Heavy Heart

Tonight my heart is heavy for a friend of mine, and so I thought I would share a bit of her story in hopes that you all could help me lift her up in prayer.

I met my friend Jan at church twelve years ago this summer. She was actually my boss as I worked in the Mother's Day Out program over the course of several summers. Jan is funny and kind. She is also organized and can get a job done quickly and effectively. As I got to know Jan over the years, I was also introduced to her three lovely children--Hollee, Laurann, and David. For the past several years, her daughter Laurann has been battling Hodgkin's Lymphoma (the same type of cancer my mom had at nearly the same age). After eight rounds of chemotherapy, as well as many other treatments, Laurann has been given only months to live. She is 22. Mike and I went to visit Jan and Laurann last week. Hospice has been called in because the tumor in Laurann's chest is causing her quite a bit of pain.
As a mother, my heart is breaking for my friend. I simply cannot imagine watching my daughter suffer. Thankfully, Jan has an incredible faith that is giving her the strength to care for her in these final days of her life. Would you please join me in praying for my sweet friend? And for her daughter too? I know they are both battling fear and exhaustion.I am praying specifically that these last weeks will be peaceful and full of especially precious moments together.

Thanks, friends.

Trip to Graham: Day 3 and A Trip Down Memory Lane

Before I tell you about our third day in Graham, I thought I would take you on a slight detour down memory lane.  Yesterday I mentioned my "oldest" friend, Shauna.  I thought you might like to see a little bit of our history together.  And as a bonus, you will see a wide variety of clothing styles in the process! 

Shauna and me in the Brazos River

1983

First lemonade stand!

1985

The morning of my 10th birthday

February 1987

(I am holding Lucky, my very favorite cat ever)

Dance Recital

1984

The day before I moved to Oklahoma

1987

Reading Partners!

1986

Firemen's Park

1995

Trip to Colorado

Summer 1988

(Love my french rolled jeans and awful bangs)

And there are many, many more photos I could have shared! Now you can see a little bit of the history behind the friendship.  

On to day three....

On our last day in Graham, I wanted to take my kids to Firemen's Park.  This park might be the single most vivid place in my memory.  I spent countless hours playing at this shady place.  I played on the playground equipment, took walks, fed the ducks at the pond, crossed the "swinging bridge", slid down the clown slide, and climbed the "picture tree".  Today the playground equipment has been updated, the clown slide is no longer there, but many things are still the same.  The trees are even bigger and shadier, the swinging bridge is still swinging away and our picture tree was ready to climb.  We had such a great morning there.

At Firemen's Park 

 Lucas feeding the ducks

The Picture Tree

 My children obviously need more tree climbing experience.  Look at the terror on their faces. Really, we were not that high up.

About to cross the swinging bridge

 Me, Shauna, and Shauna's mom Janice

Hooray for family!

After a few hours at the park, we met up with Shauna's dad for lunch, then we hit the road and headed back to Oklahoma City.  It was a quiet ride home...

even for Spiderman.

A Trip To Graham: Days 1 & 2

When I came into this world, my parents lived in a small town in north central Texas called Graham.  Graham is a little town with a population of about 8,500 people.  My dad's job in the oil and gas industry brought them to Graham in the early 1970's.  It was the place where my memory begins. It is where I took my first steps, made my first friend, started school and rode my bike through the neighborhood.  It is the town where I spent my innocent childhood years, and I hold those years so dear to my heart.  It was a good place to grow up.

In 1987, my dad's job moved us back up to Oklahoma City.  For my parents, they were excited to go home.  For me, I thought my life was over.  Everything I knew was in Graham.  I have never been one to accept change easily, so I was not looking forward to starting a new school, making new friends, etc.  Thankfully, I survived that critical transition and even grew to love my life in the Sooner State.  But when I think about those early years of my life, I think of Graham, and I wanted my children to go back one day to see all the special places that are a part of my history.

This past Saturday morning we packed up and headed south for the four hour drive down the H.E. Bailey Turnpike.  We pulled into town about 3:00 in the afternoon, checked into our hotel, then went directly to visit my friend Shauna and her mom, Janice.  Shauna is my oldest friend.  And I don't mean old as in age (she's actually a year younger than me), but I mean old as in I've known her longer than I've known any other friend. She and I don't even remember meeting, but our moms were friends and say that I was three and she was two. Shauna's family lived across the street from me in Graham, and we spent nearly all of our time together. Even after I moved to Oklahoma, for years we spent a few weeks each summer together.  It was great getting to visit with her in the same house we played dolls and Barbies in as little girls.  We all went to dinner together, then we went back to the hotel for some swimming before turning in for the night.

