Tribute

About this time one year ago, I began a search on the Internet to try and get in touch with an old friend from college. We had been close the one year we were roommates, and had stayed in touch pretty well even when she moved out to Colorado. Most of our friendship was spent living at least two states away from one another. Jenn was there for me through all the major transitions in my life. She was a bridesmaid in my first wedding. She came to my daughter's dedication service. She was there for me when I went through my divorce. When my daughter was 18 months old, we flew out to Colorado to visit Jenn. When Jenn was married, I was able to be there. Then, when she and her husband moved to Austria, it became difficult to stay in touch. I had been emailing her, but my computer crashed and I lost her address. I searched the Internet and found her again, but not learning from the first time, still didn't write down her address. When my computer crashed a second time, and I lost her address again, I didn't do a very good job of getting in touch for a very long time. The last time I had emailed her, Jenn said that she was expecting. I remembered that she was due right around Christmas time. Thinking that her baby was already a year old, and I had not even been in touch with her to see if she had had a boy or a girl, I began my search for her once more. Jenn had always been computer savvy, so I was expecting to find a family blog or something along those lines. What I found instead was horrifying.

At first, I just found some church newsletters from a church in Austria. I remembered that Jenn's husband's father was a minister, but I just couldn't believe what the newsletters were saying. It was something about a tragedy in the family. Asking parishioners to pray for Dave (her husband) as he dealt with all the sorrow so shortly after the joy of the birth of their daughter, Lexi. As I read on, I found out that a mere 16 days after Lexi's birth, Jenn had passed away due to a sudden attack of Hodgkin's disease. I couldn't believe that this was true. I tried telling myself that this couldn't be my friend, Jenn. I continued to search for some more information; something that tell me I was mistaken. This was some other person named Jenn. It was just a coincidence. No such confirmation came. Instead, I found her obituary posted in a paper from her hometown in the States, complete with photograph. There was no mistaking that this was in fact, my old college roommate, my friend, Jenn.

So many emotions filled my heart and soul. I was in shock. I was angry. I was grieved. I felt guilt and shame for not even knowing that she was gone. Not only that, but it had not been one year since I had last talked to her, but two. I was only just finding out about her death, and she had been gone for two years. I had missed everything. Even though there was a memorial service for her in her hometown that I would have attended had I known, it was too late now. I had such tremendous guilt. If I had been a real friend, then I would've stayed in touch with Jenn even though she lived in Austria. I felt such huge sadness, and still do, but do I have a right to feel that way when it took me two years to realize that she had died?

A week or two afterwards I was finally able to cry. I cried and cried. I cried until it felt like there was nothing left, no more tears, no more strength. I asked God "Why?" It's so unfair. How could this happen? She had a 16-day-old baby. This was supposed to be one of the happiest times of her life. How could all of it just be taken away like this? How is her husband coping with losing his wife and needing to grieve, yet needing to keep going to care for his newborn? I still don't have the answers to these questions, and I suppose I won't get them until the day I get to heaven and get to see my friend once more, but I have gotten some healing.

You see, the obituary I found online has a guestbook link to it. It is still there all because of a wonderful, sweet friend of Jenn's. This friend has been anonymously maintaining the site all these years to help keep Jenn's memory alive. For a year, I have been going to that site, clicking on the guestbook, and beginning a message. For a year, I have deleted what I had written, and left the site to try it again another day. Another day finally came, and I was able to get a message posted. A few days later, I received an email from a friend of Jenn's from Austria. I emailed her back, and she was kind enough to keep up correspondence with me. She has answered so many of the questions I had surrounding what had happened. She sent me pictures of Lexi, and again, I cried and cried. She looks so much like her mommy! I found out that Jenn was able to enjoy her time with Lexi because she didn't know she was sick. I am so grateful for that. I am so thankful that Jenn had a friend who loved her so much & is helping to keep her memory alive for Lexi. She is compiling stories and pictures of Jenn to give to Lexi when she is older and wondering what her momma was like.

On Christmas Day, I received an email from Jenn's sister. I can't explain how much it meant to me. I was afraid Jenn's family would not like to see that I had left a message in her guestbook since I hadn't been in touch with her for so long. I will be eternally grateful to "Anonymous" for maintaining Jenn's site and allowing me to find healing there. Thank you, Julie, for your email. You'll never know how much it means to me!

As all of this has come to pass, I marvel at the grace of God. Even though I will never understand why, I know that God is Sovereign. I know His Love never fails. I know that He is with us. I know that Jenn is with Him. I wish that she could still be here with us. I wish she could be with Lexi, helping her grow, seeing each new thing she does and learns. Yet I know it was God's Grace that kept Lexi safe through Jenn's pregnancy. It was God's Grace that allowed Jenn to enjoy what little time she had with Lexi. It was God's Grace that made their first Christmas as a family of three a happy one. And it was God's Grace that allowed Jenn not to suffer.

Finally, it was by the Grace of God that I was able to learn some important lessons. Life is too short to lose touch with your friends. It is worth the effort. This past year I have gotten back in touch with some friends that I hadn't spoken to in quite a while. It's too easy to live life and get busy and not make the effort to be friends. It's good to remember that friendship is a reward worth the time. I also thank God that through all of this, I also made a new friend. Your emails have touched me deeply, Neva. God bless you!

Jenn,

It's been three years ago today you went to be with the Lord. We miss you so much! Our only comfort is that you are resting in the Saviour's everlasting arms. You are in heaven where there is no more suffering and no more tears. John 14:1-4 Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.

Revelation 21:3-4 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning, or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
Can't wait until we get to see you again, Jenn. We love you!

