Oh we go into the wild, blue yonder!

Tomorrow we leave! I can't believe how excited I am.

Well, excited and scared.

Saturday!

One Day at a Time

My life has taken some difficult turns in the last few months. Nothings gone the way I'd planned. Yes, there is a song there, and if you know "Romance, Romance" at all you might recognize it (I know Kate knows!). Still, I have to rely on my belief that what the Lord has planned for me is better than what I had planned for myself.

Imagine how difficult this would be if David and I had not already put our house on the market. Or if the house had sold back in January and we were already making new (not improved, but probably higher) payments.

Imagine if we had to start planning to move now, trying to get everything packed up, and find a place to live, with the added pressure of no current employment.

Imagine if my longtime friend Kelly hadn't convinced me that the time was ripe for me to be looking for a teaching position again. Imagine if I had just started that process when David lost his job.

Imagine what I would have been feeling if David and I had not been attending the temple, fasting and praying about all these questions all along.

Yes, my life is hard right now. But, I can see the Lord's hand guiding us all along the way, over this very treacherous and affliction filled path. It's not over yet, and truthfully, I'm not certain I've found the tunnel, much less the light at the end of the tunnel, but if I take it one day at a time, with the Lord's help, my life will be better when this is all over.

End of School Bragging Rights

School ended for my kids on Friday (quite a day, that Friday) and my boys came home with stacks of awards. In an effort to do something positive for myself, I'm going to take a few minutes and brag about my boys.

A few weeks ago we found out that Ben has read more minutes than any other student in the entire school: 82,775 minutes for the school year. Go ahead, figure out how many hours that is. It's a lot. And I must acknowledge that his teacher let him read during the school day. How else could Ben have read that much?

In addition to the reading award, Ben received a "Cub of the Month" for April, a Pride award for achieving all A's and excellent citizenship, a Math Olympiad patch for 8 or more points on said test, and a Certificate of Outstanding Performance on the Iowa Tests for language, core total and total composite. I am a proud mama.

Joshua came home with his certificates edged with pink frosting (typical boy, he shoves everything in his backpack). He received a Math Olympiad certificate, a Pride award for achieving excellent citizenship, a Cub of the Month award for November, a Cub Award (given for completing a predetermined set of learning experiences and achievements), and was schools top point earner for the Accelerated Reader program (with 220 points, AR quizzes are his life).

Both my boys had straight a's and 5's for the last trimester. Maybe I've done something right for these kids. They love learning, they love reading, they love school...how many kids wake up early excited because they are taking CRT's that day?

Congratulations, Boys! I love you!

I'm tired of feeling sorry for myself...

But more about that later.

I was reading past blogs with Sarah leaning over my shoulder (it's annoying, I know, but after 13 1/2 years of it I've kind of gotten used to it). Ella is leaning on my chair, so I guess she's learning her habits from her big sister.

Anyway,

We were reading past blogs and I realized that I never posted what all those songs were. Sarah doesn't know them all, but David did, which considering that several of them are from PBS Kids is pretty good.

Here goes:
The first two are from my current show "Utahoma!" which is a spoof of "Oklahoma!" which Sarah just informed me is a way cool show. Think, "The Farmer and the Cowman" and the title song, "Oklahoma!".

"Happiness" from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"
"Jack and Diane" by John Mellencamp
Opening theme from Curious George (PBS Kids)
Opening theme from Arthur (also PBS Kids)
Library song from Arthur " "
"Don't Cry Out Loud" sung by Melissa Manchester
"Walk Like a Man" by Franki Valli and the Four Seasons

(I'm leaving for New York in 24 days, during which vacation I get to see "Jersey Boys". Sarah just sighed in jealousy. Niener, niener.)

Little did I know

Earlier this week I asked myself (and David and my mom) a philosophical question:

If Heavenly Father knows my limits, and my life is still crap, does that mean I'm stronger than I think I am?

Since that time I have:
come down with the flu
had three kids be sick
shown my house with no warning (which means it was a disaster)

and the best one of all:
David got laid off yesterday.

After 16 1/2 years with the same company, they gave him 2 weeks severance and an hour or so to collect his things.

My life just went from crap to whatever comes after that.