Off to Hershey :)

Well, I realize there is no picture yet again today. I also realize it has been a long time since I blogged. Let's just say the last week of school was wild and then trying to get ready for a trip right after that was wild as well. I had lots to share but it will have to wait till I return. We'll be gone six days. I'll "try" to post the night we get back. It will depend on how we feel after riding and riding. :) Everyone behave until I return.... I'm sure I'll have an interesting and entertaining story for you all.... hee hee

Honored Today

Well, I tried three times to no avail to post a picture tonight. It seems this computer is acting up again. Just envision something for this post....maybe a wild rose or a flower sprinkled in drops of rain....use your imagination. :)

I was honored today...the yearbook for the school was dedicated to me and another teacher today. I was the Elementary teacher and the other was Highschool. This class is my first full class I taught and they have always been precious to me. Little did I realize the Seniors had to vote. I am so going to miss this class. They are like my children...I have watched them grow up and mature. I have several who have always come back to see me and that has been so precious to me. I am still not believing what they did for me. They will never know how much it has meant to my heart. This Thursday as I watch them graduate I am going to have tears falling I know. Just thinking about it right now causes my heart to stir and the tears to begin. This honor made me realize all I do IS worth it. Some days I truly wonder but after today and realizing that these kids still remember what I taught them after 10 years and love the memories we have...well, I guess I know what I do is worth more than gold. The old saying "To teach is to touch lives forever..." is so true and I find it ringing more and more true as I get older.

I am off to continue reading my book now. I need a bit of "chill" time after my sweet emotions of the day. I thank the Lord for all He has blessed me with today....

De-cluttering

Well, it is Friday! Thank goodness this was the last Friday of school. :) It was pretty uneventful and more relaxing I must say. We are just doing the last stuff and it isn't that taxing. It has given me a chance to get some other things done that are required for the end of the year. Next week, for the most part, we play. :)

Here is an iris up close that I took at my Father-in-Law's house. I just love how the sun hits it. I think if you click on the picture it will be larger and you can see how it shimmers in the sunlight.

We have been de-cluttering and cleaning up again tonight. Let's just say it is after 8:30 and the kids still aren't in bed. We are working with them on getting allllll of their mess up. It is an overwhelming job and I am so thankful Steve is helping me. Steve is in there right now working with the kids on their before and after numbers. That is Wesley's weakness and it is hilarious to hear his answers. lol Steve is trying to get it to "click"...

This afternoon their teacher sat down with them with me and told them about next year. She told them that she needed them to stay with her because she has no one to teach the new children how things work. They both seemed pretty tickled. I could tell the whole time, though, that Mikayla's little teacher mind was working. After their teacher left Mikayla said "But I want to be the teacher!!!!" ha!!! I told her she had to wait until she finished college to do that....she could just be the teacher helper next year. They seem pretty excited. I loved the way she told them....she is so wonderful.

Oh, guess what I am saving up to purchase...MORE Birkenstocks! HA! The ones I want now are PINK and another black pair that is dressier for my skirts and such. I can't wait to order them. My friend and I were looking at them last night and then my other friend and I checked them out again today. I think I convinced both of them we should get them.... I need to go to Birkenstock's Anonymous. "Hi, my name is Kellie and I am addicted to Birkenstocks...." It really is addicting. hee hee

Well, sitting here typing isn't getting the other parts done. Thankfully, there is very few pieces to work on, though. I do have about 2 hours worth of clothing to iron but that "ain't gonna happen tonight!" I want to watch The Chronicles of Narnia and let Steve see it. We'll see if we can get these kids in bed soon!! I hope I can stay awake the whole time to watch it. :)

Graduation and "God gave us a rainbow"

Today was graduation day for the Kindergarteners at our school. Wesley and Mikayla were a part of that group and it was a sweet day. I took off and actually got to be a Mom all day. :) Even though we know they'll be doing this again next year, it was an emotional and sweet time. They did a play beforehand about all they had learned this year entitled "God's Kinder-Garden" and Wesley's tractor was needed as a prop! He was thrilled that it was with him at school but he did NOT like the fact it wasn't at home with him when he got home! LOL After the graduation we went to their end of the year picnic. Mikayla and another little boy in her class earned Perfect Attendance! It was pretty neat. They also earned Fitness ribbons and Reading awards for meeting the goals set by the teachers.

