Wednesday, August 29, 2007

My Favorite Job

Being a mommy is the best job in the world (next to being a wife)! There are times when I miss my "stay at home mom" status. I do feel that I am missing out sometimes, but I know without a doubt that I am exactly where God wants me to be! I tried so hard to add a picture that the boys' mom took of them, but it didn't work. It just captures what a neat relationship they have. Z is an absolutely amazing older brother and A really looks up to him. They play SO well together. I know that I need to count my blessings in this area. I remember growing up and needing to sit in separate seats in our mini van. My sister sat in the middle seat while I sat in the back seat (maybe it was the other way around). We just couldn't keep our hands to ourselves. :) I think that the boys would die if they were separated in the car! B is not enjoying sitting by herself in the middle seat very much lately. She would MUCH rather be in the backseat with her big brothers. Hmmm...maybe later.


Another favorite job is teaching. It is amazing when you know that you are doing exactly what God created you to do. I am in heaven in my classroom...a little busy, but in heaven. It has been a HUGE adjustment coming from a different school. I have found that different schools have different ways of doing things! It is amazing how we become creatures of habit. Slowly, I am making the adjustments! I do miss my friends and families at RCS, but I am thrilled that I can teach at a Christian school again. The boys are SO happy here! It will be a blessing when B can begin attending the preschool. Two and a half more months!


Speaking of B...we just signed our Home Study report at State Adoptions today! That is one HUGE hurdle cleared! We have a few more hoops and then FINALIZATION! We are looking at mid October! Woo Hoo!

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

So Proud...


I just need to share how absolutely proud I am of A. He has been an absolute joy to have in my class! Today when I went out to pick up my class from their morning recess, the yard duty came up and told me that she needed to talk to me about my son...uh-oh...that sometimes makes the hairs stand up on the back of a mommy's neck. :) Instead of telling me what I was dreading to hear, she told me how A had blessed her during recess. She was picking up garbage around the playground and picnic table area and our little A volunteered to help out! Way to go, buddy! He has been doing so well the first two days of school. I am really impressed. His reading has improved SO much this summer as well. I tested him today (in order to place my students in reading groups) and he FAR surpassed my expectations of his current reading level. I was actually BLOWN away!


We were sitting together in the living room this evening and he began to tell me the story of how he asked Jesus into his heart at Sunday School. It was absolutely precious. He told me that he would like to be "babatized". I am one proud mommy!


Please continue to pray for me as I teach my precious son, but know that God has done a MIGHTY work in him this summer!

Monday, August 20, 2007

First Day Hooray!

Thank you all for your love and support on this first day of first grade! The boys had an absolute ball! (I do have a first day of school picture, but it was taken with my teaching partner's camera as ours is down for the count. I will add it to this page as soon as I get it!) M was Super Dad as he brought all three of our children to school this morning as I had to be there early.

B did well leaving with her babysitter. (We are absolutely loving her! She is such a blessing from God!) They played and played all day.

I have to remember that every first day of teaching is exhausting. Sometimes I think that I will fly through with gobs of energy, but then I hit a wall! :) My students were absolutely amazing...little sponges soaking in all of the information I was giving them. Tomorrow we will have more of a normal day as we will begin our math and Bible curriculum. I'm excited to get started! I have so much that I want to teach them this year!

I arrived home around 5:30 this evening and pulled up to our mailbox (a few houses down the street). I sat there contemplating what I could cook for dinner. Just then I looked in my rear-view mirror and saw a "pizza guy" parked in front of our house. "There must be a mistake." After checking the mail, I drove home and spoke to him as he was getting out of his car. Sure enough, he was at the correct address. He handed me the two boxes (with a card on top) and said that it was already paid for! My Sonshine Buddy (secret pal) had ordered a pizza for our family on this first day of school. The card read, "Sit down, put your feet up, and relax." I cried and cried when I realized the magnitude of this gift! What an amazing school! :) What an amazing God to put me exactly where He wanted me to be!

Thank you for your continued prayer! This first week is absolutely exhausting, but full of blessings! Please pray that I will be the teacher that each of my students need me to be!

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Sneak-A-Peek

Yesterday, we had Sneak-A-Peek in our classroom. This allowed parents and students an hour to come in and meet the teacher, check out their desks and cubbies, and see friends. It was SO much fun! I now wish that I had pictures to share with you, but I was a little busy to take them! I am SO looking forward to my time with these little ones. We are going to have a great year!

Oh What A Day!

For those of you who have had days like these...

