It's Official!

Final grades are in and I officially graduated with a 4.0 GPA. WooHoo!!!!

(Thanks, Mr. Biochem-Professor-Man for grading on a curve!)

Helloooooo Summer... Vacation?

Ahhhhhh!!

School is officially over for me for the summer, and possibly for a year. I have decided to wait on School A. I am on a waiting list for an Associate Degree Nursing program and it looks like I will be waiting until fall 2010. I am often amazed at the ease of the decision-making process when you stop worrying and just listen to what God tells you. Mine was a gentle reminder of my priorities.

I was lying in bed one morning, savoring the quiet before the daily storm, when I remembered why I do well in school. I do well because I keep my priorities in line with what God wants for me. Or I try to anyway. My family committments and my jobs from Him come first, and I do what I can with school (God blesses me with good recall for tests). I know many people who spend more time studying than I do, without the same grades to show. I know I do not do it by myself. Why would I want to mess up such a good system to be in a hurry?

So, I have the summer off. HA HA HA

Before the boys get out of school, I am cleaning my house thoroughly, moving kids bedroom arrangements around, making a wedding cake, starting VBS planning, and cleaning some more. After they get out, the boys have 6 weeks of M-F morning activities like tennis, T-ball, and swimming lessons. I'm hoping to get some painting done in my house (still). and Bigfoot is hoping to get a summer job now that he is 14.

The "camp" season starts in the midst of this with VBS at the end of June, then a youth retreat and kids camp in the middle of July, all of which I coordinate. Family Camp is in the beginning of August. I teach a kids class for the week, make desserts for dinner (for 50-60 people) every night, and am responsible for planning (aka delegating) some of the afternoon and evening activities.

Sometime in there I need to test for my CNA certification so I can get a job after Family Camp and work through the school year I am waiting through.

I am going to try to find some time to read a couple Jodi Picoult novels and sit by the pool a little, but I ask you, my fellow moms.... is summer really a vacation?

oh and

PS... I did graduate, but my final grades are not in yet. I'm really hoping my biochemistry teacher grades on a curve.

Now off to clean!!!!

School...

Please pardon me as I am entering that wonderful season called "Finals!" The time loved and hated by college students everywhere. Loved because it means you are almost done! And hated because... well that one is kind of self-explanatory I think. So please excuse my sad lack of posts for the next couple weeks while I study and try not to fall off my academic pedestal.

The good news is that I get to graduate! OK... so it's only an Associates of Arts & Sciences and really means absolutely nothing in terms of money-making potential, and I still have 2 more years of school to get my nursing degree......
BUT! ... it means I finished something!!!! Yeah!

On that note...

I have recently started that application process for a different nursing program than the one I originally planned. The "Plan A" school has me wait-listed and it doesn't look like I'm going to get in this fall as I had anticipated.

So, enter "Plan B." I was kind of wishy-washy about Plan B, but it became very clear to me that I needed to do the leg-work and let God work everything else, so here I go on the merry-go-round of application & waiting... again. Plan B school has different deadlines and it may be possible that I get in to and start a nursing program this summer ... like 2 months from now. Unfortunately, I won't know if I get in or what my schedule will be until the latter part of June and the program starts in July. I hate being in limbo.

But... God has a sense of humor. He knows I hate being in limbo, so he seems to put a lot of it in my life. I think I am supposed to be learning patience or something. Apparently, I am not doing a very good job.

In the mean time, I am trying to plan summer activities for my kids, church kid and youth camps, etc. not even knowing what my own schedule is going to be.... UGH!

Deep Cleansing Breath...

In-Through-The-Nose.... Out-Through-The-Mouth....AHHHH....

But God knows... and He will work it out...

(He better cuz I sure can't!)

Sometimes it's just cool to be a mom

So... my little Bubba came in the house tonight and said, "Mom, can I tell you the truth about something?"

I am bracing myself for the "Don't be mad, but I broke blah-blah-blah on accident" line when he says...

"It's just cool to be a boy, Mom." And goes back out to the treehouse with the 4 or 5 other boys who were climbin up and down the ladder and shootin' each other with Nerf guns.

I love boys!

My Love, My Boys, and a Treehouse

When I met my husband he was 48. He had no children and hadn't really planned to have any. But we fell in love and he knew that I was a package deal. None of my boys have any contact with their biological counterparts. It's "inconvenient" for my ex to have a relationship with his sons. Bubba was an unexpected blessing; unfortunately his other half has never really viewed him that way. So essentially, none of them had fathers, just chromosome donors. (I do get some financial support from my ex for the boys, but he would even like to stop that if he could.)

When My Love and I married, he had just turned 50; I was 32. He is such a gift from God to me and my children. Anyone who knows him, knows that he doesn't do things halfway. He has approached his fatherhood in the same fashion he does everything else. All or nothing.

Whether he planned to be a Dad or not, he's very good at it.

Last week was spring break for the boys. I still had classes MWF, so My Love spent most of the week with the boys working on a project. Did I mention My Love is a carpenter?

We have 3 pine trees in our little backyard, set in the back corner in a triangle. He "helped" the boys build an awesome treehouse. Well, a 3-tree-house actually. The first step was a platform.

Next came the walls. They built them on the ground and hefted them up.
Once up, the side walls were nailed in place.
The end walls were built up on the platform.

The door is a trapdoor in the floor.

The windows are similar, cut out of the walls and hinged down.

And then everybody helped paint.

We've even had our first official treehouse injury when Monkey Boy didn't realize that The Thinker hadn't closed the door after he left and he stepped in it and almost fell out of the treehouse and 8' to the ground.

He caught himself and was fine after a couple days of sore ribs and a lesson in "Watch Where You Walk" and "Respect for the Treehouse." It has antibiotic goop on it, so it looks worse than it is. He was pretty bruised though. And very, very lucky.

I realized that I don't have a picture of the finished product, with the roof and everything. I'll have to add that later. The permanent ladder still needs to be installed.... but it's pretty cool!

And God Is So Good, He's So Good To Me!

The Skinnies

My family battles the bulge, as I know many people do. I have to give snaps to my mom and my sister who are winning the fight. In the last couple years, they have divested themselves of the equivalent of an entire small person (about 130 pounds between the two of them, I think). For those of you who haven't seen them in awhile, it's pretty remarkable. My Sis is down 6-7 dress sizes and Mom is down 3-4. I made Mom tuck in her shirt, becuase it was too big. She said, "So are the pants that's why it's untucked." Way to go Mom!

I'm incredibly proud of them and incredibly jealous at the same time.

My Corner

My dear friend who gave me the words for "taking care of my corner" needs prayer.

Her husband (who is also my Bubba's guitar inspiration) was just diagnosed with stage 2 prostate cancer. He has a bone scan sceduled for Friday to see if it has spread to his pelvic bone. They will then play the waiting game until after Easter to get the results; after that, they decide on a treatment plan.

Please pray for them. They are the Music Makers.