--Karcyn worked on her 3-in-1 Lego set she got for Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Lee. It was really cool. Pirate ships!
Hungarian sparkling fruit drinks. Love the little kid on the label. Haha!
A beautiful birthday cake! Made by the Gaspar family...
I'm not 100% certain, but I'm thinking this might be the Gaspar family. ;)
--On that previous Sunday, Karcyn was taking very seriously, the suggestions in the new Come Follow Me manual for teaching young children who don't like to listen. She sat down with JJ and read to him the story about Korihor in Alma 30. Every once in a while she would stop and ask him to draw what he heard and six awesome pages emerged. I went through them with JJ and had him tell me the story in his own words and I wrote those ideas down. We turned it into a book and decided that this was the very thing that Jake would LOVE to get in his package to brighten his day.
--Karcyn was looking out the back door and found this little "gem."
--Cooper worked a lot that last week of Christmas vacation. He was called in early because they were short staffed and he was asked to stay late a couple times. And he learned what it was like to be on his feet for 8+ hours at a time.
--My teenage boys would appreciate this. Haha!
--A special memory from 3 years ago that popped up on Facebook. The day Jake was ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood after he turned 16 years old.
--A good reminder!
7th--We got a couple of hard letters from Jake. He was struggling physically (lack of sleep, lack of sun, lack of running...), he was struggling spiritually and mentally being only a couple weeks into his new responsibilities as district leader and trainer on top of the fact he just had his first Christmas and phone call away from home, his first birthday in a different country away from home and it became this perfect storm bearing down on top of him. We get his letters at 5:30am when we get up and I worried about him all morning, for the first time since he left. We knew he'd struggle with the language, companions, rejection from the people and different aspects of his mission. But I didn't expect him to feel like he was shutting down physically. He's one of the most physically fit guys I know. But I also know he was feeling a lack of confidence in his ability to serve not only as a trainer for a brand new missionary where he was just three months before as well as a district leader. And for the first time, I was acutely aware of the distance between us as his mom and I ached to just hold him and tell him it was all going to be okay. Even if I emailed him that, he wouldn't be able to get my message for another week! Ugh. After the kids left for school, I fell on my knees and poured out my heart and tears to the Lord. I begged Him to PLEASE let Jake feel my love for him. I couldn't do it myself so I needed God to do it for me. After a few minutes of crying and pleading, I felt peace. There was nothing left for me to do but turn it over to God. And I felt better. But I wasn't sure about Jake. I asked our friends who read Jake's letters to please pray for him. I was surprised by the responses I got from friends all over. Some texted, some emailed, some responded on Facebook. Most of them were saying how impressed they were with Jake's faith and the way he sought counsel from the Area Mental Health Adviser in Europe. After I prayed in my room that morning, I felt prompted to send him an encouraging card from the family. So that's what we did.
--That morning was so crazy for me, worrying and crying and praying for Jake while working on laundry and then going to the store, that for the first time in my life, I spaced my dental appointment that afternoon! What's worse, my dentist is the Stake Young Men's president that I serve with at church. I texted him and after he laughed at me, he told me not to worry. Still mortifying!
9th--There was an awards assembly in the first grade and our little man, JJ, was honored with the Mighty Mustang leadership award. His cute little face. He was trying to be humble, but he was so surprised and proud, too.
--There was a family in our ward whose dog just died. They taught Jake in Sunday School, Calvin in Primary and they were now teaching JJ in Primary. So I grabbed a sympathy card and asked the little boys to write something that they thought might comfort the Beer family. I wish I had taken a picture of the card. They did SUCH a great job. I was touched at what they wrote and drew. JJ asked to see a picture of Daisy and I found one on Facebook. He drew a sweet picture of her...even got her spots right and then wrote: "I'm sorry about Daisy. I hope this will mak you happy." Calvin said: "I'm sorry to hear about Daisy. I bet she was great" and drew some daisy flowers. I was so proud of the tender sentiments they shared that came straight from their hearts.
