72

Today is The Pastor’s birthday!

She is 72.

Birthdays are always a special occasion in our household, but today?

Especially, so.

The Pastor has been fighting cancer for much of her adult life.

She was diagnosed with breast cancer when The Chef and canape were kids.  Years later, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

They were living in California at the time where she was serving as an associate pastor.  Middle Man was born that July and because of her diagnosis and treatments, she and our Pawpaw were unable to travel to Mississippi to see their new grandson until he was 10 months old.
Finally, she got the “all clear” from her Dr. to travel, and they flew to Mississippi and came to stay with us in Laurel.
Not only did they come to see their new grandson for the first time, but also for The Pastor to baptize him.  What an awesome thing!

At this point, I have to say that I have the MOST wonderful mother-in-law in the world.  Not many girls can say that.  From the very beginning, her gentle ways, soft words, and kind heart have endeared her to me.
But y'all?  That week that she and Pawpaw were with us?
She came to welcome, love, and baptize her new grandson, just days after her last chemo treatment.  
She still had her gentle ways, soft words and kind heart, but I saw a different side to her. 
It wasn’t anything she said and it wasn’t anything she did, but the side I saw was fully represented in her bald head and face devoid of eyebrows or eyelashes.  
All I could think, when I looked at this woman who had already gone through so many hardships throughout her childhood and life, was that THAT was what true womanhood was all about.

I thought that her bald head was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
It represented to me the fear, anger, desperation, sheer resolve, and submission to a Higher Power it must take on anyone’s part to be in the fight for their life.  To face the fear of the unknown and to defy death’s grip.

Several years later, she was diagnosed with metastasized ovarian cancer that was inoperable.  The prognosis wasn’t good, and she and Pawpaw uprooted their lives and moved from CA to just around the corner from us in TN.  
It just so happens, that they arrived in TN on Thanksgiving Day, 2006.

Since then, she’s not only baptized Dogos, as you see above, but two of my precious nephews, as well.

Y’all?  The Pastor has lived years past her poor prognosis.  
She is still fighting cancer each and every day.
Every birthday is an extra special gift.
We thank God every day that she is with us!

Even after all these years of fighting the cancer demon, she continues to love and serve others in the same gentle way, with the soft and kind words that she always has.

Happy Birthday, Pastor!
We can’t wait to celebrate for many more years!!

Thankful November 16

Today I’m thankful that our internet is fixed!

Internet blinked out on us sometime Wednesday and it wasn’t until late last night that it was fixed.

Hence the reason for no posts the last 2 nights.

I’m also thankful for computer-genius-friends that could tell The Chef how to fix it over the phone after all the regular “fixes” didn’t work.

verdict...this has happened 4 times lately and our router is going bad

I’m thankful for eye doctors shout out to Dr. Lisa! and the fact that as of today, Grandma Sandy has her first pair of real glasses ordered.

Enough with wearing Dollar General or Walmart reading glasses!

I’d gotten to the point that I was wearing reading glasses all of the time and not just while reading. 

I can’t wait to get my new real glasses. 

I’m thankful for the end of a very long week that was full of fun but physically and mentally exhausting.  

Which also resulted in Grandma Sandy having a nasty cold, yet again.

However, it’s not the flu which is running rampant around here, so I’ll take the crud any day!

I’m most thankful for Thanksgiving break!

We are out of school for the whole next week.

And as Middle Man said when we picked him up after school today and The Boss questioned him about when Thanksgiving break started,

“Boss?  Thanksgiving break started as soon as my butt hit this van seat.”

I sure do love that boy!

For now, I’m off to bed.  

Sweet dreams!

Fun field trip (forgive the lack of originality)

The post about Middle Man’s NOLA field trip will probably not get done until this weekend.

Today was our 1st grade field trip and I’m whipped!

We took 7 of our 13 1st grade classes to the Children’s Museum in Jackson today and it was unbelievably awesome!  The other 6 classes will go on Thursday.  The Boss’s class will be going Thursday so I’ll be chaperoning that one, too.

3 field trips in 4 days.

whatonearthwasIthinking?

Did I mention that I was whipped?

momsandteachersneverstopright?

As I was saying, the Children’s Museum was amazing.

I was SO impressed.

The facility alone was state of the art.

The activities in every rotation of the museum kept the kids fascinated and focused and having fun the entire time.  We were there for 2 hours and could’ve easily stayed another hour without anyone getting antsy.

