A New Beginning

Having trouble sleeping this evening.  Thought I'd check out the old blog.  This was something I really enjoyed doing for quite some time.  I think I may revisit it.

We are in a new place now.  My husband is still a Lutheran pastor, and a darn good one at that.  I'm still a Lutheran teacher.  Our church and school are bigger than before, which brings a whole new set of blessings and struggles.

We have developed some new interests in our new place, far away from our kids and their families.  We love to dance...Texas country, two-steppin', waltzing fun.  We have an amazing little venue we love and usually dance 2-3 times a week. We are close enough to our family farm to spend as much time there as we'd like.

I'll be tweeking some things and updating my list of links...hopefully find some new people to follow.  I will try to share some insights into our new lives, into my walk of faith, and sometimes some of the heartaches that come along the way.

Here's to making a new beginning and new friends.

A Day of Rest from My Labor

The first week of school was exhausting. I suppose it is always like this. It seemed to take forever to get anything done. 

There is an entirely different feel to things this year. An entirely new staff makes it like I'm in an entirely new school. Weird. I have 12 boys and 1 very brave and awesome girl. 12 boys = LOTS of energy!  But they are all great, full of personality, a pleasure to be around. 

Thanks to some wonderful suggestions from Allan, I'm feeling prepared to begin tomorrow with some new policies in place to encourage better behavior and quicker actions. Hopefully this will make it easier to stay on schedule. 

I totally needed a day off today - plus a 4-day week. Bring it on!

And Now It's August

August-always a bittersweet time for me. There's only a few weeks of summer left. My time at home during the summer fills me with joy. I adore spending so much time with Allan. He works so hard to make this a special and fun time for us. I treasure these times.  I literally would be thrilled to sit in his office with him all

day every day. God has blessed me beyond measure with such a wonderful man to share my life with!

The upcoming school year is an uncertain one for me. Our staff is full of new people - I'm the only one returning. The not knowing how things are going to be done is unsettling. I've been in a very comfortable 15 year routine, and am not sure how much will change. Frankly, I'm feeling like the outsider already. Only one official thing so far, our registration day, and that didn't end on time.  Just worrying for no reason I'm sure. 

Happy Ordination Day!

On this day, fourteen years ago, my dear husband was ordained into the ministry of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.  What a blessing he has been to me and so many others.  I feel so blessed to sit in the pew each week and hear his message.  It gets me through the week.  Our worship service is well thought out, with everything working together to enrich our worship.  It all ties together. He is a devoted, thoughtful, kind and caring pastor.  Our congregation is so blessed by his service to them.  He's a great pastor, and I for one am a very proud wife. 

New Orleans

Well, we have eaten our way through yet another city.  This was our second trip to New Orleans...the first post Katrina.  We found the people of New Orleans to be great and patient with us tourists.  Didn't meet up with ANY less than pleasant people!  Our first stop after checking into our hotel was Mother's.  This is the one place we had been before and couldn't wait to go back to!

Oyster Po'Boys and Seafood Gumbo - Yummy

Headed to the casino after this to check out the action.  We tried out penny slots for the first time and didn't do half bad (since we only lost half the money we put in!)  Then it was off to the trolly.  Our first new experience since we hadn't ridden them years ago.  I must say - LOVE the trolly.  $3 for a day pass and they go all over.  People are a great mix of locals and tourists and the trolly drivers ROCK!

Dinner was at Royal Oyster House.  A beautiful Riesling and a dozen oysters on the half shell.  Oysters were fair...not real cold and a little sandy.  Followed this with Crawfish Etouffee - excellent. Walked back to the casino to hit those penny slots again - bingo, our lucky day.

 

This was halfway through!

Back to the hotel we went - lots of walking and tired feet.  Woke up and bought new trolly tickets and headed out to Cafe du Monde for breakfast.

Enjoyed walking around the French Market area, Jackson Park, the Cathedral and checked out the Hurricane Katrina exhibit at the museum.  Very interesting to see and read about this disaster from a local point of view.  Then it off to Central Grocery for the Original Muffaletta sandwich!

