Remembering Jim

Our lives changed tremendously two years ago today. Today was the 2nd anniversary of loosing Mike's dad, Jim. You know I didn't get to see that man very much but I knew when I was around him that he loved me very much and he was very proud of Mike. Mike became a different person when he was around him and I only wish we could have spent more time with him. He lived in Memphis, Tn. so we didn't get to go that way much.

In June, 2007, we had been planning a family vacation to Galveston. I never could find a place to stay out and had been looking for several weeks. Mike came home from work one night and said you know I would really like to go see dad, he hasn't met Luke yet (he was 2 at the time) and spend time with him. And off we went the next week. Packed up the mini van and spent a week with him and Tiffany. We spent 4th of July there and then came home.

Three weeks later he died. Mike was at work when the call came in that his dad was missing. Uncle Don had called and we hadn't heard from him in years. When I called Mike at work he called him back and thats when he shared the news. Don never told me what was going on. When Mike called me from work he told me to pack some bags we were going to Memphis. I asked what was wrong and he told me. He said I think he is dead. I asked why do you think that and he said I just do. An hour passed and the worst news came in, he was found dead.

I think one of the things that has hit me hard in the pit of my stomach is when we were pulling out of the driveway to head home Mike looked at me as his dad was waving good-bye to us from the porch and he said "I hope this isn't the last time I ever see my dad alive". What? I asked him why he said that and he said I don't know just have a funny feeling about it. I so wish I would have made him stop the van and jump out and give his dad one last hug. And one regret of that trip I have is that we didn't take any family photos together like we normally would do. Looking back now I truly don't think his dad was feeling 100% but he wouldn't never tell us that. Just things about him during that trip were out of the norm for him and I didn't see it then. I felt something was wrong but I didn't say anything.

I do know that God has his plans and that trip was deliberately planned for us even though we didn't know it at the time. We did get to go to Galveston after the funeral. Jim passed away on July 27, 2007. That was the date put on the death certificate as we don't know the actual time or day he passed away. It is a very long story of how he passed and that will have to be another blog later. Mike had to quit his job after all of this because of the memory of it all when he went to work.

Jim loved St. Jude's hospital. He was a computer programmer/software developer for them. He was so proud of that hospital. He wouldn't even allow them to furnish his work supplies. He would buy them out of his own pocket because he didn't want to spend any money on himself, he wanted it all to go to the kids of the hospital. It is a remarkable hospital. Jim took me on a tour of it during our visit and all I could say was wow as I was walking through there. I watched as a dr. told a family that their child was sick. Very moving.

When we went back to Memphis we had seven dollars in our checking account. I had no clue how we were going to pay for that trip. My mom gave us gas money to leave and then we just prayed for the rest. When we were looking for Jim's will we found $1000 in quarters in his closet. We all had a really good laugh over that. Why would someone have a thousand dollars in quarters in their closet??? Only Jim Lucas.

The funeral was beautiful. We found a beautiful weaping willow tree (Mike's fav. tree) to bury him under. The people at the funeral home were awesome. They treated us so kindly and respectfully. They told us that they had never seen so many people come to a family visit as they did for Jim's. The people of St. Judes were awesome as well. Very touching. I think Mike's brother was more moved by it then any of us. One lady kept commenting how much Mike looked like his dad over and over again. I had always thought that myself. I met some wonderful people during that time.

I wrote a story about our trip to the zoo during our fun visit with Jim. I couldn't sleep the night before the funeral and wrote a story. Tiffany and Leah said I had to read it at the funeral. I didn't want to but ended up reading it anyway. I couldn't get through the story at first but I looked over at Mike and then I was able to finish. I will post it below but you might want some kleenex handy.

So even though it has been two years and time does ease your pain I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. So farewell Jim Lucas. I love you and miss you. I still feel you around us.



Jim 1947 -2007

This is the story I wrote.

To The Butterfly of Death:

You entered my life on a whim unexpectedly this 4th of July. Little did I know what you were about to prepare me for. You landed on my six year old daughter during our visit to the Memphis zoo. I thought "Oh how sweet of you". You were beautiful your fuzzy yellow and black wings fluttering in the air. Then I heard the story of you.

As I was about to walk away, a young zoo worker would explain your history. I had no clue the impact you were about to have on our lives. Upon her approach, she exclaimed how special Paige was to have you land on her. I asked why that was. She explained to me that your name was the "death butterfly" or the "butterfly of death". As my memory is fading I’m sure that she gave me your "technical" name. When I asked her why this was that such a beautiful butterfly was known as this, she explained that when you land on someone that death is near. She said it was an old wives tail. I said how to do mean because I wasn’t grasping what she was saying. She said that when this butterfly is seen it means that either someone close to you is about to die or has already died.

