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Wow. Has it really been since June that I journaled? And I didn’t even give a recap of our day traveling home?!?! Where has the time gone? And so much has happened.
Let me finish out the story with a shortened version of our trip home. We had to be up and off the ship really early on Monday morning even though our flight didn’t leave until 4:30 or something like that from Miami. We spent the whole day at the airport…shopping, eating, sleeping…and then at the last minute, our flight was delayed. We were all tired and cranky and missing our families and emotional and it wasn’t that fun of a day. To top it off, here is what I found out at the airport when I had a conversation with Scott:
Scott calls me at the airport and asks me if I am sitting down. I wasn’t, but I told him to go ahead and tell me what happened. Apparently on Friday (this was Monday), Faith Anne got into trouble at school. She was in her morning “Kid’s Club” class and she flipped the bird and said the “f” word! Yep, you read that right. So, the teacher (who is a first year teacher) goes across the hall to the Kindergarten teacher (who we know pretty well) and asks her what she is supposed to do? The K teacher tells her that she has to send her to the principal’s office. So….off to the Principal’s office goes Faith. Apparently the principal talked to her about it and filled out an incident report that she gave to Faith to bring home and have signed by a parent and returned on Monday. Well, I was on the cruise. I am the one that typically goes through their folders….Daddy didn’t do it. So, Monday rolls around and Faith had not told Scott about this….and had not shown Scott the report that was supposed to be signed. Faith goes to school and the teacher sends her to the Principal’s office to return the incident report. The principal looks at it and then looks at Faith. She asks Faith: “Did you show this to your Mommy and Daddy?” Faith says: “Yes.” Principal says: “Did you have Daddy sign this?” Faith says: “Yes.” Principal says: “Why did your Daddy print his name?” (side-note…Faith had FORGED his name by printing SCOOT BE*****) LOL Faith says: “My daddy doesn’t know cursive.” OMG. Yep, in Kindergarten, my daughter flipped the bird, said the “f” word, forged Daddy’s signature and lied. I am for sure in the running for parent of the year. So, Scott tells me this in the airport. Mind you, I am tired. I miss my kids and husband. I have had very, very little sleep. We are stranded in an airport. To say that I was upset is an understatement. And I was so embarrassed that I didn’t want to tell my aunts and cousins. I told Jodi first…and then Mom…and then Joy. Joy counseled me (because she is good at that) but then she pointed out a little fact… her children (who are older) had been to my house that weekend. ***Insert glimmer of hope**** Maybe it was Joy’s kids that told Faith to do it! I wanted to blame ANYONE but my Faith! LOL Well, it turned out that it was Faith’s idea and we had to fix it when I got home….but rest assured….that incident report will FOR SURE be a part of her scrapbook for when she graduates from high school. I don’t want to forget this! Not my proudest moment as a parent, but for sure one of the most memorable!
So, I will leave the trip home at that. There were delays and calls of trying to get different flights and sleeping in airports and dinner at Chili’s….and happy to see families, but sad that the fun was over. I will never forget that cruise as long as I live. It was MARVALOUS!!!!
So, life has obviously resumed since then! We had a good summer….didn’t really do a whole lot, but feels like it flew by for some reason. The kids keep us busy with baseball and t-ball and lots of trips to the water park. Isaac had church camp for a whole week and he loved it. He also spent a week with Jodi and Jim and he loved that. So, he had a fun summer. He is just growing up so fast!
Summer came to a screeching halt when Football and Cheer Season started in late July. I say that in jest, but our lives do tend to become consumed with Football and Cheer. Scott helps to coach Isaac’s football team and this was my first year as Assistant Coach for Faith’s cheer squad…and Gracie was one of the mascots! SO! Needless to say, we had a busy end of summer/fall. Practices start in late July and we aren’t done with cheer yet! We have our competition on November 21 and then we will be done. Football is done, though. Let me just summarize by saying this….I do these things for my kids because they want to do them and I want to be involved. As far as football goes, I realize this is pee-wee football and colleges will not look at Isaac’s pee-wee tapes to see if he is eligible for a scholarship. Some of the parents on our team….they don’t realize that. They think that Jim Tressel (OSU’s coach) is at our games scouting. And for Faith and Gracie…they like to cheer because they are loud and they get to dance. I am not out there because I want to be the best team mom ever and put everyone else down. So, that should tell you that there was lots of DRAMA this season with parents on cheer and parents on football. It really is a shame because aside from the drama, I have made some really good friends with some of the parents and I enjoy the social interaction that it brings. It also allows you to spend time with the families of the kids that your kid is becoming friends with…..or maybe you can steer them to not become friends with them! LOL Our cheer competition routine is really, really cute. The coach has done a great job with the girls this year…she handles all the “business” stuff that goes along with coaching and I just come in and have fun with the girls! It has worked out pretty well for us this year and the girls have had fun. I have actually really enjoyed coaching too, but I will be happy when it is over! It is just a long season! And then we will be on to something else, I am sure!
Here is my person-by-person recap:

