No Prayer Request Too Big or Too Small

I've been thinking for some time now about how we (I) put God in a box sometimes. How we try to limit Him as to what He can accomplish based on our human standards. I have had the opportunity to approach God's throne in prayer so many times in recent months. "God please heal my son and deliver him from the horrible pain he is in." "God please let my daughter's seizure disorder be easily treated. Please let her brain and heart studies be normal." "God, could you please cure my husband's cancer? We are such a team and I need him. I know it is aggressive and advanced, but please let him achieve total remission." Then this past Sunday morning: "God, I'm tired, stressed, I'm trying to make breakfast and get lunch started at the same time. I'm on my way to teach Sunday school and worship you. Give me a break--I just need to find my slip in these 3 baskets of unfolded laundry so I can get ready." And there it was. In my hand. Can He cure disease? Ask Russell who is in total remission. Ask Caleigh who has a healthy brain and heart and is responding well to seizure medication. Can He help with pain? Conner ran a mile today. Will He do something as "small" as help me with my stressful schedule? I believe He can and He will and He has and He does. Just ask!

Let's Hear it for the Weekend!!!

I have never been so ready for a weekend in all my life. Although I feel like a bad mother for not being at the football game tonight to watch my son perform at halftime and support my Yellowjackets, I am so thankful to just be HOME!! Oh how I am ready to be at home for a couple of days. My first week of kindergarten was okay as first weeks go. I knew that it would be a little more intense than 3rd grade, but I wasn't prepared for how tired I have been. Bone aching, mind numbing, unbelievably tired. Being sick hasn't helped at all, but maybe I will adjust quickly. Not to being sick, but to school...oh, you know what I mean. I am already in love with my students. They each have such unique, cute personalities. Enough about school, though it's funny how living there 12-15 hours a day makes it the main subject I talk about.

GREAT NEWS!! Russell had his scans yesterday and saw Dr. B today--he got a thumbs up--still in remission! Everything is going very well and we are so thankful to all of you who are praying and thankful to the Great Physician who is in control of it all. Dr. B did lecture him about some moles that he came across in his exam today that he didn't like the looks of at all. We will now meet a dermatologist to add to our family of doctors. Whatever it takes to keep him healthy but sheesh, all we need is one more doctor to address one more health concern. Caleigh also got a good report from the neurologist yesterday. She is doing well on the new meds and we will see him in a month to check on things again.

That's about all I know. Hope your weekend is a restful, happy one. Oh, and don't call me before noon tomorrow. I think I have earned some sleeping late! If you really need something, I'm sure Caleigh will be up eating cold cereal or pop tarts, she'll be glad to take a message. Good night! sb

An Equation Even Super Teacher Could Do Without

Working Extremely Hard for 3 Weeks + Not Enough Sleep + Sharing Germs With Little Ones = I Would Bet Money That I Have Strep Throat. Except what a dumb thing to bet on, because I lose either way. I left at lunch today to take Russell to SA for his scans and Caleigh to the neurologist. I have felt worse and worse as the day progressed. Somehow I have to get through tomorrow and then rest this weekend. And clean house. And do laundry. And go to a football game. And prepare for and teach Sunday school. Maybe instead of strep I just have anditis. Either way, I need Tylenol and bed.

Everything I Need to Know I Learned in...Yes, Kindergarten!

Lesson 1: Don't ask your students to describe your hair color. They will tell the truth. I am impressed with their vocabulary, though. Who knew they could use "grayish" so well.

Lesson 2: No matter how much energy you have when you arrive in the morning, they will deplete EVERY LAST OUNCE OF IT! (And all the caffeine in the world during your conference time will not help!)

Lesson 3: Be sure you count the plastic lizards before you start handing out bribes incentives.

More lessons later, I can no longer think. Something to do with my grayish hair and low energy I believe. Love, sb

One Down...179 to Go!!

I can't believe that I have a 3rd grader and an 8th grader. We are still at school at 8pm, bless their hearts. Conner has band practice and I am trying to get organized for tomorrow. WHAT A DAY!!! This is hard work! We did leave and go to Barth's where I somehow found the energy to eat some soup and a salad. It was wonderful to see huge smiles on both kids' faces at dinner. They love school. Hope you all had a great day as well! Love, sb

'Twas the Night Before School and All Through the House...

