SYATP 2006

"See You at the Pole" was this morning at Gracie's school and there was a nice turnout. I was so impressed with the students who led. There was just something about seeing a big 5th grade boy in a football jersey raising his hands as he sang to God that got to me! Even though he wasn't my child, I felt pride for him. Silly maybe, but I felt it. When I saw another lady wiping her eyes, it got to me. When I saw the mom of the football boy with her eyes shining and saw the way his dad looked at him, it got to me. I believe it was "Here I Am to Worship" where some of the kids had movements that involved raising their hands during part of the song. Truly sweet to see.

I was just so impressed that he, and other boys & girls, were taking such leadership roles. There was just something about the football jersey that stood out to me. So many kids at that age try to "be cool" and act like they're too good for something like this and I thought it was great that he was so vocal about being a leader. SYATP is supposed to be "student-led" and the lady who organized it this year tried to really take that into account and the "service" was truly led by the students. I told Gracie and her friend Hunter that they would be the ones up there one year leading when the big kids leave to go across the street to the middle school. Of course, they said no and acted embarrassed but I have a feeling a time will come when both of them will be ready for leadership roles in something like SYATP. I hope so. I still consider myself quite conservative so I'm not sure what role I will pray for Gracie, as a girl, to have in a setting such as this, but there is some role she can have I'm quite sure. Of course, Chris told Hunter's dad that he'd have to be the one who played the guitar. I said, "Yeah, we don't have a guitar at our church, we don't know about those!" LOL

I'm thankful for the mother who coordinated this event and for the people who passed the word around. I have a friend who tells me that noone is perfect...no school, no family, no friendship and anyone who pretends that something is perfect is lying. I think she has a good point, so I won't tell you that the SYATP experience was perfect. There are some people who don't support it like I think they should; there are some people who don't encourage others to attend; there are some people who discourage some people to attend. My mind screams, "It's not fair!" "It's their right to be there." "Freedom of Speech; freedom of religion."

However, the mother who coordinated it had a good point. SYATP is not about making a stand. It's about being in prayer. So I'm thankful that we, as parents & students, were able to take this opportunity to be in prayer this morning. Gracie or I either one will try to say a prayer each morning on the way to school or before we leave the house, but this morning was a "special" time for this large gathering. I'm thankful that the names of all the classroom teachers, along with the principal & assistant principal, were read right before a prayer was said for the them.

I'm thankful for the discussions I had with 2 of my PTA friends later in the morning as we sat working on the Student Directories. We talked about where we go to church (1 Church of Christ, 1 Baptist, 1 Presbyterian). We talked about how we try to instill values in our children. We talked about some of the things we struggle with at our school and some of the good things about our school. We talked about fears we have for our children and times they've made us proud. The point is that we all 3 (I talked with them at separate times) have a faith in the same God & Christ. I'm thankful for that. We all believe a little differently and in my "strict Church of Christ background" I'm still not sure what to think about those differences and how to respond to them, but we all believe in the same God. We all struggle with similar things regarding our children and we all seek God to help us. I know that God is putting me in situations these days where I'm being made to think, really think. I'm still not sure exactly what I'm thinking, but I'm thinking. I'm thankful that so many good people who love God and are teaching their children to love God have been brought into my life through our experience with Gracie's school. I don't know if I'll become "good friends" with them or just "school friends" or even just "school acquaintances" but I'm thankful nonetheless. I love feeling like I walk away sometimes with something new to think about.

I'm thankful for the teachers who came to SYATP even though they weren't encouraged, and some may even say discouraged, to attend. (see above reference to the fact that it wasn't perfect). They impressed me so much and I want to somehow let them know that.

I'm thankful that the Student Directories were put in the teacher's boxes this afternoon! Yippee! I had lots of help today and we knocked them out. I'm so glad!!!!!!!!! Granted, I was at the school from 9:15-1:15 Monday; 12:15-2:15 yesterday; and 7:00-2:15 today (with a few breaks to take & pick up Katie from MDO), but they're done! *whew* I'm thankful that the assistant principal was nice enough to allow me to take Katie to the school with me since the room I was using was kind of isolated so Katie wouldn't be a distraction to the students. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have been able to work on it so much. I try to be very considerate about Katie when I'm at the school and don't take her to volunteer in the classroom because I know it's not the "time nor place." The room I was using for this project though was perfect for her to run around in and not be a distraction to anyone but the people in there and there weren't ever many of us in there. Those who were seemed to be fine with her being there. I was really proud of her because she behaved really well! Of course, when we went into the office to deliver the books she got a little rowdier but not too bad and we were probably only in there 20 minutes or so.

My life right now is "PTA mom" and I'm loving it! True, I get tired sometimes but I don't think I would have it any other way. Our President was helping me this morning and cut her finger and got blood on one of the books. She was laughing about putting her blood into the project. I referred to putting "blood, sweat & tears" into it and told her that I did shed some tears Sunday when we were trying to get it all into the computer the right way! I'm thankful that I'm able to be a stay-at-home mom who can volunteer at Gracie's school. I enjoy being there. There and at home with my girls & Chris is exactly where I want to be right now! I was thinking about that when I was colating over & over and getting a little overwhelmed with it all. I thought, "You know, this is just where I want to be right now. I wouldn't change a thing." Katie behind me playing happily and eating snacks at "Sissy's school" while I worked. True, she is having a different toddlerhood than Gracie whose life consisted pretty much of church, home and playgroup! Katie lives in the van alot more but that's okay! Different doesn't have to mean bad!

I'm just trying to be thankful for things in my life. I don't always do a good job of that, but I'm trying. (I'm thankful that Chris gets to go to a "real" football game tomorrow night because I know he's excited about it!)

Thank you God for all of my blessings. Help me to be a positive example to those I come into contact with. Thank you for the precious children who lead prayers & sang songs this morning. Thank you for their faith & their boldness in sharing it with all who were at the school. I pray that my own children will be so bold as they grow. I pray that I will be, too.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

See You at the Pole

See You at the Pole is tomorrow morning at 7:05 at Gracie's school, and many others around the country. Please pray that many will be in attendance and that God will be glorified and lives will be touched positively. Pray that hearts will be softened if they need to be. God is everywhere; may all Christians share their faith boldly and encourage each other to do so! (Thanks to JettyBetty for posting about this on her blog which prompted me to mention it on my own as well.)

Jack Sprat.......

Friday: Parent's Night Out! One of the Life Groups from church hosted this event and it was great! Chris & I went out to a "fancy" restaurant that we wouldn't typically take our kids to. There were kids there so it's not like it was extremely fancy but it wouldn't be our first choice to take our kids to. We then wondered what to do with the rest of our evening! We got some Starbucks (Pumpkin Spice Latte~yum!) but our only Starbucks is in our Kroger so that's not real "date-like." Then we drove around and ended up going to Goody's where we ran into some friends then also saw Adam & Alissa driving through the parking lot! We just hung out for the rest of the evening. Even though it wasn't very eventful, we enjoyed it...just being together without the kids around. We love our girls but it's nice to take a break every now & then. I've included a picture Gracie drew of us on our date. No comments please that I'm drawn like a large triangle while Chris is drawn as a skinny person....like he is! She was quite intrigued by this whole "Parent's Night Out" thing. You can tell we don't go out much! Of course, the girls had a blast playing at the church building and eating pizza and watching a movie with their friends!

Saturday: I went to a Ladies' Brunch that morning. That was really nice and yummy! Waaay too many choices. It was fun to have this time with different ladies from church and my friend Mary Beth came also. That afternoon I worked on my Sunday School lesson and then took Gracie & a friend to a birthday party at Build-A-Bear. That was fun! The party concluded at the little girl's house where the kids had alot of fun running around playing and eating cupcakes.

Sunday: We had church that morning where I am continuing to really enjoy teaching the 1st & 2nd graders. It's a small group...usually 3, but only 2 this Sunday. I am having alot of fun and I love getting to see firsthand what Gracie is learning. I'm so proud of how well she does with learning!

That afternoon, Chris & I worked on the Student Directory I'm putting together for Gracie's school. OH MY GOODNESS! I never in my life imagined how much work this would be. The way we were putting it together involved having to combine different classes on different sheets and then we'd (I'd) forget a class and we'd have to move classes to other sheets then I'd print them off then I'd have to move things over and print again then he'd have to make the font a different color then I'd have to proofread to catch any mistakes. This was all after I'd typed in the about 663 names then proofread and found way too many mistakes then made sure everyone was in the right class then made any corrections the teachers found on their rough drafts. Do those last couple of sentences sound like run-ons? Well, that's how my last 24 hours or so have felt!

I really was stressed yesterday about 5:00. I actually sent Chris & the girls to Life Group without me. I felt really guilty but I just felt like I had to get that part done before I went crazy.

Monday: This morning Mary Beth & I met at the school office around 9:00 to make the copies. 4 1/2 hours later we were done. We made roughly 750 copies of 9 different pages, front & back. 13,500 copies. Thank goodness for Rizographs that go fast! Still, it took forever! Not to mention a couple of glitches with the machine resetting when we didn't know it had and then it saying we had "gone over our limit" as far as the number of copies we were allowed to make.

