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Tuesday, November 16, 2004

On Sunday afternoon, our minister called to tell us to expect a call from someone in the local peace movement.

Apparently a journalist who writes for the Wall Street Journal is working on a piece which deals with what he calls "parallel worlds" - I think meaning the disjunction between the way that right-wing evangelicals see the world and the way that more left-wing not-necessarily-Christian people see the world.

The journalist had asked the peace movement person to contact a bunch of families who are raising their families with strong ideals and values and morals - but who are most definitely not evangelical Christians. So the peace movement person had contacted our minister (she's certainly one of the first names that spring to mind when you're trying to find social activist types here) and our minister suggested us. The journalist particularly wants to talk to families with teen and pre-teen kids, apparently. And he'll be interviewing a bunch of evangelicals as well (though not at the same time). I am a bit dubious about the whole idea but the kids are keen and I guess it will be an interesting experience if nothing else, so we are all going to meet with the journalist tomorrow night.

Meanwhile, I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all the other stuff I need to keep track of at the moment.

Wednesday night we have people coming round for dinner. (Thanks Bobby). Climbing Thursday night. Nothing Friday night thank goodness. Book group here Saturday night. I'm supposed to have read the second book in War and Peace by then. Yeah right. I did get quite into it last month - the moment where a character is in a battle, and he can't believe that someone is trying to kill him - "I, of whom everyone is so fond!" Loved that. But I have five nights to read 300-odd pages and four out of the five are busy. Spaghetti dinner at church on Sunday night - have to go, it's a planning meeting for the Coming of Age kids - Stephen's age group. And of course the days are filled with homeschool stuff. We have homeschool events every single day this week, plus Brownies. Makes me laugh (tiredly) when people say that homeschooled kids will be bored stuck at home all day.

In amongst that lot I somehow need to find time to buy a bed, buy Stephen a decent warm jacket (he's outgrown his old one), contact someone about our lawn which is looking very weedy and needs professional help, and get all our stuff together for our camping trip. We leave Wednesday evening. Get home late Sunday night, and my inlaws arrive four days later.

I also urgently need to chase up the endocrinologist. I desperately want him to prescribe those individual injections that don't need refrigeration so that we can have a stress-free camping experience, but the nurses are not returning my calls. If all else fails I will go downtown on Wednesday and just march in there and demand to speak to someone.

And, as usual, I am currently wrestling with our insurance. I really need them to get their act together asap and pay up so that I can buy the odd Christmas present.

Now that it's written down it seems a bit less daunting, but I'm having a hard time keeping track of it all, somehow. I think my constant anxiety and worry about my mom make it hard for me to think clearly. She started the radiation treatment on Thursday and she sounds very low at the moment. She'll be finished that just before Christmas, and then she has to wait three months for a check-up, at which stage they'll know how things look. Incredibly stressful.

This has been a gruelling six months.

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