After the picnic, we came home and began cleaning. This house is in total disaster mode and it still isn't finished but at least we got some parts of it cleaner than they were. Some of our precious friends dropped by to see us and got to stay for a bit. Time flies when we are with them. We hadn't seen them in so long. We are planning on a play date soon.

After they left a storm came up (in fact, it is storming RIGHT NOW!) and the sun also came out! In the sky there was the most BEAUTIFUL full rainbow...the biggest one I have ever seen. It was low to the sky and I could see it all. This picture of it just doesn't do it justice... It was beautiful. Mikayla was out with me on the front porch when I was taking the pictures and she said "God gave us a rainbow, Mommy!" The truth that comes out of the mouth of babes...

Since it is storming I must get off the computer. Have a blessed day and I pray God sends you some rainbows to make you smile today.

Wild Weather Mother's Day

Wow...what a day it has been! We started out with storms this morning, had a break from mid-morning to right around noon or after and then have had storms all afternoon/evening! The picture to the right I took at Mom's this afternoon during the middle of storms. Wesley and Mikayla actually saw it and thought the clouds and sky looked "smooth"...lol It was rather pretty, though. You can see our house and the silos from Mom's back deck .

This Mother's Day was much better than last years when Mom had to be taken to the hospital. I was so tickled to have her sit beside us in church and be there. We took this group picture of my brother, me and the kids with her after church. We all went to a Japanese restaurant for lunch and enjoyed the time together. We surprised Mom by giving her the outside fountain she had wanted but thought had been sold out. Well, we were the ones that bought the last one! LOL She was so excited! Unfortunately because it was so stormy we couldn't present it to her the way we wanted, but she was tickled over it anyway. :)

This special day I got to wear the outfit that Wesley had picked out for me. I thought it was lovely and he was pretty tickled with it. They also surprised me with these flowers and cards that they had put on the front porch for me to find when we were going to take our group picture before church. It was a very special Mother's Day for me and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Tonight some of our storms have been quite severe. We let the kids stay up later because they were scared. We kept telling them to not worry because Jesus is always with us. That is a hard lesson to remember even for adults with the way our storms were today. Thankfully, He had His hands over us and kept us safe. It has definitely been an interesting day with the weather. The good thing is that we got A LOT of rain from this. I am thankful that the Lord is continuing to help out the drought problems. God is good.

I hope those of you who are Mother's have had a wonderful day today. We are blessed to have ones so wonderful.

Pampered Moment

Here is another picture of flowers from Steve's Dads house. These are poppies and I loved the way they looked in the sunshine.

Today was a nice day. We began the cleaning of this house, although we didn't get extremely far. The kids had to work on gathering all of their things that were scattered from here to yon... They did a good job, though. They had both made their beds this morning before I had a chance to tell them I was going to change their sheets. They had great attitudes when I told them they'd have to put their animals and such back on their beds. I really am proud of them. I realize they aren't perfect and still have things to work on, but they do a lot more at 6 than some teenagers I know...

We had to go to Steve's sisters house for his Mom's Mother's Day time. It was nice and we got to see her new house so that was neat. We spent the afternoon there before returning home.

I had a moment of pampering tonight. I soaked my feet in really hot water and read a book. Do you want to know how long it has been since I have done something like that? I have soaked my feet in the last couple of weeks but not relaxed and read at the same time. LOL I am reading a series of books by Francine Rivers called The Mark of the Lion series. They are awesome. They are set in Rome during the time after the Romans destroyed Jerusalem...during the times of gladiators and such. I love history so these are really teaching me about that time. It is amazing what the Jewish people have suffered over the years. God has never left them, though. I am thankful He holds me as well.

