Just in case anyone is wondering why we would leave all five kids at home by themselves, I don't really have a good answer. Up until a few weeks prior, I had never done such a thing, except for a quick trip to the store or post office. Even though M is very capable of handling things now that he is 16, I had never really had a reason before. The day after Memorial Day I was called for jury duty. I decided to go and serve my time, but due to miscommunications and other reasons, the court sent everyone home until the next Tuesday. However, the night before we found out the case was canceled and I didn't have to go back.
The following week after that, The Man had to go to court. He was going to be on the other side of the jury box. When we first found out over two years ago that he was being sued for malpractice, it didn't occur to me that I would go to court also...and two years ago I probably wouldn't have. After talking it over, we decided if the kids could stay home while I went to jury duty, they could probably handle it while I went to court with The Man.
The first week, our church was doing VBS. Since M was being counted on to play the piano for that, we decided that I would go ahead and take the kids to VBS in the mornings and just go up to court in the afternoons. The lawyer told us on Monday evening that they expected jury selection to take place Tuesday morning with opening statements in the afternoon, there would be no court on Wednesday due to state budget cuts, testimony on Thursday, and maybe a verdict on Friday. Great expectations!
What really happened: Jury selection all day Tuesday and Thursday morning. I arrived at the court house on Thursday afternoon to find out that there were major juror issues. The judge ended up canceling court in the afternoon due to an undisclosed emergency. By the time I arrived in court on Friday afternoon, the jury had been sorted out and the lawyers gave their opening statements. The plaintiffs also started their case.
The next week (last week) I spent all day with The Man in court. I'll just say here that the judge had a nice chair. The jurors had nice chairs. The plaintiffs, defendants, lawyers, bailiff, court reporter, and clerk all had nice comfy-looking chairs. The wooden benches that the rest of us observers had were not comfortable. Pregnant women should not spend all day sitting on wooden benches. Just so you know. Next time (ha!) I'll at least take a cushion.
Although it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience, I am fascinated by the judicial process. Watching (but not talking to!) the jurors, the banter that went on when the jurors were not present, the reactions of the jurors to different things that were done or said...that part I liked. I didn't like sitting there trying not to stand up and yell, "Liar, liar, pants on fire!" The nice, legal way of saying that same thing? "Objection, Your Honor! Misstatement of the evidence!" A "Sustained" means the judge happens to agree. Fascinating.
The Man's new favorite phrase is "Assumes facts not in evidence." That one was also heard quite a bit through the trial. I have a feeling I'll be hearing it a lot from now on.
By Tuesday afternoon all the witnesses had said what they were going to say. Wednesday morning the jury instructions were ironed out and the plaintiffs' lawyer gave his closing statement. After lunch The Man's lawyer gave his closing statement and then the other lawyer got to say a few more things. Then, finally, the case was in the hands of the 12 jurors. Were they paying attention? Could they see through all the testimony that the plaintiffs didn't have a good case? Through the case we had prayed that all would be to the glory of God, no matter the outcome. Of course, we had our hopes as to which way we preferred the verdict to be.
We left the court house and went for a walk to buy J's birthday gift (his birthday had been the day before). As we approached the store, the lawyer called and said the jury had a question. We went back to the court house to hear the question. The reporter said it would take her until the following morning to locate the parts of testimony the jurors wanted to hear again. The judge gave instructions for them to keep deliberating.
We left the court house again, but this time I forgot to turn my cell phone on as we left the court room. We made it to the store, bought the gift, and as we were leaving the store, I remembered to turn on my phone. At that point I got the message about Sacagawea's bleeding head. I called and talked to the kids as we drove up to a park near the court house to wait. As I was still on the phone with the kids, the lawyer called The Man again. The jury had a verdict.
We went back to the court house to hear the verdict: Not negligent. Since only 9 of the 12 had to agree on a verdict in a civil case, the fact that they didn't have an answer to their question wasn't a big issue.
That was it. I was telling The Man later that it was very anti-climatic after all the stress and angst of the last few years. Oh, well, I'll take it over the alternative. I have a lot more thoughts on the situation, but those will have to wait for another time as this post is far too long.OK, post #2 for July is now done! Post #3 is all set up and should post automatically in the morning. I'm on a roll! Is anyone else joining me?
I've been challenged to write a blog post every day for the month of July. Ha ha ha hee hee hee ho ho ho...well, it just might be possible if I catch up on all those bloggable (does that have one g or two?) moments I was too busy to blog about the past few months years. Anyway, here is post #1!
I don't have any pictures to show you of the latest news at our home since Sacagawea made me promise not to blog the pictures I took of the gash in her head. Apparently she (1) knows that mom likes to post pictures of wounds and (2) had the foresight to forbid such a posting even though I hadn't blogged in a loooong time. Maybe if I catch up and post about her birthday she'll let me show you the pictures!
The Man and I were both up in the city and the 5 children were left home alone. S, the only child up until that point that had received stitches, was somehow involved in the wounding. Exactly how is still up for debate, but playing around in the living room resulted in Sacagawea hitting her head on a bookshelf. By the time I returned the voice mail M left on my cellphone (less than 5 minutes after he called), the bleeding had stopped.
When The Man and I arrived home he briefly checked her head, saw that it wasn't bleeding, and we got ready for the midweek church service in our home. After everyone left, The Man did a more thorough exam and cleaning of her head and discovered that the 1"-1 1/2" gash on the back of her head went all the way down to the bone. The Man said the good thing about that was he could actually stick his finger in and make sure there wasn't a fractured skull. Ewwww. I hope he was kidding.