Irritating that I can't rotate!  These were too delicious to not show!

Lots more walking through the French Quarter back to the hotel for an awesome nap!  Dinner at Acme Oyster House...a dozen raw followed by gumbo, fried shrimp and oyster plate and bread pudding for dessert! More trolly riding and coffee at Cafe du Monde before losing a large portion of our winnings from the previous day at the casino!  Easy come easy go, right?

Walked back to Jackson park to have breakfast before our flight home.  Good ole bacon, eggs, toast and creole potatoes at Stanley's.

We had a fun time.  It was nice to get away, but as it always is, great to get home.  Thank you to my beloved husband for going above and beyond to show me a good time.  There is no way I could ever, ever deserve such a great guy!  I love him more than words can ever express!

Summer Adventures Begin

School is finally out for summer. I had a good year, but am glad for the break.   Allan treated us to a great concert on Thursday...

It was so much fun!  Different from other concerts we'd been to and very entertaining. 

Next, he planned a fun trip to New Orleans. 

Here we are at the airport before the fun came to an end ... Bad weather delayed our flight making it impossible to make our connecting flight.  So this morning here we sit waiting for another flight. . .

A Terrific Few Weeks

Life has been good here at the homestead.  I had a lovely Mother's day...very relaxing.  It began with a wonderful worship service.  No cooking for me on that day - I was quite the pampered Momma.  Jacob got me a beautiful, colorful new apron, and Allan treated me to a vibrant orange King Ranch wallet.  Most of all, I loved spending the day with those two!

We've had RAIN...yes rain.  Three weekends in a row with no watering!  It's like I'm on vacation.

This is what you get when you have rain falling from the sky rather than sprinkler water.  A vibrant green lawn and flowers everywhere!  Everywhere you look, shrubs are in full bloom.  Birds chirping everywhere, garden full of fresh veggies.  Ahhhhh.

Last Saturday was a fun day.  Jacob came for breakfast, and then we went to his house to help with his yard work.  Not that he needed help, but nothing makes Allan's day happier than making a nice lawn.  I got to lounge around with Bud, wash a few of Jacob's dishes and just enjoy the morning.  Very nice spending time at his casa..

One week left of school -- 5 days (technically 4.5)!  My end of year checklist is almost complete...my main concern is keeping the kids busy.  School work is complete besides 3 Religion lessons.  Bulletin boards are partially down, library in order, by Friday I should be done.  Wish me luck!

Hill Country Wedding

Allan is officiating a wedding in the beautiful Hill Country of Texas.  Although this is a working weekend for him, it is a great time off for me!  Two days off of school and a fun road trip with my dear husband.

We had a really fun day today.  Lots of driving and seeing stuff.  We love reading historical markers -  lots of brave people who have fought off Indians, missions that could never quite convert those Indians to Christianity, and people massacred by Indians.  Texas has always been a rugged place!  We drove on some of the most beautiful roads I've ever traveled in Texas.  Who knew?

On a whim, I opened up my Flavortown app and low and behold there is a Triple-D restaurant 40 miles from where we are!  So off we go to Mac and Ernie's for dinner!  Very tasty and neat place.  To finish off a great day, Jacob has arrived and is eating our dinner leftovers!

A Tasty Week

I almost always have an appreciating audience when it comes to dinner-time.  This was an especially tasty week however.  Jacob was over for dinner more than usual, so you know I had some good menus.  On Monday, I made chicken fried chicken thighs, collard greens, mashed potatoes and gravy.  The cheers rang out!  Wednesday, I made ribs baked in the oven and fried the first of our summer squash along with some breaded okra.  I can't WAIT for a summer of fried squash...Yum-my!  I am so thankful for my husband with the green thumb.  I love cooking things that he has grown.  You should see the tomatoes that are on his plants!  Every day I ask him if there are any with a pinkish hue yet.  Tonight I seared some lamb arm steaks and fried more squash and zucchini.  We love the lamb steaks - I stumbled upon them before Easter.  They are super inexpensive and so tasty...we have them once a week.  If I hadn't slept through dinner time last night, it would have been a totally successful week of dinner menus.

