A Lifetime of Love

I had a great Mother's Day, and I want to share the details, but right now I have to clean some of my house while I have an hour all to myself (the kids are at preschool and I just got home from the grocery store). Have a great Monday!

I applied for some scholarships through the College of Education back in February for the next school year. The committee was to meet in April, and letters would be mailed to recipients around April 30 th . Since that was last week, I had resolved that I was not a recipient, although I did win a different scholarship for $1,700 through a different source. Anyway, I received a letter in the mail today notifying me that I was selected for 3 scholarships totalling almost $8,500! So, combined with the other scholarship, I will be receiving over $10,000 in FREE MONEY for next year! I am very excited, especially as my GI Bill ends this month and I will no longer be receiving money for school through that. Now, about Ta. I talked to my pediatrician and she agreed with me in that she did not feel Ta showed signs severe enough to warrant autism, but she suggested I go ahead and have him evaluated just to rule it out. She gave me the referral and phone number to schedule the appointment. TJ and...

There is a lot going on in my life right now. It seems as if each of the kids has an "issue", and TJ is going through some job "issues", and on and on it goes. Not that the "issues" are bad, but they have required lots of prayer and thought and discussions on our part, so it's been emotionally draining on my part. First, Th received his acceptance letter from the Montessori school this past Saturday. I am so excited, as is he! This was a definite answer to prayer and one we have been waiting for since February. Ta had his post-op appointment today with the ENT doctor. It went okay. He passed his hearing test, and most people would think that was good news, but I was speechless. Just last week his preschool teacher said something to me when I was picking him up about how all day he had trouble hearing her. TJ and I have noticed him having difficulty at home, too. TJ joked that when Ta went today, he was going to be fitted for hearing aids. So, what does...

Another semester is behind me, well almost. I still have 2 more finals but I don't actually have to study for them or anything. In one class, we are having presentations. In the other class, we are retaking a test that we took the first day of class. It's a 4 th grade standardized Social Studies test. My instructor is using it to assess our learning in her class, so it's not graded, just compared to when we first took it. Nothing to study for or stress about. I am sick, too. I have a cold (thanks Th!) and Th has not been sleeping well, meaning I haven't either. He is sleeping on the floor at night, right next to me. Every time he stirs or coughs or moans or wakes, I wake up and try to get him situated again. Plus, with the stress of a final this morning at 8am, I had difficulty falling asleep and getting back to sleep once I woke up. I kept thinking of my study guide and the questions I needed to review. I think I got a solid 3 hours of sleep last night! I have another...

Th has strep. I took him to McDonald's for a milkshake while we waited for his prescription to be filled. He's miserable, and I can tell. I feel so badly for him! I hope the antibiotic kicks in quickly! Luckily for me, I picked up the boys' favorite movie: Mr. Rogers Goes to the Circus. He is resting quietly on the couch, watching this movie for the upteenth time!

My headaches have gotten better, especially since Monday. I think it was a combination of stress and lack of sleep. I had to teach a science lesson on Monday, and I was reviewed and critiqued by my peers and my instructor. I had an awesome lesson planned, including going outside, except it rained. But not only rained, we had a tornado! So, I had to quickly make some adjustments to the lesson and pray that it would have the same effect. I have not received my feedback forms from my instructor or my peers, nor have I received my grades. There are 2 grades, one for the lesson itself and one for the presentation of the lesson. I am nervous about both! I also have finals beginning tomorrow. I have one tomorrow, two on Friday, and one on Monday. I have attempted to study but also have sick kids, and Th has been home from school the past 2 days. He is going to the doctor later this morning because he is complaining his throat hurts. I hope it's not strep, but a friend of mine who was at ...

I have had a headache for about a day and a half. I am going to begin journaling them so the next time I see my doctor, I can hopefully provide some helpful information in diagnosing and treating them. It started about 1:30pm yesterday, and I had about 20 minutes before I had to start getting the kids ready for a birthday party, so I laid down in bed. I got up at 2pm with the boys, and by then my head was a full-fledged headache. I got the kids ready and we left for the party. By 4pm, I could hardly stand to keep my eyes open because my head hurt so badly. But, the party wasn't over for another hour so I didn't have much of a choice. I drank a can of Coke thinking the caffeine would help, and munched on some veggies to keep from getting nauseous. By the time we left at 5pm, my headache consumed all of my thoughts. I had to drive 35 minutes across town to meet TJ since neither he nor the kids ate (the kids were too busy having fun at the party to care about eating, and TJ was c...