Christmas photos

So these pictures are not necessarily in any particular order, but I wanted to share some photos for our family back home.

We had a wonderful Christmas! I told my family all month long, that since this was looking like it would be our last Christmas all together for a while perhaps (Matthew is enlisting in the Army upon graduation in June), ALL I wanted was to have a good Christmas with my family and to make lots of good memories. We did, and God even sent down a little snow on Christmas- a white Christmas in NC!!!!! Wow!

We all worked together to cook a nice meal. Rob was getting the duck ready to roast. We have never had duck before, so we were excited but nervous. Turned out delicious!!! It was nice all working together to cook.

Even Samson "supervised" as we worked. :)

While our duck roasted, we vegged in various places. Barbara did some reading. I know I'm her momma and all, but she is just a beautiful young lady! How did the little girl we had grow up into this young woman??? For that matter, how did I get old enough to have this young lady?

I don't know if this house will ever get "old" to me, and honestly, I pray that the gratitude and appreciation for having a home of our own NEVER wears off! It took us so long to be able to buy a house, and even now, approaching two years later, I still have to remind myself that we don't rent anymore, that we have a place that is ours, that this pretty home is really ours! I actually own and live in a nice place- nothing fancy or big- but JUST right for us!

See that snowman up there by the fireplace, on the right? Robert got me that for Christmas! I LOVE it!!!!

After we had exchanged gifts with each other- we gave Samson a small bone treat for Christmas. We gave Cinnamon (our cat) a catnip mouse toy, but he was too drugged and hyper playing with it to get a photo. :)

Rob read us the story of Jesus' birth and led us in prayer.

Robert seemed really surprised when he opened up this gift and saw the binoculars he'd been hoping to buy himself. :)

Barbara gave me slippers which I had been wanting badly since mine died on our camping trip in October. :)

I know I'm partial, but I think Matthew has the BEST smile! This is the shirt his sister gave him, and he loved it. He was laughing himself silly at what it said- "I suffer from cruel and unusual employment."

And these two are peas in a pod- we've often referred to them as "the twins"- they are alike in many ways, except that one is more vocal and loud in expressing herself, and one is a VERY tall. :)

One of the things that was so nice to see this year was my kids getting into giving to each other without our coaching/coaxing. This year they all have jobs, and they were excited to buy for each other and there were lots of conversations about what they wanted to do for each other or "hmmm, I wonder what___ would like..." And they were generous with each other too! So nice to see as their mom!!! Made me feel proud of them to not just think of themselves and what they want for Christmas!

Rob and I had a fun game of Super Scrabble on Christmas Eve while two of the kids were working. I won, and he was a good sport. :)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all. I hope wherever you are, you will find God's love very near and that He will bless you in many ways!

Love,
Rebekah :)

Christmas Eve Eve

While I worked in the kitchen, Rob and the kids finished getting up the huge amount of leaves in our backyard.

Even still, at the end of December, there are leaves not fallen yet. Amazing!

Our Christmas tree this year, during the day

and at night

And that fire? We had quite a scare last night! We don't do fires very often, but when we do we usually use those paper/wax fire logs. We've had no problem with them, but we must have had a dud box last night. Rob put the log in, lit it, and within a couple minutes we had this HUGE, bordering-on-out-of-control fire. Very pretty, but very scary. The log was almost all wax, and we could see it just dripping down all over the bottom of the fireplace, and the wax all igniting. It was HUGE! Never felt that much heat off a fire log before. Thank God, Rob was able to put water on the floor of the fireplace and put out some of the wax burning on the bottom and it did finally die down to a normal amount. God looks out for stupid people- and we're walking proof of that!

Baking Busy-ness

I made it through the two hectic days of school to have two hectic days of baking. My kids and Rob helped me some too. :) We made lots of yummy treats to give away to neighbors, some restaurant workers, and a couple of the kids' friends' families.

So Rachael shared these DELICIOUS photos and recipes of Mounds candy. OH MY WORD, they looked good. I tried them and they are as good/better than they look!!!! Barbara and I made them- I rolled the balls and she added pecans.

Our table was covered in them! :)

Matthew helped me with melting the chocolate and dipping all those balls of coconut goodness.

