Our blessed family!

I think part of what provoked me to write last night's entry was that I stopped & admired 3 little pictures that are on my bedroom door.  They were drawn for me by a sweet baby girl over a year ago, but I haven't been able to take them down you.  I think you can see why.  Can you see the artist's name?

This morning, however, was better.  I awoke to my sweetie pie heading off to work (church).  He crawled into bed to hug me, tell me he loves me & to thank me for being the mother of his children.  (Of course, I in turn thanked him for making me a mama.  tee hee)

Soon after, Samuel was in the kitchen telling me "don't get up!  I'm making you breakfast!".  Umm....ok.  He did pull off toast & juice pretty well.

One by one, the kids brought in their treasures & cards mostly handmade things from school.  Too sweet!  Larry apologized several times today about the fact that what he ordered me had not arrived yet.  He ordered it several weeks ago but it's still in transit somewhere.  That's ok, though.  I forgave him.

At church, our pastor's wife (& a dear friend of mine who I also work with) spoke during the worship service.  She did a fabulous job of giving a message about moms, but it was one that is also applicable to all the people in the service.  Way to go, Gina!!  In her speaking, she really honored me and several other ladies by mentioned traits about us that she admires.  I was so touched that she said my name & talked about the fact that I'd gotten the teacher of the year award from work.  The whole crowd clapped & many of them came up afterward to hug me & congratulate me!  Wow...what a blessing!

We came home after church to rest & then spent the evening with my parents.  They cooked supper & we ate at their house.  We gave mom a card & a little bath set.  The kids got to have fun hanging out & doing 'grandma's house stuff'.  Sarah & Samuel both went to the garden with mom & I to dig some potatoes (they think that's the coolest thing in the world).  Before we left, we took a new 3 generation picture.  Me, mom & the girls took one last year on Mother's Day, so we needed a new one tonight.  I won't embarass myself by posting both pics....because I figured out after I got home & looked at the pics that I was wearing the same outfit in both pictures!  ha ha!  But anyway, here is the one from tonight:

It was a great day.  Life is good.  I am blessed beyond measure.  Thank you, Lord.

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It's nearly midnight & my mind is filled with the names & faces of so many women that I will spend tomorrow praying for.  Unfortunately, I know far too many ladies who've lost a child to cancer or some other horrible illness.  I know too many to count who've surivived abortion or miscarriage along the way.  There are others who've lost a child in infancy and have to visit the grave of their tiny child, gone too soon.  Friends of mine have had children killed in wrecks.  And oh, those mothers who have to walk through tomorrow aching for their kidnapped or murdered child.  Precious lives, taken away from their mother's arms..... 

So many of us mommies live each day with a void.  The void is pierced by life that must continue, other children that must be fed, a job that must be done & projects that must be finished.  My void is not quite like the others I listed above, but it's a void just the same.  Two little people are gone from my life and I ache for their presence.  What I wouldn't do for a big hug from them tomorrow. 

Other moms have lost their own mother.  Some as little girls, some as young women or young mothers themselves.  Life without their mom has never been the same since she was gone.

For so many women out there, Mother's Day is a hard one.  These moms are the "walking wounded".

I am grateful for my three healthy children, for the wonderful mama in my life who I speak to nearly every day.  I am grateful for two beautiful sisters who are moms, too, and for so many close friends who share in this great sisterhood of being a mother.

But tonight my thoughts & prayers are going up for all the moms who paste on a smile & go through Mother's Day with a pain in their hearts that won't ever go away.  I encourage you to join me in those prayers.

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I'm typing these out quickly, so pardon any spelling errors or typos.  I need to type them up before I forget them!

#1---Sarah is a perfume hound.  Anytime she sees a bottle, she'll grab it & give herself a little squirt.  This morning, she came out of my bathroom grinning, like she usually does after spraying perfume.  She walked over to me & acted like she was waiting for me to notice the scent.  I leaned over & sniffed....but didn't smell anything.  I asked if she'd used perfume.  She said she had, so I sniffed again, still nothing.  I asked her which kind it was & she ran back to the bathroom to look.  She yelled back "It's called White Rain."  I was stumped.  I have a lot of perfumes, but I couldn't remember one with that name.  Then she started laughing & said "Oh wait........that's hairspray!!!"  (No wonder I couldn't smell anything when I sniffed her.)