We left the school around 1:15 to pick up Katie. Another lady was in the lounge beginning the task of colating 750 sets of directories. I may go in tomorrow to work on it then also on Wednesday I think some of us may work on whatever needs to be finished. They will also need to be stapled down the middle. I am grateful for MB helping me make copies (I literally would have gone crazy if I'd been doing it by myself.) I'm also grateful for the lady who began colating today! This is not a job to do by yourself! Both of these ladies had offered to type as well.

Right now I'm waiting on a friend to come over with her children. Her son & Gracie have a soccer game tonight. Chris has a test he needs to study for, so he's going to watch her girls & Katie while she & I take the big kids to the game. That way, she gets a little bit of a break and he can study for a test. He has this ability to tune out the kids playing so he will actually be able to study with 3 children 3 & under in the house! LOL My friend & I plan to stop at Starbucks on the way to the game too!

Tonight I plan on veggin' out!

first field trip

Gracie had her first "real" field trip today! I say "real" because she went on one in preschool but I went with her and drove her in our own car. Today, she went without me and rode on the school bus and everything! I was nervous I will readily admit, but she did great! They went to a Science Center and saw a planeterium show and also learned about rocks. I wanted to be a chaperone but Mrs. Stauffer said she had so many parents volunteer for field trips that she just had to draw names out of a hat. Yesterday after school she emailed me and said there was a possibility that they were going to be short 1 chaperone because one of the teacher aides was sick. If she'd been sick again today I would have been able to go. Alas, she was well today. Good for her but bad for me!

While Mary Beth and I were waiting to pick up our kids today, one of the other moms from class came over to talk to us. She had been on the field trip with them. She is a very nice lady who is outgoing and always real sweet to Gracie. She went on & on & on about how well the kids behaved. She had so many complimentary things to say about Gracie! She said something about her being just like a little grown-up which is funny because it's true. My mom was the same way as a child and I can be that way too. Apparently, Gracie and her little girl hung out the whole time. She said Gracie & Lakenya held hands almost the whole time and Lakenya kept saying she had to take care of Gracie and she wasn't going to let anything bad happen to her. Her mom made mention of how wonderful it was that Gracie & Lakenya don't "see" the obvious difference between themselves. Gracie is white & Lakenya is black. It is so true and something that I am so grateful for! I even wrote about this "color blindness" once before. She said she wanted to talk about them to the whole school and say "this is the way it should be!"

Lakenya's mom said "Some of these adults can be such fools!" referring to the way adults can be so prejudiced and I think she's 100% right. I don't understand how some people can forget that God made every single one of us and He decided on our skin color! He loves us all just the same! I have sat & listened to people~even friends & people in my extended family~who will say such racist things and it just kills me. It's like they say everything but the exact words..."I think I'm better than that person because I'm white and they're __________" Even though they don't say those words, the meaning behind what they are saying is crystal clear.

I'm so proud of Lakenya & Gracie for being friends despite their difference and I hope I will always be a good example to my girls of how everyone is loved by God....not just white people!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I volunteered to do the Student Directory for Gracie's school. Why??!?! Because it was mentioned in one of our board meetings that it needed to be done, noone volunteered, so I said, "I''ll do it!" Yeah, good move on my part, huh?!?" We have a little over 650 students so this week I typed in their names & the phone numbers of those who consented. I checked my list against the class rosters and the teachers were given a rough draft to check for any corrections that needed to be made. I should be getting those back by tomorrow. I was supposed to get some today but for some reason the teacher representative didn't send them home to me. *argh* If I don't get them all back by tomorrow, I think I'm going to have to go around to the classes and ask the teacher for their list. I have to have them back to make my corrections this weekend because I'm meeting others in the office Monday morning to start running copies and getting it put together. No small task. I'm having to arrange childcare for Katie so it's not like I can just hop into the school to work on it at any time. I'm so hoping it works out!
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Tonight I'm going to a "Grey's Anatomy" premiere party at a friend's house. Tomorrow night one of our Life Groups is sponsoring a "Parent's Night Out" from 6:30-10:30. Whoo hoo! Free babysitting!!!!!! Saturday morning there is a Ladies' Brunch at church. Saturday afternoon I'm taking Gracie and a friend to a Build-A-Bear birthday party. It'll be a busy but fun weekend!
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Dear Lord,
Thank you for letting Gracie have a fun & safe time on her field trip! I was a little worried and you took care of her just like I asked. Thank you! Thank you that children are so much more loving at times than we as adults are. I pray that you will help my children to love & accept everyone regardless of their color, race, background or socio-economic status. Help them to love You enough that they want to share You with everyone they meet. Jesus is what matters, as one of my friends likes to say! Help my children to know that! Help them to know what is important and what is not. I don't want them to accept things as being okay if they're not but there are so many things that just don't matter and I believe skin color is one of those things when it comes to who they can or cannot be friends with! Help Chris & I to be good examples to them! Help us to model for them the way they should act.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

The Amazing Race

Well, you know what they say about South Carolina's education, right? It doesn't rank up there with the best. Tonight's premiere of "The Amazing Race" didn't help that thought I don't think!

Chris & I both love this show, and I was excited about the premiere. Little did I know until earlier in the day that the Dallas Cowboys were playing at the exact same time. It didn't take me more than a second to realize who was going to win this one. My husband loves the Cowboys so much that if Katie had been a boy, her middle name was going to be 'Dallas.' We actually know a precious little girl at church named Dallas~for the same reason...her daddy is a huge Cowboys fan!

Anyway, Chris taped my show for me and after balancing the checkbook (why is there never enough?!?!) I watched it on the computer while he finished up his football game. One of the teams I was interested in watching was a team of 2 cheerleaders from the University of South Carolina which is located in a town not far from here.

Of course, the cheerleaders are being portrayed as you would expect, as are the beauty queens, the Kentucky coal miners and the "alternate lifestyle" couple. All 12 teams pretty well fit into a stereotype. At one point, the cheerleaders walked up to the team that was comprised of 2 Muslim men. One of the cheerleaders reached out her hand to shake the hand of one of the men. He politely declined saying something about not shaking hands because of his religion. I don't know what that was all about because they didn't show his whole reply.

The part they showed later was the part that makes South Carolina look really bad! One of the cheerleaders looks at the other one and asks under her breath, "Do Muslims believe in Buddha?" The other one replies, "I don't know."

I don't claim to know much about either Muslims or Buddhists, but I think I could have at least answered that question for the poor girl.

I can't find anything!!!

I've heard of Spring cleaning. I guess this is what you call Fall cleaning! Chris decided today was the day to clean out & organize the shed. As much as I'm not enjoying it, it did need to be done. I needed to find Gracie's old clothes to see what Katie already has to wear this Fall. I also lend out some of Gracie's other clothes to a friend's daughter and I needed to get to those. Finding those was going to be hard since I'd have to step over a lawnmower, a tricycle, a bicycle, a weed blower, a chain saw, etc. to get to the tubs of clothes. I think you get the picture!

So far, I have a clothes pile to go through, a book pile (some to sell on Ebay, some to add to Gracie's bookcase and some to donate to Gracie's classroom if Mrs. Stauffer wants them) and a garage sale pile. There are alot of other piles out there too...I'm just not sure what they stand for!

Please tell me that someone else out there is as disorganized as we are!

life is better

Today is better...thank goodness! I guess maybe now I feel like writing it all out. I don't write this to embarrass Gracie but since this blog is a journal of our lives, I guess this needs to be in it!

A brief synopsis: Gracie has a bad habit of waiting until the last minute to go to the bathroom. We get onto her alot for this. When I say "alot," I don't mean daily, weekly or even monthly but it still seems like alot for a child her age.

In Kindergarten she had at least 2 "accidents" at school It seems like maybe there was a 3rd but I can't think of it. They were both during the 1st semester and were handled appropriately with care & gentleness by her teachers & aides.

Well, this week she had an accident at school. *sigh* No one wants to be the parent of the child who wets their pants at school. We all know how kids can be and I had these visions of children taunting her mercilessly. It was Tuesday afternoon right before school got out. Apparently it was literally like 10-15 minutes before school got out. I was standing on the sidewalk next to my friend Mary Beth waiting for our kids. We saw Mrs. Stauffer walking down the sidewalk towards us. We both kind of thought it was strange because she doesn't usually bring the kids out; a different teacher does.

I couldn't fully see her so I asked MB, "She doesn't have one of our children by the hand does she?" She said no. Well, she was walking straight towards me and pointed at me and said, "I need to talk to you." You've got to understand. Gracie is not a perfect child, but she is certainly not one who causes the kind of trouble that makes the teacher come out for an "on the spot" conference. I said, "Am I in trouble?!?" She said no but asked for me to step over away from the group of parents.

She explained that apparently Gracie had needed to go to the bathroom during math time but knew that they weren't supposed to ask to go during "direct teaching" time. (As a former teacher, I understand the rule because the students could miss alot & potentially be disturbing if they're getting up during this time.) I guess she raised her hand with the little "signal" they have after the direct teaching was over. However, Mrs. Stauffer didn't see her because she was busy getting the take-home folders ready. Now, most other kids probably would have said the teacher's name to get her attention but not Gracie. By the time Mrs. Stauffer noticed she had her hand up, Gracie stood up to go and it was too late.

