Recovering from Saturday

In chronological order, not order of significance ...

• Cooper played soccer early Saturday morning again this week. Another "loss" (this league doesn't keep score until age 8, but you can bet those players always know the score) but the boys still had fun -- especially snack time! It wasn't too cold, but the winds were starting to pick up.
• Those winds were stronger by noon, when we all went to T-ball practice. Katie and I spent most of the hour squinting to keep the blowing dirt out of our eyes while Steve and Cooper practiced with the rest of the Astros.
• The sky was an eerie brownish reddish peachy color (ah, memories of Lubbock) on our drive to and from Mesquite to visit with some rescue Scotties. We feel in love with Katie Margaret, a one-and-a-half-old Scottie with lots of energy, a love of belly rubs and chin scratches, and apparent patience with children. We're not getting our hopes up, though -- the director tells us he doubts his board will approve placement in a home with small children, despite our previous experience. (And if we are lucky enough to adopt Katie Margaret, we may have to have a nickname for her. Meg? Maggie? Two Katies might be confusing. When we adopted Mac in 1996, I was working with Mack Harrison, who I then started calling Mack the Reporter to avoid confusion.)
• Then Steve and I went to an ER so he could get checked out for the sudden droopiness and numbness on the right side of his face.
  He's developed Bell's Palsy, we learned, possibly from an upper respiratory infection (could be flu?). He's being treated for both now and is somewhat uncomfortable. (He can't chew or taste well on the right side of his mouth, can't blink his right eye, can't squint in the sunshine, etc. Actually, the right side of his face sort of resembles Dick Cheney in that his eye doesn't blink. Thankfully Steve's kept his good sense of humor!) It could last about six weeks, though in rare cases (2-3%), patients never lose the effects of Bell's Palsy.
  Extra big thanks to Layne & Liz for scooping up the kids for us and to Betty for keeping us company.

Oh, and the Wilberforce story ran, on the same page as my weekly features -- Religion A to Z and Website of the Week.