New year, running in place

Last post was in June, now it's 8 months later and part of me can't think of anything that's changed but then...doesn't everything change? We're on the cusp of some major changes: Lorie is finishing up her driving school time and takes her test at the beginning of March. Dayannah (we have a "new child." Dayannah came to live with us on July 5. She was just going to be here until she figured out what to do as her former living arrangement blew up in her face. But she is now part of the family and we are looking into adopting her!)  is carrying a full load at Luther Rice and got a job on-campus in the library. "Little" Kenny is finishing up his senior year in high school with an unclear path of what's in front of him. Meg is about to finish her time in middle school and heads to the "big league" of high school in August. Jo is still trying to figure out her place among her friends and even in the family. Being the baby is not much fun, apparently, and most of her friends have started blossoming, leaving her wondering why everyone's changed so much.

I had to get used to a new ITS at work (she's lovely, by the way) and increased non-job duties. Two hours of my day are spent supervising students (30 morning bus duty and 1.5 hr lunch monitoring). It's a humbling thought to know that your job is so unimportant that you are pulled to monitor chaos. Self-preservation has me wearing ear plugs and I've had to take the approach that as long as they are throwing food or hurting each other, everything else is okay. I used to drive myself nuts over the noise and disrespect and the unclear expectations over what is and isn't acceptable (and how we are supposed to manage behavior), but I can't handle that kind of stress in my world.

So, I guess there have been changes. But being on the edge of HUGE changes in the few months kind of colors my view, I guess.

Life as we know it...

Some days it feels like this is all there is...it's as good as it's gonna get, so deal with it! Then you get an eye opener. Mandy Young came and spoke to our Sunday school class. She has a rare disease...so rare, she's the only one in the world with it...that affects her immune system. She's been in comas, had seizures, and had one of her legs amputated. But there she was standing in front of our class with a huge smile on her face talking about all these incredible things that and ONE would have laid me out. I came home and looked up her website (www.mandyyoung.com) and read her mother's perspective and it made me think of Kelli Hopkins. I met her when we attended Eastridge and I've kept in touch with her via Facebook and her blog. It reminded me of how incredibly blessed I am. I have five healthy children and a husband who loves me despite all my flaws. I wish I could remember that before I start my whinies...

Crab cakes

I'm constantly amazed at just how much I can complain about...and then amazed at my amazement. I've always been a glass-half-empty kind of a gal so it's not like this attitude is new to me.

Yesterday afternoon I finished up the yearbook and showed it to one of my colleagues. I was positively giddy. I teased my child, answered the phone with a grin on my face and a lilt in my voice and generally found life appealing. That lasted for about 2 hours. Then real life kicked in. I guess it takes too many endorphins to be happy. I was so exhausted after that bout with happiness...

But now that I'm feeling "Mood Forecast is Crabby with an 80% Chance of I Don't Like You", I kind of wish I could get that happy feeling back. It used to be part of my life with some frequency. I wonder how to get that back. I think a nap would help tremendously.

Cold night in Georgia

Last night was cold here in Georgia. Slushy stuff (can't call it "snow"...more like snowy dandruff?) fell from the sky all day, so not only was it cold, but it was wet. That's calls for Beef Stew or Chili in my book. Since I was especially hankering for some veggies, beef stew it was! Since all school events were canceled (ice is a concern on Georgia roads since both Georgia drivers and the DOT aren't set up to handle it), I got the stew going on the stove and then we all huddled in my bedroom with the door shut and the mini-heater going. Nights like these mean that our ban on kids watching television during the week is lifted so the tube on and we watched the news. But eventually American Idol came on with the top 10 guys. I can't say that any performance really caught my ear, but I can say that the neck tattoos caught my eye! Seriously, this year's crop of men have some serious tattage going on! Doesn't that hurt?! I mean more than getting a tattoo in a "normal" spot. And one of the dudes neck tat was in color! Oooooooooo.

Course then my mind had to continue on the normal progession and it occurred to me that neck skin also tends to show age pretty quickly and that really neat name scripted in ink will slowly, but surely, stretch. But then I thought, hmmm...just makes it big print for all his aging buds! But the picture tatoos? Some things just don't need to be stretched is all I'm saying.

Fa la!

According to my sister, Fa la! is the new cool "whatever" at my niece's school. I'm totally up on all the cool jargon and am psyched to introduce this to Hightower Trail and Bethel...Fa la! But the truth is, I'm having a Fa la! kind of a day. I know there's things to do, but I can neither come up with them on the spur of the moment, or can't get them done at this exact moment.

For example, I was greeted with the heartstopping email from my MedFlex spending company stating that the orthodontic bill for Meg's braces wasn't approved and we'd have to send a check for $2662 to cover that expenditure within 20 days. Luckily, my fingers and brain still functioned while my heart didn't because I thought to open the receipt that I'd scanned and emailed to them to find out that I'd scanned and emailed a dental bill from 2009!! But, Fa la!, I don't have the orthodontist's bill here at school, so I'll have to wait until I get home to take care that.

Or there the call I need to make to the girlie doctor to make my yearly appointment, but my calendar is at home. I'm not about to make an appointment without my calendar opened in front of me...been there, done that, by the time I'd figured out I'd doublebooked myself and tried to reschedule things...let's just say, Fa la! definitely covers it!!

