I Can't Even

For reals. It's been four years since I last blogged. Four. F.O.U.R. What in the world? I've been busy doing life, I guess. But here I am again; Back for more. It's enjoyable to look back at my life and thoughts from the past, sort of like a time capsule preserved for my viewing pleasure right over the world wide web. It's a trip! So now I sit here and think of the last four years and ponder what is most worthy to post. What will my future self want to look back and see? Hmmmm... Maybe just a little update of what's up and then something prophetic. You never know...Something awesome might be revealed. I see my last entry was anticipatory of a teaching career in a public school setting. That happened. And as quickly as it arrived, it departed. The official reason is that God provided something similar, but different. The unofficial reason is that my first year in the classroom was super hard, and juggling school and family and church and sanity was very stressful for me. Something had to go. My sanity was teetering on the brink. Now I teach children in a church setting. Instead of bright eyed 4th graders looking at me to explain Area & Perimeter, and Expository & Narrative writing, I teach babies through 6th grade about God and how to have a restored relationship with Him through Jesus. I get lots of hugs and plan loads of activities and Bible studies. Be jealous. My boys are now 10 and 12 at the time of this blog entry. They are active and healthy and super smart. They get that from me, of course. haha... (I say that in full confidence that Dr. Hamilton won't read this entry.) Blaine attends the GT school and plays football with a city league. He's rocking the 4th grade, even Area & Perimeter. Braylon started junior high this year and, no, I wasn't at all prepared for that in my heart. He thriving, though. So there's that. He just made A string in football so he's a happy dude. I'm just happy if I can remember where this and that practice is at what time and if homework got done yesterday or the day after it was due or not. Ten points off? Oh no? Thank you, Jesus! Brandon and I have been married for 16 years coming up soon. Like, am I even that old to be MARRIED for 16 years? I guess so. He's still loving his job working with disabled and physically challenged kiddos. And he's good at it, so that's even better. So here I am four (F.O.U.R.) years later. Will I continue to blog? Who even knows? Anyway, I blogged today and that's all I know.

I'm Ready....Maybe

School starts in T minus 5 days and I'm finishing up preparations for my first day in a new profession. It's been pretty overwhelming, to say the least. Lesson plans are a challenge to write, but I believe when they are thorough, they will just roll off naturally and be successful. I am so thankful to have 3 fellow teachers who are veterans in the trade to help pull me up. They've been a blessing.

The other day during Blaine's piano lesson, he scratches his head and tells his teacher, "This piano thing is hard." There have been more days that not that I feel his sentiment. However, I can't help but to think there will be a great reward after this 'hard work', too.

Here's hoping for a GREAT first year!!

VBS

This year I had the privilege of helping to organize and write the curriculum for the VBS at our church. We did a modification of a children's musical, adapted into a drama. Then I crafted Bible stories that were relevant to the drama and theme, leading up to and including the gospel story.

I've always been drawn to VBS. There have been several years in the past where I took off from work for the entire week so that I could serve in this capacity. There is such a contagious excitement that reels me in like a bug to a night light. This year was no exception. Loved it. Every minute. From the first thought of planning to the last decoration taken down. And the coolest part? God brought 4 new kiddos into the fold through professions of faith. Wooohooo!!

Say what you will about current trends pulling away from VBS in the local church. As long as I have the physical ability and the people to help, I'll serve though VBS.

Why I Left Probation

It seems I've been answering this question repeatedly over the last several months. I figured I might as well write down my thoughts on the matter.

When I was younger, a career in criminal justice intrigued me. I must admit, I did fantasize about being as cool and clever as Clarice Starling and about changing the world one troubled person at a time. I made exemplary grades in my criminal justice courses in college. I was the president of the Criminal Justice Association on my campus. And after two internships in juvenile probation, I was hooked. This was going to be my life-long career, no second thoughts.

But as I've grown older, my priorities have now shifted. I climbed the criminal justice career ladder as high as I wanted to go. I feel that the mission I set out to accomplish has been achieved to the best of my ability. And now it's time to broaden my horizens to a new adventure; One that surely will yield more profitable rewards. Teaching.

I didn't leave probation because I was disgruntled, burnt out, angry, bitter or just plain cynical. I left because I would love to opportunity to motivate and teach young people.

So, here I go on this new journey. Probation work has been a pleasure (well, mostly). But I'm just so thrilled to see how the next chapter of my life will unfold and play out.

Diary of a Wimpy Mom

I've been reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (at Braylon's suggestion) and I must say, I'm really enjoying them. Probably too much, which likely denotes about where my maturity level is. I have to say, though, I love that Braylon is such an avid reader. For his birthday last week he only asked for books. Every day coming off of the school bus, his Nana says he always has a book in his hand. At night before bed, I usually have to tell him to go to sleep otherwise he'll be tired the next day. I think he'd stay up until 11 p.m. on school nights reading if I didn't nudge him to sleep.