Well you didn’t land on me, you landed on my Paigey. So I quickly shooed you away from my baby girl. For the rest of the afternoon I prayed to God for you not to take my baby girl. This was all I could think because she hasn’t had anyone close to her die recently. So for the last three weeks I have prayed you away.

Little did I know in late July that you would pay us a call. For now my daughter’s grandpa is in your care. I have no worries of where he went for you can look around this room to see his heart. He loved those in his care. The lives he touched will forever be reminded of his loving embrace. For the kids of St. Jude’s who go on to the clouds above, Grandpa Lucas will be there to give you a hug. While he may not have met you he already loves you.

So to the butterfly of death I have seen you once more. You fluttered by me tonight outside at the Memphis funeral home to remind me of your presence. When I tried to catch you, you flew away. So the next time you see my family, please keep fluttering away.

Pic of the butterfly:

Ahhh a lazy Sunday

After all of the party hopping yesterday I was one tired momma this morning and ended up sleeping until 11:00 am. I slept right through Sunday school and woke up just in time for church to start. Needless to say I didn't make that either.

Didn't do much today. Paige made lunch for everyone....chicken nuggets, corn and kool-aid. Her specialty. She wanted to make grill cheese sandwiches that I taught her how to make last week but I'm not sure what happened to that idea.

Mike and I watched Slumdog Millionare. Interesting movie. If you haven't seen it you should. I keep thinking about it. Wonder if its from a true story? I love true story movies. The girls got in a fight after the movie and I was so mad at them I made them go outside. Sometimes I just want to loose my mind with them fighting. Paige came in crying and saying how she was sorry but I just wasn't in the mood to talk about it with her. We have been talking and reasoning with her all summer. I'm done and tired of it. Later we had another come to Jesus family meeting. Mike layed down the law of the land or household as I should say. He told Paige she better get her attitude checked at church camp and really think about her life in this family. She has been granted so much and doesn't appreciate very much.

Afterwards we had a really healthy dinner of chili-dogs. I know, I know....not so healthy but hey it was a lazy Sunday. Afterwards we went outside to play and I finally planted my 3 rose bushes that almost look as if they want to curl up and die. Hope they will make it.

Then another movie! Two movies in one day....wow! What a treat! We watched Confessions of a shop-a-holic. Cute movie! The kids liked it too.

Bedtime! What a lazy day, come visit us again real soon. I think the only thing I did today was load the dishwasher and turn on the washing machine. What a great day!

A going away party, a chuck-e-cheese b-day party, a wedding and a swim b-day party....Whew what a day!

What a day Saturday was. Started off with one of my friends from Monday Primary that is leaving for another school district for a principal's job. She will be greatly missed. Next was Luke's little friend from daycare, Eva's birthday party at Chuck-E-Cheese. He had so much fun seeing all of his friends from "school". And he loved Chuck E. He kept running up to him and smacking him on the butt and running away.

Next the girls and I went to two of my old student's wedding. It was so sweet. The bride and groom met in my classroom. Robin was a freshman I think and Brian was either a junior or senior...I can't remember. At first Robin wouldn't talk to Brian. He was a red-headed punk kid that liked to be the class clown. She was real quiet and shy. Everytime he would talk to her she would roll her eyes and ignore him. A couple of months after school started I noticed one day they were holding hands. Ought-oh I thought...time to seperate them. And I did. After they would finish their work they would move over and sit by each other again. And if they had a fight it totally changed the dynamics of the classroom. I cried through the ceremony. I cried through most of the reception. It was just so touching to see the two of them so happy and knowing their history just made it even more sweeter.

Robin's dad passed away some time ago. She had thought her dad had abandoned her when she was little. Years had gone by and she tried to search for him. She found him. He hadn't left her, he had passed away. She found this out her senior year of high school. Three months before her wedding she found her other siblings from her father and just met them for the first time in her life. Her new found brother walked her down the aisle in place of her dad. See why I was crying.

Then at the reception she told everyone how I was her favorite teacher and how she had met Brian in my classroom. I of course told the whole story of how they met and then I cried again. Other people started crying too. I was moved, it touched my life. Before that Brian danced with his mom to the song "A Simple Man"....I cried. Robin danced with her mom....I cried. Then she danced with her brother....I cried. Then he danced with the other sister and I watched her as she cried.

