Are you still there?

Sorry it seems as if I have fallen off the planet. I have so much to post and more pictures than I can manage, and not the time devoted to sit and put it all together. Are you still there? Do you still care about what we are doing? If so, I am sorry. I will try to catch you up soon. The summer has flown by and I will be starting to work full time, so hopefully my attempts to keep the blog updated will not be completely gone forever.

In short, my short-lived time of "easy" teaching and stress-free (to a point) educator life is now changing. Back to the real grind of too many tasks, not enough hours, wishing I could sleep more, wanting to hold my baby more, figuring out fast dinners, and running way too early in the morning-- life.

I will be teaching kindergarten, specifically geared for English Language Learners. Of course, the whole story is about God always gives us more than we ASK or IMAGINE. Don't doubt Him, just put it in His hands and He will take care of it, according to what is best in His timing and His will. That is exactly what He did in this case, AS HE ALWAYS DOES. Trust, trust, trust Him. He's got it.

The girls and I also went on quite an adventurous trip to the midwest, with my parents, in a car for two days, and including some non-sleeping children and some middle of the night throwing up instances.....oh, and not to mention the literal island that my grandparents were living on because they were completely flooded (completely), because two rivers on either side of them overflowed their banks and joined together...therefore, creating a massive, gigantic lake that engulfed homes, businesses, lodges, etc. Praise God that my grandparents' townhomes were just enough above the water to be fine. But not accessible without a BOAT, life jackets, excess mosquitoes, and other unmentionables.

And just when I thought it couldn't get any worse (in addition to more throwing up from one child and tmi from the other), I got the awful news on the Fourth of July that one of my best friends of 16 years passed away unexpectedly. Yes, this has been my summer.

And yet, God has NEVER failed me. NEVER.

He is never surprised. He is never caught in an "oops" moment, no matter how hard we wish He had been.

Despite the flood, I got to spend priceless time with my grandparents, who are both 81. My grandma held me and listened to me as I cried about my friend. She knows what that feels like....to lose someone you truly love and have spent hours and hours of precious time with and have made amazing, life-changing memories with....to lose someone that you have had a part in changing their life and they have had a part in changing yours.

God knew that I would lose her. God knew, 16 years ago, that this was the year that I would lose her. He used so many countless times in our friendship, in ways that many will never know or understand, to change lives; including, but not limited to, our own. I learned more through that friendship than could ever be expected. I had been through some of the most painful trials and hardest life lessons ever, and came out the other side--stronger. Stronger, not in myself, but in the Lord. Learning to rely on Him all the more, to trust Him more, to seek Him more, to wait on Him more. He knew that I would be forever changed because of her in my life. I thank Him and praise Him for that, despite the horrendous pain I feel at the moment and despite the tears that flood down my cheeks at this very moment.

I will trust Him when I don't understand. I will praise Him no matter how I feel. I will thank Him for what I did have. I may never know why, but I know He has His reasons. And I will trust Him. I am sad, yes. I am devastated, yes. But I sing for joy for her. She accepted Christ as her Savior. She accepted that He paid the price for her sin, in full. She received His free gift of eternal life. She loved Him. She is with Him today. There is no doubt of that. And when it is my time, I will join her...and we will sing praises to Him together, just like we used to

You are not guaranteed another day, or even another minute. You do not know when your time will come. Always tell people that you love that you LOVE them. If something is off, fix it. If you have done something wrong, confess it, apologize, make it right. Don't take any time for granted. She was here with me, laughing, crying, giving me hugs, and then she was gone. Don't waste your life. Don't sit in front of a tv, watching other people's lives; GO LIVE YOURS!

Most importantly, open up your arms to the God of the universe. Don't put Him off because you like being in charge of your own life and you want to do things your own way, or whatever reason you have. If you reject Him now, why would He think you'd want to be with Him then?

God loves you, Christ died for you, accept the FREE gift of salvation and eternal life. Accept complete forgiveness and significance in the Only One who can give it.

Romans 3:23--For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

Romans 10:9-10-- if you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.