It does my heart good to see such passion for reading in him. And if reading children's literature is something I can do to encourage him even more, then bring it on!

By the way, I've read some most wonderful children's novels in the past couple of years. The works on the market today are WAY better than what I remember reading as a kid.

I'm Baccckkkkk

It's time to bring back the family blog. I've been in a Facebook stupor for too long. Down with Facebook, Hello Blogger!!

Our life the last 9 months, in no particular order:

1) Brandon GRADUATED from med school!! AND passed his state board exams!!! Then he took a fabulous job working at Midland Children's as a staff physcial therapist. Blessings in every area of his life!!

2) The boys are growing like weeds. Braylon is 7 going on 17 and Blaine is 5. Both are healthy and well.

3) I can officially announce this now that I've given my boss the courtesy first: I've decided to leave the world of probation and try on a new career - Teaching. I start my certification program next week and am really looking forward to it.

4) Brandon and I continue to stay active at church. Busy in ministry and BLESSED.

Well, that's about the short of it. God is good all the time!

Turn Around, Don't Drown

Those are words of advice I've come to accept as the gospel truth over the last 4 days. For anyone living under a rock or not on Facebook, or both, let me recount my nightmarish experience.

On my 33rd birthday - last Friday - there came a monsoon of epic proportions. The weather man said to expect bad thunder showers with possible flash flooding. I went to work as usual that day not expecting any interesting turn of events to occur.

At lunchtime, I ran a few errands with a co-worker friend of mine. By the time we returned back to work in the van, the rains were coming down hard and we had to maneuver ourselves back into the building. We were both soaked. I knew then it was going to be bad going home, but tried to put it out of my mind.

At around 1:45 p.m. all the employees in my building were directed to the bottom floor due to a tornado sighting in Midland County. I'm still unsure of the credibility of that claim, but nevertheless, we obeyed. We returned to our desks around 2:05 p.m. and worked as usual. All workers in my immediate area and I would take turns peering out the window to see how black the sky was or how big the hail looked. Ironically now, I remember thinking how I didn't mind hail damage in my old van.

At 3:30 p.m. the director of the building walked through the halls announcing that he had made a decision to close the building due to inclement weather. In fact, he noted that his weather source said there was another storm coming and that everyone needed to vacate the building within 10 minutes. Truth be told, I had one thing only on my mind by that point: Get to Braylon who was at a school 5 minutes away. I knew I couldn't get across town to get Blaine quickly, but at least I would have one of them with me. Brandon was supposed to get both of them, but I knew that he had not left the house yet by 3:30 p.m.

With my focus on my son and not necessarily on safety issues, I left the building in a hurry. I was going to take the 'road more traveled' but the line was not moving as quickly as I wanted it to move. Here is where mistake #1 occurred: I turned off the high road and headed for the 'road less traveled.' I knew the back ways pretty well because I take them fairly often. The first intersection was too flooded. So I went to the next, then the next: By the time I could see dry land I was far off the beaten path and in about a foot of water. I had only to get through one more intersection before I clearly saw a safe path in front of me.....

I pulled up to that last stop sign so that I could get out of the mess I had tangled myself up in. Right when I hit the brake, the nose of the van went down - And more down. The water started rolling in the van and my first response was to roll down my window about 12 inches. I could see water everywhere around me and that's when I realized; This intersection goes really low. I dialed 911 and got an operator right away. I was able to stay calm for several seconds. It wasn't until I was drifting away from the intersection, swept away in the flooding that I started to panic. I was unable to see what cross road I was on and the 911 operator was getting irritated.

After I had turned 180 degrees in the van and drifted about 30 yards away, my help was provided. I told the 911 operator I saw a City of Midland Water and Waste Management Truck coming towards me and they disconnected the call. The two COM men were most helpful; Pulling me from my van window into their truck window. They drove me out of the mess and onto dry land. I knew they had to be available to help others so I did not ask them to drive me anywhere.

From there I walked to a nearby elementary school. They were most helpful in letting me seek refuge from the rain and wind. I'm sure I looked pretty pitiful up to my belly in soaking water and drenched from above with pelting rain, too. I soon learned that AT&T had put restrictions on all non-emergency phone calls in the area due to the storm. After a lot of texting and coordinating, my parents came to rescue me and Braylon; my in-laws rescued Blaine from his school and Brandon stayed at home and out of the mess (after I sent a nearby friend to deliver the message).

I have learned a valuable lesson: If you're safe - Stay safe. The kids were never in danger at their schools. We just put ourselves into danger trying to earn our own peace of mind. Hindsight tells me if I had just refused to leave work and stayed until 5 or 6 p.m. I would have been much better off.

Sooooo, please take this lesson from me; Turn Around, Don't Drown!!!