I have parent conferences this week...not my favorite week of the year.  We completed our standardized tests last week and I have scored them and now to conference with the parents.  I am always a touch disappointed in how the students perform on these.  But in all honesty, they do reflect fairly honestly what kind of student they are.  But no parent wants to hear, "Your child is right on grade level."  They want to hear that they are super advanced.  Plus we have to ask if their child is returning to our school next year.  Always hold my breath on that one!  I suspect I may have a few not returning...they are such great kids, I hate to lose any of them.

Until next week, have a good one.  If anyone is reading, I'd love a comment!!

Babysitting Bud

What fun we've had this weekend.  We have had the privilege of taking care of Jacob's dog, Bud.  He is a big 75 pound lab puppy.  We love him!  Our Chihuahua --  not so much.  She might be a bit jealous.  Little bit.  Bud is a hoot and a half.  He can chew something quicker than you can blink an eye. He is not a "curl up in a little ball" sleeper.  Stretched out full body sleeper.  He is also an escape artist.  Yep...found his way out of the fence - not just once, but twice.  We did some reinforcing of the fence and it seems to have held him.  He slept in the bed with us last night...I had about 1/4 of the bed for sleeping.  On the plus side, I'll sleep great tonight.  Jacob should be back for supper, but I'll miss our "little" grand-dog when they go home.


On another note, Allan directed me to another great essay this week.  This one was about the benefits of marrying young.  I was very interested in reading this because we married at 21.  I have always thought it was the best thing to marry young.  I have loved each and every minute of our lives together.  I love that we knew nothing about anything when we took our vows, but learned everything together.  Was it easy?  Of course not!  Was there many times of struggle?  Absolutely!  I look at where we are today, not just financially, but as a couple, and I am so happy that we built this together.  We grew together.  We accomplished things together.  We made a plan and worked it together. I think we would have missed out on so much had we waited until we had everything established individually.  How do you combine two accomplished individuals into a couple that works as a team?  I'm not sure.  All I know is I would not change a minute of my life with Allan.

Easter Weekend

As Easter weekend is winding down, I am very much wishing I had Easter Monday off! I could use a day of R & R, but alas it is not to be :) 

As is usual, my husband outdid himself with wonderful Holy Week services.  His Lenten sermons based on the names of Jesus were terrific.  It was all good...sermons, music, all of it.  The church was beautiful.  I was privileged to see two of our confirmands take Holy Communion with their families for the first time on Maundy Thursday.  Good Friday found me shopping for the Easter feast, watering the lawn, and cleaning the house.  Allan usually cleans on Friday's, but I was glad to be off work so that I could do it for him.  He does entirely too much for me!  Saturday, more watering (!) lots of food prep for today, arranging Easter Lilies at church.  Today was a wonderful day.  Church was awesome.  My meal went great.  We had some folks from church join us and everyone seemed to have fun.  An afternoon watching Big Bang Theory - Season 1.  A whole day spent with Jacob. (I can't remember when that last happened.)

I have yet a few little things to do for school tonight, and Vikings is still to come.

A New Blogging Beginning

I am sure that my former regular readers have moved on to more active blogs.  Yet I feel the need to begin again.  After spending 3 years or so on Facebook, I'm rethinking my participation.  We had a bad Facebook experience over Spring Break.  Someone used a photo that I had taken and printed it and was using it to slander our family.  This particular photo was of my husband, who was sitting on our back porch smoking a pipe and drinking a beer after mowing the lawn.  It is a photo of a happy, relaxed and contented man.  I have been angry and disappointed at this turn of events.  My first course of action was to deactivate my Facebook account.  My husband then came across a wonderful essay on privacy in the older generation.  At first, I was all in agreement with this essay with righteous indignation about how our privacy had been taken advantage of.  But then after some reflection, I'm beginning to believe that I am also somewhat to blame.  Why should I share every detail of our lives so quickly and easily with people?  Do they really have a need to know these details?  I'm just not sure.  I like being able to connect with family and old friends around the country.  I like peering into their Facebook pages and seeing their families and interests.  I makes me feel connected to people with whom I otherwise wouldn't be connected.  But did I miss this interaction before Facebook?  No, I didn't.  I emailed or snail mailed photos to family out of town, called, and wrote letters.  Should that type of interaction with a smaller number of people be sufficient?  This is what I'm trying to decide.  I am thinking that I will stay off of Facebook at least until summer.  Then perhaps rejoin with a slimmed down friends list.  In the meantime, I will try to do a weekly blog post, in which I will recount fun things or thoughts that have breezed through my mind and life over the past week.  I welcome and appreciate your thoughts and comments.  The more the merrier :)

