Updates

Hannah's doing a bit better. Thank you to all who prayed for her! Her kidney has started doing more of what it's supposed to, and the preliminary bone marrow results are negative for leukemia (rah!). It's been a rollercoaster. Hopefully the ride will be over soon, and they'll know exactly what's wrong, and she can go home.

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Dancer and Snuggler have survived their first-ever midterm exams. What a bear! Dancer had only one two-hour test a day, and she could leave after the exam was done. Snuggler's schedule was more condensed, with a 90-minute exam followed by a 45-minute study hall, lunch, another 90-minute exam, and then regular classes. I'm glad all that is over! I've been working with Snuggler on how to handle test anxiety, which is one of her personal plagues.

One of my major sanity-gripping techniques in times of stress is to remind myself (frequently) of how long a the particular stress will last. Stress from midterms is a one-week problem. It is not endless, no matter how it feels. Very few things in life are endless.

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I've been going through a bad spell lately, exhausted by a series of intractable difficulties. I was feeling down the other day, and then while re-reading parts of Carol Dweck's Mindset, laughed to find that she says people fall into two categories: those who plunge ahead and keep doing what they need to do when they're feeling down, and those who give up. I am solidly in the first category. Which may be why I'm so worn out. But it's also why I'm a survivor.