John Deere Tour

Husband was recently blessed with a new job welding on combines at John Deere. God has been SO good to us! He was actually trained to weld by John Deere! This is a HUGE deal because not only did it save us about $2500 on welding courses at a community college, but he was getting paid as he was learning. He is now a certified welder! This job has already been such a blessing to our family, and the benefits are just beginning!! We continue to praise God daily for this job!

On December first, we were able to tour the facility. This was a pretty big deal because there hasn't been a tour like this since the early 90's. It was so interesting to see combines in all stages of development. I couldn't do justice to it if I tried to explain it all, but I highly recommend touring a facility like this if you ever get the chance! It was mind-boggling! The only downer of the day was that we were having a pretty significant ice storm!! The hour drive wasn't much fun!! After we left, we had to buy a new scraper because as Husband was scraping the ice off the car when it was time to go, the scraper snapped in half!

This is a picture of a wall of windows inside the visitor's center. Along the bottom, you can see that the ice had accumulated on the glass. Theses huge sheets of ice slid down the length of these windows (about 3 stories) and it looked like an ice fountain. I wish I could've gotten a video of it. It was really spectacular!

Always thinking about fodder for the blog, I took this picture hoping to show the horrible weather conditions. You can't really see the freezing rain and ice falling from the sky, but this gives you an idea of how windy it was on top of everything else!

Despite the weather, we had a good time touring the plant!

Shopping Craziness

Husband and I thought it would be a good idea to get some shopping done the day after Thanksgiving. We were going to take advantage of eager-to-babysit grandparents, and enjoy the benefits of Minnesota's no tax on clothing, not to mention all the great day after Thanksgiving deals!!! Well, the outlet mall not to far from Husband's parents' house opened at 12:01 AM. Thinking it would be much easier to stay up and go shop than to get up at 3:30 AM, we ventured out at 11:15 PM and headed to the outlets. Little did we know we would literally shop till we dropped, and not return back home until 3:30 PM the next day. Yes, you're right, we shopped ALL NIGHT LONG AND A GOOD PORTION OF THE NEXT DAY!!!!!!!! Yes, you're right, we ARE certified CRAZY!!! We did get some good deals, but no, we didn't get all of our shopping done. We didn't end up going to bed until after 9:00 PM that night. We were up a record-setting 40 hours. I forgot to mention in the previous post that due to hazardous weather we weren't able to drive to MN Wednesday night. We had gotten up at 4:45 AM Thanksgiving day, and gotten on the road by 6:20 AM to arrive in time for Thanksgiving dinner! Believe it or not, we didn't even nap before our shopping extravaganza. I can't say that we'd do it again, but it was definitely a memory-making experience! Here we are past comatose. Lookin' good, huh?

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we headed up to MN to spend some time with Husband's family. It was SO MUCH fun! His entire family was able to get together, and there were 22 people at his parent's house. I have to admit, I did feel a bit overwhelmed, but it was a good kind of overwhelmed. :) A typical Thanksgiving on my side of the family consists of about half as many people. We had good food, great fellowship, and fun, fun, fun! Our nephew just turned one, and is such a little cutie! The Girl absolutely loves babies, and was in baby heaven since Husband's cousins were also there with their little guy who was one in Oct. We took advantage of having everyone in one place, and got some pictures of the three generations represented.

"The Originals"

"The Kids"

You can see by this picture that there were several "photographers." I don't think we were successful in getting everyone looking at the same camera at the same time! Ha Ha Ha!!!

"The Grandkids"

Playing Catch-Up

Since I have been absolutely HORRIBLE at updating lately, I thought I would go through month by month and give some highlights. I am a bit anal, and can't seem to move on to what's happening now without 'tying up loose ends' so to speak. Even though there are a few entries from September I think that's where I'll start with the updating. I don't typically make New Year's Resolutions because they are so hard to keep, then I just feel depressed that I didn't stick to them, but this year I think I'll make an exception and resolve to do a better job on my blog. :) OK, it's in writing now, so I'm a little more accountable, right?!


SEPTEMBER

Husband and I attended a Joyce Meyer conference in St. Paul, MN. It was WONDERFUL!! Husband made fun of me, calling me a Joyce Meyer groupie since I insisted on getting to each meeting at least an hour before the doors opened. It was well worth it, since we were able to get floor seats for each of the four sessions, and the farthest back we sat was 10 rows from the front!! The closest we sat was 5 rows from the front, and the first three rows are reserved. You see, the conference was free and there was no saving seats between sessions. If you ever get the chance to her, I HIGHLY recommend it. She is so practical and down to earth. She speaks in everyday language that's easy to understand. She's been through a lot of junk in her life, so she preaches about things that she's experienced herself. I just love her.

While we were in MN, we were able to squeeze in a little bit of time with family. On the way to St. Paul we stopped in to see Husband's aunt at her elementary school. It was fun for me to see her classroom, as we both teach first grade. We stayed with my cousin, who I haven't been able to spend much time with in recent years. We had a good time catching up, and enjoyed some of his "famous" french toast. We also went to Matt's on 35th and Cedar for a Juicy Lucy.....YUM!! If you ever get to the Minneapolis area, you've got to go have a Juicy Lucy! We were also able to have a short visit with husband's mom and dad. A little too short, but nice all the same. Mostly, husband and I were mostly able to have some much needed us time. In between sessions on Friday we walked around downtown St. Paul. It's a beautiful city and the weather was picture perfect.

