Well, I doubt anyone has visited this sight lately, since it has been almost a year since I last posted! YIKES! So much for keeping everyone updated! I can't even begin to sum up the events of the last year! I read through a couple of the last posts and realize how some things can change so drastically and then some things never change!

Bright Beginnings has had more success than I ever could have imagined and in so many ways I never could have realized. It has been so much hard work, but I have not regretted any of the time and energy, because working and living for God doesn't stress me out like any ordinary job. It is so rewarding, so inspiring, and so much fun to do what I do! I wish I had time to write about each little child that has been a student in our first year and the blessing they are! Not only are they so smart and well-behaved, but they have learned so much about the Lord. I listen to them pray, recite verses, sing songs, retell Bible stories, and much more during Bible Time and I am amazed! These kids are going to change the world! Their lights for Jesus are shining so brightly. I can honestly say that our goals were accomplished this first year beyond our wildest dreams!

Ryleigh is finishing up 2nd grade and it has been her best year yet. She loves Mrs. Bechtel and has done so well. She loves reading and has been motivated to read, read, read with the AR program. She has been learning some "bad" stuff, too, from some of the kids who apparently get to watch every movie and tv show that they want! We have tried to use these "teachable" moments on a positive way about what not to say, do, etc. My proudest moment of the year with Ry is when she accepted Jesus into her heart and was baptized in February. A very emotional time! Her basketball team did great and she even had a game where she made a free-throw with 11 seconds left to win the game! She and I have our fighting moments and she has a way of trying my patience, but she is still a sweet, smart, precious daughter!

Reagan is growing so fast and I cannot believe she will be in Pre-K in the fall! She is so talented- she loves gymnastics and is REALLY good! She is very smart and can print her name so perfectly I can hardly tell the difference between her writing and Ryleigh's! She loves to sing and interupt her sister (which goes over really well!). She talks about baby Reese a lot and I think she is going to love going to China. We have had some very heartfelt and emotional conversations about her China mommy and how she became a part of our family. She can name the first 6 elements on the Periodic table and tell what they are used for! Daddy couldn't be happier about that! What a blessing she is in our lives.

God really worked things out for Tim this year and I am so proud of how much he has grown closer to God through the ups and downs of his job. He took over the Youth group at church and has done such a fantastic job with them. Although the Science dept. head fiasco was a very difficult (and eye opening) experience, he could have never done this work with the youth if he had that responsibility. God is awesome! We may have lost some friends through that (which is sad and disappointing) but he certainly gained a great deal and his reward will be in heaven!

We hosted a small group at our house this year, too, and have really enjoyed it. We have learned so much and grown so much spiritually. Since we both teach on Sunday mornings, it was nice to have a bible study to do together. We have made some great friends and are so thankful for their love and support.

We have a super busy summer planned, but I am excited to enjoy some time off! It will be good to reflect on the year in more detail soon!

*** A note to Reese: we have passed the two year wait and there seems to be no end in sight. We wonder all the time about you and when we will get to meet you. Your sisters love you so much and already argue over who will sit by you and feed you and tuck you in! I hope they let me have a turn! As we wait for you, sweet baby, we grow in Christ and try to be the kind of family you deserve. I sit in your room sometimes and pray for your birth parents and the heartache that have yet to face that will ultimately become a blessing for us. I thank God for the gift of you that will soon be given to us. Until then, we wait...

Summer Blast-Off

Wow- the Summer Blast Off was a huge success even though it did rain off and on. We had tons of preschool families mingling with our church family and it seemed like everyone had a great time! The kids LOVED the new playground to say the least! It's going to be a popular place for years to come! God continues to bless Bright Beginnings at SHCC and I am truly so grateful!
I think I did okay talking on the radio, but I guess I will never know for sure! A few too many "ums" I am certain, but I think I answered the questions and got the right information out there!