Scott
He is doing really good. He changed jobs this summer. I honestly don’t remember when…I am pretty sure it was around the first of July. He was working for Time Warner Cable, but left there to go to Cincinnati Bell. He is doing the same thing – door to door sales, but with a slightly different product line. I was very scared for him to take this opportunity, but the District Manager is a guy that we go to church with and he was actually working on getting Scott to come over for a long time before we finally did it. Let me tell you, it has been a huge blessing to our family. The pay is much better and Scott is doing very well there! The pay structure is a bit different and so because he is so motivated by competition and making money, it has been good. I am very proud of him. There was a learning curve and he still gets aggravated from time to time, but it has been a good thing. I am sure, like everyone, we have had our share of ups and downs lately….we just say that we don’t always LIKE each other, but we always LOVE each other. It just seems that life gets so busy and we lose each other in the busy-ness of taking care of the kids – this was especially true during football. We rarely saw each other and so when we did, it seemed like we were always picking at each other. When we took time to slow down and spend some time together, it got better. I am sure that we are not alone and that a reminder to stop and enjoy each other will need to come again and again as we travel this road called marriage together!

Isaac
My little boy is definitely growing up very quickly! He has developed a bit of an attitude (at times) but is still my sweet boy, most of the time! He keeps me in stitches with some of the things that he comes up with! He is doing great in 4th grade. This is the year that most people have told us we would know if we made a mistake or not by starting him early. So far, he seems to be doing really, really well and I think we made the right decision. His teacher said that he is just a very happy kid and very mature for his age. She couldn’t say enough nice things about him when I went to the parent/teacher conference. Of course, that made me very proud! I think he is great, but to hear his teacher say the same was pretty nice! He tried out for a select basketball team and did not make the team. That was pretty devastating for him and Daddy, but a couple of his friends are going to be playing in the same rec league as him, so I think he will be fine. He really loves basketball, but we haven’t worked with him at all and try-outs are during football season. So, we will just have to work more on that next year. He did better at football this year, but is still just not very aggressive for his size. I told him that he is too much like me (LOL) and has a hard time turning the “mean” on for the football field. I am not sure if that is something he will ever be able to do. I guess we will see with time! However, he had fun playing and seemed to really develop some friendships this year with some good kids and that is what really matters. I already miss some of the friends that I made with the moms at football too….but not all of them! LOL Still no girlfriends for Isaac…and he doesn’t seem too interested in girls yet, so that is a good thing! I will take that as long as I can!

Faith
Well, I had her parent/teacher conference last week and so far…she has had a good year in 1st grade! It is funny because the kid that the teacher described is not the kid that lives at my house. Faith – I would sum her up in one word….drama! If you look at her wrong or say that she burped or that she said something or just do something that irritates her….she throws herself down and sobs as if you have just stabbed her in the back. EVERYTHING is to the extreme with her. But her teacher said she is very even-tempered and very encouraging and quick to respond and basically, the total opposite of what she is at home. I guess I would rather he be good there than at home, but I would seriously like that child to come and live at my house! LOL She is top in her class in reading and her writing is great….she is just doing really, really well in school! I was so happy to hear that! Again, to have a teacher confirm what you thought is always a good thing! She has two of the girls that she cheers with in her class and they are her “best friends”. They actually all seem to get along pretty good considering the amount of time they all spend together. It is neat to see how she is developing into a young lady….although there are only glimpses of that because she is still very much my little girl. She is so good at cheer that I am anxious to get her into gymnastics this winter and get working on doing flips and stuff. She has the natural “voice” (LOL) and moves of a cheerleader, so hopefully we can help her pursue that if she wants to. I can’t believe that she is 6! Time just flies by!