Robin cried when I hugged her after the wedding ceremony was over and someone asked her why she was crying and she said because I was her idol and how much she loved me. So to Robin, you have touched my life more than you will ever know. I don't let many students get close to my heart as I have allowed you to. YOU mean the world to me. I am so proud of you as well as Brian. I know you will go far in life.


(Robin and Brian Campbell. Check out Paige's glasses....look like big bug eyes to me!)

To end the day off we went to one of Paige's close friends birthday swim party. I got to hang out with some of my favorite friends and just relax. It was a perfect ending to the day. Luke got out of the pool at one time towards the end of the evening and came up to me. He said "Momma". I said what son. He said "I love you mommy the bears" (he calls me mommybear). My friends said "Ahhhh". What a special little boy he is.

At one of the parties I shared with someone about our day and all of the activities. They said "wow, you must be popular". What? Popular....isn't that a term for high school? Ummm, NO, I think not! I have a 4 year old that goes to daycare....friends. I have a 12 and 8 year olds who go to school....friends. We go to church....lots of friends. I work a full time job.....friends and lots of contacts. So no, we are not "popular". We are involved and love all of the special people in our lives.

Off to the city for another day of staycation

I love that saying where you can't take the country out of the girl or however it goes but for me, you can't take the city out of the girl. I love big cities. Yes it's true. I will admit it here once and for all. For a girl that grew up on a ranch and pretty much has lived most of my life in the country, I am very much a city girl. I use to take the ads from the Sunday paper when I was little and just daydream looking at them of how when I was grown up I was going to go shopping all the time! I always wanted to go to the store right then after looking at the ads but that was when we had "Black (or maybe it was Blue??) Sunday" and no stores were allowed to open. I would beg my mom to take me shopping to no avail. Now I understand why! It costs money to go shopping and when you don't have any....well, shopping becomes kind of difficult. So I get excited when we get to into downtown Dallas. Call me crazy but I love the city life.

Our adventure today began with a trip to the Science and Natural History Museum. Luke kept saying we were going to the "night at the museum" place like in the movie. That brought a smile to my face. He was cracking me up. He does this often to me so thats not new. Once there the girls were so excited to show me around. They went on the day of my certification test without me. Mike went ahead and bought a family membership because by the time he paid for everyone to get in it was about the same price to pay for the membership and heck why not what a great place to spend a day or afternoon when its really hot or rainy and cold outside. I hadn't been there in many, many years and let me just say...Wow! What a terrific place to take the kids. I was very impressed.

Our first stop was at the dinosaur dig. Luke jumped right into that spot. You get to go run through two huge sand boxes with paint brushes and "pretend" you are digging up dino bones! What 4 year old little boy wouldn't love that!! They even do birthday parties there....hum...note to self maybe next year??? We only stayed there a short while because we had tickets to the planetarium showing at 2:15. Well that wasn't all that much to write home about...kind of neat...kind of not. I could have skipped that part. We went to one when I was like Leah's age and I remember it being really cool, this one wasn't like that.

Next was a stop for a snack....next time we will pack our own snacks because we could have eaten a meal for what we paid for snacks for all of us....so another note to self....pack snacks for the next trip. But a pretzel dipped in nacho cheese sure was yummy. We had popcorn too and had to share just two drinks between the five of us. The next item up for business was the spy kids adventure. Mike took Luke downstairs to the little kid area while I went spying with the girls. Lets just say I wouldn't make it as a spy. I got busted like 3 times as a little spy guy! The girls kept laughing at me. What a cool way to spend an hour or two.

Next was a stop into learning about the human body. Wow. That exhibit was cool!! My personal fav. They had a video with a catchy little tune about the digestive process and how your body makes poop! And the best one was showing you how you vomit! Coolness! Yes, I love gross stuff too. Makes me laugh. So guess your figuring out I have a very sick sense of humor. But actually it talks about how the brain makes you throw up. Pretty neat but the demo of it cracked me up.

Ahh and then the kids area! It reminded me of the children's museum in Memphis that Mikes dad use to take us to when we would visit him. I think going to these places reminds Mike a lot of his dad and things he did with him when he was little. I see this smile on his face like its bringing back memories. And trips to the zoo do this to him too. I love it. I love to see a smile on that man's face.

So anyway the kids area has all of these neat things for little ones to do like work on a farm (pretend), construction, firetruck with firemen suits (Lukeman's personal fav today) and animals.

