Yes, I make children cry

Maybe that isn't the best title to describe myself. Oh, well... I made several children cry this week. Really it's not because I'm a meany, it's just because I'm a rule enforcer and the kids want things to go their way!!! Anyway, there is one child that is autistic that gives me the most challenge. I have no experience working with autistic people, therefore during a meltdown I seriously have no clue if what I'm doing is appropriate. I do not give in to the demands, I just hand out options but the child does not budge!!!! If anyone has experience with autistic children give me some advice. Please?!? :)

This whole week Bill has been training with Delta. I sit at home waiting until around midnight for him to come home. He has two more weeks of training and then he'll have a normal shift. We are so grateful that we both have jobs. Bill's brings us flight benefits, while mine gives us laughs.

I cannot believe how fast this year has gone by, seriously Thanksgiving is in a week and half! AND I get the whole week of Thanksgiving off!!! The perks of working in a school system. I'll spend part of it with my parents and the other half with my extended family in IN...actually while in IN I'll probably spend most of my time at the Olive Twist. It is an olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting bar that my aunt opened a year ago. It is very tasty and because of this becomes very busy during the holiday season, thus needing my help. I don't mind, though, I stock up on olive oil when I visit. This is what the Olive Twist looks like:













Above is my aunt and uncle.















These canisters are full of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We fill bottles from these! Also, customers are free to taste anything!

Mad Skills

Yesterday we held a mini Olympics for the kids and at the end gave them a blow pop as a reward for participating! A kindergartener came up to me and the other adult and asked "did you give us the blow pops because our skills BLOW your mind?!?!" it was hilarious!! Of course we said yes!

This week has been crazy, we're competing for $2500 from Kroger by getting healthy through fitness and snacks. I taught the kids some line dances, we did a workout video, ate some apple mouths, banana caterpillars, and had the olympics. It's been crazy trying to keep the kids organized, but overall I think the week went really well!!! The kids really DO NOT like being active. Their idea of active involves a tv, a game, and a controller (wii, or PS) seriously guys, there is more to life than video games. Did you know that I really dislike video games? I think they are a time waster. Go outside and run around! Play a board game with your family. Dance your heart out to your favorite song! (I love to dance)...

This week was also Halloween, and of course I dressed up!! For school I went as an old lady, (by the way, this IS my hair!!!!!)



















And for Halloween night I was a zombie!!! Bill was in all black and put his Phantom mask on... I handed out candy while Bill scared people!!!



















I enjoy dressing up!!! It's fun to see the reactions I get from kids!!!! On to next week, let's see what I learn from the kids! :)

What I learned in school this week

I recently started working at an elementary school, for an after school program. I love my job! The kids are awesome! I love listening to their interpretations of things. For example,

I had a bike accident and the kids asked me what happened; I explained that I fell off my bike and a 1st grader looked at me funny and said, "parents aren't supposed to fall of bikes!" Oops, I guess I fell off because I'm not actually a parent yet!! HAHA!! Here's something to look forward to, I WILL NOT fall off my bike when I have kids, whew! ;)

Thursday after playground, I asked the kids to wash their hands (this was before snack), a 3rd grader asked if she could just use her "handsatizer". I told her no, and she continued to ask if she could use it. "My handsatizer is in my backpack, can I just get my handsatizer?!? It would be faster to just use handsatizer." I secretly was laughing so hard, but I still said no... mostly because I wanted her to use actual soap and water, but also, I wanted her to keep saying the word because it was so funny!!!

I was also called Mrs. Hammer this week. Really? Hammer? Man, I really do love listening to these kids. Oh, and you know that show, The Big Bang Theory...one of the character's names is SHELDON!!!! A kindergartner told me that! (I enjoyed that one because I actually watch that show and Sheldon is the name of my father-in-law).

In Other News:
I've been working there for about a month and have really loved it. Bill will start working for Delta in a week. I'm excited, I will be able to fly anywhere (delta flies) for free! I'll get to see my family more which is awesome! We are living with my in-laws right now, not the best time of my life (I hate not having my own walls and kitchen) but I am so grateful that they are willing to help us out during this hard time. I definitely have a wonderful family, both on my side and Bill's side.

Last week, Bill and I went to Utah on a mini vacation, here are some pictures of our adventures:













Well, I would add more pictures but blogger is having some issues and I can't upload any more. Oh well. This picture was taken at a restaurant in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, the SLC temple is in the background.

