Happy All Hallow's Eve!!!!!

Did you ever stop to wonder, How did this all get started? Well, here is a quicky for you:

The Celts of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany used to celebrate New Year's on November 1st and believed that the night before the dead returned to walk among the living. Being very superstitious, they would carve scary faces in turnips, light bonfires and wear masks that night before to scare away the dead. The practice was called, in Gaelic, Samhain. When they came to America, the Irish later discovered that pumpkins were a much better substitute for carving faces, thus our tradition today.

The Catholic Church, under Pope Gregory, moved All Saint's Day (also known as All Hallow's, or Holy, Day) to November 1st and this turned Samhain into All Hallow's Eve, now known as Halloween! All Saint's Day, and the day after which is All Soul's Day, are days to remember those in our lives who are no longer with us. Pray for them and there soul's that they have attained their heavenly reward.

And you all thought you were doing something so Pagan! : )

So, we're ready! Be still my Irish Celtic Heart!!!

Aidan loved posing last night. . .

Not so much this morning!!! A little stiff, wouldn't you say??

So our prayers will go up for a dear family friend, Joseph Young, who, through his incredible generosity, made it possible for us to complete the adoption of Aidan Josef Harrison! Thanks be to God for Joe!

Have fun tonight and remember to wear your mask to disguise yourself from those who have departed and now return to walk among us! Happy Halloween!

Baby it's cold outside!!!!

We've been dropping into the 30's at night and only getting into the 40's during the day. . .and we have had some wind! We even heard the dreaded word- - -"wind chill" last night on the news. Winter coats came out and I had to go in search of the hats, gloves, etc., which hadn't seen the light of day since we were in Krasnoyarsk--soooooo loooonnnnggg ago! This weather is just for a few days, but it comes as a reminder that winter isn't too far off! We can have snow here before Thanksgiving--not unheard of!

Here is a sneak peak of Aidan in his costume for Halloween. It needs a couple of small tweaks, and he doesn't have his face done up, but you can see how it will look! Isn't he the most precious little cutie pie ever????

Today he is doing so much better. I can definitely say we are on the mend and getting back to normal. Thanks be to God! And Thanks be to you all for your prayers, great comments and understanding.

Rough Weekend behind. . .Good Week Ahead

Pat and I have been home since Friday with Aidan. He had that surgery. Not very fun for an active two year old little boy! Or for Mom and Dad.

Friday, after the surgery, he seemed to be doing so well! However, he was still under he affects of the local and of the anethesia. Still, nothing seemed more than we could handle. He had a 4 1/2 hour nap that afternoon and then slept 11 1/2 hours that night. Great! Until we got up and had to change his diaper. . .He cried, cringed, and pulled his knees up and told me not to touch it! I started crying and Pat had to help me get Aidan calmed down enough to put the new diaper on. Man, that was bad.

But, he got so much better throughout the day that I thought we were going to get off easy and had already seen the worst of it. Not so much. The same scene played out Sunday morning and for more than the just the first diaper, too!

But, again, he was so much better by that evening, I was questioning whether or not he had really been so bad in the morning. We had our first bath, post surgery on Sunday evening and the bandages literally fell off. We put the diaper back on and seemed good. Then we got up this morning and he literally began to cry before the diaper was all the way off. He was so raw! Pat and I looked at eachother and confessed we were worried we had made a mistake. Of course, everyone has been wonderful, telling us we hadn't. . .and that a few years from now, when it will really make a difference in Aidan's life . . .we'll all be glad of this. Okay. If you say so! : )

I spoke with the doctors office, the surgical center and referred to notes from my dear blogger nurse friend Joy and all seems to be progressing as normal. Aidan is healing. We just need to be patient and not expect it to be overnight! We're doing vaseline in the diaper with neosporin on top of that (we don't touch him directly this way and he is happier) and it really does look better tonight than this morning. And Aidan even says "Better. . .it better, Mama!" My poor baby, Aidan!

But, Friday is Halloween! The costume is ready, tomorrow night ABC has "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" on and then we'll carve the pumpkins on Wednesday. . .It will be fun for us all!

Happy Halloween!

