My Family!

Here is my family! All five kids, and their spouses, and the kids! All 18 of us!

We have from the left, Joe, me, Jamie and Faith. Then Dan and Katie. Then Brandon, Julie, Gavin (little curly head boy) and Ashlyn. Next is Scott, Laura, and their two girls, Jordan and Tatum. My youngest brother, Justin and his wife Merideth are next to my mom and dad. We will be joined by Baby Sarah this year in February. And Scott and Laura are trying for a boy. That should round out the grandkids, barring any unexpected blessings. :)

2008 Grattitudes

Wow! What a year! I have been here in Phoenix for 4 months, and will be going home in 4 1/2 more months. I'm looking forward to that! It has been a hard year, but I will try to remember the positive.

1. Joe has a job! And they seem to really like him there. He is in Holland helping a new machine build. That way when they come to the US, he can service it when they install them and when the machine needs to be fixed.

2. I have a job too! I'm working .5 part time. I love it! If I can keep this up in the future, I will. Leaving at lunch is so awesome!

3. Jamie is an awesome student! She's getting all As and Bs in school. She enjoys school and reading.

4. Faith has grown so much in her reading ability. It is a struggle, but we're working very hard and hope to have her caught up by the beginning of 3rd grade.

5. I'm grateful for the help I've been getting from my mom and dad. I would probably have had to quit my Master's program without their help.

6. I'm doing well with school. I have a 3.95 gpa. It is so much easier to do the online thing than it was to listen to lectures. I'm glad I found a teaching style the is compatible with my learning style. :)

7. I'm so happy that I have a beautiful house up in Idaho waiting for me. And awesome neighbors who look in on my house often. :)

8. I'm happy I have great friends: in Idaho, in Arizona, and all over the world on the internet. :)

9. I'm grateful for a Church Family in Idaho as well as a nice Sunday School class here in AZ.

10. I'm grateful that I have the support of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without him I would have had a nervous breakdown and would have stayed in bed for the last 4 months.

8 Things

I've been tagged by a good friend, Jennifer. So here we go. This is a neat one.

8 Things

8 TV shows I watch

Life
Mentalist
ER
NCIS
CSI
Burn Notice
Law and Order
Privileged

8 Favorite Restaurants

Chick Fil A
Olive Garden
Paradise Bakery
Red Robin
Applebees
Fudruckers
White Water Pizza
NYPD Pizza

8 Things that happened to me today

(I'm going to use yesterday, because I just got up)

Went to walmart to pic up pictures
Joe hugged me, more than 8 times! :)
I felt baby Sarah kick me from Katie's Tummy
I skipped lunch
It rained on me
I cleaned my bedroom
I hugged Katie
I tickled Ashlyn, my niece

8 Things I look forward to

Joe, the girls and I living as a family again
Going home to my own house, bed, etc.
Christmas morning
Christmas Eve services at Church
Seeing my sister's baby, Sarah
Seeing Dan, my bil, that I haven't seen for so long
Going to The Scottsdale Resort with Joe in a few days
Spending time with my family today

8 things I wish for

to be 35 lbs lighter
To live as a family under one roof again
another doggie, preferably a Westie
to play the piano well
to play my flute even better
to have time to read and do cross stitch
for my master's to be done!
for my family to all live closer

8 people I tag to complete this

Katie
Laura
Carrie
Julie(you'll have to use a reply to do this.) :)
Angela
Amanda
My mom (you'll have to use a reply as well)
I can only think of 7

:)

Baby Booties!

My girls can be so funny! I was making cupcakes for my sister's baby shower. I told them I was putting baby booties on them. They both looked at me funny. Jamie asked if I was putting socks on them. I said no, baby booties. They both said, "Gross!" I realized they thought I was going to put baby bottoms on the cupcakes, not baby booties, as in little crocheted booties! LOL! You can see that I didn't put baby bottoms on the cupcakes. hehe!

My little sister is here!

My little sister is here! She's very pregnant too! And too cute! Love the belly! No stretch marks on her belly, it is perfect. I'm so glad to see her. It has been a long time since I've seen her.

And 2 days and 19 hours and 19 minutes until Joe comes home! If his plane is on time, that is. :) I can't wait to see him. I miss him so much!

Single digits!

Joe will be home in 9 days! Wahoo! I'm so happy. I just wish it was for good. I'm grateful that he has a steady job. A job with security in this unstable time. I know that this is hard for him and for us. But with the economy like it is, a steady job is very important.

I guess I'd better get busy on some Christmas cards and gift wrapping. I have just about all of my shopping done. I just need to wrap. Amazon was my main store this year. I rarely go out without the girls, so I had to shop another way in secret. :)

12 days to go!

12 days to go, not counting today! I'm to excited to see my love. And the girls can't wait to see their daddy.

There is so much to do this time of year. I just want to remind you all to rest. If you don't, then your body will force you to rest. A loved one of mine didn't rest enough, and now she is stuck in bed. She even rested all day yesterday. She tried to do too much with little sleep and now she can't do anything. So just remember, early to bed, but not early to rise. :)

Merry Christmas and Praise to God for sending his Son away from Himself, so that he could come to earth and save us from our sins. I can't imagine being away from my kids for 33 years, and especially knowing what was going to happen at the end of that time.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Yahoo! I'm not a freak anymore for listening to Christmas music! hehe! I waited until November this year. :) Usually I start in October. I just love Christmas music. I got three new CDs this year: The new Amy Grant, Faith Hill and Michael Bublee. All three are outstanding CDs.

Our Thanksgiving was a success. The turkey was juicy, even the white meat, especially the white meat. My dad did a stupendous job! Kudos, Dad! Mom, Grandma and I made the place beautiful by starting to decorate for Christmas, and I did the table with the good china and crystal goblets. I should have taken a picture! I'll do it again for Christmas. We had some neighbors over, Ed, Rebecca and their son Drew. A good time was had by all. Ed got along famously with my nieces and daughters. They had a huge tickle fest. It reminded me of when their Uncle Dan is here. I'm sure there will be plenty of tickle fests at Christmas time when Dan is here. Drew was a big help and seemed to enjoy our chaotic house.

This morning the women in our house all slept in and didn't go shopping. We planned to be out by 10 this morning, but mom had a nightmare and now has a killer migraine. So I'll work on my homework until she is well enough to wake up. I have plenty of homework to keep me busy for the rest of the weekend! YIKES!

Joe comes home in 21 days! Sunday we will be in the teens for the countdown! Wahoo! We are very excited about that. :)

Merry Christmas season, all! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving. I have so much to be thankful for this year.

1. My faith in Jesus has kept me going this year even though it has been one of the hardest years so far. Praise Jesus for that.

2. My husband is so very caring and is trying to do what is best for his family. He is a great, great, man. :)

3. My girls are happy, and healthy. Not to mention pretty cute! :)

4. My parents took us in so that we could have their help through this difficult year.

I could go on. :) Have a Happy Thanksgiving! :)

Grattitudes time!

