Thinking of a friend tonight

I've been working hard all night on grading papers, evaluating my 2nd graders place value pretests, creating a spreadsheet to do said analysis... Matthew & I also made my fruit dessert for the 4th grade teachers tonight.

But I've been checking on a friend too in between all that. Today was her daughter's first day of Kindergarten. Her daughter, Hannah, died a few years ago, and I knew today was going to be quite a day for her. I'm sitting her crying after reading her blog. Her Hannah sure blessed a lot of people in her short time here. Her bus driver still remembered Hannah, and is still carrying a card Hannah made for her all these years later.

Rach, I don't know if you still come here, but THANK YOU for sharing your Hannah with those of us who visit you. Thank you for being honest and real with everybody- the good and the painful. I'm praying for you sweet lady!!!!! And sending you hugs and a lot of love tonight!!!!

Hurricanes and Other Things

Irene has come & gone, and other than a very windy day we didn't see anything here in our neck of NC. I have been keeping tabs on one friend to see if they made it through alright. I emailed a second cousin to check on her before/after, but haven't heard from her. I'm guessing she's okay, just without power, but I know her area was hit hard. I watched a photo slide show from the areas of NC & southeastern VA that were hit. OH MY!!!! It was so surreal to see photos of the Outer Banks and Morehead City. Oh, how I love that area- so beautiful!!! I just kept calling Rob, "Come look at this! Rob, come see this!" There were photos of Highway 12 that runs through the OBX, and the ocean has washed the road away in several places!!! I am praying for all the families who have lost loved ones or suffered losses from this storm.

Irene brought me a gift this weekend too. But first, I have to back up a little bit, or a lot.

I was pretty quiet in high school, just sat as far back as I could in class and prayed to not be noticed. I was in the honors classes and graduated high in my class. I knew all the kids I was in classes with, but usually sat there quietly watching and listening and never interacted much with any of them. They were all popular, partied and did things together. I was just the nerdy, shy girl in there with them. I didn't think that any of them would even really remember me, let alone like me. Hmmm... you couldn't get me to relive those teenaged years again for any price in the world!!!! I even graduated early because I was so lonely and miserable in high school.

Fast forward all these years later (23 to be exact) and lo & behold, a few of them do remember me and are now my FB friends. Who'd a thunk it? :) Certainly not me!

Sarah lives in the Norfolk, VA, area. Her hubby is in the Navy and is stationed out there. He had to go with the helicopters before the storm hit, and she decided to leave and not ride the storm out in case in got bad. She FB'd me and next thing you know she was headed to G'boro! So Saturday morning, she pulled up and hopped out, and she hasn't changed much at all- still the ever-present smile I remembered from class all those years ago! It was so nice! We tried to feed her a good home-cooked meal and chatted. Barbara was excited to meet Sarah too, and we ladies had a good time! I was surprised because it didn't feel like I was meeting a stranger I sort of knew from years gone by (which is what I would have expected), but it felt like I was meeting a friend I haven't seen in years. That's, I'm sure due to FB where we've been able to get to know each other a little. And as we talked I realized how a lot of those silly teenaged insecurities were for nothing as everyone else was dealing with their own very similar insecurities and issues. Oh, if this Rebekah could go talk to that one!

And the rest of the weekend- well it was normal life stuff- Donors Choose screenings, lesson plan writing... yeah, like that. And may I just say that I forgot that it is a bit challenging to fit two grades' lesson plans into mine. I am going back and forth between two grade levels' curriculum planners, two grades' lesson plans, plus a lot of other resources too. I better get going- newsletter, seating charts, reading logs, and more are still waiting on me.