Gracie
Where do I begin with little Miss Gracie…or should I call her Pterodactyl? She is a difficult child, of course, because she is my third! LOL She is 4 and in preschool and just growing up way too fast! We changed her babysitter and now my friend, Tai, who is also our cheer coach and her daughter if Faith’s BFF in class, is now watching her. She does a good job with her and has 2 other little girls who are 4 that she watches. Gracie seems to really respect her and knows who is in charge! She just has a very stubborn personality and still throws temper tantrums! I don’t know what I am going to do with that child….it is a bit embarrassing. They are definitely better, but still there. For example, the other day at church she THREW herself down on the ground because she dropped her paper bag and wanted me to pick it up. I was already half-way up the stairs and was not going to turn around to pick up a bag that was right by her hand. So, we left her and she followed us all the way to the car SCREAMING the entire way. Yep, I was so proud. I just don’t know what we can do to make her stop that! She has her own sense of style and will not wear something that I like if she doesn’t like it. I mean, she is just her own little person – very head-strong. I have NO idea where she gets it from! LOL She definitely keeps us on our toes!

So, that is my quick over-view! We are all doing well. Our “new” church is still going great. Scott and I have been missing out on Praise Team quite a bit lately due to football, but we get there as often as we can. That church has just experienced a huge amount of growth over the past few years and they are feeling growing pains of trying to figure it all out. I pray that it will continue to go smoothly. So far, you can totally see God’s hand in everything and as long as they keep Him in the center, it will be fine. We have made some really good friends there – we are involved in a small group and that has been such a blessing to us! One of the biggest ways that it has blessed us is….the two ladies that are in it are into this “bulk cooking”. They cook enough meals for their families and ours once a month and we freeze all the dinners and then just pull them out and cook them. I cannot tell you how wonderful that has been. One time I took a day off work (because we cook all day for about 8 hours) and did that with them. One month I helped with some prep work in the evening before they cooked for 8 hours and then this past month, one of them just did it all by herself. It is amazing and so much cheaper! They are big “couponers” and so that really helps. But it cost me $135 for a month’s worth of dinners and a few breakfasts and lunches. And the food is REALLY good….meatloaf, chicken alfredo, chicken gumbo, flank steak, t-bones, chicken cordon-bleu, some really, really yummy stuff! That has been a blessing…and I have learned some cooking tips! And we are eating great! LOL But seriously, the women in my small group have become good friends and that has been fun to get to know them. Scott actually went and spent a day with one of the guys too….they drove to Chicago for a Cubs game. We have really enjoyed it.

Umm….what else? I know there is so much more. OH! I went to a “Fun” party. LOL Have you ever done that? Let me tell you….I was embarrassed FOR SURE, but I did have fun! Having a few adult beverages helped the embarrassment a bit, but it was all in fun. One of the girls at work threw it and we all sure laughed at lot!

So, a few weeks ago, for my Mom’s birthday, the women in my family got together – My mom, Jodi, Janice and my two older nieces (Desmonde and Dru) and we went out for breakfast. We met at my mom’s house and then left from there. My mom and dad are pretty private people when it comes to talking about any infertility problems they had and the whole adoption process of Janice and just all of that stuff. Not like they tried to hide it, but they just are pretty private and don’t talk about it. Well, that morning, for some reason, we had a very open and real conversation about it and it was so interesting to me. I went home and was telling Scott about it and I was like, I am 34 years old and that was the first time I can ever remember hearing that story and learning those things about when my sister was adopted. And Janice shared about when she went to meet and live with her biological mom for a while. It was just such a neat time and I am so happy we had those conversations. Jodi’s blog made me think of this. Janice shared that after she went to live with her mom for a while, she found out that her mom never, ever told anyone that she had a child. Now, obviously once she met Janice, she ended up telling her other kids (Janice has older siblings) but she still never told anyone else about her. So, after lying about her for over 20 years….and then meeting her…..she still wanted to lie about her. That was the thing that made Janice realize that she didn’t want this woman to be a part of her life. It was very eye-opening to me because I could never understand why Janice couldn’t just feel wanted by my parents and that to be enough for her. And I am sure I will never understand how she feels, but for that brief moment, we were able to see into her emotions and also see my mom’s emotions about how that all played out. I am sure it was good for Janice to hear my mom say that at the time when Jan was born, my parents just went along with whatever the birth mom said because they wanted the baby so bad they were scared to mess it up. I don’t know if I am doing the whole conversation justice, but it was one of those moments that I wish I could bottle up so I could play it over again and again in my mind. And now seeing Jodi and Jim go through the wild roller-coaster that they are on, it just is neat how God’s hand is in everything. Often I think we lose sight of that because we get so wrapped up in the uncertainty and the fleetingness of this world….but He is in control and He knows what the outcome is going to be. Again, I don’t think I am doing this story justice…but it was a beautiful moment and one that I was so glad happened!

Well, if you are still with me…you must be bored! I am sure there is so much more that I could tell you, but I can’t think of it right now! I still lurk and check journals occasionally…so thanks to those who keep me occupied at work! To those that haven’t updated lately, I am bored at work…so please update! LOL