I didn't mention this last time (I don't think)... but my heart is still breaking for the Steven Curtis Chapman family. Their youngest daughter was killed in a tragic accident in their driveway. I love SCC's music and his passion for the Lord. But my real connection to him is China adoption. Little Maria was one of three precious daughters from China. This kind of tragedy is sad, but I think as an adoptive parent, you just feel like it is even more heartbreaking. My prayer is that the family will continue to seek comfort from God, who is the only one who can ease the pain caused by something so terrible. I cry every time I hear the Cinderella song that SCC sings. I will be hugging both of my girls much closer every night. This is a reminder that bad things happen to the best people and life can be taken away in a matter of seconds. Thank God that Maria Sue Chapman got to spend her short life being loved and cared for by such a wonderful Christian family. I am sure this little angel is dancing with Jesus now.

I think it is my last day of babysitting today. Lindsey didn't show up this morning. I am assuming that Nick is being born today and that they just forgot to call me. So, our last day together and she didn't even come! But Justin and Madison are here and I have been a bit sad all day. Justin is such a sweet boy and he and Reagan love eachother so much! He has always been a perfect child for me and I can't imagine how hard it will be to say good-bye later this afternoon. I am still praying that his mommy and daddy will bring him to Bright Beginnings, but as of now, it's not the plan. I hope we keep in touch, they are a special family. If my other babysitting families are any indication, though, we won't. Sadly, once I am done, it seems people move on. Maybe they don't realize how close I become to their children and what a bond we all have. I guess this is the one downside to the preschool. My old life at home babysitting is over- I am happy, but today it is bittersweet. (Ask me tomorrow when I get to sleep in and have the whole day with just my family!!!!!!)

I am getting things ready for our trip to Wisconsin. It's always so much fun to pack!

Praying for cheaper gas and well-behaved kids in the car!

OOPS! I missed a week!

Well, things are just too busy around here! I missed my thankful Thursday last week, but that doesn't mean I am not thankful for anything, because I sure am! So, here's the list for the last 2 weeks!

1. Girls Night Out- last Friday was a super fun time with the girls, going shopping at the lake and eating at Dominico's. I laugh so much with these friends that I almost pee my pants! It is so refreshing to be able to be yourself and talk and laugh! Knowing these woman are all Christians, too, is so nice. They pray for you when you are down and celebrate with you when good things happen! GNO keep me sane! I LOVE it! Thanks to Stacy, Erin, Jill, and Tonia for being such great friends! I am so thankful to have you in my life.

2. Thankful that Erin didn't get a ticket even though we got pulled over on our way home from GNO! I could go into the details of the creepy cop, but there's no need...

3. Christian teachers- we got to visit Maplecrest (where Ryleigh will go for 2nd and 3rd grade) and it was quite a shock. It is an old building with the same smell as my elementary schools! But there are some great teachers with Christian morals and values, so I think we will be okay! I am way more nervous than Ryleigh is!

4. Summer is almost here! I will be done babysitting in the next week. What a relief! I am thankful for the chance I have had to care for Justin and Lindsey, but it is getting really hard to entertain them and work at preschool. Things will be much simpler around here when I am not waiting on kids to get here or kids to get picked up or kids to nap, etc. etc. etc. I have never had time with just my girls and I am so looking forward to this summer!

Well, that's a short list, but I do have a million things to do today! Our Summer Blast-Off/Ribbon Cutting for the playground is Saturday and for some reason I am doing most of the work for it. I don't mind, but as soon as I found out the radio was coming to broadcast live, I knew I had to really do a good job getting ready! I am praying the weather cooperates and that we have enough food for everyone!

In one week I will be leaving with my kids to go to Wisconsin for a few days. We are going with my mom, sister, sister-in-law, 3 nieces, and one nephew (poor Ben!) to visit my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousins. I am so excited to get away and see everyone! We get to meet my cousin Travis' fiancee, Katie. She is beautiful in the pictures we have seen and we look forward to getting to know her! Pray for safety on this trip and that we can afford the gas there and back. It's ridiculous, isn't it?