Guess which one is faking?? The one who took a nap with her Mom this afternoon. Tomorrow morning may be a little tough, but I'm sure the special song that R. has written for the occasion will soften the blow of the alarm clock. Hopefully! Happy first day of school everyone!!

Look Mommy, He Has Hair!!

Brilyn approves of Uncle Russell's new locks--well, not locks exactly but perhaps sprouts! We enjoyed having Steve, Regina and Brilyn here today. Regina and I attempted a come and go jewelry show. We didn't have a lot of people show up, but we certainly enjoyed the ones who did come by. If you live in the area and didn't get to come, give me a call if you would like to look at the catalog.

I am trying to get some much needed rest before Monday. My fibromyalgia is really giving me fits. I woke up early this morning with horrible muscle cramps in both legs. Nothing like having a breakfast of a banana, some pickles, and 2 Magnesium tablets. But it worked!

This post is getting really weird, so I think I'll just quit for now. Have a great evening and a wonderful day tomorrow.

Meet the Teacher Night '09 is History

Here are some before and after pics of my classroom. This was the most back breaking move-in ever. I don't think R. and I will recover any time soon. But it is worth it!

After:

Before:

We had a great Back to School/Meet the Teacher night tonight. I have the cutest group of kinder students to work with this year! I am getting more excited by the minute. Caleigh and Conner each had a great time as well, and Conner is even ready for school to start now. If I haven't mentioned it here before, we are extremely proud that our elementary campus is an exemplary campus this year. Our high school barely missed exemplary but they are recognized as is our district. We are very YELLOWJACKET PROUD!! Hope you all are ready for back to school! love, sb

My Baby Boy is 14 Today!!!

Wow, another long and busy day. While I am thinking about it, I forgot to mention last night that the cardiologist left me a detailed voice mail that everything on Caleigh's monitor was within normal limits. We are so very thankful for the prayers, and relieved that there are no problems. Today is a special day, we are celebrating Conner's 14th birthday. Where has the time gone? It seems like yesterday that I was holding my tiny firstborn. Most everyone who reads this blog probably knows Conner's story, but in case you don't--he is a living miracle. I had a very complicated pregnancy and when he was finally taken by emergency c-section 5 weeks early, the doctors could not believe that he survived. The placenta and cord had multiple blockages--scientifically he should never have been able to live. But God had other Plans! He is an amazingly compassionate, kind young man with his father's wacky sense of humor and his mom's brown eyes. He can discuss sports stats in a way that boggles my brain completely and he has a math brain that is unbelievable (don't know WHERE that came from!). Due to his diagnosis over the past couple of years of JRA and RSD, he lives with pain that is sometimes debilitating and almost always present, but his smile is present as well. We love him, and cannot wait to see what else God has planned for him. When he was little we would say he was Daddy's buddy and Mommy's love--he still is. Love you buddy--Happy happy birthday!

And So It Begins

You might be a teacher in a small rural school in the wilds of south Texas if part of your inservice involves information on how to avoid being spooked by the bat colony's activities...the bat colony that took up residence in your school over the summer...I wouldn't lie about this. We even have, are you ready for this? ...a "bat man". I respect the little mammals, but I don't care to be around when they are swooping about...and 20 of them flying around the halls at one time is more than I can handle. Things seemed to have calmed down, though now we are talking about the ag teacher building something called a bat house for them to roost in. I don't quite understand, do you then have someone sneak up on the bat house and carry it far far away once they go to sleep? Just asking. It is after 11 pm and my family has not eaten dinner. Better get that done and go to bed. Don't judge me, I'll get on track next week and get the family on track with me. Things are just a little crazy at the moment. It's enough to drive one batty. Sorry.

The Countdown Has Started

9 hours until I will be sitting in Teacher Inservice for the 2009-2010 school year. We had a wonderful Sunday, though it was a little bittersweet as we said goodbye for now to two sweet families of our congregation. I had a lovely nap this afternoon then we headed to Runge to work in the classroom again. It is really looking close to ready now, complete with animal print border on the bulletin boards and almost everything put away. I even went crazy yesterday and cleaned out my filing cabinets--it feels GREAT to have that done. Every year at this time I start to question my choice of careers, then as it starts to come together I get excited--I'm worse than the kids really! Gotta run so I can be sure I have clothes for tomorrow and maybe even get some sleep. Thanks for checking in--love, sb

Too Tired To Type

Spent 12 and 1/2 hours working at school today. Still not finished. Found out lesson plans that were already complete are not going to work. Enough said.