They even have a pretend spider web that kids can crawl through. Luke made me pretend like I caught him in the web and I was the spider coming to get him. The giggles coming out of that little boy are priceless.

We closed the museum down for the evening. Luke was sad because he didn't want to leave. I had told Mike earlier in the day that I would like to take the kids to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse. Not his favorite place but he said ok, he liked the idea. In the car Luke kept telling me he was oh so hungry and thirsty. His favorite thing to do in the car right now is point out all of the octogon shapes he sees and tell you what color they are. I love that too and its a good thing because we were getting a cultural drive through downtown because Mike didn't want to get on the highway at 5 pm so we saw lots of octogons! We showed the girls where JFK was shot...Leah was more interested in that.

Finally we arrived at our destination. As we are walking up to the restaurant a black man selling flowers starts in on Mike. Of course Mike just keeps on walking past him and tells him I don't like flowers. Ha. We all passed by him except for Luke. I turned to him and called him my way. He came running to me and said he wanted to give the man a hug. I said a hug? Ok. So I yelled back to the man and told him my son wanted to give him a hug. Wow the look on this mans face was priceless. He just looked at me and said ok. Luke went running up to him with open arms and gave the man a huge hug. The man loved it. He gave Luke a hug and patted him on the back and kissed him on the head. Luke ran back to me with a huge smile on his face. The man had one too. I don't know what that was all about but God knows and I felt good about it.

Once in the restaurant I made everyone go wash their hands since we touched all of the stuff at the museum and that is one of the things that only God knows what was on all of that stuff. Yes see I'm a good mom. With swine flu and all you just got to be careful you know....see...I'm a good mom :) I could hear Luke in the bathroom with Mike crying because he didn't want to wash his hands! Still I'm a good momma!

I asked the waitress if we could sit in the train car. She took us to the end of the train and Luke loved it because he could pretend he was driving us around.

The girls were so well behaved at the restaurant.

Even a lady came over to tell me how well behaved they were. Ok so maybe she wasn't a lady .....a young girl but you get the just of it. We had an appetizer and that was yummy then salads and bread. Paige told me she was full before she ever got her meal. Luke ordered cheese pizza and they make theirs with real mozzarella cheese so it was loaded with cheese. When he picked it up (the cheese) he said "uuuuu mom, I'm eating brains". BRAINS??? He said yes mom. I said ok as long as it will make you really smart then ok. He kept laughing saying he was eating brains over and over again. Then the pizza sauce started getting on his hands and he said "uuuu mom its blood, its bwweeding". I just laughed since I had no clue what else to say at this point. I was proud of Leah, she tried a new dish tonight and she was proud of herself as well.

So the drive home was another cultural experience. Maybe I should rename the title of this as a "culture" day instead. Mike didn't want to get on the highway because the traffic would be bad. Dude its 7 o'clock, get on the highway already. His excuse was its Friday afternoon and well people stop for happy hour and get on the highway late. Ok, whatever was my thought. So we ended up....well I have no clue where to tell you but we learned some interesting facts about the south side of Dallas today. A cultural experience at its finest. Finally I started getting my bearings and said we should eventually run into I20. And we did. Took us probably 45 mins to get there but we made it. I never felt like we should get out of there its not safe. I never felt that way at all, just the opposite like we were suppose to be there. Interesting but I don't know I rambling now.

Last stop on the way home, Wal-Mart or as my friends like to call it around here....Wally World. We have a going away party, two birthday parties and a wedding to go to tomorrow (Saturday) so I needed to make a pit stop for some gifts. During the shopping expedition Paige gets mad because I won't give her her allowance for the week. I go through the usual questions of the week. Did you clean your room this week? "No". Did you do all of your chores this week? "Yes". Did you get in trouble this week? "Ummm". Her head started to hang low. Mike comes up and asks me whats going on.

Now normally, Mike doesn't have any patience at all when it comes to Paige being mad. He usually blows up which makes Paige blow up and over and over again...its a vicious cycle between the two of them. Hum...wonder where Paige gets her temper from....wouldn't be me :) Also keep in mind that I have been praying about this for some time now. Because the tempers flying in my home here of late have been about to send me through the roof. See, I still have all of my temper so I'm convinced she got hers from her daddy.

