and it is...

a GirL

Introducing Jasmine Renee, the 1st grandbaby and great-grandbaby! She is due to make her appearance on the lovely Groundhogs Day.


In other news -
Did you know that sleep is vital to emotional stability? Well, it is. That theory has been put to the test recently. We have these two in the house that think it is perfectly ok to stay up all night long, cook and make messes in the kitchen that they never clean up, and watch tv or the radio with the volume too loud. THEN, they want to sleep during the day and get mad when the birds whistle, a puppy whimpers, or even the normal people watch tv during regular household hours. Anyway, what happens is when some of the normals are faced with stress following a lack of sleep episode they just fall apart. To my praying friends out there...this situation needs divine intervention.

Jen is again hobbling around on crutches. She sprained her ankle on a step at church last night. I'm guesstimating from the level of swelling that it will probably take her about 3 days to get back to normal. I've had sprains from mild to severe ligature tearing and surgery a very real option so I know my sprains. :P

So it is the end of September and I am yet again anticipating that first, fresh-smelling October cold front. I always begin craving it this time of year and on the years it never arrives it's like, well, like Thanksgiving without the turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, ham, sweet potatoes, pecan and pumpkin pies, fudge and cookies......well, get the picture? lol It just doesn't *feel right like there is this huge void that nothing else can replace. I love the fall! The colors. The food. The smells. The fair. The carnival is this weekend. I'm hoping to finally get to the Renaissance Festival this year. Ahhh, the anticipation!!!

sleepless and on a quest

My again painful ear woke me up about 3am. Lovely. I got a cortizone shot on Wednesday and my ear felt great but yesterday it started the throbbing yet again. And of course, it is the weekend so nothing can be done. I'm taking decongestants to reduce the fluid on my ear but nothing seems to be helping.

Anyway, I am on a quest for the perfect headset. I have never been able to find one I am satisfied with to use with my desk phone. This week I had to purchase a usb headset for another application and the one recommended to me I absolutely *love*. It's the Plantronics DSP-400. So I am in search of an adapter to plug the usb into that will plug into the 2.5mm jack on my deskphone. Or, if I can't find that, a comparable headset with a 2.5mm plug. I found one internet telephony headset that has adapters for both kinds of connections so I'm thinking surely it's possible. Otherwise, I'm searching for how to route VOIP calls thru the computer vs thru router to the desk phone so I can use the usb headset. Or? Most of the information I'm finding is concerning routing VOIP to a standard phone vs the computer. I'm backwards, I know. lol

Ack! It's enough to make ones head hurt. :P

reading

I've always kinda discouraged my kids on the Harry Potter craze. It's never been a big deal, really. It wasn't from a 'oh my, it's too evil' point of view but generally I had no interest in sharing it with my kids.

Well, someone, I think maybe the school librarian, recommended the series to Jen so she's reading them starting with the first book. She's 18 so it's her choice, yk? She hasn't mentioned what she thinks of yet. She just tossed out a remark that she was going to read them all and now the book is sitting on the dining table.

Speaking of reading...I had a really great conversation with Jared yesterday. We had been reading (rather I'd been reading to him) a book about a boy who was struggling on his basketball team and being picked on so he determined to practice and improve his skills until, in the end, he was able to make the winning shot. If you go back and read this post from last year, you'll get a peek into the struggles that Jared has had to deal with. Learning to read has just been the biggest challenge for him. He is now in 5th grade but at a 2nd grade reading level. He has always refused to read to me claiming that he can not read. I knew he could read some because I'd catch him reading a sign here or there but still he refused to ever read to me. But he is *finally* starting to get it! YAY! I give alot of the credit to two things in the past year. His special ed teacher has had him listening to/reading along chapter books on tape. Just the constant practice of having to follow the story in the book has had marked results for him. And second, I just cannot say enough about what TaeKwonDo has done for this child. It's given him the self-confidence he needed so desperately. It's helped him improve his preserverance. It's improved his life skills dramatically. Both of these boys are small for their age so knowing how to defend themselves is wonderful for them. However, the therapy benefits that have made such a difference in Jared's life is worth every penny I have spent, every hour I have sat and waited for class, every mile driven, and every sore neck/back from sitting on the gym bleachers for hours during testing. Oh, and don't forget the stress of Mr Penny Pincher complaining about the costs. lol

Anyway, back to the conversion I had with Jared yesterday...this book gave us an opportunity to discuss facing and perservering thru challenges vs giving it all up. He was just 'ready' for it, yk? He had some wonderful insights yesterday on overcoming the struggles to reach a goal. We'll get thru this. I have hope that he'll soon feel comfortable reading to me. I have hope that someday he'll catch up to his grade level in reading. He was actually reading a few simple sentences yesterday and I so look forward to listening to him read a chapter book to me. The reward, the feeling of winning, after all the struggles we've been thru together will be out of this world. We are going to get there. We will. It just takes time and continuing what is proving to be *his success plan.

and once again...

There is nothing quite like that belt promotion ceremony. Just look at the excitement on those little faces. That is just beautiful. :)

These guys took turns tightening each others belts. They were being silly. :) These belts, when they first get them, are quite stiff so getting a good tight knot is difficult.

a special friend they see at church and taekwondo class

The Tenets of TaeKwonDo

They recite the tenets at the beginning of every class and often review what each tenet means and how they apply to life. They are learning some wonderful life lessons along with their self defense skills.

