Hard Pressed on Every Side

I almost started this post a few days ago - glad I waited as you will see at the end.

So the last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle. Rather than go into the details, I will just bullet them. Since I can be wordy, I will highlight the big picture.

• It started on a Wednesday morning when I awoke to large puddles on hardwood floors.  It was pouring outside and into our house.  That morning continued to go awry, and we later learned we have a hole in our roof.
• The very next day my phone froze overnight and did not wake me for work on time.
• I learned recently that some of the schools in the district for which I work have decided to make the librarian position part time.  If you don't work this position, you do not understand why that is troublesome, so let me just bullet a bit about the job before I go any further.
• Librarians curate the collection.  Those books don't appear magically.  They are purchased after careful consideration by a trained professional who knows the patrons.  We don't just check out books!
• About half of the schools have a clerk to support a library.  About 99% of the time, said clerk cannot monitor students legally, so if a librarian is not in the building, teachers cannot send students to the library independently.
• The books age or get worn out and need to be mended or replaced.  Some books fall out of date and need to be removed from the collection for newer material on the subject.  Librarians are trained to do this.
• A library degree requires graduate level work.  Someone has to know how to catalog that collection so that patrons can find what they need!
• Librarians are also the resource teacher for research and literacy and often for technology.  
• The contractor refinishing the floors in my dad's house has left a mess; an unprofessional and unacceptable job. He's been working on this eight weeks. We've had to hire a new contractor to fix the work, and we will have to redo the paint that was new, clean up polyurethane off of brand new kitchen flooring, etc.  Oh and I will have to extend the expiration on the probate again.
• I was surprised Thursday by a sickout which means so many teachers in my district called in sick that it was unsafe to have school.  Life was kind of hitting on all fronts, so I missed that a bill was being taken to committee that directly impacts my pension. Thus the sickout so that teachers could converge on the capitol and speak to their representatives. So there was that too.  I spent hours researching that situation trying to decide where my position on this is.
• I've spent the last month struggling to overcome a cold and planter fasciitis.  That's my own fault.  I did 28 Jazzercise classes in 26 days because I am all about a challenge, and Andy keeps telling me that I would get better if I would just rest.
• There was stuff with Andy's job too.
• There was also an accident involving one of the kids - a minor irritation and set back, but it revealed a bigger issue that needed to be addressed.  

So as the hits kept coming, and I didn't even include the little everyday stuff like prescription refills requiring appointments and multiple trips to the pharmacy and financial gymnastics working through some bills that are not of the norm, this verse came to mind:

We are hard pressed on every side but not crushed, perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. 2 Corinthians 4:8 (NIV)

and so did this one...The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.  Exodus 14:14 (NIV)

Then I went to church tonight where we are finishing up a sermon series and where the two verses noted were highlighted.  Sometimes when you think you are just consoling yourself, and that is not of God, He just drops the same verses into a sermon to remind you that He sees you.

We are finishing up a sermon series. This sermon series is based on a newly released book - Don't Give Up by Kyle Idleman  We own the book, but I have much reading to do to keep up with two Bible studies right now, so Andy gets first dibs.  If you need to be encouraged, check it out.  You might also be encouraged by his new podcast series One at a Time linked here https://toppodcast.com/podcast_feeds/one-at-a-time-with-kyle-idleman-kyle-idleman/

As for me that sickout on Thursday was very helpful.  I had been looking for a day/way that I could just take a break from work, and there was just too much going on at school to make it happen.  I realized as I rested that day that I really needed it.  All those problems coming from every direction can seem like mountains, but God holds my future.

Winter Ball 2019

Before the Arctic freeze pummeled much of the nation, Julia attended her first high school Winter Ball. The theme was masquerade, but she insisted that her friends were not taking masks - freshmen! 

The Winter Ball is a senior class fundraiser, and all students are allowed to attend.  It's actually a dance where they are allowed to bring outside guests, unlike homecoming.  Wyatt, in case you are wondering, has either no interest or refuses to attend because his friends have no interest.  A funny side note on that - we left the house that night without the boutonniere.  We quickly realized our mistake, and Wyatt was surprised to see me walk back in the door so quickly.  I waved the boutonnière in his face as I raced out the door, and the look on his face said it all.  If I could read his mind, he was probably thinking - "This is quite a production, and I'm out!"  You see his aunt Tiffany had spent a good chunk of the afternoon working on Julia's hair.  There had been numerous shopping trips for the dress, shoes, makeup etc.  Julia had been fretting over her make-up that day. That reminds me of another story.  Julia never wears any make-up aside from mascara.  Her friends advised her on what make-up she needed for the dance, and a trip to Target ensued.  They had stuff on that list that I did not know existed. I regretted not just having her make-up done when that total hit $55 and later bemoaned the fact that it would have been cheaper to have it done to Andy.  His response: It's fine she will use it for dances for the next four years.  Ha!  I had to set him straight on the fact that make up does not keep for four years.

