If I spent half the time posting as I do reading. . .

I'd blog a WHOLE lot more.

I've been sick. The kids have been sick. We were supposed to go to North Carolina this week, but Trea managed to catch the flu (and distinguish herself as the first patient the doctor had seen, who managed to get the A strain of influenza despite receiving a flu vaccine). We cancelled the trip, and I'm relieved because they would have been miserable. Might as well be miserable at home.

Work has been crazy, not because of the actual work, but because our office is apparently cursed. My boss and one of my co-workers have both been diagnosed with serious medical conditions - one curable, the other chronic but treatable. I'm afraid I'm going to develop a brain tumor, or get pregnant or something. (I think I'd rather have the brain tumor, frankly; being pregnant with Adia was the most miserable experience of my life. The tumor can be cut out, usually, and no one expects me to be happy about having it.)

Sorry, I'm in a bad mood. I shouldn't post when I'm in a bad mood. Writing the above is a guaranteed to result in my being pregnant and feeling guilty about what I wrote. Watch and see.

Ok, good news . . . well, I've gotten good news from family members but it's theirs to announce, not mine.

Ah, I know! Silvia. Silvia is the student I posted about a few months ago, whose husband had been deported. She has been desperately holding her family together, providing childcare to five small children to pay the bills, caring for her two school-aged children, and coming to class twice a week. She downloaded all the questions on to MP3 player, and listened to it every chance she got. She carried flashcards around with her. She basically lived and breathed the test 24/7.

On Feb. 20, she took her citizenship test - wearing a locket engraved with her husband's name and their wedding date - and she PASSED!

I got to go with her, and watch, and she didn't miss a question. She totally rocked it. She had studied SO incredibly hard. I was so proud of her. I didn't dare even congratulate her in the test, because the examiner had made me swear to be quiet, but once we left the test she gave me a huge, long hug. She was shaking, she'd been so nervous. It's incredibly good news for her family though - now she can apply to sponsor her husband. She can get her family back in one piece. Her sons were so thrilled and proud of her - they made her promise to come to school and tell them. She walked into the classroom, and her son shot her the "Well?" look; she nodded, and he went said "Really?" "Yes."

"TEACHER! TEACHER! My mama passed her test! She is a citizen!"

Yes, she is. And she totally earned it.

So, one more thing, to end on a funny note. Trea was watching Star Wars III with John the other day. As John has noted, watching dramatic movies with a four-year-old instantly transforms them into comedies. Unintentional humor, to be sure, but humor nonetheless. So, they're watching a light saber battle, and Trea says, "I need one of those, so I can fight the bad guys."

Um, ok.

Then, she's watching Jedi knights, and observes to John, "I think it's Halloween there."

Finally, during the last scene of the movie, when the Jedis are dropping off Luke Skywalker with his aunt and uncle in the desert, she gets all excited and tells John, "Look, she's pretending to be Mary and he's pretending to be Joseph!"

They do look a lot like a nativity scene, you know.