New Year, New Projects

I can't believe January is almost history.  Life is busy as always, full of adventure and laughs.  Our church is celebrating it's 100th anniversary this year.  As a result, my women's group is sponsoring a 100th anniversary cookbook.  we haven't had a cookbook since 2000.  Things started out pretty slowly, but the ladies got busy and we gathered 418 recipes!  I was hoping for 200.  We met this morning and proofread all 418 recipes, making changes as we went.  It took 9 ladies and 4 hours, but we got 'er done.  We start pre-sales tomorrow and hope to have our order place before the 6th.  I am full of anticipation to see the finished product. 

Next up is the pictorial directory.  Meeting with that guy in a week.  This anniversary stuff is hard work!

School is going pretty good.  I've kept on schedule in all the subjects - which is nothing short of a miracle! 

Our family is doing great.  Sarah's pregnancy is progressing nicely.  She feels good and they now know she's having a girl!  We can hardly wait :)  Jacob will graduate in May.  He is still pondering his next move.  Grad school, job, military...time will tell--I know God will show him the way.  Allan and I continue to try to catch a movie each Friday.  We saw 31 movies in 2011.  We've got to beat that in 2012!  Movies don't cost much in our little town, and it's fun to have something local to do together.  We began the new school year having breakfast together, the three of us.  Allan cooks while I get ready for work, and we get Jacob up when it's ready to eat.  We've really enjoyed this regular family time together.  We do our devotions now in the morning when we're always all together.

Life is good...happy, healthy, loved.  I am truly blesses!

Thunder!

I didn't sit down to write about rain, but just as I started -- THUNDER!!  And rain!!  Every little bit will help our poor dry land.  I've been watering the grass all day (I have about 4 hours to go to finish it all.)  They said on the news last week that we are about 25" short of rain from this time last year.  We'll blow away before long.  I was walking in the back of the playground last week and was shocked!  The ground is deeply cracked, and the concrete that holds up the fence posts are almost completely uncovered where the soil has blown away.  You can see almost a foot of the re-bar that holds the landscape timbers surrounding the playground.  Huge amounds of soil has blown away.  Yikes.

We've had quite a bit of exciting news since school has resumed.  Sarah is expecting our third grandchild in May!  We are so thrilled to have a new grand-baby!  God is so good.

Jacob ordered his class ring last week - TAMUK class of 2012!  He's worked so hard and we're really proud that he's able to graduate in 3 years.  He also has a lead on a job as Assistant Farm Manager after graduation.  It's too early to know yet, but I'm really excited that he has a lead this early in the process.  He's busy thinking about 21st birthday activities.  Time goes by so fast.

As for me, as hard as I've been trying to be fit and healthy, I took my first dose of Lipitor today :(  But Allan says it's the best thing.  I hate having to take medicine though. 

School is going pretty good.  I've been able to maintain my staying aheadness.  lol.  I am almost finished with all my lesson plans for the second grading period, and I'm keeping up with my copying for the week ahead.  So far so good.  Not behind in grading.  This MUST be a record.

Allan and I continue to do fun things together.  We have started going to the TAMUK volleyball games.  We don't really know much about volleyball, but are having a blast learning.  It's really fast paced and fun to watch.  We went to see "The Help" last night, and it was a GREAT movie...friends we went with have read the book and said it wasn't like the book, but either way, it was good!

WOW - What a Summer!