Enough fussing from me. It is time for grattitudes. Thanks to my MIL who reminded me to count my blessings. That and the Christmas song from White Christmas, "Count your blessings."

1. Joe has a job! And this trip to Holland has upped his job security. And even though he is gone, he isn't in harms way like our men in the military fighting for peoples rights.

2. Tomorrow is a month until Joe comes here to see us! Wahoo!

3. My grandma is coming to visit today. I haven't seen her for quite a long time. It will be so good to see her again. I hope her trip isn't too exhausting for her.

4. My parents. I don't know how I would get through this school year without them. I have so many things going on that I would be a nervous wreck if I had to do it all myself.

5. Jamie and Faith are healthy! Well Faith might have strep again, but we got meds for that. She seems perfectly healthy otherwise. Her ear looked all better this morning when the doctor checked it.

6. I'm grateful for my car, even if it did need a lot of money to fix. It is cute and I still love it. :)

7. My sister and brother in law are coming to Phoenix for Christmas! I can't wait to hug Katie's belly! Baby Sarah and Katie are doing just fine. Praise the Lord!

Thanks for hanging in there through all of my whining. I appreciate all of your support this year. :)

Dang Cute Foreign Car!

My water pump went out and it is going to cost 1000! It is a pain in the butt to fix anything on my foreign car because it is such a pain to get to anything. I'm thinking of skipping my spa day over Christmas. I'll have to ask Joe about it, but sheesh!

Today was a draining day. I got up early to go to school and work on some paper work, and I had a meeting today too. So I'm drained physically, mentally and now my bank account is drained! YIKES!

Maybe not 3 months

Joe said that he may not be stuck in The Netherlands for a while 3 extra months. If they get the parts soon, he may be able to get home sooner. I sure hope so, because I'm so ready to go home. Not that I don't love my parents, I do. I just miss my house, my bed, my things, my friends. And I especially miss Joe.

Not much happening here. Jamie and Faith are loving school. Faith is gaining some ground that she's lost by being behind. Her teacher says that she is doing better. I hope to have her more caught up by the beginning of 3rd grade. It is a lot of work, and so far we've been up to the task.

My school work is going well. I am back to learning how to teach kids to read. Thank goodness! I have a year and a month left in my program, then I'll have my Master's! Wahoo! :)

3 more months!

Joe has to be in Holland another 3 months! NO WAY! He was supposed to come home at the end of March. So now he might not be home until July. We might be able to go see him in the summer, so that would be fun. I wish we could all just be together again. I don't know how Armed Forces wives do this all of the time. At least Joe is not in harms way.

Why I don't have a family bed!

Unless I got a bed like this!

Halloween pictures!

Here is Little Red Ridinghood and Princess Fiona from Shrek. :)We went to our Church. We were doing a carnival and trunk or treat. It was fun. Then Faith and I went trick or treating back at home. :) We only went to a few houses. We didn't really need more candy. :)

Ode to Joe

My sister wrote an "Ode to Dan" so I thought I'd write an "Ode to Joe." My husband is 1/2 way around the world, working to better his career so he can take care of his three girls. With the country's uncertainty, it turns out this was a great move. He has more job stability than he had before. Which is a blessing.

When we're all together at home, Joe goes out of his way to take care of us. He does way more than his share of the house work. He does the dishes and laundry. He helps with the girls.

I'm so happy that we are married, 16 years. So here's to you Joe! My love!

New blog!

I started a new blog that is about how I'm a Christian Teacher in Public schools and personal experiences. It will be tricky because I'm a special education teacher, but we'll see how it goes.

The credit goes to a blog that I've been reading since I started my Master's degree. Angela of http://mspowell.blogspot.com/. Thanks Angela.

Hiking Pictures

Here are some pictures of the girls and I hiking on a "mountain" near my mom's house. They call it a mountain here, but it is a hill, and not a very big hill at that. :)


Over looking Arrowhead Ranch.


Getting ready to head up the hill.



Us girls after our hike. :)

Pictures coming soon

We went hiking this weekend and I took pictures! I'll post them tomorrow. It is 11:15 and I still have to get ready for bed. I'm a night owl! I was ready to drop before 8, but caught my second wind. It is so hard to fall asleep once I get my second wind. Just like it is for little kids. :)

Parent Teacher Conferences

The next three days are going to be a bit crazy! I have parent teacher conferences for my two daughters, and possibly for 7 students. I have two of my students set up for sure. So it may end up to be not so bad. I have finished my progress reports and sent them home, and I just have to file them after the conferences are done. Not too bad.

J's conference is going to be awesome! She's got all As and two Bs. Faith's will be interesting. I wonder if all this work we are doing is catching her up at all. I hope the teacher has taken some data on that. She sees a reading specialist too, so I hope to get a report from her as well.

Joe is doing well. He is very lonely. Especially now that a friend who was there has left. He'll have to travel on the weekends to see a couple of friends we have over there. I know he'll have to take a long weekend to go see my parents' best friends. They'd treat him like royalty. :)

66 days until he gets to come visit us at Christmas! The machine they are doing before his is behind, so his machine may be behind as well. Which means he may be over there for longer. If it is going to be much longer, maybe he can come home for Spring Break and visit us. That is a long shot, but you never know.

1st quarter done! And baby news!

The 1st quarter of this school year is done! Wahoo! Only 3 quarters left.

Tomorrow we'll be in the 60s for days left until Joe gets home. We all miss him so much. And he misses us so much too. He's pretty lonely over there all by himself. But in this time of uncertainty, it is good that he is doing this for job security. We support him, and miss him so much.

Work is going well, for what it is. Crazy, but we're getting into a routine.

My class at NNU is almost done. Whew! I'm so glad that I am almost done with that class. I am excited to get back to learning how to teach kids to read better. :)

My sister, Katie, is having a healthy baby girl! We are so thrilled. After two miscarriages, we couldn't be happier. :)

Seconds after we found out what Katie is having, my sister in law called and is pregnant herself! Wahoo! They are hoping for a boy, since they have 2 girls. We'll see. My dad has guessed 7 out of 7 genders so far. He doesn't have a feeling either way yet.

Sunday Gratitudes

I'm feeling quite grumpy today, so I thought it was time to count my blessings and do a Sunday Gratitude blog.

1. Joe is working hard to provide for our family: Times are tough right now, and I'm sure that the tech field is going to take a hit. Joe is busy off training and this should give him more job security. They're making a new machine that Joe is helping to make so that when it breaks, he'll be able to service it.

2. Help from my mom and dad: My mom and dad are such a big help. I don't know what I'd do without them. Even though I'm going crazy with all of my work, I'd be more crazy if I wasn't here.