--Turns out I have tennis elbow or more accurately, blogging elbow. :( Not cool when you're trying to lift weights and do push ups. Hopefully it won't last long...
--Later that night when Cooper and Karcyn got home after their mutual activities at the church, they were laughing. We asked what was so funny. Karcyn said that Cooper had "wee wee'd" all the way home like the Geico commercial with the pig. He even rolled his window down to "wee wee." Probably not the wisest thing for a new driver to be doing. But it was a fun moment for these two siblings who don't often find common ground. Cooper had even told Karcyn they'd look up the Geico commercial when they got home so she could see the original one.
11th--Right before Christmas, JJ came home with a small item in a little bag. He said it was for the family but was giving it to Luke. "Okay," I told him. "No problem."
Until I saw that it was the most amazing child-made ornament I'd ever seen! It was three little snowmen made from his three little fingers on a piece of wood. On the back was his name, school picture and the year. Absolutely precious.
The first ornament--a token of JJ's brotherly love for Luke.
Part of my mommy heart was touched JJ wanted Luke to have it for his tree in Brazil. I always want my kids to think of and serve others. But the other side of my mommy heart really, really wanted to keep it. And I'm ashamed to say I dwelled on the growing selfishness a little too long that night. But the Lord comforted even my selfish heart and helped me see that JJ's ornament likely meant more to Luke than it would to me. I sent an email to JJ's teacher thanking her for the incredible Christmas gift and told her what JJ did. She wasn't surprised at all by JJ's sweet gesture. But imagine MY surprise (and tearful humility) when JJ brought home another ornament that he and his teacher worked on together that day. The Lord knew then that the amazing Mrs. Miller would bless me with a second ornament to help me remember JJ's first grade year. I will never forget this remarkable token or the lesson I learned about trusting that things will work out. Even little things like handmade ornaments. Thank you, Mrs. Miller, for both gifts.
Notice the expressions on the snowmen...meh, happy, and mad. The three emotions of JJ. :)
--I had an annual Stake Young Women auxiliary training that my presidency was presenting to the ten different local Young Women presidencies around our stake on Sat. the 12th. We have six wards and four branches--the furthest branch is about 50 minutes away (Brenham), but that's just the location of the church building. Most people live even further away than that. It's a real sacrifice of time and travel for the members in our stake and I'm constantly touched by their faith and devotion to serve the Lord. Friday night, the 11th, Jared and Cooper met me at the stake center, along with our High councilman and my counselor Allison, so we could set up tables and chairs and get as much ready as possible. When we got home, it was close to 7pm. None of us had dinner yet. Karcyn and Calvin get home around 4:45 and by the time they unload their stuff and get a snack it's almost 5pm. And their idea of a snack is more like a meal. In this case, it was a big bowl of rice and chili with shredded cheese. It makes having dinner ready for the whole family by 5:30pm a bit frustrating for me. But I certainly don't want to be accused of depriving the starving tweens. Two days before, I had done some training with a YW's presidency so I told the kids that we were doing YOYO for dinner (You're On Your Own). Then Thursday night, Jared had a working dinner meeting, so I declared that night was also YOYO. When we got home from setting up at the church, the kids asked what was for dinner. (Oh? Aside from the meal you had when you got home?) I told them "YOYO." Disbelief filled Calvin's face. "YOYO?? For the THIRD day in a row??? What's the world coming to?" Yes, for three days in a row. Enjoy!
12th--The stake training I was in charge of was from 9-11am. But I was at the church around 7:45am. If the leaders got nothing out of the training at least we had a yummy breakfast waiting for them.
My friend, Annette Jasperson--who was the Stake Relief Society President I served with prior to this calling, asked me later that day how it went. (The RS and Primary were doing their trainings the following weekend). I said: "Weeellll, I think we did the best we could and I'm confident that even the highest functioning unit walked away with something to think about or improve upon. I feel good about what/how things were presented and we've had some really good feedback already. Our numbers were super low though--about 50%. The good thing is that there were at least two people from each unit in attendance and all our presidents were there except 1 who was sick and another who was traveling." The problem is we have nothing to compare to, so maybe attendance wasn't low but more the status quo. Now I know how stake presidencies feel when attendance at Stake Conference is low.
