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.

Setback

Friends, would you please keep our family in your prayers? Without divulging too much detail- the gist of life right now is that we'll have no income except my new part time preschool teaching wages for about 3 weeks. There was an issue with my husbands work where he fell through the cracks. It will be resolved, but there will be a hefty fee to be paid to get everything back on track. Things were super tight to begin with and we have no idea how bills will be paid or groceries purchased, nevermiind the fee. Just when I thought things were getting better.... But I know none of this was a surprise to God and that He has us firmly in his hand. I'm much calmer and collected than I imagined I'd be (and he is doing OK too). The situation lends itself to stress all around and I'm back at work for the first time in 6 years plus 2 kids in school with new transitions and needs, so I'm completely drained and already running low on fuel. I'm asking that God will show us clearly what He wants us to learn through this experience and that He will provide a way for us to get through. Thanks!!

Twins?

"No. They are 16 months apart."

I find myself saying that, no joke, at least 5 times a week when we are out in public. The girly girls just had their back to school physicals and only 1/2 of a pound separates them in weight (younger good eater having older finicky sister beat there)> as for height, older P still has 1.5" inches on younger T, but it's not that noticeable. Their hair is now the exact same color after a summer of sun has lightened up T a bit. The only difference is one is curly and the other straight. They both wear size 11 shoes and size 5-6 clothes. And since they have identical styles and interests, they both have the exact same shoes, sweaters, rain coats... You get the picture.

They now know the stock response. I've even caught an eye roll followed by the under the breath muttering "16 months apart" on several occasions. After a grocery trip last week P remarked, "Hey, nobody asked if we are twins." It's that common of an occurrence.

I used to wish I had a twin. Anybody else? Even just a sister would have done.

I have a favorite blog I like to follow. They have twins from China and the pictures and stories are so darn cute. The mom, M3, started doing product reviews last month and I sent her a box of bows for her girls to put to the twin test and review. They opened the box yesterday. M3 posted a bunch of pictures of the girls with them. Too cute. The review will come out in a week or so after they are well tested. Can't wait to hear what they think and hopefully get some good press!!

BTS mussings

I love back to school. All of it. Shopping for school supplies has always been pure joy. I was always excited to start a new year. I'm an academic nut who just loves learning. As a teacher the end of summer never bothered me. I couldn't wait to get back, set up my classroom and unpack boxes of newly arrived supplies. I had ordered everything back in the spring and often forgot exactly what I had ordered (art supplies for 700 kids for 9 months worth of projects= about 25 large cardboard boxes to unpack) so it was kind of like Christmas morning present opening. In a word...FUN! There is still a lot of work to be done in my new classrrom, but that will have to wait until I'm officially in my work week next week. My mom even took me BTS shopping for some new work clothes when we visited last week.

The girly girls are all excited too. Thankfully T doesn't appear apprehensive at all about starting kindergarten. She'll ride the bus with her sister, get to walk in hand and hand and go to the same class with her dear friend who lives across the street and has been a preschool classmate for the past two years, and she has Mrs. M!!! A wonderfully kind, loving, all around awesome (and a Christian!) teacher she got to know well last year since she was P's teacher. We even found out last night two friends we adore, one from church and one from dance, are also in her class. Don't know much about P's new 1st grade teacher, but when I talked on the phone yesterday afternoon with Mrs. M and she asked who P got, she told me that the new teacher was fabulous and that her personality and style would be a wonderful fit for P. Cool!! P doesn't have any of her best friends in her class but I'm not surprised that that isn't phasing her a bit. She was Miss popularity last year, so I have no concerns that she'll have a new wide circle of friends in no time. Wish I had been that way.

I have my class list of the 16 recently turned five and almost five year olds that will make up my class. I have brief notes about them and can't wait to put faces to names next week.

About the only thing I'm not looking forward to is our mornings. You see, I'm a night owl. If I'm in bed before midnight, well, that's early. I start the majority of my bow sewing after the girls go to bed, so I'm most productive between 9 and 12AM. We have been rolling out of bed 8ish most of the summer. Now we'll have to be out the door by 7:55. And I'll be ushering two through the morning routine. Last year P and I always made it with less than 2 minutes to spare to the bus stop and T was still soundly asleep. I hate to admit, but there were many mornings we were pulling up to the stop (about 1/4 mile away) as the bus was arriving from the opposite direction. We never did actually miss it though! So in a nutshell, I'm dreading getting all of us up and out on time. The grand plan was to start moving back bedtime and waking up early in preparation. Not happening. In fact we pulled in the driveway Monday night at 9:30 from a play date gone long. But we all had a lot of fun and it is still summer. OK, so we have a few more days to get adjusting going...

This school year will mark a lot of change. First year with both girls in elementary school. First school year back to work for me after six years at home. I know it is going to be a great year! I can clearly see God's hand in placing me in my teaching position and the girly girls in their classes. I'm so excited to get going and see what He has in store for us. That is if I can get us all out the door.