IT'S ALMOST HERE!

I can't believe after all these years and all this hard work I am actually graduating in 6 days! To say I'm excited would be an understatement.

There were a couple of really rough months that left me doubting my career choice and myself. But the Lord gave me strength I've never had before and helped me grow in wonderful ways. What a blessing to look back and see how He was there for me. Giving me the strength and ability to make changes. He was shaping me and changing me into a better person and teacher, and he used a wonderful Christian teacher to guide me through.

He also helped me to see and appreciate what a wonderful husband he has blessed me with. Don has remained consistently loving and supportive through the hardships and trials and he always celebrates my success with pride and enthusiasm. Who could ask for anything more?

We will be having a cookout on Saturday May 14th beginning at 1 PM. Come on over and celebrate with us! If you need directions or additional information you can call or text me at 316-633-1923.

PRAYERS NEEDED

My Sister-in-law's dad, Kent Radcliff, owns a ranch near Dexter and was burning pasture when he fell off the back of a truck. He has broken all his ribs on one side, his clavicle, and his collar bone. They may have to put a steel plate in to keep his ribs from puncturing his lungs. They life-watched him to Wesley where he is in ICU.

I believe Kent is around 70 years old, plus he has sugar diabetes, so I'm sure he would appreciate your prayers for a quick and complete recovery from his injuries. Also, please pray for my SIL, Noel, her mom, Paula, and Kent's sons.

STRESS IN FULL SWING

Well my last semester is almost half over and my stress level is HIGH! What with the budget cuts and everyone talking about how there will be NO jobs to get once I have my diploma and the anxiety of trying to make sure I'm not letting down the cooperative teacher or the kids I'm teaching, I'm feeling exhausted and emotional. Add to that the fear that when I do get a teaching job it is going to be non-stop work every waking minute like it is now and I am living on the verge of tears! In fact, I get to school before 8:30 every morning, leave between 4:30 and 5:00, come home and have dinner with Don, and sit at my desk trying to create the perfect lessons for 3 hours or more. Keep in mind that I am not even responsible for all the lessons yet. I am only teaching Reading, Reading Tier II, Social studies/Science, and Writing.

Some people try to be encouraging and tell me that I can always sub next year. This is true, and it pays pretty good money, but I could have subbed before I started spending all this time and $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ on an education. Frustrating! Plus the thought of substituting scares me to death. Walking into a classroom of students you don't know, where you don't know the routines, and have not seen the lessons you are supposed to teach - AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAAA!

On the plus side - I have been blessed to work with a really awesome cooperative teacher who has taught me a lot and the 4th graders I work with are incredible children that I really enjoy teaching.

So, I will keep trudging on and doing my best while hoping that next year I will have my own classroom of wonderful students.

Copy Cat Post

While reading some of my favorite blogs I found that my friend had a brilliant idea for the first post of the new year - so I'm stealing the idea and making a similar post.

Following are a few words that come to mind when thinking about 2010:

STRESS AND WORRY
Early in 2010 we were in quite a financial crunch. We had tuition, late bills, and car problems that left us feeling overwhelmed and a little lost as to how to get the problems under control. We cut back everywhere possible and did the best we could just to get by.

BLESSED
As time went by we were blessed with a financial gift and my parents unexpectedly offered to take care of the car. We took the car to their mechanic, thinking he was just going to repair the one thing that was giving us the most problem, and were overcome with gratefulness when we picked it up. You see, mom and dad had instructed them to go over the car and make any repairs needed. WOW! What a blessing.

I was also offered a temporary job at our church (the job I had given up 2 years earlier to focus on school) to work part time while they looked for a permanent replacement. The months spent working at the church provided us with the extra income we needed to further improve our financial situation.

We also painted our house this summer. A job we had planned to do ourselves - with the help of Don's brother, Jim. However, some really awesome men at church surprised us by showing up and painting for 2 days. The day Don went back to work all we had left to do was paint one side of the house and we felt overjoyed to have had such wonderful friends and to have gotten so much finished. They were not done surprising us yet! While Don was at work, 3 men came over and finished the job! Words could not express how grateful we were.

These unexpected blessings brought to light how blessed we are with wonderful friends and family and how God watches over us and takes care of our needs (even when we feel like we don't deserve it).

EXCITEMENT
Those of you who know me know that I have spent a lot of years at WSU. At times I have been unsure of what I needed to do with my life. I was pursuing an accounting degree but constantly felt that God had something different in store for me. After much soul searching and testing I changed my major to Elementary Education. The process has been so long I sometimes wondered if I would ever really finish or if I would fail at yet another goal in my life and leave us with the financial burden of all these years of tuition and struggling to make ends meet on one income. As I began my fall semester, I realized that it is completely possible that I will actually be teaching my own class of students at the same time next year. This was so exciting and it gave me the courage I needed to get through a rough patch in my semester and excitedly look forward to completing my education.

HERITAGE
This year my parents celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary. The Bible talks about the heritage that we are left from the generations before us. What a blessing that my parents have left a heritage of love and commitment for me and my siblings. This heritage was left to my mother by her parents as they were married 72 years when my grandpa passed away.