3. I have a job: and it is part time. Let me tell you how much I'm enjoying that! I don't think I'll ever want to go back to full time. I get up in the morning, get out of the house, meet nice people, am productive, and all in 1/2 the time of a full time job. :)

4. Freedom! We have the freedom to vote, and voice our political opinion without persecution. "The government is not a reflection of the people. It is a reflection of the people who vote." So go vote! :)

To bail out, or not to bail out

What do you think? At first I was inclined to say no. But since the measure was turned down, I've read some things and am thinking maybe this needs to be rethought. Although I'm not sure where we would get the money, if it would save the credit system in our nation, maybe we need to take action. My mom went to a realestate class yesterday and found out some interesting news. If you try to get a mortgage, you may be out of luck! Even if you have great credit, have saved the down payment, and qualify for a loan, the mortgage company may not have the funds to pay for your house! So not only are you ready to move into your new house, the people that lived there, think they've sold their house and are ready to move out.

Times are very uncertain right now, and maybe we need to help those that we've come to rely on to satisfy our need for instant gratification.

Meds or managing less?

I recently read an article suggested at my sister's blog. It was about women and ADD. I don't need a diagnosis to know that I have ADD. I have always been unable to pay attention to lectures at school, or one activity for very long. I also have recently read a book about right brained children. F, my youngest, is very right brained like myself. This book suggested that most if not all ADD/ADHD people are right brained. Subsequetnly we are most likely to be visual learners. Guess how most teachers teach? Verbally! Now if you aren't very good at processing material by having someone verbally tell you, are you going to be able to pay attention and sit still? NO! Not really. Luckily teachers are learning how to teach to their auditory, visual and kenistic students all at one time. This is helping, if the teacher applies what they've learned.

My point is that I'm very right brained, and ADD. So do I give up things so that there is less to distract me? Or do I take meds so I can handle all that I've taken on? I've decided that I would like to try it without meds. So I haven't signed up to teach Sunday school class, which I would love to do. I'm not going to sign up for Bible Study, which I would also love to do. I'm not going to sign my children up for unnecessary activities. Just piano for J so she won't lose what she's learned for 2 years. And the girls are going to do AWANA because that gives me an hour and a half to read without interuptions.

Luckily I can make this decision for myself easily. I'm taking on line classes so I get all of my education visually. Now I must make the decision for F, who is still in school where most of her education is given to her verbally. She needs to see things, and someday read things to understand them. She's having such a hard time sitting still and listening. She isn't hyperactive. She's learned to tap her feet and sit while looking cute in order to sit still. Her teacher had discovered her trick and double checks to see if she's understood something. Thank goodness. Still, would non-stimulant drugs help her with her attention? I'm torn. I don't want to medicate my precious girl and have her be a zomby. But even when she's reading to me, she can't sit still to save her life!

Being a parent sure isn't easy.

90 days until I see my love

Joe just left to go back home. He leaves for The Netherlands soon. He was able to get 2 weeks off over the holdidays. So now I have a countdown until I see him again. The girls and I will miss him so much. I hope this training helps him with his career, because it will be very hard for us girls.

Nutshell update and Grattitudes

What another wirlwind week. They are just flying by, which is good because that means we are getting closer to going home in the spring.

Jamie had a great week at school. Last week she had a sleep over with a friend last weekend. That was a success and made for some sleepy girls on Sunday. :)

Faith had a good week. We're still busy working on reading. Her math scores aren't too bad. Whew! Every week we make progress with her reading.

We are now three sleeps, or 2 days from seeing Joe. He'll be here Wednesday morning. The girls have an early release that day, so we'll have plenty of time to spend with him that day. :) We are so excited!

That is our week in a nutshell! :)

5 more sleeps!

5 more sleeps until Joe comes for a visit! We miss him so much. I don't know what we're going to do when we can't see him until Christmas. But we're going to just look forward to see him for next week. :)

He's my best friend, and I miss him so much when I can't see him.

Christmas is going to be so much fun!

I know, it is still 3 1/2 months away, but we just found out Joe is going to be with us for the whole break! Wahoo! I can't wait. :) He'll fly in on the 20th and leave on the 3rd. :) :) :) :) (Happy dance!)

Quick update

I haven't had much time to post in the last few weeks. Starting school with a new job, and new schools for the girls, has made us all a bit crazed. My parents are a huge help. My dad and mom take the girls to school for me in the morning, and I pick them up after school. For those of you who don't know, I'm working a .5 job. I work from 8:30 to noon. It is awesome! I can run errands or do my homework after school. Sometimes I've just collapsed on a chair and zoned out to the boob tube. :)

J is doing awesome in school. She's made a really good friend, and is doing well with her school work. F is having difficulty with the new grade, new school, new friends. She is struggling with her academics. We work hard on her reading every evening after dinner. It feels like an uphill battle. I sure pray that we can get her caught up.

So far things are running fairly smoothly down here in Phoenix. (aside from my dog) We have a routine down. After school, we hop in the pool to cool down, then my dad makes dinner. After dinner, we do our homework. F and I usually do this until bed time. Jamie will zip through hers, sometimes with help from Papa, and then maybe get an hour or half an hour watching TV or the computer. It is a nice routine. We'll have to think of something different to do when it gets too cool to swim.

Joe is still up in Idaho by himself. He's awefully lonely. He leaves for The Netherlands at the end of September. He will be there until the end of March. He may get to come home for Christmas, we hope. At least he won't be at home by himself for as long as previously thought. We was maybe going to be over there for 4 months, and then at home for the rest of the time. That would have been too lonely for him.

I'll try to post pictures later. Maybe I'll try a slide show! :)

Good Bye, Maggie, My Sweet Dog

Maggie, my dog of only three years, is gone. She had cancer in her spleen. She seemed fine until last Friday. She's been acting off for the last few months, but we just thought it was because she was getting old. (She was 9) She went down hill fast today. So my sister took Maggie to her vet. They did xrays and saw a tumor. When they brought Maggie into the exam room, she was on a table, but she still managed to wag her tail when she was me. She was such a good dog. I'm going to miss her very much.

Busy, Busy, Busy!

I haven't had a chance to post much since I had to report to school. Busy, Busy, Busy! I have three students, and am working part time. That is awesome!!!!!!!!! I've had fun planning for them too because they are all very close in ability. Fun, Fun, Fun! Since they are in my room all day, and we're working on periods, I planned an OT period, PT period, and an art/cooking/speech and language period. The OT, PT and SLP are excited to work with me on this plan. :)

The girls are doing great with school. They've gone two days. They were a little bored, but are making some friends, so all is well. :)

Oh, gotta go! I have to go read with Faith. I'll post pictures later. :)

Relaxing weekend away!

Joe and I took a relaxing weekend away, just the two of us. :) It was so wonderful. We went to the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort. It was so relaxing and wonderful. We got there Friday night and at dinner at one of their restraunts. YUMMY! Saturday I had a pedicure. This entitled us to use their spa all day. They have an awesome pool the roof of the spa. No kids are allowed up there, so it is quiet and peaceful. It is probably more peaceful in the winter when all of the airconditioners aren't running. We watched the sun set up there, and then sat and enjoyed the evening air. It was very romantic. We are going to do this again for sure! :)

New School District Grattitudes!