It was completely organized and every single member of the staff “knew” how to talk to and handle kids.

If you’ve ever worked with children or accompanied groups on field trips then you know exactly what I mean!

Tomorrow I’ll spend the entire school day administering Level 2 dyslexia screeners.

I’m physically tired today but tomorrow I’ll likely be brain dead.

But before that I gotta get up a little early to enter grades into the computer.  Progress reports go out Thursday and grades have to be posted by noon.

I could do it tonight but I’m whipped.

Did I mention that already?!?

Tonight I’m grateful for a wonderful day in Jackson, MS at the Children’s Museum with my some of my favorite 1st graders in the world.  I’m thankful for the fresh experience of discovery in so many different ways today through their eyes.

I’m also thankful to be turning off the lights and shutting down this laptop. 

Grandma Sandy is off to bed!

Sweet dreams, everyone.  ;)

Gifted Field Trip

Middle Man and I had a great field trip to New Orleans, today!  

I started downloading some pics earlier and got started on a post about it.  Hopefully I can finish it tomorrow.

For now, I’m dealing with a few last minute screw-ups for our 1st grade field trip tomorrow, plus finishing up a "turkey disguise" project with Dogos.

I can hardly believe it’s almost Thanksgiving!

Today I’m so thankful for time today with just Middle Man.

Last year I was able to see him all throughout the day because I was teaching 4th grade.

I’ve missed him and today I was reminded of just how much.

Today, it was great to be just Middle Man’s Mom.

It’s been a beautiful fall weekend here in south Mississippi!

I opened up all the windows and enjoyed the fresh air all weekend long.

I love being able to do that!

Friday night, Peanut went to a birthday party for a friend and Guitar Boy went to the football game.   It was the first play-off game of the season we won! go Panthers!  and hopefully we’ll be headed to the state championships again in a few weeks.  

Yesterday Guitar Boy, Peanut, and Middle Man went with The Chef to a Men’s Breakfast at the church followed by a service day to get the church and grounds all spiffy for the upcoming holiday season.

Meanwhile, I stayed home with the little girls and did a ton of laundry.

I also have a confession to make.

I discovered that Lifetime was airing Christmas movies.

I’m afraid that I cheated on Thanksgiving a little bit by watching Crazy for Christmas and A Christmas Angel while folding 8000 loads of clothes and making supper.

I’m hoping that Thanksgiving will forgive me!

Today, The Chef, Guitar Boy and Peanut stayed after church for some meetings and for the youth to go rake leaves in the yard of an elderly church member.

I’m doing more laundry, sigh, while The Boss and Dogos are picking up leaves from the pool deck before they can get blown into the pool.

Fall is definitely in full force and I’m trying to keep those skimmers clean and be a little pre-emptive about more leaves in the pool!

Miraculously, the promise of a bowl of ice cream with sprinkles convinced them to happily collect leaves from around the pool and dispose of them!  YAY!

Middle Man and I are looking forward to a special day tomorrow.

It’s his Gifted class field trip and I took a personal day so I can join him.

Where are we going, you might ask? 

NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!

Yes, that’s right.  We’re headed to the beloved N.O. of LA.

First stop?

The world famous Cafe du Monde for beignets!

After we enjoy our beignets we’re headed to a Riverboat Cruise down the Mississippi on the Natchez steamboat!

It’s a two hour cruise and we’ll enjoy a Creole lunch.

Oh.  My. Word.

I can hardly wait!

I’m excited to spend the day with Middle Man.

I’m also excited to see some of my students from last year.

26 of my 48 students last year were in the Gifted class so I’ll see quite a few of them!  

It was a beautiful fall weekend here in south Mississippi and we enjoyed every minute of it.  I hope your weekend was a great one, too.

Home

I love where we live.

I mean, I really love it!

I love going out to get the mail and being greeted by these pretty girls in our neighbor's yard across the street.

I love going down to the barn and seeing the horses in the pasture that backs up to our property.

The kids love it, too!

 I’m pretty sure the horses don’t mind, either. 

I love having neighbors like PawPaw Bobby and his garden market stand.

I mean seriously.  The first time I stopped by there and read his note I thought, “You mean there are places like this that still exist?!?

Speaking of neighbors.........

...... allow me to introduce to you, Billy the Goat.

Peanut’s best friend, Cam, lives right around the corner from us.

Cam's Mom loves animals and has rescued several dogs, cats, a horse, and now Billy.  

