I love Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving.

I would have to say that Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It seems as though it is one of the few holidays in the year where I feel that we truly enjoy being together as a family and just savor our time together. I know that some people get frustrated with Thanksgiving because essentially we should be thankful for everything God has blessed us with every one of the 365 days out of the year. So in theory, Thanksgiving shouldn't be that different from any other day. I just enjoy having the opportunity to be able to reflect and appreciate my blessings.

I have been blessed in my childhood with many memorable times. Thanksgiving is definitely one of them. Since my family shared about 3 acres with my dad's brother and his mother, I grew up very close to my cousins. We did everything together. We always had Thanksgiving and Christmas together. I would have to say that my most favorite and memorable Thanksgiving would have to be the one we had last year. Part of the reason for that is because my brother Andrew got married the Sunday after Thanksgiving last year. My entire family was there as well as all my cousins I grew up with.

This was especially enjoyable as it had been at least 15 years since all of us have been able to be together for Thanksgiving. It was just like old times. There was my dad's brother and his wife, their five kids (my cousins) where four of them are married now with kids, my brothers, my little family and my sister with her son. It was great.
Here's all of us cousins. It's funny to see how much we've changed from all those family pictures from when we were younger. It was wonderful. I will never forget it. I just hope it doesn't take us another 15 years to get back together again, but it gets hard as we all have families of our own.

I Miss My Brother

My older brother, Andrew, moved to Colorado Springs this past summer.

Andrew and I have always been very close. He was always the one I turned to when something was going wrong, or if I just needed to vent off some steam. When I started college, Andrew lived only a block away from me, so it was really nice to be so close to him and to hang out whenever I wanted to. He was essential in helping me get connected with an awesome group of God-loving Christians. He has always been there for me when I needed him and even when I didn't. I have always depended on him to lend a listening ear or to help give me advice on something. I adore him. Andrew gets me like only a brother can. In some selfish way, I never really thought about looking elsewhere for friendships because I always assumed he would be there. He had always been there for me (location wise) until now. It's not like he isn't here for me now, but it's just different now that he is living two hours away from me.

Don't get me wrong, I am very happy for him and that he has gone back to school and gotten a new job and is supporting his family. I am very happy for him and definitely proud of him. I'm just sad for me. I guess I just always imagined that we would live close to each other and raise our kids together. I know our kids are still very young and there still is time, but I guess I'm having a harder time adjusting to the change than I thought.

I miss being able to stop by his store at any time just to say "hi". I miss seeing him at church every Sunday because he was there. I miss making his favorite burritos just because I knew that if I was making them, he would be there for dinner and take left-overs with him. I miss going to chick flick movies with him because Jason doesn't take me to chick flicks. He was there when I graduated college. He was the Best Man at my wedding, and I watched him cry the whole entire time. Just like I cried my eyes out when he got married. We just have this special bond, and I miss him so much. I miss watching how my girls adore Andrew and love playing with him. He was there when my girls were born.

Here he is holding Meghan the day she was born.
This is Andrew with Audrey about an hour after she was born. He is such a wonderful uncle to my girls. They adore him and look forward to seeing him. They still ask if they are going to see him, Lindsay, and David whenever we go to Nana and Papa's house every Sunday for dinner.

I guess I never thought about his leaving until recently. Maybe that's because I wouldn't let myself think about it because I knew it would make me cry. My oldest brother, Ted, moved away when I was only 14, so he was never really around when I became the person I am today. My sister Sarah and I are really close, but that is because we are sisters. We will always be close. My relationship with Andrew is just different. We have always looked to each other for support and friendship and that unconditional love only a sibling can give.

I made Andrew's favorite burritos a couple weeks ago and cried the whole time because I knew he wasn't there to eat them. Last week I was showing someone at work a picture of Audrey on my computer and I came across a picture of Andrew with Audrey and I started crying. He left a voice message on my phone today and I cried. Not like his message said anything important, but I just miss him terribly. I know this sounds weird, but I feel like a part of me is missing. I miss my friend--my brother.