I can't believe that summer is over.  It was the best summer.  My wonderful husband worked so hard to make it a nice summer, and he succeeded many times over.  We had so much fun.  Oh the things we did...we consumed countless calories of wonderful, delicious food at all of our favorite places.  We shopped til we dropped (literally - I almost fell over on our last shopping trip - lol).  We went to the beach.  We went to Mexico.  We went swimming several times a week.  Much time was spent sharing meals with friends and family.  Both of our grandchildren celebrated birthdays (4 and 2!!).  What fun we had sharing those special moments.  Time goes by so fast.  I was able to spend almost a week with my mom and spend a short time with my in-laws while I was in town.  And the movies...lots and lots of movies...20 of them in all.  What fun it was going to different theaters and seeing all those movies.  From "Fast Five" to "Spy Kids," we saw almost all of them.  Some were terrific (Super 8, Harry Potter, Midnight in Paris,) some were fun tween  movies (Judy Moody, Spy Kids, Monte Carlo) - In Monte Carlo we were by far the oldest in the theater and I believe Allan was the only dude - lol.  Some were terrible (Conan!).  Since Sarah and her family are living closer, I've been able to babysit a few times - loving it!  Boy O Boy was it hard seeing this special time come to an end.  I truly have the most awesome husband in the world - so blessed by God - I cannot thank him enough for this summer!

But today, school started.  I'm thankful for a short break, and the morning has gone wonderfully.  I seem to have a classroom full of eager minds.  They are learning their procedures, behavior is pretty good considering how excited they all are, and everyone seems to like each other.  All good. 

But I still miss my hubby...

Passing Thoughts

I heard an outstanding sermon today on 1 Peter 5:6-11.  There was discussion on worry, and the anxiousness it causes in our hearts.  Several things jumped out at me because I had been thinking about things along these lines in the last few days.  "And after you have suffered a little while,..."  Those words - a little while - don't always seem like a little while.  As friends are fighting deadly diseases, it seems their pain goes on a long while.  But when compared to eternity, our lives - good and bad times - are indeed a little while.  I was thinking earlier in the week how our lives can change in an instant.  One day all is peachy--then a terrible diagnosis, a super scary car wreck (for us), a loss of a job...the list is endless.  But sometimes the reverse is true as well...if I close my eyes, I can imagine walking down the hall and finding toddlers in the living room watching cartoons.  But in fact, my children are adults now.  The time went by like the blink of an eye.

My husband discussed worry, how it turns around and around in you head going nowhere and accomplishing nothing.  He pointed out how this make us feel anxious, and how we become subject to the temptations of the devil when we're full of anxiety.  Now I'm not a big worrier, and I don't often feel anxious...just not in my personality I guess.  But when I do worry and feel anxious - WOW - not a good feeling.  It feels like my head is spinning out of control and my heart pounds and frankly I don't like that feeling.  What I learned today is that feeling comes because I'm trying too hard to handle thinks myself, rather than leaving them on Christ's shoulders.  No wonder I'm anxious - trying to do God's job - when I'm definitely NOT God!  Who could succeed at that?  No one but God.  So I think I'll work hard at letting God be God, and trying to listen and follow his lead.

Monday

What a day!  Could I have used a Monday off from work??  YES!  I awoke with a start with the alarm at 5:30 remembering that it was my turn to read a devotion at our staff meeting.  BLAST!  So...blind without my glasses I stumbled to the computer and searched for a Holy Week devotion.  Found one after a bit that I thought was pretty good - a tad long but not too much so.  Then realized while driving to work that it was the first day of the next grading period - I of course had not prepared new folders - not even printing out the pages that go in the folder - 0 - ZERO prep.  I had not typed up the students "My family is special because..." paragraphs for the newsletter.  I hadn't completed my lesson plans.  No parent letter.  Zero, zip, nada.  Totally unprepared.  But somehow I fit it all in and ended the day with everything pretty much how it should be.

So happy to arrive home, I threw together some cheese enchiladas and Mexican rice for dinner.  On a whim, we went to the movies!  All three of us.  Went to see Arthur.  Jacob and I really liked it, Allan declared it "Fair."  Yes, I know I have report cards to send home Wednesday.  Yes, the grades are not even averaged yet.  But there is always tomorrow.  The sun will come out tomorrow - at least that's what I'm told.

