time for an update!

well... as some of you know... my trip to illinois turned out a bit differently than i had hoped and planned. a few hours after i wrote the post below, my grandma passed away. it was about 9:30 wednesday evening while i was on the phone with my mom and my dad was on the phone with my cousin who was at the hospital (which of course, my parents were together driving). of course, i kept my thursday morning flight and met my parents in illinois.

despite the real reason for being in illinois; i really, really enjoyed my time there. i miss going back there so much and i manage to just "forget" that while i'm here in texas. then, when i'm there i spend all this time wondering, "why don't i come back here more?!" so, i guess you can say i learned a life lesson. and i will be making more of an effort to get back to illinois and my family more often.

two days after i returned from illinois, it was time to head back to work. i've spent this week sitting in meetings and presentations over a handful of important and useful things, but mostly time filler junk that applies to about 25% of the audience. i'm quite frustrated this school year, because i'm just not organized and ready for the first day of school. and yet, all that staff development has consisted of is sitting in a chair listening to someone talk. i've also spent a ridiculous amount of time sitting in a church parking lot with 5000 of my fellow klein employees attempting to leave convocation. that was just insane. for now, i'll refrain from hopping on my political soapbox. i don't have the energy to type all my commentary on the "poor little esl and special ed kids we're letting fall through the cracks." sometimes i feel like that's all we concentrate on. it sure is this week, anyway. makes me just want to barf.

in the midst of illinois and before the start of school, we managed to finally sell our lake house. it was quite a process of back and forth for various reasons. i'll spare you the details... but it's sold. and we ate it on the selling price. but, we'll chalk that up to another life lesson.

so, i have to admit... i started this blog entry a few days ago and kept getting sidetracked from finishing it. now, as i type this, it's the evening of the second day of school. i think it will, overall, be a better year. we have 1000 less kids on campus (because of the new school opening) and the hallways are much more pleasant now. most of my classes seem like they will be okay. i have a few rugrats, but that's always going to happen. i have a student teacher this year and we get along pretty well. it's different having someone watching me and basically critiquing my every move. not that i feel pressured, really, it's just that i know i'm supposed to be shaping her for her own classroom. ah! the responsibility! hopefully she'll pick up my good habits and weed out the bad ones. ;)

so i guess that's a good update for now... :) until something something else interesting happens...

an hour later... i'm re-reading my post and i just want to clarify something. i could change my wording in the paragraph i'm going to refer to, but i'm just not going to. i'm referring to my comment about esl and special ed kids. what i was trying to convey in that paragraph was that we concentrate so much on those kids during meetings and inservice. i do understand that they need a different approach and a different teaching style. but, i get so tired of the district making us feel as if they are more important than the rest of the kids. i had one mini-meeting about esl kids one day. a motivational speaker during convocation that cried about the insensitivity of america towards the less fortunate kids and the minorities. and finally a 3 1/2 hour (yes, three and one half hours) meeting about "the yellow brick road to success" with special ed kids. not once did i hear about what i can do with my regular, english speaking students to help them (and me) discover what makes them work harder and achieve more. so, just wanted to add that in, in case i sounded like an insensitive racist. ;)

leavin' on a jet plane...

so... i'm leaving first thing thursday morning for st. louis and then driving on to my hometown in illinois. my grandma (my dad's mom) is in the hospital yet again. however, this time it looks quite a bit more serious. i must say that it has been "serious" for her in the past several times before and somehow she pulls herself back. however, something feels a little "different" this time, according to the doctor.

i'm long overdue for a visit to illinois. and i really meant to try to go this summer, but i just never put it together. this morning i felt like i need to go this time. as the day has gone on, i've already changed my flight to one 3 hours earlier and now i am hoping that i make it to the hospital before she is gone.

my awesome sister, cassidy, is once again helping me out. she's my chauffeur tomorrow morning and will be house sitting and dog sitting and horse sitting for me. (i told you she was awesome!)

it's been awhile...

