As most of you know I am not one that is usually at a loss for words. This afternoon I felt my throat beginning to tighten up and my nose start to itch and run and I am slowly losing my voice. There will be some pretty happy 1st graders tomorrow if their teacher doesn't have a voice. I know Sam has expressed his delight that I won't be able to "yell at him" as much. I follow a few other blogs and stole the idea of doing a "Quick 5".
1. Tonight I loved listening to Paul and Becca read her story, "Silverlicious". She is quite the little reader and Paul doesn't mind reading books with her about princesses and all things pink. She is such a daddy's girl. She is reading at a pretty high level for a Kindergartner. Last year I posted a video clip on facebook of her reading, it just happened to be the night before her Grandma Phyllis passed away. Phyllis loved to read and loved reading to her grandchildren and students. I believe Becca took her grandma's place as a reader in this world.
2. We had parent teacher conferences last week and we got to see Sam's Dakota Step Scores. Not to brag or anything but it was great to see on paper what we have known all along. Our son is very bright and must be a good test taker. His teacher expressed interest in having him on the Math Olympic problem solving team. At this point his future plans are to be 1. a WWE wrestler. 2. a Pro-football player. 3. an engineer. I'm kind of hoping the first two don't work out for him, I can't wait to see what he is going to design and the ideas he will share with the world.
3. I am feeling the crunch of October 1st and only having 3 months left to complete some items on my 2012 MUST DO list. I am going to my first Zumba class tomorrow and I have also made contact with someone to take our family pictures this month. Now if I could just force myself to eat more fruit and vegetables...
4. I thoroughly enjoyed walking a 10K this past weekend. The fall colors were beautiful, the company was great (Raquel-the counselor at my school and I talked the whole entire time) and my blisters are healing nicely. I have a great respect for those of you who are runners...I don't get the adrenaline high from it that all of you claim you do. We jogged around the corner until we were out of sight of the starting line and jogged our way back around the corner at the end to the finish line. I think I heard the time keeper say something about 2 hours, some seconds...didn't go back and check...didn't want to know. Just happy that I am healthy and alive that I was able to go out and enjoy the morning and all of God's beauty.
5. This past week I booked our airline tickets and rooms for our 5 days in Anaheim. NSU bball is playing in the Disney Tip-Off and we are thrilled to be going along. The best part was when the travel agent asked for payment I proudly gave her my debit card number. She expressed concern that I may have a daily limit and did I want to use a credit card instead? I told her I didn't use a credit card. I have honestly wanted to frame each statement that arrived these past few months with a ZERO balance on them. I am thankful that a few years ago my sister Sara passed on the Dave Ramsey CD's to me which her in-laws had given to her and Mark. It literally changed my life and the way we use our money. It lead us to sell our too big house and make some changes and then our Spearfish house sold (which I believe was God's way of blessing us for putting faith in Him and taking control of what we could with our finances). I am going to enjoy my kids and our time at Disney with the basketball team...especially since I won't be paying for it for months afterward.
So much for the "Quick 5". If I do lose my voice everyone around me will probably be happy to have a break from my constant talking....I can't even do a quick blog!
Bloom wherever God has planted you...
Monday, October 1, 2012
Monday, September 3, 2012
As the World Turns
Well Labor Day weekend has come and gone. This time of year always brings with it changes...seasonal, social, sleep patterns (adjusting to less it seems) and in the world of college athletics...goodbyes. I know some of you are also part of this crazy profession...and many aren't but there are goodbyes in your careers also, so I am sure most of you can relate. These kinds of goodbyes aren't permanent...but they are what I like to call "bittersweet".
In the 13 years that I have been married to Coach I have said my fair share of goodbyes. In college athletics opportunities come along (if you play your cards right) and if you don't seize it, it may not come again. So if you are like my family, you live by the motto, "You never know!" Meaning we don't know if we'll stay in one place for 9 months, 5 years, 20 years. You just have to be ready to adapt and thrive in your new surroundings. I will say that we have never regretted any of our moves, they have all taught us something and brought into our lives amazing people. The tough part is when you have to leave those amazing people, or as I experienced this past week, they leave you.
