Music

This song has been really touching me lately...It's called "Sweetly Broken" by Jeremy Riddle



and this one...."Amazing Grace" by Chris Tomlin

It's done. Over. Finished

This school year has finally ended. It was over at 1:30 today.

The desks are cleaned.
Bags packed.
Chairs stacked.
Scores reported.
and hot dogs consumed.

I wished them all well and gave some advice from my arsenol of wisdom about choosing friends, learning life-lessons, and navigating the confusing maze known as middle school. I hope the best for each one of them and I did, indeed, shed my tears as they left elementary school as elementary students for the last time today.

Closing another school year is always so bittersweet for me.

Random Thoughts

I feel completely overwhelmed and completely random at the same time. Why? Because school gets out in 2 1/2 days (That's school days ya'll, not real days). Next wednesday our school releases at 1:30 for summer break. Like I said last year, it's somewhat bittersweet. I want so much for my students and pray that life treats them well. They will move on to middle school and I will move on to another expecting group of 10 and 11 year olds. I have a list 2, 354 miles long of things to get done, but most of it has to wait until 11 year old bodies have vacated the premises.

What am I doing with my summer? Well...we are growing a garden again this year at ma and pa's and then I plan to putter. Yes, I said putter around my home. I plan to watch my favorite TV shows, I plan to water and mow the lawn when needed. I hope to babysit my beautiful niece as much as her mom and dad want me to. Other than that...I plan to rest. Recover really.

We are MORE than ready to plant the garden this year, but mother nature does not want to cooperate with us. We had a frost just this last week. I am still scared to place young plants into the earth because I don't want them to freeze. I have enough trouble keeping plants alive without frost taking them before I have a chance to mess 'em up.

What are your summer plans?

Adoption Update - 2

I just wanted to update you all to where we are in our process to, hopefully, becoming parents. We have now officially finished the paperwork and have entered the waiting pool. What that means is that our profile is being shown to prospective birth parents with the hopes that someone will select us. We have no idea when, or if, we will be blessed with a child but it is a relief to know that we have been approved by the agency and are now waiting to be selected. Keep praying for us and we are so honored to be sharing our excitement at making it this far!

FWD: Just for Fun!

Eileen posted thoughts about different humor and shared an email exchange on her blog and it got me to thinkin' about this funny email I got yesterday from a co-worker. So, I decided to share it here with you. I do not know from whence this originated...so...I am sorry to say that I cannot site my references in APA format. (For all you graduate school geeks out there that can relate to that comment!) Anyway, here's the email...Enjoy!

____________________________________

Dear Tech Support,
Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the flower and jewelry applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs, such as Romance 9.5 and Personal Attention 6.5 and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs, and Housecleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. I've tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix these problems, but to no avail. What can I do?
Signed,
Desperate


DEAR DESPERATE,
First keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 is an Operating System. Please enter command: ithoughtyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and don't forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If that application works as designed, Husband 1.0 should then automatically run the applications Jewelry 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. But remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband 1.0 to default to Grumpy Silence 2.5, Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that Beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the Snoring Loudly Beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (it runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize control of all your system resources.) Also do not attempt to reinstall Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0. In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Hot Lingerie7.7.
Good Luck,
Tech Support

Meme

Beth and Amy both posted a Meme today...so...I decided to join in because it looked fun. Let me know if you join!

Where is your cell phone? On the end table next to me.

Your significant other? Drew is even-tempered, loving, and a very good listener. He is an avid reader of anything news-related and is committed to God. He will play board games with me because I love them, but deep down loves to play cards!

Your hair? Just cut it 2 weeks ago. Love. Love. Love the new cut.

Your mother? I think she's looking forward to retiring soon. :) I will also say that she has always been very creative in her discipline of me as a child. She went by "Let the punishment fit the crime!"

Your father? He was one of the funniest guys I have ever known. He could think of a prank and pull it off without a hitch 99% of the time. He loved to make his wife and daughters feel special and beautiful. I miss him so much.

Your favorite thing? My favorite things include singing to God with all I've got, Drew's arms around me after a long day, ice cream (Cold Stone preferrably), a good belly laugh, a productive saturday, and children.

Your dream last night? It seems it was something to do with me driving a Johne Deere Combine. I think I was racing other combines. I'm not even gonna try and determine what that means.

Your favorite drink? Peach Iced Tea from Olive Garden, Water, Diet Coke

Your dream/goal? I'd like to be a mom. I want to grow old with Drew, watch the kids we will someday have grow into adulthood, and know that God gets the glory for it all.

The room you are in? Living Room

Your ex? Uhhhh..who cares?

Your fear? Cows. The Dark. Drowning.

Where do you want to be in 6 years? Wherever God wants me to be.

Where were you last night? Stayed home...watched Jon and Kate Plus 8. It was DIVINE!

What you are not? A Sports fan. (sorry to those of you that are!)

Muffins? They're okay. I like the muffin tops the best. The only muffin I like is a blueberry. warm. with lots of butter. Especially from Perkins. YUMMMMMMMMMMM

One of your wish list items? Hmmmmm...a new car. I would love a silver Chevy Equinox.

Where you grew up? Howe, Indiana (Northeast Indiana)

The last thing you did? Ate Subway.

What are you wearing? Socks, wind pants, and a t-shirt

Your TV? Is on. I should turn it off and read or something....but....

Your pets? We don't have any right now.

Your computer? I love my new school laptop. It's a MacBook Pro.

Your life? Is ALWAYS on the move. We have been so busy with adoption stuff and school is ending (both school we are attending and school I am teaching) and...and....and.....

Your mood? Changes in meds have caused my mood to be a bit, hmmm, shall we say sporadic? Drew lovingly pointed that out to me and I am working to moderate it!

Missing someone? My dad.

Your car? 1998 Pontiac Grand Am. I have had it since about 2 weeks after graduating college. I am READY for a new vehicle, but we just have to wait a bit longer. We also have a 1997 Dodge Ram

Something you are not wearing? shoes

Favorite store? Pier One, Kohl's, Target

Your summer? Only 17 more school days until it officially starts for me! Yay!

Like someone? I like a lot of people, but I think I am like my dad in many ways.

Your favorite color? Yellow

When is the last time you laughed? Last night. It's a long story, but Drew grabbed a hot pot and then yelled "Lord have mercy! That's Hot!" All this while jumping about 5 feet back. It was funny. I guess you just had to be there.

Last time you cried? A week ago last saturday. I just don't cry that much.

If you're reading this, consider yourself tagged.

Diet Update

It's been four weeks and I stepped on the scale yesterday. I was afraid I had either maintained or gained. (Let's not discuss the discretionary eating of the rice krispie treats. I love 'em so much that I think I can smell them about 2 miles away!) Well, you know I just got over it and stepped onto the scale and waited to see the damage done. I just about had to scrape my jaw off the ground when I saw the results. I have now officially lost 12 pounds total to date! (Down 3 more from last week!) WHOO HOOOO.... (picture me doing the happy dance here). I am so happy and beginning to see results in my clothing! Yippee!

*update: I step on the scale at least once a week, but I had not stepped on the scale for 1 full week before looking on Saturday.