1. A lot of what I got critisized for at my last school, this school embraces!
a. Inclusion as much as possible.
b. Academic focus until the student goes to the after high school program! HELLO! I tried to do that with my students. If there was a chance they could learn to read, then I was trying very hard to teach them to read. Certain very influential people though I should just be working on social skills and life skills with these students, and not academics. This was one of my biggest "head butting" things. Social skills and life skills can be taught in every grade, but if a student has a chance to learn to read, then I'm going to take that change and run with it! High expectations are a good thing.
c. Para's in this district actually get training that they can use! They have supervisors at District who take care of them. They aren't under the sole guidence of one special ed teacher in the school. Yahoo!!!!!!!!!! If the para needs training on something, then the district person will take care of it. Thank goodness!
d. We don't have to do all of the work for billing for medicaid! And they don't do any academic, or specialist traing (speech, OT, PT) billing outside of the therapy room. That cuts a lot of money from their budget, but also a lot of work for me!
e. They use a really cool software program that actually communicates with Power school. This means if someone's address changes, or their phone number, it will change in our program as well. That is totally cool!

That is totally cool! I'm excited to be working with this district. Seems really great so far! And while I was sitting there listening to all of their values that were mine last year, I felt so good. I felt validated that I'm a good teacher and that all of the poeple who disagreed were wrong. Or at least just don't have the same values as me. :)

I'm going to go to my school tomorrow and meet my principal, and anyone else who is there. I will get my lap top! Wahoo! I get one to work on IEPs. We get to take them to meetings too to makes changes on the IEPs and take notes. Isn't that neat? :)

Happy Birthday Joe, Jamie, Faith, and Gavin!

We had a mass birthday party this evening at my mom's house! Joe, Jamie, and Faith just had their birthdays. And Gavin, my super cute nephew, is about to have his birthday. So we had one big party! It was fun. It is so nice to see all of my family. We filled up the table, and that is with two of my siblings and their spouses missing. When we're all together, we have to put kids in the kitchen at the kitchen table.

I'm so glad I'm going to be here for all of the birthdays from now until May. :) And all of the Sunday dinners, and all of the holidays. :)

I got a job!

I got a half time job at Desert Sage Elementary in North Glendale. I am going to be working with the very special ed again. Basically what I do up here, but I will only be half time! That is awesome because I will have more time to spend with the girls. :) And I'll have more time to work on my Master's. I have to do an Electronic Portfolio, and a research paper this school year, so I'll have a lot to do! It is nice to go to Phoenix all set up and ready to go. :)

You are never going to guess what I did!

A couple of bird dogs got into our pond next to our swimming pool. There are some baby ducks, who are almost full grown, and the dogs would not get out! A couple of clueless teenage boys were trying to get them out. One of the boys even got in the water. But he wasn't even trying very hard to get the dog out. So after half an hour I went over there, jumped in the pond and got one of the dogs out. Some people who live on the pond have a black lab that they train for hunting. They had a dead duck in their freezer. So the boy got that and threw it in the water. Then the other dog finally came out! Bird dogs are trained to only get out of the water with a dead bird. Apparently they swim and swim and swim until they get a bird. The ducks were teasing the dogs and just staying a bit ahead of the dogs. They were just swimming around and around.

It was a good swim. The water was cold in the middle. :)

Cute Toes and Grattitudes

The girls and I did our nails today. We want to have cute nails for all of our play on these last three days of our time in Boise. We're going to the water park tonight. And the next three days we're going to go to the water park. Gotta have cute nails for that. :)

1. I'm grateful for friends who are going to be here for me when I get back. I'm going to miss them all.

2. I'm grateful that I have a Church to come back to when I get back. I'm going to miss them all.

3. I'm grateful that I'll have a beautiful house to come back to. I'll miss it.

I'll be updating you on all the fun we're going to try to squeeze into the next few days! :)

One week to go!

Wow! One week to go until the girls and I embark on our adventure. We are going to be staying in Phoenix with my mom for the school year. The girls are enrolled in school, and I have a job (pending reference checks). Joe is going to be going to Holland for a good part of the school year, so the girls and I are taking this chance to live in Phoenix. The girls will be spoiled to death by there grandparents. I want them to be able to get to know my parents better. My dad and mom are sooooooo excited! This is the next best thing to us actually moving down there.

I'm aprihensive because this means I will not be with Joe. I am going to miss him so much. He is going to be able to visit us a few times during the school year. I'm also going to miss my home. Our little town is growing so much and will look a lot different by the time we get home.

I really should start packing. YIKES! I packed my school things for my Master's Degree. But after that I got sick and haven't had a chance to pack anything else. I've been sleeping a lot and am almost better. I still have a cough, and a bit of chest congestion. But at least I have my singing voice back. It is torture trying to sing with the songs on our local Christian Music station. That is another thing I'm going to miss. We have an awesome radio station here, KTSY. The Christian Music station in Phoenix doesn't come in real well in West Phoenix. :( I'll have to listen to KTSY on my lap top when I'm working on my homework. :)

Weekend grattitudes

F wanted me to take this picture of her and Maggie yesterday. She wants a picture to remember Maggie by. Goofy! We can go see Maggie every week if she wants. (Maggie is going to stay with my sil when we're in Phoenix)

Weekend grattitudes:

1. I'm feeling a lot better than one week ago. My bronchitis is still here, but getting better. Thank goodness!

2. I finished another week of statistics! Wahoo! I have to do another week today. I'm behind since I was sick. I'm almost done with that class. :)

3. Sports Camp at 2nd Baptist was a hit! Jamie had fun with Cheerleading, and Faith had fun with soccor. Neither girl wanted to go to sports camp, but both had fun once they got there. :)

4. Faith is getting caught up with her reading. She may still be a little behind once school starts, but she'll be way ahead of where she was when school was done. :) My parents will be a huge help with Faith when we get down there. :)

We are all looking forward to getting healthy again so we can go to the water park. If we are rested enough by tomorrow evening, we'll go with some friends. :)

Statistics is stressing me out!

My Statistics class is stressing me out! I put all of these numbers in the computer, and then it spit more numbers out. Well, what do I do with these numbers now? URG! I hope to get some help from my teacher soon.

Summer Sick days?

What is up with this summer? URG! As soon as school got done, I got sick. I had a cough for three weeks. That finally left and we had a couple good weeks. Then BAM! the girls and I got another cold! It was the worst head cold I have had in a long time. I was going through the kleenex like crazy! I had to carry a kleenex box with me on the 4th of July! Then over the weekend it turned and went into my chest. I just got done being sick in my chest, so I headed to the doc in the box. I got hooked up and am now just starting to recover. I'm still exhausted, but getting better. Jamie has a bit of a cough, and Faith has quite a cough. URG!

This week is crazy too. Faith has summer school in the morning to help with her reading. And in the evening we have Sports Camp at Church. Faith is going soccer and Jamie is doing cheerleading. I'm helping with the snacks. Last night I took the night off because I was feeling so sick.

I hope you all are having a good summer. :)

My sister's Baby is still growing! Whew!

The doctor looked at Katie's baby and the baby is still growing. Whew! Thank goodness! She is 8 weeks along now. Praise God that all is well. This is an answer to prayer.