hmmm... so, i thought maybe i should post a little update. nothing terribly exciting to write about, but i'll see what i can come up with. ;)

the first interesting thing -- and, acutally, quite exciting for me -- is that cassidy is home!! it almost didn't feel like 7 weeks while she was gone. i guess i was busy with this and that and didn't dwell on it for long. but, it's great having her home! i definitely missed her the most at night when i was online and she wasn't there to chat with on im. so, we've been making up for that.

our friends daniel and rachel had their baby girl, ava, saturday. on our 6th anniversary, no less! so, we actually spent the evening of our anniversary at the hospital visiting them. our mutual friends, jackie and ashley, also came out. so, afterwards we went over to katy mills mall and hit bass pro shops (for the guys) and the rainforest cafe. eating at the rainforest cafe was a treat. we had jackie and ashley's little girl, taylor, with us. she's a lot of fun to be around. she just turned one, so her little personality is definitely showing!

well... my closet has not gotten cleaned out. that's one of my major projects to work on this summer. and the days are counting down and i don't have a clean closet. haha. procrastination, what? i need to locate a good consignment shop for some of my clothes. i know there is stuff in there that i don't wear or can't fit in anymore that are still good enough for a second hand store.

i only have about 3 weeks left before i have to be back at hildebrandt. i've already spent a couple days up at school trying to get a couple new teachers set up. seeing as how there is only one keyboarding and one desktop publishing teacher in each school, the "newbies" often lean on other schools' teachers to get them started. i don't mind so much, though. kind of forces me to get my own assignments in order. i'm thinking of going up one or two days in between now and the 17th to work in my own room. i think if i spread it out a little before i "have" to be there, i can get some stuff done.

well, i'm off to clean out the fridge. trash day is tomorrow and i have a few things that are not doing so great hanging out in the fridge. ;)

maclaren parker bell

i finally got to meet maclaren today!
jamie called me yesterday to let me know she and maclaren were ready for visitors... so, off i went to downtown houston this morning to pay the little guy a visit. he is just precious and was so good while i was there. i'm not much of a baby expert... but maclaren has the longest legs and fingers and toes i think i've ever seen on a baby. he's going to be tall and lean like his daddy, i believe. check out those toes in this photo!

here's me looking just lovely after sweltering in the 106 degree heat index today. and, of course, the proud mama.

and here's toby. he holds a special place in my heart because i helped find him a home with jamie. he's been feeling slightly neglected with all the attention maclaren gets, yet he is very good with the new little guy around. he just comes and takes a peek at him now and then and then goes on his way.

houston race for the cure

so... i'm thinking about doing this. anyone interested in forming a team with me? my friend amy - her sister-in-law beat breast cancer last year - brought it up tonight. i've thought about it in the past, but never have followed through, because i didn't want to do it alone. maybe this will be the year?

houston race for the cure

the neverending rain of summer 2007

so, someone told me today that it has rained 17 out of the past 18 days. well, i don't believe them. because, it sure feels like it's rained a heck of a lot longer than 17 days. i'm seriously starting to think i know what noah felt like. i thought it might be interesting to list the realizations i have come to over the past days of rain and thunderstorms.

~ i've given up vacuuming the carpet every time a muddy paw print shows up. the dogs come in with wet feet every time they venture outside.
~ i dump 1 to 2 inches of rainwater out of the feed buckets and sarge's dog food bowl every time i go to feed.
~ i've only filled the horse's water trough once in the past 2 weeks. typically, this time of year i have to fill it - at the very least - every other day.
~ i automatically put on rubber boats when venturing into the backyard.
~ i don't bother to wait for the rain to end before i leave the house to run errands. i'll only get stuck in the next thunderstorm a couple hours later. might as well leave when i planned to.
~ i have forgotten what the sun feels like.
~ the yard may never be dry enough to mow.
~ i shouldn't bother straitening my hair. the incredible amount of humidity ruins my attempt. yet, i stubbornly continue to do it. one must hold on to some normalcy.
~ driving through massive amounts of water collected on the side of the road doesn't even make me slow down.
~ the trees are so waterlogged that every time it rains, new branches break off. i'm praying a tree doesn't fall over.
~ i base the clothes i put on before leaving the house on "how will this do when i get drenched?" "will the hem of these jeans/pants drag through water puddles?" "how do these shoes handle massive amounts of water treading?"
~parking in the driveway has become a strategic operation. what position will avoid the most puddles and allow me to get back out without having to touch any grass (because i will get stuck in the muddy grass)?
~ i have learned to watch tv around flood watch and thunderstorm watch messages.