Learning new things

Unfortunately, I have not been able to put up new pics of Thanksgiving and Christmas and all of our recent events as we got new cell phones and a new camera (Xmas gift!) and haven't quite learned how to download the pics yet! I'll try to work on that next : ) I hope you all got our Christmas card and at least saw a few pics of our little fam. Hopefully I'll have something new for you to see soon!

I'm still loving my job as a part time music teacher/ESL teacher. I love going to work at noon! I love having classes for only 45 minutes, and then they LEAVE (ie--disobedient children, not many, but some). I love having freedom to teach songs and dances and have FUN without stress of reading tests and progress reports and vocabulary lists and parent meetings etc, etc, etc. I love getting to know so many kids and seeing them so often (I see the same 180 kids weekly). I'm trying to savor every minute as I have no clue what is in store for me next year. I'd love to stay at my school that I'm at now, but I don't think I'd want to teach music full time....and do real programs for others to SEE. Driving to another city 30 minutes a way isn't my favorite thing either......I'd love to do ESL full time. I'm also trying to see if I can get a job at Imani's school, which is a 5 minute walk down the road. I'd like to be in the same school that she attends, so I can know the teachers and the kids. But they are getting a new principal, and that can be a very scary scenario! Only God knows where I'll be and IF I will even HAVE a job next year. He always takes care of me in my job situations......no matter how bleak it may look.....or how much I may kick and scream before He gives me something great that I didn't expect.

Imani still loves going to Kindergarten and being a big classroom helper to all who "need" her. She is reading pretty good and her teacher started her on AR (Accelerated Reader), which is testing for reading comprehension. It's debatable whether it's that helpful for young readers, but at least she is being stretched a bit. She is still really struggling with jealousy of her sister. I'm sure I need to do better at giving her more one-on-one time. I help in her classroom every other week, so that helps. But when we are holding Nia, she complains that she wants to be held too. It's hard to hold a 23 month old AND an almost 6 yr old! If someone says that Nia is cute, Imani asks why we don't think she is cute too (of course we've told her zillions of times that we think she is cute.....including total strangers). We have to consciously praise her and encourage her as sometimes with the first-born, a lot is expected of them, and we forget that she is a tiny little bean of a child--only 5! She is a pretty sensitive soul as well. I love when her and Nia play together and act silly. We can't wait to see them together as they grow and hopefully have a wonderful friendship. We expect them to look like twins : )

Isaac switched hospitals and is now in ICU. It was pretty challenging at first, but he is adjusting and liking his new gig. My wonderful longtime friend, Tiffany, has been helping watch the girls on the days that Isaac sleeps and works and I work. She comes to our house which is such a blessing! Imani can just walk home from school and Tif is here. She also brings her daughter so the girls can all play with each other. Again, God provides just what we need when we need it!

My parents came and stayed at our house for Christmas. It was great to have them here. The girls adore my parents and love doing special things with them. My dad takes them to see the stuffed animals at Cabela's and my mom has hot chocolate with Imani every morning. They also made sugar cookies together. Isaac and I got to go for a day to .....SKI!!!! Is your mouth hanging open in shock? I never in my life thought I'd see a day when my very cautious, non-risk-taking husband would go downhill skiing, but it was actually HIS idea! We had a blast! I hadn't skied since I was 18 or 19 years old! It all came back to me--so much fun!

Running news--my foot is still irritating me from when I rolled it last year.....June? I am giving in and will see a foot doc this next week to see if something is wrong. I really gotta know as I want to start training for a spring half-marathon and gotta start in Feb to be ready. No, I haven't stopped running on it. I ran 5 miles today on a treadmill (more cushioning than outside, and it has been cold and rainy), but I really am not going to / won't stop running on it unless someone "makes" me stop. There are some things I don't do. I skip the lunges in my weight class, that irritates it. I don't do the rowing machine or the weird, "updated" elliptical, that irritates it too. We'll see. The doc I will see is also a runner, so I appreciate that a lot! Still have about 10 pounds I'd love to shed and be done with this weight loss situation. Yes, I'm at a "normal, healthy" weight.....but some areas could feel a little better....smaller.....