I really feel like Gracie didn't necessarily wait until the last minute this time but just had bad timing with when she needed to go. However, she probably could have gone at any number of times during the day and just didn't do it. I also feel like she probably could have been a bit more "aggressive" with letting the teacher know that she had her hand up. However, what's done is done. Mrs. Stauffer told them that if it's a real emergency, they can just go.

Mrs. Stauffer had given Gracie a pair of gym shorts to wear (size medium ADULT!) Gracie had rolled them over at the waist like we do with her soccer practice shorts so that they weren't quite so big. I asked Mrs. Stauffer if everyone laughed at her. She said no and she would have really "chewed them up" (I believe was the phrase) if they had. She said they talked about how no one is perfect, etc. Mrs. Stauffer was very kind about it all and I was very happy that she'd come out to tell me about it in person. If Gracie had walked out in those shorts and I didn't know what had happened, I would have been mad!

So, that was part 1 of the bad thing. I'm embarrassed. Gracie was embarrassed. We talked to her alot about how she shouldn't wait 'til the last minute. She should have made sure Mrs. Stauffer knew it was an emergency. She needs to go during the day so that she doesn't get to that emergency point, etc.

Here's part 2 of the bad thing. Well, that night we were continuing our discussion. I decided to try some "scare tactics" with her. I said, "Gracie, some kids will be mean and they will laugh." She said, "Mrs. Stauffer said X laughed." (X is not the kid's real name...it's being used to protect his privacy!) Well, I was shocked b/c X is her friend and that just didn't seem logical that he would be the one to laugh. I questioned her about it and she kind of laughed and said, "Mrs. Stauffer said X laughed and she had to get him." She wasn't particularly upset about it but it bothered me.

X's mom has always told me to let her know if he ever does anything to Gracie b/c she would want to know so she could correct the situation. I've told her the same about Gracie. So, I emailed her and told her what Gracie said. She emailed back shortly and said, "X said he did not laugh. L did. I'm going to call her (the teacher.)" So she & I talked back & forth about it and how this story just didn't make much sense. She called Mrs. Stauffer but had to leave a message.

All during the evening, I wondered if Mrs. Stauffer would call her back and what she would say. Finally, X's mom called me back and said that Mrs. Stauffer had said X did not laugh. Another child had laughed and maybe he had smiled at that but he did not laugh at Gracie. Well, that was good. However, in the back of my mind I couldn't figure out why Gracie had said that Mrs. Stauffer had said that X had laughed. It just didn't make sense to me.

Chris was so nonchalant about it. He just figured there was an explanation. He felt no need to find out what the explanation was. I on the other hand was going crazy. I believed X. I believed Mrs. Stauffer. So it appeared that Gracie was lying. That didn't make sense either though. X is her friend so why would she try to get him in trouble? It's not like her to blatantly lie like that. It's not that she's never been dishonest, but this would have been a pretty outright lie and it just didn't line up with Gracie's character. She had said it so matter of factly that it just seemed like fact, but X & Mrs. Stauffer's stories weren't coinciding with Gracie's.

I went to bed but woke up with that icky feeling in my stomach of something not being quite right. I had a tummy ache too! I knew Chris wanted me to drop it, but I just couldn't. After he left for work, I started questioning Gracie about it. We went 'round & round with her saying she "thought" she'd heard Mrs. Stauffer say X's name, etc. I got onto her & told her that saying something as fact when she just "thought" it, was like telling a lie and she knows better, blah blah blah. I said something about how she had told us that as if Mrs. Stauffer had looked her in the face and said it. She said, "She did." I repeated it and asked had she looked her in the face and said, "X laughed and I had to get him." She said, "yes." I know everyone wants to think the best of their child but I truly felt like she was telling the truth. As much as she was gonna get it if she was lying, I was also going to stick up for her 'til the bitter end if she was telling the truth!

I was completely unprepared to go inside the school that morning but I did anyway. I threw some make up on and grabbed Katie, barefeet & all (Katie was barefoot~not me!) and we took off for school. I had planned to just go through carline, but I knew I had to find out the real story. We went into her classroom and I said, "I have a question." Mrs. Stauffer said, "okay." Then, I immediately burst into tears! I was so embarrassed! I was so not planning for that to happen! (I guess we know where Gracie gets her dramatic nature from, huh?!?!)

I said, "I just have to know what happened." Mrs. Stauffer was very motherly and hugged us both and listened intently. I said, "Okay. I know X's mom called you. We're friends. I know you said X didn't laugh and that's fine. Whether he did or not is not really the point right now." I took a deep breath and looked over at the bathroom (and her teenage son who is sitting in the rocking chair watching me make a fool of myself!!!) and said, "But she said that you came into the bathroom and said, 'X laughed and I had to get him.' I don't understand!"

She said that yes, she had said that to Gracie. Apparently, L had laughed (who happened to walk into the classroom at that moment! Mrs. Stauffer asked her to step out. She really is a sweet girl!) X sits near L and he had laughed at HER! Mrs. Stauffer had gotten on to X for laughing at L because she said no one needed to laugh at anyone for any reason. Then apparently she told Gracie that X had laughed and she'd gotten onto him but Gracie didn't realize that he hadn't laughed at her. She had gotten the statement out of context.

I sighed with relief and said, "So, you did say that to Gracie, but X hadn't laughed at HER, he had laughed at L!" She said, "yes." *sigh* I explained that I'd worried about this all night and I'd gotten onto Gracie for being dishonest but she was adamant about Mrs. Stauffer having said it and it all just didn't add up. Mrs. Stauffer apologized for not being clear and to please never worry about something all night but just to call her. She handed me a tissue, told Gracie she could get unpacked for the day and I had a little hug & kiss time with her before I left. I apologized for thinking that she was lying and said I really didn't think she would lie about it but it just hadn't made sense, etc. Then I left. My mouth was very dry from being nervous, I was still embarrassed at having cried but relieved that my baby hadn't been dishonest about the whole situation.

Seriously, I was so drained from this whole thing. I had just known in my heart that something wasn't right about the whole situation. I couldn't rest easy until I knew what had happened. I am so thankful that no one had been dishonest! As for L laughing at Gracie....well, kids will be kids. She really is a sweet girl. I'm sure it would be hard for any 6 year old not to laugh in a situation like this. I have not heard of one other child who laughed about it. Gracie has not complained about anyone teasing her. I went in to work with her class later that morning (which added to my embarrassment because I had to face Mrs. Stauffer a mere hour and a half later!) and not one child mentioned the incident to me.

Chris & I were very surprised that Gracie didn't seem to be more embarrassed about it. Chris said, "I don't know why she's not saying she wants to stay home from school tomorrow?!?!?" I guess she's still innocent enough about life not to worry about it. Thankfully, like I said, she hasn't complained about anyone teasing her at all! She really is just a good kid with a great attitude (most of the time) who can go with the flow and is just happy. (Don't get me wrong; she has her moments!)

Today I sent a note to Mrs. Stauffer apologizing for being so emotional and thanking her for helping us sort it all out. I stressed to her how much Chris & I want to support her throughout this school year; how we're Gracie's advocates and we'll make sure she gets what she needs, but we appreciate all she does as Gracie's teacher. Chris had been concerned that I'd been too defensive and made it seem like I was upset with her and I wanted to clear up that I wasn't upset with her at all. Here is how she replied:

Jacinda,
There is absolutely no reason for you to feel that you need to
apologize for anything. You are Gracie's advocate and as such you need
to do what you feel is in her best interest. I did not feel like you
were questioning how I handled the situation. I appreciate that you
came to me and gave me the opportunity to clear any misunderstandings up
between Gracie and myself. I again want to thank you for coming in
yesterday and working with the children.
Have a great day.
*** Stauffer

I am so thankful that Mrs. Stauffer is the kind of teacher who is open to having parents come to her with concerns. I am so thankful that this incident was resolved in a good way. I am so thankful that my baby wasn't dishonest about the situation. I know she's going to have moments of dishonesty in her life and she will hopefully learn from those moments, but this wasn't one of those moments. I am hopeful that Gracie won't have anymore accidents. She just needs to be more mindful of going to the bathroom more often so she doesn't get to the emergency point.

So, I guess that synopsis wasn't so brief, huh?

Dear Lord,

Thank you for letting this situation be resolved. Thank you for letting Mrs. Stauffer be sensitive to how I was feeling. Please help Gracie to do better with not waiting too late to go to the bathroom. Thank you for not letting her be made fun of~at least not too much. Thank you for the good attitude that Gracie has about school and friends. Thank you that she enjoys school so much and is learning so much! Thank you for all of the blessings we have from all the different areas of our lives. Please help us to recognize & appreciate them. Please help us to look for opportunities to share You with others.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen

doozy of a day

"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life....Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" Matthew 6:25a; 27

Today was a doozy! Well, last night was too to be honest.