OCTOBER
October was a busier month than it should have been! I teach in a school on a balanced calendar, which means that I start earlier and end later than traditional calendar schools, but I get a couple two-week breaks during the year. One of those breaks comes in October. Instead of taking both weeks off that were offered, I opted to teach an intersession class the first week. The pay was too good to pass up, but it sure did make break fly by! The weekend of the first week off, Husband and I went to visit some old friends at a church retreat a couple of hours from where we live. We saw some friends from when we were young and going to church camp! It was a lot of fun.
The second week of break I was off, but it seemed like every day was filled with things to do. Some were fun like going to Galena with my mom and celebrating my birthday with my family at my favorite restaurant. Others were not so fun like chiropractor appointments. Still others were things that we mom's just do like going to middle school basketball games to watch your daughter cheer. Before I knew it, October was gone and November had come.

Happy Birthday, Dad!!

It's my dad's birthday today. He doesn't like big To-Do's made over him, so we just went to visit after church today. It was nice. He's such a good guy and does so much for me, I wish we could do more for him. Happy Birthday, Dad!! Have a wonderful year!!

Politically Incorrect

We had a snow day earlier this week. When we returned to school the next day, I asked the kids what they did on their day off. One little girl told me that she played at her friend's house all day. When I asked if she had lots of fun, she said, "Yeah, but he always calls me 'Donkey'." Seeing the confused look on my face, she explained, "It means I'm white."
I couldn't help myself, I laughed out loud! To this she said, "That's a funny story, isn't it, Teacher?"
"Yes, it is!" (and to myself....More than you know!)

Almost Famous

A friend of ours, Coz, (rhymes with doze) is seriously pursuing his music career. He has put together a CD and is starting to film some videos. A few Saturdays ago, he invited us to take part in his very first one. The song is called, "Maple Lake." Here's the video. It's hard to spot me and Husband, and The Girl was at her dad's, but The Boy is in it about 4 times! Enjoy!

New Babies

Meet Leah and Sarah!! They are the newest members of The Cat Crew!! Sarah is the white kitty that has an orange tail, ears, and blue eyes. Leah is the little calico. They are so incredibly sweet! Sarah purrs quite loud whenever she is picked up. Leah also purrs a lot, but she is a little more quiet than Sarah. We met these little cuties out at The Girl's horseback riding lessons. After three or four weeks of debating, we decided they should, indeed, come home to live with us. We're all really happy that they're here. They have already provided us with endless entertainment! There's just nothing like kittens!!

Surprise Visit and Man Perfume

We were in the middle of a lesson yesterday when a short, chubby face appeared in the window next to my classroom door. Next, there was a tap, tap, tap. I went to the door to find an outgoing little kindergarten boy. I greeted him, noticed the yellow late slip/pass from the office, and asked if he needed something.
"Nope!" He replied. "I just stopped to say 'hi' to Kyle. He's my friend. HI KYLE!!"
And off he zoomed down the hall! If only all of life could be that simple!!

Hand sanitizer was a new item added to the supply list this year. Let me tell you, it's a BIG HIT in our room! The kids LOVE putting that stuff on. Each day before lunch they get to use it. After cleaning their hands yesterday, a couple of boys came running up to me as proud as could be. "Teacher, teacher! Smell my man perfume!"

We Have A Window!

I know it's a little overdue, but we FINALLY have our window back in place! We have had it back in since August 25. I took it in to be repaired at the end of June. We had a little incident with The Girl and a softball. I thought I had posted this story, but apparently I never did. Ooops! Here is the story:


The Girl really enjoyed playing softball this year. She has one game left and is planning on going out again next year. She would like to pitch, but she still needs more practice. Today, she decided to draw herself a strike zone and practice, practice, practice. They say pictures are worth a thousand words........

The Strike Zone is drawn...........

Now Notice How Close the Strike Zone is to the WINDOWS!!!!!

Finally, NOTICE the WINDOW!!!!

After lots of "I'm Sorry!!! I didn't mean to!!!!" and Mom had calmed down considerably, what is The Girl's comment? "Except for the windows, it was a really good idea, don't you think?"
UUUUHHHHH........NO!!!!! I don't think!!

When I took the window in to be repaired, I found out the only man who repairs them had just had surgery on his hand and wasn't sure when he'd be able to work on it. He was in a cast, and I just didn't have the nerve to take my window elsewhere. After living with plastic over the window spot for two months I finally called to check on the progress of the window. "Oh, yeah, that's been done!" he said when I asked about my window. I was SO upset! I wanted to yell, "THEN WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME AND TELL ME IT WAS DONE??!!" Instead, I just calmly said, "Thank you. I'll be there Thursday." Two days later, my handy-man, Dad, came and put the window back in its place. Life is good again.

Notice the cat waiting for his chance to pounce out the window and into freedom! LOL!!

Thanks, Dad, for another job well done!

30 or 80....What's The Difference?

This weekend, Husband and I went on a little getaway out of state. On our way to our destination, we stopped in at Husband's Aunt's school to surprise her. (She and I both teach first grade and are planning to have our classes be pen pals this year. I thought it would be nice to see her room and meet her class, and to surprise her of course!) It was a fun surprise, as we caught her with her class in the hallway getting drinks after gym class. We went back to her classroom and the students all sat listening to her anxious to find out who the unexpected guests were. One sweet child raised his hand and asked, "Are they your MOM and DAD?"

The Four-Toed Teacher

It's been hot since school started, and I practically live in my sandals. At the beginning of the year it's always nice to be able to wear capris and sandals to work. I do lots of teaching from the rocking chair at the front of my room while the kids sit on the carpet. Yesterday, a couple of the kids must've been studying my feet. They wanted to know why I only had four toes. I said, "I have all five toes. You just can't see my little one. It's hiding. It's too short to see."
"No!" they said with a look of great concern on their faces. "Look! You only have four!" Nothing I could say would convince them otherwise. I guess I could've taken off my shoe and proven it to them, but why ruin the mystery?!

