This journal update is coming to you from
the waiting room at the medical center.
I’m surrounded by sleeping kids; and the parents are busy with various
jobs while we all wait for Aunt Grace to give birth to the newest member of our
family. I’ll get to the rest of that
story-so-far in a minute; but let’s go back to the start of my day and start
the rest of this recap from there.
My wake-up call came earlier than I’d have
liked when Brianna needed a diaper change and some cuddle and chat time while
drinking a bottle about an hour before dawn.
That was fun, but I didn’t get even a real nap in last night – just some
light rest where I was half-conscious and mentally drifting along while Brianna
quietly entertained me until it was time to get up for Tai Chi by the river. I had Brianna with me for that too, so that
helped to get the day off to a great start; and then it was time to get busy
through until we got to church with our gang of campers and all of the
parent-volunteers that helped to make doing that possible.
This time, my jobs included kid control;
getting all of the younger girls fed and ready for church; and we helped out
with the campground tear-down too – a job that happened as we went along
because there were thunderstorms in the forecast for the afternoon and we didn’t
want to leave that work for after lunch.
Rowen was with me for most of the girl-time; and we had Michael and Tim
with us to help out with the kids during breakfast. That meal was a bit of a work overload for
the parents, but Mom and Dad did get lots of help; and it’s amazing how many
pancakes and sausages you can cook up in an hour when you have enough hands at
the task – and can use the barbeques and a half-dozen electric griddles and
frying pans in addition to the stove and oven.
I really am glad that Mom put me on kid control, and while that was just
as much work for those of us with that job; we definitely had more fun playing
dress-up and doing hair and make-up with our girls than the parents had with
the clean-up from feeding half the kids and teens in town.
Okay, it wasn’t half; but we did have more
than fifty at breakfast – including the parents.
Even the walk to church was fun this
morning, and since we picked up friends and neighbors along the way; we
practically had a parade by the time we reached the church. Maybe all of that fun was the start of things
for getting to where I am right now, but Aunt Grace was actually looking really
great during that walk; and she was in a great mood too after a kid-free night –
or as close as she could get to having that while this close to delivering
their baby. ;^)
I can admit that welcoming a new cousin to
the family wasn’t even remotely on my mind this morning, and while we enjoyed
the service and Sunday school; my focus was already more on the imminent shift
at the Inn – and spending the day with Michael – than on anything else. With just a week to go in our summer
holidays, we were expecting a big crowd for lunch and the buffets today; and
our customers didn’t disappoint us on that.
The new student-employees are coming along, and that’s helping a lot,
but we still have more seating space than the staff to keep up with everything
right now; so we all need to work harder to keep up. The church service wasn’t a long one today,
and that helped to give us more time to get ready for the lunch rush; but it
was almost all work after that for me – except for the afternoon break that
Michael and I took together once the clean-up was finished from the lunch
crowd.
That break was also the only chance I’ve
had to see Grandma and Grandpa today.
They didn’t get home until shortly before Michael and I needed to be
back at the Inn for the buffet prep work, so even that visit was too-short; but
I am glad that they’re home safely and had a fun adventure. I haven’t written about their trip this time,
and don’t expect to include any of their travel stories in my journal, but they
have their own journals; and their storytelling will be better than my
second-hand recaps could ever be anyway.
I don’t know how much time I’ll get to spend with them this week, but I’ll
also add that they aren’t here at the med center tonight because they’re
jet-lagged and need the sleep more to start getting back on home time again.
Not only have I missed out on the first
round of storytelling from Grandpa today while I’ve been working; I missed out
on the family buffet at the Inn fun too.
The jokes are already flying around here that it was the buffet that put
Aunt Grace into labor, and I’m sure that Miranda and Jacob will find that
amusing when they hear about it tomorrow.
Jacob, by the way, will not be able to hear the entire story; and we’ll
likely keep most of the Magi-related jokes in the family anyway. I don’t plan on investigating whether buffets
at the Inn have an impact on pre-natal Magi power development, but if Ehlana
really wants to do that; she’s welcome to go for it!
This does seem like a good spot to take a
side-trip; so let’s do that and talk about the Magi gift in relationship to the
Proctor family.
Mom and I were not surprised to see that
Zack and Brianna are strong Magi, or that Leah and Sebastian are strong too;
considering how talented their parents are – though that is especially true for
Uncle Adam and Aunt Leanne. We are
surprised with Caleb and our about-to-arrive cousin, though; and that does seem
to be something that has changed in our family.
Yes, Mom’s pre-natal program makes a difference for all newborns, but
this is more than that; and could be part of the changes that will come
naturally as we move toward the Ascension of the Light. That is something we’ll research, though I
doubt I’ll be involved in that very much; since I’ll be too busy with other
responsibilities.
