This week

Conjunctivitis. None of the children had it. Why did it happen to me? I’m a grownup!

Money. I'm feeling marginally better about the need for $72,000 to be raised by February to keep us here next year.

I decided that everything is uncertain, even when you don’t know it’s uncertain. Heck, I could die tomorrow. ("Morbid," says my husband. "As usual, you're thinking about death.")

Equally, everything is certain because God is in control. So there’s really no point worrying and I can’t do anything about it anyway, except send 160 Christmas cards out to everyone in the parish with a family photograph, just so they won’t forget who we are*.

Superhero. Apparently I am one because I jumped fully clothed into the pool yesterday to save the baby who had launched himself out from the step and was sinking down into the bottom, completely out of his depth.

Actually, it was a calculated move. I had already looked at the scenario of three little kids playing on the pool steps, thought about the possibility of any of them dying (Morbid? Or practical!) and decided that I would be prepared to get my white linen pants wet for the sake of a still-breathing child.

Metal detector. I used one for the first time on Saturday, in our garden, to look for the car key which the two year old mislaid. He loves keys and Must Have Them. Silly me let him play with them. They are not in the garden, so they must be inside... but where? Now, without a key to one of our cars, I am actively pursuing other ways to start it. Anyone know how to hotwire a '94 Saab 900i?

*I had already started doing the cards anyway before we were told about the financial situation. My intentions were completely honourable and relationship-oriented.