Dad gets the dead fish

So that's what I heard as I rounded to corner into the kitchen. The girls were sitting at the kitchen table getting ready for craft time. Tea had received some shrinky dinks for her 5th birthday from a friend and they were about to start coloring. For some (very strange reason) one of the shrinky dinks was of fish bones. They had carefully sorted them out, Tea being gracious and sharing them with her sister. Apparently there was an odd number and the one left after they had taken turns picking their stash was the fish bones. And Dad was to be the lucky fellow to get the remaining one.. the "dead fish." Lucky duck! [ it's very small and hard to see, but Pip is holding it at her eye level ]

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The flu is almost an epidemic here. We have managed to avoid it so far, but hundreds of kids are out of each of the local schools. Only 1 out from my class, but four (out of 12) are gone across the hall. They are giving immunization shots for free at all the schools, but I have decided not to vaccinate for this one after a lot of research and prayer. So we are eating well, taking vitamins, and hand washing like crazy. I have a sinus infection so am running at 80% and hope to stay well for at least the next few days. I leave Friday afternoon for Virginia Beach for my church's women's retreat. I'm excited for a few days of companionship in Christ and spiritual renewal.

I'm back

I've composed so many posts in my mind, but just haven't had the time to come and post anything. I'm finally feeling that I have both feet underneath of me, so I'm hopeful that I can get back on track.

Highlights (for now- maybe full posts will be forthcoming)
- After several weeks, Paul is fully credentialed again and able to resume work.
- Teaching is going well. There is no doubt that God clearly placed me in this position. It has been difficult to find a balance of work/home. I have had an overwhelming amount of responsibilities to get the school year off to the right start and I have been going non-stop for many 12 hour days of family/work/errands/family/bow business. It's exhausting. I believe that I'm now in a groove with school and the girls are as well, so I might free up a bit of time for simply being.
- We received 4 free tickets to the local berry farm and had a wonderful weekend at the farm seeing animals, running the corn maze, riding the tractors to the pumpkin patch and SO much more. I took almost 300 pictures on a glorious Sunday afternoon last week.
-Tea (I'll be using nicknames now) turned 5 and I put together a craft themed party at home. We had 10 little girls as guests and her kindergarten teacher came too (love her!). The weather didn't cooperate, so I had to move it all inside (yikes!) but it went so smoothly.
- Pip lost 3 teeth in less than a week including the top front two. Tea has her first two loose so we bought the material to sew her tooth fairy pillow so we'll be ready. That project has been on the back burner, so hopefully I have another weekend.
- Spent all Saturday sewing. Made super soft fleece robes for the girls now that mornings are starting to have a chill. I love making stuff from scratch. Pip told me this morning it was like I was giving her a hug all the time she was wearing her robe.
-We had a church picnic and I got the chance to catch up with some ladies from our former ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) class. We switched almost a year ago because Paul wasn't getting anything out of the lessons and needed a different teaching method. Our new class is taught by a wonderful man who runs a full time Men's Ministry and teaches in a way women can learn from too, but really challenges men. It's where we need to be, but I miss some of the women from my former class I never get to see anymore. Several of us have all had similar challenges/struggles in the past 4 months and it was refreshing to talk with them about their walks and faith.
- Paul won a trip to San Antonio for his work performance. We couldn't afford to add me to the trip since the hotel was covered, but airfare and a meal/activity fee were not. My prayer for the past few weeks was that if God wanted me to take this trip, He would provide the money. Guess what... I'm going to Texas the first week on Nov!(this will for sure be an in depth post).

I had about 30 minutes of free time before the bus this afternoon. See...things are getting better!! Off to get my girlies.