I will close for now. I hope to be back to post tomorrow for Mother's Day. Enjoy your sweet moments!

Muffins with Mom

Today we had "Muffins with Mom" in Wesley and Mikayla's class. I asked Mom to come so one of them would have someone all to themselves. It was a great time especially knowing where Mom was a year ago today. People that saw her and knew where she had been with her sickness were amazed at how great she looked. It was a joy to have her there today.

We also went to see Miss Pearl this afternoon. It was WONDERFUL to find out she has been able to eat 3 meals a day for the past 2 weeks!! I was so thankful she was doing better. She had more spunk/energy and laughed a lot more today. We stayed with her over an hour. The kids were so excited to be there with her.

I have to say that on the way to see Miss Pearl we had to hear our Ronnie Milsap CD. Mikayla loves "Pure Love" and Wesley's favorite is "What a Difference You've Made in My Life." When it came on he started singing it at the top of his lungs. He had his eyes closed and was seriously into that song. hee hee...He cracked us up but we told him next time to sing it a little more quietly. hee hee

Wesley finished his work again today...the fifth day in a row! We are so proud of him. Things are finally beginning to click for both of them so we know next year will be a great year and they will come out on top instead of struggling so much.

When I got home I found a card in the mail from Mom wishing me a Happy Mother's Day. It brought tears to my eyes....I was so thankful she could be here this year to send it to me. I am finding I have been thinking about her sickness a lot this week and going back to last year. I continue to praise God for His healing touch on her. It was a nice surprise in my mailbox. :)

My house is a disaster area. lol I can't keep up with anything anymore, it seems. Between grading papers and homework it slides. Oh well...the dust and "stuff" will be there when I get out of school for the summer. I am shuddering at the thought of the job I have ahead of me, though.

Well, we are off to celebrate Wesley's achievement. I am not sure as to what we are doing, though. We are very proud of both of them and want them to know it.

Have a good day everyone...and go out and sing YOUR favorite song to the top of your lungs. lol

Remembering a year ago

I have posted this picture before but thought it would be nice to show again. I love this picture. It is just a peaceful scene to me. I took it last year around this time.

Well, Mom has made it to her one year mark today. A year ago on this date she was admitted to the hospital and was so close to being gone from us. I can honestly look back and say her life is a miracle. We are blessed to still have her. Yesterday was Homecoming at our church and so many people were talking about how good Mom looked. We are so thankful.

I have thought a lot about the emotions I was facing a year ago. I know I am a different person in some ways than I was then. I always want things done right, but I find that some things don't have to be done when I think they do because I need to spend time with my children, husband, family or friends. I have learned to "step over" the piles that are all over my house because I can't do it all. I have learned to take each day as a precious gift. Now, honestly, that last one can get pushed down so far on the daily items that we forget it and take it for granted. Usually something happens, though, to jolt us back to the understanding that the Lord is gracious in giving us another day.

Today the Lord answered a small prayer for me with one of my students that had lost something. Before I tried to find the item I prayed that God would direct me....I found it a few seconds later!! It was a testament to the children that God answers prayers in the little things and the big things.

Yesterday it rained ALL day and it was wonderful! Talk about a day to be lazy and hang out!! After church and Homecoming we came home and watched a movie first and then we all hung out together on our bed. I was reading a book, Steve was watching golf and the kids were "reading" a book together...but we were TOGETHER. Now, was the house immaculate? NO.... Was everything put away where it belongs??? NO.... BUT, we enjoyed our time together and it is now a little precious memory for me.

Well, I have 2 tests to grade so I guess I need to get going. Enjoy the special moments of your day and thank God for the gift of your life!

