Monday, July 18, 2011

A Taste of Our New Life---And We're All Still Alive!

     So, last week was a preview of what our new life will look like.  Let's just say it will take some getting used to!  To start with, Hubby was home for two week days.  Now, I know some of you might think, "Hey that's great!  I wish my husband was around more!  He could help with..."   Well, I have never been that girl.  Not that I don't love my hubby, but we have completely different styles of getting things done!  I am methodical, mostly organized, and generally have a plan of attack for my day.  Hubby tends to start with a plan, but gets sidetracked from it early on and then adds things to get done to the plan in the middle of the day.  He gets most of it done, but it's just not the way I would do it.  So this having-him-home-during-the-day thing is going to take some getting used to for me.  He loves it though!  It is a big thing that we made it through the week without a major blow-up, although I may have mentioned something about resigning as a teacher due to the fact I couldn't work under the new administration...


     Prep for the new school year is going well.  We had our first official staff meeting on Friday night, and were able to get several details discussed and resolved.  We are gearing up for an exciting new year at HCS, and are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us!  


     One of my concerns with our new life is that since we live "on-campus," we will always have some task that will command our attention, and we will not have any down-time.  When you live with your work, it's hard to find the time to put it aside and relax.  I find this especially difficult; when I'm home it's much harder for me to relax because I see all the things that need to be done, and I want to be up doing them.  I find it easier to have down-time away from the house.  Am I the only one like this?  Any suggestions from others who "suffer" from this?  


     The boys have doctor appointments later this week.  In the process of getting things together for school, I realized that I have misplaced the boy's shot records.  I spent the morning looking in all the places that I could have put them, and a few I know I didn't!  I have a sinking feeling that they were in the diaper bag that we took with us to Mom's house the day of the tornado.  Who knows where they are now if that's where they were!  But in the process of looking for them this morning, the boys and I sat down and looked through all their baby books and baby picture albums.  I forgot they used to be so little!  You get so caught up in the day to day of their lives you forget how much they have changed.  Even First-Born looks so different in the pics of him from when Stitch was born!  And Middle Biscuit's hair used to be curly when it was longer...it's straight now.  They loved seeing themselves when they were little!  I'm glad that I took so many pictures...I can look back and not feel I've missed anything.  


     Just a few snapshot thoughts from the weekend.  Hope your weekend was great, and hope everyone has a productive week ahead!  :)

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Sunflowers After the Storm

     Okay, so I had to jump on and post a short "Legos-In-My-Make-Up-Drawer" moment that I had today.  The theme of this blog is finding the little things in life that God sends our way and seeing them for the blessings that they are.  Today I had a perfect example of this that I had to share with my faithful readers!  :)


     I was on my way home from running errands this afternoon and I was driving through my parent's old neighborhood.  It is mostly bare now; the houses have mostly all been leveled and the debris carried away.  We have to drive through pretty much every time we go to town, so we see the changes fairly often.  As I was driving today, though, I noticed that one of the neighbor's gardens must have come in, because they had a bunch of sunflowers growing in their yard.  As I looked more closely I realized that those neighbors never had a garden, at least not where these flowers were.  This made me curious, so I turned down my parent's road to investigate.  


     As I slowly drove down the old street, I realized that several of the neighbor's yards had these huge sunflowers growing in them, including my parents yard!  Now, I knew my parents hadn't planted any sunflowers this year, especially in their front yard.  There were just random clumps of sunflowers all throughout the street.  Not really anywhere else, just on that street.  All I could think was that someone, maybe my parents, must have had some seeds somewhere, or maybe even some birdseed, and the tornado had spread them through the neighborhood.  They are growing in the weirdest places...in fallen trees, in houses, in driveways.  I had my phone, so I snapped a couple of shots. 


    The one above was taken looking across the remains of my parent's across-the-street neighbor's house.  


     This one is growing in what is left of the very large oak tree that used to be in my parent's side yard.


     Pretty much, no matter where you looked on the street, you could see sunflowers growing somewhere.  I just thought it was a perfect example of God's blessings that come in our lives after the trials we go through.  So, if you just went through a trial or time of testing, or if you're still in one, remember that God is still there, and later you will be able to look back and see the sunflowers He sent after the storm! :)

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Big Changes Ahead!

     It's been a while since I've posted!  Things have been happening around here at an alarming rate!  Remember my last post about waiting?  Well, the wait is over...it's time to get busy!


     We have a lot of big changes for our family on the horizon!  The most major one has to do with our school situation.  Our principal (who also happens to be my sister) is expecting her first baby in November.  So, that means that while she may be able to start the school year, she certainly won't be finishing it!  And, since she is our only teacher at this point, that left us needing some staff!  Well, since 2 of my 3 boys will be students this year, and I had previous teaching experience, it was a little bit of a no-brainer that I could step in as the main teacher.  However, since our student body was growing, there was no way I could handle it by myself!  We needed a kindergarten teacher, and another part-time supervisor/principal.  Well, Hubby felt that God was leading him into a more active role in the ministry, so we began praying about him taking on the role of principal part time.  


     So, what does this mean for our family?  Well, Hubby will be working at his current job as a part-time employee on an as-needed basis.  Then, when school starts, he will be there between 2 and 3 days a week, depending on his work schedule.  I will be there as the main supervisor every day.  God provided a kindergarten teacher for us, so that was covered as well.  As I mentioned to the boys, it will be a lot of changes, but it will make our family better and stronger, because that's what God uses changes for!  We are all looking forward to our new life, and we hope you will pray with us for an easy "transition" time.  And also for me, so that I can maintain my sanity!  


     Another big change happening soon is that my parents will be closing on their new house soon!  We will be moving them out of our back room in a few weeks, much to their happiness!  They are very excited and can't wait to be "out on their own" again!  (And I am glad that the volume of stuff in my house will be decreasing by a third!)  


     We also got some news of a few "little" changes that are on their way.  As I mentioned earlier, my sister is expecting her first baby in November.  (They found out what it will be today, but I don't want to give away their surprise!)   This will be the first cousin that the boys will have that lives near them so they are pretty excited!  But last week my brother & his wife shared that they are also expecting their first little one!   Hubby's family just grew by a new little girl, and there's another on the way.  Lots of changes in everyone's future...diaper changes that is!  


     As I look at all these changes, I'm reminded that the only thing in our life that doesn't change is our great Saviour!  For which I'm so thankful...I couldn't make it through all this craziness without Him!  :)