A Lifetime of Love

I received this email request today from a pretty important person on campus. I am honored, but flipping out at the same time. Read below. I know that you plan to attend the Scholarship Luncheon this Friday, and we would like to have you speak on behalf of your fellow students to express appreciation to our donors. You could tell a bit about yourself and your own situation (as much as you choose) to demonstrate the need for such scholarship support. You will be one of two students speaking to the group, and between the two, you would be in a good place to represent the needs of those who are nontraditional students with family responsibilities, jobs, etc. We hope you will agree to take this on--folks in the college are very proud of you and all that you accomplish. How can I say no? Now I am working on a speech so I can turn in a draft by Wednesday morning. On a different note, my bulletin board that is due by Thursday has a little flexibility because of some circumstances out of my co...

are probably the best words to describe how I am feeling lately. In all honesty, I have never felt any of these emotions to the extent that I have been feeling since yesterday. Balancing my home life and school has always been challenging, but never like this. I am second-guessing myself in every decision I make, taking me on even more of an emotional roller coaster. For instance, I needed to clean the house as I haven’t done it in 2 weeks. I decided to begin last night, and I finished up this morning. I worked my behind off to get almost everything clean. But, because of my decision to clean, I put off doing my school work until this afternoon. I regret that decision now. I spent the afternoon trying to figure out where to begin, and with each assignment I started, I can’t finish because I either need more information from my students or from my teacher. Plus I received an email today informing me that I have less than 2 weeks to prepare and teach my students a 30-45 minute lesson. N...

My first day in the school was AWESOME! My mentor teacher is great, the students are wonderful, and I am so thankful the Lord put me in this particular room in this particular school. Back in the spring, when the college was giving me some difficulties about registering/taking classes this fall, I was told I would be placed in a school local to my home. However, when I received my placement letter in early August, I was placed in another town about 25 minutes away. Another girl in my class was placed at a school literally less than 1 mile from my house, and TJ suggested I look into switching with her. I am so glad that I didn't! I told him that the Lord was in control and He allowed this placement to happen the way it did (and TJ knew that, he is just thinking about my upcoming labor). When I returned to college Tuesday afternoon for my class, we had a support session to talk about/discuss our classroom placements and how the first day went. There are only 8 students in the class,...

Tomorrow is my big day- my first day of student teaching. Well, I'm not actually teaching tomorrow but I go and meet my mentor teacher and the students in the class. I will begin actual instruction next week. The only information I received from my mentor teacher is that the kids are in grades 10-12 and they do a lot of community-based instruction (i.e. how to make a purchase in a store, how to use public transportation, how to cross the road safely, etc.) I am excited about that, but at the same time, it makes lesson planning difficult for me because, for my college courses, I have to focus on academic instruction (i.e. literacy, assessment, etc.) But, I'll figure it out somehow- I always do. Tuesdays are long days for me. I leave the house around 7:15am and don't get home until after 5pm. I will only see Ta and T.G. for about 20 minutes (I pick them up at noon and deliver them to TJ at 12:20pm so I can get to my next class). I'm a little bit nervous about being away...

I haven’t updated since Monday (as you can tell!) because life has been, well, life. I began school Tuesday. I don’t start my student teaching until next week so I only had classes in the afternoon. While sitting in my first class, I began to have some contractions. Then they were accompanied by cramps, and they were not stopping as the afternoon went on. By the time I got home at 5pm, they were coming closer together and becoming more uncomfortable. I was supposed to attend a lecture series Tuesday evening, but I did not feel well. I told TJ that I was staying home and calling the doctor. My contractions have never been regular with any of my labors, so of course when the doctor called back an hour later, I could only tell him I was having more than 6 per hour. He thought it was best for me to go to the hospital, so I *tried* to get TJ to move a little faster at putting the boys to bed (it was after 8pm at this point). T.G. was in bed, although not sleeping, but at least she wasn’t cr...

Again I’ve fallen behind on my postings. So sorry about that, but life with 3 small kids (and 1 on the way!) keeps me busy and on the move. A lot has happened since Th began school last Wednesday morning. TJ came home with a cat Wednesday night, and that alone has been an adjustment. He (the cat) is 2 years old and really sweet. His name is Rainbow, and his prior owner (a 6 year old girl) must have really wanted a female cat because all of Rainbow’s accessories (cat bed, toys, etc) are pink and flowered. Rainbow is orange with cinnamon swirls on his sides- a really unusual pattern. He came neutered and declawed, and with all his gear, which is why TJ decided to bring him home. We’ve wanted a cat since last spring, but didn’t want to have to pay to have one spayed/neutered or declawed. So, when this opportunity presented itself, TJ couldn’t pass it up. The little girl was allergic to him and despite trying to ignore the symptoms, they were getting to be too much for her to handle. She l...

Opening his book last night All ready to go! Th started Kindergarten today! He didn’t get to bed last night until 9:30pm, but I wasn’t too concerned because he fell asleep yesterday afternoon for about 1 ½ hours after we got home from swimming. I gave him his book, and he loved it! He couldn’t wait to read it. This morning he woke up eager and ready to go. He quickly dressed and ran downstairs for breakfast. After breakfast, he brushed his teeth and combed his hair, and was happy he had some time to watch “Curious George” before we had to leave. I did okay with my tears while we were in our neighborhood, but as soon as I hit the main road, I got teary-eyed. I tried not to let my emotions show, but apparently I didn’t do such a good job. Th asked me why I was crying, and I just told him the air was blowing in my eyes and making them water. He was full of questions on the way to school, and was getting more nervous the closer we got. He didn’t want me to walk him inside, but I insisted j...