Tuesday, August 26, 2025
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Separate but equal
We are gentle among you,
as a nursing mother cares for her children.
With such affection for you, we are determined to share with you
not only the good news of God, but our very selves as well,
so dearly beloved have you become to us.
Last year we spent Fridays with Miles and Jasper, and our list of activities ranged from train trips to IMAX documentaries to petting sharks at the Austin Aquarium. This year we’re hoping to spend Thursdays with Jasper and Fridays with Miles, so their homework regimen will be more manageable for their brother Finn’s mom (our daughter Andi).
At Austin Classical School the boys attend class on Monday and Wednesday and are given assignments to complete at home on Tuesday and Thursday (or Friday). Andi teaches art  at ACS on Monday and Wednesday, after dropping off Finn at a nearby neighborhood daycare.
Doctor and chiropractor appointments are mixed into the schedule nearly every week. Aki works at the job he’s had since 2008,when he graduated from the University of Illinois, on a flexible schedule which allows him to help with all of the child management whenever he’s needed.
The Tomita family finds ways to get help and include both sets of grandparents. On Monday and Wednesday each week, Ken and Machiko (Aki’s parents) prepare, serve and clean up dinner, often Japanese dishes, always appreciated. Then on Thursday and Friday Margaret and I pick up one of the boys and we spend the day together, cuddling with Finn when we pick them up and when we drop them off.
Jasper plays in the pool and Miles is learning the art of golf. Last week we went to Topgolf and played the Angry Birds golf game, hitting balls into the rickety house the game has made famous, then watching it topple as we racked up thousands of points with each stroke. When the heat fades I hope we can visit the Joe Balander Short Course, four short par 3 holes, driving range and putting green. Sometimes this fall we might get into a golf cart and roll around 9 holes at a regular golf course.
This week I think we’ll take Jasper to the Inner Space Caverns, a cave a few miles north of Austin, and then brunch at the Monument Café. The Café is in Georgetown, location of the nearest Aldi. In Illinois Aldi stores are in every corner of Champaign-Urbana, but not yet in Austin.
I have a friend who might give us boat rides on the Colorado River. Both of the boys loved playing miniature golf last spring. New IMAX documentaries at the Texas State Historical Museum, where we are members, include shows about the Blue Angels, dinosaurs, and caring for injured animals. Other short films about Texas history are shown on a triple screen where the seats get sprayed and rumble underneath us. We’ve seen them all, but we can watch them again.
Where else would we like to go? What else would we like to do? We could take an Amtrak train ride, visit the LBJ Presidential Museum, the Austin Zoo, Mayfield Peacock Park and Pease Park, the Big Top Candy Shop, exotic pet stores, the main downtown and local libraries, Austin Cathedral, a ride on the Austin Ducks made for tourists and perfect for kids, the State Capitol Building, glass bottomed boats in San Marcos, military museums and catfish restaurants here and there.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
   you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
   you are familiar with all my ways.
For the boys our days together are opportunities to spread their wings a bit, do things and go places that open up their minds and exercises their bodies. For us, week after week, day after day we have time to be with them. In The Road Less Traveled Scott Peck talks about how much plain, simple time together makes a child know they are valued, regardless of what we do with that time. We love these guys. God loves all of us. Time is on our side.
 (1 Thessalonians 2, Psalm 139, Hebrews 4, Matthew 23)
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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