Thank You, Julie

What a surprise. I got there to meet Julie tonight and she had a whole garbage bag full of stuff. 2 winter coats, 2 pair of snow pants, 2 jackets, a pair of winter boots, a pair of winter/work boots, a pair of shoes, a pair of mittens, complete with the snap things that keep them attached to the coat so they don't get lost as easily. Goodness, what a blessing! Sebastian loved it. Beautiful! He exclaimed as I showed him. He had to try the boots on and they fit him and he was so happy he didn't want to take them off. It is so appreciated! And Julie is every bit as nice as I thought she would be. Maybe we can meet up some time and do something. (See, Julie, I had begun to post about it....I went back in to finish it).

I had begun this post after getting home from meeting Julie, but with the competition for the computer, I gave up. Then, I forgot that I had never came back to finish it, until I got on this morning.

My cousin Shannon is in the hospital, in labor. Her water broke yesterday evening. As of shortly after midnight last night, she was dilated to 2 and only 50% effaced. So, she still had a ways to do. They were planning to induce her. Well, mom is on the phone to her sister right now and I guess nothing happened over night. Wowzers! Some time today, though, we should have a new addition to the extended family.

Well, I have to get Makenneh ready for school. The Halloween party is today at school.

Raining Leaves

I just stepped outside and leaves were raining down. It was beautiful. And made a beautiful noise. Just thought I would share=)

This past month, our church has been having a contest. The theme was Lions, Tigers and Bears! They broke the members into three groups and each group had a leader. Lenny's Lions (my dad), Terry's Tigers and Brian's Bears. Then, because people tend to always sit in the same pew, the preacher mixed it up so that the leaders were in different sections than they normally sit. Anyway, last Sunday, we had quite the crowd of family, in addition to the members who sit in our section. My grandma and Aunt Bev were able to come because they were in town for a bridal shower. My Auny Sylvia, cousin Karen and Alyssa were there as well. (Karen is Sylvia's daughter and Alyssa is Karen's daughter). Anyway, the message hit home for me. I was saved many moons ago...when I was 10 or 11 or so. However, I was never baptised. I am not real sure how that worked out. But that's how it happened. So, come Invitation time when the congegation bows heads while the preacher extends and open invitation to the alter, I decided it was time to make the trek. So, I went up and asked to be baptised. I was really hoping to have done it right after services (as is usual practice) but it wasn't filled. So, I went yesterday and was baptised. While I was in getting ready, one of our guests accepted Jesus and was saved and she was also baptised. I must say that I have a fear of water. I want to be in control when it comes to my head and the water. I must plug my nose and close my eyes when I go under water. Have to! So, I was hoping I wouldn't do like Makenneh and freak out and grab the side as he was dunking me under. But, I did just fine.

Tomorrow I am meeting Julie. It's crazy that we live in the same state and really not terribly far apart, but have never met. Well, she has some winter gear for Sebastian that her little (but bigger than mine) boy has outgrown. She suggested we meet half way between her daughter's college and my place. And it worked out that I can escape my hectic schedule. I'm looking forward to meeting Julie. And I am so grateful for her kindness and generosity. She is always sending things for the kids. Helpful, useful things....things we have needed like winter coats, snow pants, winter boots, clothes. I have told her that she is a Godsend. So, we will be meeting finally.

Well, I need to get some sleep. I have a Social Psych test tomorrow and a practical in Human Biology on Wednesday. I have no idea why these tests have to all come up at the same time. Grrr.