You Just Never Know

It's so good to be back in school. No, really! I do miss the kids when I'm not around them. First graders are just too funny. You never know what's going to come out of their mouths. I sometimes wish that I could just hang out with them all day and play and have obscure little conversations with them. You just can't make this stuff up!
While we were all gathered on the carpet this morning, a little girl was doing some odd things with her hands up in front of her eyes. I asked her what she was doing and she told me that she has a lot of PC's at her house. I asked what a PC was since I thought maybe it had something to do with the weird hand things she was doing. After all, that's why I asked in the first place. She said, "You know!" I said, "A PC, like a computer?"
"Yeah," she said. "We have lots of them at my house."
"How many?" I asked.
"600"
Then an argument broke out between a little boy and a little girl. He accused her of sticking her tongue out at him. She denied it, he kept pressing the issue that yes she did. Finally, she said, "I don't even know how to stick my tongue out!"
"Like THIS!" he said, and stuck his tongue out at her. She promptly raised her hand to tell on him for sticking his tongue out at her! :)

Teachers Can Be SOOO Frustrating!

The school where I work runs on the balanced calendar. This means that we start back to school earlier than most schools and go later in the year than most schools as well. The nice thing is that I am off for two weeks in October, March, and December. I have been back in school now for a little over a week, and the kids have been back since last Thursday. They are a sweet little bunch of first graders, and the year is off to a really nice start.

To try and maintain order in my room, I use a card system. The children each have a set of Green, Yellow, Blue and Red cards, and the goal is to remain on the Green card all day long. If some rules are broken, the cards need to be turned, and there are consequences associated with being on Blue and Red. For the first three days of school, all the children got to stay on their green cards while I let them know that "If it was Tuesday, you would have to move your card because...."

OK, lots of background to get to the cute story! I hope it's worth it! :) I have one little guy who is color blind. On the first day of school when it was time to color our "How Was My Day Today?" paper Green, he raised his hand and said, "I'm color blind, so I don't which one (crayon) is green." I got out his green crayon for him, he colored, all was well. The second day, when I passed out their papers and told them to color their day, he raised his hand again. Forgetting our conversation from the day before, I went to him again, wondering why he wasn't coloring yet. He said, again, "I'm color blind and I don't know which one is green."
"Oh, that's right!" I said, and again, handed him his green crayon. {Now keep in mind that the first three days of school were Thursday, Friday, Monday. I had to remember everything over a weekend :) }
On the third day of school, when it came time to color the paper green, you know who raised his hand, and again, I went over to his desk as clueless as ever. When I got there and asked what he needed, he replied, "I'm still color blind!"

P.S. We decided to take the paper off his green crayon so he doesn't have to ask me to help him find it anymore!! :)

God in the Midst of Tragedy

I am so thankful that my family was safe and not anywhere near the 35W bridge when it collapsed. My chiropractor has a brother and sister who live in the area and she told me a story that gave me goosebumps.
The night the bridge collapsed, she had not been watching television or listening to the radio, so she knew nothing about it until about 9 PM when a friend called to ask if her family was safe. She immediately began calling her sister and brother, but because of the large volume of calls, she was not able to get through until 10 PM. She found out that her sister was safe. Her brother was also safe, however, it was only by the grace of God. He travels over the 35W bridge to and from work everyday. On Wednesday night, he was delayed at work and left 10 minutes late. At 6:05 PM Wednesday night, the bridge collapsed, and at 6:15 PM that night, he reached the detour spot. Had he not been delayed at work for those 10 minutes, he would have been on the bridge at precisely 6:05 PM.
I'd be willing to bet that as we hear more stories from the survivors of this tragedy, the more we will see that this is not a unique story. How about the miracle of the bus full of children that was dangerously close to the edge of the broken part of the bridge?
It really makes me think about how God uses little things to protect us. He works in ways that we cannot understand. I drive an hour to and from work everyday. I have come across numerous accidents in the four years I have been making this trip. One accident in particular really shook me up. I was ready to leave my house one morning when I spotted some dog poo in the living room. I was SO upset! The dog had not had an accident in the house for quite a long time. I needed to leave; I certainly didn't have time to clean up the mess. Well, it's not like you can leave a mess like that to clean up later. So I cleaned it, grumbling and complaining the whole time, not to mention giving the dog a healthy dose of my wrath. I left 5-10 minutes late, and had a terrible attitude about it. Half-way through my drive to work I came upon a terrible accident involving a semi and a minivan. It was clear to see that the accident had happened only minutes before I got there. Something rose up inside of me that said, "See. If it weren't for the dog making a mess in the living room you would have been right there." I have to say, I repented right then and there for my horrible attitude. If the dog would have been able to answer the telephone I would have called her and apologized too! I know God used that to teach me a lesson. His timing is perfect. He works in ways that we cannot understand. It gave new insight into Philippians 2:14 Do everything without complaining or arguing. And Romans 8:28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who have been called according to His purpose.

A Boy, A Dog, and a Park

Last week, The Boy, our dog, Isabelle, and I went to check out the new dog park. Boy, did we have fun! It's really nice because the dog park is connected to a regular park. We went to the dog park first, and Isabelle had a BALL!! She couldn't get enough of the free space to run and new smells to smell. I think she made some new doggie friends as well. The Boy did a nice job taking pictures of Isabelle.

OOOHHH, What's That Smell?

Look over here, Mom!