Life after Boot Camp

After a long agonizing 4 months, the Army finally sent my husband home. For the last month of our separation I was on pins and needles. The reason... Bill was having problems passing the run for his PT test. He was 10 seconds over the time limit, and because of this they discharged him. Our dreams of a secure future were ripped out from under us. It took the Army a month from the time they said "You're going home" to actually getting him home. A very frustrating time! I was scared, alone, and I had no idea what we were going to do. We didn't really have a backup plan, I mean who gets kicked out of the military other than screw ups?

Our reunion was wonderful! I could finally hold my husband in my arms again. And let me tell you, the Army did a good job (at least physically) he's got some nice muscles :) Anyway, life after boot camp... has been full of prayer. We want to do exactly what the Lord has planned for us. We still feel strongly about being in the Army, so Bill is going to re-enlist this October. In the meantime he's going to practice his tuba and run like non other! As for me, I'm going to take the GRE and apply for more grad schools. I applied for the University of Washington in Tacoma, but now that we're not going there I have to apply elsewhere.

Now, we are all caught up to the present. If you want to send some extra prayers our way, I would greatly appreciate it! AND you could send some running tips our way too!

Georgia, Army, and Rabbits

I am home (in Georgia) this week; it has been so nice to visit with my parents and friends. This Saturday one of my best friends is getting married!!! I am very excited for her. I'm her maid of honor. It should be a nice day, expected temperature of about 88 degrees! Unfortunately this will probably be my last visit home for a while. I found out this week that I got the job I was hoping for!! It's a summer internship with a youth program in Knoxville!!! This will consume my summer and immediately after it is over I'm moving to Tacoma, WA. CRAZY! I am so excited, though! I have 1 and 1/2 months left of school and then a summer o'fun and then WHO KNOWS!!!

Bill has 2 weeks left of basic training. I am really looking forward to seeing him, my last post was during a rough patch of our seperation. I am doing much better now. Really, I had just a couple of meltdowns, otherwise I've been handling him being gone really well. I guess this is preparing me for the life of an Army wife. I have no clue what Bill will be doing (besides playing his tuba), if he could be deployed; how long he could be gone if he is deployed. This kind of worries me. He's going to be stationed at a deploying base, so there is the possibility of him being deployed. I guess people go through this all the time. My mom did it... My dad went out to sea for three months and then was home for three months. Hopefully I will find friends in Tacoma, I especially want to find friends who are spouses to band members, this way they will understand exactly what I'm going through!!!!!

Interesting thing, my parents raise several farm animals, I guess you could say they live on somewhat of a farm...they're building it up. Anyway, last Saturday we butchered rabbits, YIKES. (Rabbit meat is good..FYI) Anyway, we made rabbit jerky with some of the meat.. and it is GOOD!!! This weekend we're going to butcher turkeys and have a little canning party! I hope to one day be self sufficient like them. They have an awesome garden too, just yesterday I picked broccoli for our dinner. So amazing. They have a couple of cows that are about ready to be slaughtered... no buying beef for a while!

I guess this is my update for now, only 14 days until I can be in my husband's arms again. It's going to be a lovely reunion.

Empty

This is how I feel.

I haven't seen him in 10 days. Maybe that's not long, but in the past 10 days I have spoken to him for 3 minutes. 2 of those minutes were nice; the third, however, was full of many tears. I believed myself when I said I was fine, I felt ok...but tonight it really hit me hard. My person that I have shared my thoughts, feelings, fears, concerns with for the past 5 years is away. Away from my grasp, away from my cry... away from me.
I put myself through a horrible experience tonight, I watched a movie about a couple separated due to war. They really love each other, and what happens... First, the man dies... he dies away from the love of his life. Then she dies. Then the thoughts enter my mind. What if.... The love of my life is not at war, thankfully, but the thought of losing him when I have no contact with him is frightening to me. What if something happened to me? I accidentally ran a red light today. That could have been fatal, and then he would have been left without me.
Anyway, these thoughts wouldn't be in my mind if it wasn't for that movie. I am forbidding all war related movies, I can't handle them.

I do remind myself always to keep an eternal perspective. No matter what happens, we will be together forever. It's just sometimes those sad thoughts creep into my mind.

62 more days and I will be in his arms.