Me stay here

That's Sebastian's motto for the morning. He does not want to go to school. I get his clothes out and say, "let's get dressed" to which he says, "Me stay here". Every step in the morning is met with those 3 words. And I just bumble along with him....enticing him one step at a time. "Well, you still need to get dressed/brush your teeth/put on your shoes." Then the time arrives to go wait for the bus. I asked him to join sis and I at the bus stop. He was fine the whole time. When he saw the bus coming, he shouts, "THe bus is coming!". All seemed to be fine. Then she stopped, opened that door and he bolted up the driveway for the house. I caught him (with assistance from gma) and carried him to the bus, crying the whole way. HIm not me. He grabs the side of the bus. The bus driver says I can take him to his seat if I want. So, I do that. Meanwhile, there is a car stuck behind the bus, waiting. I try to explain to SEb that cars are lined up and waiting and I must go now. She offers to let me stay on the bus while she does that part of the run. So, I take a seat. I sit right in front of Makenneh and Sebastian. I must add that I am still in my pjs, no bra. Horrible. But, anyway, I bump along on the big yellow bus, talking calmly to Seb about see, this isn't that bad is it? Dontcha think mommy's too big for this bus? He cracks half smiles, but nothing more. Then, he wants to sit with me, so at the next stop, I put him in my seat, but by the window. He looks out the window, draws in the moisture on the window, paying no mind to me sitting there. Fantastic, I think! I will be able to slide out of here adn be on my way. And she slows down, bus comes to a stop and the swoosh of the door opening and FREAK OUT! He started crying and reaching for me. IT was soooooo damn difficult to step off that bus. My very heart broke, as the bus driver was assuring me he would be ok. I thought aobut him all day long. I was so glad to get home from my internship and see a happy, well-adjusted boy. HE said he had a good day, had fun with his friends, etc. So, I don't know what the morning will bring. However, JEremy talked to him a bit and gathered that a boy is calling him names on the bus. GASP! Seriously?! GRRRR! Makenneh doesn't know the boy's name, but knows his sister's name. That should be enough info for the bus driver. I am going to talk to her in the AM because if that is the problem, something has to be done. I will not survive too many mornings like this one. It is heartwrenching walking away from your child when they are crying when every instinct is to run to him, cradle him, whisper in his ear that mommy's here and all will be well. But, the reality is, well, reality. He has to go to school, he has to separate from the nest little by little, it's part of growing up. The wings have to be spread slowly, and over time so that they don't fall flat on their face when they finally leave the nest for good. HE has to do things sometimes that he may not like, enjoy or want to do. I can't molly coddle him. Much as I would love to. =) I really hope that it improves.

I got 59/60 on my Bio Test 2. Woohoo! Our practical (Lab test) is Wednesday, a week from today. Hoping I can hang on to that 4.0!

Not much else to say, I am tired, have two upcoming tests I need to be reading/studying for. Have a great night!

Fall Pictures

Well, we attempted the fall pictures. I think I may have mentioned that in my last post. These are just some of the pictures we took. It was a chore to get them to cooperate because Uncle Ralph got the go-kart out and they were far more interested in that than in taking pictures. OH well. We still got some really cute ones.

I have been sick for the past few days...the typical bug I get this time of year...allergies are out of control, sinuses a mess, cough. Joy. My mother in law made me a hot-totty (don't know how it's spelled) last night and it actually helped quite a bit. Hopefully I continue to improve because I don't have time to be down with something.

All is going well at school. I am doing far better in my biology class than I thought I would. I am carrying a 96% in the class. We have a test on Monday and I am not even worried about it. Looks like all my classes are 4.0 at this point. My internship is going well. I have been running the front desk this past week because the program director had a death in the family. She usually fills in while the secretary does her exercise class. I learned quite a bit and made the days faster when I was busy with calls, questions, etc. There's a small possibility that I could end up with a job after this is said in done. I won't go into details yet because nothing is definite. But please keep it in your thoughts and prayers. It would be so wonderful to be able to move forward.

Feels like winter is near here. Can't believe how cold it was been. Wow. So much for fall.

Well, I am tired, still have some things to do, and need to get doing them...enjoy this pictures! Some of you may have seen them on facebook.

That always happens

Something about getting to this page to type. My brain freezes. I forget all that may have been funny or clever. Gone. As I go through my days, something will happen and I think, "oh that would be so funny to blog about." but I get here and it's gone. Doesn't help that it takes me so long to get here anymore. I seem to have lost time. It's buried under a stack of textbooks and lecture notes, I am sure.

Sebastian starts school on Wednesday. I am not happy, oh no I am not. I am quite sad. He is my baby and he is going off, without me, with strangers, to grow his little wings and all that stuff. We had his orientation today. He didn't want to go. "Me stay here!" I finally convinced (or bribed, depending how you want to look at it: half full/half empty, ya know) him to come along. I got his backpack out and let him put it on. And when I had to tighten those straps as tight as they would go, I realized that perhaps he is just too little to go to school. The backpack is even too big. See, he should probably just stay home with mom another year.......wwwahhhhhawwwwwahhhhh. I did not let him see a tear, no. But, I came in here and nearly fell apart. Had to breath. Deep. And then we headed off, that big boy and I. He was a bit hesitant and shy at first. As always. But, he did well. He found his own name tag and cubby and decorated a car to hang on the wall in the classroom. He just impresses me with his little personality. He holds doors for his mom. Such a gentleman in the making. I took him to McDonald's...just the two of us. I let him play as I went through all the papers from school. I got to a poem that was included in the folder and thank God for the playscape because the tears fell once agian. I will include the poem at the end, so that if you don't want to read it, you can skip it. It's a little long. but so cute and if you have little ones, well, so worth the read. Anyway, after a little bit, I asked if he was ready to leave...he scurried down the playscape and grabbed his shoes. No whining, no protests. Just a big boy doing the right thing. You bet he was praised. We learned today that he will get on the bus with Makenneh in the mornings. That is a good thing. She was happy about it too. But he will be shuttled to his preschool from Makenneh's school.

