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Friday, August 27, 2010

School

Okay so let me debrief about school this week.  I love A's teacher....LOVE LOVE LOVE her.  She is gentle yet firm and she is hip too....what a find!  I'm so thankful for her.  The realization of what a HUGE job teachers have hit me harder than ever.  I taught for 6 years before I had kids.  I loved it and I always taught in low income schools and in Nashville, it was an inner city ROUGH school. I loved it and I loved those kids.  I never thought about what it's like being on this side of school.  I got pretty emotional thinking about it.  I am entrusting my baby to another human being for 7 hours a day.  I want that person to love my child, treat my child with respect, care for her, laugh with her, have fun with her.  I want my child to enjoy her days, not dread them.  That's a big responsibility for a teacher.  And I have worked with a lot of teachers...I've seen the good and the bad.  I wrote A's teacher a note the first day of school thanking her for taking on the responsibility of teaching. I told her that we have prayed for her before we knew who she was.  I told her that I would support her this year with prayers and however else I could.  I also told her that as parents, we are trusting her to take care of our baby.  I almost tear up writing this. 

A has done AWESOME at school.  She loves it.  She tells me stories every afternoon about friends and other teachers and classes and who she sees in the hall.  I love hearing about it.  K Man and I are kind of lost without her.  I feel like I'm missing something...not something someone and I am.  It is so weird, even at day 5.  I am so glad that she's loving it because that would make it a lot harder.  Next week K and I go to school so we'll be a little more distracted. I am enjoying my one on one time with him. 

There's my school update!

Morning Conversation

went like this as we were walking to school. I parked a little farther away because traffic gets back up and it's not much farther of a walk...anyway....

Me:  "A- you did so great this morning with your socks and shoes.  thank you for changing your attitude.  It made the morning so much nicer."

A:  "Yeah, last night Daddy prayed and asked God to help me with my shoes and socks today."

Me: "That is so awesome.  God answered Daddy's prayers for you."

A:  "He did.  Why doesn't He ever answer your prayers?"

Which then led to a really cool conversation about all the prayers God has answered for me.  It was a great way to start the morning, thinking of all the ways God has helped us.  I love that!!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

School

I totally need to blog about our first few days of school but I am pooped!! This routine is wearing me out just as much!!

Thursday, August 19, 2010

My Yo Yo's

We have been called many things but the official name for us..."Yo Yos!!"  It all started about 16 years ago....holy cow did I really just type 16 years ago....in Nashville, Tennessee.  We came from different places, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, & yes, a Texan (wasn't me).  We met our freshmen year and all but one were instant friends, we met her a few months later.  We gladly let her join our crazy group. 2 years later, we were all still friends and we were feeling crazy one night. We all dressed in our most gansta' garb and headed out around campus flashing our Double Love gang signs and saying, "Yo Yo!" in again, our most ghetto accents.  So, we affectionately became known as the Yo Yo Mamas and now we're just the YoYos.  We are still very spread out but we've made it a priority to get together at least every 2 years....sometimes every year depending on the situation and necessity of a visit!  The moment we all get together, I don't think it ever gets quiet.  It is nonstop laughter, tears, joking, venting, honest talk.  Man do I love those girls. They are family to me. 

Well, we all have stories and struggles.  In the past year or so, we've had major ups and downs in the YoYo family.  I'm going to share an up.  Nanna...probably the silliest YoYo of the bunch, has been married 12 years now I guess.  She and her husband have not been able to get pregnant.  They have had a long, hard road of miscarriages.  Well, about 4 years ago, they adopted a little girl from Guatemala.  She is about the cutest thing and so much like her Mama it isn't funny!!  They found out when she was a little over 2 that she has brittle bone disease and one more stress for them.  They are pastors in California and they are awesome.  they are doing incredible things in their community and just loving God and loving people. It's been really hard to be so far away from family and being in ministry is definitely challenging.  We have prayed for Nannah and a couple of other YoYos who have not been able to get pregnant.  It's heartbreaking when we pray for something that we think would be so wonderful and truly is wonderful and it doesn't happen.  Yet, there are others that can get pregnant at the drop of the hat who are drug addicts or abusers or 12.....it doesn't seem fair.  There's that word again.  Honestly to talk to the girls, it's not their first choice not to get pregnant but they are okay and their faith is strong and firm.  And they truly say, "Whatever is okay.  We know God has a plan."  I love that about my YoYo's. They are strong Christian women!!

Well....now here's the GREAT news, Nanna is pregnant.  And in the next 6 weeks will be having a little boy.  I am so happy for them. We are all tickled....blue!!   Here's a pic of my beautiful friend and her lovely daughter (and son).

Monday, August 16, 2010

All I Need

So this Sunday we're singing this song at church.  It is by far my favorite Sprang original.  I feel like it speaks so clearly about who God is and that He truly is all I will ever need.  I love it.   My favorites are definitely more soulful and even bluesy...the rockin' stuff is fine but it's not my fav.  Soul is definitely my sweetspot:)  Glad that Spranger Danger added that to his repertoire. 