Up until now, I have mostly been on the leaving side and I much prefer that to the one being left. The ones left behind are given the task of filling the gaps while the one who left is off on new adventures...the "sweet" part of "bittersweet" as I like to call it. This past week my friend, boss and fellow coaches wife left Aberdeen...off to new adventures in Jamestown. This little firecracker taught me so much in two years it is going to be tough to fill the gaps she's left in my life. From her I learned to go after things, to be confident in who you are and what you bring to the party, to yell constructive comments at referees, to speak your mind and to do it all with grace and faith in God. She took with her an amazing guy who loved my children and was a hard-working and loyal assistant to my husband, taking some of the burden off of him and doing it all while bringing laughter into the office and our lives. To top it off, she took her darling baby boy who filled our lives with so much joy. I miss his smiling eyes! The good news is, they are just up North and forever a part of our coaching family and I am still surrounded by amazing women here at NSU. Together we help each other through the seasons and have a little fun in the meantime. In this life I have learned change is inevitable, you have to "bloom where you are planted" and lovingly accept the blessings that God gives you.
In the 13 years that I have been married to Coach I have said my fair share of goodbyes. In college athletics opportunities come along (if you play your cards right) and if you don't seize it, it may not come again. So if you are like my family, you live by the motto, "You never know!" Meaning we don't know if we'll stay in one place for 9 months, 5 years, 20 years. You just have to be ready to adapt and thrive in your new surroundings. I will say that we have never regretted any of our moves, they have all taught us something and brought into our lives amazing people. The tough part is when you have to leave those amazing people, or as I experienced this past week, they leave you.
Up until now, I have mostly been on the leaving side and I much prefer that to the one being left. The ones left behind are given the task of filling the gaps while the one who left is off on new adventures...the "sweet" part of "bittersweet" as I like to call it. This past week my friend, boss and fellow coaches wife left Aberdeen...off to new adventures in Jamestown. This little firecracker taught me so much in two years it is going to be tough to fill the gaps she's left in my life. From her I learned to go after things, to be confident in who you are and what you bring to the party, to yell constructive comments at referees, to speak your mind and to do it all with grace and faith in God. She took with her an amazing guy who loved my children and was a hard-working and loyal assistant to my husband, taking some of the burden off of him and doing it all while bringing laughter into the office and our lives. To top it off, she took her darling baby boy who filled our lives with so much joy. I miss his smiling eyes! The good news is, they are just up North and forever a part of our coaching family and I am still surrounded by amazing women here at NSU. Together we help each other through the seasons and have a little fun in the meantime. In this life I have learned change is inevitable, you have to "bloom where you are planted" and lovingly accept the blessings that God gives you.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Heart wrenching....
There are moments in life that you hope you never have to experience and today was one of those. In my last post, I referred to Paul's friend who was in a car accident. Today, we went to Sioux Falls to visit him. He has a long recovery road ahead of him. His family is amazed at how much better he is doing given his condition on Saturday night after the accident. While Paul was in visiting him, I was with his wife, whom I have never officially met before today, but in the coaching world you feel that the coaches your husband spends countless hours/days with are a part of your family. She is an incredibly strong woman who has been living a parent's worst nightmare...losing her child. Their son was 5 months old and in the backseat in his car seat when a man who was driving with a blood alcohol level over 4x the legal limit hit their vehicle head on. She remembers everything and recounted the heart wrenching details while we stood in that hospital hallway. I believe there are times in life when you just need to be present and listen and cry with someone. There were no words, except to share God's promise of mercy to endure and in the hope of eternal life. They are a family of faith and it was evident that God's angels were with them on that Minnesota highway on Saturday night. There are details of the accident that cannot be explained away as coincidence. I believe God's angels protected them and took that baby home to heaven. I ask all of you to please join us in praying for this family as they go through laying their son to rest and begin to heal. I also ask that you pray for the man who caused this senseless tragedy. He will have to live with what he has done for the rest of his life and he too has a family that I imagine is grieving, even though he did not suffer injuries, they are suffering because of the part he played in this.
Monday, July 30, 2012
Perspective
This word "perspective" kept going through my mind yesterday. The kids and I had spent a week in Nebraska with my family and after traveling the first 2 1/2 hours with Sara and her kids, I had 6 hours of driving time to think. My kids travel so good that honestly, most of the time I don't know they are back there...and the word "perspective" kept going through my mind.
