Mom for a Weekend

I went to Raleigh on Sunday to spend a couple days judging project records and cumulative records for 4-H. We were judging the whole state. May I say, "Wow! There are a lot of impressive kids in 4-H." The first book I judged was for the Healthy Lifestyles category. The 15-16 year old boy did a study of wild foods. He learned how to identify mushrooms and other wild fruits. He hunted and butchered. He even butchered and ate a roadkill iguana! Then he tanned the hide. His story to go with the project was so Appalachian. It was fun to judge his book. The cumulative records are a three year record to follow a particular study. I was judging the community service and citizenship books. These kids are especially helpful citizens. They have to keep records of how many service hours they complete. There were several kids in the thousands of hours!! These kids also visit civic sites and events. They place flags on graves, make cards for veterans, visit their representatives, act as a page in Congress. They attended campaign events, passed out flyers, registered voters. It made me feel better about the future. I went to judge so that I would have a better idea of what my own kids need to be doing for their record books. Boy do we have a lot to accomplish! It was a great experience and I think I will become a regular over the next several years. ------- My poor husband had to be me while I was gone. He was baptized by fire. I left Sunday morning at 7. On Saturday the boys started complaining about sore throats and not feeling well. By 8 pm they both went to bed saying they didn't feel well. That is VERY unusual for my kids. Then at 1:30, #2 got up vomiting and fevered. Hubby doesn't do vomit, so he was very apprehensive about my leaving. On top of that, Hubby is a preacher, so he had to be ready for work Sunday morning. On Monday I was still gone and the following was to occur: The electrician was coming back, the carpenters for the floor and the stairwell, the heating guy, the Habitat people to pick up donations. #1 had play practice to get to as well, and #2 was going to a friend's house. Of course none of that went without complications. When I spoke to Hubby he told me how everything went and said he was sorry, but the house wasn't as clean as he had hoped to have it. I just laughed. That's what I say every day! I asked the boys how Daddy did. They said he did great. At least the important parts went fine. I need to remind myself about that when I feel like I am failing.