Then the rest of the family got in on the action.

Rob even tried to dip some other things in the chocolate. :)

Rach, they are SOOOOOOOOOOOO good! Thank you for sharing the recipe. I love them!

These go by other names, but in our house, I've called them "snowball" cookies for years. Here they are on the pan ready to bake and then finished below. Probably my favorite cookie!

Who can forget pumpkin??? Pumpkin breads for neighbors and Trang's family and Rita's family. Plus a loaf or two for our Christmas morning brunch.

And my ever favorite dessert in the whole world- pumpkin pie! And, look Momma, these turned out pretty! :) No lopsided pie this time. :) hahaha

Random Ramblings

Today is my first day off from "the crazy place." :) :) :) Matthew and I got up and did the grocery run- Save-a-Lot and Walmart. My pantry is stocked up with lots of good food and tons of baking supplies. In a very little bit, I am going to start baking cookies and treats to take to our neighbors, Matthew's ENT, and to the Burger King morning crew. Long story, but there is a very sweet lady & man that work at a Burger King, and I promised them cookies. They were seriously excited! Funny, how little things can mean a lot.

As I paid for my food, I whispered a prayer to God- "Thank you Father for a job, for a way to provide food and other things I/my family want." If I hadn't gotten paid early I couldn't have gotten the food we needed and wanted. I was reminded of our past life when we went hungry sometimes and ate mostly ramen noodles. SOOOO thankful for God's help in our lives- then and now! Getting paid early is a nice treat, one which will bite me in the rear next month when we are tight again, but like Scarlett O'Hara, I won't think about that today- I'll think about that tomorrow. :)

I'm also going to think tomorrow or some other day or maybe never about the stupid teacher evaluation garbage our principal just emailed out. So sick of work! Now on top of everything else we have to do, we have to do our own evaluations too. And we are told we are working on being merely "developing" or "proficient." Yeah, because teachers are such rotten human beings now in our society and the reason for EVERY ill in the country. It isn't possible that we could actually be accomplished at what we do. I have to tell you, honestly, that being the scapegoat of society is not going to be fun, and that's what it feels like as a public school teacher right now. But this is another rant for another day, if I can ever get my ideas and thoughts organized I might write it. If not, well, Scarlett is my hero, so enough! :) hahahaha

I'm off to bake cookies! Hope you are having a great week!

After all these years, it still hurts.

I love this time of year! Love it! The months of October-December are by far my favorite as you have so much beauty to look at in the world, the holidays are coming, and then are here. I try to be thankful all year long, but am especially mindful of my blessings during this time.

I have to be honest though, that the holidays are hard too. I dread them being over, and though I feel silly, I always feel kind of disappointed when they have to end. If I had my way, they'd last into January - a natural way to keep the dark, dreary days of winter at bay. :)

Then I miss people from my past- miss them a lot. I try to not think about it much and keep it kind of in the back of my mind. After all, we have to live in the present, and I have SO MUCH to be thankful and grateful for- and I am!

I was doing great this year until yesterday when I saw a photo my Momma posted from her visit here at Thanksgiving. Matthew had put on his JROTC uniform for my folks and they got pictures with him. There was my Momma (about 5'4") with her giant of a grandson (6'5" or so). And it hit me. HARD. My daddy should see this. He should be here to talk to this young man. He should be getting a picture beside him. What would he say to Matthew? What would he think/feel about my son (and my other kids? and me? and Rob? and so on)??? It hurt so bad. Hasn't hurt that bad in a while. Then last night my sister posted her first "family" photos of her, her hubby, and their baby-not-born-but-in-its-momma's-tummy. I thought the same things. My daddy would be so proud of my sister! He would be thrilled about another grandchild being born. He would have another one to pick on, tease, chase, take fishing, sing to, love. And. he's. not. here.

I actually got mad at him. Again. Haven't done that in years. Why did he have to leave us? I hate him for leaving us. But I don't really hate him, just that he left. Wow, I was not expecting such a strong reaction after all these years.

