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.