One funny thing before I go. Saturday afternoon, while the wind was gusting pretty good and the clouds were swirling around (the sum total of the non-drama we saw from Irene), I heard an ice cream truck go through our neighborhood, and I PROMISE, I'm not lying, it was playing "Silent Night!" In August, with a hurricane brewing just an hour away and the wind, clouds, humidity churning up here quite a bit. I was sure that if I looked out my window, I'd see Rod Serling telling me I had just entered "the Twilight Zone." :)

My Guys

Last night Rob had gone out for a bike ride and when he came back in, he was clearly in distress, but was having trouble telling us what was going on- he was obviously being attacked/bitten by something but we couldn't see what was going on. He was just standing in our kitchen, twitching and saying, "Oh!" Robert & I were trying to figure out what was going when finally Rob made it to the bathroom and the dog started tangling with a wasp/bee in the kitchen that followed Rob into the house and was chasing him into the bathroom. Rob got his clothes off and there were two more still on him, stinging him. Robert ran and got him Benadryl, and Rob is okay, but he has been hurting from the stings. He says he got stung four times, but I think he had more on his back. So thankful to God he is okay!!!!

Robert has had a horrible case of poison crud (I don't know if it's ivy, oak, sumac or something else- he's done this before and is VERY allergic to something out there). He is starting to heal from that, but is still really, really broken out all over his legs, stomach... Then Sunday while working he thought he got into more and came home breaking out in new places and was miserable. He showed me, but it looked different, and I wasn't sure. Yesterday he showed me again, and it was clearly spreading, but it was really odd- his hands have developed thick callouses from his work and whatever this is has spread under the callouses and not on top of his skin. He woke me up early this morning in great pain from this and asked me to pray. After we prayed, I looked at him closely, and whatever this is has spread on tops & bottoms of his hands and arms up to his elbows and he has it on his legs (around/on top of the poison crud he already has). I recommended he go to Primecare and be there when they open so he could get seen before he had to work today and maybe make sure he is self-treating it correctly. He called me later, and he definitely has poison crud but the new stuff is chemical burns from industrial cleaners he was using at work. Poor guy!!! They gave him steroids and some other drug to take.

I teased Matthew to look out. It clearly is not a good time for the Thomas men in our house. :)

Today Barbara & I went to Kristen's house and hung out with Kristen & Erin (gals I used to work with who have moved on to other schools). Kristen has the SWEETEST little two year old girl, Elizabeth. She was such a ham- she counted to ten, followed by "Here I come!" She sang songs for us, and was HYSTERICAL when she rolled her eyes at her Mom's request- best eye-roller I've ever seen! We laughed and cut up and shared "war stories" about school. I am always nervous when I get together with people (even my family for some weird reason), but once we got there I was perfectly at ease and fine and had a nice time. I forgot how they just take me for who I am and are okay with this Rebekah.

I came home and fixed a new recipe for supper. It was good- Gazpacho Salad- it was cooked cheese tortellini laid on a bed of lettuce, topped with chopped tomatoes, cucumber & red onion, drizzled with a homemade vinaigrette and topped with croutons. It was done in no time too! Plus more sweet watermelon, and Robert brought home cookies & milk. :) I've done some crafting and am going to call it a night now.

:)s for today

Keeping it short. I'm "supposed" to be working on a research paper for grad school, but I must confess that I am struggling with this course!!!! I'm not sleeping well, so I think, honestly, I may just try to go to bed at a decent hour and hope & PRAY for sleep tonight!

My happy list for today:

• My pants are getting really lose on me in several places- I love this feeling!!! :) :) :)
• I didn't get the materials needed to complete mandatory assessments until last Thursday and couldn't start until Friday, but I am working like crazy to get them done by the deadline. I am done with one assessment- WOOHOO!!! and close to the halfway point on another. Hopefully I'll get done by next Friday so I can get back to teaching which is what I want to do desperately!!!!
• Another walk with my hubby- and the past two nights, I have to say were harder because I was just plain wiped out, but I did it anyway. Don't know why or what it is, but Rebekah is definitely changing for the better.
• I saw an "old" coworker and dear friend today. Kristen came by the school and brought Elizabeth with her. It MADE MY DAY to see them both. Oh, how I miss working with her. She was a dear!!!! And Elizabeth, what a smile that kid has!!! My class was oohing & aaahing over her. :)
• I did something tonight that I've NEVER done before, and though Jesus probably wouldn't have done it, I don't think I did anything wrong or sinful (I hope not!). I stood up to something rude and it felt so nice!!! My two oldest were with me, and though I think they were a little embarrassed (Sorry you two!!!!!), they both commented to me afterwards that they noticed the rudeness and were proud of me for speaking up. They both said how stunned they were and shocked that "their mom was doing that." :)

"in God's way..."