After breakfast the next morning, we decided to go for a little drive out to Possum Kingdom Lake.  The drive is quite scenic, and we found a sandy beach to pull over and let the kids get their feet wet in the water. Next on the to do list was a trip back into town for a famous vanilla cream coke at Dairy King (not Dairy Queen). It is a must!  We spent some time walking around the Library and Shawnee Park before meeting up with our friends for lunch.

 The girls at Possum Kingdom Lake

Hannah at Shawnee Park

For the afternoon, we decided to walk around the town square which features cobblestone streets and lots of cute shops centered around the Young County Courthouse, pausing to take a few obligatory pictures in front of the gazebo on the courthouse lawn.  

 Leah and Hannah at the gazebo

Silly girls

We then caught an afternoon movie at The National theater downtown.  The theater was in operation when I was very little (I saw my first movie, Mary Poppins, there when I was four), but shortly after it closed down.  For the remainder of my years living in Graham, it was closed, but later was renovated and reopened.  The kids enjoyed seeing a movie in such an "old" theater.  Our evening ended with more swimming and visiting with friends.  We collapsed into our beds that night, exhausted but happy.

The National Theater

PS) I had planned to blog during my trip, but internet service was a bit sketchy and we were so busy that I figured no one would mind if I took a few days off. :)

What's Your Decade?

Tomorrow our good friend Reed is turning 40.  In honor of his big day, his wife, Nikki, has planned for him an 80's themed birthday party tomorrow night.  You see, Reed considers the 80's "his decade."  During this decade, he was a big fan of Michael Jackson, so the party is a tribute to all things Michael.  All the party attendees are supposed to come with some sort of Michael Jackson costume reference.  I know there will be plenty of "generic 1980's girls" with side ponytails and blue eyeshadow and legwarmers (me probably being one of them).  But I also know some people are dressing up as Blanket, Macaulay Culkin, and a Thriller zombie.  I think the birthday boy might be dressed as Michael himself, glittery glove included.  There will be a moonwalking contest and kareoke and perhaps a "best costume" presentation.  I love the 80's so I am really looking forward to it!

This whole things got me thinking, what would I claim as "my decade"?  Would it be the decade of my childhood?  The era whose songs I innocently danced to in my bedroom?  The years where I tried to imitate whatever the cool teenage girls were wearing?  Where I giggled at slumber parties until the wee mornign hours?  Or is "my decade" the one in which I was a teenager and into my early twenties?  Those were really the years that I "grew up".  The years where I chose my own strange fashions and decided to rebel against whatever was "cool" or "normal".  The years where I blasted the music I loved in my car as loud as I wanted.  The years where I dated and got my heart broken and started making plans for my future?

If I go with my childhood years, I would have to choose the 80's.  

(Man, I love The Wedding Singer!)

 If I choose my teenage years, I would have to say the 90's were it.

(Hello, Grunge)

I guess I'll just take the easy way out and say both!  It's interesting to think now what this decade will mean to my kids who are in their own years of growing up and figuring out who they are.  What songs and styles and pop culture will they remember?

What about you?  What would you say is "your decade"?


PS-- I will definitely post pictures from our 80's party tomorrow night! They may not be up until Saturday, but I think they will be good!

Dreams

I have been known to have some very strange dreams.  Very strange.  They are usually colorful and vivid, so I remember them pretty well.  I have a few reoccurring dreams, and I have even been known to sleepwalk!  I thought I would share with you some of my all time favorite weird dreams.

The Walking Stick Dream:  When I was in 1st or 2nd grade, I dreamed that a large stick was walking around town.  Not only did this stick have skinny stick arms and legs, but a very mean face.  He had amassed a small stick army that was marching behind him in perfect unison.  As they walked, the stick army grew in numbers. As the big, mean stick and his minions came marching down the street, people were running and screaming in fear.  I asked someone why people were so afraid of a silly stick, and I was told that if he touched a human, the human would turn to stone forever.  I panicked and started screaming and running too.  No matter which street I turned down, there was the mean stick and his army slowly marching toward me.  That's the end.  Sort of a scary one, really.