#2--We ran to the grocery store for a few things this afternoon.  Samuel & Sarah went with me.  Upon getting into the van, they both said they had money with them to buy me something --- from the gumball machines.  Sarah gave me a lovely pink & white rubber ring while Samuel purchased an upscale golden band.  LOL!  I love them both.

#3-- On the drive home, someone mentioned "joy", which of course always makes me think of a childhood church song---I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart.....  Anyway, I started singing that.  Samuel jumped in when I got to the next verse & sang out "I've got a piece of understanding down in my heart......"  I giggled at his version of the song & then Sarah said "NO, no....it goes like this...........I've got a piece of pastor's understanding down in my heart...where?  Down in my heart to stay!"

Hmm...maybe we need to re-learn that song.  Then again, sometimes I feel like I just have a "piece" of understanding as well.

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Tonight was our end of the year party for the teachers at the school where I work.  We traded our secret pal gifts & revealed who the secret person has been all semester.  I got a big bag of goodies---a cool tote bag, an insulated lunch bag, a monogrammed towel, some B&BW body spray in one of my favorite scents & a book of devotionals for teachers.  We also ate a meal together & then they gave out awards.

One of the awards was "Teacher of the Year".  Weeks ago, they had us nominate someone.  I had a really hard time voting because I don't really know what other teachers do in their classrooms, so I had a hard time choosing someone based on their personality or what their classroom looks like when I walk past (decorations, center set up, etc).  We had to write out reasons why we were voting for that person, so I really wanted to vote for someone who deserved it.  I ended up choosing a lady who is technically a sub, but she is there (it seems) 4 out of 5 days a week & she has subbed for me a couple of times.  She is willing to work with any age group, is very flexible & jumps in wherever she's needed all the time.  She's able to be silly & have fun with the littlest ones and can teach the Kindergarten class with ease as well.  That means a lot to me.

Tonight, they began reading all the comments people had given for the teacher who had won.  They read the reasons before naming the teacher.  As I sat & listened, I was thinking 'wow...those are such nice things people said about this lady....I wonder who it is'.  And then, out of the blue....whammo.....they weren't describing someone else!  It was ME!  This is my plaque.

I am just so stunned.  They promised to get me a copy of the comments that people made about me.  I started crying when I realized it was ME they were describing.  Seriously, it was very touching....and I will cherish those words even more than the plaque to hang on my classroom wall.  (although I'm pretty jazzed about that, too!!!)

It turns out that there was a tie & another teacher (who was actually my secret pal!) also received the teacher of the year award.  They are making a yard sign that will stand in front of the school this summer & all next year with our names on it, too.  I'll post a pic when they place the sign! 

I'm really excited about this, but I'm honestly very surprised.  I've only been there for one year, so I neverrrrrr expected to win this award.  It makes sense for Sheila to get it (the other lady who won) because she's worked there for several years now....but me?  Wow.  That's all I can say.  Wow.  (if you're a parent or a teacher, you may recognize that reference from Lilly's Plastic Purple Purse...ha ha!)  Anyway, seriously...wow.

To all you Oak Tree folks who read my blog, THANK YOU!  From the bottom of my heart, I really appreciate this!  What an honor!

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Before the alarm clock went off this morning (at 6:20), Samuel tip-toed into the room & whispered to me that a branch had fallen from a tree in the back yard.  Umm, ok, that's nice dear...now go away so I can sleep a little more.  He went back to his room & that was that.

A few minutes before the alarm went off, Sarah came rushing in to tell me that a TREE had fallen in the backyard & King was "squished" under it.  What?  By this time, I had forgotten Samuel's earlier explanation that a "branch" had fallen, but the idea that our beloved dog was "squished" under a fallen tree made me jump out of bed.  Larry & I ran to the back window of our bathroom & saw this:

Umm...that's not good.  (This pic was taken looking out my bathroom window.)

We threw on our clothes to go check the damage outside.  Interestingly enough, all three kids were already dressed & ready to go out.  Apparently Samuel woke up first & then woke the girls to look at the "branch" in the yard.  ha!  We ran outside & found a bigger mess than we expected.  See?