A-V-O-I-D-A-N-C-E

The plan was to work in my classroom ALL afternoon after having my hair done and lunch with a friend. HOWEVER, they decided to wax the floor in front of my classroom so I couldn't get in. What's a girl to do? Why not just redecorate a bathroom at home? That's an essential back to school chore, right? I still need new curtains, couldn't find anything here...and I want to paint it. Okay, so at best it is a partial remodel. But there is some satisfaction in having both Conner and Caleigh's rooms done, and now their bathroom as well. Just don't look at our room, the living room, the family room, ANY of our other bathrooms, the kitchen, the laundry room...or my classroom. I'll get there.

Thank You For the Prayers

It has been a long day. Our appointment with the cardiologist lasted for almost 3 hours. He did an EKG, an echocardiogram, and put a 24 hour Holter monitor on Caleigh. The great news is that he didn't see any structural problems with the heart at all--he said her heart was as beautiful on the inside as on the outside. He is a very sweet older man from South Africa and he is VERY thorough. We went from a room where they took her vitals and did the EKG, to an exam room, to an echocardiogram room to a consultation/conference room. They kept offering us drinks etc. so often that Russell decided we couldn't really afford to be there. Pretty fancy in his opinion. Anyway, we will take off the monitor tomorrow and mail it to him, then he will call us. We don't expect any problems, praise God! I think the urgency was due to the number of "PVC's" they saw on the EEG. The EKG today didn't show that many. He wasn't even sure they WERE PVC's, and thought they could be PAC's. He will explain that more in detail if necessary after the Holter monitor. We are also very thankful for God's protective hand tonight as we were leaving SA. We came alarmingly close to having a major accident. I had to stop on I10 and the car behind me evidently wasn't paying attention. I looked in the rearview mirror in time to see that car sliding sideways into the other lane of traffic--I even saw the terrified look on the driver's face. R. and the kids just heard the brakes squealing and they all braced. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Conner isn't feeling well tonight so I am going to feed my family and put them to bed. Love, sb

Prayers Would Be Appreciated!

This may be a rambling entry--and that doesn't surprise you does it? I am a little bit concerned about something and would appreciate your prayers. Recently when Caleigh saw her neurologist he performed an EEG. This is something that they do periodically to keep an eye on things. I didn't realize it, but it also traces the heart's activity along with brain activity. Evidently, there was an abnormality of her heart rhythm. The doctor assured us that this is usually not a big deal with kids, but he wanted her to see a cardiologist to be sure. I kept forgetting to call and schedule it during office hours, but at last week's follow-up with the neurologist he reminded us to call the cardiologist. I went by his office since we were already in the building and they took our information. The appointment person told me that they were already scheduling into October unless a doctor looked at her EEG and thought it was important for her to be seen right away. This was last Thursday. On Friday they called and left a voice message on my cell that he wanted to see her Monday morning. I just got that message today. Blame it on the new cell phone I guess, but I got out of a training this afternoon and there was the message from Friday. I called them and left a message, not expecting to hear back today. They just called me and want to see her tomorrow morning. I am just uneasy. She has complained off and on for some time of chest pain, but you just never think...Please pray as we take her to SA in the morning that all will be well. Thanks--love, sb

Goodbye Summer Vacation!! We Loved You!!

Here is an action shot of Conner at the back to school party.



Here is Caleigh with her BFF Jaelyn.

Here is me in a swimsuit.

YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT!!! The last picture I have of me in a swimsuit was taken when I was about 3. I think I even had a bikini. Seriously, we had a great time tonight. Along with swimming and hotdogs the kids heard Russell give a great devotional. I don't know where the summer has gone, it just flew by. I have training tomorrow and half a day on Thursday, the classroom is still a long way from complete and my house...oh my....but for one last time tonight we forgot about everything left to do and just enjoyed being with friends. And that is as it should be.

What Is It???