Cinco de Mayo

Another view of the birdhouse from last time. This one was just a different perspective that I thought was kind of neat. :)

Today is Cinco de Mayo and I probably spelled it wrong. If I did, I know someone who will correct me. We normally celebrate that day by going to our favorite Mexican restaurant but Steve was still irritated at their immigration no work day on Monday so we didn't even bring that up. ha!

I am so thrilled it is Friday! I am just counting down the days till I have a summer break. My body is screaming for it. ha! I was SLOW in getting out of bed this morning. I am thankful for some time to do something different tomorrow. I did get a treat from one of my students today, though. I received the DVD of The Chronicles of Narnia and was SHOCKED. I was so tickled to get it because I had been wanting it. I hope to watch it with Steve this weekend because he didn't get a chance to see it in the theater when my brother and I went. :)

Tonight the kiddos wanted to sleep over and Mom and Dad's. I was thankful they could do it....a year ago today is when Mom became sick. Little did we know what she really had. I hugged her today and told her I was so thankful for what the Lord had done in this past year and that she wasn't sick this year!

Since the kids spent the night with Mom and Daddy, Steve and I took advantage and went on a much needed date. Let's just say our desire to have date nights once a month have dwindled to nothing in the last year or so. I miss that. It was very nice to go out to eat and just talk and eat...hee hee. We ate at Carrabbas and then went to Target. I found 3 CD's and bought them. One was Allison Kraus' "newest one" from 2004 and I also found James Taylor's Greatest Hits (I had been looking that one for a while...) and Simon and Garfunkel's Greatest Hits. Now, I know you must be thinking "She grew up in the late 70's and 80's! Yes, I did, but I am really loving some of that music from right before I was born through the 80's. Some of today's music I just don't "get". Could it be a generational gap thing? Who knows. All I know is I unwrapped James Taylor and we listened to that on the way home. Steve said I could listen to Simon and Garfunkel on my own time! HA!! I understand, though..he has some CD's that he has to listen on "his" time. I'll pop that one in tomorrow while I am cleaning. :)

Well, we are going to go watch some TV before resting our weary bodies from this week. I am looking forward to sleeping in a little tomorrow. It is supposed to rain some, I believe, so that will make sleeping in even nicer. :)

God directs our steps

Here is another picture from my inlaws house. This is of their birdhouse with clematis wrapped around it. I loved this so much I took a zillion pictures of it!! I have 3 other views of it so don't be surprised if you see it again on the blog. lol

Today was "hump" day but I really felt like I got a lot accomplished. It was great to get some things done and "check" them off my list.

God worked greatly with an issue I had at school. I am in charge of an important thing at our school and had a parent who helped me and she was awesome. She told me yesterday that she felt the Lord was telling her she shouldn't help me again next year. It isn't that she didn't want to help me, but the Lord was giving her the sense that she was going to be involved in something large and needed more time. Although I wasn't glad to have this, I understood from what she was telling me. We both immediately began praying and asking the Lord to give us clear understanding about next year. I also prayed that if it was true that He wanted her to step down that He would give me another person "just like her" to help me. Well, today He has done just that! As I prayed about direction He kept putting a name in my head. This afternoon before I left school my parent emailed me to say that something happened today to make her know for sure that she cannot help me next year. On the way home I told the Lord that I would call the person He had been putting in my head and if He wanted her to help me then she would say yes without hesitation. When I called her, without hesitation, she said yes. It was a wonderful testament to the Lord's guiding and directing. He knew the right time for my friend/parent to share with me what the Lord had been working with her on as well as getting me ready to move forward with this other person. I am praising the Lord for He worked all of this out and I didn't even have time to stress really. lol God is good.

It is amazing what a difference a year makes. A year ago today I had to leave school because I was physically and emotionally exhausted over Mikayla's sickness and dehydration/hospital scare last April 30. I was not doing well on this day a year ago! I thank the Lord that He has shown His faithfulness and given me the exact opposite kind of day that I had then.

Well, it is off to church tonight. The kids are having a car race and they are pretty excited. :)

to a white rose....

