Real Life, Real People

We received a recent newsletter from St. Gianna's Maternity Home this week, and one of the articles caught my attention right away. It is a reprint of an article written by St. Gianna's husband, Pietro Molla, about how their family celebrated Christmas. It is very touching, particularly when he writes about their first Christmas without her. Pierluigi writes that St. Gianna loved Christmas and worked hard for many days to make it special for her family - food, decorations, visiting family, Mass. Even more beautiful is the photo accompanying it. St. Gianna is holding her oldest, who looks about 1 1/2 or 2 years old, and he has a huge grin on his face and is making a go for the little Christmas tree next to them. She is looking away, looks tired, and still has her bathrobe on. She doesn't have makeup on and doesn't have a Christmas smile on her face. Being a saint doesn't mean that one is perfect, but that one loves unconditionally. Every so often I feel like St. Gianna, my go-to saint, has forgotten about me. And then we get a picture in the mail, or a holy card, or a gentle reminder, that she is still there and still interceding for me.

And here's another favorite real person from real life - Michael pretending to be Blessed John Paul II. A curtain rod makes an excellent crosier and a yarmulke makes an excellent skullcap.

I finished the last project this morning for the class I took this semester. It was so exciting to hit "submit"! I'll be doing some school over break, but on my own time. I'll be doing my teaching practicum spring semester - I found a professor at the college who is gracious enough to be my preceptor, so I have a lot of brushing up to do on evidence-based practice before helping with her course on that topic. I'm so thankful - she is going to let me help mainly with the online section so I can do a lot of the work from home. I'll also get to work with the on-campus sections a bit, too, particularly with grading poster projects and revising some content. Still hasn't sunk in that this will be my last semester of school - wow! I also need to get my independent project rolling along. Clinical is done for the semester, and it will be really nice to have those hours to spend with the boys. I worked on 6th floor last weekend and again this weekend - good to put those skills to work again. Some things change (computer charting systems), other things don't (plenty of clean-up, endless blood sugars).

I think that's part of why the picture of St. Gianna struck me so strongly - although I love getting ready for Christmas and working on these projects, it can be very tiring, and I lose sight of the point of much of it. It's not about feeling holy while being a wife and mom (and student, and nurse, and teacher, and so on), but letting God into our tasks and bringing Him along with us in everything we do.

Heresy

has become my new favorite word. No one uses those good, old words anymore, like heresy, heathen, anathema...

I hope Michael will grow knowing how to smell out heretical things, and I intend to bring him up to analyze the culture for what it is (gradually, of course). He loves kids songs (you know, the sappy CDs with Jesus Loves Me, The Ants Go Marching, etc.), so we borrow quite a few from the library. I was kind of ignoring his songs the other day, when I realized they were singing "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands", except with a twist. It went something like this...

"We've got the whole world, in our hands...

We've got the trees and the fishes, in our hands...

We've got the dolphins, in our hands..."

Seriously. I fully intend to teach my child the importance of caring for all living things through responsible living (yeah, how about another verse - "We've got the unborn babies, in our hands"?). I don't need some twisted kids song to teach my child for me. Nor do I need some singer independently deciding we can take the world out of God's hands now since He obviously can't care for it Himself. Heresy.

No Snow?!?

Well, here it is the last day of November, and not a flake on the ground. We did have a light dusting that stuck around a few days, but that quickly melted the day before Thanksgiving, when it was 58 degrees outside! I took a break from cooking for Thanksgiving to take Michael to the playground. He had fun going down the slide and we rumpus-ed about on the soccer field playing tag. It's good it's been so dry and warm - a pleasant break from the endless wet.

We spent Thanksgiving at Grandma S.'s - wonderful to see close family and also those we only see every year or so. All the cousins are growing up so much - the teenagers and big kids handled a lot of the work, and it always amazes me how much gets done. It was especially fun to get to see our niece and hold her lots - she is awfully cute! Michael loves her very much and he has been missing her and all the cousins.

I finished knitting my "GAP-tastic" cowl - pattern on Ravelry. It turned out really well - first time doing a long-tail cast on (I only had to take it out 4 times because I didn't make my tail long enough). It's really soft and versatile - can be worn as a long scarf, or wrapped around a couple times, or can be worn over the head to protect that done-up hair (yeah right - when was the last time I did my hair up in anything but a ponytail...).