Have a great Thursday!

Another Thankful Thursday

Well, the week has flown by and it's time again to focus on what I am thankful for! Very appropriate for me to do today since it's raining and cold and I am grouchy!

1. Praise and Worship music- I haven't always listened to Christian radio, but recently I decided that I can't listen to "regular" radio because it is not appropriate for my kids (a lot of it anyway). Now I absolutely LOVE listening to Christian music! My favorite song now is Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) and I got the CD for Mother's Day!

2. Lenita- the secretary at church. She has been one of my biggest supporters and helpers with the preschool. She is such an awesome person and I love working with her. She has been there through the hard times and pulled me through with her honesty, compassion, and knowledge. I love her!

3. The Wednesday night KID-MO group at church that I have worked with for 3 years. They did a Bike-A-Thon last night and raised around $900 for Bright Beginnings at SHCC!!!!! My children are blessed to have this group of kids to call their friends! They are a blessing to me, as well.

4. Safety from natural disasters. There is so much going on in the world with earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, etc. and I am so lucky to be safe and sound with my family. My prayers go out to the people suffering now, especially the children of China because they hold a special place in my heart, for obvious reasons!

5. Ryleigh learning to ride a bike! Tim and I thought this day would never, ever come! But, a few of the other parents and grandparents at church helped her last night and she finally did it! I was so proud of her. She even wrecked a few times and got up and rode again (after a few tears and bandaids!).

6. All of the friends and colleagues that have been so supportive of Tim during this time of uncertainty with his job. So many people have called and emailed and talked to both of us about how appalled they are about how he is being treated and how wonderful he is as a teacher and leader in the school. These kinds of sincere comments are what is making this nightmare tollerable. He still has not heard and answer and none of the science openings have been filled as of this week's school board meeting. Kind of late in the game to be finding good teachers, but what do I know?

7. Spring weather- hoping the forecast is correct and we will be feeling the 80's this weekend!! I love spring!

8. The motivation to get up and exercise in the morning. I still have it and am enjoying the feeling of doing something good for myself first thing of the day. I am too chicken to weigh to see if I have lost anymore, even though I can tell I have. I think I will just weigh once a month or so for now. I do not want to be discouraged because that has happened before and it's the beginning of the end if I feel like it is not worth it because of the number on the scale. I am sure most people don't understand my struggle, but I am slowly coming to terms with it and trying to prevent those negative things!

9. The tv show Criminal Minds- one of my favorite weekly events is watching this with Tim after church on Wednesday nights. We both love it and it's a great feeling to snuggle and watch a show that is so different and new every week. There's no stupid twists or corny story lines. I love all the characters and truly enjoy each episode, even though it is a bit graphic sometimes. In my opinion it blows all the CSI shows out of the water.

10. Reagan's expanding vocabulary. All of a sudden she is saying the most grown up things and expressing herself so well! She has been so funny lately and can come up with the most hilarious come-backs! She is becoming a real thinker, too and can try to reason her way out of all her mischief! How lucky am I to be her mom????

Have a great weekend! Only 10 days of school left! HOORAY!

Thankful Thursday

Okay, I know a few people who do this kind of post every Thursday and decided that it is a really great idea to focus on what I am thankful for! So here goes...

I am thankful for...
1. My Lord and Savior, for loving and forgiving me, even when I don't deserve it.
2. Losing 12 pounds, so far!!!
3. Other people's blogs that entertain me and help me see things from other points of view.
4. My husband, who works so hard for our family.
5. Ryleigh, who keeps my mind functioning with all her questions (that are getting tougher!).
6. Reagan, who is so happy and full of energy.
7. Reese's birth parents, who may have already made the decision to bring her into this world.
8. The feeling of clean sheets-I am washing them and love the feel of climbing into a clean bed!
9. My mom, who made me the person I am today!
10. My church family, who is full of people who have made a lifelong impact on my life as a mom, wife, friend, and Christian.


