Let Me Check My Calendar

I have a paper due this weekend, and a bigger paper due next weekend. Weekends are a big time for getting papers done...

...usually. We actually received 2 dinner invitations. I guess people are starting to like us. Well, one is actually an invitation from a girl at church who leads the missions team and called me about an idea she had. She happened to ask "How are you settling in - are you making friends?" and I did my best to choke back the "Not really - will you be my friend?!" threatening to jump out of my mouth and tried as graciously as possible to frame that in a less desperate manner. It obviously still seemed pretty pathetic, but hey, we got a dinner invite out of it.

Molly's big all-county orchestra event is this weekend too. She gets to play with all the other "best" kids:) Lots of practice time for her away from home - we just show up to the concert. But that leaves one lonesome little sis who loves to hang out with Molly on weekends. I always wonder why they have to charge parents to come to these concerts though.

Since we missed a karate lesson, I'll take Anna to a make-up lesson tonight. Renshi (the master teacher or whatever) is offering a free "women's protection" seminar at 6pm. Given that my internship has me trotting around some unsafe neighborhoods (refugee families don't get set up in cozy suburbs), I have a hunch I should make time for this.

Anna and I invited the care pastor over this morning to get us started helping her with visitations to the shut-ins. It dawned on me that my Anna has a gift for lighting up elderly people's lives. She is not very shy, is loud enough to be heard, and people like my grandmother find her memorably amusing. And I think they like her dimpled Shirley Temple cheeks. It seemed like a nice way to spend a morning a week or whatever. She can only play on the computer so much, and I can only switch characters in pretend play so much without going crazy. Which I kind of started doing. And I have a garage door repairman showing up sometime today, supposedly. But the repairman doesn't count as a social visit.

No, I shouldn't be on the computer, but I had to drink that first cup of coffee anyway and see Moll off to school (she is chomping at the bit to get on her e-mail right now). And that first paper is due Sunday at midnight Pacific time. That buys me three extra hours. And how long have I been waiting for a full social calendar in Syracuse? :)