--After the training, I drove over to my ASL class. When I came home around 2pm, I ate breakfast--some of the leftover casserole and crumb cake and fruit that I didn't get a chance to eat at our training. Calvin was getting lunch then, too. So by 5pm, around the dinner hour, I wasn't hungry at all. When the kids came in and asked, "What's for dinner?" a sly smile crossed my face and I said, "Don't kill me, but...YOYO." And then I laughed. Calvin just looked at me and walked out of the room like a rage quit. :) It was pretty funny. I emailed Jake about the incident because we made Hough history. I don't think we've done more than two YOYOs in one week before. Jake responded in his letter, "4 YOYOs in a row?? You gotta save some of the Hough history moments for when I am there geeez. Ha!"
14th--Karcyn ran 1 mile (4 laps) in 10:10 without stopping during athletics! Wowzers!! That is faster than me, for sure!
--Jared finally ordered the Hough Generations picture with both his siblings and all of our kids (just two weeks after JJ was born) with Jared's parents and his Great Grandma Nina. It arrived that day and we hung it over the piano. Look how little our kids are! :)
I love how Karcyn is making herself right at home with Grandpa! ;)
SUPER COOL STORY: As I balanced my checkbook later that night, I realized I had dedicated $400 to car insurance (yay teenage drivers) in December. But we were only charged $237 because Cooper had just barely been added to insurance. That left a surplus of...drumroll...$163! Just thirty cents more than the cost of shipping for Jake's package. Truly miraculous!! What a gift! We told the kids the exciting news and again bore testimony of paying tithing and generous fast offerings.
16th--Something happened at mutual that got Cooper bent out of shape. Consequently he yelled at Karcyn on the way home and wasn't being very patient with her. But he quickly felt guilty about his actions so he made a stop at the store and bought her a Snickers bar with his own money to apologize. Although he was a little miffed that the cost of candy bars was a whopping $1.50.
17th--During our Come Follow Me discussion, we were talking about baptisms for the dead in the temple and how Cooper can perform those baptisms now. JJ piped up and said he wanted Cooper to baptize him in August. Up until now, he's only wanted Jared or Jake (who isn't here). I thought that was sweet.
19th--Jared and I went to the temple--the 7am session like we usually do. And it was PACKED! First time I've seen it that way so early in the morning. When we got home, Jared took the little boys out to lunch and shoe shopping. I took Karcyn to my ASL class and then we went out to lunch at Napa Flats to celebrate her straight As. After we ordered lunch, Karcyn pointed to the flowers and said, "That's turgor pressure failure." Say what? I had her repeat what she just said and then explain it to me. "Turgor pressure is when the plant vacuole is full of water, it pushes against the cell wall and causes the plant to stand up straight. But when there's less water in the vacuole, the plant starts to wilt, which is turgor pressure failure. That (pointing to the flowers in our vase on the table) is turgor pressure failure." And she just smiled at me. Well I'll be. I had no idea.
Peery Elder (Jake's first companion), Robi, Hough Elder and Beck Elder (Jake's current companion)
20th--That morning, Calvin asked if the dishes were clean and Jared said yes, he had run it the night before. Calvin got a bowl out of the dishwasher so he eat some cereal for breakfast. I started to unload it with Karcyn, but as we did so, we came across several dishes that still looked dirty. Odd. That shouldn't happen with a brand new $800 dishwasher. I tossed the dishes in the sink and kept going. But I kept finding dirty things. Finally, I decided that the dishwasher had in fact NOT been run. When I mentioned it to Jared he confidently said he totally did. He remembers selecting Normal Wash and everything. I chose not to argue the point but it was clear the dishes were not clean. I grabbed all the ones I could remember having already put away, plus a few extra and then I inwardly cringed that Calvin had eaten out of a dirty bowl. Ewww. Gross. The next day when I went to run the dishwasher, I pushed the normal cycle and then...start. That's when the lightbulb went on. "Jared, did you push the start button when you ran the dishwasher yesterday?" Silence. "No...I didn't know I needed to. I thought I just had to push normal wash." Hahaha! "It's not THAT fancy! You still have to tell it what to do." Jared replied sheepishly, "Well, I never got the tutorial." Too funny and Calvin was none the wiser.