Anyway, I know you are ready for pictures, so I will continue sharing my story interspersed between them.

The first attempt for Julia's hair was an up-do that she didn't really like.  Tiffany ended up tearing that down and starting over.  Fortunately, Tiffany is talented and fast.

The Dress -I tried to get Julia to choose a dress months ago - right after homecoming when I fired myself from dress shopping with her I tried to get this dress purchased and ready.  Julia insisted that she would not choose a dress until she was sure she was attending the dance, and since her friend group had decided that they would not go without dates, she felt she should not go without one either.  So, less than two weeks before the dance she was asked to the dance.  YIKES!  This was made worse by the fact that her friends wanted to shop with her and could not do so until 10 days before the dance, and Julia refused to do any pre-shopping without them.  Um!  So I had dinner plans the day they could all shop.  I picked them up from school, and poor Wyatt had to ride home in the front seat (the one he refers to as the seat of death and refuses to ride in) while the rest of the van was filled with a chatty group of friends.  I dropped them off at the mall and dropped Wyatt off at home and proceeded to dinner where I received occasional texts with pictures of potential dresses.  In the end Julia's friends brought her what they believed to be an ugly dress.  It's so funny.  They even have video of her coming out of the dressing room so that they could all have a good laugh.  The video abruptly stops when the whole group realizes that they actually love the dress. Fortunately, the only alterations needed were a hem, and Julia felt the walking slit was too high.  I took the dress to a seamstress for the hem, and I looked up how to fix the slit and did that myself.  I also put a few stitches in the adjustable straps so that they would not slide. In the end that shopping trip with friends helped me tremendously, so from now on that's the way I plan to do this dress shopping stuff.

Julia's date -J was the perfect date for Julia.  They've been good friends for long enough that they are as comfortable as siblings with each other.  That made for much less nervousness and pressure.  They are both fun people, so it was great. They are both the stereotypical youngest in their families.  Need I say more? 

Friends since preschool--such great girls!

The pre-dance party - The kids (23 of them) all met at the home of one of their classmates where they were served dinner, and with the help of a neighbor (mom to another classmate) a picture backdrop had been built.  It was absolutely perfect!  No stressed wait staff waiting on kids who likely do not know how to tip and no delays because of restaurant issues, and finally much less expensive. I am so very grateful  to the N and M families for making this happen.

P and E pictured here with Julia have quite a history with her.  P was her teacher at church from 1st-5th grade.  E was her small group leader for all of middle school.  Julia just recently changed high school groups and is now back with this great couple. Once, at a middle school play, Julia's friends thought P was her dad, so now she calls them her parents and had to have a picture with them, and we will certainly treasure this.  I am so grateful she has them leading and guiding her.

She did get a picture with her real parents :)  I probably should have taken my coat off, but it was cold.

There are zero pictures from the dance because they were too busy dancing to take any.  I think you can say they had a great time.  They had a small after party at Waffle House where they got a kick out of their waitress, but she was actually quite rude.  Whatever. They had fun, and hopefully despite her attitude, they were good to her.

Going forward, there is a formal dress upstairs in a closet that is long enough for Julia, so if she decides to do last minute shopping for a formal event in the future, like it or not, she's covered.

It's beginning to look less like Christmas

I, for one, was disappointed last year when we saw that the calendar would push Christmas break right up to Christmas this year.  So much has to be prepared, and it's exhausting to do that while working and especially during Andy's busiest season. It's not like schools end on a calm note.  We have finals and activities as well.   I think the four weeks from Thanksgiving to Christmas break ended up being hardest on the students.  They were really losing it during that third week.  

However, on this side of it I am so grateful.  I have been able to relax without an immediate post-holiday return to work. It has allowed me the freedom to spend a bonus day with Savannah.  I may get to go shopping with one or both of my sisters on Saturday for fun which is something we haven't done in years.  It ended up being perfect timing for Wyatt's surgery and recovery.  

I am also taking my time removing the Christmas decorations.  I feel like I really got to enjoy them this year, and since I don't want to store decorations for other holidays, this is the one time of year when we have some extra-special decor happening in our house.  I am, however, excited to be adding additional pieces to our nativity next week, and we will leave it up until Easter.  I also purchased new, needed table linens for the dining room which I jazzed up with some silver ornaments for New Year's Eve.  I think I will leave them out for the month.  It's also been great that the temperatures have been unseasonably warm.  

I certainly understood the frustration with the schedule, but it has worked out well.  In fact, it is only different by one day in 2019, and I am a little hopeful that we can enjoy a small trip to celebrate the New Year this time next year.