It feels good to focus on positive things for a change!

We had a great weekend in Kansas City. It was emotional for me to watch my uncle remarry (my aunt died 2 years ago), but I know that he is happy and that life must go on. I think it just makes it so final that Nancy is gone. I am glad we went to show Alan our love and support. The girls were so incredibly well-behaved, too! They were the only kids there and the reception was fancy and looooooong, but they both acted so sweet and nice! I was very proud of them both! They had a blast swimming in the hotel pool! Reagan is such a natural in the water and Ryleigh is completely over being scared. It was fun to have the whole pool to ourselves Sunday morning to just play and relax. It was good to get away from the whole school mess with Tim (still nothing has been decided, I guess it takes awhile to figure out exactly where to place the knife in someone's back). We visited a place called Deanna Rose Farmstead on Saturday. It was a lot like Grant's Farm and equally fun! The girls liked seeing all the animals and it was a beautiful day to walk around the gardens. Reagan was a little grouchy because she was tired, but she still enjoyed it! My nieces and nephew were all there, too, so it was fun to be together!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! To me, there is nothing better than being a mom!

Frustrations on the Homefront

Okay, so the situation keeps getting worse and my husband is applying to other school districts. This is so stressful and frustrating, and in my opinion so completely unnecessary. He deserves the science department head job and he is more than qualified and he has a resume full of all the wonderful things he has done for this school and community. Apparently it doesn't count for anything. I suppose this is why we stay out of politics and the corporate world because we have more integrity and honesty and goodness in us than those kinds of people. How do people sleep at night when they spend their days screwing people around, excuse my language?!?!?

I am left wondering how a move to another district will affect our family. I trust Tim to make the right decision and trust that God has a plan. We must love the ones we could easily hate because of their actions and words ( our sermon just happened to be on this topic yesterday!). We have to be the shining light that doesn't let the worldly problems weigh us down. Stay focused on Him and remember your rewards in heaven far outweigh anything we can imagine here on earth.

Moving on... we shopped on Saturday for new clothes for both the girls- it was fun, fun, fun!!! They both did great trying stuff on and we got lots of good deals at Target, Marshalls, and The Children's Place. I am looking forward to all the fun things we have going on in the next few months, and now they have cute clothes to wear! And a few matching ones, of course!!!!

I love our new treadmill! I have been running and although I am super out of shape, I am proud that I have started back up again and am taking one day at a time to improve my health and my looks. I bought a book the has stories, tips, and information about The Biggest Loser. I read quite a bit of it this weekend and really enjoyed it. It's so much easier to swallow advice from someone who has been as fat as me and who struggled for years with it, than from some skinny-minny who couldn't gain weight if they tried!!! The most important thing to me is to be a good example to my girls so they can feel good about themselves and never feel held back by their weight.

We had our Moms in Touch Thanksgiving ceremony yesterday at church. All the groups got together to pray and talk about all the ways God has answered prayers this year. What an awesome feeling it is to be surrounded by such beautiful people who know the power of prayer and importance of praying for their children and schools. I found out that my friend, Janice, started praying for her younger son, Ryan when he was in 4th grade and in my class! How cool is that- she was praying for me and I didn't even know it!!! It must be why that was my favorite year of teaching! Ryan is getting married this summer and is such a great young man! I love the whole Shoemaker family so much! I am so proud to be a part of the SHCC family! Janice is now praying for her granddaughter, Addie, who will be in the very first 2 year old class at Bright Beginnings at SHCC!

Please be in prayer that the hearts of our administrators can be softened and that they can see how much Tim could bring to the position of department head. Thanks!