This enormous piece of the tree had fallen.  The part connected to the tree was easily 15-18" in diameter.  It was the length of about 2/3 of our yard.  While it didn't hit the house (praise God!), it did hit the front wall of our shed.  Damage was VERY minimal, just some scraped places.

Check out how CLOSE it came to hitting the house.  The yellow part you're seeing is the bathroom we added on in 2006.

Larry went to staff meeting this morning, then came home & began the arduous task of cleaning up this mess.  With the assistance of my dad's chainsaw, he cut the branch down & cut it into a million pieces.  He got one trailer load of it hauled off before I got home from work.  After we picked up the kids from school, the 5 of us worked for several hours to load up the rest.  It was after 7pm before we finished, but the yard is officially cleared out now!

This morning, we thought that lightening had struck the tree, causing it to fall.  After all, this looks like a charred spot, doesn't it?

As it turns out, it's something entirely different.  The tree is infested with carpenter ants.  Apparently where they have eaten through the bark & into the tree, the tree tried to "rebark" itself, growing a new layer of bark down into a "Y" where the tree was bare, thus pushing the "Y" farther apart.  Between that & the ants eating away at it, it was weakened & apparently finally broke off & fell.  Thank goodness we were not outside at the time.  Thank goodness it fell in the direction it did.  Thank goodness no one was hurt & nothing was damaged.

The rest of the tree must be removed.  There are other VERY LARGE branches to this tree hanging over our roof & others the size of the one that fell across the yard that look a little precarious.  It's only a matter of time before they fall as well.  We have someone coming tomorrow morning from a tree service to give us an estimate to take the tree out completely.

Oh what a morning.....there's nothing like standing in the yard in your pajamas at 6:30am taking pictures of a fallen tree.  Ahhh...the joys of homeownership.

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I've had a great weekend!  It all started Friday night.  We had a gift card to Clear Springs, a restaurant here in town, so we went out to eat.  What a treat!  Yummy food with my sweet family.  Afterward, we got home & put the kids to bed and I went to meet a friend for a Coke before I went grocery shopping.  I always put the kids to bed & then go to the store for groceries, so that wasn't out of the ordinary, but the friend I was meeting was "me" a few years ago.  You see, she's the mom of one of the kids in my class at school.  She's going to start teaching this Fall & she was nervous about that and has lots of questions.  I say she's "me" a few years ago, because I remember feeling that way.  Now, all year long, there have been parents of "my" kids who I looked at as not only a parent in my class, but a potential friend...someone I could see myself hanging out with & really enjoy talking to.  Friday night confirmed that for this lady.  We met at 8:30 and started talking.  We did talk about teaching & school, but we talked about a lot of other things too and before we knew it, we looked down & realized it was 11pm!!!!  I did my grocery shopping really fast & got home just past midnight....but it was worth it.  I had a good time getting to go have a "girl's night" with her.

Saturday was another great day!  The church has a Mother/Daughter party each year for Mother's Day.  This year it was a Pep Rally theme.  There were cheerleaders there to teach the little girls a cheer for their moms.  There were craft tables set up where they could make necklaces & key chains for their moms.  There was a table where they could decorate a megaphone to take home.  They served nachos & hot dogs & popcorn (like the snacks at a ball game).  It was fun!  The girls & I enjoyed it.

That evening, we went to a Co-ed baby party for some friends of ours who are having a baby in July.  We got to see baby Bella's room & visit with the couple and lots of other friends while chowing down on some really good BBQ.  Yum!  Congrats Mandy & Jason!  Can't wait to meet your little sweetie!

But above all the other cool things that happened this weekend, today took the cake.  Early this morning, Sarah got saved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  This is an email I typed up to send to family & friends early this morning right after it happened:

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I'm sure you remember my blog posts about Todd & Angie Smith's baby daughter that recently was born & passed away.  Before her birth, one of the other singers in Selah worked with them & wrote a song that they used at baby Audrey's memorial service.  They posted it with this slide show of pictures today on their family's blogsite.  It is both beautiful & an incredible tear-jerker.  I boo-hoo'd my way through it because the words to the song are so powerful.

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