I overhead this conversation last week as we were walking back to our classroom...

"Mrs. T, is kind of like my stepmom."
"Nuh-uh, she is not!"
"Yes she is!"
"No she isn't! Mrs. Thomas, you're not his stepmom are you?!?!?!"
"Yes she is... aren't you Mrs. T?"

I just grinned, and said something about how I wasn't really his stepmom, but at school I am kind of like a mom who looks out for them all, takes care of them, and loves them all very much.

Then my little man looked up and asked me, "Mrs. T, can you be my sister?"
I replied, "D, I can be whatever you want me to be."
"See, she is my sister!"
"Mrs. Thomas is NOT your sister!"
"Well, aren't you really my sister in God's way, kind of???"
"Yes, D, in God's way, I am kind of your sister." :)

pause... silence as he thought...

"Mrs. T, can I call you sis?"
"D, you sure can."

And since then, I have been a combination of Mrs. T and "Sis," to which I have been replying, "Bro" and we both smile. :)

school night sleepover

i have had a lovely afternoon/evening today!!! i brought home one of my kids from last year who is now a big 2nd grader and his older brother. i was helping out their mom who had to sub in the afterschool program. she's a TERRIFIC mom!!!! and her kids are great so i was more than happy to help. when we were getting in the car to leave the boys said they wanted to stay the night, so a few minutes of conference with their mom and a few minutes of their family talking and voila- we were all on our way home. we stopped at wally and got pizza, mac 'n cheese, and vegies, and of course dessert and headed home.

WHEW! i had forgotten about having to sit and help kids with homework, but we are having a great night! a well balanced meal fixed and served, homework (they even got to type their spelling words on my computer!), a little playstation after homework, ice cream too. We're about to put in a movie and crash (well they are, i still have a bunch of schoolwork to do)...

this was a great, fun night! i have so enjoyed the sounds of little boy laughter in my house once again- it's been a long time!!! praying they will both be able to truly sleep and be comfy here tonight away from home. up early to eat breakfast and go pick up their mom and head to school...

thanks God for a fun evening with all these boys (my own and these other "adopted" kids) :) and thanks for some fun time and memory making with one of my "old" kids- it's so nice to have these friendships with all the little people- they mean more to me than all the world!!!!

Introducing Elizabeth Rebekah

My former coworker and dear friend & her hubby just had their first child, and crazy as they are, they gave her my name for her middle name. I am so honored, humbled, flattered..... well you get the picture. Barbara & I went to see my friend and meet my new friend, and I am in love. She is a BEAUTIFUL baby! So without further ado, meet my new friend, Elizabeth Rebekah. :)

Kristen & Andrew, should you read this, please let me tell you one more time, thank you for such an honor. I really don't know understand why you'd do this, but I am so deeply moved. I will do everything in my power to be a Godly example to Elizabeth and to show her God's love. And you can count on me to spoil her rotten too. :)

Woo Hoo!!!!

My old coworker, Kristen, was scheduled for a c-section today to deliver her 1st baby. She was a "stinker" and wouldn't tell anyone what she was having; she & Andrew wanted it to be a surprise. So we've all waited and waited to find out. She had told me the names they had chosen for whichever child they had, but I wasn't getting my hopes up for a boy or a girl for her. I just wanted her to deliver safely, have a healthy baby, and be able to get back to her normal life (she's had gestational diabetes and been giving herself insulin shots and lots of other stuff I'm sure I have no clue about)... I just found out a few minutes ago that she delivered a baby girl, and she is named after me. :) Elizabeth Rebekah

Wow!!!! What an honor that is. I mean really. To name your child after someone, especially someone who is not even family or your very best friend... I'm so... I can't even say.

I'm going to see Kristen and meet Elizabeth tomorrow. If she'll let me, I'll post a photo or two of them here tomorrow.