It's late on Christmas day. I love Christmas and I am always sad to see it go, but as many of us mothers' know, Christmas time is exhausting! I love that I get to share with the kids a lot of wonderful memories. I love riding around to look at Christmas lights. I love taking them to the same Santa and getting their picture each year. I love reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to them. I love reading to them about the story of Jesus birth. I love getting joy out of making them joyful. I enjoy Christmas Eve service and the Grace God bestows on us. I love getting to share God's message. However, it is exhausting! I just put so much pressure on trying to bake goodies for friends and get out cards with a picture of the kids and finding the right gift at the right price, and everything else that "Supermom" does, that I have worn myself out.
I want to go to church tomorrow and not need to rush to get everything done. Sunday I hope to go to church, have a nice lunch at home with the kids, watch them play their new Wii, and take a nap. If I get energetic, I hope to go to see the new Narnia and Yogi movie with the boys and my Dad and my nephew in the next few days. Monday is the much anticipated Neurology appointment. I just hope they can figure out exactly what is not working correctly and how to fix it. Tuesday I am getting my first mammogram and my ultra sound on my neck to check for blockage. I also need to see the dentist before school starts. I am scheduled to begin student teaching Jan. 3. Life is about to get even more busy. I think I need a few naps in the coming week. God is in my plan and it is helping me to try to remember the joy and not to reflect on the stressful things I have going on right now. My kids had a great Christmas thanks to friends from church and they were very happy with the gifts they received from their grandparents and aunt and uncle and cousins. Friends just topped out Christmas week. I was gratified to see many friends and spend some time with them on Christmas Eve. I really have great friends! I have an amazing church! Without both, Christmas gifts would have been much smaller to say the least. I also have an awesome family and extended family! So, through all the crazy hustle and bustle, I do remember the joy and I am getting better at giving "it" to God and beginning each day anew. I aim to go to bed each night thanking God for my blessings and I am trying to praise Him each morning and throughout the day. I am also trying to do it in front of my children even more often to help teach them this pattern. Writing this blog is helping me stay focused on the joy!
Happy New Year!
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Middle of December, 2010
Hello family and friends,
This month has been so busy, it just seems to have flown by. The accomplishments of the week, shopping, baking, school is out for Christmas break...
The highlights of the week: John's 2nd grade class went to see the Nutcracker Thursday. He is still talking about it and loved it! We bought Nutcracers for a few family friends that he picked out! What a treat and wonderful memory!
Happy Highlight: James reminded me that Friday is the anniversary 5 years ago that he asked me if he could call me Mom! Still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it!
More highlights: My friends at small group from church watched the boys for me and I went to Holy Spirit Empowerment Night Friday night, it was awesome! I felt so much better when I left. God and I needed time to regroup without the boys and daily stuff to clog up the connection. It was fantasitc and I hope to do it more often!
My shopping is finished, yea! We met up with Mom and Dad Saturday afternoon at Toys R Us and went to dinner at Red Robin, YUM!
The best highlight: Sunday, the boys and my niece were baptised at Mom's church by her pastor and dear friend, Rev. Nancy. It was so awesome. John said he felt clean from the inside out afterward! It was such a wonderful blessing! John has been wanting to be batised at our church for some time, but he needs to be 10 years old there. James hasn't wanted to do it at our church because there are thousands of viewers and he'd be a little uncomfortable. This worked out great! Another happy date to remember in December.
We went out to lunch afterwards to celebrate with the whole family and my niece's grandparents as well. That was fun! My nephew came with us and we spent the day at my parents house, watched movies on TV and Prancer was a favorite. The boys played great together. They had a good day. I made cornflake cookies for us and Mom and I made potato soup and it was so yummy. It was a great day.
And today, I finally mailed my Christmas cards. Then, again later than it should have been, the boys and I put out Christmas lights outside. I also found out this week that I passed my Praxis II test for Special Ed. It's the one that you must pass to teach. If not for a friend, I would have forgotten to check on it, it's been out there for a few weeks. Only one more test to take since my grad school is in Arizona, I have to take another Praxis exam in March.
The tree is up, some gifts are wrapped, cards are finished, now I just need to finish some papers for grad school and all will be well in the world. Snow Snow and more Snow coming this week. When I finish my school work the boys and I will do more baking for our neighbors and take that around. We plan on going to a few movies over Christmas vacation (Narnia, Yogi, etc). I am scheduled to begin student teaching January 3. I pray it goes off without a bump in the road.
More good news, the neurology department at OSU Medical Center called today and moved up my appointment to Monday Dec. 27! YEA! Another prayer answered!