Getting back to the news of the day,
Michael and I were back to work in time to help with the pre-buffet action in
the kitchen; and our break time after that was very limited as we all struggled
to keep up with having a full house plus extras two times over with the
buffets. We didn’t really serve every
person within fifty miles of the town, but by the time we were done; it sure
felt like it. While I missed the family
time today; I’m not missing out on the most-important family adventure of the
day – even if some of us are missing out on getting some sleep. I’m also missing the sofa sleepover I wanted
to have with Michael. He came home with
me after we closed the Inn, and I had every intention of keeping him with me
all night, but then the call came in about Aunt Grace less than an hour after
we got home; and I needed to send Michael home so that I could help out here at
the clinic.
I would have liked to have Michael with me,
but that wasn’t an allowed option; and he needs to get some sleep too so he’ll
be ready for football practice in the morning.
After seeing him out, I grabbed a quick shower and got changed; helped
out with getting kids from three families to the med center; and then played
with the kids that were awake while watching the sleeping kids and helping out
with the wards around the clinic. We’d
considered putting the kids all at one house and having me stay there, but while
Uncle Mark is handling the delivery and Aunt Grace is busy for obvious reasons;
Mom, Uncle Adam, Aunt Deborah, and Aunt Leanne are all needing to help out with
the baby. Having me handle the wards
makes it a bit easier for them; and we – the kids – all want to be here anyway.
Being allowed to do that is a change from
the norm around here with Magi kids, but we still have more to do on that;
since I couldn’t invite Michael or Rowen; and most Magi kids won’t get to know
about any of my cousins’ talents until they’re eighteen.
Going through what has been hours of labor
already has been tough on Aunt Grace – and on most of us; since we didn’t get a
lot of sleep last night. We still have
some time before the baby will be here, but I’m writing this update now because
I’ve had time to get some work done while the kids are sleeping; and I’ll need
to put my computer away when it’s closer to the time for the last big push to
delivery. When we get there, I’ll need
to focus on my wards – and keeping my younger cousins safe from the mental
blasts that are inevitable from a strong baby Magi.
By the way, yes, we know the baby’s name,
but I’m saving that news for my next update – even though that’s a bit silly
for a journal that Magi can read in batches in my future. I’m not trying to wrap this up to get sleep
that I can’t have while using my gifts for the wards and shields here; so let’s
take a quick look at the week ahead.
We’re obviously going to have a new member
added to our family by sometime Monday morning; and then I’ll likely be trying
to get through my day – and cheerleading practice – on no sleep. We’ll have football and cheerleading every
day this week; the rest of my music and sports practices; and a very busy start
to the holiday weekend that is going to include the next batch of fruit and
vegetable boxes deliveries on Friday in addition to the second football game of
the season on Friday night. I’ll try to
help Mom out with the ongoing holiday weekend prep work too, and I may need to
help out with more kid control if my aunts and uncles need it while helping
Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace with the new baby.
That has me thinking about baby showers,
and I should mention that my lack of comments on baby showers in our family is
all about the fact that we haven’t had many of them. We do get gifts for the new parents and
babies, but while we’re happy to help out other new parents around here; we don’t
have baby showers for parents that don’t need the financial help. Uncle Mark and Aunt Grace have both done
fairly-well for themselves in the years before they got married; and they
definitely don’t have to worry about money now either. I’m only mentioning this to explain why you
don’t hear about things like that with me, and while that’s sometimes because I’m
not involved in those events; that isn’t the case here.
That brings us up to next weekend in the
look ahead, but there isn’t a lot for me to write about with that; since I
expect to be working nearly all of the time except for while I’m playing ball
in the championship game and when I’m cheering for Mom, Dad, and their team in
the co-ed championship game. I’ll
probably miss Michael’s game while helping out at the Inn; but I’ll keep you
posted on that; since I might be able to work that into my schedule. Michael and I also have the Sunday service
that the teen praise team will be leading; and I expect to be working the rest
of the time either at the Inn or helping out with the fundraiser booth at the
park for the marching band.
Maybe I shouldn’t have gone there when I’m
this tired; since now I’m thinking sleepy thoughts. That isn’t an option, though; so I’d better
wrap this up and see about getting a cup of coffee to help with staying awake.
I’m heading toward twenty-four hours of
being awake now, and it’ll be at least eight or ten more before I can think
about having a nap, but I’ll be busy most of that time; and this next few hours
will be fun!
Feel free to flip the digital page to find
out all about my newest cousin, but I’m going to go and get that cup of coffee
now, and then wait for that to happen in real time; so, until next time...
...May the Magi Force be with you!