After Isabelle's turn at the park was over, it was The Boy's turn to play at the park. He had lots of fun too. He spent a considerable amount of time on this huge climby thing. I'm not sure what you
call it, but it was really big. The Boy REALLY wanted to climb from one side to the other, but was just too intimidating. He started striking deals with me. He would say, "Will you give me a penny if I climb all the way to the other side?"

"Absolutely!" I was thinking, for that cheap, what the heck?? Well, The Boy tried again, but he would get one section from the top curve and down he would come again. He upped the anty a bit. He said, "How about if you give me a quarter if I climb all the way over to the other side?"I said, "Sure," but I was thinking, "What ever happened to the good old nickel, or even a dime?!" Now, mind you, I was not heckling The Boy to climb this thing. I told him that I thought he could do it & if he wanted to climb over the whole thing he should, but I was not insisting that it be done. Needless to say, a quarter was not quite the incentive he needed to make it over that thing either.

He tried one more time, "How about TWO quarters if I can do it?"

"If you climb all the way from one side of that thing, over the top, and down the other side, I will give you TWO quarters," I said. Well, The Boy got a better plan than the ones he had been trying. He went to the other side first, and tried climbing from the other side to this side. Unfortunately, this plan did not pan out quite as he had hoped, and he never did make it all the way from one side to the other. He decided to take a break and go down that twirly slide that you can see in the background of these pictures. Isabelle thought since The Boy got to run around and play with her in the dog park, it would only be fair for her to get to run around and play with him in the boy park. She was a little to short to climb with him on the "Half Sphere of Challenge" but she did join him in going down the slide. That dog LOVES slides!! The Girl taught her to go down them when she was just a puppy! She was all about it, too, until she reached the top and saw how twisty it was. Then she hesitated, and tried to get back down the stairs. I was right behind her and wouldn't let her go back down the stairs, and looked at me like, "Will you give me a treat if I do this?" I didn't have any treats on me, but she went down anyway. She must've decided it was pretty fun because she came around and went down again! Then we went across the park a little ways and checked out this really neat waterfall. It was a busy, fun day! We will definitely be going back!!

Updated Picture

As promised, here is an updated photo of Husband with the kids. As you can see, he's lost a considerable amount of weight! This was on the 4th of July as we were waiting for the fireworks to start. They were definitely worth the wait!! We thoroughly enjoyed them!

Never Too Old

Can We Slide NOW, Grandpa???

You'll notice in the previous post that Father-in-Law was in his swim trunks. Well, the very good reason for this was that The Boy was playing on his Slip-N-Slide while Grandpa was working on the clothesline. The Boy wanted to Grandpa to play on the Slip-N-Slide as well, and Grandpa was happy to oblige! Grandma and I felt much too old to join in the fun, but Grandpa?? "Never too old!" he said!

Dive and Slide!

Anything for The Boy!!

The Saga of the Clothesline

Those of you who know me, know I LOVE my clothesline. Actually, anyone who has read this blog probably knows by now how much I love my clothesline! Anyway, it finally has it's tight green wire and I am so happy with it! It has truly been a family project, too! Here are a few shots of Father-in-Law working on it.

Tying the line to the hardware

Putting the hardware and line onto the poles

A Visit From the In-Laws~The Overview

Husband's parents came for a visit from out of state last week. They arrived last Tuesday night and stayed through Sunday morning. We had lots of fun! Husband had to work a lot, but the kids and I and Grandma and Grandpa did some fun things together. The first full day they were here, Grandpa set to work on some projects around the house. As you know, I am always ready to take advantage of a handyman when he comes to the house! He fixed our toilet that wasn't flushing correctly, put plastic over our broken window so we could turn the air on, (It was in the upper 90's and we about melted the night before and got next to no sleep!) and started on replacing the stretchy white clotheslines with nice taut green clothesline. We went swimming, saw a movie, went for Chinese, played on the Slip-N-Slide, went for walks along the river, and watched fireworks. It was a busy visit, but very nice. I will need to go into more detail in individual posts, (hopefully in the near future) but it's taking me a while to get caught up!

A Little Scare

Monday afternoon The Girl, a neighbor friend, and I took all three animals (two cats and a dog) to the vet for their annual shots. Boy, talk about a FUN afternoon!! The animals are all healthy and doing well. Later that night, I let our dog, Isabelle outside. About five minutes after coming back in the house, she was shaking her ears like crazy. Then she started rubbing her face on the carpet. Thinking that maybe she had a bug caught in her ear or something, I called her over and tried to look in her ear. To my horror, her entire face was swollen! Her lips were so swollen she could hardly open her mouth, her eyes were almost swollen shut, her ears were swollen and thick, she had welts up and down all four legs and all over her belly!!! I immediately started to pray for her. I phoned the vet clinic to get the on call number since it was after hours, then called the vet. He said to give her two Benadryl immediately, then call in an hour if there wasn't any improvement. Luckily, I keep children's Benadryl on hand specifically for Isabelle. (She swells up from mosquito bites and gets an itchy belly in the spring and summer from running in weeds.) She didn't show much improvement within an hour, so at 9 PM we made the 20 min. drive to the vet clinic. Boy, a little de`ja vu??? Anyway, the Dr. agreed that there was a definite problem and it was good that Isabelle had come in. She had three shots; an antihistamine, a steroid, and an effrin-something or other. He couldn't determine if the reaction was caused from the vaccinations, a bug bite or sting, or a combination of both. Whatever it was, Isabelle is back to her old self now. Thank you,again, Lord, for watching over my furry children!!

