Thursday, May 20, 2010

hhhhmmmm_

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/18/eco.free.economy/index.html

thoughts later.

silence_


“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
— Jack Kerouack


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

just 5 minutes

of peace and quiet. of not thinking about anything pressing or important. of sitting up straight, instead of hunched over in my chair. of looking out of a window and drinking on some coffee. of sunshine. of hearing His voice. of NOT DOING IEP'S!! just 5 minutes.


yes, it's that time folks...IEP crunch time. i have close to 50 kids on my caseload...most of which have summer birthdays, which means that i need to have their IEP meetings before the school year is over. and we have 10 days left, not counting this day. IEP paperwork, on top of medicaid billings and treatment makes for loooong days...which turn into longer days when i truck it to the hospital in the afternoons! i really shouldn't complain, though. i have a job! thank God.

in other news, i am gearing up for the summer! amy and i have spent some time planning out our adventures :) skip (the pastor of my church), and his family have left for florida for the month. i would LOVE to have that flexibility, and i'm so glad they're able to take a break and rest. and even more glad that they left their kayaks! amy is keeping there dog switch (aka snitch, stitch, stitches, flick, etc...) and they told her to use the kayaks as often as she wants. so saturday amy and i trucked it down to a neighbor's dock on lake wylie (she lives in tega cay, by the way), and set out to have a day of adventure. when we got there the neighbor was home (clark), and he told us we could also use his pontoon and jet ski when we wanted as well!! yeeeeeaah! that is awesome. this particular day; however, we just wanted to play on the kayaks. and play we did. we found a dock that we've hung out on before...we're not really sure who it belongs to. there is no house associated with it, and our best guess is that it's owned by duke power...b/c there is a metal plate on the outside of it that says "duke power." makes sense, right? anyway, we paddled over to "our" dock and played in the water, kayaked, and laid out in the sun. it was AWESOME. we did the same thing on sunday after church. and yesterday afternoon after school we kayaked over to the namowisc's (sp?...i usually just call them the namowhiskers ;) and jumped off their high dock...without permission. i know, we live SO on the edge, right? hahahahaha. anyway, we then paddled back and i went and hung out with michelle and beulah while andy took his seminary final. i just love that family. michelle is a wonderful friend and so fun to be around...and beulah lights up any room she's in. i am continually amazed at the people God has placed in my life. so that's one thing we're going to do this summer...use the heck out of that boat, jetski, and those kayaks.

we've also talked about touring the great north carolina wine country. ahhahahahahahhaha. but seriously. they're are vineyards around and we want to check them out. other plans include, but are not limited to, weekend trips to asheville, carborro, virginia, charleston, san diego, LA...ha, yeah right. i don't know where we think we're going to get all of this money! we both work for the school district! but we will do as much as we can with what we have! maybe we can be like betty jo ray and "become a tourist in our hometown." remember that little spot on cn2 in college, girls? i hope my college friends are reading this, otherwise that sentence was wasted.

well, that's all i got right now. i should get back to writing IEP's and scheduling meetings. i just needed 5 minutes (well, what turned into 20...) of shooting the breeze. i hope the busyness (sp?) makes the time fly!

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

what's been going on

i've decided to invite my family and friends to this blog...i don't know why i haven't before now. i haven't written in a while...i have several drafts, which is so typical of me. but i decided to go ahead and write to catch everyone (one) up with what's been going on lately.

work is going well...i love working in the school system. i especially love the hours. i work from 7:30-2:30 or 3:00. i have a long break for Thanksgiving, a longer one for christmas, out for spring break, and then out for a little over 2 months! it's nearing the end of the school year and this will be my first summer with "nothing" to do since i was in undergrad! yeehaw! i know i talk a lot about breaks, but i do enjoy my job when i'm here, too. i work with 3 self-contained classrooms, and i LOVE my children. they are the best. they say the funniest things all the time. i've started to randomly write down the things they've said on stray pieces of paper. next year i vow to make a quote book. yes, they are that funny.

i've been working at the hospital in the afternoons to help out the SLP-get her oriented to treating adults. she has been with children for many years and doesn't have a lot of experience with adults. she is wonderful to work with, and i need the money. it's great how God provides...i was getting very low on funds, and my parents have been unable to help me out, and just in the nick of time angie called and said they would need me for the next couple of months or so. hooray :). it makes for long days, but i'm so thankful for the work.

my love life is also going well :) this month kyle and i will have been "officially" dating for 5 months...but practically dating for 6 months ;) and i'm crazy about him. he treats me the way i've always known i've deserved to be treated. we have fun together and keep each other laughing, even when we're sitting around doing nothing. he has definitely become one of my best friends. i love being around him and we compliment each other well. he's met my family they are all fans. he gets along well with my friends...all is well :). he leaves at some point to move back to nashville, though. don't know how i feel about that. i'm excited for him to be able to finish school and for his life to return to a sense of normalcy since the accident, but i'm going to miss the devil out of him.

things on the friend front are looking good as well. back in april julie and jt came into town, bringing everyone from college together for a nice reunion of sorts. jonathan and lizzy; ryan and ashley, jessica and pj; melissa and jeremy; peter and jillian; me and josh and pat were all there and it was great to hang out with everyone again :) lizzy's birthday is june 11th and i'm going down to hilton head to hang out with them and go to an avett brothers show. may 29th is christy and james' wedding, so i'll be there as well and will be able to see everyone...excited about that!

this week i need to get support letters for guatemala...that's right, i'm at it again! this summer i will be there for 2 weeks, as opposed to one like last year. i will need to raise some mega funds, so as much as i love your prayers, i could REALLY use your money ;) i continue to love my church. they are my heart and everyone is doing well. amy signed a contract for next school year, so she won't be teaching music full time. cindy is doing ESY this summer and jeremy is thinking about going into the navy. danielle will be in uganda all summer for invisible children. and she thought she might be going to peru for a year, but she is staying in the country. heather and the kids are doing well. i meet with michelle and beulah about every other week. i love that baby!

my body seems to be doing well. after my big hormonal imbalance scare last year, i think we have finally figured out what's been going on with me. my body is very sensitive to sugar and carbs...so sensitive that it messes with my girl hormones and could possibly affect fertility. i plan on having babies, so i've changed my diet drastically...i should eat refined sugar/simple carbs very rarely...and i even have to watch the "good carb" intake as well. ugh. but i lost most of the weight that i had put on during that scary time, thank God. i've still got about another 1-15 lbs to go, but i'll get there. i've always been very athletic and healthy, so it was really scary when things started to head south in that area. i've started running again and i just signed up for my first half marathon. it is on november 13 in greenville. i'm on a training schedule now, lifting a few times a week and running a few times a week. i'm really trying to ease back into running because even though my heart and breathing are ok when i run; my muscles aren't used to the routine and i don't want to over do it. but i'm really bad at not overdoing things, so we'll see how this goes ;)

so that's about it :) things are going well. God is faithful and wonderful and worthy. and i thank Him for this time of smooth sailing.