Then today, I visited a coworker's church for their Christmas cantata, and of course there was that song- the one he sang at church his last Christmas- and I tried to keep the tears at bay. When I got in the car, of course, that song was playing on the radio, so I let myself have a small, short cry. I cried. I let myself remember good times, love and laughter, and I cried for the loss of it. I cried as I remembered my daddy, my Uncle Dorvin, my Grandpa Gerling, and a family that for whatever reasons just went away and will never really come back.

God, I miss my daddy, my uncle who used to tease me and love me and make me squeal in laughter, the one grandfather (who wasn't even "really" mine but loved me more than any other). I miss the family I had that went away when Daddy died, that I can never really have again. I hate death and dysfunction and the pain it causes people.

I know I'm a better teacher for having lost. I know I understand my students in ways I never would have without having experienced sorrow, loss, rejection. I am thankful, more than I can ever say, for the family you have left me and the family you have given me. I cherish them more, perhaps, than I would have. For that I am grateful. I am grateful for love, for having been loved, for having lost something good- it means I had something wonderful to begin with, which is more than many people ever have. And, God, I am thankful for who You are, that YOU love me, for who You have helped me to become, and for the love You have poured into my life through others.

Snow Day/Sick Day

We had a snow day today. Turns out to probably be a good thing as we are coated in ice. I hate to have a makeup day already, but am grateful for the day off. Though I will have time to make up now, I needed the day to rest. I even took a nap. I don't feel so great and am not accomplishing all the things I thought I'd do, but rest is good too.

Now to see if we have school tomorrow.

Stay warm and safe wherever you are!

P.S. Please pray for the Lynch family who will be laying their wife/sister/friend to rest this afternoon/evening in this bad weather.

Prayers...

I had planned to come home from school, cook dinner, eat, start grading the HUGE pile of papers from the last week that I didn't get graded over the weekend or entered into my grade book. Then I was going to start making Christmas cards for my family back home and something little for my third grade team.

Instead I came home and made condolences cards for a coworker's family as one of our teachers died today very suddenly. Not the way I wanted to learn to make these kinds of cards.

I don't know why I'm even posting them, but thought I would.

I miss it here.

Life got so crazy busy this school year, and I miss having time to journal, blab, and post photos here. Hope that gets better soon.

I just popped on here to check in on a couple blog friends and need to head to bed now. I am officially done with another semester of grad school! :) Hooray! and Whew!

Have most of my Christmas shopping done and wrapped. The school kids' gifts are done, just waiting on a package to come from dear Shoozles. I will post a photo later this week of the wonderful charms she made for my kids. Michelle is terrific!!!! I gave her a rough (very rough) idea of what I wanted, and she designed, created, and hand-painted these lovely little glass charms with the sign language sign for "I love you." I am giving them to all my students plus some other kids who are very special to me. If I had enough $ I'd give them to every kid in the school, but I'm not rich so I'll have to just wish. :)

I have most of my family's shopping done and groceries in until break begins. It's the 12th of December, and we're about broke, but we have food through the 21st, the bills are paid, and we have some gifts for our kids- not a ton, but enough. I am thankful for all we are blessed with- especially the non-material things we have that you can't put a price on.

Hope you have a wonderful, joy-filled week wherever you are!

One Way or Another

One way or another, I am done, done, done, DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Another semester of grad school under my belt! THANK. YOU. GOD! ! !

40 :)

Today I turned 40. It was a very nice day.

Last night, Rob started bugging me to get in bed saying, "The 39 year old doesn't have much time left to sleep; you really need to get her in bed!" And as I was getting into bed, I checked FB and my sister left me a funny math-themed message to wish me happy b'day.

Today started with my hubby teasing me and calling me "old" as I got ready for work. :)

Wore one of my new blouses that my Momma & Pop got me for my birthday while they were here last week. I felt so pretty! And all day I thought of my parents' love (all three of them).

When I got to work, I found the nicest surprise on my desk. Alma (one of our custodians) had left me a hand-made necklace and pair of earrings for me with a note that said, "Feliz Cumpleanos Mrs. Thomas." :) How sweet!!!!!!!!!!! And so pretty, can't wait to wear them!