21st--Jake emailed us his weekly letter and we learned he didn't get his package at Zone Conference. He said he was going to a new trainer meeting in Budapest the next morning, Tuesday, and maybe he'd get it then. What?? How did he not get it? It was there waiting for him. I immediately went to email the mission office to try and find out what was going on. My baby needs his music and a connection from home! This is what I sent:
Hello there, dear missionary friends!
I am Hough Elder's mom. He is currently serving in Tatabanya. We sent him a package through DHL, that appeared to make it to the mission home on Thursday morning, 1/10/19. Someone named ELDER signed for it. :) I was hopeful (and just assumed) that with a week of lead time, he would receive it at his Zone Conference this past Thursday, 1/17/19. But he didn't. :( I'm really hoping he won't have to wait another six weeks to get it. I found out from Hough Elder this morning that he will be in Budapest tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for new missionary meeting. I don't know how mail delivery works, but is there annnnnnnnny possible way he could get it then? Assuming it is indeed in your possession? I just can't imagine how crazy it must be to manage the logistics for missionaries in two different countries!! There are no judgments here! Just thought a note wouldn't hurt. :) However, if you don't have the package yet, then I definitely need to call DHL and find out what's going on.
Thanks for your help and God bless!!!
Love,
Jenn Hough
Unfortunately, I didn't get a response from the mission home until the next day, Tuesday, 1/22, early morning for us, but early afternoon for Jake. Sister Hinckley, the sister-in-law of friends of ours who works in the mission office, said they would like to try tracking the package from their end. That's no bueno. I got the message just before 7am and copied and pasted the info I got from DHL so they could see the dates and times and that ELDER signed for it. :) But I didn't intend to make MORE work for them. About 40 minutes later, I got another email from Sister Hinckley. She said, "The package has been found! The name was obscured and was put in an area for Elder Jacob. We are so sorry it was misplace and so RELIEVED to have found it!"
I was SO relieved too, but knowing Jake's meeting was over I asked when he might receive it? Sister Hinckley replied "He is here in the office for a meeting for new elders and their trainers. Elder Hough will be so excited!" Oh my goodness!! That is what I needed to hear. Darn that common name of Jacob. Except that all packages are supposed to have the first and last name of the missionaries, so there would have been a name in front of Jacob if it was for Elder Jacob. But all is well. Sister Hinckley said it was definitely a frustrating mystery for them.
--I packed walnuts in the kids' lunches that morning...just to see how that would go. JJ tossed them on the counter when he got home and said, "I don't like these." Shocker. When Karcyn came home she said, "You know those walnuts you put in my lunch? Well, when I saw them I'm like I'm not the picky kind of person so I said this will be my first walnut. So I took a little nibble and said 'Hmm. That's actually pretty good.' Then I took a bigger bite and said, 'Bleh!! That was a mistake!'" Hahaha. Well, I tried.
--Later that night, Lala sent me pictures. He is so good to feed our boys--tummies and souls.
He also told me that Jake got his package...finally! They confused the package with an Elder Jacob and it was in the Romanian package pile. AHHH!!!! I'm so glad I wrote the mission office asking about it when I did. They told me it got put in a different pile, but I didn't know it could have gone to the wrong country. Yikes!! Haha--can you imagine if Elder Jacob did get that package, how awkward that would have been looking through our family pictures. "Who are these people?? And how do they know me?"
