A Day at the Lake

Brad, the girls, and I spent the day yesterday at the lake with all of my family. We took the pontoon boat, and at one point the kids were able to get some serious tubing in. Well, serious tubing for my girls . . . probably not too thrilling for some of the seasoned water enthusiasts . . . the pontoon boat is great to fish off of and to casually cruise around the lake in. However, it lacks the "oomph" to really sling anyone around behind it. But, the kids seemed to have fun anyway. Surprisingly, we were actually able to convince Lily to get on for a few minutes. She screamed the entire time, though, and the other kids eventually voted her out.

It was nice to get away for the day. My mom has been pretty sick (nauseous) all week, but she finally felt "normal" again Friday. So, it was great for all of us to get out of town and spend time together relaxing and having fun. Chemo #2 is scheduled for tomorrow. So, we start another round of yucky days . . . pray for my mom.

A Quick Update From a "Single" Mom

I did not sign up to be a single mom. Although I'm sure that a lot of women out there who are single moms didn't expect to be where they are either. Really, I can't complain too badly. My status is only temporary (thank goodness!). But still, this stinks!

Brad is on the sick and annual leave shift for the next three months, which means who knows what days and times they will have him working. This week he is working from 4 to midnight. So, when we leave for school in the morning he's asleep, when we get home from school he's at work, and when he finally gets home from work we are asleep. I think that he is good . . . at least as far as I can tell from the few brief phone conversations that we have had. But here I am . . . a single mom . . . outnumbered . . . and they know it . . .

I had strep throat last week. (Probably from all of the germy little darlings that I get to "bond" with each day.) So I felt pretty rotten for most of the week. But the antibiotics have kicked in and I am good to go now! Which is good since I am a single mom and seem to have some sort of meeting or somewhere to be every day after school. The good news is that as a single mom I don't have to cook a big dinner at night and can go to bed as soon as I get the kids tucked in and asleep. (Which is my plan for tonight.)

My mom started her chemo yesterday. It took most of the day mainly because she had to meet with the doctor and take care of blood work beforehand. So far, so good. She said that she was nauseous most of the night last night, but has been able to sleep today a bit. She will continue to receive treatments once a week for sixteen weeks. One down, fifteen to go!

This Could Be Dangerous!

I have always avoided scrapbooking (kinda like I used to avoid blogging). I figured that it was one of those things that the anal, obsessive side of me would get completely wrapped up in. I knew that it could easily become an expensive and overwhelming hobby, so I remained strong and steered clear of anything "scrapbooky". My family photos (sadly) are stuffed in photo albums, piled in boxes, downloaded onto the computer, or still stuck inside the digital camera. There are no fancy backgrounds or decorative cropped pictures. I have played it safe.

Until tonight.

The girls and Brad are sound asleep and I got bored. In order to avoid housework and laundry, I decided to check out digital scrapbooking. My sister-in-law is actually an avid scrapbooker and she and I have talked a few times about the many on-line options available. So, I thought that I would check it out. I went to scrapblog.com. I didn't spend too much time . . . I just wanted to give it a quick try to see what it could do. The results are below. It's pretty cool considering I only spent about 10 minutes putting it together. It could be dangerous, though . . . I already feel the need to gather up all of our family photos and start organizing them into some creatively designed scrapblog book . . . HELP!

Wii Will, Wii Will Rock You!

Wii (I mean We) may have a new addiction . . . Last night we went to some friends' house to play Rock Band. This was actually our third time to "rock out" - we did it once with a large group of friends and once with the teenage son of some friends, but both times were short jam sessions. Last night we rocked hard . . . for hours . . . and I think that we may be hooked! The poor kids kept coming in asking if it was their turn to play, and we kept sending them away telling them maybe in a few minutes. (Nothing like the adults hogging the video game.)

If you have never played Rock Band, you must. It is ultimate karaoke with a drummer and a guitar player. It is tons of fun! I wish that I had taken a camera to catch the live action to share with you. Oh well, maybe next time!

A Super Reader

Did I mention yesterday that Gracie is a super reader? (It's kinda ironic since her second grade class are called the "Super Sewards".)

The official results are in . . . 1 chapter book down, and she made a 90 on the test! What a reader!!!

My Little Reader

Alright, I guess since this is MY blogsite where I can share whatever I feel like sharing, that I won't feel guilty for doing a little motherly bragging today. You moms out there will understand. For those of you who aren't, I apologize . . . you may want to skip this one and try back a different day for a different post.