"Shupa"

My oldest daughter, Meghan, has an imaginary friend. Her name is Shupa. From what I understand, Shupa is like a shadow that can fit in your hands, but is every bit human as anyone else. I think Meghan got the shadow thing from watching Peter Pan. Shupa has been known to play with Meghan and Audrey, go to the store with us, and even share Meghan's bed with her. One time Meghan was "carrying" Shupa in her hands at the store when she had to go potty. Meghan handed Shupa to Jason and quickly made her way to the bathroom. When Meghan was finished, she remembered to ask Jason to have Shupa back.

Meghan continues to talk about Shupa and takes her along to many places. The other day when playing along with Meghan's stories about Shupa, I told her that Shupa came to school with me and got to meet all my students. Here's our conversation:

Me: Meghan, did you know that Shupa came to school with me today?

Meghan: Really? But Shupa's not here now. She's at home. She's a little bit sick.

Me: Oh, really. I thought she was fine because she came to my school today.

Meghan: Well she has a tummy ache. She's at home now because she needed to throw up in the toilet.

Me: Ew! Gross! Good thing she threw up in the toilet, huh?

Meghan: Yeah, and then she threw up on my bed!

Me: Ew! What are you going to do?

Meghan: And then she threw up on your bed and Audrey's bed!

Me: Well, I hope Shupa feels better soon. Maybe we need to give her some medicine when we get home, huh?

Meghan: Yeah. That's a good idea.

The thing that gets funnier with this is that when we got home and got the girls' jammies on to go to bed, Meghan insisted that she not get on her bed because Shupa threw up on it! The imagination on that girl is so amazing sometimes! Thankfully she was satisfied with my pretend washing and cleaning her bed so it would be clean enough for her to sleep in her own bed that night.

The Funny Things I Hear Being a Teacher

The other day at school started like any other. It comes time for me to let my students into my class in the morning, and most of my boys come in singing the song for the free credit report commercials. "F to the R to the E-E-C-R-E-D-I-T dot com baby!" It never ceases to amaze me that kids are so willing to memorize stupid jingles like this, but when I ask them to study and memorize our vocabulary words for the week they don't remember a single thing!

This morning everyone was buzzing about the results of the election. In honor of our election yesterday, we had our own middle school polling where the kids voted on the next president with all the same candidates as the national one, but we decided to add a few of our own school amendments. We found a way to make the wording so complex and completely unable to understand so the kids would feel what it really is like to be voting for some of those amendments out there. Some of our amendments were (in understandable terms) whether or not i-Pods should be allowed at school, not ever having to do homework but only if all your trash is dumped into the oceans, trading class rewards for having to do an extra math assignment, and whether or not after school detention should be extended an extra 15 minutes. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the looks on students' faces when they tried to understand what they were voting for.

With me working in the middle of nowhere in an extremely conservative community, it was no wonder the voting outcome for our school was for Senator McCain. When my kids walked in this morning, there were some severely somber faces. I had a kid come up to me this morning and say, "Mrs. Gordon, if Obama is our new president, does that make us an 'Obama-nation?'" I couldn't believe what I heard. I cracked up laughing so hard. Only in hickville would I hear a remark like that. These kids crack me up.

It's not just these sorts of things that I find amusing, but also the kind of political remarks you can only imagine they hear a parent say at home. I especially like comments like, "I don't like Bush because he is the one who raised our gas prices." I don't have enough time in my day outside of my normal lessons to explain how our president doesn't directly dictate the price of oil. There are so many other variables related to that, I wouldn't know where to begin. I teach English and Reading.

Maybe I should start taking down some of the funny things I hear my students say. I could write a bestseller some day...

My Girls are Precious

I know it's natural for all parents to adore their children. There are many times throughout the day where I find myself thanking God for the wonderful blessings he has given me in my girls. They are so very precious to me. Maybe part of it is because I am such a HUGE sentimental person. I get that from my dad. Sometimes I wonder if he looked at me and my sister like this when I see my two girls walking down the sidewalk like this.