Can you say family meeting on aisle 9 at 8:00 pm in the middle of Wal-Mart? And that is just what happened. We all collaborated around the grocery basket as Lukeman wore an iron man backpack and ran up and down the aisle. We talked to the girls about how they have been getting their allowance and how it was changing. Leah in her little 12 year old ways started really getting into the collaboration while Paige had her arms crossed, head down, pouty lip stance. She wasn't hearing it. She wanted her allowance and she didn't care that she had got in trouble this week or that she hasn't touched her room in oh about a couple of weeks. We should just give her her allowance since she empties the dishwasher for me and thats it. Leah wanted to look at something and we sent Luke with her. We had a pow-pow, come to Jesus meeting with Paige right there in the middle of Wal-Mart. Good thing it was there and this was all an act of God because I promise you had it been at home or in the car it wouldn't have been pretty and I can just hear Mike's yelling right now. It was actually a very good talk and I don't know how long it lasted but it felt like a long time. (just as this blog is getting long!)

Amazing thing! Paige's whole little attitude changed 180 degrees while in that store. And it has stayed that way since being home. She even cleaned Luke's desk off for him so they could play school tonight....to bad it was time for bed but she did a great job. She came into the bathroom and asked me did I notice her attitude had changed. I just gave her a big ole hug and kiss. I love that little girl and I explained to her that no matter what she did in life I would never stop loving her. I was her momma and I would love her no matter what. She skipped off to bed with a smile on her face. I love my Leah too.....I didn't want to leave that out.

What an adventure today was. Wonder what awaits me tomorrow. So to be continued about the 3 parties and a wedding. Isn't there a movie with that title or something???

The day in a nutshell....or maybe the nut house...not sure which

Today started off as an ordinary summer day. Mommy slept till 11 o'clock after finally falling asleep at 5 am. I know, I know...bad mommy. I just can't sleep as hard as I try I can't fall asleep. It truly does frustrate the mess out of me. As soon as I woke up and walked into the living room the girls started fighting. Mind you they have been in there for two hours by themselves with no problem but as soon as I walk in .... bam! So off to their rooms I send them. Luke goes to his room and starts cleaning. Paige ended up getting a spanking because of her behavior. I hate spanking but sometimes you do what you have to do. Luke comes in and tells me he is being a good boy. I tell him yes he is and he tells me he "qweened" his room. I think he thought he was in trouble too. He told me he needed "lovins". I sat down and let him climb into my lap. I just loved on him and explained to him that he wasn't in trouble and that he was ok. Then I went in and talked to Paige. I explained to her that she needed to write me a paper telling me how she could change her behavior to be more positive. She was like duh mom. I can write that in a minute. Great, let me see it I said to her.

Off to work on the painting in Leah's room and start in the living room.

(Before Pictures of Leah's room below)

We made lunch and then all three proceded to help me with painting the living room. Luke made a huge club house in there too.

The clubhouse:

Why is that when you are working on one room all of the rest of the rooms blow up? And the living room just totally looks like a bomb went off in there! Once the first coat was done in the living room I told the kids to gather up their library books, we were getting out of the house. They were excited now. Off to the library. Luke informed us that we have to be "qwiettt" in the "wibrary". Yes son, I'm glad that lesson has stuck with you. The kids had a great time there. We did puzzles and read some books. I think we ended up checking out like 16 books today! Wow a record for us. Luke even checked out 2. He was so excited and told me he had to bring them back. I was so proud.

Then for our next challenge....the grocery store with three children. Did I say challenge? Because that's what it is. I just needed bread and milk today but ended up buying crackers, bananas, yogurt, on and on. $50 dollars worth of stuff for just needing bread and milk. And we picked up Leah's new inhaler. She has to use that everyday now along with 2 allergy meds. She is not feeling well right now and this is the time of year she gets pneumonia so the dr and I are trying to head it off before it gets to that point.

Back home now. Mike has returned from his all day fishing trip. Lucky man, gets away from us for all day. Peace, quiet, calmness. No wonder he was all refreshed when we got home. Hey, think I need a day to run away too!!!

Time for dinner, pulled out two homemade gourmet items out of the cabinet. Paige helped me make dinner tonight and it was yummy! Paige and Leah both had second helpings tonight! We are trying to eat better and eat at home more. I have lost 10 lbs and Leah has lost 2 lbs so far!!Paige had a second helping of broccoli and cheese (little trees as Lukeman likes to call them). And Leah had more chicken and rice. I really liked the garlic, cheese biscuits and salad.

Luke refused to eat dinner. He wanted a snack. This is a bad habit he has and we are trying to break it. While I was in school he just kind of ate whatever whenever and now that momma is in full attention mode he doesn't like it to much. I bribed him with going swimming at Grammies if he ate his dinner. He had to go to his room a few times until he realized he really had to eat his dinner. No trees tonight for him but we are working up to it.

