My other kids & God's blessings.

As most of you know, leaving my sisters kids was the hardest thing I have ever done. We have done pretty well so far. I have been talking to them on the phone and shopping for them and sending them things. It didn't hit me until Thursday afternoon, when it hit me that I had started school and they hadn't started it with me. They will be attending Rogersville this year, which has truly been a blessing. Brady will be in the same building as J's aunt, who I adore and she adores Brady! Ashlee will be in the same building as Lindsay (my friend and former counselor at Sparta) and she will check on Ash for me. So, even if they don't know it, I will be keeping an eye on them, even if I am using others eyes to do so. It has been really hard leaving them but I know that this is where we are meant to be. So many things have been direct signs from God that I know we are on the right track. No one ever said change was easy.
I promised you all that I would share the story of the farm house....so hear is the shortened form! We found the farm house on a Monday, Jason and I were going back to Missouri that night to start packing up our house. I fell in love at first sight. It was the house I had always dreamed of and the farm J had always dreamed of. The price was in our range & it was in our 2nd choice for school districts. The lady that lived there had lived in the house since she was 9 and she will be 85 in November. She agreed to hold the house for a few days so we could make a decision. Well, I would have bought it that day BUT, we still had the land that had been on the market for almost 18 months and we just didn't want to bite off more than we could chew. So, I tried calling her Thursday night to tell her we just couldn't do it right now, but she didn't answer. I had prayed to God that if this was our house to send me a sign and he sent a BIG one. About 1 hour after I had given up on getting in touch with the lady that night, our phone rang. It was our realtor, with an offer on our land. With in an hour after that we had worked out a deal with the man and with in 10 days we had a check in hand and closed on it. I called the lady Friday morning and worked out a deal with her and HOPEFULLY, we will move in September 15th! God does take care of us. That week J also got a good job! We have truly been blessed to sale $100,000.00 worth of land and a house in this market is a gift directly from God.

I have survived!

I have made it through my first 3 days as a middle school teacher. I have 24 students and a very supportive principal (which you fellow F.R.O.G.S. will greatly appreciate). I spent 72 hours before school started hanging new white boards and covering liquid nails covered walls. Going from a new building to an OLD building was definitely a change! A little background on my new school..... It was built in the 1950's or 60's as the African American high school. After desegregation it has been many different things over the years. 12 years ago it was the lowest performing school in the district with the highest poverty rate. My principal begged and pleaded and was finally allowed to take the school over and turn it into a fine arts magnet school. 5 years later, with the same poor kids, the school was, and remains, the highest performing school in the district. It is truly the coolest place I have ever been and the hardest I have ever worked! The teach everything with literature circles, cooperative learning, and based around the arts. The do not force teachers to use any textbooks that don't work. Students are given hands on, performance based, activities and they apply what they learn. It is the most supportive, positive environment that any teacher or student could hope for. Last year (with the same number of special ed students as any other classroom), the 7th & 8th grade had 100% of their students pass the state tests (that is a 70% or above!). It is truly an inspiring place.
Now for a little humor! My principal (MW) has begged the district for the past few years to get a Chinese teacher so that our 7th and 8th graders can take Chinese. So they finally agreed and brought him in this week to meet our kids. He speaks good English but somethings get lost in the translation! He was explaining to the kids that depending how say the same word (whether it is a falling or rising syllable) it has a different meaning. So he was explaining to the kids that a certain word meant diploma or degree and that if you said it a different way it meant "have you shitted today!" Standing next to him was MW who almost passed out in the floor when he cussed in front of the kids! The 8th grade teacher and I were trying hard not to crack up! After MW explained to him in front of the class that the kids would get expelled for that, they left the room. As the door shut behind him the entire 7th and 8th grade busted up laughing (along with their teachers!). ;0)

Finally moved and school starting!

So I haven't fallen off the face of the earth and I will someday find time to respond to your emails and phone calls but here is just a little catch-up session!!!



We moved to Oklahoma last week. We sold our land and house all in the same week! We closed on our land today and the house at the end of the month! The same week that our land sold, Jason got a job in Pryor at the new Gatorade plant. We also have found a 100 year old farm house (my dream house) on 40 acres that we are in the process of buying! Until then, Jenna and I have been staying at my aunt & uncle's house in the pool house (trust me, it sounds more glamorous than it is!). Jason will be joining us at the end of the week. We may be staying in the pool house until the 1st weekend in OCTOBER! But it is a place to stay and it is very comfortable-not to mention my aunt does most of my laundry and cooking! I enrolled Jenna in her new daycare today, she is with Dad & Grammie this week in MO (yes mommy is trying to handle that!) but will start her new school in Monday. She will be going to the program at my new school for teen mom's and they fill the empty spots with staff kids. It is in a building about 1 block from my school and was an answered prayer. God has truly blessed us during the adventure and I plan to tell you all about after school starts! About 36 hours and counting!

Moving Day!

This is "Shawna's PAD! (as Uncle Doug calls it) And as you can tell from the picture that follows, Jenna doesn't mind sharing one large room with her parents!