I picked up the girls from daycare this afternoon on my way home from work, and I couldn't resist the opportunity for a great picture.

The thing that makes this so precious to me is that this was all on their own. I didn't prompt them to start holding hands. They just did. The other thing that makes moments like this extra special is just that things like this happen all the time with my girls. They are the best (and sometimes the worst) of friends. They adore each other, and they play so well together. The other day they spent the whole entire day playing happily together. They were so content just playing with what they had and they didn't need me or Jason to help entertain them.I took the girls to a craft sale in town the other day, and they were so happy to pose for a picture like this. Many times they even insist on wearing similar clothes. It's times like this that I am reminded of me and my sister, Sarah. We were always wanting to dress up alike and act alike. I even used to pretend I was deaf just like her.

A couple weeks ago we were at my school for their fundraising event, the Harvest Festival. We all had a blast. They had a costume contest, but the girls were too interested in playing. The weather was wonderful, and I have no idea why the girls didn't burn up. Audrey especially enjoyed the tricycle track.

Meghan enjoyed stuffing her face with chocolate chip cookies.

The next day after my school's Harvest Festival, a family from church was having a party and BBQ at their beautiful place. They live on the east side of town on a 1-2 acre little farm. Their place was absolutely amazing, and definitely a place Jason and I have dreamed of having. They had a beautiful house which sat on this golf course of a yard. As the yard led to the back, they had a little play house village. They had about 4 different houses for the kids to play in! My girls were in heaven! Here's one of the houses:

As you can see, there is a balcony and from that there is a slide. On the other side, there is a swing set. The girls had a blast. Here's another one of the houses:

The funny thing about this house is the girls actually got stuck in it for a little while. Thankfully they weren't scarred for life from that experience. I don't even think they knew at the time that they were actually stuck. I had to get help from the man who built this house. It just so happened that the girls had accidentally pulled off the handle and couldn't get out.

We got to go on a hay ride, bob for apples, paint pumpkins, roast hot dogs, make smores, etc. We had so much fun that day. That is definitely a day I will remember for a long time. I am finding that the older my girls get, the more I am enjoying life with them and appreciating being able to share these little "firsts" with them.

I am so blessed.

I Love My Job

I love my job. There are many things I love about my job from the kids I come in contact with each day to the fact that I am always learning something new. I know deep down in my heart that I was created to do this. I was born to teach. Some teachers are made, but only some are born to teach, and I am one of them.

Teaching isn't as glamorous as many make it out to be. Yeah, I get every summer and school holiday off, but I am expected to cram in 12 months of work into only 9 months. It isn't exactly all that easy. There's frequently irate parents to worry about as well as kids who think they already know everything. (Not like any one of us were ever like this at one time or another in our lives.) I would have to say that the most difficult thing about my job is the parents I have to deal with each and every day throughout the year. Just when I think I am free of a parent or two, I either end up with a younger sibling, or I have to deal with the student the following year as I teach reading to the entire middle school grades at my school. (That's currently just under 50 students right now, but that's still enough).

Being a people pleaser, it can become very difficult for me to be able to do what I feel is right and still keep these pesky parents out of my hair. I learned very quickly last year that I just need to do a good job being consistent and keeping my expectations clear in all things. That way people always know what to expect with me. Last year was a very difficult year for me as it was my first year teaching all on my own, but I would have to say that I survived with not too many problems. I noticed early in the year last year that not many people are quick to praise you when you are doing something wonderful, but then when you do something wrong, people come in droves just to point out your follies and to rub it in your face. What is up with that? I guess it's just human nature to look for the negative things in our lives and to point out others' wrong doings just to keep the attention off of our own inadequacies.