Gracie checked out her first chapter book from the school library yesterday. Not a short picture book, an honest to goodness Junie B. Jones chapter book.

And she hasn't put it down yet! The last time I checked she was already on chapter 7. A chapter book!!!

I know that it may seem silly for me to feel such overwhelming emotions over a library book, but this is such an accomplishment for Gracie. She struggled in Kindergarten, to the point that the teacher talked about holding her back. Her self-confidence was shot. In fact, one time during church she came to sit with me (leaving the pew where she was sitting with her best friend) to tell me that she was sad because her friend could read and she couldn't. She hated school. She cried every day. I cried every day. Homework was a nightmare!

Then God shook things up. I spent a summer in turmoil looking for an assistant principal's position within our district and ended up with three offers. Initially I leaned toward the "easy" choice of staying at the campus where I had taught for nine years. After all, I knew all of the staff members, I had a couple of years of experience serving as an administrative intern there, and staying seemed like the best choice. But God nudged me (gently at first, then a little more firmly through a couple of my mentors) to trust in Him and try something new . . . something that would bless my family and me. I ended up at one of the elementary campuses in town (elementary . . . like small people . . . REALLY small people for a former sixth grade teacher) that has both a daycare room for Lily and a fabulous support system for Gracie. (Not to mention that I LOVE the people that I work with.) And the blessings began to flow . . .

Gracie had a fabulous first grade teacher who worked diligently to reach and teach EVERY child in her room. She also spent the year working with an outside tutor and was pulled daily by the dyslexic therapist at school (another fabulous teacher). By the end of first grade, she went from a struggling Kindergartener unable to recognize all of the letters and sounds, much less try to put them together into words, to a confident first grader who knew and believed that she could read just like everyone else. And now, as she is a month into second grade, she continues to gain confidence and shine. Last week when they tested the kids, she was reading at a second grade level, actually ahead of some of the kids in her class.

So here were are. I have an excited second grader who loves school, and now she has her first chapter book. She read after school yesterday afternoon, last night in bed, on the way to school this morning, in the office before school . . . she's a reader! And to quote The Little Red Caboose, a book that my MawMaw read to me as a child, my "heart nearly burst with pride."

Church at the Lake

We had church at the lake today. Our church family has been doing this for several months now on the first Sunday of each month. We call it "church out of the box", and this is definitely an appropriate name for it. It is completely non-traditional, completely spontaneous, and completely wonderful! It is hard for me to express how God is working through our group. But I am moved today to try and share the wonders and excitement with you.

First, let me try to describe church at the lake. Flip-flops, lawn chairs, dogs, and children everywhere. We typically set up right next to the lake under the shade of some beautiful (huge) trees. The worship service is very casual, yet somehow (for me at least) very meaningful. There are no pews or bulletins, no formal worship service order. In fact, today we had our "house band" ready to lead the praise and worship time when two other guys showed up with harmonica and guitar in hand . . . so they joined the band for the day. It was awesome! God was there mixed in with the beauty of it all. And as we sang I couldn't help but become overwhelmed by the way that He had brought us all together. There are so many stories of how God has worked in different families lives to weave together this group of believers.

One family, in particular, are fairly new to our group. They were originally introduced to us through a weekly Bible study that some of the stay at home moms began. Eventually, the family came to one of our small group pool parties, and they were hooked. They have recently began attending Sunday morning worship services and God is already using them to make a huge impact on our group. This precious family decided to share their recent experience with the power of prayer to our group this morning. (I did mention that we are fairly spontaneous, didn't I?) So, halfway through the worship service, they took the microphone and shared that their four year old son had been extremely sick the previous week. In fact, he had spiked an extremely high fever and they had to take him to the emergency room where a battery of tests were given to try and figure out what was wrong with him. This went on for several days, leaving the family feeling desperate and defeated. Finally, out of desperation, the father called his grandmother (who he knew had a strong prayer life) and asked her to pray. A little while later one of the stay at home moms from the Bible study called and asked if she and another mom could come over and pray over their son. The two moms went to the family's house and said a short and simple prayer over the sick child. With tears in his eyes and a choked-up voice, the dad explained that before they even finished their prayer his son was sleeping peacefully and that within five minutes his fever had broke for the first time in days. This experience confirmed to his family the power and love of God and his people. Isn't God great!

Today, I am inspired by church at the lake. It was such a simple worship service, yet extremely powerful at the same time. There in His presence, we had a time of sharing, a time of powerful testimony, a time to be real and worship. It doesn't get much better than that!