My one-of-a-kind art creation

The idea popped into my head when I learned that the beeswax ornaments from dreamseeds were ready for purchase. When I saw how lovely they were, I imagined them hanging from a tree branch as a type of mobile. I ordered several sets and then waited to find the right tree branch. Funny enough, I found one on the playground at the school where I teach. It had broken off of a tree during an early winter storm we had several weeks ago.

I also hung four stars on our curtains on our front window. (we live in a modest ranch style home...about 35 years old...just to give an idea) I hung two stars on each side.

I miss having more time to do things like this. Since working full-time, I just don't have time for anything else but work and basic family duties. Maybe someday, I'll find a good paying part-time job.

Homecoming Pictures

At our house before they went to dinner

After dinner they stopped at his house for more pictures (above and below)

This is a picture from Homecoming. (September 19th) Our daughter and her sweetheart of several months. Basically the "first love" for both of them....very sweet and also very closely watched/monitored by both sets of parents!!!

H1N1

Well, I am going to venture a guess that it has hit our home. Two of our children seem to have it. We will try to get into our family physician tomorrow and I really hope we are not put off. With four of our family being "high risk for complications" from any flu, we are especially concerned with the H1N1 since the complications that are killing people are the very complications two of us really struggle with anytime we get a nasty virus.

I did order some really heavy duty herbal medicines from an amazing and gifted herbalist right here in Wyoming. I had been saving these back for the time when we'd need them. When I saw the spread of H1N1 across the United States, I knew it was only a matter of time before it hit our community and probably our family. (all of us are in the school system daily....3 different school districts with 3 different populations and germs) I started intensive treatment of those ill and preventative treatment (beyond what I had already been doing for the past month) for those who are not ill, but most certainly were and are being exposed.

Also prayer. We try to pray a family rosary daily if we have everyone here. Today is a day we usually have the entire family here and the rosary took on special meaning in light of our current trials and also in light of a tragedy at my husbands work place. (a 5th grade student died on Friday from "illness")

Times like this, I have to really say that I am not happy that I had to go to work full-time outside of the home last year. This is my second year teaching full-time and it is too much with the intense responsibility now that my husband has moved back into administration. (last year we were both teachers and that worked O.K.) I am hoping and praying that I can find a half-time teaching position next year with our local school district. (without a commute like I use to have)

LIfe is just so special but just so fragile......God Bless.

...thoughts. Mostly random....

I wonder if a personal change is coming in my life after this school year. I suppose only time can tell. That and lots of reflection and prayer.....lots and lots of prayer will be needed because I honestly feel totally lost regarding what the future holds for me. Scary, exciting.....we'll see.

I'm starting my first class towards my M.A. in Theology. I look forward to it and the learning ahead of me.

You can smell autumn in the air here in Wyoming. Changes coming upon the earth, as well as in life.

I am not sure what I think about working full-time. It is my second year doing this. This year is much more difficult due to a student I have in my class who really needs another placement (other than private schools which lack psych support/services) and my struggle trying to get support in doing what this child needs and what needs to be done to enable the other children in the classroom the chance to learn. It is amazing how one student can compromise the integrity of the learning environment for the other students in the class. In the public schools, there are support services in place. Most private schools are not able to handle these children. Depending on what happens over the next couple of weeks, I may need to take a break from teaching after this year. At least teaching in the private school system. Private schools are not the stereotype that people tend to hold. We do not hand pick our students and many private schools are the places that take the children who have failed for one reason or another in the public school system. There are often a few families who do receive special treatment due to name or financial support....this stereotype about private schools is true. Sometimes children make it through the registration process who should not have. Oftentimes children who have parents who can not/will not accept that their child needs special support services and/or the family itself needs some kind of intervention. All of our schools....at least all the public and private schools that I have seen, are not where they should be.

Maybe homeschooling with support groups in place is the best option for many people. But not all.

Our family is really happy with the local public high school. We have three children attending and all are thriving. Some public schools are doing a good job with what they have. There are exceptional teachers out there. Really dedicated people who are working at one of the most difficult jobs with the lowest pay relative to the level of education required of the teacher.

Maybe diversity in education is the answer....just like in life. However it must be celebrated, supported, and embraced. We need to realize that just because we may be different, that does not mean we are in opposition of each other. Working together goes so much farther.

I do also believe one of my own personal challenges in my own life is the dark night of the soul. I may be there.........not easy at all. If not there, then darned close to it. However many have walked this path before me and I can learn from them.

I am still enjoying making soap by hand. Really a wonderful art and science. I also enjoy my new djembe drum, but I don't have the time I need for either of these things. Nor for the time I use to have in my spiritual communion. I miss that most of all from when I was working part-time.

We'll see what the future holds. I wonder if.............

