their own for the other subjects.  They are very good students and good at working independently.  I am close by for consultation.  While they work I whittle away at my enormous email inbox.  At break we go to the upstairs veranda and the boys skate and skooter and I don't do either one.  I relax on the chair and drink water so that I can breathe easier.

Ibu W comes to work.  She is wonderful and helps me so much.  Because she cleans and hangs the clothes to dry and irons, I am free to do school with the boys.

We stop for lunch and then back to work.  Ibu W leaves while we are finishing up school.  When we are done, it's off to the grocery store, stopping to check on drum lessons too.  They say we can start next month.  The noise levels of our house will soon rise about a million decibels.  I'll enjoy the rest of this month while I can!  On the way to the mall we pass...a new McDonald's being built nearby!  Woohoo!  Cheers explode in our car.  It has a real live no kidding drive thru!  It is not open yet, but we will be a frequent customer when it does.  Off to the grocery store to pick up food for the week.  Kris is gone to a conference this week, so I am making easy to cook food.  Not that I make difficult food, but I pick all the easy ones when I am single-parenting it.

On the way home I pull off on the side of the road at a tambal ban.  These are handy guys who have an air-compressor and will air up your tires for just a small fee.  Mine is worse than I thought and he ends up patching the hole, all right there on the side of the road with 18 wheelers and a zillion cars whizzing by just inches from the car, all for two bucks.  During all of this S is in the car singing to himself and J is outside of the car jumping around on an old tire and trying to make friends with a stray dog.

Back at home, the boys help me unload.  Then J wants to go bike riding. S wants to stay home.  So  J and I take a quick bike ride.  It is fun.  I have not ridden a bike in ages.  I bought a bike used for a good price.  Gears?  What in the world are those?  Hand breaks?  Good grief, it HAS been awhile.  My bike growing up had peddles and wheels, and a seat.  That's about it.  This is too fancy and is also some kind of crazy sport bike.  I'd like a cute one with a basket and streamers on the handles please.  Oh well, here we go.  Hope I don't crash.  I didn't.

Coming back to our house, my neighbor gets to talking to me and invites me in.  J goes back home and I go to visit my neighbor.  This is super exciting because I have been trying to make a friendship with her and it keeps falling flat.  We exchange numbers and I am so happy.  As I return home my other neighbor hollers a greeting to me.  What is up with these ladies FINALLY wanting to make an effort?  I've been trying for a year for goodness sake!  Aha, maybe they realize we are gonna stick around and now they are ready to be friends!  Great, I am too!

I glide into my house on cloud 9, I hope things go well with my two neighbors.  I've already been praying for them for a long time.  Dinner, what to cook?  I decide on taco salad which is a family favorite.  We eat dinner and watch kid shows on TV.  I don't love the kid shows, but I love the two kids who are watching them!

Later I chat just a bit with our oldest son who is away at boarding school.  He's doing good and made a good grade on his test yesterday.  Way to go A!  I talk to Kris on the phone.  He's cut his leg and is taking antibiotics to try to fight infection. He was not able to attend the afternoon part of the conference because he had to elevate the foot to keep the swelling down. Pray that his leg heals quickly so that he can attend the conference.

The boys and I read a chapter out of The Twenty One Balloons and called it a day.  Eddie the cat joins them in their room.  Lights out at the Kelley Home!

One Thing Makes Us Different

You don’t know me, but we are more alike than you think.  I am a son or a daughter, just like you.  I am a mother or a father.  I have a sister and a brother.  I dream of a better future for my children.  I laugh and I cry.  Just like you. If you take the time to reach out, you can touch my hand and feel my warm skin.  We are the same.  But there is something that makes us different, you and I.  There is something that is as big as life and death.  If we are sad, our hearts will ache.  If we are cut, our skin will bleed.  But if we are thirsty, my friend, you will reach for a cup and fill it with cool, refreshing water and I will just be thirsty.  If we are dirty, you will run your hands, your face, your body under a warm shower and I will just be dirty.  You see, my family has no access to clean water.  Do not think that I am unusual; there are 1.2 billion people just like me.  When you feel the strain of a drought in your country, you water your lawn only once a week.  When I feel the strain of a drought, I grieve over a family member who dies from the lack of clean water.  This common, you understand.  Every 22 seconds a child dies from a preventable water-related disease.  Dear Friend, do not throw your hands up in despair.  The problem is real, but the solution is possible.  For $600-$2,000 a low cost well can be dug for my village.  When you reach to turn on your water faucet, please consider reaching out to touch me.  Feel my warm skin, close your eyes and see my smile.  Hear my laugh.  With the help of people like you, people like me can reach for a drink when we are thirsty!  I dream of a life without the needless diseases, a life where my children don’t have to cry for the most basic need: water. Will you join the people at Water4 to reach out and hold my hand and dream with me?

After a Long Break...

After a long break...I am back to blogging.  I "processed" my finger in a food processor and have not been able to type w/out quite a bit of "ouch" involved, so I have not blogged.  I missed some great blogs entries too...or at least I thought they would be.  But I doubt I'll go back and write them...life moves on.  Next I will be posting a short article I wrote for a competition...I'll let you know how I do!  Anyway, it's good to be back in the blogging world...