Got TONS and TONS of love from kids at school who had figured out or heard that today was my special day. :) One of my team-teaching buddies had all her students write me letters, so throughout the day I received hand-made cards from a lot of kids not to mention the hugs that came with them. I took cookies to share with my reading class and my third grade class and my third grade team and my two team-teaching buddies. The kids loved that of course!

My third graders were so cute- one of them started the idea to give me a b'day hug and while hugging me, stick a post-it note on my back announcing it was my b'day. They were doing this because I had said I wouldn't tell any of the adults at school it was my birthday, that it wasn't a big deal. Guess they were worried about that because I had so many post-its on me at one point or another, though they kept falling off this blouse I was wearing- it wasn't Post-it friendly I guess. ;) But, I thought it was sweet of the kids anyway. I just played dumb and pretended I didn't know what they were doing, and that was even funnier/cuter to watch them! hahaha

After school, I went back to the DOT to get my new license as the old one expired today (long story, but I went yesterday and had to go back today). Got my license! :) Then home to my silly family. My kids asked off of work/got off of work so they could be home with me today. :) That meant more to me than they know! When I came home, I found on the door signs Rob had made that said "The old bat is 40!" :) :) :) He had them taped to the glass on the storm door. Too funny! Rob got me a book - the next one written by Greg Mortenson. Waaay excited to read that hopefully sooner than later.

We went out to Rio Grande, our favorite Mexican restaurant. Rob just happened to "mention" it was my birthday and as we were getting up to leave, the owners and waitress came over, planted a sombrero on my head and sang to me and brought me a yummy dessert with a candle! :) LOVE that place and those people! They are great!

We went and got our Christmas tree and a pretty greenery wreath for the door. It will have to wait until Saturday to get decorated, but right now my house spells so good. LOVE this time of year!!!!!!!

Got the bills paid; thank you Father for $ to pay the bills! I started using online bill-pay from our bank a couple months ago, and I love it! So much easier- wish I'd done it long ago!

I still have two assignments due on the weekend not started yet, a HUGE-MONGOUS pile of papers to grade & record in the grade book, lesson plans to be done, materials to be found and created for learning stations next week, and interim reports to write, but my sleepy 40 year old self is going to call it a night! Tomorrow I will have to pull off a miracle and do my lesson plans and grad school assignments by Saturday morning- yikes! :)

Love to you all!

Two days...

until I get to hug my Momma & my Pop!!!!!!!!!!

Now to get to that point. :) So much to do- two parent-teacher conferences to do, grade level planning meeting, lesson plans after grade level planning tomorrow afternoon, prep work for a sub and the next week's work, clean my desk, put away assessments and pack up assessments for the tutors that will be starting, copy & prepare new reading packets for new reading groups that will start after Thanksgiving, be all ready for a sub on Monday, leaving an hour early to head to the airport.

Plus last minute things at home and surprises to finish. And somewhere I have to find a place for this cat tomorrow evening. YIKES!!! And de-fur our furniture and run the vacuum one more time for Pop's allergies.

Then :) :) :) :) :) and hahahahahahaha and baking and blah-blah-blah-blah and making up for a looong time's absence in each other's lives and storing up for the next long absence. Can't wait to see them, and going to hate to see them go. Thank you God for giving us this chance to see each other again. Help me when it's time to say goodbye.

Here's Your Sign

Heard today at my school- "Do you even care?" (in reference to our grade level's atrocious 1st quarter test scores). I SOOOOO want to make a sign for this person. You know, a Bill Engvall kind of sign? But it'd have to be one huge piece of cardboard because this is what it'd say:

Nope! I don't care at all. In fact, I personally spend very little time trying to teach. I mostly spend my days and nights trying to think of ways to screw the kids over and ruin their futures. DUH, here's your sign!!!!!

Or maybe it'd say:

We teachers do care about their kids and are working very hard to help the kids learn and be successful, even without "you" asking us, chewing us out, threatening, bullying or intimidating us. We don't actually need any of those things to make us care or do our jobs. Believe it or not, we could do that without you, and do actually do that without you & before you suddenly became interested.

