When In The Collective, Jeffrey, Adapt!

Considering that on an author's post yesterday asking what's the one thing we think we do better than anyone else I said “assimilate” (a word that hearkens for most breathing people I know, even if they've never seen Star Trek, to the ubiquitous-seeming human-machine hybrids known as the Borg), I found myself thinking of my own not-so-little Six of Six this morning when he got the six stitches out he'd accrued at Medical Arts last Thursday after the unfortunate meeting of his head as he flew from his bike with the pavement … he cried out more from the stitches going in above his right eye Thursday afternoon and coming out today than he did from the blow to his head itself, so I heard.

I say “so I heard” because my first awareness of Jeffrey even being hurt was Martha's call to me Thursday afternoon, and SHE'D gotten called by her mom saying Jeffrey had to go to Trinity Hospital's emergency room to get some stitches – we were both working at the time, and my wife was closer by than me so she could get there with him. I called just after I heard from Martha and heard Jeffrey sobbing as he was either getting ready for the stitches or getting them put in … Thursday was the first day of the kids' Spring Break from school, so Sarah was with him too. And by the time I got home that night, my son wasn't quite his bouncy run into everything self, but then came the next morning!

Friday's a blur; Saturday I brought the kids with me to Breakfast with the Boys over at Bethany Lutheran Church – I had to do that because Martha worked from six am to two pm Saturday – where with fifteen others we had an awesome meal and a great Bible study – without the kids, they were playing in the nursery – on Jesus' nighttime meeting with Nicodemus in the third chapter of John. (It's also the passage that details being “born again”, to most Christians the acceptance of Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the bridge between their/our sinful selves and a sinless God, perhaps most famous for its sixteenth verse. But please read the whole thing.)

Saturday afternoon we bought and “broke in” a new laptop computer, as ours was getting temperamental to the point it was cheaper to buy a new one than to replace the parts that were going on it! Windows on this laptop needed 143 updates, but we were patient … that night after dinner the KIDS! wanted to play Scattergories with us. You roll the die, a letter comes up and you have a set amount of time to come up with the words in as many categories that begin with that letter as possible. Haven't played that in years, and the kids came up with some clever responses, even outpacing (or at least keeping up with) dear old Dad the trivia geek!

Sunday came church, and we were visited by the director of Metigoshe Ministries Pastor John Halvorson, the kids sang in carol choir, and I remember during the children's sermon Jeffrey shot up his hand and said summer was his favorite season 'cause his birthday is then (July 2)! While Martha had handbell practice between our two services, I had ten sixth-graders in Sunday school where once again we read through the Scriptural account of Jesus' Trial and Crucifixion (Luke 22:66 to the end of Luke 23) and then played a quiz game based on it. And I really thought the boys would win this time, but the girls won in an eleven to seven upset!

But I will never be upset about that, David