23rd--I had actually sent Lala a gift for his January 25th birthday that was due to arrive any day. I hadn't said anything about it to him because I wanted it to be a surprise. I had gotten his address from a mom on a mission Facebook page. So I was hoping it would make it there without any problems. He didn't say anything about it on the 22nd when we were chatting. So I looked up the DHL tracking info and saw that it had been delivered on the 22nd but a Gabor Vanko signed for it. Um. Who is that? On the 23rd I finally said something about a package coming for him from Texas for his birthday and sent him the tracking info. He said that name wasn't his. (I know!) But about 45 minutes later, he said everything was fine. I didn't have the right phone number for Lala, so the DHL guy took it to the city office and met Lala's cousin, Gabor to give it to him. I told Lala I didn't think he was Gabor and showed him that my DHL receipt DID indeed have Lajos Vanko on it. :) That's when he saw that the "zipcode" should be 2800, not 2851. Well, 2800 was on Lala's address that I got, but it was right under his name. I had no idea that's what it was for and the people at the shipping place just googled Tatabanya for the zipcode. I told Lala that mailing to international addresses is VERY tricky! He assured me that as long as the city Tatabanya is there, there is no problem. And...not many Vankos live in Tatabanya and they are all his relatives! Haha! Once he got the package, I told him he had to wait until Jan. 25th to open it and he said he couldn't wait that long. But I won that battle--for a day because he asked on Thursday if he could open it at midnight. Since that's technically his birthday, I couldn't argue! I thought he would need to get some sleep because he works at night. But he had Thursday and Friday off, so it wasn't a problem. Except he messaged me to say he fell asleep. Too funny! He work up at 3:30am and opened it. Haha. I told him not to get too excited about it.
I sent him two "You're Special" plates, so he'll remember that and so he'd have something fun for the missionaries to eat with when he has them over. And of course, a tie with the Texas Flag on it. He loved them so much, he posted them on Facebook. :)
Later that day, he sent me another picture and said it's been the best birthday. Jake was there on splits with Spencer Elder meeting with Robi and his girlfriend, Kata. She's agreed to take the discussions.
I asked Lala if Jake gave him the small gift we put in Jake's package and Lala said no. I wasn't surprised. He's got a lot on his mind. But I told Lala he needed to remind Jake about it. I'd bug him about it myself, but I can't. :)
--Lala was headed to Italy to go to the Rome Temple Open House and tour the sites. He forgot to tell Jake and was afraid Jake would be transferred before he got back and wouldn't see him again. I told Lala I was pretty sure he was staying because he's training a missionary and they keep those companionships together for 12 weeks. And then I told him to send me pictures of the Rome Temple. Lala said that when Jake and Beck Elder saw the video about the Rome Temple, Jake said: Wow!!! It's such a beautiful temple! I want to get married in the Rome Temple!" for the record, I could totally get behind a wedding in Italy! :)
26th--I drove a suburban full of young men and young women 15-17 years old to the Priest/Laurel Conference in Conroe, Texas. I was so nervous GPS was not taking us the right way, but we got there! Only by the faith of the youth in my car, no doubt. We were gone from 11:30am to 11:00pm, but the youth had a really good time. That morning, before we left the church, Cooper found out he made the State Bowling Tournament! On the 19th, there was a bowling qualifier for the state Pepsi tournament. He bowled an average of 142 and his best score was 166. The tournament is March 9th in Arlington!
27th--Karcyn gave her first talk in Sacrament Meeting and did a wonderful job. It was a hard topic, too. "How the Come Follow Me for Individuals and Families has helped me come closer to Christ" (with only 3 weeks experience under our belts). She wrote the talk herself--with the exception of two clarifying sentences that I added. She was excited to be there, she smiled, she spoke clearly and with great poise. This was what the bishopric counselor texted me later.
