A New Year with Lots of Heart

Normally people write about the new year in January when the year really is new.  This year, I have decided to go a different route and begin my new year in February.  I gave myself that first month off.  I would like to think it was for good behavior. But we all know it's not. Hahaha!

I honestly can't believe that it's February already.  This Sunday would be my dad's birthday.  Next week is Valentines Day.  We already had groundhog day, but who really pays attention to that little shit anymore?  He never has good news.  And it's not quite time for the munchkin and the rabbit.

We were talking the other night about Valentines Day and were remembering our first Valentines Day together.  When you are dating everything with that person is all new and exciting.  You are still trying to impress each other.  During that time in our lives, I was working in a call center during the evenings.  Kenny had bought me 2 dozen red roses.  They were arranged perfectly with just the right amount of baby's breath. He bought them in Tooele and then drove in to my apartment in Taylorsville with them.  He was so proud that he made it all that way without spilling them or hurting any of them in any way.  He sneaked in while I was at work that evening and placed them on our kitchen table.  He thought he would be sneaky and hide down the hall and give me a second surprise, him being there.  It was supposed to look like he just dropped them off and left.  The only problem with that plan, you ask?  Well, he forgot to hide his coat with him.  I asked my mom where he was and she told me he left.  I asked again where he was and she tried to tell me again that he was gone.  I asked a third time and she finally asked me why I didn't believe her.  I told her that his coat was sitting on the chair by the roses. She tried to convince me that he must have forgotten it, but he eventually came back down the hall. He was so bummed that I took that part of the surprise from him by figuring out that he was still there.

It was so memorable that to this day, 20 years later, I can remember that he was wearing his new Arizona jeans that had a dark wash to them, his Arizona button up shirt that was dark blues and purple. He had a brown suede coat (the one that was sitting on the back of the chair).  I can still remember the deep red of the roses and the amazing smell they had.  Kenny remembers my moms partner shooting him daggers of jealousy.

I remember that feeling of pure innocent joy.  Butterflies in my stomach.  The idea that at that moment, everything was right in the world.  Well, at least in my little world it was. He spent so much time figuring out what I would like and then going out of his way to surprise me with both little and big things. And moments.

We have all different kinds of Valentines Days since that first one.  They have been big celebrations with a weekend away and smaller remembrances of the love that we have for each other.  All have been good.

WOW! October is almost over?

I would ask where the time has gone, but I know exactly where the time has gone and what we have been doing.  School started for the boys and then it started for me.  I think that all I need to say is Psychological Statistics...right?  I knew you would understand.

Kenny had surgery on his foot.  He had a horrible bunion that needed to be addressed.  Shipping it to the Congo would have still been to close.  Luckily, Kenny has been wonderful in keeping his diabetes under control and that made it possible for the doctor to be able to do the surgery.  It had gotten to the point that he could barely walk, it was so painful!  6 weeks later, he is walking so much better, now that he can walk again.  He is finally able to put weight on his foot and walk without his walking boot starting today.  It's a very big day for him!!

Taylor had surgery #8, which should be his last surgery.  He had a countdown going for the entire month before.  His surgery was last week and he is doing so much better today and is feeling good enough to walk without using a crutch.  There for a couple days, Kenny and T were both walking with a crutch.  I am so excited for T to be able to look forward and make plans that do not include planning the next surgery.  This is a big step for him!

Kelton is enjoying the first part of his Junior year.  He is still dating Amanda and they are so wonderful together!  They went to Homecoming together with their good friends and had a great time.  Kelton is also on the swim team at school and has been loving it.  I have loved to see him reach out of his comfort zone to do something new.  I also have to thank Amanda for that as well.  Her influence on this subject helped more than anything.

Although this is starting to feel like one of those "catch you up" Christmas letters, that is not what I thought I was doing when I started.  It has just been crazy and since this is also like a journal of my family for me, I wanted to do a quick update.

I also need to add how thankful I am for my family.  They are all so wonderful, patient, and loving.  Without that support I would be struggling to survive.  We have had sisters bring us dinner, and check on our patients.  Other family members have taken the time to just stop by and say hi.  There are other family that are quietly behind the scenes praying for us (they didn't tell me, I can just feel that peace and blessings coming into our life).  We also have several friends that have been reaching out and caring for us as well.

I love you all!!!  May God Bless You!