Yeah for Doctors!

Well, my annoying head cold went into me chest, of course! Since I have asthma, even the simplist of colds go straight to my chest. GRRR!! Well, instead of stretching out the suffering, I went to the doctor today, on a Sunday. He gave me some steriods and antibiotic. I already feel a bit better. I love ZPacks. :) whew! I'm working on my finals. It is so hard when I just feel like sleeping. But I need to get it all done by midnight. :)

Prayers needed

My sister has stated bleeding again. :( We think she might be having a miscarriage again. Please pray for her and Dan. If she is miscarrying, then this will be her 3rd miscarriage. I wish there was something I could do. All we can do it pray and pray and pray

2nd interview of the week went well!

I had my second interview of the week today. It went well. I hope I get this one. The princpal and resource teacher were very nice. It is for a .5 job at a school near my mom's house. I would love to have a .5 job. Then I'd have time to work on my master's and still have time to be with the girls. And maybe even have time to hang out with my mom and dad. :)

Wall-E

For a child this was a very good movie. There was a cute story of two robots falling in love. That was too cute. Then there was the space ship with the fat lazy people riding around in hover lounge chairs talking and shopping on screens in front of their faces. When they try to walk for the first time, they look like big babies. That part of the story is cute. The part that the kids probably won't get is the preachy part. The earth is overrun with garbage because people buy so much stuff that they then make so much trash the world is covered with it. I'm sure the kids don't get the "green" of the movie. But for adults, it is kind of like a lecture.

Over all, it was worth the mattinee price. We'll probably buy it because the robot story was so cute. If it helps the future leaders of the world recycle and look around their environment and take notice of the world, than the not so subtle message will work. :)

Interview went well!

My interview went well. I hope they call soon and let me know if I got the job or not. I have another interview on Wednesday morning. I'm torn between the two jobs. One is full time, and one is part time. I would like to do the part time job, but don't want to have to scrimp on the $. We've been paying off bills over the last couple years and I'd like to keep that up. God will provide the perfect job for me. If I get the full time job, I can listen to books on CD on the way. It is a bit of a commute. The part time job is close to my mom's house.

Sunday Grattitudes

This week I'm grateful for having 2 job interviews this week! One if for full time, and one is for part time. I'm nervous about the full time one because it is 20 miles away and full time. It is opposite of rush hour, so I won't have to fight traffic. But I'm afraid I'll get so busy that my parents will have to pick up the slack with the girls. I know they are excited to have us down there. I just feel like I was so busy this last year that I missed a year with the girls.

We'll see about these interviews. :)

Angel Face's Fantastic, Terrific Birthday

Well, Angel Face's birthday party ended up being an all day affair! It started out to be the zoo and a picnic. When AF said she wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, Joe suggested that we just keep the three little girls we had for the zoo and take them to dinner. So we had three extra little girls from 11:00 until 8:00. It wasn't so expensive either. Faith had a fun, fun day.

My Blue Eyed Beauties!

I got a new camera and wanted to test it on the girls. They're so cute! I hope you agree. Their eyes look awesome!

Sunday Grattitudes

1. I'm grateful for my girls. We went on a picnic at our neighborhood park today. We walked so we could take Maggie. It was a little too hot for Maggie I fear though. She took a while to cool down. Poor thing, she was a hot dog! hehe!

2. I'm grateful that we could get water park passes this year. We go as much as 4 times a week. The girls love it. And I love that I don't have to feel like we have to stay most of the day like we did when we paid for a day at the park.

3. I'm grateful that we have air conditioning! The house is so nice and cool. It is warming up outside right now and I'm so thankful that we can be comfortable.

4. I'm grateful for my church and my church family. It is so nice to go to church on Sunday and see my friends, "where everybody knows my name." It is nice to know that people are happy to see you, and miss you when you're gone. :)

Water Park Fun!

Finally it is warm enough for the girls and I to go to the WaterPark and have fun! We went this last weekend, and the water was still too cold. But today, at the end of the day, the water was great! We had so much fun! The lines weren't too bad, so we got to climb a lot of stairs. Great work out! :) We are going to go to the water park as much as we can before we leave for Phoenix. We need to get out of the house!

See you later to a friend

My good friend Melissa has moved to northern Idaho. It is an 8 hour drive away, so we won't be seeing her for quiet a while. My friend was Jamie's piano teacher. My friend was our music leader for the kids at church. My friend was a dear, dear, dear friend to me. I'm going to miss you very much my friend! We'll see you again, that is for sure.

No Gas Day!

The girls and I are going to have a no gas day today! I don't want to use gas. It isn't that I can't afford gas, I just don't want to supply "the man" with buying gas. I think that they are charging more for gas because they can. The cost of crude oil isn't going up as fast as the price of gas. I think that the gas companies are raising the price of gas as high as we are willing to go. So if you want to join me, I'm going to have at least a one no gas day a week. When we do go out, we'll combine trips, like getting groceries when we go out for a play date. The girls and I are going to be riding bikes whenever we can.

The end of a very long year!

School is out for the year. Whew! It has been a very hard year. I have had a lot of political things to deal with this year, as well as trying to fit too much into my life. Things I've learned from this last year:

*I can't work full time and do my Master's degree with two little girls.

*I need to spend more time with my girls.

*I need more dates with my husband.

*I can't do it all!

*It is too hard to be boss and friend at the same time. Especially when there are employees working for you who thing you aren't doing your job well and think they could do it better. Especially when they have no idea!

*I miss being in a Bible study. I probably won't be able to join one until I get my Master's degree, but I plan to start a smaller one that I can do on my own.

I'm going to miss my students, very very much. I hope they get a great teacher for next year. One who can be caring to the students, and a strong supervisor to all of the assistants in the room.

9 years ago today!

9 years and one day ago today, I was a girl...

9 years and one day ago today, I was a wife...

9 years and one day ago today, I was a teacher...

9 years and one day ago today, I could jump in the car and go anywhere on a moment's notice...

9 years and one day ago today, I was less of the woman I am now...

9 years ago today, I learned what true unconditional love is...

9 years ago today, I became a woman...

9 years ago today, my life started to revolve around someone else's schedule...

9 years ago today, I became a mom!

My precious first born was born 9 years agod today. I can't believe this is her last single digit birthday! I can't believe that she is up to my shoulder in height! I can't believe how smart she is. I can't believe I can't hold her on my chest anymore. I can't believe I can pick her up and swing her around anymore!

My little girl can still crawl up in my lap and hug me! My little girl still says she loves me everyday! My little girl still thinks I know everything! (For now anyway) My little girls who is growing up so big. I never knew what my mom meant when she said I'd always be her little girl. Now I know, because I have my own little girl who is growing up so fast.

Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

Movie Reviews

Joe and I have been able to see a few movies in the last two weeks. I took two personal days that I had left. So Joe and I were able to see movies while the girls were at school.



Iron Man wasn't what I was expecting. It was good though. It is more of a guy movie though. Joe enjoyed it. On my movie rating system (Basically what I'd pay to watch it) I rate it a good matinee movie. I wouldn't pay more, and we won't be buying it.



