This week marked a new start for me.  I have always wanted to stay at home with my children and become a talented housewife.  These are the core years to teach my children about God, life, and education in the world’s terms.  Although Mike and I have paved a fairly good road until this point for me to do this, we are still slightly short and need to make some extra money. 

God had a perfect idea for us.  One of my friends recently had a baby girl (7 mos) and she wanted to know that her little one was being cared for.  In our area, finding reasonable childcare is quite difficult.  And when you can find a reasonable price, there is typically something a bit off about the provider.  She conveyed to me how one provider informed them that the television was left on all day--without skipping a beat, like it was normal, one had dicey moral artwork on the wall, and one let her young daughter watch the children at times.  Hmm, not the information a mother wants to hear.  So our two families created a plan for me to watch her.  

During the days that she is here, she and Zeke have wonderful and detailed staring contests with each other.  I can just see the thoughts flying through their heads.  Plus, I am able to stay with my son and teach him.  Too cool.

Mike also had a fairly good week.  One day he came home so excited . . . Maybe even a bit more than Christmas.  Upon walking through the door he exclaimed, “I got to see a waterbed roof today!”  I was quite perplexed by what he meant.  He then explained how a client called him up in a panic asking for him to come out immediately.  Mike is quite flexible and although most issues aren’t immediate, he adjusted his schedule to go.

Upon reaching the client’s roof, he began walking around to find the difficulty.  Fairly soon he stepped on the roof and felt like he was going to fall through because the roof was so soft.  He subsequently figured out that there was a 4’ x 4’ section of roof filled with 4 ins of water beneath the roof!  When he stepped on the surface, the supposed-to-be-solid roof rose and fell like water at sea. Needless to say, Mike needed to make some phone calls to make sure this man still had a place to live.

Mike was also able to head out to the mountain (Mt. Hood), White River Snow Park to be exact, for Search and Rescue.  We call it SAR for short.  This week’s mission was for the trainers to hike back into the woods and find a place to “get lost”.  Next week they are staging a mock rescue and Mike “gets to” get cold and act drunk for the other SAR volunteers.  He is very excited that he can use his skills for some good.  

The story of the day there was how one of his volunteer trainers thought it might be a good and funny idea to drink a swoosh of alcohol and then spray some on himself to make the situation realistic.  Mike was thinking a bit more globally and responded, “Yeah.  And when the cop pulls me over on the way home . . .”  He didn’t even have to finish before his team members had a good chuckle.

On the home front, Zeke is growing well.  Friday we were able to see the doctor who gave us quite a bit of information.  Typically when an infant is born early, doctors adjust the percentage charts back to their due date.  For example, because Zeke was 5 weeks early, we wouldn’t consider him to be 3 months (which he actually is), we would consider him to be 2 months (adjusted for the “gestational age”).  When he showed us the charts and how Zeke measured up, we all had a good laugh.  Even without any adjustments, our little tyke seems to meet the normal percentages.  It comes from the Drexler side :)  We’ve gotten so many comments about his feet size and “wow” looks when we tell people his age.  We love it!

He is also beginning to imitate our faces!  Mike and I are having a hoot of a time staring at him, smiling, and watching him smile back.  Although it takes a while for him to understand the game we are playing, it is well worth our time.  First he looks concerned and like he is contemplating how to imitate that face, and then slowly, his smile begins to creep in.  Small at first, and then so large his cutie pie dimples show.  God is just too good!  We are also working on sticking out his tongue and trying to act excited, but that just results in a confused face from Zeke.

I can’t wait to share new stories with you, but I think that might also mean a bit more mayhem for me.  Ah well.  I knew what I was in for from the beginning :)