Gotta brag again!

Matt took Cody to meet his new preschool teacher today. Matt was telling her and Cody's new aide about all the progress he has made. On cue, Cody went to the rug with the alphabet and numbers and starting pointing to a letter and saying the name! He also started counting for them. They were blown away by his progress! Just makes this mommy very proud!! He starts preschool on Tuesday, September 4th. He goes four days a week in the mornings. Preschool is such a positive influence on him and I noticed that he was maturing and just aware of his environment more since sending him last January.

Possible exciting news!

Today was our regular monthly meeting with Carleigh's adoption worker. She told us that the deadline for the birthfamily to appeal to the highest court is September 20th. (They highly doubt that they will appeal to the highest court.) If we have our paperwork ready on that day and if the financial and matching meeting is scheduled quickly, we may be able to finalized on a very special day and month......NATIONAL ADOPTION MONTH....and possibly on NATIONAL ADOPTION DAY!! On National Adoption Day, the judge in our county finalizes quite a few adoptions on a special day....SATURDAY! A Saturday in November is National Adoption Day and our agency has a special celebration then for all those who adopt on the special day and sometimes, the newspaper is also there. Woohoo! I have always wanted to finalize an adoption on that special day! It would also be great because family and friends would not have to take off work and we can have a small adoption celebration afterwards!! It would make 2007 awesome because we would have finalized BOTH adoptions in one year!! Woohooo! Is our family complete you ask? Well....we are really leading that up to the Lord. I would love to adopt one more, we are just going to wait and see what the Lord has planned for our family. We are not sure when #3 would arrive or HOW #3 would become a part of our family, I just know in my heart that the Lord has some awesome plans for us in the coming years.

We are going to have THE family portrait when Carleigh's adoption is finalized. I have been waiting for this for such a time as this. We really wanted both adoptions to be finalized so it would make the family portrait more special. We are so excited that our family may (possibly) be complete this year.

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More 'do pics

New do's!

We went up our street this morning and visited Aunt Connie (Jen's sister) and Aunt Connie styled our hair. Don't they look stylin'?

Is it Friday yet????

Well, the first week of school is almost coming to a close and the best word to describe it is....SURVIVAL! Each day got better, but due to a whole summer of taking it easy and just playing with my kiddos, I have been exhausted by the end of the day. The first three afternoons, I have fallen asleep on the couch.

Then, I find out today that I will be getting a new student on Monday for a grand total of 20 students. Yikes! I haven't had a class of 20 students in several years. It will take a few organizational strategies to handle 20 or more. The most students I have ever taught was 29 students (in a local suburban public school ) when I was student teaching in 4th grade. The max number I have taught in second grade at my school is 24 students and that was 6 years ago.

Matt tells me that our lovable, sweet Cody is the boyfriend of a cute little girl from church. Her mother told Matt yesterday that she prays for Cody and talks about Cody alot. There is nothing sweeter than preschool love!! He He He

Carleigh is obsessed with bugs, frogs and other creepy crawlies. Her Wed. night church teacher gave all the kids bug kits with plastic bugs, creepers and gear to study bugs. She has been fascinated by the little things and loves to put them back into their bug container.

1 down and 179 more days to go!

Well, I survived the first day of school! I have to get up around 5:30am (not good for a non-morning person like myself) and I was dragging. Once I got to school, I was ok. Boy do I have a lively or should I say talkative group! I have 19 students and just one of me which was challenging today because their minds were still in summerland. Oh, how do I forget each year about how they come in like first graders who needs lots of attention and then by the end of the year, I have molded them into independent third graders. I need to grab some extra patience in the morning with my cup of oj!!

All in all, they seem like a good group who wants to please and who are very kind to others (which wasn't the case last year). Hopefully by the end of the week, they will be used to the routine and start following directions!!

Cody and Carleigh slept in which was nice for Matt because it gave him time to himself and take care of a few things.

Being thankful!

Being a teacher, the salary is lacking (um REALLY lacking in Christian schools!) but the rewards and blessings are too many to count! I love teaching and know that God called me to the profession. When I first started out, I wanted to teach in public as I graduated from a public university and student taught in a public school. Try as I may, God showed me in His infinite wisdom that He had other plans for me. I subbed in public for half of a year and was depressed and deflated. A friend from church told me about this long-term sub position at a small Christian school and I jumped at it (subbing was really getting to me). I taught all day Kindergarten with the traditional Christian A-Beka curriculum. Very eye opening indeed! The distance was too much for me and I began searching for a new position and God led me to my present Christian school. There were a few years that I questioned if I should remain there, but God's still voice told me to stay. He called me to be a Christian teacher, not just A teacher. It is my ministry in life and how I can serve. I am just so thankful to be able to teach the Bible and true scientific concepts that do not go against my faith. It is exciting to teach a semester long unit on Moses and the Israelites and then switch to the life of Jesus the second half of the school year. It is also great to have parents praying for me and my family. I am just so thankful to be working with fellow believers and know that we are making a difference in the lives that we teach. Thankful, thankful, thankful!

More classroom pics

When you first walk into my classroom this is what you see.
My classroom reading corner!