The Snake Wrangling Dream: A few years ago, I dreamed that my parents, Mike, Hannah and Leah, and I were all eating in a restaurant totally made of glass.  You could not only see out the huge glass windows, but also the ceiling was glass and the floor too.  Outside you could see all kinds of wild animals walking around- tigers, bears, alligators, peacocks, etc.  As we were enjoying our dinner, we looked down and were surprised to see a large boa constrictor snaking its way around the floor. It was yellow and white and looked like the snake Britney Spears infamously wore wrapped around her shoulders at some music awards show a few years ago. My mom and my kids and even Mike jumped on the table in fear.  But my dad turned into Crocodile Dundee and jumped on the snake's back and somehow hypnotized it into submission and led it out the door to the applause of everyone in the restaurant.

The Asparagus Dream: (*Disclaimer:  I hate asparagus!)  I think I was in junior high when I dreamed that my mom and I were driving down a highway when a sudden rainstorm came upon us.  It was raining so hard that we could barely see out of the windshield because the wipers couldn't keep up with the downpour.  We pulled over to the side of the road and the wind picked up.  Suddenly, it became clear to us that a tornado was fast approaching, so we did the logical thing and went to hide in what we thought was a large cornfield off in the near distance.  As we got closer to the field, we realized that it was not corn, but giant stalks of asparagus growing out of the ground.  At this point the wind picked up significantly, so we crouched down beneath the stalks.  As the tornado passed over us, we were tossed and rolled around among the slimy, drippy, smelly asparagus.  When it was over, I was covered in asparagus goo.

So what about you?  Have any strange dreams lately?

Moon photo from here

A Few New Things

We have been working on a few new pieces to hang on the wall in our hallway, and this weekend we finally got them hung! I love the way they turned out too.  The framed ABC's are really special to me because my mom did all the intricate needlepoint while she was pregnant with me.  They proudly hung in my nursery when I was a baby and even into my toddler years a bit.  Eventually, they ended up in the attic where last summer I rescued them.  We spray painted the old avocado green frame with a crisp coat of white, and the ABC's were ready to hang.  

The silhouette's on either side were done by an amazing artist last summer in South Dakota. Mike carefully cut them off the original paper and framed them with a simple gray background.  The one on the left is Leah an the one on the right is Hannah.  (Sorry the photo quality is not that great). Hung all together, I really like the whimsical, innocent vibe they have brought to the hallway that leads to our children's bedrooms.

And I love that I was able to bring something specifically made by my mom into our home as well.  When I walk down the hall, I glance at it and see a little bit of her in our home.

Teaching Days

My Sixth Grade Team

L to R: Ms. Howell (Science), Mrs. Shockey (Reading), Mrs. Galloway (Language Arts), Mrs. Swinford (Math), and Ms. Wichert (Social Studies)

Tonight I had the privilege of attending a retirement reception for one of the amazing teachers I worked with during my eight years at Piedmont Middle School.  It was so nice to honor a woman who has dedicated several decades to lovingly teaching children.  She not only inspired her kids, but she inspired her coworkers as well.  I saw what real dedication and "going above and beyond" looks like.  She truly loved and cared about each student's success.  It was neat to see so many teachers, administrators and former students come out and celebrate her retirement this evening.

It was also fun for me to get together with my old sixth grade "crew."  As any teacher knows, one of the only ways you survive being "in the trenches" is by having a team that you trust and respect, a team that works well together.  This was true from day one with us.  I was so blessed to have a terrific teaching team around me.  We spent literally hundreds of days together, through thick and thin.  I can remember countless lunch breaks where we sat together laughing (and sometimes crying) over the joys and trials of teaching.  Sixth graders can be both challenging and hilarious.  We lesson planned together, took field trips together, wrote grants together, and discussed discipline together.  Not only that, but we were also able to be there for each other on a personal level.  Through dating stress, births of children, divorce, battles with our own children, moving, etc.:  we were all shoulders to cry on.  There is something very comforting in working with people you respect and love.

It almost made me want to go back to work. Almost.  For now, I am very content to stay home and teach my three favorite students ever. :)