So, all in all, things are looking up. This year has been very tough, but we have survived. If we can find out how to eliminate my health issues and school finishes as planned, wow, how wonderful that will be....
Merry Christmas!
This month has been so busy, it just seems to have flown by. The accomplishments of the week, shopping, baking, school is out for Christmas break...
The highlights of the week: John's 2nd grade class went to see the Nutcracker Thursday. He is still talking about it and loved it! We bought Nutcracers for a few family friends that he picked out! What a treat and wonderful memory!
Happy Highlight: James reminded me that Friday is the anniversary 5 years ago that he asked me if he could call me Mom! Still brings tears to my eyes when I think of it!
More highlights: My friends at small group from church watched the boys for me and I went to Holy Spirit Empowerment Night Friday night, it was awesome! I felt so much better when I left. God and I needed time to regroup without the boys and daily stuff to clog up the connection. It was fantasitc and I hope to do it more often!
My shopping is finished, yea! We met up with Mom and Dad Saturday afternoon at Toys R Us and went to dinner at Red Robin, YUM!
The best highlight: Sunday, the boys and my niece were baptised at Mom's church by her pastor and dear friend, Rev. Nancy. It was so awesome. John said he felt clean from the inside out afterward! It was such a wonderful blessing! John has been wanting to be batised at our church for some time, but he needs to be 10 years old there. James hasn't wanted to do it at our church because there are thousands of viewers and he'd be a little uncomfortable. This worked out great! Another happy date to remember in December.
We went out to lunch afterwards to celebrate with the whole family and my niece's grandparents as well. That was fun! My nephew came with us and we spent the day at my parents house, watched movies on TV and Prancer was a favorite. The boys played great together. They had a good day. I made cornflake cookies for us and Mom and I made potato soup and it was so yummy. It was a great day.
And today, I finally mailed my Christmas cards. Then, again later than it should have been, the boys and I put out Christmas lights outside. I also found out this week that I passed my Praxis II test for Special Ed. It's the one that you must pass to teach. If not for a friend, I would have forgotten to check on it, it's been out there for a few weeks. Only one more test to take since my grad school is in Arizona, I have to take another Praxis exam in March.
The tree is up, some gifts are wrapped, cards are finished, now I just need to finish some papers for grad school and all will be well in the world. Snow Snow and more Snow coming this week. When I finish my school work the boys and I will do more baking for our neighbors and take that around. We plan on going to a few movies over Christmas vacation (Narnia, Yogi, etc). I am scheduled to begin student teaching January 3. I pray it goes off without a bump in the road.
More good news, the neurology department at OSU Medical Center called today and moved up my appointment to Monday Dec. 27! YEA! Another prayer answered!
So, all in all, things are looking up. This year has been very tough, but we have survived. If we can find out how to eliminate my health issues and school finishes as planned, wow, how wonderful that will be....
Merry Christmas!
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
My life
Hi world, my name is Dena. I am a single mother of two boys. I became their foster mother in 2005 and then their adoptive mother. The boys are in 7th grade and 2nd grade. Their names are James and John. I went to college to be a teacher, but decided to be a professional nanny instead. Six years later I decided to change careers because my personal life was a mess. I was told it would be very difficult to have kids. I went into the payroll industry and did this for the next 11 years. During this time I decided to foster and adopt because my dating life was not going anywhere, but my relationship with Jesus was stronger than ever. I truly believe that God put my boys in my life. I believe that we are following his plan, difficult and stressful as it may be.
As the economy has failed, so has the job market. Payroll is now often outsourced out of state or out of the country. One year I took a break from volunteering in the church nursery to help my son's Sunday school class. I worked with 4th graders and God opened my eyes to his plan, to go back to teaching. Since that time I have gone back to school to get my masters degree in special education.
This year has been a tough one for us, my health has not been great, the boys have issues, but with God, family, therapy and friends, we are making it.
My goal is to remind myself that although our life is stressful and challenging and downright difficult, God is in charge. If I can remind myself daily of this, then each day can begin anew. Welcome to my blog.
As the economy has failed, so has the job market. Payroll is now often outsourced out of state or out of the country. One year I took a break from volunteering in the church nursery to help my son's Sunday school class. I worked with 4th graders and God opened my eyes to his plan, to go back to teaching. Since that time I have gone back to school to get my masters degree in special education.
This year has been a tough one for us, my health has not been great, the boys have issues, but with God, family, therapy and friends, we are making it.
My goal is to remind myself that although our life is stressful and challenging and downright difficult, God is in charge. If I can remind myself daily of this, then each day can begin anew. Welcome to my blog.
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