Looking back to last year, I can probably count on one hand all the times where a parent had praised me for something positive I had done in my class. It's not that I'm looking for these opportunities to be praised, but sometimes I just need that confirmation to know that I actually am doing something right and that people appreciate what I do. What can I say? It's who I am. I need that occasional reality check to see how I am doing. I don't even mind hearing where I could improve...I just need some sort of feedback every once in a while just to keep me on track. I just hate it when I go off doing something completely wrong and I am totally blind to the fact that it is wrong in the first place. Somebody, please tell me before I continue to prove my shortcomings over and over again.

Much to my surprise, I received one of those few golden tokens of praise today that will carry me a long way. After sending my students off at the end of the day, one of my students came back to my class to give me a bouquet of flowers and a thank you card his mom had gotten for me. I was just blown away. I could not believe it. This was totally unsolicited and greatly appreciated. It's funny how things like this always come at a time when I least expect it, and from people who I least expect to receive praise from. I guess somehow I am doing right by that family. I had no idea. I guess I will just have to keep on doing what I am doing--whatever it is. I don't look for thank yous like that, nor do I expect to have them every now and then. (I already learned that lesson the hard way.) It's just when super nice things like this happen to me, it just amazes me. I'm still speechless.

Thank you God for giving me those little bits of affirmation when I need them. This was just a reminder that I am doing exactly what He has planned for me, and that I am right where I need to be....for now.

Life Changes

This past summer Jason and I put our house up for sale. There was a lot of work that went into doing that and maintaining the house. Most of the house maintenance fell on my shoulders as I was conveniently home all summer. I feel that it was a positive experience for us to have our house up for sale because we became more aware of some of the minor problems we had with our house. We also got to hear that there were many prospective buyers who thought we had a nice house and it was well taken care of. This did help me become more satisfied with what I have as far as my own home. I needed that. There are some times where I still see our house as the disheveled house we once had when we bought it as a foreclosure about four and a half years ago. Unfortunately, God had other plans and we decided to take our house off the market last month. I was somewhat disappointed because I was liking the idea of having a different house with more possibilities, but I should be happy that I even had the choice to get a new house and that I can still afford to pay my mortgage.

A couple weeks ago Jason and I drove down the street to take all our old furniture out of the storage unit we were paying for while we had our house on the market. We wanted the house to seem as clutter-free as possible as that would be more appealing to buyers. It was a little hard for me to take those things out of storage because I was remembering all the feelings I was having while moving everything in there. All the hopes, dreams, excitement, etc. just seemed to be floating away. I still a little sad with the thought, but I know in my heart that God has something else in mind for us, but I just don't see it yet.

It has been nice using some of our old "forgotten" items such as our family pictures. I never realized how empty my house felt without my pictures all over the walls. We also decided to put our girls back in one room again. This past winter we went out and bought a nice bunk bed for the girls as we felt that Audrey was no longer needing her toddler bed anymore. Meghan gets to sleep on the top bunk, which she loves and is totally safe in, and Audrey has no problems getting in and out of bed on the bottom. That left us with an extra bedroom to use as we pleased. Jason decided we needed a little "office" with our computer there instead of a little nook we have at the top of our stairs. This was a task he decided to tackle all on his own this past Sunday while I was with the girls at a church function in the afternoon. I got some cute pictures which I will be posting within the next week.

The girls are just thrilled to be sharing a room again, and it is REALLY nice having a nice, bright room to work in. Especially when I am grading papers. Our computer nook just got too dark sometimes. The only problem that occurred with the great move around was that something funky happened to our computer. Everything has power, but it seems that the monitor isn't receiving a signal from the computer itself. I'm not a computer genius, but I do know how the basics of how a computer is hooked up. We tried everything to get it to work. It appears as though our video card might be messed up, but I don't know what we are going to do with that. The thing that upsets me most is that I have ALL of our family pictures on that computer from before I had the girls. Anyone know a cheap way to extract all those files???

Jason and I had talked about getting another computer anyways because we are always fighting over who gets to use the computer and when. This just seems to be the push we needed to make that final decision. My new computer should be here by early next week. I am so excited. I get my own computer! Yay! (I am currently using Jason's work computer until we can get our new computers).