Here is a picture of a white rose I took at school last week after the rain. Isn't it lovely? I really love this picture.

Another day...another day closer to summer break.

My house...OH, my. I still cannot believe it can be as horridly messy as it is. BUT....I haven't the energy to even worry about it. My desk looks like a disaster, there are clothes all around that are CLEAN but not put where they belong and I feel like I am drowning in all of it. I really would like to get this house back to some sense of normalcy when summer begins.

We are watching the Carolina Hurricanes again tonight. Of course, right now Steve is switching between that and his golf reality show he loves to watch. lol

I would seriously write more tonight but my brain is tapped of all other resources so I am finding I need to bid farewell. Please just enjoy the beauty of the rose and I am going to go read before heading off to dreamland. :)

Weekend, Today and the Coloring of Hair

We went to Steve's Dad's and Step-Mom's house on Saturday. It was beautiful there and I took advantage of all of her flowers. Here is a deep purple iris in their yard. I LOVE the color of it. I took another picture of this one with another one below it that I'll have to show later. :) I took SO many pictures of all of their flowers so you will be seeing lots of them!

We had a wonderful time at their house. We got to enjoy the morning fishing and then went on a boat ride on the pontoon. I almost fell asleep on it but figured I better stay awake since my children were on board. ha! It will lull you to sleep rather quickly. On our fishing adventures I caught a catfish. :) (So did Steve... and Wesley caught two!) Mikayla caught all kinds of bream (is that how you spell it?...I am sure I will be corrected if I am not right....) Anyway, Wesley and Mikayla learned how to bait their own hooks. Did I, you ask???? WHY would you ask such a silly question????? I did not bait my hook nor take any fishes off....it is not in my blood. ha!!! I am sure Steve wishes it were, though. Bless his heart, he has to deal with me all of the time. Maybe ONE day I'll learn to do it, but it wasn't this past weekend!!!

On our way up to their place on Saturday we passed LOTS of barns and tractors. Wesley was so excited. I took advantage of one when we stopped to get crickets for bait. The barn was red and the field in front of it was "decorated" with yellow wild "weeds" and it was beautiful!! I was so excited when I saw it so I told Steve I wondered if those people would take offense if I took a picture of it. He didn't think they would so I began to "snap" away! I took quite a few shots but got just a couple that I really loved. Of course, that is the way it always is. Anyway, here is that barn! Isn't it great???? I may blow this one up and put it in Wesley's room. He is such a country boy. :)

On to today....it was a MANIC MONDAY. Mikayla didn't feel well at first because she didn't sleep well last night. Both of them have colds but hers always goes to her chest. She felt horrible this morning so we gave her medicine and Steve was going to stay home with her. Well, she got to feeling much better so he brought her on in and she was fine. Bless her heart she is still coughing, though. I hope she sleeps better tonight.

School was so busy and after school we had to go get haircuts and then meet Daddy to get Mom's Mother's Day gift. We wanted to get her something she really wanted and she wants a fountain to put on her back deck. We got the last one they had like she liked!!! It is everyone's secret, though, until after Mother's Day. :) We were going to eat Mexican tonight but Steve found out the restaurant was closed because of this Immigration Don't Go To Work Day....let's just say we were NOT happy. In MY opinion, in order to have rights you should become a citizen. I do not agree with all of this mess, but I am going to move on to other topics now...

Since I got my hair cut today I am now in the process of coloring it as I type. I am continually amazed at how much gray I have now. It's a good thing I color every month is all I have to say!!! I'm glad I can color my own hair. Loveliness is just not the word on my lips for myself at the moment, though. :) I guess I inherited my father's gene for gray hair. I don't think my brother really has any at all and he is older!!!! There is going to be "no hope" for Wesley and Mikayla....Steve and I both grayed early.

Well, since I didn't get home until after 6:30 tonight I think I will close and go "wash this gray right outta my hair..." hee hee