Starting a New Adventure

After waiting a couple of months, I received my acceptance letter in the mail and am getting ready to start my first graduate school class. It has been about 15 years since I completed my Bachelor's degree.....so it's been a while. I'm leaving my undergrad field and am entering a different one. I know this is the path I am to take and while my M.A. will take a bit longer due to some extra courses required of me, it is where I need to be. I am really excited and a bit nervous at the same time.

New school year has started. We have 3 in high school, one grown, and our youngest is in his last years of elementary school. Time flies.

I'm teaching 2nd grade this year. New year....new grade level. My husband moved back into administration this year. I am not sure either of us will stay where we are. I am not 100% convinced teaching is where I will stay and he is not sure administration is where he will stay. Life is exciting and ripe with possibilities, no matter what age we are!!!

Peace.

After over a year of waiting....finally received Sacraments!

These were at a daily Mass on July 6th.

I don't have pictures of everything....but my husband received the following sacraments: Baptism, First Communion, Confirmation and Marriage. I received: First Communion, Confirmation, and Marriage. (I had received Penance on the 27th of June and was baptized in a Christian church as an infant)

Our oldest daughter stood up as "godparent" (what is is usually called since baptisms are usually done earlier in life) for my husband. My husband and I also had our two oldest daughters be our sponsors for confirmation. Really special.


These are from the official recognition and blessing of our marriage. It was wonderful because when we originally were married nearly 18 years ago, it was not a Christian (Trinitarian) ceremony....so this meant so much to us! our youngest son stood up with us.

Here is my husband being baptized!

We are so blessed and it is amazing to all be of the same faith! It has been a long road over the past many years of searching for what we believe to be Truth.

Oh, and attending daily Mass....as one who can receive....is AMAZING!

Peace....

Our daughter and her sweetheart

I must say that our children are growing up. Our younger daughter was allowed to officially date when she became a freshman. There was a young man (really great kid from a great family) who had been waiting and they are now allowed to date. This is one picture from a recent outing. The two of them went hiking up into the lower parts of the mountains. Yes...he is VERY TALL. Our daughter is tall but looks like she is short when she is next to him. We are happy that all of our teaching about standards sunk in with her because she had her own requirements that her prospective-beau had to meet for her to agree to be his girlfriend. All the talking over the years is paying off with our girls...thank goodness they are listening to our advice. I have to say that I wish my parents had been open and honest about relationships and dating and all that. It does make a difference. However, our job only intensifies from this point on.

I have posted many pictures and several blogs in the past couple of weeks. You will not see all of them on this page but will have to go to the older posts page to see them even though they are all very recent.

H*a*P*p*Y******B*i*R*t*H*d*A*y******Little Guy!!

Our "Little Guy" turns 10 years old today. He is the baby of the family and is growing into an amazing older child...who I know will grow into an amazing teenager and adult.

WE LOVE YOU LITTLE GUY!

Calmer Waters (Aaron,Michelle, Eli are in the front raft...Asia, Sereah in the rear raft)

Once we were in calmer waters, the raft guide in my raft switched places with me and I got to guide! I can say that Asia and I are hooked....and are looking for our next extreme adventure!!

White Water Rafting (Asia and Sereah's raft)

Looking at the raft on your computer screen, Asia is the 3rd back on the left side and Sereah is the second back in the center (non-rowing) of the raft. Our Parish Priest is across from Asia.

White Water Rafting. Pics of Asia, Sereah's raft (txt way below in another entry)

Looking at the raft on your screen, Asia is the 3rd on the left side. Sereah is riding in the middle of the raft, second back.

White Water Rafting. Pics of the raft Aaron, Elijah, and Michelle were in (you can see where Aaron is going over and saved the raft from flipping)

Read the blog a ways down about this adventure......in another post.

White Water Rafting Pics the raft Aaron,Michelle, Elijah are in. (see below a ways for the blog talking about this)

Pics from White Water Rafting (The single raft pics are Aaron,Michelle, Elijah's raft. See blog below for txt.)

White Water Rafting on the Wind River

We went white water rafting on June 27th on the Wind River through Wind River Canyon. What an experience! AMAZING! The river is the highest it has been for a decade, so this was the perfect time to go. From our family, my husband, myself, our oldest two girls and our youngest boy went. Our family was split between two rafts. (we went with a group of people and counting the entire group, there were 3 rafts) Our daughters were on one raft with most of the other teens and our Parish Priest. My husband, youngest son, and I were on another raft with five others plus our guide.

We rafted approx 8.4 miles and it took a couple of hours. I can't describe how amazing, beautiful and incredible the experience was.