I parted the hair and clipped it out of the way so The Man could sew it up. I wasn't much help beyond that except for checking her shot records to make sure her Tetanus was up to date.
Since the 5 stitches were put in a week ago last night, The Man said he would probably take them out this Saturday night. Hopefully Sacagawea has learned that jumping on S's back isn't always a good idea.
p.s. She was a VERY brave girl!
Check back tomorrow to see if I actually make it to post #2!
G is almost 19 months old now. He still isn't inclined to speak other than a few choice words. I call it "Fifth Child Syndrome." Another friend has referred to it as "Little Prince Syndrome." Why speak when so many people will do or get whatever you want in answer to a point or a grunt?
S has been consistent with using some sign language with G, and G uses those signs quite frequently...sort of. The sign for water is 3 fingers touched to the lip or cheek. However, whenever G wants water, he smacks himself upside the head. It reminds me of the old "could've had a V8" commercials. He doesn't do it only when he wants someone else to get him water. Sometimes he will be sitting by himself on the couch looking at a book. He'll smack himself on the head, look around, spy his sippy cup on the floor, and get down to get himself a drink. I think that is just his way of talking to himself!
Here is a short video M took the other night while we were waiting for The Man to run an errand in the hospital. S is egging him on to try to get him to "say" water, hence all the giggles.
He will also make the sign when he wants to wash his hands or when he sees a lot of water, like at a water fall. Those times he will smack his head with BOTH hands.
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Everything else is going ok, just busy! I'll try to post a pregnancy update later.
I'm so glad it is Friday, but I don't get to wind down yet. Today is M's 16th birthday!
Happy Birthday, M!
I asked what kind of cake he wanted and he replied that he didn't care. I interpreted that as him saying, "I don't care as long as I don't have to make it." You'll be happy to know that I actually made it the other night and the layers are in the freezer. I'll pull them out in a bit and make the frosting so it will be all ready for lunch. He has requested curried rice and veggies.
Tomorrow is the monthly potluck at church at which Sacagawea likes having her birthday cake. This year we are doing M@rtha Stew@rt-inspired butterfly cupcakes. They'll fall somewhere between these and these. Maybe. The comments on MS said to dip the pretzels to keep them from being soggy if made the day before. Yesterday at the grocery store I looked at the bag of pretzels and the bag of melting chocolate. Then I looked at the yogurt-covered pretzels in the bulk bin. Then I looked back at the bag of pretzels and the chocolate. Ha. That was an easy choice for a tired, pregnant woman to make. The bag of pretzels and chocolate were returned to the shelf and we're going with the ready-dipped pretzels. The actual strawberry cupcakes were made and stuck in the freezer a few days ago, so we'll decorate those this afternoon.
Although Sacagawea has put in the order for her cake on Monday, her actual 8th birthday, we'll see how much cake we still have around the house at that point.
And for the geeks out there like me...next Thursday M will be exactly twice as old as Sacagawea. She's catching up with him!
It has been a few years since we began celebrating Pi Day...hey, any reason to celebrate is good!
This morning got off to a slow start due to the dreaded springing forward of the time (Boo! Hiss!). Since I didn't have to endure it growing up in Indiana, I grudgingly reset the clocks two times a year now. Please, someone, make it stop!
After lunch, some friends came over and took all the boys up on the hill across from our house to do a bit of rock climbing while Sacagawea and I went up to the city to attend a school play. When we got home, the climbers still hadn't returned, so we quickly made a blackberry pi/e. It was done by the time we all finished supper. It was yummy with some homemade coconut milk ice cream!
We ended Pi Day by singing hymns 314, 159, and 265 for our evening worship. Yes, we are geeks!
The Man was quite shocked to see me standing in the kitchen making 4 different recipes on Wednesday. He was used to coming home and finding me on the couch the past few weeks, as I haven't been feeling too well. I suddenly got a burst of energy and a craving for a lot of different foods, so I managed to fill the freezer. I hope to be able to eat some of it, but everything has smelled and tasted funny to me lately.
More often than not, our recipes have been leaning towards gluten-free since both G and J are on a gf diet now. I wanted something else. I wanted bread, homemade gluten, and gluten roast. Those are divided up and in the freezer for when I want a bit of gluten for my meal. I also made some gf oat burgers for J (G is allergic to oats) to have when the others are eating garden burgers.
I think The Man is glad I can make my own food again. He was trying to cater to me, but between the time I would request some food and he actually brought it to me, I would sometimes change my mind. Fortunately, he's dealt with that a few times before, so he didn't take it too personally.
Today The Man brought home a little machine from the office and we got to hear the whoosh-whoosh-whoosh of our newest family member. He (if G gets a baby brother) or she (if Sacagawea gets a baby sister) should be here around the beginning of October. We are so blessed!
Most pictures that I'll be posting will be from M's camera or my phone since my camera won't turn on anymore. This is one that M took on Thursday. We think it is an Oregon Alligator Lizard. It is the first time we have seen one like it around here. It was released soon after The Man returned from the office. G liked it a lot better after it was put into the cage.
You'll have to turn your head sideways to view that one. I just realized it isn't rotated properly. The lizard is standing up against the side of the cage.
Here it is with a Susan B. dollar for comparison just before it was moved to the cage.