Everything started out perfectly. All three of our children joined us for some snuggle buggle time in our large King-sized bed this morning. This amazing activity has not happened in quite a long time due to the craziness in our lives. It was pure heaven! We all decided to rise and get breakfast going with our little one signing "milk" over and over. :)

My husband decided to go for a motorcycle ride (something he has not done in far too long), which left me at home with my beautiful children. We played and laughed and got ready together - something else that I SO took for granted before going back to work. M returned to allow me to take Z to his class "Welcome Back To School" party at a new friend's house. He had a BALL!

Once the party was over, the plan was for me to go to my classroom to get some lesson planning accomplished. I had been there for about 1/2 hour when M called me on my cell phone saying that B had fallen and he was having a hard time consoling her. So I gathered my things up in my arms and ran out the door. In my haste, I threw my bottle of Diet Pepsi into my purse (not realizing that the lid was not all of the way on). You can guess the rest. By the time I arrived home, my purse had a pool of Diet Pepsi in the bottom of it...everything (but my wallet and cell phone) was soaked! This included our digital camera!!!! I dropped my purse at the front door and ran in to see to B. She was very upset as daddy had put a band aid right under her eye (she's not too fond of band aids). I held her and loved her and handed the dripping camera to my WONDERFUL husband. (We still do not know the fate of our camera...will it dry out and be functional, will we need to send it in for repair, is it a lost cause?)

M then left to go to church to hang a banner that needed to be in place. I began making dinner. While I was doing so, our little B let out a scream right behind me. Z was heading out to the garage and got B's hand in the door. Poor thing! This was the worst day of her short little life! I ran it under cold water while I prayed. Could anything else happen, please Lord, NO! :)

My dear A thought that it would be funny to pretend that his fingers were in the door and so he found himself placed over in the "naughty spot" to think about that for a while. As he was sitting there, part of our chair (that is being taken to be fixed) fell over onto him. He let out a sharp scream and then continued to cry. He was easily consoled, startled not hurt.

Fortunately, the dominoes stopped falling about that time. M had just returned from his errand and dinner was almost ready.

So we sat down and Z prayed before we enjoyed our delicious meal. He thanked God that we could all sit down together to eat dinner. THAT is what makes a WONDERFUL day.

**Note: You may have noticed that I used initials throughout this BLOG. I have copied a very dear friend of mine who does the same since this is open to the public. We want to protect our family, but still want to share with you, our family and friends! (Fortunately, we all have different initials so it should be easy to follow!)

Please continue to leave comments here on this site (I am able to read them) or send an email!

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Working...Working...Working...

I am having so much fun working in my classroom, but I must say that it is a lot of work! Every time I cross something off of my list, I turn around and add two more tasks! :) Sometimes it feels that I will not be able to accomplish all that I need to, but then I am reminded in one way or another that God will provide me with the strength that I need because "His strength is perfect".

The boys have enjoyed helping out in the classroom (actually playing on the computers in the classroom...) They really have been a huge help! Our little one is REALLY enjoying playing at her "babysitter's". She has spent the last two days playing with their 6 year old daughter (who is in my class). She is so excited in the morning when I tell her where we are going! (And today she did not spit when I picked her up...a huge accomplishment! She has been showing her displeasure of me leaving her all day by spitting when I arrive to pick her up...not fun for this mommy.)

Michael has been the BIGGEST help. I know that I could not do this without him! God has blessed me with a perfect partner. Tonight, I got home from working in the classroom (at 9 p.m.) and the kitchen was clean, tomorrow's lunches were made, and the children were tucked in all cuddly in their beds. WOW! If you ever catch me complaining about my husband, will you please remind me about this Blog? :)

Thank you for your continued prayers as I have a few crazy days left until our "Sneak-A-Peek" hour on Friday afternoon. The classroom needs to be ready by this time...tick-tock...tick-tock!

I hope to add new pictures soon...I haven't had time to take any in the last couple of days!

Please feel free to post a comment right here on this page! Just click on the link below! I would love to hear from you!

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Aprons


My mom visited late last week and brought wonderful gifts for the girls of the house. Mom had (very graciously) made curtains for my classroom earlier in the summer and used the extra material for matching aprons for us! Our little one wore her apron all day long. She loved it! Thank you, mom!

Just Getting Started...

Ok...here we go! I am always up for something new, so I thought that I would try to start a blog about our family. There is much to learn and much to do on this page. Please bear with me as this is UNDER CONSTRUCTION! I hope to save pictures on here and update you with what is happening in our lives in this format instead of through email. Please continue to keep in touch with me as you do so wonderfully!

Let me know if you have any requests (or input!)