--Later that night, I had my first self-reliance class about finances/budgeting. I wasn't planning on going, but I mentioned it to my friend and told her if she wanted to go, I'd go with her. She said sure, so there we were. She's actually the group facilitator and is doing an amazing job! At the end of class, one of the ladies from Brenham was telling us she's allergic to wheat and grass and sugar. If she eats sugar her hands hurt. And I froze. Ever since March of last year, Jared's hands have hurt...started in a couple fingers and has spread to both hands. We've tried everything we can think of. Eliminating carbs and dairy. No change. Trying supplements. Nothing. He got tons of blood work done, but it all came back healthy and clear...even the arthritis panel. Jared laments that he's a healthy fat man. We finally went to see the doctor. I was afraid his pain was affecting him mentally and emotionally. So he tried some medication for a few weeks. But that didn't help. Not only mysterious, this was getting frustrating. I've been praying to know how to help Jared for many, many months and yet every path we've tried has been a dead end.
But then, completely out of the blue, at this meeting for a 12-week course I wasn't even planning on participating in, I heard this woman say sugar made her hands hurt. Could it be?? I went straight home and told Jared what she said. He had actually been complaining that he was feeling really achy that day. Especially his hands. Cooper and I weren't around the day before, but I remember Jared saying they got pizza for dinner. "That doesn't have sug..." and then I stopped. Dawning came to both of us. BUT...they DID stop at BJs for pazookies. That is a ton of sugar! Whoa. I think we might be on the right track. So now comes the task of trying to eliminate as much sugar as possible from Jared's diet. I could be way off base, but I think our family eats less sugar than the average family because most of that is in processed foods (which Karcyn can't eat anyway) and sodas/juices (which we don't drink). Occasionally I get some cookies and we do have ice cream for special treats, but that's about it. Unfortunately, like gluten, I'm finding there's sugar in EVERYTHING. But the very next day, we began trying to drastically reduce Jared's sugar intake anxious to see how he feels. We're not at the 0g of sugar point yet. But fingers crossed this is our answer.
28th--This was the day I was going to drive Karole halfway to Snyder, TX so she could spend some time with Kevin and his family. Chris was going to meet us in Dublin for the swap. Unfortunately, Kevin got sick that weekend so Karole decided to postpone. Consequently, that freed up Monday for me and Karole. So she asked if I would like to do lunch and get a mani/pedi. Yes please! We went to Freddy's, a new place in town that is as close to Steak 'n Shake as we can get. So we did manis/pedis and Freddy's. :) It was a lovely afternoon. A great way to spend a Monday!
29th--Calvin was feeling under the weather and the nurse called to let me know that morning. Poor kid. He hates getting up in the morning, but he doesn't try to get out of school. Just homework. I picked him up around 10am and he rested most the afternoon. Seemed like he had a low-grade fever, but since we have no working thermometer, I can't say for sure. Obviously he'd be staying home Wednesday, too.
--Karcyn slammed her shin on the corner of the dishwasher door that was down. "Owww!!!! Oh man--if I wasn't a member of the Church, that would have been a really good time to cuss. But I am, so I won't!"
30th--Jared went into surgery early that day so I had to drive Karcyn to her viola sectional and JJ to school. Calvin was still in bed sleeping. JJ, Karcyn and I headed to the garage to get in the suburban. I was messing with the lights and stuff in the house, so by the time I got out there, they were both standing with their hands on the handles, waiting. I asked, "Is it locked?" They said yes. Weird. I never lock the car. It's in the garage. As soon as I pushed the unlock button on the fob, a white and black streak went from the front seat to the back and as soon as JJ opened his door, FLOWER (a neighbor's cat) jumped out of the car!! WHAT THE??? THERE WAS A CAT IN MY CAR!!!!! HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN?? AND WHEN?
