A Car of His Own

We finally found a car for Lane. He despaired of us ever finding one as it was taking sooooo long. Seems that I always found something wrong with every one we saw an ad for or that we went to see. But in early October, we went and looked at a car, drove it and decided it was the one. It's a 1999 Ford Taurus with only 72,000 original miles on it. Lane paid for it with his own money e had earned and was quite proud of that.

After the purchase was made, we took the car to our mechanic so they could look it over. When I went to pick it up, the guy said, "I know I'm being nosy, but can you tell me what you paid for this car?" When we told him, he said, "You got a really good deal. This is a great car." He said it needs an alignment at some point, but had nothing else wrong with it at all.

However, the key word there was "had." Lane didn't drive the car to school the first week he had it as we spent that week transferring the title and obtaining insurance. (Beware all ye out there with sons who will someday become teenagers as ye car insurance premiums will surely double)

So the following week, Monday morning arrives and Mr. Independent is ready to drive to school. And he does, but because he is independent and has his own wheels, he stops at Sonic first. And in backing out of his parking spot to leave, hits a metal railing on the other side of the drive. The car that had nothing wrong with it -- now does. He had condensation on his rear window and couldn't see out of it. He wiped it off, but it kept coming back and he didn't think about the defroster. But hey, if you can't see out of your rear window, just back out anyway and hope for the best!

Before:

After:

It really doesn't look all that bad and he's learned something from it. He wants to have it repaired, so we'll have to get an estimate for it and see how many pennies he'll have to save for that. Though none of us are really worried about that because on any given day, we all know Lane has much more available cash than his parents!

Going to the River and What's Up

Maren and Reed at the Frio River

Cousins at the Frio River

Oh my gosh! Yes, we are still alive. June was very busy and now here we are into July already. I taught at the Museum and we went on our youth mission trip. Whew! Busy times.

July 4th saw us dividing and conquering. Now that Taco Boy is a working man, Lorna stayed home and Maren, Reed and I went to our annual family gathering at the Frio River. This was our 29th year of gathering on July 4th weekend in Concan, Texas. We began going each year when I was 13 years old. Now years later, there are 18 of us that gather for fajitas and fun. While tubing was AWESOME last year, the water this year was very low so we didn't even try to tube. Instead, we found a great spot to swim, sit in the water, talk, watch kids and swing off a tree and ride a tube repeatedly down one fast moving section. Reed won tuber of the year as his little six year-old legs walked up the rocky river bottom as he carried a innertube quite bigger than him up river and then rode down. He did this like a 100 times in one day, no joke! A GREAT time was had by all!

Now, we are back to teaching this week at the Museum, while Reed take a drawing class in the morning and a ceramics class in the afternoon. Maren is volunteering at The Art School and Lane has started taking a dual credit course at our local community college. What a guy! All in all, I hope July slows down a bit.

Mission Trip

Three of our number (Tim, Lane and Maren) leave in the morning at 6 am for Berryville, Arkansas on our youth mission trip. We will spend the next week with 50 other youth and adults working on homes in and around Berryville. Our youth will be blogging about the experience each day at our church blog. Check us out here.

All's Well That Ends Well

Our boy is a working man. He started training tonight at Taco Bell. He was soooo excited to begin --- wait 'til he gets his first paycheck!

He worked out the mission trip and family camping trip with his manager. So he gets the best of both worlds. He was also originally scheduled to work this Saturday morning when he is supposed to be taking a placement test at our local community college in preparation for a dual-credit course he'll take later this summer. His manager rescheduled him for later on Saturday and told Lane she "was all about family and college and all that." She had no problem letting him off for 12 days in a row in June. She just said he needed to absorb as much as he could so he would remember it all when he came back.

On another note, who knew there was so much involved in working at Taco Bell?? Lane brought home a "Portion Test" from Taco Bell. This booklet shows pictures of every menu item at Taco Bell, every ingredient in each item and the order the ingredients in which they are assembled. Lane must memorize all of this (eventually) in order to work the food prep line at Taco Bell. You've gotta admit -- those Taco Bell workers are fast! Usually, by the time you place your order and then fill your drink cup, your order is ready. So I guess he's gotta know what ingredients go in which burrito or whatever to be fast. They told him to memorize the tacos and burritos first since that's what they sell the most of. He's been working hard at it. I told him to memorize the Burrito Supreme since that's what I like most!

Lorna (Tim started this post, but didn't have much to say, so I wrote most of it)

Employed - You won't believe this....