I really don't feel like writing it all out, but suffice it to say that I didn't sleep well last night and woke up with a tummy ache. Everything seems to be fine now; the girls are good; Chris is wonderful; I'm just a worrier who can't let things go easily. I tend to keep harping on it until I feel it's resolved. Chris on the other hand was fine with the whole situation well before he went to sleep last night. How can men do that?!?! (It didn't have anything to do with him by the way.) So....a couple of conversations and a few tears later, everything was better. Still, with the rain and all that happened this morning, it seems like a good day to curl up with a good book and read.

God is a hero!

I just experienced a wonderful moment with my sweet 6 year old little girl.

In her folder today, a note came home titled "Heroes." The note went on to explain that Monday would be the 5th anniversary of 9/11 and that they would be talking about heroes. It asked us to talk with our child about what a hero is and that we could start with Super Heroes and then just talk about everyday heroes. They said they would be watching a video and doing a few activities including a writing activity about who our child's favorite hero is.

I talked to Gracie about this note. She wasn't sure what a hero was so I explained it to her by saying it was someone who would help when someone was sick or hurt or someone who would protect someone from being hurt. I kind of felt like I was floundering for a really great definition. We talked about Super Heroes and pulled on her experiences watching her little friends Avery & Aidan pretend to be Super Heroes. From that experience we came up with Superman, Batman, Spiderman, Mr. & Mrs. Incredible and Dash.

We then started to talk about everyday heroes and I mentioned firemen. I told her that Mrs. Stauffer was going to want her to write about her favorite hero. Her response made me give her a huge hug and be so proud of her!

She said, "God is a hero because He died on the cross to save us from our sins!"

I told her yes and that she can write about Him next week if she wants to. I so hope she does! (I did elaborate a little on the fact that it was Jesus who actually died and that He is God's son, but after all, they are 3-in-1 right? Father, the Son, & the Holy Spirit!)

I am just so happy that God is who she thought of as a hero. Isn't He the best hero of all?!?!!

too wholesome?

We went to Atlanta over the weekend and had lots of fun! We got home Monday afternoon and the girls & I crashed. It was fun but tiring!

Tuesday was Wal Mart shopping day! I bought so many groceries, Katie had to walk next to me out of the store because she wouldn't fit into the grocery cart!

Yesterday Chris took off work to help take care of the girls & me because I've been sick. Just really feeling awful. I went to the doctor and he said it may just be viral, blah blah blah. I think it's allergies/sinuses. Whatever it is, I felt bad. He gave me a prescription for Zyrtec which seems to have helped although I still don't feel great. Chris took Katie to her first Mother's Day Out of the year yesterday and she did great! (I was supposed to go volunteer for Gracie's class~had it all planned out with her teacher~but being sick, I had to cancel. I was very sad about it!) He also took Gracie to school & picked her up. I'm so grateful that his job is such that he can take off for things like taking care of a puny wife!

Today is our playgroup day but I just didn't feel like going. I feel better but not great and with such a stopped up head I didn't feel like sitting in a room with a bunch of preschoolers running around. I needed to go to the post office to mail some things I've sold on Ebay. I'd put it off too long. I also ran to the bank then went to Blockbuster. I'd been wanting to watch "High School Musical" and "Akeelah and the Bee." I also picked up "RV." It looks funny. We'll see. While there I decided to look at the t.v. series that they rent. I chose to rent the first season of "The Waltons." I know, I know, maybe that's a little geeky but I love them!

When I checked out, the guy said, "Oh, you got the Waltons" with an amused tone. I said, "Yeah, my husband will love it. He can play on the computer while I watch it." He kind of chuckled and shook his head and said, "too wholesome." I just kind of laughed. Really though, is there such a thing as too wholesome? I wanted to go pick out some of the smut they rent and ask him which he'd rather me rent to watch while my 2 year old & 6 year old are in & out of the room! He probably doesn't care either way but honestly, I don't think it's such a bad thing to watch something wholesome. Good grief!

When I was putting Katie into the car, I did the stupidest thing! I had put her in then went to open my door all the way to get into the driver's seat. I opened the door right into my face! and hard! Katie said, "Okay Mommy?" I'm even wearing my glasses today and I just knew I had broken them and given myself a black eye. So far, I don't see a bruise on me and the glasses seemed to have escaped too much damage although they do seem to be sitting on my face a little crooked. How embarrassing! Talk about geeky!

Tonight Gracie plays soccer against one of her best friends! That is, if it doesn't rain! Tuesday they played about 10 minutes and then it started pouring! Hard, large, really wet raindrops! We didn't park anywhere near the field either. UGH I had a PTA Board meeting that night. 2 hours of fun! (HA!) Really, it wasn't bad just kind of tedious talking about all the details that we needed to discuss. I am feeling more & more like I "belong" although still a little like a "newbie." Everyone is nice and ready to offer me help when I need it.

A couple of us at school are starting to talk about "See You at the Pole"which will be held on Wednesday, September 27th. I ask for your prayers that this event will be a positive, uplifting experience for all involved and that God will be glorified!

Tomorrow is Grandparents' Day at school and I'm making some mini muffins for the breakfast. I don't think I'm helping serve simply because I'll have Katie with me and she won't be much help! I told them I could stay if they're desperate for help but I made it clear that Katie would have to be with me. (The breakfast is from7:30-8:00 and MDO doesn't open until 8:45 so that isn't an option.)

Tomorrow night Gracie has a sleepover "camp out" birthday party for a friend. I know she'll have a blast and come home exhausted! Saturday Katie has a birthday party to go to. In a few weeks Gracie has another birthday party to go to. It's a blessing to have so many friends.

Well, I guess I'll go watch a little "John Boy" and ice my black eye! HA!

Hallelujah!

Last few days:

*Saturday I wasn't feeling too well so I laid around the house quite a bit and napped.

*Sunday we had church and a wedding shower. After the shower, we had 2 baptisms which was amazing! The "bride-to-be" was baptized and her "father-in-law-to-be" was as well. It was great! "Mr. Chuck" is the man who was baptized and he is one of the sweetest men in the world! He & his wife are so sweet to my girls and have babysat for us and give them attention and he participated in VBS and his wife even volunteered them to be Gracie's "surrogate grandparents" if there are any programs at her school that her "real" grandparents can't be at. He is so sweet and I've always wondered why he hadn't made that decision to follow Christ but now he has made the decision and I'm so happy as were a whole lot of other people at church! It's also so great that his son will now be marrying a Christian in a few weeks. It was a good afternoon!

*That evening, a "no children" Life Group hosted our Life Group (which has MANY children) at the home of one of their members. It was lots of fun! A couple of them taught the children for us, one of them led the Bible Study, they provided all the food for a great cook-out and they provided their pool where our husbands, ranging in age from about 27-34, got to act like they were 15 again and jumped in the pool over & over again seeing who could create the biggest waves & who could get the closest to getting hurt without actually getting hurt! The children all had fun playing in the pool as well. It was really nice to be the guests of this group!

*Monday started another school & work week. Gracie is still doing well at school~loving it and learning lots!

*After looking at different Mother's Day Out options and dodging a couple of obstacles, I finally enrolled Katie in MDO for this year. She'll be going one day a week from 8:45-12 and I plan to volunteer in Gracie's class during at least part of this time. She may can stay until 1:45 if there's a cancellation but for right now there's too many in the afternoon so she can't. That's okay. She will be in the same class as 2 of her little "boy" friends from church so we're excited about that.

*Today is playgroup and trying to get the house straightened up a little more. Tomorrow we leave for Atlanta for Labor Day weekend. We have alot planned~Gracie's 6 year pictures, the Aquarium, the Varsity, (have you ever had a 'pimento cheese burger'?!?!) and the Cheesecake Factory. YUM! Not to mention my mom's cooking which is great! It'll be a busy but fun weekend!

First soccer game!

This morning was Gracie's first soccer game. It was cute! Gracie played goalie this game. She may need a little more practice in this position before she makes it a career (LOL) but she had fun and that's what's important! She did tell Chris that she couldn't see the ball until it was right there so it looks like she will be wearing her glasses during soccer after all! One pair we got her has frames that can bend & twist etc. without breaking (so they say anyway) so I guess she'll wear that pair.

Oops! She missed this ball!practicing her kicks

throwing it back in after she made a save as goalie!

can't stand a bare classroom!

I have been having such fun the last week or so. I will be teaching 1st & 2nd grade on Sunday mornings at church starting in September and I have been busy decorating my classroom. I absolutely LOVE to do this! We just moved into our building back in March (?) and this particular classroom hasn't been used for anything but storage since we moved in so it was
B-A-R-E, bare! One thing I cannot stand is a bare classroom! There are white walls, a white floor and a white table! Even though I have spent lots of hours up there working, it still needs a few things~namely I need to find a large, inexpensive rug to help brighten it up and also to help with sound. The room has such an echo! I'd also like to come up with some kind of cheap, easy curtain and I'd love to have the table painted a bright color. *sigh* I hate to paint so I doubt I'll do that.