I must admit that he does have a few bad habits.... 

....like jumping on top of parked cars and hopping up and down.

But generally speaking, he’s a pretty nice guy!

He greets me most afternoons when I drop Cam off after school.

Thankfully, he hasn’t jumped on my car yet.

I usually don’t stay parked long enough!

I love driving past the cotton fields every day.

Isn’t this field beautiful?

The fields go on and on, on either side of the road.

Cotton on one side, peanuts on the other.

It’s harvest time so soon these fields will be bare.  

I took this picture yesterday afternoon with my iPhone after saying hello and goodbye to Billy.

The sun was just setting and it was beautiful.

Don’t you agree?

I love having a barn....

...that affords me the ability to have chickens....

.....with plenty of space for them to free-range eating seeds, bugs, grass and other things that chickens are supposed to eat.

The chickens love the space and so do we.

There is plenty of room for the kids to run and play.

They spend time outdoors playing all kinds of games using their minds and imaginations.

Televisions and video games are off.

And they love it.

Horses?  Goats?  Barns?  Chickens?

Never in my life would I have thought I’d be posting about such things one day, proclaiming my love for them!

But I am one lucky girl to live in this place that is our home.  

Truly our home.

I know that I’m blessed and I try very hard to give thanks to God every single day 

for providing this home for us.

I’m also thankful for this man, here.

Our own PawPaw, whose hard work and careful planning helped to put us in this place that we call home.

We all still miss him so much.

I only wish he were here to enjoy it because he would’ve loved it, too.

Home is a wonderful place to be.

The power of the iPad

The other morning as I was rushing around, getting ready for school, Dogos was sitting in one of the bar stools at the counter, eating some cereal.

“Mom, I know what Jesus looked like.”

“Really Dogos?  That’s nice.”

" I really do know what Jesus looked like.”

“OK.”

“But Mom.  I mean it.  I really do know what Jesus really looked like.”

This is the point where I stop running around the kitchen like a crazy person and give her my full attention.

“Dogos, we all kind of have an idea of what Jesus looked like.  But nobody that’s alive today knows what he truly, truly looked like.  There were no cameras when Jesus was alive.  So if there are no pictures of Jesus, no one really knows what Jesus looked like.”

Exasperated sigh and an eye roll from Dogos.

“Mom.  Yes I do.  I saw him on the iPad.”

“Oh, and he was also a super cute baby, too.”

Thankful Nov 8

Today I’m grateful for the innocence of children.

The world is an ugly place, but when I walk into my classroom with those 23 unbiased and untainted (relatively speaking) little individual personalities that can’t wait to have fun while learning to read, write, work with numbers,  and solve problems both academically as well as socially, it just makes me happy.

These children don’t see color of skin, they don’t see socioeconomic barriers, they don’t see the things that separate adults.  

They see the things that they like about each other.

Sure, they have arguments and disagreements.

I love encouraging them to work out their differences with each other.  It’s not my job to fix it for them, but to guide them into developing skills to solve those arguments and disagreements, and to try to see the other person’s perspective of the situation, and to develop skills of empathy.

And truthfully?  Most of them usually work things out without my having to intervene.  

The election is finally over and I have to say that I’m sick to death of all the negativity I’ve seen on fb and in emails.

It’s one thing to have a difference of opinion and to be upset over election results.  I can understand that folks are fearful for the future of our country.  Who isn’t?  But when folks, who call themselves Christians, choose to demean and demoralize and mock others whose opinions differ from their own, I just can’t see how that spreads the love of Christ.  And isn’t that what we’re called to do?

 Today I’m thankful for the innocence of children.  

I pray for a healthier world for their future.

I pray for a world where the grown-ups can take a lesson or two from the children. 

 I pray that we all may see and embrace the things that unite us, rather than divide us.

I pray that we will have a righteous anger for things that are unjust.

 I’m thankful that I don’t serve a president no matter who is in office or their political affiliation, but I serve a Risen King who is the ultimate Commander in Chief, the Creator and Redeemer of us all.

I pray that God will continue to Bless America.

I’d planned to blog today about something Dogos said that reminded me of how grateful I am for the innocence of children.  

But I’ll save that for another day because on the way to pick up Peanut from school today I came inches away from being involved in what could’ve been a disastrous wreck.

I was less than a mile from our house, when a large truck bearing a trailer, ran a stop sign just yards before I reached the intersection.  