Indiana Jones was a sorry attempt to make a sequal. It almost seemed like a spoof of the 1st three movies. I really think they should have left this series a trilogy. It was tollerable until the end. I won't spoil it, but DUMB! My rating for this movie is maybe a rental. We won't be buying this one. And I don't plan on wasting any more of my time in the future watching it again.



This was an awesome movie! I really liked it. It was just as good as The Lion, The Witch and The Wordrobe. We are for sure going to buy this one when it comes out. I would have paid night time movie prices for it as well.

Jamie's New Furniture

We got Jamie the two dressers pictured in this picture. She's so excited. they are for her Birthday. She should have them up and ready by her birthday next week. She has a cheap dresser that doesn't have enough room for her things. I might paint the old one and then they can use it for their doll clothes. :-)

Moving to Phoenix!

Okay, here goes. Joe is leaving in September to go to The Netherlands for 7 months. I don't have a job right now, and don't really want to look for a full time job. Part time jobs in Special Ed are kind of scarce here, so I don't have that holding me here. Faith needs extra help getting ready for school, and she isn't getting it here. So we decided to move to Phoenix and live with my mom and dad while Joe is gone. We'll go in August so the girls will be there for school. By the time school is done Joe will be back from Holland, and if the market hasn't bounced back, we'll come back here.

One of my assistants has offered to house sit, so we'll have someone living here. :) Maggie will probably go live with my brother and sister in love.

Hotel in the pantry?

When I got up this morning, J told me that the girls and one of their friends were in our pantry playing hotel with their dolls??? So I go to the kitchen and the pantry door is closed. I open in and there are three little girls on two of my dining room chairs with flashlights. They have dolls on various shelfs, and are playing "hotel." I had to LOL! Goofy kids! Who could have imagined? Kids of course!

Weekend grattitudes

1. A week ago one of my students had open heart surgery. She has bounced back so quickly that her mom's head is spinning! She's doing so awesome! She wants to come back to school, and run around and play. Her mom is having a hard time keeping her quiet. She had so many people praying and fasting for her, and it shows. :)

2. I'm thankful for all of the support I've gotten this week. The parents of my students have beeen great, as well as my family and friends. The job hunt has just begun. I forgot all of the things that need to be gathered in order to apply for a job. Goodness!

3. I'm grateful for my beautiful healthy girls. They are awesome! They crack me up and help lighten my life.

4. I'm grateful that I can go to school and learn a new area for education. I'm excited about teaching kids to read. :)

Looking for a new job

This past year has been very hard. I have barely been able to keep it all together. Actually, I haven't been able to keep it all together. So this summer, I'll be looking for a new job. I'm thinking of maybe being a paraprofessional for a year or two until I get my Master's. I just can't do it all and with Joe going to be gone for the next school year, I know that it would be too hard to continue on the way I was.

5 o'clock Jammie time?

It is 5:00 and I already have my jammies on. I had such a busy day at school, and I stayed up late last night working. So when I found out we're eating at home, I took a shower and put my jammies on. :-) I had 3 IEPs and 2 3 year re-evals all in three meetings. I stayed up really late last night trying working on an IEP. So I'm really, really tired now. I plan on going to bed when the girls go to bed. :-) This evening will be a relaxing evening.

Stupid Insurance!

My poor sister. I wish there was something I could do. They've had two miscarriages. The insurance won't let her doctor investigate why until they've had three miscarriages. My sister doesn't want to try again and have another baby die. She is so confused. She wants a baby so much, but doesn't want another miscarriage. I wish there was something I could do to make this right for her. Something I could say, or do. My heart and prayers go out to her and her husband.

Cloudy Rainy weather!

For the next three days there isn't a spot of sunshine in store. (lower lip sticking out) The sun might peek out here and there, but for the most part, rain, rain, rain. It sure is the season for rain. We are usually pretty wet in the the spring, and dry in the summer. I just miss the sun when I don't see it once and a while.

My sister in VA is having a lot of rain as well. So there must be rain everywhere! :)

Oh No! Not again!

Joe just got an e-mail saying that they want him to go to Holland for 7 months starting in August. The same week we were going to go on our vacatoin. :( He's going to see if we can go a week earlier, which is our anniversary anyway. There are too many people taking their vacation that day, but Joe might be able to get it off since he's leaving. I sure hope he can come home for a break during Christmas.

I don't know if I can do this again! School is only going to get harder next year. Luckily I have great assistants at work, so that should help. Please keep me in your prayers.

Weekend grattitudes

1. I'm thankful that work has calmed down, stresswise anyway. Watch, now that I said that, it will ramp up again, I HOPE NOT! Anyway, I have quite a few meetings in the next two weeks. But once those are done, I'm good for the year! I'll have a couple of transition meetings in May. Those aren't usually too stressful.

2. My IEPs are getting better and better. With my Master's work, and reviewing IEPs with my consulting teacher as well as others, I am getting better.

3. The girls had a great day! They both had a friend over and I barely heard from them all day! Which is good because I've been working on homework all day.

4. My awesome husband! He is so helpful. He is working hard to make sure I get all of my homework done. He's helping around the house more than he should. For this I am so grateful.

5. AWANA is done on Monday. Wahoo! We will be getting Monday nights back! I love AWANA, and I love that the girls are learning so much about Jesus. It sure is a lot of work though.

Sunday Grattitudes

1. Number one, I'm sooooooooo grateful that my dad is safe and healthy. His meds were changed last week and this week he passed out and his heart rate plumitted. There was an interaction with the meds, and he is now fine. Whew! That is a huge answer to prayer.

2. My parents have been married 22 year as of yesterday! Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad! I'm so happy for them.

3. Healthy Children! I'm so happy that my girls are healthy, loving, well behaved, and they love Jesus. No where am I more reminded about what I have than at work when I take care of children with special needs. My hearts to out to their parents.

4. My Schooling: I'm so grateful for my schooling which is helping me teach kids to read more efficiently.

That being said, I'd better get busy. I have a lot of work to do today before I rest. Thanks for reading! And never forget to be grateful for all the wonderful things God has given you.

Whew! My dad is alright

My dad collapsed last night. He gave us all a scare. He had a lot of tests done today, and everything appears to be good with his heart. He had a change in medication last week, so the cause appears to be caused by his new meds. Whew! It is scary when you parents get sick. I'm so glad that he is doing well now and is at home.

Movie questions

Favorite movies you have to be "in the mood" for in order to enjoy:

1. Star War Movies
2. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

Favorite movies that make you laugh out loud no matter how many times you have watched them:

1. Monsters Inc.
2. How to lose a guy in 10 days
Your favorite "Guilty Pleasures"

1. Time to Kill
2. Somewhere in Time

Favorite movies you have seen so many times, you can recite all the lines

1. Bourne Identity movies
2. Sense and Sensibility (Emma Thompson)

Movies that "Opened your eyes."