Classroom Pics

My room is almost finished! Now I am just lesson and unit planning and preparing for the first day of school. I have 19 students this year which is the same number that I had last year.

Back to the ole' grind!

Today was the official first day back for teachers at my school (although the elementary teachers had a 2 hour training on Monday) and yes, I have the glossed over look that I get every August! I have been slaving over my room and came in last weekend. I have most of the room together and am now in the lesson planning and unit planning part of first day preparation. I plan on bringing my camera to school tomorrow and will post a few pics(hopefully) tomorrow. Today was a long day of insurance, leadership and staff meetings in a cold high school sanctuary. Lesson learned: bring a sweater because the a/c is cranked on a 94 degree day!

Cody Update: Cody is starting to use words more to tell us what he wants. Today, I was eating a fry and he said "fry?" To which I rewarded him and he was thrilled. I have been really trying to get him to vocalize what he wants and not just grunt and point. He is absolutely thrilled when I figure out what he wants so I am hoping that it will be a big motivator to get him to talk more. His vocabulary is increasing every week and I am just so proud of the little guy! No progress on the bed/crib issue. I plan on trying again this weekend.

Carleigh Update: She has slept in her bed every night! However, she regressed during naptime (due to Daddy being home and Mommy being gone :-( ) so she is still taking her nap in the crib. I hope to curb the crib nap habit this weekend. I told Carleigh to rub my back last night (sore from moving things around my classroom) and she REALLY starting rubbing it (as well as a toddler can)! New words: triangle,circle, square, elephant, fork, bed, and she has learned lots of new animal sounds. I am just amazed at how much spoken (receptive) lanuage she understands.

No!

Lately, when we ask Carleigh a question, she answers "No" and shakes her head matter of factly. It is so cute. However, I am already noticing a little backtalk from her. At two? Oh my! I will tell her "No!" and she replies by saying "Yes!!" I am proud of my girl, though. She has slept in her bed 3 nights now and naps in her bed as well. I can officially take her crib down. *tears* Don't know if we will ever have a newborn or infant again, unless it is God's will. Our next task with Carleigh is potty training, but I am still waiting a few more months because she isn't giving me good indicators that she is ready.



Cody is still in the crib. He is such a creature of habit that it will be more challenging with him. We are being extra patient with him. He just doesn't understand that a bed is for sleeping and he can't get up and start playing!! He is so sweet...I get over 100 kisses from him every day. I hope he never loses that special sweet spirit.



I am starting to get that Back to School stress that I get every year. I think it is partly because I haven't been able to do alot of work in my classroom since Matt has been working 6 days a week for a couple of weeks. I have been working in the evenings, however, the laminator, die-cut machine and copier is in the office now and I can only access that during the day and of course I can't get anything done with two toddlers in tow! Next week, I will be putting in some long hours and of course there is the all exciting teacher inservice meetings! Woohoo! (note the sarcasm in my voice)



I will post a pic of my classroom again once it is complete....it should be done late next week. Well, it has to be done because our Back to School Night is Saturday, August 18th.

Update and Major Praise!

Update from last night: Carleigh slept the whole night in her big girl bed!! Woohoo!! I had to sit with her in the dark until she went to sleep. Once I started getting sore from sitting on the ground, I moved to the twin bed in her room and she fell asleep after 45 minutes or so of playing and jabbering. Cody had to sleep in his crib again. However, I am going to be with Cody tonight and let Matt take the easier of the two.

Major Praise to God: I checked the court website, and Carleigh's appeal case was affirmed in our favor which means, she will be ADOPTED very soon! Praise the Lord! I am thinking October or November!!! Thank you Lord! It is over!!

Such a big boy!

Transition to beds

Today, Papaw (Jen's dad) put the beds together. Cody and Carleigh wanted to be helpers although they took things apart more than helping! Tonight, Cody and Carleigh will (hopefully) sleep in their big kid beds. They are so fascinated with them and love getting in and hiding under the covers. Hopefully everyone will get a good night's sleep! If it goes well, then I have the challenge of napping tomorrow which I have a feeling will be a bigger challenge since there will be light in their room's and they will want to play in their rooms. I will update our progress tomorrow.

Their beds

Cody's bed......notice the duo standing on the bed. Don't try that at home!
Carleigh's bed..... I love white furniture!

Big Girl!

Carleigh in her big girl bed!

Oh my!

Yesterday, I decided to go to school to get some of my teacher curriculum books to start planning for the new school year. I loaded up the wagon with the kiddos and we went to my classroom. Cody and Carleigh LOVED my room. Cody found my globe and was spinning and spinning it. Carleigh sat down in one of my student's desk and looked like a REAL student. When we were getting ready to leave, I open the classroom door and strap Cody into the wagon. As I was reaching to grab Carleigh, she took off down the hallway at lightning speed. She looks back, smiles her mischievous grin, and yells "Run! Run! Run!" So I abandon Cody (he's safe in the wagon) and take off chasing her. She goes into the gym, finds a basketball and plays with it and then kicks it around like a soccer ball. I finally catch her and we hurry to get back to poor lonely Cody! I never know what to expect from Carleigh!!