I used to spend about 2 weeks before the beginning of school getting my classroom ready. I would "piddle" alot but I loved doing it! (As I sat coloring today, I told our preacher that I just really enjoy this thing and think it's kind of "therapeutic" for me!) It would get overwhelming sometimes but it was so rewarding to see a bulletin board completed that looked nice. I am NOT a perfectionist when it comes to this kind of thing so I don't want people to look too closely lest they find a torn border, coloring outside the lines or something stapled crooked! Of course, those days of working such long hours in a classroom were "pre-children" when there was noone else to worry about since Chris was at work while I was "piddling." It has been a little harder to work on this classroom since I've had Miss Katie Boo to contend with but it's still worked out pretty well. She would spend time "helping" me, playing with old toys in the resource room, bothering "Mr. Ben" in the office or having a snack.

I am really excited about teaching this class. Gracie will be in it and typically I don't prefer to teach my own child for some reason I'm really excited! There is a man teaching it on Wednesday nights who will do a great job so I'm excited about the job he will do as well. I like having a teacher for my children who I know I can depend on to show up on time and be prepared and have a substitute when they need one. (Man, I hope I can live up to my own expectations! LOL) He came and hung up some bulletin boards for me this morning. Of course, after he left I decided I wanted another one hung so I'll have to ask pretty please for him to come back and do that one I guess.
This is my favorite one! (This one is just one on the wall.) We're going to have memory verses each week and each child has their own little tree next to the big one. Each time they memorize a verse, they will put a leaf on their own tree! Once I get the memory verses from the lady who has the material, I will write the Scripture references on the the leaves & acorns etc. that are on the big tree. The good thing about using the tree is that for the Winter Quarter I can take down the Fall items and put up snowflakes (and change the individual charts & the title) and for Spring & Summer Quarters, we can put up flowers & green leaves.
This board (which is actually just on the wall) took alot longer than I planned for it take! It was frustrating but I had to finish it once I started! The top caterpillar (more like millipede!) is the New Testament and the bottom one is the Old Testament. Each circle is a different book. I didn't figure correctly on how much blue paper to put up and ended up having to add to it and, as you can see, go around the wall for the last 2 books! Good thing I'm not a perfectionist because that part certainly doesn't look as nice I'd like for it to but it's okay. If they were just stapled, I could have taken them down and moved them, but I had the bright(????) idea to put up each circle with velcro. That way, the children can take the circles down and practice putting them back in order. I figured it'd be a good way to practice their books of the Bible. At first, we'll probably take them all down and just focus on having them put up 5 or so at a time so they aren't too overwhelmed with it all!
This board isn't actually a board either. It's just on the wall, but it will be used to record (on the little charts) when they bring their Bible.
This one is pretty much "just for looks." I may put a picture of each of them inside the star.
This is an old board I had at home that was already covered in red gingham (one of my favorite things!) These 3 little girls look very similar to the 3 little girls who will be in the class. I think I may use this board to put up pictures of them working & playing together.
This one still needs to be hung and will be used to display their work.

Even though I've worked hard, it still needs "something." I know curtains and a bright colored rug will help this to look so much nicer! I hope the students will enjoy their time spent in this room and will learn alot and grow closer to God!

lollipop anyone?

I have to keep reminding myself that Katie is not Gracie. Both of the girls have been enamored with the goody bag they each got at a birthday party Saturday because it had quite a bit of candy in it.

This morning I was washing dishes and Katie was sitting on the couch in the living room. I thought she was playing with Polly Pockets. I heard her cough, kind of like she choked, so I went to check on her. She doesn't usually put the small pieces in her mouth but you just never know. I asked her if she was okay and she nodded yes. I walked over to her because she had a guilty look on her face and I just felt like taking time out for a hug anyway.

When I got to her, I noticed that she had all of the candy spread around her. She had not 1, not 2, but 3 lollipops opened and had quite a blue mouth as even more evidence of what she'd been doing! This was one of those times when I probably should have punished her immediately but instead I grabbed the camera to record the moment then rather gently told her she had to have permission before she ate suckers while I washed her sticky hands & face. In other words, she pretty much got away with it although I did throw away the suckers!

How is this not like Gracie? To this day, Gracie probably wouldn't open up 1 lollipop, let alone 3, and eat them without getting permission. Just goes to show yet again that my 2 girls are equally precious but oh so different!

last couple of days

Girl's Night Out dinner complete with wonderful home cooked food and good conversation~great

got a pedicure with a friend complete with a cute little flower on each big toe~fun

found out afterwards that it cost $5 more to get the flower~frustrating

went to dinner and Barnes & Noble with friends~fun

becoming friends with people (like the above) through Gracie's school experience~refreshing

watching & listening to Gracie interact with her friend in the car and being pleased with their relationship~thankful to God

bought the new book, "The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught"~wonderful

balanced the checkbook~not so good

needed to buy a plumbing snake so Chris could try to fix the stopped up toilet~not good

a friend from church came over with a snake we could borrow~good

Chris was able to fix the toilet using the snake~great

made plans to go the Georgia Aquarium next month which will cost $79 for my family to go to (with Katie being free!)~exciting but price is a little steep

my mom calling and telling me someone wants to buy our daybed (that she'd put in her antique shop booth) for $75~great solution to the above steep price

finding the girls in a sweet moment like this~priceless

Katie's eye injury is healing very nicely~great

finding my sweet 2 year old in silly situations like laying around in the dirty laundry~funny

Gracie enjoying school and already learning new things~wonderful

having a fantastic husband~priceless

having good friends to rely on~priceless

God and all He has done for us and continues to do for us~indescribable

Watch out, Mia Hamm!

Gracie started soccer practice Tuesday for the first time ever and she did GREAT! Seriously, I have eaten all the words I'd previously said about being sure she wouldn't be that good. *blush* I really didn't think she would be but I was w-r-o-n-g! She did so good! She was aggressive about getting in there and kicking it and ran along with the group (a little slower than the others perhaps) and was a champion goalie! I had a meeting at church so I had to leave early and unfortunately missed the goalie action but according to Chris and my friend whose son is on the same team, she did fantastic with it! Kicking it out, catching it, throwing it back in and even taking one in the stomach and not whining about it (until after practice was over anyway!) We are so proud of her!

In these pictures, she still doesn't have on her "official soccer gear" but we have it all ready for tonight's practice. We have cleats, soccer socks, shin guards and shorts that are more appropriate for playing soccer. Hopefully they'll get their uniforms and schedule tonight. I have to miss practice tonight because of another event planned for the same time but Chris will be there cheering her on!
doing her jumping jacks
doing her stretches

We survived!

What a day is all I can say!

The first day of First Grade has been completed successfully. Around 7:15 this morning, I wasn't sure I was going to be able to make that statement today. Here's what happened:

We got up around 6:30. For about 2 minutes Gracie said she didn't want to get up. After that she was all giggles and happily got dressed. I made her a "Humpty Dumpty egg" and some toast for breakfast which she ate well with her milk while we did our Bible reading. We made sure she went potty and all that good stuff before leaving. I had grabbed the camera and Chris had the video camera ready. We were walking out the door and I had locked it already when I decided to grab some tissues "just in case."

As I walked back to the front door, I heard Katie screaming and saw Chris holding her horizontally. I thought maybe she was pitching a fit but didn't think it sounded like that kind of screaming. Then I saw the blood! (Katie has gotten quite good about walking down our brick front steps without having to hold someone's hand. Today, Chris said, "Ready" to prepare Gracie that he was videotaping her. Katie said, "Set. Go!" and apparently stumbled as she walked down the steps! Chris has it on video so if anyone tries to accuse us of abusing her, we have proof that it really was an accident! We think she hit face first flat on the sidewalk and not on the corner.) I looked at her and ran to get a washcloth. When I wiped at it and saw how deep it was I was afraid she'd have to have stitches. I asked Chris, "Do you want me to just take her?" He said, "yeah." So off Gracie & I went to her first day of First Grade. Not exactly the way I pictured it. We said our prayer while she was getting buckled in and we started the 2 minute drive to school. I should have walked because the traffic was so bad that in order to get to the parking lot I wanted to be in, I would have had to wait 10-15 minutes so I just ended up parking in someone's front yard anyway which wasn't too far from my house!

I walked her in and helped her find her seat which was made very welcoming by the coloring book and crayons which were waiting for her and the cute little poem with candy. Her friend Hunter came in behind us and he immediately followed her thinking they would sit beside each other. No such luck! He was across the room. Poor little thing...I think he was disappointed! LOL

I took a couple of pictures before I left. I thought she looked kind of sad as I was leaving which threw me off big time because I wasn't expecting it at all. I told Hunter's dad to look in there and see if she looked sad. He looked and said, "Yeah, kind of." So I was upset about that but went ahead and left because I knew good & well that going back in there wouldn't do any good but only make things worse. I figured maybe she was worried about Katie.

I went back to the house to check on Katie who was happy but looked horrible! Chris called the doctor and left a message for them to call. It wasn't bad enough to go to the emergency room and not bad enough to be connected to the answering service since it was so close to 8:30 so we waited for the office to open and call us back. They called about 8:20 and said we could go on in.