1. Mr. Holland's Opus
2. A Brilliant Mind

Most Overrated

1. Napoleon Dynamite
2. Castaway

What were the last 2 movies you watched

1. Sense and Sensibility (Kiera Knightly sp? with my mom in Phoenix)
2. Little Women

Your spouse's/significant other's favorites

1. Dune
2. Lord of the Rings movies

Your all time favorites:

1. Somewhere in Time
2. Bourne movies

Almost Sunday Grattitudes

It is 57 minutes until Sunday. :-)

1. I'm grateful for a loving husband who takes care of us three girls. He is currently upstairs doing the laundry. He's so wonderful. He makes sure I have time to get my homework done, or relax.

2. We had an unexpected visitor tonight. A puppy from a neighbors house came to visit. He got out from his backyard, and his owners aren't home. He's the cutest black lab puppy. His owners are still not home, so we are keeping him overnight. Luckily we got a crate from next door to keep him in. Faith loves him! She held him all evening. :)

3. I'm blessed to be able to keep going with my education. I love going to school, and am having fun learning at NNU. I am learning how to teach children to read and write. Our next class will be on teach ELL students to read and write. That will be exciting and help me when we move to Phoenix.

I'd write more, but it is late and I'm getting sleepy. I guess the puppy will be sleeping over! :-)

Sunday Grattitudes and the Truth

Today is the last day of our Spring Break. My mom usually comes up here for Spring break. Last year my mom and sister came and we had loads of fun. This year, however, Easter fell on the first Sunday of Spring Break. So my mom was unable to fly up here, due to there being a blackout for her frequent flyer miles. BUMMER! In the meantime, Joe had asked for this week off so we could all have some fun. One of the teachers at my school asked if we were going to go to Phoenix for spring break. I hadn't thought of that. So this last week we spend hanging out in the nice warm air in Phoenix. It was so nice to wear short sleeves, shorts and flip flops. The girls went swimming in my mom's still cold pool. The adults watched from the patio. Too cold for the sain still. :-) It was a busy, yet relaxing week. I like to think of it as a peek into what we could have if we move down there. Jamie thinks that if we move down there, she'll get to live in Grammies guest room, and we can sleep in the other guest room. hehe! I don't think so deary. We'll get our own house.

This week I'm so grateful that we got to spend that week with my family. We went shopping, 4wheeling, visiting with my sil and brother, and just hanging out. It was a little slice of heaven. Of course it was good to come home and get Maggie from "doggie camp." She loves the kennel. She runs constantly in her sleep chasing other dogs for weeks!

I'm grateful that I can go to school, while working fulltime and still enjoy my girls.

In Church today we talked about how kids believe in the Truth these days. We as the older generation believe and then see if work in our lives. The newer generation has to see the Truth work in their lives before they can believe. So as parents we need to model and be aware of the influences that guide our children's belief systems. One of the things I've decided to do it to turn off the TV. For now it will just be Sundays. The girls can still watch TV for a bit in the evenings to wind down before bed, on week days. But I think the weekend needs to be TV free. They don't know it yet, but this summer we're going to try being TV free. I think I'll let them pick an hour to watch a day. We watched way too much TV last summer. I'm also going to try to find a Christian Ed program to do with them this summer. I'll let you know what I find. :) I want them to grow up knowing the Truth, not just because mom and dad told them to believe, but because they know the Truth.

Shopping, Shopping, Shopping!

My mom, sister in love Laura, and I went shopping today. We had a lot of fun.:) Laura got an outfit at White House, Black Market. She also got some other things. I got a dress and sweater at Coldwater Creek. I also got some really high heels at DSW in a cool color blue. :) It is always more fun to go shopping when you have a little money to spend. :)

Tomorrow we're going to The Phoenix Zoo with the little girls. :) It will be fun. Especially since the weather is still nice. :)

He is Risen!

Happy Easter everyone! We are in Phoenix with my parents, enjoying the warm weather. It is so nice down here. The weather is perfect! We enjoyed the day seeing two of my brothers and their families. We saw Brandon and his wife Julie and their kids Ashlyn and Gavin. We also had dinner with Scott and his wife Laura and their daughters Jordan and Tatum. Jordan stayed overnight and is currently chatting in their bedroom. They're supposed to be napping. :)

Tomorrow we're going to go four wheeling in the desert with Scott and Laura. My parents are going to watch the girls.

I hope you all had a great Easter! God Bless you! He is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!

Which Jane Austen Charactor are you?

Take the Quiz here!

We're Staying

What an emotional roller coaster! Especially the last few days. We aren't going to be able to sell the house for what we want. We could try to force the bank to do a short sale, but Joe doesn't want to do that. So we're staying. We'll try and move again when we don't owe so much on the house. I'm sad that I can't move closer to my parents. But this is how it has to be for now.

Moving or not moving?

I posted yesterday thinking we were moving to Phoenix. We thought! We owe more on the house than we can get for it. So we might not be able to work it out. My dad and their loan agent are working on it. They trying to find a way to make it work. My parents want us down there more than anything. I hope it works out. But if it doesn't, maybe we can stay here get our mortgage paid down a little and move that way. We'll see. I'll update as soon as I find anything out.

Weekend Grattitudes

This was a rough week around the Johnson household. We all got a cold, and are now recovering. Faith never got over her last cough. My sister had her second miscarriage, breaking all of our hearts. So I think I really need this weeks grattitudes to focus on the positive.

1. Excluding out colds, we are all healthy! We can walk on our own two feet, we can go to school and learn, or to work and earn a living. We can jump and play and have fun.

2. I praise God that I never had to go through what my sister is going through. I was truely blessed. I wish there was something I could do to help my sister though. ((((((HUGS))))))) to you Katie.

3. I have a great job. I get to help special children go to school and get the most out of it that they can. I have a supportive staff.

4. I have a great Church family. I got up to take a couple of Exedrine during church, and saw so many happy smiling faces who knew me and said hi. I love having a great church and church family. :)

5. Finally and not least for sure, I am thankful for my faith. I don't know what I'd do without it. We still don't know if we're moving to Phoenix or not. If we didn't have our faith, we'd be going nuts!

Have a great week and try to think of 5 things to be grateful for this week!

My poor sister and brother in love

My sister and brother in love miscarried today. :( They were about 12 weeks along. They are heart broken. This is the second baby they've lost. I feel so bad for them. Please say a prayer for them. They really want to start a family.

Ski Night for Hunter Elementary

Last night was ski night for our school. The 4th and 5th graders from our school go up to Bogus Basin and learn to ski. Most of the kids haven't skied before, so they get lessons and then are let go to practice. It is a great night and the kids have a great time.

This is the second year I've gone up. I don't ski, so I go and help out with the kids. I help get on their boots. Then I sit in the lodge and wait in case a kid gets hurt, or something. My good friend Stephanie, also one of my paras, came up and we sat together. It was a good time. We sat at a big table so when people came in to rest, they could hang at our table. It was fun. I think next year, when Jamie is in 4th grade we'll both take a lesson and ski. :)

This is acceptable programming?