Michael wrote his name for the first time this week. He has been missing a letter here and there at times, but I'm fairly impressed given we haven't worked on it at all. We made a "mailbox" out of a shoe box, and have been sending each other "letters". Mom gave me a box of individual letters on little cards, so we pick out a few, put them in the mailbox, and then sound out the letters/word that arrived. Thank goodness for parents to help with this whole homeschooling endeavor - don't have much creativity, and certainly not confidence, so appreciate the tips we've been getting!

All of us are happy Advent is here. We got out our Advent wreath and Jesse tree ornaments again. It's been harder this year for Michael to understand the difference between Advent and Christmas. Nearly every house on our block had Christmas lights up and lit 1-2 weeks before Thanksgiving, all the radio stations are playing Christmas music, and the Christmas displays were up in some stores even before Halloween. I understand my rant is not unique, but it's much easier to understand the importance of certain seasons as an adult, rather than a child who is just excited for Christmas! So we've been emphasizing Advent even more than last year.

Languages

Whew... wheee whew, whew...

"Mom, I'm whistling in Spanish."

"Is that different from whistling in English?"

"Yes, it really is."

A Children's Book Day

63 chocolate chip oatmeal cookies

20 minutes of exercise

10 books read to one boy

9 minutes of time-out administered

8 students wanting to get out of paperwork the last week of class

7 minutes to unload the dishwasher

6 bills paid

5 ends tied in to finish my new knitted cowl

4 loads of laundry washed, dried, and folded

3 students' paperwork graded

2 reference letters written

1 haircut and 1 bath for 1 very cute boy

and.... 1 tired mommy.

Counting in Years by the Days

Waiting for a baby is never something I thought would be as great an issue as it has for us. It's been three years since my cycles returned after Michael was born and we started hoping for a new baby. I had so hoped that the waiting we went through before Michael would never return. I thought (silly me) that being pregnant would somehow "reset" my body and everything would be normal. Now it's been three years of waiting, much worse in length and frustration, than the first time. We didn't know then what we know now, that Michael is more than likely a miracle and for all we know, we could have empty arms and the numbers would be more like six years.

Years... it seems foreign to say "years" in relation to something so personal - my own life, my own deepest longings. One hears stories of friends of friends who "tried for seven years", or "they waited for ten years and then gave up". I fear becoming a story of years, although to some extent our three years feels like a story in and of itself already. The first year of watchful and hopeful waiting, the second year of frustration and tears, the third year of surgeries and endless letters and forms from the lab to the clinic to the hospital and back. I don't want there to be a fourth year, but yet I know that now that we've been set on this course we will continue to follow it until the Good Lord says.

Some months are more hope-filled than others. We're trying a new pill, or we just prayed a Novena, or things just feel better this month. Some months it's harder to let go and trust, others it's a throw-up-your-hands and let's see what next month brings. I simply find it hard to believe it's been three years of a day-at-a-time. I'm still afraid of what is to come. What if these things don't work and after our year of doing what the doctors say we decide to move forward again? What if we seek adoption and that part of our life is counted in years as well? How many years of a day-at-a-time is necessary to purify my desires and my heart? It's so hard to not "what-if" and think ahead to all the possibilities, and much of the fear comes from those things. It's such a mysterious process - why does a Baptism at Mass bring so much anger into my heart, when another baby smiling at me during the same Mass bring me comfort? Trying to understand it brings more demons, sometimes, than allowing oneself to not understand.

"My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for temptation.

Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be hasty in time of calamity.

Cleave to him and do not depart, that you may be honored at the end of your life.

Accept whatever is brought upon you, and in changes that humble you, be patient.

For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable men in the furnace of humilitation.

Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight, and hope in him."

-Sirach 2:1-6

Fall Photos

Here are some pictures of what we have been doing this fall. Matt was pretty busy a few weeks ago catching up on extensions and quarterlies. Michael has been sticking to his "homeschooling" almost every day, even if it does mean endless rounds of "War" (he always wins) and "Go Fish" (he usually wins that, too). I'm finally caught up on grading papers and doing midterm evals. I really need to get cracking on my independent project for school, but seem to have papers or other projects due each time I try get organized. On the other hand, I've been more determined to not let the school monster take over this semester, so have been trying to balance it out and do more things with Michael and Matt.

Matching hats for Matt and Michael. Same pattern, but red for Michael and fisherman's wool for Matt. My boys will have warm heads this winter!