They got us back quickly and the nurse scrubbed on it some which Katie did not like! The doctor came in soon after and determined that she didn't have a concussion and it didn't need stitches but could just have the Dermabond stuff (really expensive super glue is how he described it! LOL) Oh, she did not like it! She had to lay down where she promptly kicked the cup of water the nurse was going to use to clean out the wound all over her chart. Then the nurse held down her arms, Chris & I held down her legs and the doctor irrigated it a couple of times~which she hated~and applied the glue. She was screaming, "Let go of me! Let go of me!" She was so loud that the other doctor in the practice opened the door to see what was going on! Yeah, that's my girl!

After he let it dry a little he told me to hold her then said it was time for IHOP! Which was funny because that's where I was planning to meet my friend (Hunter's mom) for breakfast before all this happened. So I called her and we met, just a little later than planned!

Poor Katie looks like she's been in a fight with a cat or something! For awhile I thought it was swelling up and looking worse. Now I think it's actually looking a little better. Since I was afraid that Gracie was upset because of being worried about Katie, Chris stopped by the school on his way to work to talk with her and let her know that Katie was okay.

Funny thing is, when I picked Gracie up and asked her about being sad this morning, she was like, "Um..no I wasn't sad." When I questioned her about it, she said something about how maybe she was a little worried about Katie. Oh well, maybe it's wishful thinking on my part that she'd actually be a little sad about leaving me for school. What can I say? She loves school and I'm glad!

Mary Beth & I ran around all day doing this & that which was fun and kept my mind off stuff somewhat! I'm a worrier by nature so my mind wasn't completely off of it!

Gracie had a good day and said she thinks she thinks she likes 1st grade better than Kindergarten. She was excited to do her homework and was very conscientious about doing it correctly. (handwriting) All in all, she had a good day and seemed to have no complaints or problems about her day. *whew* It was stressful for me being worried about Katie and wondering all day what Gracie was doing but I'm thankful that she had a great time, likes her teacher, learned something new already and is happy.

Thank you Lord for helping Gracie have a fantastic first day of 1st grade! I pray that she'll continue to enjoy it and will learn alot this year. Please protect her; keep a hedge of protection around her and help all of us to be examples of Christ's love. Thank you for protecting Katie and not letting her be hurt too bad. Help her to heal. Thank you for letting Chris be home to help me when she was hurt.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

12 years!

Chris & I went on our anniversary date last night and it was great! Our anniversary isn't until the 13th, but we had plans for tonight and with tomorrow being Sunday, Friday ended up being the best night to celebrate.

We went to The Melting Pot and had a great meal. We were so, so stuffed! Shrimp~YUM, salmon~YUM, sirloin, chicken, tenderloin, cheese, chocolate~DOUBLE YUM, etc. Some of my girlfriends had kind of been teasing me because I'd been there with some of them and had admitted that it wasn't my favorite place to go. Last night was really great though! The food was good and it was a nice atmosphere. Maybe it was just because I was there on a romantic, anniversary date that made the difference. Not that I don't enjoy my "Girl's Night Out" times, but last night was definitely my best Melting Pot experience. We were seriously so full!

It's hard to believe we've been married 12 years (well, tomorrow). 12 years! I feel soooooo old!

Chris is an amazing husband who treats me with such respect & love. He truly puts the girls & me above himself on a daily basis. God is before us all which is why he is able to treat the rest of us so well. The multiple times he tells me he loves me, kisses me, tells me I look beautiful, tells me that I did a good job at something are too many to count. The multiple times he plays with the girls, does practical "around the house" kinds of things, teaches the girls something are too many to count. I consider myself the most blessed of all when it comes to having "picked" a good daddy for my girls. I don't ever have cause to complain that he ignores me, that he doesn't consider my feelings, that he doesn't allow me time to do things "just for me," that he's selfish. He is truly the epitome of a wonderful, Christian husband and I'm thankful to God for him!

We had a teenager from church come watch the girls and they had fun! She's really the only teen from church we have to ask so we were lucky she wasn't working at her "real" job last night. Sometimes we'll ask friends to watch them, but as far as a "real" babysitter, we really only have 1 option. We don't go out often without the girls to be honest, so last night was a real treat! I asked him if he had rented a fancy car for us to ride in. He said, "No. We're minvan kind of people!" Which is true, so true.

We had a funny thing happen on our date last night. We're notorious for having wacky things happen! We stopped and got gas at this exit on the Interstate. The gas station/truck stop was truly the only thing around and I asked Chris if he was sure it was open. He laughed and said, "yes." There were some interesting people hanging around that's for sure. When he got out I locked the door as I'll often do at gas stations, "just in case." While he was pumping gas, I chose a cd that I wanted to put in. I didn't think it would go in since the car wasn't on but I tried it anyway. Sure enough, it wouldn't go in and it kind of pushed back at me as I tried to put it in. When Chris was finished, he pulled on the door to open it and it was locked. I unlocked it from inside and he opened the door and got in. As he did, the horn started honking....over & over & over! It was the car alarm! We didn't even know we had an alarm! We were both kind of freaking out and embarrassed because it wouldn't stop and we didn't know how to stop it! Chris kept starting the car which would make it sound weird and I was afraid it was going to kill the battery or something. We drove away from the pump (still honking!) and I'm thinking, "Okay, I am going to eat at The Melting Pot tonight even if we have to drive another 20 minutes down the interstate with our horn honking!" We parked over away from the station and I grabbed the car manual and started flipping through it. Finally, Chris got out and stuck the key in the door and it stopped! Thing is, he didn't even stick the van key in....he stuck his truck key in! Not even the right key! We both just looked at each other in relief and Chris said, "What was that?!!? What was that?!?!" (He had previously asked repeatedly, "What did you do?!? What did you do?!?" to which I replied, "NOTHING! Stop asking me that!" )

We drove off, still laughing at the fact that this could only happen to us! We knew we'd seen red lights blinking in the car when it was off and it had something to do with anti-theft, but we just figured it was some kind of decoy because we didn't know anything about it. I finally found the section in the car manual that we think explains it. Apparently, if someone tries to remove the radio while the car is locked (and it must have thought I was trying to do that when I tried to push the cd in) and then the door is opened without the key then the alarm will go off. Since I unlocked the door for Chris (and he didn't use his key) it must have set it off! It said the alarm will sound for 2 minutes or until the door is unlocked with the key. We're not sure if it had been 2 minutes or if it was Chris using the key that got it to stop. Probably the 2 minutes since he didn't even use the right key! I'm telling you, this could only happen to the 2 of us! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I just got the email that book #5, The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught, is in stores! I can't wait to read it. The other ones have been fantastic!

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A group of us from church are renting a roller skating rink tonight. Should be hilarious!

Gracie & Mrs. Stauffer

We met Gracie's 1st grade teacher today! Well, Gracie had already spent time with her last year when she spent some time with her first grade class and I'd seen her around the hall a bunch so I already knew who she was, but we had the "official" meet the teacher time today during registration.

She seemed very nice and her classroom was decorated in a very "first graderish" way. Bright colors and all that good stuff! I'm a pretty nosy person, so I know just from observing her last year from time to time when she was in the hall with her class that she doesn't put up with much from the kids. By that I mean she's pretty tough but that's okay with me. I definitely want a teacher who has good classroom control! She showed a motherly side today which I really liked. I wanted to take a picture of them and she sat down in the rocking chair and pulled Gracie up onto her lap. I loved that because I like a teacher to have that nurturing, motherly kind of quality (along with being firm when necessary)! I think that's one of the reasons I liked Mrs. Hooks so much last year because she was so motherly & nurturing with them but she also didn't put up with anything out of line.

Gracie is completely happy with having her because she already feels comfortable with her having been with her class last year for an hour or two a week towards the end of the year. One of the absolutely best things is that she should have no more than 15 students in her class all year! I asked Mrs. Stauffer how many students she has and she said 14. I said something about how I'm sure that will change and she said that actually she is 1 of 2 first grades (there are 7 first grades total) that will be "frozen" at 15 students while the other classes can go a little higher. One of my friends who previously taught 1st grade at another elementary school in town had told me about that because her class had been that class one year. I don't really know for sure why they do it but I'm just so thrilled that Gracie is in one of those classes! Absolutely thrilled! If you read any of my blogs last year, you know that we had a fantastic year with Kindergarten but her class was very large so I'm really looking forward to her being in such a small class! Her good friend Hunter is in her class too so that's really great!

Another thing that was neat was that Mrs. Stauffer's husband was there while we were. He said something sweet to Gracie and said, "I'm Mr. S." She said that he would be in from time to time and he seemed really nice & supportive of his wife and like he would be involved with the class, too. I liked that. I talked to her about wanting to come in & help and Chris talked about wanting to come in for "National Geography Week" this Fall to do a presentation and she seemed excited about that. (I was very proud of him for volunteering!) I told her that Gracie had just gotten her glasses and she would need help taking care of them and she told Gracie that she would help her if Gracie would help her because she always losing her glasses!