So last we reported, our oldest was looking for a job. Now, we have new businesses going in left and right around us, but many do not hire 16 year olds. After putting in applications many places, we found our new Taco Bell around the corner was taking applications. I drove Lane down to the Cedar Park Taco Bell where he spent FOREVER inside. Come to find out when he got back in the vehicle, not only did he fill out an application, but the manager for the location close to our house interviewed him. Only thing was he forgot his license and social security card. Fast forward to the next day, we go AGAIN to the the Cedar Park Taco Bell to give copies of said license and social security card. Again, he was in there FOREVER. When he came out, I find out he had to do paperwork over again. All sounds good. They sound like they might hire him. The new location is literally within walking distance to our house --- this is good for a 16 year-old without wheels. There is a two-day waiting period, and they said they would call. Fast forward a couple of days and Lane is not letting grass grow under him, he calls. The manager is not in. Repeat this process several times with no connections. Now things are not really looking good.

Today, Lane calls again. Dude, you are on the schedule for Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday...... HELLO? When might have someone called and told the boy he was hired? We're not totally sure he is hired until tomorrow when his mom is going to have to call because the manager is only there during the school day.

Now we have a dilemma. The week that this new Taco Bell opens is also the SAME week we are all supposed to travel to Berryville, Arkansas on our church youth mission trip to work on houses for those in need. Do you think the new job will be thrilled for Lane to be gone opening week after training him to be there specifically for that week and beyond? The boy wants a job, but as parents, we are having a hard time thinking about him missing an opportunity to serve others in Christ with his peers. He wants to go on the mission trip, but he has had such a hard time finding a job, he is reluctant to pass this opportunity by. Growing up is hard. What would you do?

Job Hunting

Lane is sixteen. Lane wants wheels of his own. Lane is looking for a job. Many businesses no longer hire sixteen year-olds anymore as we are finding out. He has been working fairly hard at the job hunt for weeks now with just a few interviews. Poor guy, he just wants a job so he can get some money and a car. Good kid, eager to learn, sixteen years old. Anybody hiring?

Be Afraid --- Be Very Afraid

Don't let the smile fool you. This is a SCARY person. Be afraid. Lane got his ACTUAL driver's license yesterday afternoon. He can now drive ALONE in a real car on real roads with lots of other real people. This is your warning ----if you drive in our area, watch out. While he has had driving school, driving time and lots of instruction, he is a 16-year old boy after all! Be afraid, be VERY afraid. I am afraid and it only partially involves the increase in my car insurance. Pray for us and don't let the smile fool you.

Sweet 16

OK, so Lane really at times might not be considered "sweet," but he turned 16 yesterday. Because it was our usual maddening school / work day, we celebrated last night at our local Dave and Buster's. This was Lane's choice for a party. Because he is working on the driving thing ---- and I do mean WORKING on it, we gave him a choice on two of the following things:

• Party at someplace like Schlitterbahn, Fiesta Texas etc... that cost Mom & Dad mucho dinero.
• A physical present (his list here was quite lengthy) or
• a significant amount of money for a car.

He chose the presents and the car money. Soooo we took the guy and his friend Michael out to eat at D&B's and then played video games in their game room. A fun time was had by all, even Maren who did not do so well at the Dance, Dance, Revolution type game.

We came home for cake and presents. Lane got a new MP3, a cordless PS2 controller from his grandparents and a "significant amount of car money." Michael slept over and pancakes were had by all this morning. Now if you will excuse me, I have a new wealthy relative in the house....... he just LOVES me.

First Day!

Everybody had a great day at school! After taking the requisite first-day pictures of everyone (even Maren's best friend!), I walked Reed down the street to school. We unpacked his new Diego backpack, had a hug and a kiss and I was off. I then saw Maren off with her friend and Lane had already walked to the bus stop while I was with Reed.

This afternoon, I picked Reed up and he reported that it was a good day. He did say that "kindergarten took forever." They talked about teddy bears (the theme of the week), ate lunch, had snack, had a rest time and went to P.E. in the gym. He says he knows where his room is and can go there tomorrow all by himself. Allright, Reed!

Maren says she likes all of her teachers. She has a teacher that Lane had in 6th grade even though it's a different middle school AND a different subject. Maren's in Athletics this year and found out today that she has to be at school at 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning for volleyball tryouts. She and her friend went to the park to work on their volleyball skills this evening. Good luck, Maren!

Lane only had four of his classes today and will have the other four tomorrow. He, too, likes all his teachers. He had study lab today, as well as English II, Ceramics and Biology.

Tim also reports that he had a good first day! No problems anywhere, so I guess he'll go back tomorrow, too.

I took the day off to ferry people to and from school and listen to all the reporting. Oh, and scale the mountain of laundry. Alas, it's back to work tomorrow.