A Day of Firsts

A few days before school actually started my boys actually started to get their supplies ready.  I would never have done that.  In fact, I didn't get any of my supplies until the same day my semester started.  I even had one more week than the kids.  They were not happy at all that I took their pictures, but I had to have some sort of proof that they know how to organize :)

August 20th was Taylor's first day of 9th grade, his Freshman year.  He totally had "swag"  

He did wonderful on his first day.  He only got lost once.  T tried to tell me that he was 30 minutes late for his science class.  Really?  I finally got him to admit that it was probably more like 5 minutes.  You need to know that this High School is about half the size of my High School.  With that said, I still think 5 minutes is a little exaggerated.  

Since their school is on a block schedule and they attend half their classes on one day and then the other half on the next day.  He had 2 first days.  Total torture...it's moments like this that can bring small pleasures into a parents life.  Anyway, his second day went much better.  

August 20th was Kelton's first day of his Junior year.  I can't believe he only has 2 years left of high school.  These are the moments that can make a parent notice their age.

He did wonderful!  His second day was better because his girlfriend Amanda was in 2 of his classes that day and they have lunch together.  Priorities :)

August 20th was also the first day of school for my truck.  Kelton now has his licence and I finally gave in and added him to our insurance.  OUCH!!  He gets to drive them to school any day that he doesn't have swimming.  When he has swimming he has to be at school by 6:30 am to catch the bus that takes him to Tooele where the swimming pool is.  Life in a small town.

I am very happy that both my boys had a good first day of school and that my truck came home without a scratch.  A very successful day!!

19

This is where it all started 19 years ago today in a church in a small town with 2 young people.  We knew it all and nobody was going to tell us what to do.  With a whole four months behind us and a whole lifetime ahead of us, we set off on our journey.

There have been many times when our journey has taken us down a nice straight tree lined road.  Things made sense and fell into order.  

More often than not, our journey has taken a meandering path that would wind back and forth and even double back on us.  The trick to this has been to learn how to find enjoyment along the way, slow down to enjoy the scenery, and to laugh often.

I wouldn't trade our years together for anything!

Education Commentary

I just saw this on Facebook and had to share.  I think it is so sad that this is how our education system is.  I have volunteered at my kids schools over the years and it has broken my heart to see smart kids who think they are stupid because they can't express themselves the same way as other kids.  Not every child is the same, not even siblings, but we need to have more options for children in education. Even with the we have, there needs to be some way to help our children understand that if they are learning in a nontraditional way that it is okay.  It was hard when I was homeschooling my boys and they fought me almost the whole time because it was different from what their friends were doing.  

Right now I am volunteering at one of our local schools and one of the teachers have opened up to me and explained how he has lost dozens of days of instruction because of standardized testing and assemblies.  He can't get through all of things that he is supposed to teach to his students because they keep taking his classroom time away.  How can we expect our kids to succeed on these standardized tests when they don't can't receive all the lessons that they need.  In our situation one of the things that took away instruction time was an assembly for cheer-leading; in fact there have been a couple assemblies involving extra curricular groups from the high school that come to recruit for new members for their groups.  I am happy that the principal has stepped in when he can and moved some of these would be assemblies and moved them to little demonstrations during lunch.  While these events can get kids excited for their next year in school, they are not educational.

I love the schools that my boys are attending now and they are now excelling in school.  They also have some of the toughest teachers now than they have ever had.  I think the one thing that has helped is those teachers pushing them and having them learn that they are capable of doing this harder work.  As I have watched my children grow and see how they learn this topic has become more and more important to me.  Now that I'm in school to become a teacher I am even more aware of how our educational system works.  I hope I can continue to volunteer and learn so that I can be the most effective teacher as possible for my future students.

Lost and Found

For one of Taylor's classes, he has study hall in the library and the lost and found is located in the library.  I guess he checks the lost and found regularly and last week noticed that there was a watch in there.  He came home on Friday with this watch on his wrist.  I asked him about it and he said that it had been in the lost and found and it had been there for a while (found out a while equates 3 days) so he took it.  I didn't get to much more from him, but later when his Grandma came home the conversation went more like this:

Grandma: Where did you get that watch?
T: I found it in the lost and found.
Grandma: Was it yours?
T: No, it was lost and I found it!

Now T has a watch that beeps every hour and the alarm went off a couple times and he couldn't figure out how to stop it.  My response, well you found it =)

I love how kids think and reason.  Don't always love all the teaching that has to follow some of these decisions, but it always keeps life interesting.

Rabbits

Medical bills reproduce like rabbits !

It could also be like Field of Dreams...If you pay them, more will come.

I'm just sayin :)