All Saint's Day party with the homeschool group. It was so much fun! Michael was St. Michael the Archangel (see below). His costume got a little heavy, so most of it came off by the time he started playing the games. Each family brought at least one game for the kids (saints) to play. This one was clever (all of them were) - try to shoot the hockey puck through the "narrow gate"!

The saints - super creative, and really fun to try to guess who each child was dressed up as.

Michael's wings. I was just going to cut a shape out of tagboard and glue some felt over the cut-out to make them soft. Michael's godmother came to spend some of the afternoon with us, so I enlisted her help. She is so creative, and helped me design this awesome pair of angelic wings. She had the idea to cut "feathers" out of the felt, and then glue cotton in the middle.

St. Michael the Archangel

How did "You can read one book to yourself before you go to sleep" turn into "Please read every single book on your bookshelf before you go to sleep"?!?

Pumpkin carving. Michael was able to be more involved this year.

Yes, they are using chisels to carve the pumpkins. My boys take this very seriously.

"Fondor" and "Doc". Matt and Michael named them.

My Octopus carrot. The carrots I planted and my family tended all summer turned out great. I froze 20 quarts plus have large bags in the fridge, and quite a few more at Mom's house.

Pumpkin Patch

A friend invited us to go to a pumpkin patch with her and her children a few weeks ago. The weather was lovely - sunshine and just the right amount of crispness in the air. We avoided the "scary" things and spent most of our time watching the kids play on the playset and toys. They had a corn maze, hay ride (but wasn't running the day we went), Tennesse fainting goats (what is a fainting goat? They didn't fall over while we were watching them!), and of course plenty of pumpkins. We did get one big pumpkin for carving.

Michael spent a lot of time on the John Deere tractor. He was a bit cranky that day and ended up getting time out on a hay bale for not sharing with the smaller kids.

Michael and Mom by a big pumpkin hay bale. The JD tractor had to be in the picture.

Michael and Kathleen. (He told me he is going to marry her.)

Michael and the girls. They had fun being together. Michael still misses them a lot after our move, and we greatly enjoy the times we get to see them.

Awareness - of what???

I've tagged this with the grad school tag, but it really just falls under the STUPID THINGS category.

I've begun to dread October because of the pink saturation and demonstrations of public idiocy. Before anyone jumps up swinging, let me remind you I do care for cancer patients for a living and yes, I know 1 in 9 US women will develop breast cancer at some point in her life. This is a big deal for a multitude of reasons. I don't argue that on any level.

BUT - what awareness is raised by putting pink ribbons on dog food, yogurt, shopping bags, razors, and everything else we buy? I go out of my way to avoid buying all those pink ribboned products, mostly because anything with a pink ribbon means you are giving money to Susan G Komen and similar organizations who support breast cancer research using embryonic stem cells. (Yes, it's true.)

And even worse, what awareness is raised by these bra-themed events? Like draping strings of bras off buildings or across streets? I could be wrong, but I don't think women are driving along thinking, "Look at those bras. I really should do a breast self-exam every month." And I'm 99% positive the men are definitely not thinking along those lines. Never mind that breast self-exams, while useful for early detection, actually haven't been proven to improve overall incidence and survival rates. Not that people shouldn't do these, but in terms of overall cost benefit (if you're thinking big picture) cancer screenings tend to be less useful than we would hope.

As a whole, the obsession with preserving anatomy as evidenced by many of these "awareness" campaigns smacks of misguided and obsessive sexuality. What about preserving physical wholeness since our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit? If we are so worried about our bodies, why do we insist on continuing behaviors that harm us in so many other ways? I know I'm preaching to the choir, but there is a demonstrated link between use of oral contraceptives and abortion with development of breast cancer, usually at earlier ages. And that's something you won't seen broadcast on your nightly news, nor will you be encouraged to have children and breastfeed them (things that have been proven to reduce one's risk).

Oh, and let's raise awareness about ALL the other kinds of cancer that people are living with every single day. But I doubt you will see colonoscopes hanging off the area hotels any time soon.

Verdinity

Bad at posting lately... There is more I'd love to share about Rome, but it will have to wait a little while.

Michael seems to think that since we have moved twice now that we will continue to move frequently. He suggested we move a couple hours south so that we would be "close to Verdinity", and then proceeded to tell me all about this made-up city.

"It's really, really big. It takes you four days to get there, and four days to drive around in it. But there are no houses, only hotels. And you have to drive in a bus everywhere. No, I don't want to live in Verdinity. But we can go visit."

Jet lag + Head cold + Overworked =

"Michael, do you have any idea how frustrated I am right now?!?"