A Walk to the Park

So, I left work an hour early yesterday, at 3:30. It took me 45 minutes to get home. . .yes, I know a lot of folks make that kind of drive, or worse!, on a regular basis. But, if I don’t have to pick up the kiddo from Day Care, and I didn’t, it should only take me 10 minutes. The traffic was so backed up on King Street and down Rt. 15, all up the Greenway, and even down Rt. 7 and Market Street. It was an amazing sight to see all of these folks heading to the same place.
When I got to my neighborhood, the streets, all of them, were lined on both sides with cars and streams of people walking toward the park. The closer I got to home, the more intense traffic, vehicular and pedestrian alike! When I did get home, I was able to pull into my driveway and got out to see that the park was already full of vehicles (thus the lining of the roads) and there were sooooo many people over there! Several of our neighbors were outside and it quickly became a party-like atmosphere. One neighbor noted to me that people began showing up at 10:00 in the morning and the park had opened at 1:00 instead of the expected 3:00 and that it was full by 2:00! Amazing. . .

After getting inside and putting a lasagna into the oven, we ultimately decided to hang at our neighbors who looks out over the park. We could just barely make out where the stage was from their deck (it was clearly visible from my driveway in the morning, but not with all of the cars and people!) and could see the lines and lines of folks waiting to get up close after going through security.

About 5:00, Mark Warner, former Virginia Governor and now running for the Senate, began speaking. . .all about Change. . .and then Tim Kaine, our current Virginia Governor spoke. . .more about change. . .and then Senator Obama came on and spoke for 40 or 45 minutes. It was all over by 6:15.

During it all, we, our neighbors and us, began to talk about these candidates and what we think. I shared my theory that McCain may have changed his mind about running and thus the choice of Palin as a running mate. Seriously, had anyone, outside of Alaska, ever heard of her??? But, then there is the whole theory/speculation about Obama’s past. . .is he connected to ACORN??? What about Joe Biden, well we all kind of agreed that he was the only one among the group that seems somewhat normal. And finally, does anyone really think there will be change with either candidate? With today’s economy in the toilet, will we truly be better off in 4 years with either of these men?

And here’s a final thought that kind of sent a shiver up my spine: When talking about the inconvenience of having so much traffic in and around Leesburg, I had several folks say, with stars in their eyes, how much they admire Obama and what a “fan” they are of him and how envious they were of where I live. . .FAN????????????????????????????? Isn’t he running for President of the United States? Are people really fans of the President? It reminded me of the Kennedy’s back in the ‘60’s. . .Scary!

This morning the news indicated that the expected 10,000 folks ended up being closer to 35,000. Wow! I knew it was crowded. The park didn’t get fully cleared out until a little after 8:00.

And, the lasagna was good, by the way. When we went to the neighbors, we went back when the timer went off and turned the oven off. . .it stayed warm and delicious until we were ready!

Miscellaneous

My baby boy has his surgery on Friday. It's that surgery. It needs to be done, but I'm feeling a little (okay, maybe a lot) nervous about it. The doctor has assured me that all will be well and that Aidan will be feeling and acting close to normal by Monday. . .I'm worried about Friday afternoon and Saturday! My poor little baby! : (

Today I am getting off work an hour early and taking a half hour lunch today and tomorrow in order to make up for it. Why, you ask??? Well, let me tell you of the traffic nightmare that will descend upon Leesburg this afternoon!

First, let me explain that Northern Virginia has more that its share of traffic issues. We're only 35 miles, here in Leesburg, from Washington, D. C. so we have a lot of folks who live out this way who work down town. In order to get to D. C. from Leesburg, you have two options: You can take the Greenway, which will cost you About $3.00 each direction and then you get on the Toll Road, which is another .75 each way, and this will get you to Rt. 66 inside the Capital Beltway. Or you can take Rt. 7 (a highway that runs east-west), which is two lanes going each direction.

Leesburg lies at the crossroads of Rt. 7 and Rt. 15. Rt. 15 is a two lane road-one each direction-that runs north-south. Inside of Leesburg, Rt. 7 becomes Market Street and Rt. 15 becomes King Street. I live within the town limits one house off of King Street. Directly across the street is Ida Lee Park (She was a niece of Robert E. Lee, so the park will aaaaaaaaaaallllllwwwwwaaaays be there!). Our location is great because whenever there is a parade, it starts right across the street and we can technically watch it from our driveway-although we usually go down to the street to be with our community. OUr street is always blocked off during parades so that folks can't clog up our driveways by parking there. The police are very specific and good about sticking to this.

That advantage will become a decided disadvantage today. Why, you ask? Well, it seems one Senator Obama will be holding a rally at the park this afternoon. In fact, they will open the Park to the expected 10,000 or more folks about 3:00 this afternoon and the speach will start about 5:30. Did I mention that my house is one house away from King Street? And, did I mention that I can see Obama's stage from my driveway? I imagine I'll be able to hear his speach from my deck. . .if I can get home! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. . . .