I was watching Crossing Jordan on A&E when a commercial came on for the new Gene Simmons show. The commercial shows women with numbers on poster boards representing the woman he had slept with in that order. These numbers are in the thousands. YIKES! Why do they think this is something to flaunt? I don't understand. How can being that evil and sinnful possibly be so accepted these days. It makes me sad. And I know it makes Jesus sad. I bet He weeps every time He sees something like that.

It makes me very sad.

Weekend Grattitudes

First of all, this weekend I'm grateful that Monday is part of the weekend. I have had a rough couple of weeks and really needed a break. It also gives me some time to hang out with the girls. We haven't had much time to hang out because I've been busy with my Master's work. We're going to plant some bulbs today. We're a little late, but hopefully it will still work. If not, they'll come up next year.

I'm grateful that my sister is pregnant and doing well. She's talking on her blog about how cute she looks. She's in this inbetween stage, between looking pregnant and just looking fat. I'm sure she looks adorable.

I'm thankful that I have my Lord Jesus on my side. All this waiting with my husband's job interview would normally drive me crazy if I was waiting by myself, so to speak. But I have Jesus knows what is going on. He knows that it will be worth the wait no matter what happens. :)

High School Musical 2 Again!

My girls love, love, love this movie! We watch it at least once a week. We also have the Karaoke for both movies. At least it isn't too terrible and it is something we can do together.

Tomorrow we will probably be hanging out and gardening. I still have to take all of the old flowers out of the flower bed and put my bulbs in there. I hope they grow. If they don't this summer, maybe next summer. :)

This week should be much easier for me than the last two weeks. It was rough, but I think we're ready to start a new routine and get things going at work.

I hope you all have a great week!

Where did the Romantic go?

Being married for 15 years sure has knocked the romantic out of Valentines day. Joe doesn't like crowds, so we don't go out, on a date anyway. He doesn't do flowers, because they die. And the last time he bought me roses for valentines day, it was kind of a bust. But that is another story.

We've made it about the girls. They love it! We start the day with doughnuts. We never do doughnuts so it is a treat for the girls. Then for dinner we get a heart pizza from Papa Murphy's. This year we are going to go to Pier 49. They also have a heart shaped pizza. They love it!

Snow, Snow and more Snow!

For the 9 winters that we've been here, we haven't had very much snow. If we did, we rarely had to shovel it, because warm temps would melt it away by noon. Once and a while we get a cold snap, but it rarely lasts for very long.

This winter has been very different. We've had a ton of snow. We've had a lot of cold as well. In fact, we even had a snow day! Meridian School District hasn't had a snow day for 13 years. Some school districts have almost used up all of their snow days. The above picture was taken on the way to Sun Valley. Notice the little rectangular speed limit sign poking up above the snow. YIKES!

If we move to Phoenix, this was a nice last winter for us. If not, we probably won't have another winter like this for a long time. At least the snow pack is above average. That is good news for the hot dry summer and fire season.

Big Weekend Grattitudes!

I have big news. I had to wait for my sister to post on here site. Katie, my sister, is pregnant!!!!!!!!!! Wow! We're all so excited! She wanted to wait until she had seen the doctor and the baby. Yesterday, 2/1, she has an u/s and saw the baby's heartbeat! Katie and Dan are so happy! They are due in September. I guess I'll be missing a bit of school at the beginning of the school year next year! :)

Sunday Grattitudes

I have a friend that has a blog that does Sunday Grattitudes, so I thought I would copy her idea and start that on my blog. What's better than being grateful for what you have? :-)

So here goes, here is a top 10 list!

1. My wonderful family! My husband is so awesome, my girls are healthy and happy and I'm so proud of them.

2. My extended family: my mom, dad, brothers and sisters. Yes, that includes my inlaws, I consider them to be my brother and sisters. :)

3. My chruch family: I don't know what I would do without them. I love having "family" up here since we don't have family up here.

4. My love for my Faither. I'm so blessed to be able to worship my Father in freedom without haivng to hide it.

5. My school, as in my work school. I have a great principal, and great ERR staff. They make a hard job easier, and a great place to work.

6. My school, as in NNU. I'm so blessed to be able to go to school and further my academic degree. I love to learn and am having fun. (even though I am struggling through a final right now.)

7. Yes, and you my cute doggy who is begging for her dinner. I love you too, Maggie. (insert whining and begging for food)

8. My beautiful house. We have a beautiful house and great neighbors.

9. My friends. I have awesome friends who are supportive and make life so much sweeter.

10. My health. I may not be the picture of a healthy women, but I can work, I can play and I can love. You can't ask for more than that! :)

The death of a young actor

What a great loss. Heath Ledger died today at 28. He was so young. He'd done some great work in his short life. He could have done even greater work. What could have been going through his mind? Was it intentional? If it was, why? He will be missed, especially by his little daughter.

Joe's Interviews went well

He doesn't know anything yet, but he thinks they went well. Many people have asked me what they should pray for: staying her in Idaho, or moving to PHX. That is a loaded question. I tell them to pray God's Will. After all, that is what is going to happen in the end, the more we fight it, the harder life is. The less we fight is, the straighter and smoother our path is. That is what our Pastor preached last Sunday, and it didn't fall on deaf ears. Now more than ever I am trying to pray God's Will. We have a good life set up here in Idaho. But living by family is a dream I thought would never happen. I'm not fond of PHX exactly. Sure it is nice in the winter. But sure is hot in the summer! But living by family would just be so totally awesome. I just wish I could take my school with me. :) I do get to take my college school with me, which is good. :)

Cool Picture!

This picture is of a rare occurance of when a little piece of ice gets caught up in a snow storm and rolls with the wind. It is the same effect as making a snow man, only it is shaped like a wheel instead of a ball. Pretty neat! A crisp layer of snow has to be on the ground first. A farmer had about 20 of these in his field. Facinating!

Joe has a 2nd interview!

Joe has a second interview next week in Phoenix. We're excited, but will be okay either way. We have built a great life up here, but it would be nice to be back with family again. Especially for the girls. They need some more time with their grandparents. :) I'm just praying for God's Will and that it all goes smoothly whatever His plan is for us.

HOORAYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!

Joe isn't going to Holland afterall! They found someone else to cover it. I think they liked the job he was doing when he was there and wanted him to come back and do it. They found someone else from over there to do that job. :) :) :) :) :) I'm so happy! :) :) :) :)

******HAPPY DANCE*******

Happy New Year my friend's and family!

I hope you all have a great day and had a great 2007. Here's to a great 2008. We may have some big changes this year. Joe is off to Holland once again. When he gets back, he may be transfering to Tempe. Hopefully we'll find out about that this week. He agreed that we could live by my parents' in Arrowhead. Thankgoodness! Because if he's going to be traveling like this, it would be a whole lot easier to deal with if we could be by family.

I'll be busy working on my Master's degree. I don't graduate with that until 2009. So I'll continue to be pretty busy.

So here's so a great year! Whatever it brings. :) God will provide and the path will be easier if we stay on His path! My pastor's message on Sunday was about that. :)