Sensitivity Training Apparently Needed

Craig's insensitive joke of the night-"You know how Bambi's mom got shot by a hunter?  Now she's a trophy wife!"  I wish I had a video of him telling the joke.  That's what makes it so funny.  He reminds me of Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins

Craig's insentive joke at the dinner table;"What did the blind, deaf, mute baby get for Christmas?  Cancer."

Craig's new mantra-"I don't judge people; I stereotype them.  It's faster."

And Abby's not-really-racist-but-may-be-judge-as-such observation-"You don't see Blacks or Asians walking around with white babies they've adopted."

So just another night in the Chamberlain house.  It took several minutes to get scripture reading started due to random, off-topic comments and Abby and Craig laughed through the whole prayer.  Ellen prayed as if nothing was happening.  Tom told her it was obvious she had served a mission because she could pray through distractions.  Then she told us of a time when she was the distraction during the prayer at the end of a class at the MTC.  Let's just say the distraction was MTC-food related.  She managed to ignore it until her companion started snickering.  Everyone else heard the giggles, but no one else heard the distraction.

Trek report-Craig was really glad he went on trek, as he knew he would be once it was over.  Trek started on Tuesday and was supposed to last until 4 pm on Thursday, but there was a heat warning for Thursday.  The temps were going to be over 100 degrees and with the humidity the heat index was 105 or something like that.  They decided to end it at 10 am.  Several kids had fainted and one of the pas went to the hospital to get IV fluids.  His wife sprained both her ankles so that family was orphaned. 

Craig did great on trek.  He was in great spirits when we arrived.  He didn't give us a lot of details, but he did say that Tuesday morning was really hard because he still wasn't feeling that great.  He felt a lot better after lunch and had a great experience.  He looked like he had rolled in the mud.  Someone told me later that that was pretty close.  The other kid heard Craig had slid down a hill or something. 

Sunday all the trek kids in our ward spoke.  Craig said, "Going on trek is like friending your mom on facebook.  You know you should do it, but you don't want to."  I'm glad he did it.  I'm glad it went well and that he learned something.  I am especially glad that he learned again that the Lord keeps his promises.  He really struggled Monday night with the decision to go.  It's hard to have faith in the coming miracle when there isn't any sign of it, but it came and he conquered.

The day after trek we headed to Chicago to see the neurologist.  I was afraid Craig would be so worn out from trek that he'd fail all the tests.  Dr. Gomez is amazed that he is doing so well.  There seems to be very little progression in the disease with regards to his mobility and balance.  He should be in much worse shape as I am learning from the FA email group I belong to.  So that's good news. 

Ellen has a job with St. Vincent's Hospital in Indianapolis.  We went down last week to find an apartment and will be moving her stuff down on August 1.  She's coming right back to Fort Wayne because we are taking Abby to the temple and she wants to be there.  She went to Indy today for the pre-employment physical.  She had to take a drug-screen urine test.  They made her completely strip down and put on a hospital gown.  She was appauled.  "What's the point of making me take off my underwear?  I don't use drugs!"  This place is serious about preventing cheating.

She's very excited about the new job.  She'll work three 12-hour shifts per week and every third weekend.  Not too bad.  I excited because she's taking Cleo with her--our fat cat that barfs and sheds. It will be much easier to keep the house clean with her gone.