Bus Calling

Saturday Matt, Phillip and I went calling on our bus route. We are not the bus captains but the captains were all away this weekend so we filled in. We are very familiar with the route and the children so it was a pretty easy task. To navigate through the city I usually try to do the driving and let Matt hop out and knock on doors. That way if we need to move the car or are in a spot where there isn't good parking I can just move. As I was sitting waiting for him to go from house to house talking with the kids I looked around and realized our city is in deep trouble. We were in drug neighborhoods and they were not even being secret about it. Matt asked one dad where his son was since we hadn't seen him in a while on the bus and the dad said he was in rehab for drugs. He is only 14 years old! There were several situations we saw as we went along our route that made us pray even harder for each family. We could have spent the entire day just talking with the families but we had to move on. Some came to the car and talked to me and were very open sharing what they were going through. I really am inspired to pray more for these families. I think every Sunday School teacher should go with a bus captian periodically to see the things their students are dealing with. I enjoy bus calling but it isn't always possible for me to go and still take care of my own children. As it was Phillip was with me this week and read grafitti on the side of a house while we were parked in an alley and I turned around quick to see why he was saying what he was and told him not to read the stuff on the walls. Fortunately he didn't even know what he was reading. He is just learning to read and sound words out.

Well What Do Ya Know?

I was working on lesson plans this morning during my plan period when I was paged and asked to pick up on the intercom. It was the principal calling to tell me her 8th grader had never come home talking about Science until last night. She said both of her boys couldn't quit talking about their Science class and how much fun they had. I told her I had planned that lesson for the second day as my "hook". She said they were definitely hooked! With my class sizes as small as they are I am able to plan more hands on activities. Three of my classes are all doing the same lesson so it makes planning and preparing a little easier.

First Day of School

Up before dawn, showered, dressed, gathered Nathan's clothes, woke Katlyn who always appreciates extra bathroom time, pulled out lunch items to begin putting lunches together, woke Phillip, helped Phillip pack his lunch and have breakfast, woke Austin and Nathan, got Nathan ready, called Austin again, packed Nathan's backpack for daycare, called Austin again, Katlyn, Phillip, and Nathan were ready and in the car and Austin comes down the stairs asking where his belt is and what was there for breakfast. We managed to get out the door just 5 minutes behind schedule. I don't have those "First Day of School" photos because we were lucky to just get there let alone get the photo of the event. I think Austin took a few pictures after school but I have yet to even look and see what he was doing.

Nathan went to the chipmunk room in the toddler program, Phillip went to 1st grade, Katlyn begins middle school in 6th grade, Austin is entering 7th grade and I am enjoying middle school/high school teaching. We all kept pretty busy during the day but I found time between classes and during lunch to touch bases with the kids and asked them how their day was going. They all seemed to enjoy the first day. Needless to say we were all tired as we traveled back home. It's going to be a great year.

Matt was out of town for the first day but we're hoping he will be back to make everyone breakfast tomorrow. He can set his schedule somewhat so he won't have to be "out the door" by 7am like we will. Nathan eats breakfast at daycare so he doesn't have to get up until the last minute.

Tomorrow will be exciting as we make a model of quicksand and experiment with it in my earth science classes.

Slightly Busy

Teachers started back to school this week and I have been extremely busy to say the least. I have a very full load this year and am determined to make it the best year yet for each of my students. I will be teaching HS Physics, HS Literature, MS Science, and a Bible class. I have been busy gathering materials this week so we can have an exciting class. There are aquariums to fill, terrariums to tend to, locate critters to fill the empty homes in our lab, and have supplies for our experiments all set up and ready to go. We will start the year off with an experiment showing a model of quicksand. The excitement is building. The goal for tomorrow is to get the aquariums all filled so they can be running for a few days before we add our fish and bring a little more organization to the science closet.

Praise the Lord!

Mom had a wonderful doctor report today. They had taken another CAT scan last week but she had to wait until her chemo treatment today to hear the results from the doctor and they showed her how the lymph nodes had really shrunk in size since the first treatment. They were able to show her both scans and she could see the difference. They also told her they expect to just do one more treatment at the end of this month and she will be done. She is so excited. In just 3 weeks she will take her last treatment and then just have the follow up visits to make sure everything is okay.

I hope to have a few pictures soon but mom doesn't like having her picture taken. My sister just snaps them and even has a few she could hold for black mail but I'm sure she won't.

Thank you to all who have prayed for my mom. She has had alot of ups and downs and feels tired alot of the time but it looks like the end of that is in sight so I think she can hold on a few more weeks.

Kids Say The Funniest Things

While in Arkansas I went to a Walmart just over the Missouri border (only about 5 miles from my sister's house) and tried to get a few groceries to get us through the next week. I let each child pick one thing that they really wanted for the next week and Katlyn picked a cereal, Austin a drink and Phillip went off towards the meats but quickly came back and asked in a very excited voice, "Mom, where do they keep the Lebanon Bologna?" Poor guy. He settled for a pack of pepperoni as his choice. That isn't all they ate for the week mind you but that was mom's way of keeping them busy for a minute while I shopped for groceries. We did our fair share of eating at my all time favorite BOJANGLES. I even talked Tim and Sharron into going there for breakfast one morning instead of IHOP. Since we've been back I have made sure I had Lebanon Bologna for Phillip.

This picture doesn't even begin to show how large Phillip's ear swelled from a bug bite. When he walked into the living room he was scratching his ear and said, "Mom my ear feels funny." It looked so large and swollen that I couldn't believe it. I checked it out and saw where he had a couple of bug bites and since he and the other kids had some mosquito bites I was pretty sure that was the problem. A nurse at the church we were visiting looked at it and told us to give him benedryl and use ice which we did and noticed a big change overnight.

Phillip speeding around the track

Katlyn did kind of a trampoline/bungee jump.



Katlyn really enjoyed doing this but the man offered her to climb the next level wall once she reached the top and rang the bell but she turned him down. Once was enough. None of the other kids wanted to do it.

Dick Clark's Cafe in Branson

Austin is on the phone with his cousin Kevin telling him what all he is seeing and doing in Branson. Phillip and Katlyn both enjoyed their meals.

Pictures from Our Trip

This is at Branson. The kids rode the bumper boats. Nathan talks about the bumper boats all the time right now.

20th High School Reunion

I just received an email from someone I apparently went to High School with informing me we are having our class reunion this October. He sent me a list of those he'd found and those he'd hoped to find and it is amazing how many I don't even remember. I am getting out the old yearbooks already. I went to a pretty large school and our senior class had over 200 students.

The question is . . . How do I loose 75 pounds over the next couple of months?

I noticed one of my best friends from High School has not been located yet so if you're out there Mike Barron let us know where you're at. I had heard at one time that he and his wife had a son and daughter named Austin and Kaitlyn and I do too. Great minds think alike. I did have some girl friends but most of my friends were guys mostly because I was in the Air Force JROTC program and it consisted of alot of guys. My senior year I was the top dog and beat out poor Mike and Steve for Commander of the squadron. Alot of memories.