Looking forward to 2011 I am thinking of the word SUCCESS. It is impossible right now for me to put into words how I feel about actually getting through these next 20 weeks and walking across that stage and having that diploma placed in my hand. The funny thing is, I am just as excited to watch the growth of 'my' students as I go through my internship this spring. I know that I will face problems and setbacks but right now I feel confident that with the support I have had in the past and will receive from Don, Dr. Mukes, Penny Longhofer, Ms. Mog, and countless other friends and family that I will learn a lot, grow a lot, and be ready to walk across that stage with the confidence that I can AND WILL be a great teacher!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May it be filled with happiness, love, and more blessings than you can imagine!

Special Day . . . Special Blessings

Today was a great day, and long overdue.

I have an uncle (Kendall) that is 3 years younger than I am. Until 1976 we lived in the same town as my Grandad, Grandma Dorothy, and Kendall. Bryan (my brother) and I spent a lot of time with Kendall and we thought of him more as a cousin than an uncle. Of course we still kept in touch after we moved but didn't get to see each other as often as we had been able to before we moved. Many things changed over the years and Kendall went through some very hard times and lost both his parents (my grandparents) before he was 21. To make a long story short I will just say that through the years of difficulty Kendall received a lot of love and support from a family that took him in as their own and over the years it seemed that we all grew further apart and rarely saw each other. In fact, I had not seen Kendall since he got married and had never met his 12 year old son and 10(?) year old daughter until my sister got married this last May.

When we were planning Mom and Dad's anniversary celebration I invited Kendall. (We had recently gotten in contact through facebook)His wife was scheduled to work the day of the celebration so he suggested we all plan a day to get together while we are all on Christmas break so that we could have time to visit and catch up.

Well, today was that day. My brother and SIL offered their home and we all gathered there today for lunch. We had such a great time! Bryan smoked meat all night and we all brought side dishes and ate until we were stuffed. Then we just sat around the table visiting for hours.

Towards the end of our time together Kendall opened up some about what he went through during the times that Grandma was so sick, Grandad had to go to a nursing home, and how lost and confused he felt as a High School (and then college student) to have these things going on, and to have lost both of his parents before he was 20 years old.

I have had a lot of conflicted feelings through the years about that time and had always wondered how Kendall became so out of touch with our family and so much a member of another family. But now I thank God for the Barrett family. They showed Kendall the love of Christ when he needed it the most and when we were unaware of how difficult things really were for him.

Kendall has a wonderful family now and I feel blessed that we were all able to spend such a special day together. We all left promising to keep in touch with each other and get together again.

Good stuff!

Mom and Dad 50th Anniversary

December 8th, 1960 my parents were married in Meramac, OK in the church where their families both attended. Fifty years have passed and they are a great example of how love and dedication can overcome hard times and increase the joys of good times! My brother, sister, and I are lucky to have such a legacy passed on to us. (My grandparents had been married 72 years when Grandpa passed away).

It was an honor to stand back and see Mom and Dad have such a great time and be honored by so many friends and family.


It was also a huge blessing to realize that my siblings and I have made that transition from sibling rivals to now being adults who love each other very much. In hindsight I realize this transition happened years ago but it was brought to light more in the planning and implementing of the reception.

Good times of great blessings!

2010 Vacation/Staycation

Once again we had a great time at the Richardson Resort.

Roxie had a blast running with Smore and Star (the two dogs that live there) and playing chase with Princess (the cat that lives there). We got home this morning at 12:30 AM. Roxie went straight to bed and slept all night. She then moved to the sofa this morning and has slept non stop all day (it is now 3:15 PM).

Don and I had great fun and enjoyed a lot of quiet and relaxation.

Don picked sand plums and I made 27 jars of sand plum jelly (14 jars with jalapenos).

We made our annual trip to Porter to buy fresh peaches, made a stop at Bass Pro, and then had a wonderful visit with Portia and J.D. (Don's sister and her husband). They made us a really yummy meal and then we all enjoyed catching up on what has been going on in our lives since last year.

On Sunday, we went to church with Mom and dad and then they took us out to eat at Montana Mike's. We also got to visit with them a couple other times while we were there. That was really nice as it seems we don't make the time to go down and visit often enough.

Haleigh and Lorrine (our niece and Don's brother's wife) came up and canned peaches with us. Here is a picture of us after 8 hours of making and canning jams:



Bryan and Noel got home late Tuesday night and we really enjoyed hearing about their fun packed vacation to MD with Noel's father and her siblings. Sounded like they had a wonderful time. Wednesday we enjoyed some time hanging out with them, eating at the local Mexican joint, hanging out some more, and then having grilled burgers topped with fresh tomato slices, fresh-from-the garden cucumbers in vinegar, and home made peach cobbler together before we had to leave.

Our original plan was to leave Winfield on Wednesday and take Don's dad to see his brother in Houston and then his sister in Lake Charles, LA. That trip had to be canceled due to Don Sr. experiencing some back problems and being unable to travel. We were a little disappointed not to get to see Don's aunt and uncle but it will be nice to have a few days here at the house to get a few projects done.

What a blessing it was to be able to enjoy each other and our family on a great vacation!