However, we did have a scare. On a category 4 area called Ft. Washakie Falls, my husband fell off the raft and it was a very frightening experience. He later told me that he really did think this was the way he was going to die. He was under the raft and then the rapids just sucked him under and tossed him around and when he finally surfaced, we had a heck of a time pulling him back on the raft since he was exhausted and weighs a lot. He calls it his near death experience. I'm not sure if he will be game to go again anytime soon, but the best way to get over fear is to face it down....so I hope he goes again with us. We will plan on going next year a couple of times starting with the same one we did this year and then my younger daughter and I plan on going to what is called the upper falls where all the rapids are category 3 and 4....it will be a rush! They say one out of every two rafts flip over on the upper falls route. (so our oldest daughter and youngest son...and probably husband will not be going on that trip)

One thing is for sure...I have never been so sore in my life! (and I'm very active) I ended up with some bruises and cuts from helping to rescue my husband. Thankfully he was not hurt at all!! We later realized that if he would not have fallen out, our entire raft would have flipped and we had our 10 year old son in the raft as well as some other older people...so my husband falling out probably kept some worse things from happening.

What is crazy but really quite fantastic was what Asia did. We don't have it in one of the pics (I wonder if the outfit does not take pics of these things when they allow people to do it....legal reasons maybe? Hmmmm) Anyway, when you look at the front of the raft you see it comes to a point and there are a couple ropes. Well, in a lower category white water area, Asias guide let her get up on the front of it. It was described to me as Asia sitting on it like one would do to ride a bull. Legs/feet dangling into the water off the front of the raft and holding on with one hand (to the rope) with the other hand raised above her head cowboy-style. *lol* She closed her eyes for part of it and just went for it! She is the child who is really wanting to take some training through NOLS her Junior and Senior year. I told her if she makes National Honor Society (expected of her anyway) we'd help pay for it since she'd get a partial-scholarship.

Anyway, may God Bless you!

I will post pictures.

Father's Day

Today was a wonderful father's day. The girls and I started out early for a good run/walk on the high school track.

When we got home, the guys in the house were starting to get moving. We gave Aaron his father's day present (iPod...he has wanted one for a long time), opened cards and waited to see what Dad wanted to do on his day.

Once decided, we packed up the vehicle and headed to Sinks Canyon for some trail hiking and then into town for a nice early supper seated outdoors at one of our favorite places to eat.

We were able to see some wildlife upclose today! Cool.

Then it was home and after a bit of housekeeping needs, we watched a movie.

Some of the best news is that my first marriage is finally officially dissolved in the eyes of the Catholic Church. We have been waiting for a year for this to happen and now that it has, both Aaron and I will be receiving not only several sacraments but also will have our marriage blessed and recognized in the church. Preparations are being made for these joyous sacraments!

A blessed day. I am going to share just a few photos from our day.

Busy....Busy....isn't this summer break?

Boy have we been super busy so far! I hope that "summer break" will eventually come around.

I am happy to report that our youngest daughter (high school freshman) is just about fully recovered from the surgery she had on the 5th of this month. It sure was a rough recovery, but we are all happy it is over.

I've been taking a class this week to help my teaching of mathematics. It is a long day, but worth the time.

Our youngest son has been in class at the local community college 4 days a week taking various science classes. He is enjoying himself! We are still not sure which musical lessons he will be taking later this summer.

Our oldest daughter (high school junior) is busy with her job and she will be taking a course in July.

Our daughters started into their orthodontics...thankfully we have insurance for the first time!

Lets see...our refrigerator broke down. So we had to buy a new one. There are some fancy choices out there! It is on order and hopefully will be here in another week or so.

My husband is moving back into administration. (I have mixed feelings) His first big "fiasco" was today in dealing with the swine flu. It looks like his school is the first one in the county....and with the superintendent out of town, dh was the one who dealt with the concerns. Thankfully he has been in administration most of his career and this type of issue (people freaking out) is not an unfamiliar situation.

After much discussion, my dh has decided to wait on finishing up his PhD and it is my turn! I will start my Masters degree this fall. (slowly....at first due to finances and time issues with my full-time work and dh's extra work responsibilities with his new position at his school) This is something I've wanted to do for some time, but I am moving out of my field for my Masters so I will have to take some undergraduate classes before I can be "official" in the program of my choice. It will be worth it. I know this is the direction I must move into and who knows what wonderful adventures await me in the future....all from one decision.

Life is funny and fascinating....the decisions we make really are significant. Even those decisions we may not think of as "significant". I fully believe as long as I am prayerfully following what God's plan is for me, the best will happen.

I'm thankful and blessed.

I do ask for prayers (if you are so inclined) for our oldest son. He continues to make choices that we just can't wrap our brains around. I don't know if it is the half-sibling issue on a genetic level or what...but he has been raised in the same home, but has made horrible choices and as an adult, it is coming back to him. We hope to hear from him sometime and all we can do in the meantime is pray.