I was able to take my kids back to a lot of the places that I experienced as a child. I took them on a ranger ride through the tree claim that was my playground of my childhood. It was so overgrown and seemed so much smaller (and closer to my house) than I remembered. The kids couldn't believe that Nanny let me go up there by myself...I told them I spent hours in those trees with my siblings and friends and yes, we were naughty and yes, we got in fights, and yes, we figured it out on our own, because it was a long way to walk home and tattle to mom...and if we did, she'd probably find a chore for us to do and we'd miss out on all the fun! Then I took the kids to the city pool. What seemed like this huge place when I was little seemed so small. It has changed very little in the last 30 years. The high dive, and blue and yellow slide are gone, but they still rent out a big ole inner tube and call your name an hour later when your time is up and Mr. Bill still sells candy and snow cones out of his van. We also spent 3 nights at the Red Willow County Fair. This too had changed very little and I was instantly taken back to my childhood. For the most part, the rides hadn't changed and the cheeseburger and pie ala mode from the Catholic Food Booth still tasted as great as I remember. What had changed was I was now the one handing out the money...man, the fair is expensive! I don't know how my parents survived all those years with the five of us! This week at home allowed me to step back and see that when looked through with adult eyes, the perspective changes. I am glad my children were able to experience some of the things of my childhood. I wonder how they will remember it years later?
This was part of what kept going through my mind on that long drive yesterday, but there were bigger things weighing on my heart and it had to do with "perspective". Early Sunday morning, Paul and I received news that a friend of his was involved in a car accident and his 5 month old son was killed. It was a senseless car crash where it appears a drunk driver crossed the center line and caused the accident. Our family had been apart for the last 7 days and 500 miles separated us and I wanted nothing more for us to be together and for all of us to arrive safely. Any little things that were bothering me and that endless list that I had in my mind meant nothing. Someone woke up that morning without their baby boy and that forced me to stop and evaluate what is really important in life. Faith. Family. Friends. The rest is just the small stuff and when put into "perspective" it is what it is and it doesn't really matter.
I was able to take my kids back to a lot of the places that I experienced as a child. I took them on a ranger ride through the tree claim that was my playground of my childhood. It was so overgrown and seemed so much smaller (and closer to my house) than I remembered. The kids couldn't believe that Nanny let me go up there by myself...I told them I spent hours in those trees with my siblings and friends and yes, we were naughty and yes, we got in fights, and yes, we figured it out on our own, because it was a long way to walk home and tattle to mom...and if we did, she'd probably find a chore for us to do and we'd miss out on all the fun! Then I took the kids to the city pool. What seemed like this huge place when I was little seemed so small. It has changed very little in the last 30 years. The high dive, and blue and yellow slide are gone, but they still rent out a big ole inner tube and call your name an hour later when your time is up and Mr. Bill still sells candy and snow cones out of his van. We also spent 3 nights at the Red Willow County Fair. This too had changed very little and I was instantly taken back to my childhood. For the most part, the rides hadn't changed and the cheeseburger and pie ala mode from the Catholic Food Booth still tasted as great as I remember. What had changed was I was now the one handing out the money...man, the fair is expensive! I don't know how my parents survived all those years with the five of us! This week at home allowed me to step back and see that when looked through with adult eyes, the perspective changes. I am glad my children were able to experience some of the things of my childhood. I wonder how they will remember it years later?
This was part of what kept going through my mind on that long drive yesterday, but there were bigger things weighing on my heart and it had to do with "perspective". Early Sunday morning, Paul and I received news that a friend of his was involved in a car accident and his 5 month old son was killed. It was a senseless car crash where it appears a drunk driver crossed the center line and caused the accident. Our family had been apart for the last 7 days and 500 miles separated us and I wanted nothing more for us to be together and for all of us to arrive safely. Any little things that were bothering me and that endless list that I had in my mind meant nothing. Someone woke up that morning without their baby boy and that forced me to stop and evaluate what is really important in life. Faith. Family. Friends. The rest is just the small stuff and when put into "perspective" it is what it is and it doesn't really matter.
Friday, July 6, 2012
Moving on...
I grew up on a farm in SW Nebraska in the same house my dad had lived in since he was about 4. My parents lived there for 43 years together, raising my brothers and sisters and I. Just last summer, they sold the house to my oldest brother and moved 5 miles into town. Moving around was not in their blood, obviously...how it got into mine, I'm not really sure, but I think it had something to do with a guy from Minnesota, with brown eyes and who still makes my heart skip a beat when he walks into a room.
When I was 20, I left home for college and a few years later, met the brown-eyed boy. Within a year we were engaged and 4 months later...married. That was almost 13 years ago...and six houses ago...soon to be seven. I guess you could say moving is in my blood! My girlfriend Sarah calls me a gypsy and she may be right!
