Hello Again

Not feeling too great right now but I wanted to post just a little.
Our last day of school is tomorrow. We did one program today and we will do one tomorrow then Yippe it's summertime!!! I will miss the kids I have taught. They each will take a piece of my heart with them. We have been practicing for the programs and handing out the little diplomas so I knew I would have to say the children's names over the microphone which is not easy for me to do then my director said "Don't forget you are supposed to say a little something before you announce the names" Uh Oh! Now if you are sitting criss cross applesauce and looking up at me I am just fine but an audience of ADULTS I am SCARED, Very SCARED! As I was thinking this morning about what I would say the words to this little poem came to me,(Thank you Lord) I thought I would share them. They pretty much sum up our year:

Birthdays,
Star Days,
A Johnny Appleseed parade.

Letters learned,
Songs sung,
Bandaids put on more than one.

Noses wiped,
Shoes tied,
Lots of hugs when you cried.

Christmas and Easter parties to name a few
This year's been special because it's been spent
with you!

I shook during my entire time at the podium so I really can't remember what I said. I know I read the poem because I remember reading it but that's all I remember I just hope anything else I said made sense and lucky me I get to do the whole thing again tomorrow!!!!YIKES!!!!

On a really happy note, my nephew Adam suprised his mom, my sister in law, Saturday by just walking into her house unexpected. Now he has been in Iraq since October of 2007 and we all knew he was due to come home probably next week for R&R but he came a week early and we are all so excited to see him. This deployment has certainly changed him. He showed us pictures of Iraq where he is stationed and wow it is really sad to see how dirty some of the areas are. He will have to return in June but we are so thankful he is here now. Please keep him in your prayers as I know it will be hard for him to leave the family again.

As I was sitting here just blog lurking, not really commenting but lurking I kept hearing something but I was too lazy to check to see what it was. When I finally got up this is what I found courtesy of our Black Lab, Dallas. Well I guess Cameron won't be wearing those shoes to the program tomorrow... Oh Well typical he wants to wear flip flops anyway.:)

Did'nt I say I just wanted to post "a little"? Oh well I guess I got "a little" long winded.

A little bit of this and A little bit of that

Today was the Valentine partys at the preschool and Kindergarten. I had them in my class yesterday and today. Carson just had his today and Cameron, because he goes to school everyday so that I can teach, he also had one yesterday and today. He thinks that is great. The K-5 class goes everyday. The 3 and 4K classes meet on MWF for 18 kids and then another set of 18 on T/Th. So he gets to do two of everything during the week which hasn't bothered him a bit. Needless to say with all the candy around here we are on a mucho sugar high!












Sunday after church we went to Pepere and Memere's(French for Grandmother and
Grandfather)The boys always have a great time. They put on buckets for hats and get sticks and walk around like they are going on an adventure. From the picture you can tell that Chandler opts to stay indoors and usually falls asleep on the couch. I made him let me take this picture. Cameron also has on his Pepere's hat that he wanted to borrow but Pepere wears it too often to let loose of it.














I was so excited to open my mail today and find these two picture frames that Christy sent me, for no reason at all. What a suprise and a sweet blessing. With three boys I know I will put them to good use right away. I won a give away she had a while back and I was having camera trouble so I did not post all that she sent but it was a bunch of really great things. I really loved these pot holders she sent I thought I would show them. Thanks Christy!!










