The End

This will be the last post I make on this blog. I started this with the purpose of keeping family and friends updated on our family happenings. While it has worked well over the last couple of years, I am finding that less and less people are visiting the site. Now that Facebook is so popular, friends and family can keep in contact with me through that social network. If you have been a regular reader or even an occational reader, thank you for your interest.

In case you are wondering, I am not totally giving up blogging. I am in the process of starting a new blog with a different focus. This new blog will be called Teachable Moments for Preschoolers. My goal is to help parents and teachers provide their children with learning activities using common household materials. Each activity or tip that I offer will be tried and true and child approved (either by my grandkids or the kids in my preschool class). I hope my new blog is helpful for anyone who cares for children, especially those ages 2-5 years old. If you have little ones, I would love to have you visit my new blog. I would also appreciate it if you would let your friends with kids know about Teachable Moments for Preschoolers.

A Visit To Oncology

It is October and I'm sure you have noticed pink showing up everywhere. It is Breast Cancer Awareness month and the perfect time for me to have my four year anniversary check-up for breast cancer. After having my blood work done locally, Jeff and I headed back to Iowa for my appointment with Dr. Otteman. We love my doctor, clinic, and hospital in Ames and have decided that as long as I remain healthy and we have family living in Iowa, we will continue to make the trip for check-ups periodically.

Any how, my appointment went well and the doctor saw nothing to be concerned about with the mammogram results, lab work or my exam. We were pleased to find that my ferritin levels (this is stored iron in the body) are continuing to rise. After 3 1/2 years of taking iron pills, my level is about half way to where the doctor would like to see it (he thought it would take 6 months to a year). I also got a flu shot while there. Not the most exciting thing, but since I work with 20 nose-picking, cough-without-covering, sneeze-in-my-face, oops-I-forgot-to-wash-my-hands-after-using-the-toilet preschool kids... (Well, you get the idea.)

I will go back for another appointment in April and then again next October. The really exciting news for me is that once I reach 5 years after my particular diagnoses, my chances of recurrence will be the same as any other woman. God has been so good to me. Not only did I have great medical care, but a wonderful and patient husband who cared for me through my treatments and years of re-adjusting to a new normal. My boys have been supportive and I have my own personal prayer team in my family and friends. God has truly blessed me!

Como Park Zoo

About an hour after we got Josh home from the hospital, Zach's family arrived for a weekend visit. I'm very thankful that they were willing to put up with all the boxes piled around the house and that we weren't in the apartment anymore. We had great weather and a great visit. On Saturday, we decided to go into St. Paul to the Como Park Zoo. This isn't a big zoo, but there are lots of animals and they are easy to see through the glass windows. Even Josh was feeling well enough to join us. The best part of the zoo was when we were standing at the window looking at the orangutans. We had pushed Khloe's stroller right up to the window so she could see. Then one of the orangutans came right to the other side of the window looking at Khloe. They were probably only 18 inches apart with just the glass in between. It was so cute!

Sunday we just took it easy. We had BBQ ribs on the grill and football on T.V. followed by a nap for everyone. Once we were all awake, we took a walk to the park to play on the playground. Monday morning I headed off to work and Jeff said goodbye to the kids. I am so thankful for such great husband, kids and grand kids. God is good!

Our Busy Week

Well, we survived a very busy week. We closed on our house one week ago and moved the same day. We were thankful to have many of our church family help us with different aspects of the move. Also, our youngest son, Josh, used his day off to help us get moved. Unfortunately, he ended up at the doctor less than 12 hours later with a hernia. It seems that he has been having problems with pain after lifting for the last year or so and just never made a connection until Wednesday morning when it got bad enough.

Friday, he had surgery to fix the hernia. Jeff was with him before hand and I was able to get off of work after lunch so that I could be with him afterward. He came back to our house for a couple of days to recover. He is back at his own house now and is doing well. He has vacation this week so he will be able to rest up. It is going to drive him nuts not being able to lift more than 10 pounds for the next month. I'm betting that he won't follow those instructions!

Consumed

The last few weeks have been really crazy for me. I seem to be consumed by two things: my new job and the purchase of our home. In my spare time I'm trying to fix meals and pack.

The new job is going pretty well. I'm not totally comfortable with it yet; there is just so much to learn. The kids are settling in to our classroom routine and the four teachers are adjusting to working with each other and figuring out who's responsible for what. I will feel a little more prepared once I can get all my teaching stuff out of storage and have access to it.

I wish that I could say that the whole home purchasing thing was progressing smoothly, but I'd be lying if I did. It seems like it's been an uphill battle from the beginning. The type of loan we got requires that all household income be reported. I wasn't working when we starting the buying process, but once I got a paycheck, it had to be reported to the mortgage company. So of course we had to re-do that paper work. Then, since I had been added to the loan, I had to be added to the purchase agreement; more paperwork. Our closing date was originally for the 21st. Then it got move to the 24th. Now it will be the 28th.

This will be a crazy week as we close Tuesday morning before I go to work. By the time I get off, friends will already be at our apartment loading up the truck. I will just meet them at the new house. Then, just 72 hours later, Zach and his family will arrive for a visit. Since I work all week, my evenings will be very busy trying to get unpacked enough for two preschoolers and a crawling baby to be in my house! Pray for me as we make this move and get settled in.

My New Job

If you didn't already know, I recently was hired to work at Head Start, a nation-wide, federally funded preschool program for children near or below poverty level. Head Start programs promote school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.

I am a teacher in the Buffalo Extended Care Site. Traditionally, Head Start was a half day program, but over the years it has evolved to fit the needs of working families. Our site is open from 6 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Today we had some trainings in the morning: Bus Safety, Mandatory Reporter for Child Abuse, and SRAS (forms we have to fill out during home visits). This was followed by a catered lunch for all of Wright County United Way employees and board members, a short program, time to socialize, and door prizes. I actually won a certificate for 4 hours of paid time off!

I enjoyed getting to meet the other teacher, assistant, and aide that will be working at my site. On Monday, we will start working on getting our room set up, lesson planning, and home visits. We also have two more days coming up of trainings. The kids first regular day will be on September 14th.

I am really excited to take all the ideas floating around in my head, combine it with what I have learned in past classrooms and in college to be the very best teacher that I can be. Now reality... I will probably hate my job for the first month or two and then not be sure how much I like it for several more months. That is just the way I am. It takes me forever to really get settled it. I truly hope that the other staff and I can work together like a team because the people you work with can make all the difference.

Ladies Night Out

Tonight I went out for the evening with 14 other ladies (9 from our church). We went to an Ethiopian restaurant in Minneapolis called The Blue Nile. The lady that organized this outing has a two year old son that they adopted from Ethiopia.

The waitress started by bringing hot, wet, towels for each person to use to clean their hands. Then she brought out platters with piles of different types of food and baskets of some kind of flat bread. I'm not exactly sure what all the foods were, but some of the piles were chunks of meat in sauce, cooked cabbage, and legumes. Some of the food was spicy and some very mild. There wasn't any dishes or silverware; everyone used their hands and ate right off the platter. We tore off a piece of bread and picked up the food with the bread. It was a very fun experience and I think that I will take Jeff there sometime. I think he would enjoy trying something new.

While eating out was a lot of fun, it was great to spend some down time with the ladies. The few minutes to visit before and after church just isn't enough time to really get to know each other. It was nice to get to know these church friends better and get to meet some new friend, too.