I wish everyone could have seen her run to give Coach a hug when she saw him at the school today! She broke away from us and ran faster than I've ever seen her run! He had things to say about her bow, as usual, and said if she comes to school with any of those "baby bows" that she has to go straight back home. I tell you, that man is really good with the kids and knows how to endear himself to them! She also went out to see Miss Stack for a minute to give her a picture she'd colored for her. Miss Stack loved her glasses as I figured she would since they look alot like what she wears!

When we left the school, Gracie wanted to know how many more days until Monday. She is ready & excited!

Dear Lord,
Thank you for our good day meeting Gracie's new teacher. Please help her to keep her love of learning and to never stop wanting to learn. Please protect her spiritually, emotionally, mentally & physically. Be with Mrs. Stauffer and help her to be the best teacher she can be! Help her to be firm yet gentle and to help each student according to what they need most. Be with all of the students who will be in Gracie's class and help them all to have a wonderful 1st grade year! Help Gracie & us to be shining lights that You want us to be wherever we are & to all we meet! Thank you for all of the questions Gracie has been asking as we read the Bible and help Chris & I to answer them in such a way that she'll want to continue learning about Your word and help her to gain all the wisdom & knowledge that You want her to.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

She can see clearly now!

Talk about a bloggable moment! My baby got glasses today! I took her to the opthalmologist (which wasn't covered by my health insurance after all because there wasn't anything medically wrong; it was just an eye exam...oh well, I'm happy we have the FLEX medical savings plan! *whew*) The doctor was an older man and really nice. She did sooooo good! They even dilated her eyes. He asked her, "Have you ever had drops put in your eye before?" She answered yes (she's had pink eye). He said, "Oh, good. You know what to expect." I kind of chuckled and said, "Oh yeah, she knows what to expect" fully expecting her to freak out and for him not to proceed with the drops. Well, I guess turning 6 has matured her because she barely showed any negativity at all. I was really proud of her!

It was quite obvious by how large he had to make the letters before she could read them to him that her sight was worse than I'd thought. He gave the impression that it was pretty bad and he wants to see her back in a year just to keep an eye on it (no pun intended! HA!) He gave her a precription for the glasses but was more laid back about her actually wearing them than I thought he'd be. He didn't seem to think she had to wear them all the time but felt like she would want to because things would look so much better. He said it wouldn't hurt her to wear them all the time but seemed to think she would be able to read up close just fine without them. It's really kind of amazing that she's enjoyed reading as well as she has, but I guess since it's nearsightedness, reading an up close book was okay for her. My brother-in-law is an optometrist so we'll be calling him and see what his recommendation is about how often to actually wear the glasses. We're thinking it might be better to have her wear them all the time to cut down on losing them and stretching them out. We'll see what Mike says.

We went to LensCrafters where their special right now is 50% off of children's glasses. Yea! We got 2 pair so that (knock on wood) if one breaks or gets lost, we have a spare! We got 1 pair that is a plastic frame that seems to be more trendy and 1 pair that is metal and the kind you can bend alot without breaking (not that we'll encourage her to try that out!) She looks absolutely adorable and hasn't hardly stopped giggling since she put them on! We feel kind of bad because apparently there is alot she hasn't been seeing that she should have! Like Chris said, she didn't know she was supposed to see things more clearly. It's just always been that way. I'm glad we took her in and I'm glad she's so happy to be wearing them! Chris & I both started wearing ours in 4th grade so she is starting a little earlier. The doctor laughed and said she didn't have a chance when I said Chris, myself & my dad wear glasses! Actually, my dad just had lens replacement but that's been very recent.

out like a light!

This is what happens when Katie decides to get up bright eyed & bushy tailed at 5:30 am!
(picture taken around 11:30 am)

fondue, coming up!

It seems like we've done alot the last few days and since this is a journal for me, I want to record it all.

Friday
Chris had Friday off and we started the day off by going grocery shopping at Wal Mart. Fun, fun! We really didn't have many groceries in the house and I was taking dinner to a friend with a new baby that night, so we had to go. After we got that done and the groceries put away, Chris left with Gracie for the doctor for her 6 year check-up.

Her check-up went pretty well. She did fail the vision exam though! We pretty much expected this as we had noticed problems already. One time at church, she told me she couldn't read the big screen with the song words that was at the front of the building. I knew it meant that she couldn't see them clearly since they were all words she knew how to read. Chris wasn't pleased with how the nurse handled the exam (and I've had issues with this nurse before) so the next time I encounter her, I may have to complain to the doctor. (One of my friends has had issues with her too.) I really don't usually make "service complaints" like that but this lady is just very unprofessional. Anyway, when the doctor came in, he said she needed to go get her eyes checked. I plan to call an opthalmologist's office tomorrow and try to get an appointment this week before school starts. She was having alot of headaches last year at the beginning of the year and I wonder if maybe the vision problems contributed to them at all.

Chris & I have eye insurance and Gracie isn't on it, so I've been prepared to just pay up front for her and then get reimubursed through our FLEX plan (basically a medical savings account through work). Then I remembered my friend Kym had said if I go to an opthalmologist, who is an MD, instead of an optometrist, who isn't an MD, that it just goes through our regular health insurance. Whoo hoo! I'm excited about that!

She only weighs 35.5 lbs! She's already in a booster seat and he said that was fine but that she'd probably be in it until she drives! Can you imagine?!?! LOL

Chris took a nap that afternoon while Katie did and Gracie & I went to the library. She got her own library card! She was so excited and the ladies at the desk were really sweet about it and gave her stickers and made a big deal about it. On her new card, she checked out a movie: "Muppets in Space" and 2 books about Egypt. She decided she wanted to read about Egypt again and learn more about it. She'll probably be better than me about remembering to turn in her items on time! I am awful and pay our library so much money in fines!

We took dinner to our friends that night and visited with them and the new baby. They live in a part of town we're not as familiar with so we drove around a little and explored. We found a neighborhood with very pretty houses and I love looking at houses so that was kind of fun. We then went home and ate dinner and then went up to our church building to let Gracie practice riding her bike.

We figured the parking lot would be a good place since it was wide open space. When we first got there she didn't have her helmet so we had to go back home to get it. We had just been talking about it at home and Chris had told her to go get it, but she forgot. The doctor had said, "We can fix a broken arm but we can't fix a broken brain." Since we'd just made such a big deal about it, we couldn't just let her ride without it so we drove back home to get it. UGH!

The girls both had a good time riding their bikes and we went late enough in the evening that it wasn't too hot. Katie even got to practice riding Gracie's bike a little. Of course, she's way too young (and didn't have a helmet!) but she liked acting a big girl!
Here is Daddy being silly!

I started reading one of the new books I'd gotten at the library but had to put it down in disgust after I read some variation of the "f" 5 or 6 times in the first 36 pages! The last time also included God's name said in vain along with a variation of the "f" word. It's frustrating because I really wanted to read it and had read another book by the same authors that I didn't remember being so bad.

I went to bed early that night while Chris stayed up 'til about 2 because of the nap he took earlier in the day. When will he learn that he cannot nap and expect to go to sleep at a decent hour?!?!? I, on the other hand, usually don't have that problem.
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Saturday
I had a BeautiControl party to go to a friend's house that morning. It was fun and I actually ended up booking a party for sometime in September. It's a fun way to hopefully get some free stuff or at least stuff for cheaper! My friend did pretty well with the perks she got off of the orders & bookings.

When I got home from the party, Chris said, "Do you want to go out on a date tonight?" I was surprised because our anniversary is next weekend. He assured me that we were going out next weekend but he just thought I'd like to go out this weekend too. We never go out on dates so it was a nice surprise! He had even already called someone to watch the girls! After their naps we took them to our preacher's wife & their son where they had a great time playing! (Our preacher is out of the country on a mission trip.)

Chris & I went to the Outback. We just got salads and the Bloomin' Onion. YUM! I LOVE the Bloomin' Onion! We went just a little after 5 so we didn't have to wait at all then we had over an hour to walk around the mall before we went to the movie. We had gone early to get the tickets so we didn't have to wait in line to purchase them . Our town isn't so big and sometimes newer movies will sell out quickly so we wanted to get them early. The movie was funny but there were certainly offensive parts in it. It's frustrating because the movie still could have been funny without the bad parts.

We went to get the girls who had thoroughly enjoyed themselves! I'm so glad they had so much fun! Next week for our anniversary, Chris & I are going to The Melting Pot. I've been a couple of times and the dessert is absolutely to die for! It's a fondue place and the cheese & dessert are absolutely the best! The meat part isn't my absolute favorite but it is good and Chris has never been so I'm anxious to see if he'll like it. I've always said he wouldn't like it because he's one of those people who is so picky about his food being done that he burns meat most of the time! LOL It is a definite experience and is very romantic so it's a good choice for an anniversary date! Of course, the other 2 times I've gone was on a Girl's Night Out so it's fun for that kind of a night, too! Someone is coming to the house to babysit so the girls can go to bed since it'll be a pretty late night. The restaurant isn't in our town so we'll have to drive a ways to get there.
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Sunday
We had church this morning which was good. Chris took Katie to class and he said she let go of his hand and walked on in ahead of him into the room. Hooray for that little "pitching a fit" phase not lasting! We'll just see how Mother's Day Out goes. I've been looking into maybe sending her to a different one this year. It doesn't start until September 11th and I kind of wanted to start her earlier than that. It's also $30 more for registration but $0.50 less an hour so it would probably eventually even out by the end of the year. I guess I'm going to go check it out and decide.