Reflections on 2018 and aspirations for 2019

Happy  New Year!!!

New Year's looked very different this year.  Illness has struck our family from many angles, so our participation was down.  Zach was here for a bit, but he had to report to work at 10:00p.m.  Savannah returned to her apartment on Sunday because she had to close on New Year's Eve and open on New Year's Day at her job.  She alerted us Sunday night that she was sick.  She fought through a few hours of both her shifts for the holiday, going in late on New Year's Eve and leaving early New Year's Day.  Her hopes for fun with friends were dashed when she felt too crummy to join them.  Adulting sucks sometimes.  Lastly, Julia left town with a friend, so only Andy, Wyatt and I remained at home.

Tiffany, Paul, Austin, Jonathan, Regan, Ira, Isaac, Tessa, Kinsley, and Kallie joined us with everyone else resting off illness.  UGH! Without Joshua and his many games, we mostly had a house of screaming kids with some video game competition.  The adults mostly just chatted. I felt like a boring  host.  Andy prepared the traditional cornbread, black-eyed peas, and pork. In addition we added meatballs, cheese dip, and buffalo chicken dip. Because Wyatt is recovering from surgery (which went very well), those who were sick are being extra cautious to avoid exposing him.

Gaming

How I wish we had videoed Isaac's (age 5) many faces! You give him an emotion, and he gives you a face, and they are hysterical.  Somebody should get him into acting.

At some point the kids were drawing, and Wyatt drew these impressive eyes.

Altogether to send a New Year's pic to Savannah!  While the one below is a better pic of all their faces, I love this picture for the positioning of Regan (7) and Kallie (2).  

Isaac, Kinsley, Regan (8) holding Kallie, and Ira (6)

Some of the highlights:  Kinsley and Kallie are getting ready to start gymnastics, so Kinsley (age 5) showed us how she would learn to balance - super cute!

Reflections on 2018

This morning, after a lengthy workout, I pulled our cards out of our thanksgiving jar.  We clearly forgot the jar sometime around April, but what was in the jar did help me reflect on the year behind us.

Among the highs:

• I journeyed to Washington DC with Julia and a lot of other eighth graders.  I learned so much about the godly heritage of our nation.  I would love to do that again - maybe minus the 8th graders :)
• My second job helped take out the hit to our budget that a major tuition increase caused and allowed me to take that Washington DC trip.  I started last year very worried about that increase, and God provided and even allowed us to thrive.  I wish I could say that I am more confident in that this year, but I realized while reviewing the 2018 cards that we have a big bill coming in January that I had forgotten and for which I am not prepared, so a little anxiety slipped in today, but God's got this!  
• We celebrated our silver anniversary with a wonderful dinner at a once in a lifetime (or every twenty-five years) restaurant that serves fresh food grown locally.  My sweet mother-in-law gifted us with a beautiful, engraved silver tray to commemorate the occasion, and I have a place to display it thanks to my inheritance of my parents' China hutch.
• Wyatt successfully underwent two surgeries and has been a trooper for both.
• Savannah thrived in architecture and loved serving the inner city with Love Thy Neighborhood.
• Zach enjoyed the Sahara challenge and loves helping a local refugee family adapt to the US.
• Julia loves high school, and while we are sad that swim meets and cheerleading are behind us, she seems to really like playing soccer.
• Wyatt made it into the Beta Club and turned sixteen.  His love for God's word is insatiable.
• I really enjoyed learning under Jen Wilkin's teaching. I am loving the OT studies of Samuel and Genesis
• Andy led our weekend group through a really challenging year.
• Andy has many more opportunities to pursue his passion for percussion, leading worship a couple of weekends a month.

Aspirations for 2019

More Jen Wilkin studies please!

I am returning to my gratitude journal - 1000 things for which I am thankful in 2019, counting them by threes daily.

Scenes of Christmas

The 23rd.

The school schedule this year was challenging.  With four weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break, the stretch was long.  It left barely a weekend to prep for Christmas, and that last two weeks of school, the kids were off the chain.  At my school the staff was feeling the strain with four staff members either visiting the ER or being admitted to the hospital in the last two weeks - all varying reasons, but whew!  We drug ourselves to Christmas break ready to crash.

Surprisingly, I was pretty ready for Christmas.  Andy spent the weekend playing Cajon at church, and by Sunday night we were ready to enjoy a treat.  We visited one of those drive through light shows.  I've never done that before and hope to make that something we revisit every other year or so.

Three of my kiddos are under that ornament which I just loved.  I just needed to pull them closer to the front for a better pic.

