I get by with a little help from my friends.

“Oh I get by with a little help from my friends,
Mm. I get by with a little help from my friendsMm, Gonna try with a little help from my friends”

That classic Beatles tune has rolled around my head all week and I do believe that jet-lag is contagious. I am just as tired as the two newest members of my family.

The Chaos and Insanity looked like it was just going to keep on hanging around. The A/C unit was fixed on the inside and then the outside component went up in smoke. There is nothing like the smell of burning wires in the hot evening to make you feel nice and cozy. Lynn the A/C magician did everything he could but that old outside unit just gave up the ghost. And you know what that means; a new unit had to installed. After a series of SNAFU’s and several phone calls to friends for help, Lynn did get the new unit up and cooling before we left for Columbus Saturday morning to move Ariel down to the W. Thank you Barbara Winter! The weather is fine in my house now!

Move-In Day at MUW was something else. There were people swarming every where. Ariel and her roomie Noelle arrived at the same time and that little room was just packed with parents and siblings and stuff. We were all moving around and putting the beds up on the highest level they could be so that the dressers could be put under the beds. The girls ended up making them into bunk beds that night. By the time we left the shower curtain was up and most of the stuff was stowed away.

We made a mad dash to the airport to wait for the arrival of Ping. Her flight was scheduled to arrive at 4:35 but my gut told me to get there early. We got there at 3:45 and were sitting in the observation area when at 5 minutes till 4 her flight swooped on in. Ping was not the only Asian on the flight but she was the one that was grinning from ear to ear as she bounced down the ramp.

We got her luggage loaded into the white whale and made a side trip to the Wal-Mart in Starkville to see if there were any familiar foods that we might find for them then we turned the van toward the north and headed to Bruce. Ping was full of questions the whole trip. She is very out going.

Sunday was a true day of rest for us all. After church, we just came home and got to know each other better. Monday morning, I took all three of my girls to school and we waited for Mrs. Brower to work on Ping’s schedule and made some changes in Ji Eun’s. I think this year with these two girls learning English and our customs and observing their customs, will be a learning experience for all. I am living in my own reality show here.

I did get a surprise when I found out that I have been called to jury duty this week. Of all the weeks to be called, this is not the one I needed. We are getting ready to upgrade the electronic medical record system at work and I am on the team responsible for training the staff. I want to do my civic duty but not this week.

As we are settling into a school routine and I try to create an evening meal that is appealing to all that sit at my table, this week should be interesting to say the least. I now have homework times 3 and it’s ESL around the dinner table. I have to get used to the Asian way of no one eats until Mama sits. I have a tendency to keep cleaning the kitchen and then I notice that no one is eating. So I have to go sit and pick up my fork and take a bite or the girls won’t eat.

Ariel and I talk on the computer and she tells me about her day, freshman traditions, get to know you mixers, oh and I twisted my ankle today but it’s no big deal, sort of conversations. I am just holding my breath and praying! I have already called my friends in Columbus and given them her phone number and she has theirs ‘in case of emergency’!

I can only hope that I really can “Get by with a little help from my friends!”