And speaking for myself, I RESENT "you" acting like "you" are the only one- you who don't even come in the classrooms except to interrupt my teaching, you who never observes my teaching or the lessons or takes time to talk with the kids to see what they are learning, you who never looks at my lesson plans or took time to come see how you can help me learn a new grade or make sure I am doing alright in said new grade.... I care more about my students than you would ever know. I left EVERYTHING- a family I am deeply devoted to- parents who are getting older & not younger, a sister who needed me. I left dear friends and the area I spent my whole life. I left students and families who loved me and I loved dearly. I cashed out my retirement & my husband, his in another state to pay for my own move to come here to teach these kids and serve these families. I am the one who deals with their misbehaviors- the stealing, the fighting, the lying, the lack of motivation, the frustrations (theirs & my own). I am the one who helps them calm down, verbalize the problem, find a solution, work it out and get back on track. I am the one who teaches them that I will love them on the good days AND the bad days. I am the one who is showing them that it is okay to make mistakes, that we can learn from those and move on. I am the one who shows them how to add/subtract/multiply or how to read and understand. I am the one who plays with them, eats with them (on my own duty-free lunch period), who helps them with their school work and homework, who helps them find joy in reading, who buys them ice cream and learning materials. I am the one who taught them how to sign "I love you" with their hands and who stands on the bus lot and hugs every single one of them every single day no matter how bad or good the day was. I am the one who waves to them as they leave the bus lot and makes the "I love you" sign to them as they wave it out the window to me.

NOT YOU! So please, do NOT ask me if I really care. Just walk away.

creating

Sunny Sunday

For the first time in a very long time (and I'm so not proud of this, but being totally honest) I was actually wanting to go to church. I don't know why I've been struggling with it so much again lately, but I have. Today I was up and ready to go and happy to be there. The sermon was, well, just for me. It was about Jesus and the disciples on the boat in the storm. Yeah, perfect timing. I didn't get any answers and I doubt God is going to let me out of this one, but it is comforting to know that He knows where I am and that He will help me get through the storm. I just sat there crying and asked Him to let the storm pass as quickly as possible and not let me drown in the waves. And, God, whatever it is that I am needing to learn, please help me to get it and pass this test.

My lesson plans were done last night! :) :) :) For those who don't live with me, you might not know how big this is. Believe me it is BIG! This school year I have been working all day on Sundays to come up with my lesson plans, find and/or create learning materials for the week, and differentiate all my lessons and learning stations for my kids' many needs. Thanks to a killer work session on Friday afternoon/evening with a colleague, and her kindness in sharing without my asking, I was able to tackle that job last night. :) :) :) Hopefully I helped her as much as she helped me. I was able to have grad class yesterday, get groceries, cook a Mexican meatball/veggie soup for supper, and then tackle lesson plans - all on Saturday! :)

So today, I took a thirty minute nap and have been cutting paper and card stock and working on cards. I cooked my favorite pasta salad (Fiesta Pasta Salad) tonight too. :)

For the rest of tonight, I am going to grade this huge stack of papers that has been staring at me and work on these cards I started, and head to bed early if I can. Only eight days until my parents will be headed to NC, and to say I am excited- well that would be the understatement of the century!

Have a great week!

Getting excited!!!

My Momma and Pop will be here in just a few more days. I can HARDLY wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They haven't seen our home yet, and we haven't seen them in a long time. We miss them terribly, so this is going to be such a HUGE blessing for us! Thank you Momma & Pop for coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I've been slowly buying my Thanksgiving foodstuff - already have the turkey, pumpkin pie fixings, stuff for spinach supreme. I have grad class this weekend, but next will find me finishing my shopping and starting some baking. :)

We spent today doing some fall cleaning. I finally took time to get to the closet that had become piled. Matthew was a dear and helped me a lot on top of cleaning windows inside and dusting all the ceiling fans! Barbara deep cleaned our kitchen cabinet doors with furniture oil, and now they shine. :) Matthew even offered to buy us supper out so we didn't have to cook. What a sweet young man he is growing up to be!!!! So we ended the afternoon with our favorite Mexican restaurant down the road- Rio Grande. Yummmmy! Robert got off his day job in time today to join us, and we laughed sooo hard. I so enjoyed having us all together- it doesn't happen often now.