I literally STOOD on the breaks, laying on

my horn.

I’m telling you one thing.....there is no earthly way possible why I didn’t T-bone that truck.  I was close enough that I could see the driver’s face.  Once he saw me, he tried to stop and then punched it while my van was skidding and just before something terrible could’ve happened.

There was also a driver behind me who thankfully wasn’t close enough to rear-end me because I had to skid through that intersection standing on my brakes.  

With my adrenaline pumping, I kept driving, and thanked Almighty God, for my safety and that no children were with me.  

I know that angels from Heaven had to have been protecting me!

Of course, today’s post is a no-brainer.

What a privilege it is that we live in the country of America!

On November 1st, when I first asked my 1st graders, “Why was the very first Thanksgiving ever celebrated?”  The answers varied.  

Most said, “So we can be with family.”

“Yes, but why was the first Thanksgiving celebrated?"

“So we can be nice to people."

My favorite though, was, “Because Jesus died.” 

 “But why did the very, very, FIRST Thanksgiving happen?”

Blank stares.

Now, it has to be understood that many of my students are bilingual, others have language processing challenges, and for them all, it’s been a long time since conversation about Pilgrims and Native Americans, etc.

So we got into a grand conversation about the very first Thanksgiving.  We talked about the trip over on the Mayflower, how hard that was for these people making such a voyage.  Arriving to a new land full of hope and promise, but fear of the unknown and the challenge of surviving the elements without google to figure it out.  No streets, houses, restaurants, grocery stores, or policeman, etc.  The fact that the Pilgrims suffered through all of that to start a new country where they could worship God the way they wanted and that the King of England “wouldn’t have to be the boss of them anymore."

You know?  When I think about having the many privileges and freedoms afforded to us as Americans, my first thanks always goes to the Armed Forces that keep us safe.  The soldiers that protect our freedom overseas and the families here that carry on in their absence.  

I rarely think about the Pilgrims who took that chance and what that journey into the unknown and first year must have been like.

But talking about this with my young little 1st graders made me think about the Pilgrims and the Native Americans who befriended them, as well as all of the heroes throughout our nation’s history that have fought for everything that we have today.

This morning on fb, one of Guitar Boy’s incredibly talented band directors who is African-American (incidentally with a Caucasian wife, noteworthy in light of what he said)
posted the following:

Decades ago, I could not have the life I have today. I could not live next to Roland Pimm, a retired hobbyist wood maker from upstate New York. I could not have "Mr. Joe" as a neighbor; a 93 yr old WWII vet from New Orleans that brings my daughter stuffed animals on her birthday every year since she was born. I couldn't be married to my lovely wife and certainly not have my beautiful daughter with

out being terrorized everyday. Decades ago, I couldn't even drive to the town where I teach and influence the awesome kids that I have the privilege to teach. I wouldn't have even had the opportunity to leave my small Mississippi Delta town of Greenwood to attend the University I call my alma mater.
So, today, I am thankful that many people had the courage to say, "No more!" and endured the unthinkable so that one day I, a person who did not even exist yet, might have the life I live today. Today I salute and pay homage to you by exercising a right that many of you never got to experience despite your efforts. My vote today is in memory of you.  Tony L. 11/6/12

So today,  like every other American who exercised their right to vote, no matter the outcome, I’m so grateful to be an American.  Why God chose each of us to be born into this freedom, is a question that we’ll never be able to answer yet a blessing I hope none of us ever take for granted.

May God Bless the USA!!

60 minutes...hours of gratitude

There is absolutely no question for that which I’m thankful today!!!

The time change!  

FINALLY.

School here starts at 7am.  Which means I have to leave home by 6:45 to get to the school, park my car, run to my classroom, and get there barely before the bell rings.  If I have to drop Guitar Boy off at the high school, I have to leave a few minutes earlier than that.  Thankfully, I live very close to the school, traffic is not a problem, and there are NO traffic lights on my part of the journey!

I love this tiny town.

My alarm goes off at 5:15am.  I snooze a few times and drag myself out of bed by 5:45 to wake up Guitar Boy to get in the shower.  Then I go wake Middle Man (which takes an act of Congress) and snuggle with the little girls for 7-10 minutes (exactly) to wake them up slowly, and then get in the shower myself.  