Chris cooked lunch today and it was goood! Chicken Fried Steak! He does a good job of doing this. We also cooked fried potatoes. Yeah, not real healthy but we don't have it too often. I went to Target and then came back home and crashed for my usual Sunday afternoon nap while Chris mowed the yard. I'd been giving him a hard time because the weeds were out of control! It looks very nice now!

We had Life Group tonight and it was my night to watch the kids. We had 10 kids tonight and that didn't count one who stayed with her Mommy since she's only about 3 months old. They all did really well. The little ones (Katie and a couple others) didn't really listen to my little lesson but the older ones did and they colored on some cards that I'm going to send to someone. Then they played and had a good time while the adults had Bible Study in the other room. After that, some of us went out for Chinese. It was yummy and there was lots leftover for mine & Chris' lunch tomorrow! I'm pretty limited in what Chinese I will eat but I sure do enjoy some Sesame Chicken and fried rice! A funny thing: Obviously, there is sometimes a bit of a language barrier at a Chinese restaurant. One of our friends asked, "Can I have some hot sauce?" The guy said, "You want hot sauce"? He said, "Yes." The guy said, "You want it hot?" He just looked at him and said, "Yes, hot sauce." Chris relayed this story to me because I was on the other end of the table but I remember hearing them all crack up at his end so apparently it was pretty funny when it happened!
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This week:
*PTA Board meeting tomorrow night to discuss the budget. Fun, fun!
*Registration Wednesday where we'll meet Gracie's teacher and I'll work a shift as part of the PTA board. Hope it's not unbearably hot since we'll be sitting outside.
*Our anniversary date.
*We're going skating with a group of friends from church. We're renting a whole skating rink. I think it'll be fun!
*One week from tomorrow my baby starts First Grade!

strolling down memory lane

With school starting soon, I thought I'd take a little walk down memory lane about my own schooling. (Janice mentioned some of her former teachers and it got me thinkin'.)

I attended Greater Atlanta Christian School from Kindergarten~12th grade. While there, I had some great teachers....and some that were a little more boring I must admit. Every school has their great and not so great teachers. It's true. Of course, truth be told, it might not really be that my history teacher was really boring so much that I just didn't get into history.

Kindergarten~Mrs. Powell. I remember her as being a little plump and really nice. One random thing I remember from K was friends gathering around me to sing 'Happy Birthday' when I came into the classroom and me raising my lunchbox as if to hit them! How horrible of me. I don't know what I was thinking?!?! Wait! That might have been 1st grade because I went to 1/2 day Kindergarten so why would I have had a lunchbox? Anyway..... I haven't seen her in forever!

1st grade~Mrs. LaMar. I remember that she had dark hair and I think she lived in our neighborhood which I thought was way cool. I remember not knowing how to tie my shoes and her having to do it for me. I also remember going to pick up lunch from the cafeteria with a friend (we ate in our room) and taking a "shortcut" that took alot longer than it should have and we got in trouble. She reminded us that we had recently watched a video (probably a filmstrip!) about the dangers of taking shortcuts! I haven't seen her in forever.

2nd grade~Mrs. Swaim. *sigh* Mrs. Swaim. I was googly eyed over this lady. I thought she was the sweetest and the prettiest teacher in the whole wide world! I remember that she had dark hair that was kind of "high" & I so distinctly remember her sitting at her desk using her eyelash curler! totally random memory. Of course, I also remember thinking that I was her absolute favorite student in the whole world. Could I have been wrong with my thinking? Perhaps, but I sure believed in then. One time, she left the room and told us, "Do not get up." Well, my rubber cement was on the chalkboard rail behind her desk and I needed it. Surely she wouldn't mind if I got up to get it. After all, I was her favorite, right? She came back in as I was up and she got onto me. *gasp*

I went to speech during part of my elementary years. I couldn't say my "R's" correctly. I improved immensely but I still dread having to say the name, "Roy." I just can't do it! One of my biggest fears growing up was that I would fall in love with a guy named Roy or have a student in my class named Roy. It is my dad's middle name! Once during 2nd grade, some kids were making fun of me and I remember Mrs. Swaim getting on to them.

Her son was in the same class as my brother and once or twice my brother & I got to spend the night with her when my parents were out of town! I think that was probably after my 2nd grade year but it was the coolest! I haven't seen her in forever.

3rd grade~Mrs. Vick/Miss Neal. Mrs. Vick started out the year as my teacher but she left to have a baby. My parents don't remember that she was my teacher but I am 99.9% positive that she was for the first part of the year. Miss Neal replaced her and she was a cool, single teacher with energy! We built a table between 2 trees out of sticks & stiff out in back of our quonset hut and she took our pictures standing on the table. She took the picture and framed it using old wallpaper samples and wrote something nice about us on the back. She was tall, skinny & had curly hair. Mrs. Vick still attends my parents' church but I haven't seen Miss Neal in forever.

4th grade~Mrs. Mankin. This was the year I started wearing glasses. I also ran for student council. I also loved playing "Oregon Trail" on the computer! She still teaches at GAC and I will occasionally see her.

5th grade~Mrs. S. Henderson/Mr. Adams. Mrs. Henderson was my homeroom teacher. I think Mr. Adams only taught me Bible. One of the biggest thrills of this year was getting chosen as the student who could rub Mrs. Henderson's shoulders while she read to us! She would probably die if she knew that's what I remember most about her! It was so cool though if you were the kid who got to do it that day! I haven't seen Mr. Adams in forever but I still see Mrs. Henderson just about every time I go to church with my parents.

6th grade~Mrs. A. Henderson/Mrs. Latham/Mrs. Burnett. I believe Mrs. Henderson was my homeroom teacher this year but we rotated through all 3 of the teacher for the different subjects. I remember having a big "meeting" with a bunch of kids because one group was being mean to another group. Such drama! I also remember the girls having the "talk" about you-know-what with a nurse. I don't think it was the s-e-x talk but the p-u-b-e-r-t-y talk. I see Mrs. Henderson just about every time I go to church with my parents but I haven't seen the other 2 in a long time.

Jr. High & High School ~I'm not even going to attempt to remember many of my teachers from this time but I did really like Mr. Jimmy Jones. Sr. & AP English. With this man I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." I don't remember much of it but I don't think it had much to do with motorcycle maintenance! He was~and still is~a really sweet man!

ACU~As with high school, I won't try to name many of them but some I recall as being favorites are Dr. Perry Reeves, Dr. Dan White, Mr. Kelly Hamby and Mrs. Lucy Hatch.
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Having taught school "pre-children," I do have some students whom I remember more than others. One or two I occasionally keep up with and some that I really wish I knew what they were up to now.

from Lubbock: Fanangelena, Kristen, Kenny, Paul, Blaze, Doug, Robyn, Sarah.....I wonder where they are and what they're doing. Kristen & I will communicate from time to time and I emailed with Blaze's mom awhile back but the others I just wonder........

from Uvalde: Rayanah. She was one of the smartest little girls I have ever met. Truly mature beyond where most 2nd graders were. Josh. Roger. Ricky. Carlos. Israel. Steven. Eric. Javier. These are just a few of the ones I think about and wonder about. I certainly hope that if they write about their 6th or 2nd grade teacher one day that they write nice things. I hope I made that sort of an impression on them.
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Dear Lord,

As a new school year gets ready to start, please surround all of the students, teachers, administrators, custodial staff, secretaries & parents with your love & protection. It takes alot of people to run a school and some don't get the recognition they deserve. Be with the parents & children who have chosen to homeschool and help their experience to be a pleasing one to You. Be with the parents & children who have chosen to go with the public schools and help their experience to be a pleasing one to You. Be with the parents & children who have chosen to go with a private school and help their experience to be a pleasing one to You. No matter where a child attends school, please protect them emotionally, spiritually, physically & mentally. Help them to shine their light for You wherever they may be for there are mutiple opportunities daily for them to do this. Help them to recognize the opportunities and seize them as much as You want them to. Help us, as parents, to be the example that our kids need in order to know how to shine their light and help us to "practice what we preach."

Be with my precious Gracie as she begins 1st grade. It seems weird to even say that. I think surely she can't be that old, but she is. Help her to succeed academically but more importantly to succeed in her spiritual growth. Help Chris & I to be what we need to be in order for her to grow, mature & learn as You want her to. Please give Mrs. Stauffer, the lady who is to be her 1st grade teacher, the wisdom she needs to teach Gracie. Help her to be firm with the students in order to have good classroom control but to also be gentle. Help her to see the potential that some students have and to challenge them appropriately and help her to see the weaknesses that some students have and give them the extra help they need. Please let her be to Gracie, and to all of the students, what You want her to be.

Please give Katie peace & happiness. Help her to obey and mature as a 2 year old should. Help us to give her the time & attention that we need to so that she can grow as she should.

In Jesus' Name,
Amen