Blessings,

Decisions, Decisions

My husband and I decided long ago that I would be homeschooling my younger two children at least for a couple of years. We have been extremely excited about doing this. This year there was a need for a 4-K teacher at my kids preschool I was approached about interviewing for this position and even though my degree was in elementary education 1-8 I thought why not??? I had one child in the 3yr old class and one in the Kindergarten class and I would be in a room right in the middle of them where I could go hug them if I had an extra minute and it was only 3 hours a day. I found out at the end of August that they wanted to hire me and so off I went into the land of uncharterd territory. I just knew this would be a great stepping stone for me to transition into homeschool next year.
Fast forward to today and I had to tell my boss I would not be back in the Fall. There was one thing getting in the way of my telling her and that was that I have sooooo loved this job. Before I took this job I was guilty of using my children's preschool time as a time for me to have a break and if they learned something in the process then great! A lot of times I did not even check their bags for work they did. Little did I know just how much work these preschool teachers put into their jobs. I have lesson plans that cooridinate with letters of the week. We do math, write names and letters. I teach bible verses. We sing a lot, so much that my voice has not been the same since school started. I have put a ton of work into this job and have loved every minute with the children and getting to know their parents. It really is not an easy job but if you love it you are hooked!
I went over every possible scenario that would allow me to stay in this job but it would always be at the expense of my family. I knew another reason I wanted to stay was for a selfish reason and that is I was getting accolades from my peers, my boss and parents about my abilities in teaching. Not a lot of accolades are coming from the kiddos when it is just you and them at home so I really found this embarrassingly rewarding.
These are the types of decisions I find the hardest. Picking between better and best. If I hated the job it would be so much easier to leave. I do realize that the Lord has given me a gift in teaching but I also know that no matter how gifted I am if I am out of His will for my life then I will get less than mediocre results in whatever I attempt no matter how "good" it may be. I must also add that I know how fast little ones grow and I have plenty of time to teach at a school later when my kids are older if the Lord leads. Until then I want to really take in these last few younger years with them and just memorize them and engrave them on my heart.
Sorry for the long post just pondering my day and the blessings the Lord has given to me and allowed me to experience.
Blessings,

Long time no post.....and YES I know it is a long one

Well I have decided to quit posting that I am busy because it seems to be all I say. So lets just let it be understood that I AM BUSY and that is the end of it. Each and every one of you could make the same statement and I don't want to come off as complaining so on with my post. haha
Teaching has been fun for me. I have really grown to love these little children whose parents have entrusted me to be a part of their education experience. The little girls are sooo girly. I love it!!! They are sooo sweet to me and feel bad that I only have boys. Several of them have invited me to come over to watch girly shows since that does not happen at my home. The little boys are precious and are all boy!!! Everything becomes a gun or sword and is pow pow, of course we are not allowed to let that happen so I have to encourage them to find something else to play. They are loud and fidgety(not a word) I feel very much at home with them because there are not many calm, quiet moments around here with 3 boys and two dogs.
I feel blessed to have been given this experience. I know my dh would probably argue that because he has to hear the other side of me working part time and that is that I am not able to get anything else done around here. I used to be a perfectionist about my home then I had 3 kids and I settled for picked up and maybe really clean a few times a week now I feel like I am just blessed to get every one where they need to be on each day with everything that they need to have. I know this is just a season and I pray that the investments that I am making in my children's and my student's lives will be substaintial. I mean really do my boys care that my house is "eat off the floor" clean or would they settle for picked up and me playing with them?? My house is stuff and while I do believe we should teach our kids to take care of the things we have been blessed to have I don't want them to ever feel that our "stuff" is more important then they are. I have not always had this mentality but I am thankful I finally got it. My younger two will benefit from this but my oldest will probably need therapy. haha
We are off tomorrow for the soccer state championship. Chandler's team has won this 3 times in a row and not to sound greedy but I would love to see the team win it for the 4th time. We have one of our biggest defenders sick right now and if he even gets to play he will be weak. We also have a player that got a red card last game so he has to sit out our first game. Not great circumstances to play under but all teams go through these types of situations so we will just have to see how it plays out. My dh and I love to watch this team play. We have been so blessed by our coach and all of the parents. This team is truly a TEAM. No superstars, everyone is needed and they all know that. It has been fun to see my son and the rest of the team really have each other's back on the field and to see the relationships they have formed off the field is exciting as well. I have been told that teams are not always so special. Meaning that the players may be good but the coach is degrading to them or the parents cannot get along. I don't know what goes on anywhere else but I do know we have a wonderful coach, great players and great parents and my dh and I feel very blessed that the Lord put our son with this team and it's is a long story but it truly was the Lord that placed him here.
I will let you know how it all pans out but would love to have you pray that our team plays their best and that no one on any of the teams this weekend gets hurt. I also am praying that if it is in God's will that we will win and if it not that the boys will be gracious in losing.
Tonight we get to pack for the weekend and then move furniture out of 3 rooms since the carpet and hardwood are being laid Monday. Any creative ideas on keeping the kids and dogs off the floor for 24 hours???? Short of moving out for the night I am not sure how I will be doing that but I know it is doable(sp)
Hope a great weekend is in store for all of you.
Blessings
Linda