Work-wise, the only thing on the helpdesk is something that I can't take care of while students are in the classroom otherwise Math Time becomes Tracy Time! Plus the fact that I'm waiting on a Dell tech to show up so I can't wander too far from the office...well, Fa la!

Add to all of this that I stayed up past my "time that let's me fall asleep easily" watching American Idol and then the Olympics, so I'm very sleepy. Managed to get ready on time even though I took an extra 15 minutes to get out of the bed only to find out that Jo had slept through her alarm! Nothing like having to run across the school parking lot with the eyes of the loooong line of car riders watching you to make your morning start off just peachy!

AND, it seems that choosing to eat the school's sloppy joe for lunch may not have been the best choice for my stomach...wish I'd worn a pedometer. I'd've probably logged a mile walking back and forth to the teacher restroom.

Well, all that adds up to a definitive Fa la! Day!

There's no place like home!

Home again, home again, jiggedy jog! How wonderful it was to pull into the driveway. Since I haven't blogged since the beginning of December (and I totally blame Facebook on that!), our trip to Israel seems like it just got plunked on our plate. In reality, Luther Rice put together a Holy Land tour. Kenny suggested his services as a videographer with a paid tour. :) That didn't fly, but through God's blessings, Ken and Sandra paid for the two of us to go. We somehow made it off the waiting list and onto the tour AND got my leave on a critical day approved (of course, that critical day ended up being a snow day so all the worry was for naught).

10 days of touring the Sea of Galilee and its environs, the Dead Sea and then finally making our way to Jerusalem. It was exhausting, overwhelming, yet easily makes my top ten list of things that have majorly impacted my life. I don't think I'll sing a hymn, praise song or listen to a sermon or Bible lesson without remembering the sights I saw or the teachings I participated in. I can't wait for Wednesday to see how this trip impacts Kenny's teaching with the youth or for next Sunday when discussions during Sunday school and Ken's sermon will take on a whole new meaning.

My mom, the incomparable Neena the Great, came up for the first 5 days to keep the fires at the old Homestead burning. She and Bill just got done with a River Cruise so her coming up was a true miracle. I don't know that I could have left without her being here...one of those things that you don't know will mean so much until the moment comes.

I hope that we can someone take the kids on a Holy Land tour. I know how it affected me as a 40 year old, I can only imagine how it would have affected my life if I'd done it when I was their ages.

I met so many people that I will remember forever. They have touch my life and touched my heart.

Tonight, as I hit 40+ hrs without sleep (the dozing between stomach cramps on the 10 hr flight between Tel Aviv and Newark doesn't count) I'm emotional and not able to make much sense. Suffice it to say that I wouldn't have missed that opportunity for the world, but as Dorothy said at the end of the Wizard of Oz, "There's no place like home."

Concert mode

As we head into December, that can only mean one thing...no, not panic that I haven't bought any presents yet (that panic will hit the week of Christmas)...it's concert time!

The season usually kicks off with the annual Hometown Holiday parade in downtown Conyers. The church always put a float in. The parade is directly followed by the Tree Lighting in front of the courthouse. Guess where the parade doesn't end? Which means whichever child is performing at the tree lighting (they invite schools and area dance studios to come out) has to be hustled from the high school where the parade DOES end, down backroads back to the courthouse and try to get there on time. Usually as school staff personnel, I've been roped into being a child corraler for the school's chorus, too. Last year we decided the better course of action would be to stop the float momentarily on the parade route and have Jo and me hop out. Easier said than done for Miss Graceless here. Apparently the sight of me hopping over the side of the float last year was truly a wonder to behold as year later I'm STILL getting Lorie's eyebrow popping up when she talks about it. In my head, of course, I looked like a gazelle I tell you!

This year I lucked out. No one is involved in any dance troupe/class and Jo's elementary school teacher is out on maternity leave. It was lovely to ride the float without worrying about time, get off the float at the high school, go my car and drive home...especially given the temperatures. Visions of Lorie's almost frostbitten feet one year after walking through a wet parade route and then singing in freezing temperatures still haunt me.

Monday and Tuesday the high school had their Prism Concert, which is their name for the fine arts showcase. I went on Tuesday and was so impressed with the performers. It really was beautiful. It could have been so much better if the audience had behaved better. I don't think I'll ever understand how you can go to a performance and talk the whole time, or burst out laughing at inappropriate areas, or spend the entire time texting! Seriously, one teen behind me would talk louder when the music got louder! Then he decided that it was necessary to whistle to get the attention of a girl in the audience! But it wasn't just teens...it was adults, too. Listen, I like a cute kid as much as the next person...but I came to listen to the performance not your kid hitting a toy or cup against something or jabber and have you jabber back to them. It boggles my mind that people cannot go to a performance and let the performers have their attention! But off the soapbox.

Next Monday and Tuesday I have the middle school band and chorus concerts to attend. Those are always lessons in futility. I support my kids and support the fine arts in the schools, but those performances are usually things only a mom can handle. :)

Follow the middle school concerts with the adult choir performance on the 20th and then I'm footloose and fancy-free. Guess that means I won't have any more excuses to not shop!