Spring Fever

Ahh Spring...time for sneezing, coughing, hacking and yes fever.  What a week the past week was!  But thanks to an extremely understanding husband, a Z-Pack from Mexico, and many cough and allergy pills, I'm feeling human again.  Actually slept fairly well last night.

We had a great Sunday.  Church was awesome - two wonderful brothers baptized, Holy Communion, an interesting Bible Class -- all good and enriching.

Tacos for lunch followed by our regular afternoon of Office viewing - lots of laughs.  For dinner I attempted the Pork chop and Wild Rice casserole that was a disaster when I fixed it in January.  I've been afraid to try again, but alas, it was back to its original goodness.  Still think it was the Great Value cream of Celery soup that wrecked it before.  Animation Domination followed dinner and then a trip to Wally World to finish out our evening.

This is a big week at school.  CAT test time!  Always makes me a nervous wreck.  I pray the kids will work up to their abilities.  Not putting their full effort into the tests is a problem for some.  They are all such bright kids - I'd like their test results to reflect that.  I've got three grades to test this year so that means our testing day will be longer than in years past.  Stressful for all involved.  Keep Praying!

Spring Break!

Wow, it's been a month since my last post...I was doing so good there for a while. lol.  The weeks have flown by.  So, so busy.  Work wise, I've been in the middle of a crazy AR reading contest which is thankfully over!  BTW, our school came out in FIRST place in the nation.  Then last week was Lutheran School Week which means a busy week of activities - fun but exhausting.  Now for a break.

There are a few things I want to do this week:
1.  Wash all the curtains in the house.
2.  Trap all animals to give them spring flea treatments.
3.  Scrapbook the photos taken thus far in 2011 (although I'm not feeling in the scrapbook mood yet)
4.  Finish the books I'm in the middle of.
5.  If the sun comes out, try to lessen the pasty white of a stay-at-home that I am right now.

So far, I've completed on book, and have seen two movies.  A trip to Corpus is planned for tomorrow - movie and a meeting for Allan.

Book Review:  Whiplash by Catherine Coulter.  This one took me about 3 weeks because as I said, life has been busy.  It was a great story, one of my favorites.  I love Sherlock and Savich, and they were great in this book.  They were working on two jobs at once, and a few new characters were introduced.  The new characters show potential for showing up in future stories.  Story #1 involved a US Senator who was seeing his late wife's ghost outside his window.  Savich's physic abilities helped to solve this mystery.  Story #2 involved a drug company, a murder, and Germans.  A really good read.  (A)

Movies:
Red Riding Hood - stinker.  Allan thought it was terrible, but I was a bit intrigued trying to figure out who the werewolf was.  (C-)

Adjustment Bureau - very intriguing.  We both enjoyed this movie.  Lots of thought provoking ideas about free will.  (A-)

On the list for tomorrow:  Cedar Rapids

The Long and Busy Weekend

First thing in the morning and I'm trying to organize my thoughts.  Sometimes I wonder if I have adult ADD.  Things just whip around in my head so fast I don't know how to make a plan.  That's how I'm feeling this morning.  So many things I want/need to get done, and no clue as of how to get it done the most efficient way.  Groceries...dinner....grading....cleaning....reading.....various errands....   I'm not sure I can even make a list - I feel THAT disorganized.

One thing I do know -- Allan gets home from Arizona tonight!!  He's been gone for three days (even though he says we saw each other on Thursday and will see each other tonight so that's only 1 day) and I'm ready for him to be home -- I miss seeing him.  He is what makes the sun come out in my day.

Tomorrow after church, we're driving to Abilene to visit Allan's cousin Roberta and pick up some things her mother left for us.  It's a long, long drive to make round trip in one day.  But I'm looking forward to a road trip with my beloved.  It will be good to see Roberta, even if it's only for a short time.

One thing I do know...if I continue to sit on the bed with the dog and cat cuddled up next to me...I'll never get started on my day.