On a more important, serious note, my sister, Amy, has been in Haiti for about a month doing mission work http://amyshaiti.blogspot.com/ and am very proud of her. Her hubs was also there with her for 2 weeks before he had to head back to work. My very good friend just got back from being in Russia on a mission trip with our local church http://hbcrussiateam.blogspot.com/ and our church team will be there a bit longer. So neat to see others reaching out in Christ's name to people in other countries, in difficult situations, to bring hope and to also be changed themselves. Check out what they're doing and look for ways that YOU can reach out and help others in need too. Reach across cultural and racial lines and get out of your comfort zones! Be stretched! Do things you never thought you'd ever do!

Too long....as usual...

The night before she left : (

Isaac's cousin's family

Nia and Imani's 3rd cousin

Nia with Nyanya (Grandma in Swahili)

Someone let us borrow their boat. It took some convincing for Imani,

but Nia was all ready to jump in

When she first came.

It was pretty chilly

My parents' wedding pic

Wow, it has been a long time. Sorry peeps. Time just flies. I can't believe I haven't written since August!

Talk about lots of changes. I got a part time job about 5 minutes before school started (actually about 6 days) to share a first grade class with a lovely lady named Tamara. We threw things together very quickly and I was back into the busy and full world called "education". She taught the class in the mornings, and I took over the afternoons. We meshed together pretty well and things were coming together.....until about a week and a half later....when we were told that a school down the road needed one of our teachers to go there (we only had about 18 kids in our class, while that school had 30 first graders in theirs). After some tense and unsettled conversations, our temporary music teacher (who was covering for a teacher on leave) volunteered to go....and Tam and I said we would share the teaching of.....are you ready? MUSIC!!! Wow! I never thought I would ever say that I teach music. We are actually really enjoying it...and I also have some time to teach English as a Second Language. I am endorsed to teach it, but have never had the opportunity. Thank God (and my parents) that I played piano as a child, and the clarinet. I'm also grateful for ten years of singing on worship teams (Campus Crusade and church) and doing grade level programs at my last school. It's awesome. I feel like God gave me a back door into things I never would have wanted. Doesn't He just ALWAYS know what is best? I hate to even say it if any regular classroom teachers are reading this.....but it is soooo nice to not have the stress and pressure and lack of time that the regular ed teachers have.....I'll enjoy it while I got it!

Imani started Kindergarten also...just down the road from our house. She is in the morning class and I work in the afternoons, so I get to walk her to school and help in her classroom. It has been very challenging for me to be the parent instead of the teacher. I'm learning how to be quiet and not say all my educational "thoughts" and just know that the teacher has SO MUCH to do and I can work on just being helpful. Imani loves it and enjoys being a helper to lots of her classmates. She told me today that she has now asked each person if they know God yet. I wonder how her teacher is feeling about our little evangelist : )

Isaac's mom came in September and we had fun getting to know each other and trying to communicate despite our language barriers. She got to spend lots of time with the girls and she was here for Imani's soccer season. She also borrowed a sewing machine (thanks to Esther) and made some skirts for a woman in our church. She was just starting to get her own little business going. She did some cooking and taught me a few things about Kenyan cuisine. She truly is an example of a Godly woman. Isaac and I are so blessed to both have such Godly mothers : ) She is gracious and patient and content in all circumstances. I told her that hopefully one day, I can be like that too....by the grace of God. She was not able to stay until December, though, and just went back to Kenya last week. We are all missing her a lot.

We also threw a big surprise party for my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Thanks to all of you who helped us and who attended. It was a great time. I didn't know if we could pull the surprise part off....and honestly, it was a KILLER for me to not burst out about it. I was so relieved when it was finally revealed! No more big secrets for me to keep. Thank you Papa and Mom for not giving up on marriage and honoring that commitment you made to the Lord 40 years ago. As I said that night, and quoted from Jacque, "When you take two sinners and put them in a house to live together...you are going to have conflict!" Thank God for His grace and forgiveness and faithfulness to us. We can always turn to Him for everything! He is the one who makes marriage what it should be.....and He is the one who helps us through when it isn't what we expected : )