Off to swim at Grammies house. Mike had to fog for mosquitos because they are bad at moms and it was only 7 pm and they were already ready to bite us. The water was ice cold tonight! I didn't stay in long. We made a train in the water. Mike acted like he was incredible hulk throwing and tossing the kids around in the water all the while grunting at them as he showed his muscles. I'm sure he will feel it tomorrow and be sore.

Back home and Luke had demanded to me yesterday that I make him some cookies. I was like what dude??? Anyway I bought some chocolate chip cookie dough during our shopping trip (part of that 50 dollar expense) and made cookies as a dessert when we got home. Luke was staring at the oven door just drooling for them to come out. Once out he couldn't wait for one. I put one on a plate for him and he had to have a napkin so he could wave the hotness away. I think he ate 3 cookies! He is officially the cookie monster.

Luke "fanning" his cookie

And finally getting to eat it!!

Next we made polka dots in blue paint on Leah's newly painted brown wall. She is going to have the coolest teenage hangout room. Must be a rock star room. She even let Paige help paint polka dots. Luke just jumped on the bed. I tell you painting with three children helping you takes on a whole new meaning to life itself.

The blue polka dots:

Awww, bed time. Quietness, calmness, peacefulness. Awwww. I think this is why I don't want to go to bed and fall asleep. I enjoy the quiet time to much that I get wrapped up in it and before I know it half the night is gone.

What a full day.

Curcus....Curcus...Get your tickets now

Yesterday, Paige decided that her and Luke would put on a circus for us. She made her own tickets that said "Curcus". She made Luke dress in one of her gymnastics outfits and he was the drill master. He would run into the living room with Mike's drill and run it for a minute and then run out of the room only to return and do a flip. Quite a trick I tell you. Then Paige would do a flip and bust out into break dancing. She has learned to get up on one shoulder for break dancing. Very impressive. A fun afternoon at the "Curcus" was had by all. The only thing missing was peanuts and cotton candy.

(I will post a pic of the drill master soon!)

Falling and falling and falling and.....

Yesterday I fell off the ladder while working in Leah's room. Ugghh, this makes the third time I have fallen in less than 8 months. What is wrong with this picture?

First - November: I tripped over a bicycle in the garage getting Christmas stuff out of the attic.
Second - May: I slipped off the top step of the school bus with my early childhood students in the rain
Third - July: I fell off the ladder

I just sat on the floor and balled like a baby yesterday. I was so mad that I had fallen again and I think I was in shock. I couldn't believe I fell from a little two step ladder! Crashed and burn, took out the bed side table with the lamp on it. Landed on three quart size paint cans, bent one of them, and hit the wall with my shoulder and arm. The pretty black, blue and purple bruise on my thigh from the bent paint can sure looks pretty today. I think Mike is right, we need to invest in bubble wrap and just make me a suit to wear everyday. That should look fashionable, shouldn't it???

Below is a pic of the bruise post 4 or 5 days later. Don't look at the chubby thigh, just the bruise!

I passed, I passed, I passed!!

Woo-hoo!! I passed the principal certification exam. Just a little history on me...I have severe test anxiety. So to pass on the first try is pretty impressive I think! Now mind you, I only passed by one question. Had I missed that one question I wouldn't have passed. So we just won't tell anyone that tid bit of info....they don't need to know anyway....all they need to know is that I passed!!!!!!!!

Wow, what a stress reliever to say the least and $120 saved from having to re-take the exam a second time. Now onto the next project.

Starting over on this thing...again!

Oh where to start....again! I have been following my sister-in-laws blog and fell in love with it so I decided to look at my own again. Well it has been a year since my last post! Ha! Story of my life! I bet if I look back in my journal, it will have been a year since I wrote anything in it!!

I am technologically challenged so I had to ask my dear sister in law how to choose new backgrounds. I choose the graduation one because on August 14th at 4 p.m. I will graduate with my master's degree in Educational Administration with principal certification!! And with a 4.0 gpa!!! Woo-hoo!! It has been a long two years but I am now officially done with it. A life long dream is now accomplished. Wow. That is neat to say. Now onto another life long dream. But now I need to remember what it was again! Again...another story of my life.

So thanks Jill for encouraging me to look back at this blog...... again....

Love you bunches and I so wish we lived close to each other because I know we would see each other every day :)