Life Lessons

I am taking a school situation that Tim is dealing with right now to gain some perspective about the kind of director I want to be for Bright Beginnings at SHCC. Tim has applied for the Science Department Head position and is by far the most qualified person for the job out of the teachers who remain in the district (and not just because he is my hubby!). There is a large turnover in staff this year, for various reasons, and it seems like it would be so important for the whole department to come together and choose the next leader. This is not the case. The really upsetting thing is that people have lied and manipulated things to deceive him and what they are trying to do is lure someone from another district by promising him all this extra money for all this extra things. It's so sad to me, as well as infuriating, the politics that is involved in schools. I hate politics on all levels, and this is why. I will never be the prettiest, skinniest, richest, or most popular, but I do know at the end of the day, I serve an awesome God who is the only One I will have to answer to. When people compromise their integrity to please the world, they are not putting Christ at the center of their lives. I really wish I could use names and more details, but I don't want this to come back and bite me in the "B.C. alert" later. For now I will vent and learn a huge lesson... I will do everything for Christ, who strengthens me.

I am so proud of Tim for being the best daddy and husband anyone could ask for. He takes care of us as the head of our household and he never acts selfishly. He puts us at the top of his priority list and works so hard so I can pursue my dreams with the preschool. He is so supportive of me and the girls. We will make it through this obstacle together because we lean on eachother in good times and bad. I LOVE HIM!

Okay, enough venting... we had beautiful weather yesterday and we (mainly me) got the garage cleaned out. We have so much junk, it's ridiculous! I did my best to organize all the stuff and left it at that! We also purchased a treadmill on Saturday, as soon as we got our tax return! I am very excited. Ryleigh and I have both worked out on it and I hope we can keep it up. Anyone who knows me knows how much I have struggled with being the "f" word (the 3 letter one, not the REALLY bad "f"word). I have been in denial for quite some time that eventually I would get back in shape, but I think I have put it off long enough. It's embarrassing to talk about it because I know most people do not understand. We watched most of this season of The Biggest Loser and I learned quite a bit and felt so inspired by the contestants. I am going to take it one day at a time and see how it goes. I don't want to set unrealistic goals for myself or get discouraged if I screw up, which I will. So, I will do the best I can to walk/run each day.

Funny thing Reagan said... She likes to cheer for me when I play cards with Ryleigh. We play a game called Spit and it is super fast paced. So she chants, "Go, mommy, go, mommy...." The other night Tim and I were looking at some emails on the computer and we had one from Go Daddy about the preschool website. Tim said something about Go Daddy and Reagan chimed in, No! It's go mommy!" It was so funny! I hope she always thinks so highly of me (yeah, right)!

I had a Girls Night Out Friday night! I can't remember ever needing one more than I did last week! We ate dinner at Applebees and then talked and laughed and talked and laughed and talked and laughed some more! I love my girlfriends! We stayed out until after 12:30! That is super late for a bunch of mommies! What a blessing to have them in my life! No matter how old I get, I know the importance of good friends! I am so glad God created us to be in relationship with others and gave us each a sense of humor. Tim and the girls rented Alvin and the Chipmunks and had a great time together. They all told me about the raisin part and Reagan was laughing so hard about it! We watched part of it again last night, but I fell asleep- Friday night caught up with me! I love picturing the three of them snuggling and eating popcorn and watching a movie. It's good for all of us to have GNO once in awhile. Of course, Ryleigh said "Good, I can go, too, because I'm a girl" I changed it to Mom's night out to stop her!

I also had a meeting at church this weekend about a bunch of preschool stuff. It went great! I feel so good about the things that are going on and the tremendous amount of support I have from the elders is amazing! I was put in charge of the inspection report action items and even got labeled the Project Manager! I almost laughed out loud thinking about The Apprentice- look out Oma Rosa!!!! God continues to bless me and this ministry! I hope I can continue to do things to the glory of God and make my church family proud. We got a lot of the financial side of things figured out, which is a huge relief for me, since I stink at finances!!!

Hope your day is sunny and bright, like it is here!