Thursday, September 25, 2008

Jake's Promotion!!

I have to brag on Jake. He got a promotion recently and we got the first reward (paycheck) from that promotion today!

I am so proud of Jake - and I don't say it often enough. As many of you know, he was working two jobs for several years so that I could stay home with our girls. It was tough working Dillard's and a paper route. And Dillard's was a dead end job. No where to go! So when this job in A-town opened up, we knew it was going to be a good thing.

And now, after being there just over a year, he's already received a promotion. He is the Fertilizer Manager. The company is planning some really big things here.

I always knew Jake could be successful if were ever given the chance. And this job was that chance. He needed a job where he could prove himself over time and work his way up. That's what he's doing.

So, praise God that He blessed Jake with this job! And Jake, way to go. I knew you could do it!!!

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Poor Tae

I want to start by saying - I'm not a bad mom. My children takes baths regularly, they go to bed at a decent time, and we brush our teeth. Probably not as "religiously" as Jake would like - he does it 4-5 times a day...but still.

Well, poor Tae had 8 cavities. We found them this summer. All of a sudden (on our NM trip) she started complaining about her bottom molars hurting. Well, I looked and didn't really see anything (not that you can always see cavities) but we bought some Oragel and continued on. By the time we got to Jake's parents in Farmington, I looked in the top of her mouth to find HUGE, GAPING holes in her teeth. So we went to Jake's dentist in Farmington - he wouldn't touch her. He didn't want to get started on the large amount of cavities there. So he sent us home with pain medication and some antibiotics.

We survived the rest of our vacation, and came home to visit our dentist. He also would not touch them, so he sent us to a pediatric dentist. Well, they scheduled her for the work in Oct. Two months from the time we visited him. It was going to be a long wait. Well, they had an opening come up Sept. 11th that we were all too happy to take.

They put her under while they did it all. We knew she would probably have about 3 teeth pulled from our previous visit. Well, they ended up pulling seven (yes, 7) teeth, doing root canals and caps on 3, putting 2 spacers in and doing fillings on 2 teeth. Five of the pulled teeth were baby molars, and the other two were in the front. The permenant teeth above them are pushing through, and those baby teeth weren't budging. Thankfully, all the affected teeth are baby teeth, but the poor girl just has awful genes. Yes, we need to do more brushing (we are much more religious about it now). But apparently, Jake's family has awful teeth.

Hmm...Jake knew he was getting a diabetic, allergy, asthmatic woman when he married me. I didn't have a clue my children could also have AWFUL teeth. Now, my teeth aren't straight and pretty or anything, but they are healthy.

Well, back to Tae...once she came out of the anesthetic, she's done fine. But man, she was very violent waking up. But she has done GREAT since we've been home. We stayed home from school yesterday (we didn't get the 7+ inches that Lubbock got, so we still had school) but she's done better than I would have. Only took pain meds the first day and hasn't had anything since Thursday night.

That's been our week - hope yours hasn't been as eventful as Taelor's!

Monday, September 8, 2008

My gals!!!

Some of you have requested a pic from my days as a twirler - that will have to wait! For now, I wanted to post of pic of my HS girls this year. These are the ladies that I am so blessed to work with!!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Bragging Rights....

And this time, it doesn't include my family!!!

Tonight was a really great night for me. Tuesdays are my night to teach my two A-town twirling lines. This year I have 5 on my Middle School Line and 6 on my High School Line. None of them will ever read this, but I just want whoever does read this to know how great my girls here are!!!

My first practice of the night was with my MS girls. We are getting ready for their "first" pep rally and football game next week. Yes, I love teaching them twirling, but I love the things that go with that a lot more. For example, we got our uniforms tonight. I can't tell you the look of awe in their faces as they pulled them out and tried them on. For these girls, this is the fanciest thing they'll ever wear until the Jr./Sr. Prom. Twirling uniforms are all about glitz and glamour. And they loved it. It was great to see them "feel" pretty. MS girls have a hard time accepting their bodies, so it was great to see them all "feel" pretty tonight. It's also amazing how effective the rest of practice was. They worked so hard.

After practice, one of the girls asked if she could interview me for an English paper. I said sure. One of the questions, though, really made me think. It was, "Why do you enjoy teaching twirling so much?" Well, my first response was that I love twirling. It's a passion of mine. But then as I thought deeper, more came out. I love teaching twirling because of the relationship that I get to have with each girl I teach. I hope and pray that in some small way, I can influence their lives. I want to show them that you can be a modest young lady (in all ways), and still be beautiful, smart, successful, and HAPPY. With twirling, modesty is sometimes a challenge. You all have probably seen twirling uniforms - it's like dancing in a bathing suit - a one piece, grant you, but still! I love teaching them how they can still be modest while performing in not much. And I hope it carries over into their every day life.

Enough with Jr. High - then my HS girls came. I have always been blessed with good HS lines. Every year is good. And I'm so proud of these girls, too. These ladies are great young people who have a lot of life going on. They are involved in many other school activities. But they are learning what it takes to be successful. Not necessarily a lot of time, but good use of the time you take.

I don't know why I feel so strongly about taking the time to brag about these girls, but I do. If you're a teacher, you know how good you feel about class after everyone participated in the discussion or you walk away feeling they really understood the concept you were trying to teach. That's how I feel tonight. We had a great practice, but there were also many great "life" moments. Yes, I'm a stay at home mom, but those are the things that keep me teaching - helping guide their lives!