Soccer/Harvest Party

Well last night my dh and oldest, Chandler arrived home from Chattanooga from the last weekend of premier league. We had to win the first game against the Huntsville Strikers to win the league and we ended up losing 2-0. It was a great game. The Huntsville team is very good. Chandler's team finished 2nd. The only way to qualify for regionals in July is to win premier league or State. We compete in State on the 9,10, and 11 of November. If we win State we go for sure. If we don't win then we hope that Hunstville will win their state because if they do they go to regionals as State winners and with us being second in premier league we get to take their first place spot and head to regionals ourselves. Was that clear as mud???? It has been a great run for our team and now they are just preparing for State. Chandler will also begin his Olympic Development training in about a month and do a couple of tournaments with that team and then for the first time in a long time he will only play on one team in the spring. His school team. In our State you cannot play on any other organized team of soccer if you are on the school team. It will be strange not traveling on weekends but it will be a nice break.

I just walked in from our Harvest party and Farm animal visit. The kids all got to feed the animals and hold a few of them. Last week it rained everyday so it was so nice to have a pretty sunny day for the children. Then we had our little harvest parties in our rooms. I was pretty hot and sweaty by the end of it all. Trying to run to each of my own children's rooms and then my own class's party it was pretty hectic. Maybe it is pre-menopause but even with the cool temps I am finding myself pretty hot lately and I'm not talking about my looks. (haha) Guess what?? I get to do the same thing tomorrow with the Tues/Thurs. class. Yeehaw!! It really was fun though and I with all the activities I did not even have to teach just coral them in.

We are trying to make changes around here to get the house on the market maybe in mid spring. I met with someone about getting new carpet in 2 rooms and hardwood in the living room so we are about to have that done soon as well as painting some rooms and probably new counter tops. It may look so nice I won't want to leave, who knows?
I don't get to blog as often as I would like but I still lurk around when I have the chance. Hope it is a God-centered week for all of you.
Another one from my late pastor, Dr. Adrian Rogers,

"The most miserable man on Earth is not an unsaved man. The most miserable man on Earth is a saved man out of fellowship with Jesus Christ".
Blessings,
Linda

School, Soccer & the Letter "P"

Chandler & DH

Carson

Cameron

Long time no write. I know and I am sure my Sweet Grandmother and parents are wondering where I have been. Where do I begin??? My kiddos are doing well in school. Carson, the middle one, is very much a pleaser and rule follower. He loves school and does his little homework papers on his own. I don't even have to remind him. Cameron likes school (preschool) but says he is tired (daily) and just wants to stay home. Chandler my ninth grader is so happy to go to school and get the awesome opportunity to communicate with other ninth graders who are of the female persuasion and communicate he does. What I don't get though is that I am of the female persuasion and some days there's not a lot of communicating going on between myself and him. Maybe it's just not the same.(haha)

We are spending a lot of time on the soccer fields. Carson's team won their game Saturday 12-2 He scored at least 4 goals. He is doing very well in soccer and looking forward to beginning basketball in about a month. Dad is the soccer coach and will try to do basketball too but with his work schedule he may have to enlist some help from the other dads of kiddos on the team. After Carson's game we went to Jackson, Tn to watch Chandler's team play one game Sat. night and 2 games Sunday. This was a region premier league weekend. The top two teams from Miss., LA, Al,Tn, and Arkansas play in a league. This weekend was Tn vs Ark. and we fit in our Tn vs Tn game. The team did very well and won all three games. My dh and I really enjoy watching our son play and rooting for the team. The team is now gearing up for the next premier league weekend in a few weeks where they will compete against the Louisianna teams. The team record so far in this league is 4-1 so they are progressing nicely.


In preschool this week we are studying the Letter P. Today we wore pajamas and cooked pink pancakes. We also are learning names of God and this weeks is Jehovah Shalom. The God of Peace. I try to cooridinate everything with the letter of the week. Even their show and share items are supposed to begin with the letter of the week. As I was cooking pancakes today in my class, Carson and his teacher showed up at the door and he had a fever so I had to leave my little learners in the care of my very capable assistant and our principal. I knew a trip to the store was going to be necessary as I had no medicine for a fever at home. Did I mention that today was pajama day? Well I too was wearing pajamas. Thankfully though I remembered as I left and was able to run home and change quickly before going to the store. That would have been a great post though huh?

I could go on and on but I think I am going to hop off this computer and see if I can work on figuring out how to put more hours in my day and if that does not work I guess I will settle for balancing and prioritzing it a little better. :)
Hope all of you have a wonderful week and remember God loves you!!!!
Blessings
Linda

A little bit of this and A little bit of that....

