I Guess This IS Normal

So much for the night at home being referred to as normal. It seems that a night home is ABNORMAL and will remain that way for a while.

Hope surprised us with a visit last night. She recently gave Jade and Jenna some books with their names embedded in the story. They are so neat. Jenna has had several from Hope and Derrick over the years and she still reads them.

  

Jeff was gone for work until very late last night. (In fact, he pulled a 21 hour day!) So, Jenna, Jade, and I went to bed VERY early. (like 7:30 early) I enjoyed that so much!!!

Then, today came and the busy- ness came with it.

I had to come home during planning today because I forgot my phone and my lunch. (Not sure which was more important!)

After school Jenna had book club followed by cheerleading, followed by basketball evaluations. Fortunately Julie volunteered to drive to cheerleading for me because I needed to be at the Teacher of the Year reception.

Boy am I glad I went to that! For the second year in a row a friend of mine won TOTY for the county. Last year it was Wendy (Augusts' mom) and this year it is Bill Rakosnik. I am SO very happy for him He totally deserves this award.

He cried through his acceptance speech and had everyone in the room misty eyed, as well.

I would put his picture on my blog, but you see, Bill is my techie friend and I would have to ask him how to do that. (actually I know how, but it made for a good story anyway.)

If you can’t be TOTY, at least be a friend of the TOTY and even more points if he mentions you in his acceptance speech. (which he did)

Congrats Bill! You deserve this recognition. (See, told you I knew how to snag his pic and put it on my blog. Even did it without Bill’s help!)

After TOTY I ran home to change Jade, who had wet through her clothes and on to mine- LOVELY! Jeff was home and we went back to town together to meet Jenna for basketball evaluations.

She will play basketball at the Baptist church where Jade goes to daycare. It’s an Upward league and I highly recommend this league. Jenna played last winter, too. She enjoys it and it’s good for her lungs to keep active.

Speaking of her lungs- thanks to all of you who have been praying for her. She is worlds better. Her constant cough is pretty much gone and she says she feels better. She is on a daily medicine regimen, but we have been able to stop the “rescue” treatments for that cough. We are actually down to one pill and one nasal spray. We may have to go back on a daily inhaler, but I’m praying not. So far, so good.

 

WE got home finally around 8pm. Baths, homework, and bed. It’s our new normal. I need to adjust.

In GOOD news, Jeff’s dad got his medical reports back today and he is cancer free! Thank God!!! They are still a bit unsure as to what is covering his lungs, but it appears to be getting better and is not cancer. We had been getting reports previously that looked very scary and looked like cancer would be the diagnosis. You notice that I did not ever mention that in the blog. It wasn’t worth my lip service or my typing.

And lastly, to follow up on my Veteran’s Day challenge to my students: Almost every student made contact with at least one veteran. By the end of the day the few that did not were wishing that they had called someone. It seems that around 65-70 veterans were contacted via my class alone. I got the idea to call someone from church and decided to challenge the students to do the same.

They really enjoyed telling me and the class about their calls. They admitted that it was awkward, but the rewards made it so worth it. They had stories of tears, appreciation, surprise, and any # of emotions. One student and her mother stopped a stranger to thank him after noticing his Purple Heart license tag.

I called Daddy Mac to thank him. I could tell he was caught off guard when I called and he made some remark like, “bout time somebody said thanks.” (If you know him, this is no surprise.) BUT, yesterday afternoon, after he had all day to ponder my call, he came to my house, patted me on the knee, and sincerely thanked me for doing that. He said he had been thanked at church and in other public, group meetings, but never been thanked personally. That’s sad- he’s been a veteran for 67 years and this was his first. If I have anything to do with it, it won’t be his last time being thanked!

I challenge you to do something for a Veteran next Veteran’s Day (or any day for that matter). Doing something for a group is nice, but making it personal for one veteran is special and a nice surprise for the men and women who keep us safe.

I will step down from my soap box now.