Train Up a Child in the Way He Shall Go: Home page?

I think I need to make this blog my home page, to remind me to write in it. I chronicle a lot of what we do on Facebook, but that isn't very accessible months or years down the line (ever tried searching for an old status? It's next to impossible because FB only shows you 'selected' stuff when you look back through your timeline). I've decided to have a break from Facebook for a while. I really dislike the dynamics there. It highlights things that wouldn't be highlighted in real life - like if you grow apart from a friend in real life, they just don't see you much anymore... on Facebook, they might delete or block you, and you might constantly be seeing him or her writing on a mutual friend's wall, always bringing it home to you that you are no longer close. I think it's a very artificial environment, and our social norms don't always seem to apply. People say things that they wouldn't in real life. That's always been the case online, but on Facebook we no longer have the excuse of anonymity. It's just that people are more brazen and less thoughtful when they're sitting behind a keyboard. It is what it is, I suppose. But I need to break from it, revive my efforts in real life friendships and relationships where people actually care about me!

So I will sum up our past week, for family and friends who are interested. (One of the things about having a family split across continents, is that someone somewhere is always missing out on your 'news'.)

Monday: A visit to the optician in the morning. He was 'bored' by us apparently, because we're all seeing so well! :) Cora had eye surgery to correct a bad squint when she was 3 or 4. He said she is unusual because not only is her vision in both eyes almost perfect (usually with a squint it causes one eye to be worse than the other), her eyes work perfectly in sync. Essentially, the surgeon did a fantastic job. I was very pleased to hear that! You'd never know now that she had such a squint when she was young.

You can really see the squint here if you look closely!

After that, I headed to visit my Dad in hospital. He had been admitted the night before and had sepsis again. I spent the night in Dundee so I could visit again the next day, and he was in High Dependency both days but seemed relatively okay, despite being so unwell. He's improving now, thank God.

Friday: All 3 kids got haircuts. Maia got her beautiful long blond hair cut! She's wanted it cut for well over a year. I was always reluctant, mainly because she's the baby! Cora had her hair cut by that age so I felt a bit hypocritical. She loves it!