Christmas Eve

Per tradition we gathered with my side of the family.  Last year we thought we were having our last Christmas in my parents' home, but turns out we got one more.  The updates took a while, but the house is going on the market in mid January, so this was likely our last.  We did a throwback tradition and ordered pizza for the night.  Our participants were many: Andy, Zach, Savannah, Wyatt, Julia, Tiffany, Austin, Logan, Jonathan, Danielle, Regan, Ira, Isaac, John, Tessa, Kinsley, Kallie, Joshua and me.  18!  Per tradition the adults drew names for a gift exchange, and we all spoiled the children.

It's time to open gifts!

Sisters!

Somebody got a game he wanted!

Kallie with the one and only thing she asks for - a Jack-Jack stuffy

The little girl cousins

After all the eats and gifts, there were the games.

The youngest generation - 11 strong!!

The big cousins are so good with the little cousins

I think everyone had a good time.  Regan was sick, so it was a rough night for her.  Her brothers had been sick, so we tried to protect Wyatt, Andy and me from the germs as Wyatt has a surgery this week. However, I can't help myself when a little one needs comfort.  I was the closest adult when Regan got hit in the eye with a toy, and I comforted her.  

I left very happy with my gifts from the exchange - funny story on that.  Jonathan had my name, and on Cyber Monday, I sent him and Andy a picture of a shopping cart with a crazy good deal on some clothes I wanted.  Andy responded asking which two items I wanted because there was an add running down the side of the page....um, the ones in the cart.  Savannah and I chuckled about that, and you never really know when Andy is kidding.  Danielle took care of me on that one.  I scored with Tessa.  Andy had her name, and she wanted a cologne that was outside the price limit for the exchange...or so she thought.  I worked a great sale and wrapped it creatively to her utter surprise.  It was awesome!

So happy to have them all together

We ended the night with the 11:00 Christmas Eve service.  Even though we had already attended the service on Sunday, it was important to Julia to make the 11:00 service.  It was a nice way to end the night. We had attended a service at another campus where Andy was playing, so it was nice to attend with him.

Christmas Day

I wanted a pic or two before the unwrapping.

This is how Santa visits.  One gift per child and a stuffed stocking.  The gift is always wrapped in Santa paper.

I tried to capture her surprise at the one gift that surprised her.  Julia is so nosy.  She knew every gift this year. She watched Zach go buy a gift when we were supposed to be looking for another store at the outlet mall.  She correctly guessed a gift wrapped under the tree.  She ran around the the van to see what I purchased after she tracked me at the mall.  Andy pulled off one big surprise for her.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be the only gift she received requiring an exchange.

I had the best of intentions to make kissing Santa ornaments for all the little kids in my life.  I failed, but Wyatt got a kick out of one of the two I actually made because the Santa looks Asian.  Wyatt claimed that one.

Someone was salty Christmas morning.  UGH! 

Wyatt chose to donate his entire Christmas to the homeless. He was tired from staying up too late, and even though we did not open gifts until after 9:30a.m., he was in a mood.

Jean and Joshua joined us for Christmas day dinner followed by games.  It's the one day of the year when we sometimes spurge on prime rib.  Andy did an amazing job preparing it.  I don't love prime rib, but I may be a convert after this year.

We wanted Christmas day and the following week to just be a calm time together, so we opted to start a puzzle. 1500 pieces, and it was finished in less than 24 hours mostly because Jean and Savannah were killing it!

I think everyone here had a wonderful Christmas.  I know I did!  I felt spoiled and loved.  The marathon to Christmas left me drained, and today (the 26th), I got one of my Christmas wishes - a quiet day to nap when I felt like it with very few obligations.  

For more than 20 days during the Christmas season, I posted pictures of our Christmas ornaments with their history on Instagram.  I finished those posts with our star, tree topper on Christmas Day.  Savannah helped me with the picture by providing a photoshop background, and this is probably the only picture from those posts that I will keep.  

So thankful for Jesus who put on skin and blood to dwell among us.  The takeaway from this year's Christmas Eve service - the early church chose December 25th to celebrate the birth of Christ because it falls during the winter solstice on the coldest and darkest day of the year.  While we don't really know the correct date, isn't that just like God to send the Light of the World on the coldest and darkest day? - certainly an appropriate day to celebrate.

Happy Birthday

Wyatt turned sixteen on the day before his two toughest finals. We celebrated with family the Saturday before.  He didn't want a friend celebration, but we agreed to a movie with friends for a release they want to see in January.

Because of the finals, then Christmas and a surgery scheduled two days after Christmas, Wyatt opted to forgo prepping for his learner's permit test until after the new year.  Hopefully, some time in January, we will begin training a new driver.

I posted a sign on campus to celebrate his day, and Andy presented him with a knife we picked up in China and went through the story of Gideon to encourage Wyatt.  His only gift request was a Nintendo Switch game and socks.