"Ummm, about 12 feet?"

Fall Favorites

Among my many favorite things about fall - drinking a cup of hot tea. I got hooked on Tetley tea last year. Dirt cheap from Target, and comes in decaffeinated so you can drink all you want. And the box always makes me laugh - printed in big letters on the side:

"How to make a proper cup of tea:"

OK, so it's probably not that funny, but I can just picture Bunter or Jeeves standing in the kitchen holding up the tea kettle, saying "Right ho, that's a proper cup of tea". Oh, except Bunter wouldn't lower himself to say "Right ho".

And yes, I did make my tea the proper way.

Matt's Ordination

We were extremely blessed to be able to go to Rome for Matt's diaconate ordination! He has been attending the North American College, a seminary in Rome. He is now Reverend Mister Matthew Kraemer, and we couldn't be more proud of him. His "yes" to his vocation is a constant reminder to us to live out our vocations faithfully.

The pictures aren't terribly in order, but at least it is a little taste of what we saw and did.

Pope Benedict XVI - at the Wednesday papal audience. We love our German Papa!

Matt and I atop the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. For 5 euro you can climb the steps (551 up, 551 down) up the dome and look out over all of Rome. The weather was beautiful for our whole trip, as you can see.

Looking out over St. Peter's Square from the dome. Bernini designed the square so that when you stand in it, you should be able to feel like "you are getting a hug from God". Amen to that.

Michael touching St. Peter's toe. We prayed for all our friends and family and all their intentions throughout our entire pilgrimage.

Bishop Aquila was with us for much of the pilgrimage. He was very good to all of us - Mass every day, sharing in our suppers with us, attentive to the children, and caring towards us all as we celebrated Matt's ordination. Michael enjoyed getting to know Bishop and was not afraid at all to run up and catch his hand when walking. Fr. Meyer and Fr. Gunwall were also with us.

The Duomo in Orvieto (between Assisi and Rome). It has zebra stripes! The facade of the church is all done in carvings and mosaics - it floors me to think that artists placed every single piece of glass tile into the facade - what dedication! The carvings were a wonderful catechesis - creation to revelation in pictures. St. Thomas Aquinas composed one of his Eucharistic hymns here.

Statue of Mary (4-5 times larger than a person) atop St. Mary of the Angels in Assisi. There is a little church inside the big church - St. Francis used to pray and live at the little church, and then they built a huge cathedral over it!

Our family (just Michael's eyes!) atop the castle in Assisi. We had fun exploring the towers, tunnels, and weaponry.

View of the valley below Assisi from our climb up to the castle. It was so beautiful there.

The castle in Assisi. We loved seeing the olive trees and vineyards.

Matt and Bishop, as well as our priests, at our final Mass in Rome. It was Deacon Matt's first Mass as a deacon.

First preaching! Deacon Matt encouraged us, on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, to stay close to Mary and pray the Rosary often.

Much happiness and hijinks after ordination at the NAC!

Most of the group of pilgrims to Rome with Deacon Matt following ordination. HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY!

Most of the Kraemer family and Deacon Matt and Bishop Aquila.

Unfortunately most of the pictures are blurry of the ordination itself. It was in St. Peter's at the Altar of the Chair. It was an experience of a lifetime and so privileged to be there to share and celebrate with Matt.

There were many graces along the way on our pilgrimage, too. I hope to share a bit more of what we did and saw, but will have to put those in as time permits.

First Knitted Hat Ever!

A good friend who has been holding my hand as I learn how to knit suggested this pattern (Aviatrix - on Ravelry, if you're interested) to me as a good starting point. It was super-fun to make. I ended up knitting two hats in the same pattern - the first in a smaller size for Peter and Monique's baby, and the second in a larger size for a baby gift to have on hand. A friend had a baby shortly thereafter, and it's lucky I knitted a larger size, because he is a large baby! I wish I had a picture of the hat for Agnes - Pete and Mo didn't know if they were having a boy or girl, so I knitted in advance in baby blue, but embellished with little flower and butterfly buttons once she was born.

I'm working on a simple hat for Michael right now - first knitting-in-the-round project - picture soon - I'm on the last four rounds!

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

Michael officially started preschool two weeks ago. I've been doing some sit-down activities with him much of the summer, but when I started school in August I also started with him. It is still an informal, short (30-45 minutes max) time period, but I really want him to learn how to focus on learning activities, "the process of learning" if you will, as we prepare for kindergarten and first grade.