And last but not least, the special picture with their instructor I try to get for every promotion.

ha ha ha ha ha ha

Girly glitter comments from GirlyTags.com

I love smiles!

My loopie sister Terri over at In His Hands sent this award over my way. She's always so sweet to me. Thank you my dear friend. :)


This is what the person that created this award says about it, the thing that I love most about blogging is that I learn so much about a person just by reading their blog. I have met MANY wonderful people with wonderful stories to tell,and I am grateful every day for each person that I have the pleasure of crossing paths in life with.I wanted to create something special for the top ten people who have inspired me through their blogging; the stories they tell, and the lives that they lead with grace and dignity. I visit their blogs for inspiration and encouragement.Although there are MANY people I want to give this award to at this very moment, I am going to choose ten bloggers:Please grab your badge and wear it proudly, and pass it on because you inspire and encourage me, thank you. So, now it is my turn to pass it on. Here are the ten bloggers I choose:

Wendy has got to be one of the most loyal friends on this earth. This gal answered her phone at 8am one morning for me and happily searched for a phone number after we were surprised by Hurricane Humberto charging thru and knocking out our power. She (along with my other loopie sisters) listen to me vent about certain circumstances and usually have something to say about it all that makes me smile.

Terri, again, is one of my bestest friends of all time. She's always so sweet and kind. I just cannot imagine my days without her there. She's been an inspiration to me in so many different ways.

I apologize. I usually don't have alot of time to read up on my favorite blogs other than sporatically but I have a few non-blogging friends I'd like to include. I must include my dear loopie sisters. We all (Terri, Wendy, Janna, and Sonnya) met 10 years ago on a message board during my pregnancy with Jeffrey. After all the babies were born we formed our own little loop and they have each become my sisters and best friends.

Janna I have truely come to admire. She has dealt with some difficult things but she is overcoming. It always gives me courage to smile and overcome whatever comes my way.

Sonnya, my dear opinionated friend, always has some funny way to make me feel better about those difficult things that happen. I also must say that Sonnya is somewhat of an overachiever (let's just say going to college while homeschooling 4 kids age 9 and under if that tells you anything!) and inspires me on to bigger and better things.

My dear daughter, Jennifer, has always been a bright star in my sky. She often puts concerns for others ahead of her own. I'm enjoying watching her growing and finding her way. She is a very special young lady and I am blessed to be called her mother. She does bring smiles to my face often.

My final choice is my dear mother. (Hi Mom!) She is often there with a hug when she finds me online. There is nothing in this world quite like a hug from your mom, is there? I am thankful and truely blessed to have her. She is a rich treasure to me. Just the thought of her love and concern will oftentimes brighten my face into a smile. Thank you, Mom, for everything you do and for those hugs that are always there to make any day better.

TKD brown belt testing

This weekend is the end of yet another testing cycle. I didn't get pictures of the actual testing. I was enjoying just watching them too much and simply forgot about pictures. I do have some silent video of them practicing out in the hallway while we were waiting for the previous group to finish. I need to get an editing program so I can add music and fancy 'em up!

The first one is the brown belt form. They started it back-to-back with the idea that when your finished you should once again be back-to-back.

This second one is practicing their 3 steps sparring. Jared missed one of his blocks there...oops! They ended up not even doing it during testing.

And in other news......we had a surprise visitor at 4am yesterday morning! We went to bed thinking we'd be getting some rain from 'ol Humberto but nothing at all to be concerned about so I'm sure you can imagine our surprise when he came knocking on my door at 4 in the morning. Yikes! I woke up when the power went out and opened to door just to check on the weather and thought "Gee, it seems aweful fierce out there for just a tropical storm." It wasn't but about 15 minutes later that one of James' coworkers called and we found out it was actually a hurricane. We were one of the lucky ones. We were without power only about 6 hours. There are some at what is now almost 48 hours later that are still without power. It was a very interesting night, to say the least. We have branches down and piddling things like that so we'll be working to get the storm debris cleared this weekend.

settling in

Today we are wrapping up week 2 of school and things seem to be settling into a normal pattern. We have things scheduled 3 of the 5 nights so homework is done as soon as they get home. There is just no time for it after 6pm. So, basically, Jared has only 2 hours of down time most days that includes any homework he may have. Not much. It feels great to be back on a regular schedule. We've had to make some adjustments. Our most difficult challenge seems to be getting Jeff on the bus every morning. I think he's made it twice in the past 9 days.

TaeKwonDo Testing. It's that time again! Testing and promotion. After next week they will be yet one step closer to those coveted black belts. National Championships a couple of times a year - yikes!

Now things here haven't been overly exciting but, boy, has it been a week for my friend Terri over at In His Hands! After 6 long years of struggles and disappointments, she finally received a picture and name of the little girl she is adopting from China. It's been an awesome week full of joy, excitment, and praises. I'll be thrilled when they get to bring her home in a few weeks. Jump on over there if you get the chance...It will bring a smile to your face and tears of joy to your eyes.