I don't know what is wrong with me...I have walked around in a fog for the last 48 hours. I feel very heavy-hearted and I'm not sure why. Is it that summer is almost over? Is it part of the readjustment period that our family is in? What? I hear myself telling everyone that we are great, everything is going well, and inside I feel, well, different. Is it a delayed reaction to everything from the past 8 months? I don't know. It's frustrating, that's for sure...just when everyone starts to comment that my smile is back all I want to do is cry. Oh well, I'll give myself a couple of weeks to get my smile back...9 brand new kindergarten students are counting on having a happy teacher. In the meantime I'll try to think of happy posts--nobody likes a weepy blog!

The Moment You've Been Waiting For

I promised my daughter several days ago that I would post a "before" picture of the classroom. I kept forgetting my camera, then I had a couple of days of migraine problems, etc. So at long last, this is what we have been working on...

Russell says this is not a "before" picture, but actually a "during" picture as we have put in some 12 hours of work already. The shelves in the back of the room (there are 5 built in cabinets) are already reorganized in this pic, that was QUITE an ordeal as was cleaning out the closets (not quite finished). We are making progress. We worked again today for about 3 1/2 hours and I am TIRED. So now you know why I haven't been posting a lot--stay tuned for the afters in a week or so!

Not Much To Say...Guess I Won't Be Blogger of the Year!

It has been a very quiet day around our house. We spent 3 1/2 hours Monday night and 3 1/2 hours last night at school working on the classroom. I am still cleaning out closets and shelves and cubbies and all the places people can stick stuff in a kindergarten classroom. It looks worse now than when I started, but we will get there. Tonight we had church, so all I did at school was unload a few things from the car when we picked up Conner from band. I promised Caleigh, who along with her Dad are great classroom helpers, that I will post a "before" picture of the classroom. I forgot the camera tonight, but you can look forward to that tomorrow evening. Prepare to be amazed. I am going to call it a night. I am battling my old foe fibromyalgia pain right now, which could explain my lack of motivation. This too shall pass...quickly I hope. Love, sb

A Busy Day...Aren't They All

I posted this info on Caringbridge but I know people are out of the habit of checking that site since I don't post there daily. So here's a recap of our day in San Antonio. R. saw his orthopedic surgeon and had x-rays of his arm today. He has had some pain recently near the elbow and Dr. Williams says this is tendon stretching pain--actually a good thing. He also told him that the arm will continue to be somewhat fragile for the next year at least, and that he may never regain complete range of motion. This was not "bad" news as he can almost bend it all the way now and healing isn't even complete. He reminded him of the things to avoid, including heavy lifting. Oops. He has broken that rule a few times recently. Oh well. Also, Caleigh saw the neurologist today and he is pleased with where we are medication wise for now. He will continue to monitor her monthly for a while as we work through all the issues. We were able to visit with someone at the pedi-cardiologist's office today and initiate their evaluation of her. We will know more in a few days as they review her EEG from Dr. G. and decide how quickly she needs to be seen. In between appointments I got my nails done and we did a little (very little) back to school shopping. I detest trying to find appropriate clothing for my 8 year old. The things marketed for that age group are horrible. But that's another post...

Meanwhile Down At The Ranch...

Here is the most handsome, kindhearted, intelligent, loving cowboy in the whole world...says his Auntie! We finally got to go to Kerrville this weekend and enjoy watching this young cowboy who is taking the rodeo circuit by storm. Okay, so he is at least rocking the mutton bustin' scene. We met up with my parents Friday evening and drove to Bandera to the Twin Elm Guest ranch rodeo to watch Jake and visit with my sister Michelle. Jake got 2nd place and according to the grandparents (who are now local rodeo regulars in the area) is getting better each week. He actually got first place last week and also rode (a horse, not a sheep) all by himself in the grand entry parade. He went to cowboy camp this summer and the lady who worked with him told Michelle that he is an absolute natural. I will continue to support him until he switches to bull riding, at which time there is not enough Valium in the world for me to watch. I had a hard enough time watching guys I didn't even know Friday night. The second picture is of the Young Guns (self named, I kid you not) who have dreams of being in the PBR someday. Is that even how you say that??? Oh well, good luck Cutter, Riley and Jake. I'm already praying.