On a running update......after giving my knee the much needed break it deserved (thanks Isaac for all medical advice) and NOT doing the 18 mile race that I craved, I was able to get back to long running without pain anywhere!! WOW--it's been a long time. I was already signed up to do a half-marathon on November 7th (paid last year, got injured, postponed one year) so I trained for 3 months. I also lost about 12 pounds. So I weighed about 20lbs LESS than I did last year at this time. That definitely helps with running better and having less pain. Unfortunately, I still should have done a hill run at least once a week, slept a bit more, and not skipped some of the training workouts (because of busyness). Of course I wanted to beat 2 hours again...but no! I did it in 2 hrs and 3 minutes! DANG! It was also hotter than expected and I didn't carry enough water...plus I dumped some of what I had over my head..desperate for some relief. Needless to say, I felt BAD afterwards and really questioned WHY I run during those last...say....5 torturous miles. Tara was driving near me, doing her best to encourage me. But I just wanted to die. I think I had a bit of heat exhaustion. Anyway, live and learn...you'd think on my 7th half-marathon....I woulda, shoulda known better.

Updates

It is a season of change in our house. Not as if moving to a new city and having a new baby wasn't also a time of change, but these are just new and different things. Isaac changed hospitals and is now in ICU--something he has wanted to try for a while now. There is a LOT to learn and it is definitely a new challenge for him, but a welcome one. I am in the process of looking for a job in this new place with new options. I have applied at four school districts and even some preschools....wishing my parents were nearby to ease my mind about where the girls will go. But instead, Isaac's mom will be coming to stay with us in September until December. So the girls will get a lot of time with their Kenyan grandma. I'm looking forward to some cooking lessons and I hope the girls can learn some Swahili. Imani will also be starting Kindergarten. I don't know how that can be happening already! It will take some getting used to for all of us.
I have been running, but not without some kinks in the road....or..more like the body! I didn't even run from November until around February after developing piriformis--from over-training after having a baby and then running on uneven roads. After I was running for a while and stretching it really well, I rolled my right ankle.....twice. After running on a taped ankle, I think that changed my gait a bit, and my left knee has been really bothering me! UGH! I did a half-marathon in July. I wanted to beat 2 hours, and just made it in at 2:01. Darn. Then the knee trouble started. I was hoping to do an 18.6 mile race with my friend, Kim. It goes all the way around a beautiful lake. We were going to go stay there together and run.....if only the knee would cooperate. I have 15 lbs to get off and I really want the long running to do it for me. So I have one week to see if it will get better and decide if I sign up or not.....I may have to concede.

Summer

Isaac getting his push ups in....with a little added weight

Cousin Leah's bday

Cousin Leah playing dollhouse AGAIN!
Imani loves it--Thanks Leah

Her new fav--dipping the carrot in ranch.
She never actually eats the carrot.

Loves to walk around in everyone's shoes

Reading!

Had a dress-up princess party with her bud Hadley

Isaac won a golf tournament,
so he used his clubhouse winnings to get Imani her own set.

Tara came for a visit so we could do a race together.
We both won our age groups--to our big surprise!

Imani finally took swim lessons. She barely got her whole face in the water.....
not the whole head yet

Cooling off in the backyard

Feeding herself--love it!

My birthday in June

This is usually how it goes.....
Imani wants to hold her, but she's not havin it

Imani finished another season of soccer

Field trip with our playgroup.
She actually touched everything, even the snake.

Watching a video of Imani when she was Nia's age.
They kept thinking it was Nia on the screen.

They love to watch the neighbors

You got it....she has already began the family passion

Nia doesn't like to be ignored

We got to babysit Jacque's new little guy.
Imani sat and held him for a long time

Birthday dinner for the big five-yr-old

Wow, it has been a while! There was just nothing as important to put on our blog after asking you if you know the Lord. I hope each of you will take the time to search your heart and go before the God of this universe and truly seek to know Him. He will change your life forever. This life on earth is just a vapor. It will be over before you know it. No one is getting outta here alive. I hope you will not take it lightly.
We have been doing a lot this summer and I can't believe it's almost over! With May and June being so cool and rainy, it feels like Spring went on forever (which I LOVED! I love rain and cool weather).