So much to say and never enough time....Well, I have been working with my little pre-schoolers and I love them so much. We have such a good time. I don't think I ever realized how much I would be singing though. In fact I have probably sung more in the past 2 weeks than I have in my entire life and let me tell you I am not a singer. I cannot carry a tune anywhere. We have the good morning , days of the week, months of the year, the pay attention, and the good-bye song and let me tell you if I forget to sing just one of these songs the kiddos will let me know asap. :) And guess what??? They don't even notice that I can't sing.:) I have very few behavioral problems. Nothing that I can't usually correct with a soft stern reminder. I will post some pics of the room later.

Here is a picture of the items I won from Peeking thru the Sunflowers give away. She sent them right away but of course without the digital is takes a while to get my pictures back. I just love them. Daughter of the King is having a very generous give away at her blog so stop on by and sign up.

I have to tell you about a prayer the Lord recently answered for me. MY DOG IS NOT PREGNANT!!!!! I wanted a female lab not a male because I did not like dealing with the whole "leg action to my company" that occurs when you have a male dog. When my male Jack Russell was a puppy he had the leg action going on and it embarrassed me so badly that I got him fixed as soon as I could. Having the female I have totally taken my time because she has not embarrassed me. Now she has chewed up the entire house(that is another very expensive story) but not embarrassed me with leg action so I sort of kept putting her surgery on the back burner. Well I have noticed she was acting weird and she looked a little swollen so of course I thought she was pregnant and I could only picture myself adding 10 puppies to an already impossible schedule. Come to find out she is not pregnant but in Heat. What a relief but what a mess. I did not know female dogs came with cycles, information I should have found out before I got the female dog. I did not know they make diapers for this. I tried to use some of my old low rider underware that I can't wear anymore because when I put them on the whole front disappears thanks to my ever-growing stomach. I had to cut a hole in the back as women's underware don't normally come with holes for tails,(they might somewhere but nowhere that I have frequented) I put a pad in and walah a solution to the bleeding problem that did not cost me a cent. It was a pretty prideful moment for me, but you know what the Bible says, Pride comes before the fall and fall they did right off her hind legs. If all of this means she is not pregnant than sisters I can deal with it. I am calling to schedule her surgery tomorrow morning. Then I will make sure this dog stays in the house unless one of us is right by her side when duty calls. If you look real close at the picture I've posted of the dogs, Dallas, has a stick in her mouth. I thought it looked like an oversized toothpick she picked up after a meal.

God has been good to me I feel so blessed. I could write so much about it and I will soon but for now I am trying to take it all in. I will tell you that in the book of Daniel the Lord is the Revealer of Secrets and when you are praying and are unsure of the things you are being told or are seeing happen, pray to Him to be the
Revealer of Secrets to you. Believe me He will reveal, in His time.
Have a great week in the Lord.
Blessings

School and a new opportunity

Well today is the last official day before school starts. I love having my kids home. I am going to really miss them. Carson is starting K-5 and will only be gone 1/2 day so it won't be too bad, but the oldest starting high school and between being gone all day doing homework and sports practices at night it can become difficult to connect oh and of course the fact that he is a teenager plays a huge part in the connecting department. Anyway I will miss them terribly.
Next year I plan to homeschool my little ones though so I am interested to see the differences within our family of having one in school and the other two at home I really wanted them to do K-5 at a school so that they could get an idea of just what structure is involved in school and that there will be a time for play but also a devoted time for learning.

The Lord has given me an opportunity this year that I could not pass up. I was asked to teach the 4-k class in the preschool program that my little ones attend. The kindergarten is there also and it will only be 3 hours a day and my children will be right there with me in the same location( which we could walk to from home) so I accepted and am looking forward to it. I am a little nervous though as the preschool begins in 2 1/2 weeks and I just found out 2 days ago and I have tons to do to prepare. I really believe the Lord will use this to jump start me into homeschooling next year. The people I will be working with are incredible and I am excited to see what the Lord will teach me this year through these new relationships with my collegues, students and parents. I am praying that as I embark on this new adventure He will give me strength and motivation to keep my home running smoothly so as not to take away from my husband and kids.
I want to leave you another nugget that my pastor would use in the pulpit.

"Never doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light."
Blessings