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Lovin' Life

i have to blog about my weekend thus far.  Last night we played Whirlyball with 45 of our closest friends:)  We had an all church family event and we played Whirlyball. if you have never played, you should it is LOTS o' fun!  I love watching our church peeps interact.  They are all awesome....seriously, they are down to earth, fun loving, fun people.  I think back to 2 1/2 years ago when we had the same 12 people in a room every week and we weren't growing and how depressing that was and then I look at where we are now and it just makes me so thankful to God.  His timing is perfect and He brought the right peeps and the right time and He will continue to do so and I LOVE that!!  Then, this morning, we had a kids' worker meeting.  Wouldn't you know that we have exactly the right number of people to fill the amount of spots?? Is that crazy or what??!! Again, LOVE it!  We are so blessed by our CatRow peeps!!  Seriously! 

Today is Levi's birthday.  Wonder Woman and family are going to keep our kids tonight so we can go out on a date.  It'll be fun!  They're awesome and the kids will have a blast. I'm going to try to let them sleepover...notice I said I'm going to try.  The kids love that stuff....it's definitely harder for me. 

The weekend is off to a wonderful start!!

Thursday, August 12, 2010

A second

I wanted to catch up a minute.  The house is still quiet which is strange. I think my kids are worn out.  We are trying to transition into "school hours" but have not been so successful as of yet.  Anyway, it's quiet and I need to get off the computer and do my devotions but wanted to update quickly.  This week has been great.  I've been busy.  I've kind of had a hard time getting back in the swing of things since Levi's been home from Ghana. It's been strange.  We're getting there.  I cleaned the house this week and got almost all of AL's school supplies.  I think part of my problem is being okay with the school thing.  That's a big deal for me and I'm kind of sad about it.  She'll do great and I am so proud of her but I'm going to miss her.  This year I'm also teaching 2 days a week at a private school.  I think I'm a little nervous about transitioning back into a teaching role and not sure what that will be like.  Lots of changes.  I do think it will be neat to be with K-man.  Just different with both kiddos. 

Everything else is fine.  We've had to deal with a situation in the past few weeks that has been interesting and challenging all at the same time.  On the flip side of it it's interesting dealing with people.  That's profound, huh?!  No, not really!  People are unpredictable.  Truth gained, I want to be a real person (like Pinocchio- a real boy-jk).  I don't want to live one life for some and another for others.  I want to be one person.  I want to be true to myself while being considerate, compassionate, and merciful to others.  That's tricky to do.  When you deal with people or situations that's aren't graceful, compassionate, merciful, you realize how that feels. In response to being treated not so kindly, the human side of me says, "I hope they get treated this way or have to deal with this situation so they see how it feels." or "Paybacks are coming."  But, the Christian, Christ-loving side, has to take a different stance.  I do want them to learn and treat others better in the future but I shouldn't want revenge.  That's a hard balance to get those two sides in line.

Another random thought, I'm thankful for Jonathan & Meagan. Jonathan is like a brother to Levi and I so appreciate that.  I like him okay too:)  JK, he's like a little brother to me and I treat him like that sometimes.  I am so proud that they're on our team.  Meagan and I are great friends too. We spent the day together yesterday and she's someone I can just be honest with and she doesn't judge.  Just a shout out.  BTW, can't wait for baby J to get here....Aunt HeaHea is ready!! Yes, he is going to call me that:)

Have a great week!!

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Running Partner

I had to put a link to my running partner's blog.  It's funny to hear from her perspective and her story.  She's a keeper :) 

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Sunday Worship

Oh, by the way, I got to lead worship on Sunday.  Sprang taught again and Levi shared a bit about Ghana.  It was a great day.  Check it out, Catalyst Church!!  We did a Cyndi Lauper song:)  Or Quite Drive whatever!!  It was fun!

Life Update

Levi is home!!! Yeah!!!  I was so relieved to talk to him on US soil and then to see him....so happy!!  It's been pretty sobering since then.  The realization is that what he saw in Ghana was not happy and the reality that their is injustice and evil in the world should not be okay with me.  Yet, I am comfortable to live in my nice house with all of my things and my happy little family.  It's kind of weird.  He's still processing and working through all of that and probably will for a while.  I'm stoked about going to Ghana at some point.  Those kids already have my heart!

It's funny (not really) how when there's such a happy time, it seems there are other things that try to steal my joy. I hate that.  I'm working really hard not to let it.  I'm trying to rely on God and pray instead of get sucked into negativity.  That is hard to do.  I'm not very good at it.  I've definitely prayed a lot more though.

We had  a busy and great weekend as a family.  AL was in a wedding and did great.  She was quite comical.  She was beautiful.  This weekend, our friends invited us to go camping with them.  It was about an hour and a half drive so Sunday night, we loaded up and headed that way.  We got there late, just in time for a camp fire and star gazing.  The stars were absolutely beautiful.  The next morning, we got up and rode their Wave Runners, I even drove one for a bit.  We rode over to an island and swam. It was so fun. The kids loved it (and me too). It was a lot of fun.  We also got to go swimming at a camp pool that was awesome. We had it all to ourselves. It had a crazy slide in it.  AL LOVED it, LJ was not a fan.  We had a blast.  When we were leaving, Levi asked me, "Remember when we moved here and I told you that we would make friends?"  "Yeah," I said.  "I didn't think they'd be as good as the friends we have."  I totally agreed.  We are blessed.  I spent today with my friend Katy.  She taught me how to make yoga pants out of a t-shirt. I know sounds weird but they're cute.  And Friday we're going to the circus with Wonder Woman and family.  I truly am blessed with wonderful friends.  They make my life so much nicer!! I don't think nicer is a word but you know what I mean. 

  Good night!!