Home #1 When Paul (he's the brown-eyed boy) and I got married we rented a cute little apartment in Aberdeen. We thought we hit a gold mine and signed the lease on the hood of our landlord's black jaguar. I mean after all, it had a washer and a dryer and a big storage closet under the steps. We lived there for 9 months...oops, so much for the 12 month lease!
Home #2 We decided we'd better buy a house...I only remember walking through one...and then Paul went and looked at one by himself and just knew I'd love it...so off we went to a darling story-and-a-half. It had CHARACTER! I loved it immediately. There was a fireplace with built in shelves on one side, a tiny kitchen with a booth, original wood trim, and the top floor was a big master bedroom with a huge closet and bathroom. (Never mind the windows that leaked and caused our heating bill to exceed $400 one winter, the steep steps to the upstairs, the busy street...) It was our first home and we loved it. For the first time we experimented with decorating, painting, lawn care and entertaining. When I think of that house I think of some of our saddest days (I associate our darkest days of infertility with that house) and some of our happiest days...we brought our son, Sam home to that house and our dog Jackson entertained all of the neighborhood in his little backyard that looked more like a war zone since he dug holes everywhere! It was our happy little home for 3 1/2 years. Having a baby changes everything....Once Sam came into our life, everything changed and one day while rocking him, I called Paul at work and told him there was no one in Aberdeen qualified or available to take care of our baby (I had called one lady, after all and she didn't have any openings) so I took a leave of absence from teaching and decided I would do in-home daycare...and this house, as much as we loved it wouldn't work for that. The for-sale sign was in the yard for 6 months...and finally an offer came (potential buyers must not have liked the busy street, the leaky windows, steep steps nd and the war zone backyard?)
Home #3 We bought a home on the opposite side of campus that was stuck in the 1960's...but had a great floor plan. We worked our butts off on that house and thanks to some very generous friends we re-did every wallpapered wall and ripped up some lovely shag carpet...and called it home for 9 months. When an opportunity comes, you take it...
Home #4 We moved our little family of 4 (Jackson was thoroughly confused by this time...) to Broomfield, CO to a home Paul picked out while Sam and I were busy selling and packing things in Aberdeen. The day we closed on the house, was the first time I stepped foot in it! The cost of living in CO was a little staggering and we often joked that a quarter of a million dollars should go further than it did...but we had a newer home in a nice neighborhood with a great layout. Sam went from toddling baby to jabbering toddler in that house. I experienced being a stay-at-home-mom and Paul drove toward the Rocky Mountains each day to work. Until another opportunity presented itself...9 months later...I kid you not, I had JUST unpacked the china!!!
Home #5 Our Realtor in Spearfish kept trying to take us through these huge houses..and I kept telling him, "NOPE, not in the budget..." He obviously didn't know that we skipped the real estate class that says if you are going to buy a house, you should live there for a few years to build up some equity. AND....he wasn't married to the brown-eyed boy who was chasing his coaching dream....and the girl who only wanted to be a mommy and who when finally became one, gave up her career to love on him full time! So we bought what our money could buy us...a quaint ranch house with a great front porch and a big backyard for the baby who had changed everything and the dog who thankfully had outgrown digging holes. Who knew this would be where we would live the longest??? In this home we became a family of 5. Miss Becca came into our lives and filled it with joy, laughter and pink, pink and more pink! We learned while living there that love does grow best in little houses, you don't need a big space to have big parties and steep driveways are a pain in the ass when you get 3 feet of snow! Live and learn...after 5 years we were moving on..and across the state..
Home #6 We were ready to spread out and we found a house that had a TON of space and a HUGE yard and decided we "needed" it. The house had everything that we would ever need and we would never need to move from it. There was enough space to host holidays with the basketball team and all our family could come stay with us and we would have plenty of room to accommodate them all. And although our learning curve is a little slow in the real estate department, we bought at the right time...and then knew when to sell at the right time also...and made the best decision for our family and SOLD it. We move in less than a month and yes..I will be packing the china again! By choice. Moving must be in my blood.
When I was 20, I left home for college and a few years later, met the brown-eyed boy. Within a year we were engaged and 4 months later...married. That was almost 13 years ago...and six houses ago...soon to be seven. I guess you could say moving is in my blood! My girlfriend Sarah calls me a gypsy and she may be right!