DDR

It's The Girl's birthday today! Happy Birthday!!! We have been celebrating since Saturday. She asked for DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) for the longest time. Well, Aunt Chloe and Uncle Skeeter came through! I can't tell you how glad I am that they got it for her! IT IS SOOOO FUN!!!! I have been on it as much as the kids. I was on it last night for a couple of hours after the kids were in bed and really worked up a sweat! I did the workout mode and it told me that I did the equivalent of a 1.3 mile jog. Boy, I'll take DDR over jogging any day! Our whole family got in on the fun Saturday. Here are some fun pictures.

Grandpa giving it a shot

Check out Husband's Hands!!!

What's with the fist?????

All in all, it was a really fun day. Grandma and Uncle Skeeter and Aunt Chloe and I all took our turns too, unfortunately I don't have pictures to share! Oh yeah, we let the kids have a turn or two, too!!!

It Takes a Village

Today was my last "official" day of school!!!! YAY!!! However, I did not finish everything in my room that is in need of being finished, so I will have to "unofficially" work tomorrow as well. It still feels pretty good to be done though! Now I can come and go as I please, which is always a much more pleasant way to work in my opinion.
My daughter has been enjoying summer break for about 4 weeks already. In that 4 weeks, she has not been home very much at all. I have had great neighbors and friends who have helped look out for her while I've been working. She is going into 7th grade, so she doesn't need a babysitter, but it's still nice to know that others are looking out for her. She's been invited to spend the night, eat lunches, suppers, and hang out various people over the last few weeks. It reminds me of the book, It Takes a Village by Jane Cowen-Fletcher. If you've never read that book, I highly recommend it. I'm not sure why it's so expensive on Amazon; maybe it's out of print or something. Anyway, I feel very blessed and fortunate to live in the community I live in. It's nice to have such good people in our lives to help us out without even having to be asked!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day! I have been blessed to have not one, but three great dad's in my life. First of all, my dad, who I've talked about quite a bit already. He is always ready to help me out in any situation. I love to fish and play sports with my dad (although it seems this happens less and less as the years go by). I like to tease my dad; the poor guy gets a LOT of this! Especially since he was the only man in our family until my sister and I got married--even all of our pets were girls! I have to admit, even though I am grown up and on my own now, I still think my dad is the strongest, toughest, handiest dad of them all. My dad is also a wonderful grandpa. My daughter definitely has grandpa wrapped around her little finger!

Secondly, I have a wonderful father-in-law. Even though my husband and I have only been married a little under three years, I have known and had a good relationship with my father-in-law for about fifteen years. He was like a grandfather to my daughter long before he was officially her grandfather. He is sweet and sensitive,(even when he's gruff) and loves his family. The best part is that he loves the Lord and raised his son to do the same!

Finally, my husband. He has been a great father to both of our kids. I love to watch him out playing ball, riding bikes, swimming, and jumping on the trampoline with them. Instantly becoming a father to an eight-year-old girl is not an easy thing to do. She has definitely given him a run for his money! She knows how to push his buttons and enjoys doing so! :) I freely admit that my job of becoming a mother to a three-year-old boy was a much easier task than what he did. It's so rewarding to see the fruit of his labor. When The Girl makes her own Father's Day card for him and tells her friends how lucky she is to have him as a step-dad it makes it all worth it!

These pictures are a few years old, but since I absolutely INSISTED that the Dad's wear tuxes in our wedding, I thought I'd post them at their finest! As I looked for a picture of Husband with the kids I realized that I didn't really have very many! This is a really nice picture of them, even though both the kids are so much more grown up and Husband weighs about 85 pounds less now! You know what I'll be doing when we are all together in the next couple of weeks!!! Get your smiles ready guys!

Same Day, Different Project

Whenever my dad comes over, I try to squeeze as many projects out of him as possible. Husband and I just aren't very handy people. I think my dad's favorite saying is, "What are you going to do when I'm gone?!" I try to think of clever answers to this question like, "I'll just give you a call and you can come back!" Of course, this isn't exactly what he means, but oh well!
Anyway, the day he finished the clothesline he also hooked up the water and ice maker to our refrigerator. This may not sound too exciting to you, but to me, it was GREAT!!! We have been without ice for probably four years or more. My old refrigerator's ice maker quit working, and I didn't ever have room in the freezer for ice trays. The old refigerator finally died, but fortunately for us, my sister and brother-in-law, Chloe (pronounced Schlow) and Skeeter, were getting a new fridge at the same time. They sold us their old one, and now, thanks to Dad, we have ice! The entire project went relatively well, and I even got to drill the hole in the floor with my own drill. I did use my dad's drill bit, though, because he had some fancy thing I had never seen before. All in all it was a good day. I can't tell you how nice it is to have ice again. You just can't truly appreciate the little things until you go without!

Clothesline Progress

A week after my dad came and started the clothesline project, he came over to finish it. It wasn't a very nice day because it was raining, but he persevered nonetheless. My mom decided to supervise from the house by watching out the windows and occasionally opening the door and hollering something out. I decided to be a tad more helpful this time and withstood the rain outside with my dad. It was a little slick and muddy trying to get the old posts out of the ground. As always, though, my dad used a little ingenuity and found an easier way to do it. After a couple unsuccessful tries with the jack, he found a long pole to use as a lever, and the old poles came right out!

My mom helped my dad string the lines on the poles, then he took us for Chinese! Yum!

Today is the first time I have had a chance to use my new clothesline to it's full potential! My daughter has hung out a load for me a couple times, but since I'm still in school and it has rained faithfully every weekend since the completion of the project, I have not had the chance to do all of the laundry at once. I'm happy for the most part; completely happy with the posts and spacing of the lines, but disappointed with the line itself. All they had at Home Depot was the white plastic line, and it's TOO stretchy! I need to go to a couple of other places and see if I can find the green stuff with the wire in the middle. Then I believe my lines will be perfect!

