February 5 – “Doggy-nurses and kiddie-vets”

I did something this afternoon that I haven't done in a long time.  I fell asleep on the floor.  Guess I was just really beat after being sick for a week, not sleeping much again last night, and heading in to be at the school this morning.    I spent a lot of time at the computer when I was at the school.  I tracked down information on two of those infamous acrostics that plague the lives of high school students across the state: SAT and TEKS.  I wasn't really worried about the SAT's we have two juniors, so I wanted to make sure they at least knew about it and how to plug in.  But that Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills was a totally different story.  Their website was incredibly unwieldy and difficult to use.  I think I finally found what I needed – the basic stuff kids should learn at each grade level.  It must fill several volumes of books to print it all.  I downloaded what I could see we needed to know.  I'm not sure when I'll get around to wading through it all.  But for us to be accredited, even by a private school accrediting agency, we have to pretty much follow those guidelines.  And that's just for starters.  I also have a whole book of stuff to sort out relating to such exciting topics as teacher's educational requirements, square footage per student, and number of books per student in the school library.   I sent in two emails to the city's website today.  In one I asked if it was too late for us to get in on the free dead tree cut down action.  We have done pretty well on our own up to the magnolia tree, and Nathan and I both decided we know our limits.  Actually his limits are way beyond mine.  He still is willing to give it a go now that he has found his mountain climbing gear.  Well, It's actually fireman stuff for climbing up the sides of buildings and down cliffs to rescue trapped people.  You know, the typical Spiderman afternoon in the park.  The second was to see if they would cut down the trees at the abandoned house next door to us.  We heard from a reliable source that once notified, they might actually begin the process and do it.  Sure hope so. That huge pine tree in their front yard would smack right into our new Equinox.  I don't know how Chris would handle that one.   Our big adventure of the day was a trip to the vet.  Both of our dogs were due for their yearly exam.  They won't sell us any more heartworm medicine until the doc sees them.  And after the storm they tested positive for heartworms.  They need that pill.  Our regular doc was too busy to see them both, so they put us in with their new guy.  Just graduated from A&M.  Sure, why not?  They're just dogs, right?  We were placed in the exam room and had our initial little contact with the "doggy nurse."  What do they call those people who come in before the vet and play with the dogs a little and draw blood and take their temperature?  Anyway, after the doggy nurse finished, the brand new, fresh out of school, upstart youngster doc finally arrived.  And who should walk into the room but an older, squattier, rounder around the middle guy who looked amazingly similar to a guy who played on a high school club soccer team with Josh.  And not only did he look familiar, he recognized us right away and asked how Josh was doing.  Unknown to him, Chris was secretly texting Josh to let him know his high school buddy was about to give the dogs a shot … Could we trust him?  To our relief, Josh's answer was, "He may not even remember me, but he was the only one on the team that was nice to me from the beginning of the season.  Tell him I said hello."  Ah, isn't it nice to be the go-between at such poignant reunions?  Face to face?  Over-rated to that generation.  Punch me out a text message and let's move on.  Hey, the guy did a great job with the dogs.  He inspired great confidence in his medical prowess.  I just don't know how I would have felt if he walked in as my neck surgeon.   Psalms 31:14-15 says, "But I trust in you, O Lord; I say, 'You are my God.'  15 My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies and from those who pursue me."   Father, thanks for putting the right people in the right places so that it's possible for us to practice trusting you by trusting them.  Amen.