Tonight found me doing grad homework. I'm very sleepy and think I'll head to bed now. One more day of work, then grad school weekend and preparing for another work week. Then my time with my family will be almost here. Going to cherish EVERY SINGLE moment of that time!

Words just cannot say...

just how low I am feeling tonight. I am apparently a jerk to my coworkers and had no idea. Here I thought I was trying hard to work alongside them, support and get along with others. Once again I am a problem. The thing that hurts the most is that I really had no idea that I was being such a difficult person, and in fact thought I was being a good teammate. And to hear that they are discussing me behind my back. :( Wow. That just hurts.

I have two students who steal from me constantly, and today one was bragging TO MY FACE about how he steals from me and I can't catch him. I break up fights daily and deal with the drama and I am SICK to death of it all. Today I was told to "f- off" by one kid and another kid told my 19 year old volunteer daughter "f- you." One kid walked around my room shouting at me "You are mean!" and another calling me "You are stupid." All while I was trying to teach. I give up.

I am looking for a job- ANY job that will pay my bills. I was made to be a teacher, and I cannot imagine me being happy doing something else, but I am deeply hurt and frustrated. I used to think I was a nice person, but right now I just want to turn into a turtle, go in my shell and never come out.

God

So thankful for God and for His unconditional love.

He doesn't give up on you, even when others do.

He doesn't keep a record of wrongs, even though He, of all beings, has every right to.

He doesn't burden you with guilt over wrongs or supposed-wrongs.

He doesn't turn His back on you, or betray you. In fact, He promised to never leave or forsake.

He loves me. There is no "he loves me not" bit- even though I am queen of feeling like He might not. I don't deserve His love, but He gives it to me anyway.

And tonight, I am so thankful for that and so in need of it. I wish He could just come down here to my house in G'boro, and give me a hug.

Love my family!

Thank God for home and weekends with my family. That about wraps it up.

Been a tough week. But today the sun is shining, and I got to watch our oldest help Rob install the dishwasher, which came today. It was sooooo neat to watch the two of them work on it together and to see our son doing the wiring. It feels so nice to see him doing what he wanted to do and know we helped him get there. That feeling of pride and satisfaction is so worth all the hard days of raising him!!!!

I have to get on to the groceries, supper, cleaning & restoring the kitchen, schoolwork, grad work, life in general. Hope to catch my sister on Skype later. Just started doing that this week, and I love it! I'm off now to go get groceries and a turkey!!!!! My Momma & Pop will be here in 17 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, but hey- who's counting? ;) I am so excited to see them, and give them a TON of hugs and love and get some Momma hugs and her shoulder to cry on for a tiny little bit. I miss my family horribly. I am very thankful to God that they are getting to come be with us and see our home and just be together for a little while.

Have a good weekend all!

nothing much

I don't have much time- schoolwork is screaming at me to be done and I haven't touched grad school assignments yet this week- I'm in serious trouble! I just feel bad because I haven't had much to say lately on here, and I wish I did.

I try to stay positive, but am just not feeling it tonight. I am tired (very, very tired- I stayed home from school yesterday and actually slept all day- something I NEVER EVER do!), a bit discouraged- okay, a lot, and frustrated at some behaviors from kids and adults.

I know things will be better another day, and I know I can survive. I keep saying, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I just honestly don't want to do all things through Christ sometimes. I want an easier path just now at this moment. I want to throw myself down in the floor, kick my feet, and scream really, REALLY loudly! :) What a sight that would make. :) Hahahahaha.

Well, enough pity party and on to the papers to grade, PEP's to write, math report cards & reading report cards to make, lesson plans, and professional self-evaluation (oh what a thrill that's going to be on this sour-puss night), and grad school- well, it won't be happening again tonight.

On a happy note though- I am getting a dishwasher! :) :) :) Cannot wait! Saved my summer institute $ that didn't get paid until last month and with just a little of our money this month, we are going to replace the one that broke shortly after moving in here. It's the cheapest one Lowe's had, but I am just grateful to have one. So thankful for that. It will help a lot to have that!!!!!

Bye all! Hope you have a great end to your week and an even better weekend! Fall is finally here in NC, and in less than three weeks I will see my Momma & Pop!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(((hugs)))

Beka :)

Mountains!!!!