He is very curious about just about anything and everything right now, so it fits well with my goal. He asks how things are made - cheese, firetrucks (of course), pencils, toilet paper, etc. - so we have been watching a lot of YouTube videos and reading a lot of books about such things. He knows all his letters, numbers up to 30, colors, shapes, etc., so we are mostly focusing on things he is curious about.

I am tempted to push him into reading and writing since he has covered a lot of the foundational stuff already, but am trying to step back a little and let him lead as he is ready. He can write H, 1, 10, and a few other simple things, but mostly wants me to help him or otherwise do it. Matt and I listened to a great talk on home educating boys on one of our trips to Omaha. The speaker talked about how many parents are afraid to "do it too much" for their children. But this speaker clarified the point well - our children won't let us do it for them when they are ready and feel confident to do it themselves. He said if we push them too hard to do things they are unready for without sufficient assistance, they develop decreased motivation to learn new things as well as a feeling that they "just can't do" something ("I'm just not good at ____ - math, art, etc.). I'm paraphrasing (and probably badly), but that point really helped me realize I can help Michael as much as he needs - he'll let me know when he can do it himself - and we are not at risk for me still helping him write his letters when he is doing his ACTs!

Anyways - what I was really going to write about - we were saying a decade of the Rosary as we were preparing for our little bit of school. Michael was leading the Our Father, and this was how he said it:

"Our Father, Who art in Heaven; Hallowed be my name. My kingdom come, my will be done..."

I was laughing so hard! I think he came by this quite honestly - "my" and "thy" sound and can come out an awful lot alike. But how often have I prayed the Our Father saying "Thy" but really meaning "My" (more on that to come)?!? He did very well - led the entire decade by himself - and learning how to use the beads. It is such a blessing and a privilege to pray with my son, and I definitely have had plenty to mull over these past couple days. Am I praying Thy or My? What is really in my heart?

Homemade Sauerkraut

This is the sight of two cabbages being finely chopped using the best of German engineering (no, not BMWs) - my Bosch mixer. Matt loves sauerkraut and so do I, so we put both cabbages from our garden into the chopper a couple weeks ago. The kraut is currently in a large glass dish fermenting away in the basement, and I can hardly wait for it to be ready! I found a recipe the other day for a knoephla/bacon/sauerkraut/cream casserole and I think that will be one of the first things we prepare with our sauerkraut. Mmmm :-)

My German husband (well, half) running my German machine.

Off with their heads!

Firefighter Michael

My favorite little firefighter has been busy lately. He was venting dangerous gasses from the fire with his toy chainsaw. I bought him a pair of boots I had been eyeing for a couple months - red and black mudboots with a fire logo and handles. I knew Michael would love them, so one day I handed to them while we were shopping and the look in his eyes was so cute! He even refuses to wear them outside because he doesn't want them to get dirty. Michael has been asking when Captain B. will ask us to the firehouse again since he didn't get a chance to try on a uniform last time we were there. He's been quite adamant that he is going to be a firefighter for about a year now, although he did mention he would like to be a garbage-man today - but only as long as he can still be a firefighter, too!

Daddy and Michael

Here's my men at work. The basement bathroom had nasty carpet (color fine, dirty carpet that has been in a bathroom for a few years, yucky) and was covered in dark blue wallpaper, so Matt and Michael spent most of a Saturday doing demo work. Note Michael's hardhat and the crowbar he is standing next to so innocently. I don't have an "after" picture yet, but the walls are painted (no more wallpaper!) and there is new linoleum and a new toilet. It needs a little decorating, but no more dirty bathroom cave! Thanks to my guys, and to Grandpa, for all their hard work.

Our new niece!

That is, our first niece! Agnes Therese was born to Peter and Monique two weeks ago, and my goodness is she ever beautiful! We were able to visit her the day after she was born, and Michael finally got the idea that yes, this is his cousin. I wish I could describe the look on his face when he held Agnes with my dad - it was a look of pure happiness!

Agnes was baptized this past Sunday. It was so exciting to be there with friends and family. I love the smell of the sacred oils the babies are anointed with when they are baptized. Michael kept trying to count her fingers and toes - they were so small he kept getting mixed up and came up with eight toes. I think there is no greater blessing than having a new baby in the family.

I love this picture with Michael and Rose crowding around Agnes. Every time I had a turn to hold her they both showed up and wanted to have turns, too! Michael was gentle with her but really wanted to figure out everything about her. He can't wait until she is big enough to play with him.