The next 30-40 minutes involve me getting myself and kids ready, breakfast, animals, etc.  I’ve somewhat perfected it so that our mornings run like a well-oiled machine (with the occasional crisis).  Generally speaking, I usually have a heart-attack at least once (or more) a week over somebody not doing something they were supposed to, which is an entirely new blog post in itself, and one in which I will spare you the gory details!  I could get up earlier, but I’m just not willing to do that and would rather chance the occasional near-heart-attack.

But back to the original reason for my gratitude today.  

Friends, I’m telling you one thing.  That extra hour is the gift that just keeps on giving.  At least for the first few days!

First of all, the kids are tired and ready to go to sleep so much earlier.

Secondly, they are so much more ready and willing to get up in the

 morning.

BUT the most important reason why I love FALL BACK is that it’s not still night time when I have to get up and leave the house in the morning!

Now, don’t get me wrong....I truly appreciate seeing the sunrise over the cotton fields in the morning on my way to school.  

And the occasional misty fog is nice.

But having to turn on porch lights just to see my way to the car is kind of depressing.

It was wonderful to wake up and already see a glint of morning happiness through the blinds this morning.  

So I’m thankful for that extra hour on Saturday night that is continuing to spread its love even through the early part of this week.

Let’s hope it continues!!

Have you taken the time to count your blessings today?

Thankful Nov 4

Today I’m thankful for a clean kitchen and clean bathrooms.

I’m also thankful for a husband who drove kids around yesterday and today so I could do some house-cleaning!

I’m thankful to put the Halloween decorations away and get out the Thanksgiving ones.  I love Thanksgiving.

I’m thankful that the younger 3 kids are in bed, The Chef and Guitar Boy and Peanut are home from youth, it’s been a quiet Sunday evening, and The Chef is cooking the steaks for us and The Pastor.  

I hope that you all find many reasons to be thankful tonight.  :)

Mop away

Today I’m thankful for an entire Saturday at home.  

Seriously, that hasn't happened in over a month!

I’m thankful for time at home so that I could mop the kitchen!

That’s such a trivial thing to be grateful for, but our schedule is kinda crazy, so I’m thankful for a clean floor.  

Its hard to mop with all the kids running in and out the back door.  

I may or may not have locked the kitchen door and forced the kids to stay on the porch.

(Or run around to the front door if they needed something.)

All I know is that I have a clean kitchen/utility room floor! 

A clean kitchen floor = a happy Grandma Sandy  :)

Thankful Nov 2

Why am I thankful today?

I’m thankful for THIS girl!

Dogos is my......

....baby number five.....

....who celebrated her 5th birthday today.....

(how is that even possible?)

.....and we had a grand time celebrating with our friends and family.

Happy birthday, Dogos! 

Thankful, thankful, thankful

It’s time to give thanks!

This morning, while I was in the shower, I thought to myself, “I love my job!”  Very rarely does a day go by that I don’t thank God that I get to work where I work and do what I do.  

I spent last year teaching 4th grade Language Arts.

Y’all, I was scared to death to walk into that classroom for the first time.

It ended up being a great experience.  I learned a lot about teaching, about myself, I fell in love with my students, was crazy about the administration and fellow staff.  But I just wasn’t in my element.  4th grade skills?  Just not my thing.

Plus, I really am just a little kid kind of person.

So it worked out that I could transfer to the primary school to teach 1st grade, my first love.  Available teaching positions in this district are extremely hard to come by and I’m so thankful to be doing what I love, with 23 little personalities who make me laugh every single day.

I try very hard not to take for granted that I’m able to do what I do and work where I work, which got me to thinking. 

November is one of my favorite months and Thanksgiving is my very favorite holiday.  So, this morning while I was in the shower and saying, “I love my job!” to myself, I decided that for each day this month, I would blog about something for which I’m thankful.

Shortly thereafter, I saw several posts on fb by folks doing the same thing!  Yay!  My idea may not be original, but I think it’s a great idea!

Considering the fact that I haven’t blogged in 2 months, my goal to blog every day seems ridiculously overly ambitious.  BUT I aim to do it.  Even if it’s only 1 sentence.  I certainly have more than 30 days’ worth of things that I’m thankful for!

So, on this very first day of November.....

I’m so thankful that I get to look at these precious faces every morning.

I’m thankful for their cultural diversity, for their varied backgrounds, for their loving and supportive families, and for a principal who hand-picked each student for my roster and saw something in me that led her to entrust them in my care.

I’m thankful for my job!

What about you?