Friday, January 20, 2017

2017 Week 3 in Review

This week has been quite a week for us in comparison to the quiet life we normally lead.

Monday night we had a Boy Scout meeting. My husband is Scoutmaster and I am an Assistant Scoutmaster. There is an issue going on in our troop right now that we are working through -- regarding something that happened on a recent camping trip. It's not an easy issue to work through, and I certainly won't go into it here, but it's taking up a lot of my husband's time and is leaving us drained. My son is not involved -- wasn't on that trip. He stayed home Monday to do some work on his Eagle Scout Project Proposal.


Wednesday my son was scheduled to take his Driver's License test, but there were all these things we needed to take with us for the test -- papers I had lost track of when I cleaned up for Christmas. So Tuesday I tore through boxes and storage folders and bags of papers looking for the New Driver's Logbook, the Driver's Handbook and the two pink pieces of paper given to my son that certified he had taken the driver's ed course and done the six hours of driving with the course. Then once I had found those I had to go through calendars and lesson planners to transfer records of hours driven to the logbook, because the notes had not been written in the logbook as the driving was done. Then there was a form to print out to certify that we have him insured. Finally got it done.


Wednesday we drove to Frederick, Maryland (not the closest Motor Vehicle Administration to us) because we had heard bad things about going to our local MVA for the driving test. We left at 11:00 a.m. for a 2:00 appointment. I figured we'd eat when we got there, but my son ate breakfast late and had no appetite for lunch. We were at the MVA and my son was practicing some driving and parking, but I realized we had only a quarter of a tank of gas, and the MVA specified to make sure the car had half a tank, so we left and got gas.


We reported in at 1:45 for the 2:00 appointment, turned in the paperwork, and then we had to wait. And wait. And wait. At a little before 3:00 hubby was texting me to ask how the test went, but we were still waiting. We had been sent to the car and were in a queue behind the building, but we were still waiting. Finally my son's turn. I got kicked out of the car by a nice instructor (I guess you'd call her) and I went inside to wait.


My son was nervous, but he passed first time and is now a licensed driver! :) 

He is still a little nervous to drive in certain settings, but is willingly tackling small driving tasks. When we got home from the driver's test I let him "solo" driving around the neighborhood. Next day he wanted a haircut and decided to drive himself. Then that night he drove to the store (1 mile) to get a few things.

Wednesday we got a call from an old friend we knew from Denver, Colorado 25 years ago (he now lives in West Virginia). 



He wanted to go to the Inauguration and wondered if he could stay at our house for a couple of nights. We said, "Sure!" He arrived Thursday and went downtown to enjoy some of the pre-inaugural events Thursday. That night the Scoutmaster visited a Cub Scout pack while the young man attended a CAP meeting. The dad met the cadet for the meeting when he was done at Cub Scouts.

Now on Monday my 17 year old son had said to me, "Can we go to the Inauguration?" It wasn't an unreasonable request -- we're really close! But I had no intention of going, so I said, "No." But now our friend was coming and was planning to go. So I asked Don if he would consider taking our son with him, and he did! So my son got to go to the Inauguration! They got up at "0-dark-something" and drove to the local Metro stop, parked there and took the Subway down to DC for the day. My son had a good time, and I was so glad he got to go!


My son, who has a certain amount of anxiety hanging in groups of people he knows, has no anxiety meeting and talking with strangers. Don commented how my son was very sociable and a very pleasant person to make the trip with. I joked with him about "Unsocialized Homeschoolers"!

Friday night mom and dad had a small group meeting ("Care Group"). Saturday will probably be menu planning, grocery shopping, and a movie in the evening. Next week the lad's classes start up at the local community college. I NEED him to take that Accuplacer test, but it hasn't happened, and he needs to get serious about his Eagle project.


How was your week?

7 comments :

  1. I had a good week, normally I write about my week as it goes but this week has been busy in a good way. :)

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  2. Wow, how exciting!!! Both getting his driver's license and getting to go to the inauguration! Congratulations to your new driver!!

    One of my boys did his drivers test at Frederick too, because we'd heard it was "better" than our county's MVA for that. OUr wait times for anything at the Frederick MVA have generally been better. I guess because it's bigger?

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    1. Frederick's MVA is smaller than Gaithersburg's MVA, but Gaithersburg's is SO crowded all the time it is unreal. And I had heard that the tester's flunk people on the driving test more frequently in GBurg. Since I felt like my son was ready, I preferred he be passed so we didn't have to go through that nerve-wracking (for him) experience more than once.

      And the inauguration... When he asked to go, I SO wanted him to be able to go, but I SO wasn't willing to go myself... I love it when God orchestrates the details like that.

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  3. Wow that is a huge week. I've pretty much spent mine purging clutter and prepping for our new school year to begin.

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    1. Yeah, purging clutter is on my regular schedule, too. I didn't even mention it in my post, but I could have. I had five small bags ready for pickup Wednesday, but the people never came. So Thursday, knowing company was coming and not wanting to bring the stuff back into my house, I piled it all in my car and drove it to the Salvation Army drop off spot near my house.

      Do you do your schoolyear by the calendar year? Are you "Down Under"?

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  4. Well, sounds like a lot going on. Glad your son finally got the drivers' test taken. Congrats to him! And what a chance - seeing the Inauguration! - Lori

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