Random Thoughts

You never know what a first grader is going to tell you. Here are a few thoughts from this week.

• I think aliens eat cheese.
• I'm going to swim class. Just don't tell my mom. She told me not to tell you.
• (At 8:45 AM) Is it lunchtime?
• Texas is the hottest place in the world, and they have really good sticky candy.
  

More Fingers, Please!

As the end of the year approaches, we have final assessments to give. I've mentioned before, I have been really surprised at how much first graders are expected to know. (I have taught middle school for the last 6 years. I'll have to share the story of getting to teach first grade sometime.) Anyway, we are in the midst of a very large math assessment. We break it into parts so it's not quite so treacherous for the children. I can only read the directions for them. I am not allowed to help them on any of the actual computation, but of course I do my best to answer questions as they arise. One little girl raised her hand and when I went to help her, she said, "I can't do this one." It was
12-6= ____. I said, "Why not? It's just like the other ones you already did." And she answered, holding out both hands, "Because I don't have enough fingers!" I asked her if she could think of another way that she could do the problem. She thought for a second, then her face lit up. I could see the light bulb flick on! She said with a huge smile on her face, "Can I use some of yours?!" Now how was I to say "No" to that??!!!
A few minutes later, the little boy next to here was having the same problem on the same question. She leaned over to him and asked, "Do you want to use some of my fingers?"

Jesus, Bring the Sun, Blue Skies, and a Rainbow!

It seems ever since the Jesus, Bring the Rain post, bring the rain He has! It's been a really trying couple of weeks, hence, no recent posts. I will still stand by what I wrote and will still praise Him, however, some sun would be greatly appreciated!!

Am I Smarter Than A First Grader?

Sometimes I really wonder what my kids think of me! The same little guy who "explained" to me what almost means, had to explain himself again today. We were talking about weekend plans. Here's our conversation:
Student: I'm going to Wendy's house.
Me: Who's Wendy?
Student: My mom's mom.
Me: Oh, you call her Wendy and not Grandma?
Student: My Nana and Papa are my Grandma and Grandpa.
Me: So they're your dad's mom and dad? (He nods) So you don't even call her Grandma Wendy, just Wendy, huh?
Student: You know....... it's like the restaurant, except it's a person!

And You Thought You Had It Rough....

Yesterday at the end of the day, after the halls had cleared of children, a lone third grader was trudging toward the door. He was talking to himself as he walked, "If I get all my things ready when I'm supposed to, I can leave when the bell rings." Poor little guy!

Why I LOVE Teaching First Grade

One of my students was complaining of a headache this morning. I sent him down to the nurse to make sure everything was okay. After lunch, the nurse told me the sweetest thing. When my student explained about his headache, she asked if he was up late last night. He said that he had been up late because he was crying. When she asked why he had been crying, he replied, "Because my mom told me that Mrs. "Kasey" won't be my teacher next year!" AAAWWWW!!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

Thomas Cat got to come home from the vet clinic on Tuesday afternoon. Boy was he happy!! He actually purred most of the car ride home. He's doing very well. It's so good to see him be able to lay down and relax without being in constant pain. Now he just needs to eat and gain some weight back. I'm sure that won't take too long!

Thomas Part III

Thomas had surgery on his bladder today. It sounds like he came through it very well, and it was good that he had it. The Dr. found more stones, in addition to the ones that were flushed out last night. There was also a considerable amount of sand-like crystals in there. He may come home tomorrow or maybe even the next day. Thank you for keeping him in your prayers.

Thomas Part II

It's been a long, rough week for poor Thomas Cat. I just returned from taking him back into the vet. As I type, he is being put under to have his bladder flushed again. It looks as if there are more stones. They must be smaller than the first ones since they didn't show up on the x-ray that was taken earlier this week. Please pray for him.

Jesus, Bring the Rain

I LOVE MercyMe's new song, "Bring the Rain." You can listen to a snippet of it here. It speaks so much truth. This past year we have really learned to trust God so much more. The hard times make us so much more dependent on Him. I wish we were more faithful to cleave to Him just as fervently in the trouble-free times. We are striving to become the people he has purposed us to be. It's no fun going through hard times, but I must admit, those are the times that our faith has grown and we have experienced God's mercy and love in a way I never thought possible. So, my prayer is, "Yes, Jesus bring the rain. If that's what it takes to praise you, then that's what I want to do. I am your's."

Eventful Day

My mom and dad came over this morning to help us out
(i.e. Dad--do, Mom and I supervise) and get some things done around the house. I have been complaining about my clothesline since we moved into this house. It's so short, and the lines are so close together that the clothes take all day to dry. I can't even get all of the laundry done in one day. My dad made me some new poles and came over today to put them in the ground. He also fixed the garage door. His favorite line of the day was, "I don't like to do anything the easy way." Case in point, instead of removing the topper on the truck, he left it on even though it made it really difficult to get the 8+ foot poles in and out.

It was comical for us supervisors to watch him get those out. (I should mention that Tom was at work most of the day, so there was no other male support for my dad, physical or otherwise. Poor guy!) Then, he set out to dig the holes. I went in the house to do a few things. Nearing completion of the second hole, I heard him say, "I should've known that first one went in too easy!" When I went out to see what was wrong, I learned that after digging about two feet down, he had run into some kind of plastic pipe. He had to move forward a couple of feet and dig a new hole.