now for a few photos...


the horse pen. i feel so sorry for them.

where once there was grass. the camera strap got in the
way of my trusty rubber boots.

sarge stays in a perpetual state of muddiness.

what i wade through to feed twice a day. my lens got a bit foggy.

***disclaimer -- i am by no means implying that my bout with the rain is more disturbing than some of our neighbors suffering real flooding. i am thankful, so thankful, that it is not worse for us... however, i thought it was fitting to blog about my own experience with the seemingly neverending rain.***

update from cassidy!

well, nothing can say it better than their own words! this is an email from cassidy and samantha about their honduras experience, so far. one of cassidy's biggest fears was that she would be so homesick. well, i think this email confirms that she definitely is not so homesick! haha. this particular email was sent to several of the girls' supporters, so i feel comfomfortable sharing it with you all. especially since i know some of you have specifically told me you are excited for and are praying for them.


Hello everyone! I hope everyone is doing well and the preparation for the trip is coming along. We are already feeling this is our home. Bill and Mary are two of the most amazing people we have ever met. What a privilege to be living in their home. I can tell that throughout these seven weeks the Lord is going to teach us many things through them and the boys. Mary is our best friend and Bill is our protective father. How awesome it is to work along side these two on a daily basis serving the Lord.

Immediately when we arrived, the younger boys flocked to us. They are so cute. However, the middle aged boys took a couple of days to see what we were all about. Some of the older ones are still “observing”. Overall we are already extremely close with all the boys and can’t imagine leaving them.

Thursday morning we and Mary were driving to the project and we got in a small car accident. It was not Mary’s fault but they tried to blame it on her. She remained calm but it scared her a bit because it was her first wreck. Later that day, a man from the group here from Florida fixed her car. Praise the Lord they did not have to put it in the shop. That is only one of the examples of how Satan tries to discourage us. One of our main desires to come here for seven weeks was to see the ins and outs of the lives of missionaries.

A typical day is to get up and leave around nine. We go with Mary to run tons of errands every morning. At 11:00 o’clock we pick up Michael and head to the project. Usually the boys have already eaten lunch so we grab a plate and eat quickly. The rest of the afternoon is spent with the boys playing, having their devotional, working on homework, or helping Mary out with anything she might need. We eat dinner with the boys pretty much every night. It consists of beans, rice, eggs, bread, and sometimes some meat. We say our goodbyes and leave around 6:00 to come home. The first thing we want to do is jump in the shower because we smell like sweaty children. :) Many nights we spend with Bill and Mary on their bed eating dinner and watching TV or hanging out with some people our own age that we have met. Overall, our days are long and tiring but so rewarding. Like we said earlier, we can not even imagine coming home.

Some prayer requests we have are:

~Financial support for Bill and Mary and for the project. They fully rely on the Lord but right now this is a huge struggle.

~Safety in everything. We take a lot of taxis and walk places and for those of you who have been here know how "interesting" they drive.

~The older boys have a hard time trusting us from day to day. It is like we have to win them over everyday and make them know that we love them and still care about them. We completely understand why because of their past and because of groups coming in and leaving as soon as they begin to get attached. Anyway, pray that the boys would be 100% sure that we love them every single day and that we are here for them.

~Please pray that in everything we do and everything we say, we are representing the Lord the way He should be. Let us have the light of Christ wherever we go.

~That the Lord would give us strength and endurance.

We love you all dearly,

Cassidy and Samantha