Home #1 When Paul (he's the brown-eyed boy) and I got married we rented a cute little apartment in Aberdeen. We thought we hit a gold mine and signed the lease on the hood of our landlord's black jaguar. I mean after all, it had a washer and a dryer and a big storage closet under the steps. We lived there for 9 months...oops, so much for the 12 month lease!
Home #2 We decided we'd better buy a house...I only remember walking through one...and then Paul went and looked at one by himself and just knew I'd love it...so off we went to a darling story-and-a-half. It had CHARACTER! I loved it immediately. There was a fireplace with built in shelves on one side, a tiny kitchen with a booth, original wood trim, and the top floor was a big master bedroom with a huge closet and bathroom. (Never mind the windows that leaked and caused our heating bill to exceed $400 one winter, the steep steps to the upstairs, the busy street...) It was our first home and we loved it. For the first time we experimented with decorating, painting, lawn care and entertaining. When I think of that house I think of some of our saddest days (I associate our darkest days of infertility with that house) and some of our happiest days...we brought our son, Sam home to that house and our dog Jackson entertained all of the neighborhood in his little backyard that looked more like a war zone since he dug holes everywhere! It was our happy little home for 3 1/2 years. Having a baby changes everything....Once Sam came into our life, everything changed and one day while rocking him, I called Paul at work and told him there was no one in Aberdeen qualified or available to take care of our baby (I had called one lady, after all and she didn't have any openings) so I took a leave of absence from teaching and decided I would do in-home daycare...and this house, as much as we loved it wouldn't work for that. The for-sale sign was in the yard for 6 months...and finally an offer came (potential buyers must not have liked the busy street, the leaky windows, steep steps nd and the war zone backyard?)
Home #3 We bought a home on the opposite side of campus that was stuck in the 1960's...but had a great floor plan. We worked our butts off on that house and thanks to some very generous friends we re-did every wallpapered wall and ripped up some lovely shag carpet...and called it home for 9 months. When an opportunity comes, you take it...
Home #4 We moved our little family of 4 (Jackson was thoroughly confused by this time...) to Broomfield, CO to a home Paul picked out while Sam and I were busy selling and packing things in Aberdeen. The day we closed on the house, was the first time I stepped foot in it! The cost of living in CO was a little staggering and we often joked that a quarter of a million dollars should go further than it did...but we had a newer home in a nice neighborhood with a great layout. Sam went from toddling baby to jabbering toddler in that house. I experienced being a stay-at-home-mom and Paul drove toward the Rocky Mountains each day to work. Until another opportunity presented itself...9 months later...I kid you not, I had JUST unpacked the china!!!
Home #5 Our Realtor in Spearfish kept trying to take us through these huge houses..and I kept telling him, "NOPE, not in the budget..." He obviously didn't know that we skipped the real estate class that says if you are going to buy a house, you should live there for a few years to build up some equity. AND....he wasn't married to the brown-eyed boy who was chasing his coaching dream....and the girl who only wanted to be a mommy and who when finally became one, gave up her career to love on him full time! So we bought what our money could buy us...a quaint ranch house with a great front porch and a big backyard for the baby who had changed everything and the dog who thankfully had outgrown digging holes. Who knew this would be where we would live the longest??? In this home we became a family of 5. Miss Becca came into our lives and filled it with joy, laughter and pink, pink and more pink! We learned while living there that love does grow best in little houses, you don't need a big space to have big parties and steep driveways are a pain in the ass when you get 3 feet of snow! Live and learn...after 5 years we were moving on..and across the state..
Home #6 We were ready to spread out and we found a house that had a TON of space and a HUGE yard and decided we "needed" it. The house had everything that we would ever need and we would never need to move from it. There was enough space to host holidays with the basketball team and all our family could come stay with us and we would have plenty of room to accommodate them all. And although our learning curve is a little slow in the real estate department, we bought at the right time...and then knew when to sell at the right time also...and made the best decision for our family and SOLD it. We move in less than a month and yes..I will be packing the china again! By choice. Moving must be in my blood.
Everyone is doing it....
Lots of my friends have blogs, I follow them and enjoy reading them. I laugh at the antics shared by my friends and my sister as they document their life. I follow blogs about education and steal their ideas to use in my classroom. It's all fun...and then I signed up for a class and I had to make my own blog. So I sat here and tried to come up with a name for it...man, that is hard! Even more difficult...what to write about? In an effort not to bore you, I will try and be real...I've been told I am a "tell-it-like-it-is" kind of girl. Happy reading!
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