Life can be difficult, however it is during these moments that I truly feel God's grace is there. During these moments, I believe that I am experiencing a small part in agony and suffering. I count this as a blessing. Sure I'd rather avoid it...but my life has been one that has been more difficult than most and as time goes on I see this in a different light. A light that is filtered through my faith. I do not expect nor do I buy into the "prosperity doctrine" that I think is doing much damage to the Christian community at large. Thankfully, we Catholics are mostly still orthodox in our viewpoint regarding suffering.

May God bless you.

I've come to the conclusion that I am not sensitive enough to be raising girls

It has taken me 16 years to realize this.

I am a very direct person and this is how I prefer people to be with me. I do not game-play, nor do I engage in passive-aggressive tug-of-wars. My honesty has at times caused me some trouble in my adult years and while I am learning to be "PC"....I sure do not come by this naturally, nor is it enjoyable since I feel like it is not real. (enough)

It is possible I have become this way as an adult as a extreme reaction to the adventures of my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

I have daughters who seem, from my point of view, to need a larger than normal amount of "nicey-nicey" phrasing in any conversation that crosses into personal issues. This I am not good at. I am a facts gal and would rather get to the point, discuss, and move onto something else. (unless problem solving is needed or something further)

I need to work on this aspect of my personality and try to become more of a touchy-feely type of person. Being raised in a home where I don't remember gestures of love (verbal or physical.....whether or not I am correct....who knows since I have no memory of much of my childhood) and I think this has affected my admitted lack in being "nicey-nicey" in conversations and is something that I realize I must work on.

I don't know if I'll ever not have the impulse to roll my eyes when someone engages me in conversation that way. I'd rather be told like it is...be allowed to debate back (if needed) and then self-reflect when I am alone, implement anything that needs be, and move on.

This also may play into why I have said many times that I'd be happiest teaching at a private all-boys school. (rather than the co-ed private school I do teach at) I have come to appreciate the way most males handle conflict and this, according to my husband, is the way I tend to operate. I like things that way. However, I must bend...I realize that.

Hence, my comment about not being sensitive enough to be raising girls. (and two teen aged ones at that!)

Peace and God Bless

FINALLY!

Boy oh boy! It is very difficult locating all the necessary items to make old fashioned cold-processed soap. Geeze!!! After over a month of searching for ingredients and supplies, and finally having to order online, I was all set to go this weekend.

Yesterday, I made a batch of lightly scented rose shea soap. I used a nice wooden mold that my really wonderful husband had crafted for me a few weeks ago. Today, I made a second batch of a basic hard soap which I will use as the base to my homemade laundry detergent that I've been making for well over a year now. I did scent this soap with my favorite lavender/patchouli oil combo. I didn't have a nice wooden mold (yet!) for this one so I used a clean empty half-and-half carton.

I had been ordering my basic hard soap from a really nice small company online, however I really felt it was something I could and should be doing myself.

Hopefully they end up being safe for use! I did pH test the first (rose scented) batch today and it is still too high to be considered usable, however the pH level can lower as the soap cures. I'll re-test it again in a few days and cross my fingers that it works.

I know I was a sight to the neighbors....who already see our family as weirdos. When I mixed the sodium hydroxide into the distilled H2O, I went outside to do it due to the horrible fumes that come from mixing these two. (even with the fan going and the windows and doors open!) The neighbors were out and there I was in my slippers, baggy bottoms, long sleeve mismatched shirt, long yellow rubber gloves, big safety goggles....crouching on the driveway stirring my pot while moving around the pot in an attempt get upwind to avoid the fumes.

Our oldest daughter had helped me with much of the first batch and I think that she mostly did it out of a strange curiosity as well as hope for some more material for her "dirty mountain hippy" jokes. (guess who she is referring to?) Later in the day, both she and our Parish Priest (and I) had fun poking fun at me.

We have two science fair projects going on this week. Thankfully my husband does those. We are also going into the final week of rehearsals before the musical. (our two daughters are in it) My parents are coming to visit to see the musical. Other than the normal weekly schedule, that should be about it this week.

I'm glad to have my first batches of cold-process soap made. I dream of a day when I'll be living in my dream-home-earth-ship and won't have to work outside the home and can stay home tending animals, digging, and making many things myself...and volunteering too!

However, I know how blessed I am and am enjoying where my life currently is. I look forward to teaching second grade next year and I especially look forward to finishing up this school year!

God Bless.

Sharing some photos of my wonderful job (more family photos in several more posts below)

The middle school students love to come and hang out in my classroom. (I could sooooo teach middle school...if I was endorsed to do so beyond special education) My students earn special treats for good behavior and they usually want to have a game day with the middle school students. I'm sharing some photos from one of those game days. There is a photo of my daughter manning one of our "game day centers" as well as some other photos. I have really enjoyed teaching Kindergarten but have to admit that I am really excited to move to second grade for the 2009/2010 school year. (will be at the same school)

This is a photo from the speech meet. Some of my students are here in this picture (in my classroom) as well as our Parish Priest/Superintendent of Schools.