Caleb turns 10 - Double Digits!

It seems like yesterday that we drove 100 miles per hour to the hospital. Caleb's birth was a scary one. My labor was 1 hour and 22 minutes from first contraction to the baby cry. We live 35 minutes from the hospital and we had a 4 year old to drop off at a friends house at 1 AM after an Awana night no less.

Needless to say, Caleb came on his own terms. Something that is representative of his personality.
We never made it to drop off David.  John almost missed the birth. They had to announce for him on the loud speaker because he was walking into the hospital from parking the van. If there would have been snow, I would have had Caleb in the van. It was a scary (and uncomfortable - Caleb was 9 pounds) ride to the hospital.

Here is a video I made of Caleb's first 10 years. It is a privileged to be his mom. I am a blessed woman indeed!  Enjoy:

https://youtu.be/rXfapmEWeN0

Crazy Hair

Nathan asked for a lightening bolt hair cut. I wasn't sure I could pull it off. Here is the end result. Nathan was happy with it.

Nathan Finishes Sparks!

We are so proud of Nathan for finishing his 3rd book in Sparks. 

Here he is holding his Sparky Award. 

Both of the other boys have this award in their room and

 Nathan was so happy to finally earn his!

To earn this award,  a clubber must finish 3 handbooks. 

The total Bible verse count is 150. 

That is in addition to all the activities,the Bible biographies,

 and the books of the Old and New Testaments.

'Proud of my littlest man. 

May God's Word forever bear fruit in your life!

Farewell Chip

It was a sad day. Grief abounds. Our most loved hamster Chip has died. Caleb took the news the hardest. Both of the younger boys have said that their room just isn't the same without the sound of Chip on his wheel.

We held a cremation service for Chip in the backyard. John even made Chip a pillow and a blanket. We plan to scatter his ashes in the garden and remember the circle of life.

Goodbye Chip... I will always remember the joy you brought to my boys, especially at the Petco hamster races.

Momma is Back to Work

It has been 5 months since I last blogged! That seems about right. We are all adjusting to my return to the workforce this year, and updating our blog has certainly slipped. I have been privileged to stay home with my sons for 14 years, so my return to work has been an adjustment for all of us.

This school year has brought many changes for our family. For the first time in 8 years, I am not teaching any of my own children. Our local school district made a number of important staff changes (including the school nurse - think Nathan heart condition) and because of this Caleb and Nathan are now at the local public schools. David is mostly virtual schooled with some in building courses at the local middle school. He will be attending our local high school full time next semester. These changes were a game changer for our family, and in August and I spent a lot of time reviewing our schooling options.

I requested and received my college transcripts in September, and in October I began the process of testing with the State of WI Department of Education.  In October I received my DPI licence and began 2 part time jobs at nearby schools.

I took a position with the Oregon School District at Rome Corners Intermediate School. I was placed with the 6th grade Special Ed. students. I was privileged to be assigned to 6 of the most wonderful kids (mostly boys).  Most of my students are Autistic, ADHD, or have severe behavior issues, but some have physical limitations as well. I began as a limited term employee covering for a teacher on maternity leave. After 6 weeks, I was given an offer to stay on for the remainder of the school year. I was just about to accept this position but within 24 hours I was offered additional opportunities at my other part time job, which I accepted instead. I concluded my employment with Oregon School District in February, but I am still a substitute on call.

Also in October I began a part time afternoon position with our local virtual school.  For them I telecommute, as all of my students are working from their homes. I work with 6-12 grade students who are needing alternative education to achieve their diploma. During the first semester I had a small case load of students who were all at risk in some way. (expelled for dealing drugs, self harming/suicidal, home arrested, pregnant, physically handicapped,etc) After Christmas break, I was offered the opportunity to increase my student load and I took an additional position involving gifted and talented students in 4 other school districts.

Now I am working at home 4 days a week. I had the opportunity to weekly volunteer at Nathan's school to assist the 1st grade remedial readers (I LOVED this!) and go on Caleb's field trip and still effectively manage my student load. This is a dream job for a mom! I now have 22 full time students and I report on 4 school districts' gifted and talented students in addition.  This is such a pendulum swing! Everyday is a new adventure. I have seen many kids blossom with alternative education and I have also seen kids abuse the opportunity.  Life is full of choices isn't it?

I am still the Cubbies Director at our local Awana club. I am about to conclude my 16th year with Awana in just 5 short weeks. Oh how the years go by. In fact one of my former kindergarten Awana students is now one of the gifted and talented virtual high school math students gaining college credit thru one of my districts! THAT makes me feel really old. (and proud!)

All of this post was just the changes in Jenny's life. I am hoping to get back to posting more about the boys and their soccer, swimming, baseball, guitar, piano, and camping adventures. All of those things have continued as well, but have not been documented here. I desperately need to move 2015's photos and videos off of my phone!  :)

David plays in the band

Today was a moment for the record book.  David has been taking guitar lessons for a few years. Today, they got put to good use. 

We helped lead a worship service at the Manor here in Evansville at the last minute. With 1 day notice, we agreed to come and sing and play. 

David played guitar, I sang solo, his best friend played piano, and his best friend's brother played base guitar. The 3 boys have been rehearsing for leading worship this coming Sunday.  I had never heard them all together. Then at the last minute, they decide to do the service for the elderly at the Manor. They had no singer as the teen girls who sing with them were not available at the last minute. So they asked me to sing.

We never rehearsed and I never heard them together before going in the door. 15 minutes later magic happened.  They played and I sang and David and I shared the best moment. We preformed Hallelujah by Cloverton. It will  be a treasured memory for years.

John and Jenny Celebrate 20 years of Marriage

I made a little video slide show of our last 20 years.
I noticed a number of things while putting it together:

• We have very few pictures of our years prior to having children (there were 7 of those)
• We don't have many pictures of all of us together 
• We have almost no winter pictures

Click on the link to the youtube video below to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMiwd_ABkYI&feature=youtu.be