Oh man...I am slightly OCD when it comes to my car and keeping it clean. And I'm really uptight with cats and the messes they make and I was praying that there wasn't any damage done to the interior of my car. JJ told me there was a little pee on the floor mat. Well, that's weather tech...so I could handle that. When Karcyn opened her door she was like, "Mooooooooooooom." The cat had pooped on the front passenger seat. :o
But at least they were nuggets and not the long, intestine shaped mushy stuff. There was a total of two handfuls of poop. I got them in a sack and wiped the seat down with a clorox wipe. I couldn't see any liquid stains where urine would have dried or any other poop. But on the way to school I kept racking my brain, asking myself, "How does this happen? I don't even know how that cat would have gotten in my car. I had a stake meeting last night, but I took Jared's Mazda. And I know she didn't get in when I picked up Calvin. I don't get it." That's when I hear this very slow and quiet "Ohhhhhhhhhhh. I think I know..." from JJ. "What?? You do?? When? How?" He said he was playing outside with his little buddies before dinner and sometimes they open the garage door and open up the tailgate and climb in the burb as base or "safe from lava" or whatever. JJ thinks Flower must have gotten in sometime while they weren't around and then when it was time to go in for dinner, they closed the door not knowing she was in there. Yeah, I can see that. But dinner was around 6pm and it was 7am now which means the cat was in my car for 13 hours!!!!!! Honestly, if the only damage was a couple handfuls of poop nuggets, then I'm going to declare this a miraculous mishap. Unfortunately, I still smelled cat pee. And while I didn't think there was any urine "dispensed" she must have peed a little bit when she pooped. I know I do. Haha! So I've got to get the car detailed. And I'm praying the pee smell is neutralized. It's not a ton, but it's enough. *sigh*
--After school, Karcyn came home with her progress report. She was smiling when she shared she had all As, a B and a 25 in orchestra. Excuse me????? Apparently one of her scales test didn't submit on the iPad at school even though the display showed it as "submitted." Fortunately, her teacher was letting her make it up to try and bring her grade up. Before dinner, I caught bits and pieces of a conversation Jared was having with Cooper about his progress report. Apparently Coop's grade in one of his classes was low enough it was even bothering him. I got the details from Jared later. Cooper turned in an English paper super late (which we knew because we tried helping him) and it missed making the grade book for the progress report and that's basically all that was in there to reflect a grade in that class. When the kids got back from mutual, Cooper was talking to Jared and Karcyn came in to say "Oh, I forgot, if we get below a 75 in a class on the progress report, we have to have it signed by a parent." So I signed it and silently reflected on how a 25 is the lowest grade any of my kids have ever had. It was almost comical and not a biggie because we know it wasn't indicative of Karcyn's ability or effort. I said, "Well, Karcyn, your 25 in orchestra has to be a recor..." Then I stopped. I never did hear what Cooper got in English. "Hey Coop--what was your English grade?" "A 24." Then I busted up laughing. "Nevermind, Karcyn, you beat Cooper by 1 point!" She and I were cracking up. Cooper wasn't as amused, but you have to admit, it was pretty ironic.
31st--I got a personal call the day before from the Middle School secretary to see if I could sub on the 31st. I have a little more compassion on administrators who take the time to call you directly to help out. I was "free" so I said I would. Turns out I was covering for a dyslexia teacher and then I was to travel to the intermediate school for 3rd, 4th and 5th period. Turns out the teacher I was subbing for actually left to go to another district, to be a principal. When I got into the classroom, this was the sub plans that were left. Is that even English?? I have no idea what those words mean! Oh boy...I always worried something like this would happen.
Fortunately, I didn't have more than six students during each period. Which really helped. Usually just two or three and once I only had one. I decided to ask the kids where they stopped off last in their books/workbooks and we just rolled with it. They were good about participating too which helped. If they worked hard for 25 minutes, I told them I'd give them whatever time was left. And they all seemed to like that! Going to the intermediate school was even worse as far as plans went, because it was a scripted program you have to follow. Fortunately, there was another teacher nearby who gave me a quick run down, for which I was very grateful and I thought those three classes were super successful. It definitely wasn't a wasted day.
--That night, during Come Follow Me, Jared asked, "Who baptized Jesus?" and JJ said, "John the Baptimist...bapti...bap...Baptized!" :)
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