Makenneh is doing great in school. I have her parent/teacher conference tomorrow night. I have already spoken with her teacher once last Friday, when I went to pick up her homework she had forgotten. So, I have an idea of how she is doing. It's amazing to see how much she has grown just since school started. Her attitude is still good. I have been able to find absolute pleasure in being her mom. Not something I could always say. I hope she has learned/is learning that positive behavior brings positive results and positive feelings. I continue to talk to her about that. How our behavior affects our moods, people around us, etc. It feels good to be good.

My mother in law is almost completely moved in next door. They have a couple more loads of stuff to bring tomorrow and that will be it. OF course, there is the whole, unpacking, sorting, putting away part. But, she is getting settled more every day. The landlord was being quite a jerk at first. Actually, jerk is quite a mild term for how he was behaving. Perhaps he needs a refresher in the whole good attitude produces good results. Think he forgot or never learned. He attends church with my parents. But, to meet him/deal with him outside of church, well, you may not ever guess that he was a trustee at the church. He has been so underhanded it's quite frustrating. He did nothing but complain to anyone who would listen about how "filthy" the apartment was left, forgetting the fact that the person living there was one of our relatives. He went so far as to call her and her oldest daughter stupid bitches. So, anyway, yes, he ranted about the condition of apartment. In honesty, it was pretty filthy. The carpets nearly black, walls dirty, etc. But, scrubbing carpets and painting walls is part of being a landlord. Deal with it. He wanted to charge her for a window that broke after she turned in her keys. He wanted to charge her for scrubbing the carpets, the fire extinguisher being used to put out a stove top fire, cleaning the stove that he threw out bc she lived there many months with only 2 burners working, just being real crazy. Many of the things he wants to charge her for just don't sit well. Then, my mom told him the fridge was no good. He figured it was, left it in there. Well, the back was all frosted up, it made a funny noise and well, once mother in law (Chris) moved in, guess what....wouldn't freeze ice cubes, fridge is warm, just not working. The carpets, while scrubbed, are still filthy. She had on new socks that are now garbage...black, sticky, gross. His response: if the place isn't clean enough, find a new one. Funny how the place was so filthy but now he thinks it should be considered acceptable. So, it was a rough start. Everything seemed to be going wrong. OF course, she was running on low sleep, emotional from being more or less homeless for a month, and then come "home" to find things just not as he promised they would be. But, she got through it. S he is just going to scrub the carpets a few more times, vaccuum heavily and hope for the best. HE did bring a new fridge today.

School is going for me. Biology is killing me though. Tonight, for lab, he just let us study. Casey and I spent the entire time allotted, going over everything. He had some tricks that had helped him remember certain bones and muscles and he shared them with me. We caught a couple mistakes with the lab book...it didn't have a page on the foot, so he isn't going to test us on the items not given to us in the book. That's too bad for everyone who left early. So many people feel it's unimportant to stay for lab...so they just leave. But, how can you pass a lab practical if you haven't been there for labs? Toward the end, only 3 of us remained. I wonder what our test scores will be in comparison with those who skipped out. I am glad I stayed because I have a better understanding of all of it. I am pretty sure I will pass it now. Before I wasn't so sure.

Well, here is that poem, then I am off to study some more. REmember it's long, so feel free to skip. But it is some good food for thought.

You ask, "what's in my backpack?"

you ask, "what's in my backpack?"
when i come home each day.
I wonder what you hope is there,
if it's empty, is that okay?

I tell you about my busy day,
How the teacher watches over me.
We sing, we laugh, we share, we learn
That's the way it's supposed to be.

You ask, "what's in my backpack?"
I say, "today it's empty"
I see the disappointment
as you look down at me.

School is much more than "things"
that you can see and touch
it's all of my life lessons,
and that means so very much

For if you really want to know
what i do each day,
it won't be on a paper;
you'll know by what i say

Please don't look so unhappy
when you open the zipper wide
what you are looking for today
is all on my inside

ask me about my hands and ears,
my nose and my eyes
ask me what we talked about,
and if i remember why.

EAch day we do so many things
so many books to read
sure is nice my teacher knows
exactly what we need

that backpack on my back today
carries back and forth my stuff
if you want to know what i learned
listening to me will be enough

my teacher wants to plant a seed
get my "love of learning" to sprout
she wants it to last a lifetime-
that's what school is all about.

it's in my head in my heart
that learning will take place
"childhood should be a journey...
don't look at it as a race."

-Donna Whyte, 2002
last two lines adapted, with permission, from SDE/Crystal Springs-Bob Johnson

Good night...