The Boy Says...

"Mommy, how were you maked?"

"I loooove Baby Angus!" (Agnes, that is - Michael's first cousin! We were reading the books about Angus the little Scotty dog by Marjorie Flack, and Agnes does sound an awful lot like Angus when one is four.)

"I'd rather talk about faults." (We were driving around town searching for a new car - more to follow on that - and after Michael started trash-talking Matt's driving we told him not to talk about other people's faults. Apparently it's more interesting to talk bad qualities.)

"I got a dolphin... I'm going to eat him." (Singing this song to himself over and over while playing in the bathtub.)

And that's just from this week!

10-Year Reunion

This weekend we had our 10-year high school reunion. Yes, even though I was homeschooled, I graduated with five other seniors from our area. We had a graduation ceremony complete with caps and gowns, speeches, and teary parents.

So now that it's been 10 years, we had a picnic in the park. It was super-hot all weekend, but actually cooled down a little while we were there, so it wasn't too bad. The kids spent the entire time either at the splash pad or on the playground equipment. Michael and his friend Kathleen grabbed the big water guns and made off for the playground after supper. Kathleen's mom asked them what they were doing, to which they responded, "We're playing house!". Might as well buy the kid membership in the NRA for his next birthday.

It was so much fun to catch up with good friends! Some of us hadn't seen each other for a few years, but we all picked up where we had left off and we kept on visiting until our shelter time was up. It was a blessing to see how God is working in the lives of my friends and fellow graduates, and the good that has come from our loving parents dedicating themselves to education and formation. It's a lot to live up to as many of us prepare to homeschool our own children, but God will provide the help.

Riley, James, Andrew

Sarah M., Victoria, Sarah R.

Graduates for 10 years!

Triple Fruit Pie

Rhubarb, raspberries, and blueberries - about as good as it gets! This was a grand-champion pie back in the day. My crust cracked on the side and some of the filling oozed around, so this particular pie wouldn't get a grand champion, but it sure tasted great! And the zinnias and snapdragons (so deplorably arranged) are from our garden. We love summer!

Smuggling

Scene: Discount fireworks barn off I-29 somewhere in SD. Lots of kids running around in t-shirts and cut-offs. Lots of dads in the same, carrying baskets full of big bangers with names like "Wrath of God", "Armageddon", and "Fire and Fury". My husband is carrying a small package of bottle rockets, which after waiting in line for 10 minutes, he places on the counter.

Check-out lady: "That's all?!?"

Husband: "Well, that's the only thing we can't buy in North Dakota".

C-o L: "Really?"

Husband: "We can't buy bottle rockets there so we are smuggling these across the state line for my brother-in-law."

C-o L: "Good for you!"

Land that I love!

Exciting Day!

Michael LOVES all things fire-fighting. He has a firefighters costume (from Grandma) with a hat, coat, axe, and fire extinguisher. The library has a good bunch of firefighter books, so he is well-versed in terms and firefighter jobs. He spends at least part of each day pretending to put out fires.

When we had a home inspection for our new house, Michael and I had to come along to measure some rooms, and the inspector was asking Michael what he wanted to be when he grew up. The answer, of course, was firefighter, and turns out the inspector was a real, live firefighter. He asked Michael what kind of fire truck he liked best, and Michael immediately responded "The pumper!". The inspector was pretty impressed Michael knew about the different kinds of fire trucks, and invited Michael to come visit the fire station sometime after we moved.

So we took him up on his offer today! I thought they might just let Michael sit in the truck for a couple minutes, but as soon as we walked in, a firefighter grabbed us right away so we could see the ladder truck backing into the garage (it was coming back from training exercises). Then a group of four firefighters followed Michael all over the station for 45 minutes and showed him everything! Michael was SO excited. All the firefighters were pretty impressed with Michael's firefighting knowledge (he correctly ID'd oxygen tanks, all the pieces of the protective suits, Jaws of Life, hydraulic scissors, Pumper, Ladder, axes, hooks, and so on). They even let Michael blow the lights and sirens and shoot water from a hose. I had fun, too, and got to ask lots of questions about the things I've always wondered about firefighting! Michael was really talkative until he met the Chief and Deputy Chief, and then he completely clammed up. It was really quite funny. He didn't want to leave and is convinced that we can go back to the station anytime we want. It was a really fun day and I really appreciate the kindness of the firefighters in fulfilling a little boy's dreams!