Then when it was time to pour the cement in the hole he discovered that we didn't have enough. We made a quick trip to get more, then my mom and I dropped him off at home and went to get a new spring for the garage door. Well, since we were out and about we did a little shopping at Kohl's as well. Needless to say, by the time we returned with the supplies for the garage door, my dad had been finished with the poles for quite some time. He perked up just a bit when we handed him a polish sausage from a local cookout! The new poles look great! You can see (kind of) how much more room I'm going to have. I was thinking that I could do some laundry tomorrow, but apparently the cement has to settle for a few days first. The next big job will be to take the old poles out.

Sticking with the "Nothing Easy" theme, we got two springs for the garage door instead of just one. The helpful guys at Home Depot agreed that it would not be a good idea to change only one spring, explaining that this would not balance the garage door, and would probably cause the old spring to break anyway. I don't know how many times my dad was up and down and on and off that ladder!! He was wanting to find and murder whoever built our garage and left NO ROOM on the west side of the door by the time he was finished!! Note to anyone that may someday build a house or garage: It's a VERY BAD idea to run one of the garage door tracks directly into the garage wall. It leaves no wiggle room when you need to fix things!

Eventually it was all finished and working beautifully. With all of the handiness going on around me, I thought I'd do something. I decided I'd change the light bulb in the garage door opener that's been burnt out for about a month. My dad and I got quite the chuckle when I pulled a 3-way bulb out!!! We figure it must've been the same guy that built the garage door track into the garage wall!! DUH!! Tom got home from work shortly after everything was done. Isn't that always the way?! I tried talking my dad into hooking up the water/ice maker on the refrigerator while he was here, but he assured me that he had had enough fun for one day!

This Week in First Grade

I have taught middle school for the last 6 years. This year, I am teaching 1st grade for the first time. I LOVE it! These kids crack me up. Even when they are naughty, it's hard to stay mad; they're just too darn cute! :) Here are a few funnies from this week.

As the bell was ringing signaling the end of the day, one little boy started complaining that he thought he was going to throw up. Since he had been fine only moments earlier, and had complained only once at the beginning of the day that he thought he was going to throw up, I knew he was going to be A-OK. I just needed to convince him that he was fine and get him off to the bus. I tried the "positive talk" approach. He wasn't buying it. So I thought I'd remind him of this morning when he thought he was going to throw up but didn't. I said, "I think you're going to be alright. Remember this morning when you said you were almost going to throw up but you didn't?" He replied, "Well....that's what almost means!"

A little girl was telling me about the "mices" she found while waiting at her bus stop. She couldn't wait until she got home that afternoon so she could catch some of them and bring them home for pets "like hamsters." A couple of days later, I asked her if she got to have the mice as pets. She said, "No. They were bunnies. They left. I don't know where they went."

We've been taking a HUGE 30 page reading test all week. Some of the questions are really difficult for first grade. Following a lengthy reading passage was this short response question: What is the main idea of this passage? In perfect complete sentence form, one of my students wrote, "I don't know." I think that's worth at least one point for a complete sentence and honesty...what do you think???

Thomas Update

Thomas was able to come home from the kitty hospital yesterday afternoon. He had his Dr. stumped since he didn't seem to be improving any more. I think he just needed to be home. He looked pretty rough at first, but he has been steadily improving now that he's here!

Thomas Cat

Thank you, Lord, that you care about our pets too! I feel so blessed and humbled to know God looks out for us and the pets we love.

Monday evening Thomas never came out to say, "Hello," like he usually does. I'm not saying that he greets me at the door or anything like that on a daily basis, he is a cat you know, but he does make an appearance at some point. After a short search, I found him in the basement and he was not himself. He wasn't in his usual spot down there, and he didn't move, meow, or purr when I pet him. He felt like he had a fever, and when I offered him some water he didn't want anything to do with it. He finally got up off the video chair he was laying on, but he wasn't moving very well. I was really concerned for him and even prayed for him before I went to bed.

On Tuesday morning I checked on him again and things seemed about the same. I debated about staying home from work to take him to the vet, but I really didn't feel like I could do that. Instead, I called the vet clinic on my way to work to try and schedule an appointment after work. The latest appointment I could get was 3:45 PM, and in order to take that one, I would need to take the afternoon off. I wasn't sure if that would be possible, but I took the appointment with the hopes it would work out. I also took an appointment on Wednesday at 5:30 PM just in case I couldn't get the afternoon off.

When I arrived at work, I was able to talk to one of my supervisors right away. Even though we were a little short-handed, I was able to have the afternoon off to take Thomas into see the vet. Again, I have to say, "THANK YOU, LORD!!!" It turns out that what Thomas had was quite serious. In fact, had I waited for the 5:30 app't. on Wednesday night, Thomas would not have lived long enough to get to that appointment. (Bear with me on this explanation, I don't fully understand it)Because of his metabolism, Thomas was not fully digesting all the minerals in his cat food. This caused crystals to form in his bladder, preventing him from urinating. The doctor guesses that he was not able to potty for 24-36 hours, and his bladder was the size of an orange and very hard. He was dehydrated and in a lot of pain.

To fix the problem, Thomas had to be put under, had his bladder flushed out, and received a catheter. The doctor called me after the procedure and said that Thomas was doing well. He was surprised by what he found, though. He was expecting to find thousands of little sand-like crystals, but what he actually found were 6-7 larger stones. Since the stones could be seen on an x-ray, he went ahead a took one this morning. Thankfully no more stones showed up on the x-ray so Thomas didn't have to go through another "flushing out" procedure. I was hoping that he could come home this afternoon, but the doctor thought it best that Thomas stay one more night for observation. If all goes well, I will be able to pick him up after work tomorrow.

To prevent this from happening again, we will have to change Thomas's diet. Luckily it will only be a small change. He'll now get Science Diet CD instead of regular Science Diet. I'm just so thankful! I don't know what we would have done without our Thomas Cat!!