One of the responsibilities I have this summer is "supervise" the students during kids club. Kids Club is like Back Yard Bible Clubs but at Resort Swimming Pools. Because of a lack of hands, I have ended up helping one student at his pool most days this summer. This past Tuesday was no exception. Melisa and Cali love Kids Club because they get to go to hotel swimming pools for 2 hours 3 days a week. :-P We spend the first hour and 15 minutes playing games in the pool. Then we have snack, story time, and craft. At this particular pool we usually do story time around the hot tub because it has a covering over it and gets the kids out of the sun for a bit.

My partner was rounding up the kids while I was at the hot tub to greet those coming over for snack and story. There was a guy in his 20's in the hot tub when we got there. I'll be honest, he looked me over a few times, grinned, and said hi. I said hi, but didn't think much of it. I went about my job of entertaining the children. My oldest daughter DID think something of it though and wouldn't let it go.

All of a sudden I hear her voice call across the hot tub "Hey MOM when is DADgetting here?" I replied "Melisa, you know Dad isn't coming today." She was quick to say, "But MOM wasn't DAD home when we woke up this morning." At this point I realize what is going on. I patiently reply "Yes, he was. Daddy had to go to work though." Her response was quick again, "MOMwill DAD be home tonight before we go to bed. The conversation went on like this for about 3 or 4 more statements about MOM and DAD. I guess the man finally took her hint and he left. As soon as he was out of the hot tub she stopped drilling me.

When we got home Clark hadn't left for work yet, so I called him to the other room to tell him the story. As soon as I said "There was this 20 something year old guy in the hot tub" Melisa heard me and came running. She crossed her arms across her chest and said with attitude "I got him, didn't I?" I about died. I looked at her (it took everything in me to keep a straight face) and said "Don't you trust me mroe than that?" She got really serious and said, "I trust you completely mom. But I saw him and I saw the way he looked at you. Cute boys who give looks like that CAN'T be trusted!"

WOWZERS!

I want you guys to remember that I don't make these things up. These are REAL conversations that REALLY happen to me! I admit these aren't the things that happen to MOST people...but they DO happen to me! This is a true conversation that took place in my bathroom.

I was in the kitchen at the camp ground getting dinner ready for the students. I sent the girls to our house to play and unwind a bit before dinner. When I got to a breaking point, I went home to check on them. I couldn't find them at first, but I soon heard talking from the bathroom. Both girls were in the bathroom. Cali was using the restroom and Melisa was "coaching" her.

Me: "WHAT is going on in here?"

Melisa: "MOOOOM, Cali takes WAY too long to poop, so I am trying to teach her to PUSH!"

Me: "WHAT?"

Melisa: "You see, I am telling her that she needs to push like this (insert Melisa holding her hands in fists, scrunching up her face, and making a grunting noise). Because if she would jus push it wouldn't take so long!"

Me: "Seriously???"

Melisa: "Yeah, but she doesn't seem to get it she just makes the face (insert Cali scrunching up her nose). I can't make her understand how to push to get the poop out."

Me: "I think I am going to leave now and pretend we didn't just have this conversation (insert me shaking my head an walking away completely shocked that I just had that conversation)."

I don't know if this happens at your house, but every night I kiss my children goodnight and tuck them into their own beds and head to finish up my chores for the night. I usually go check on them before I go to sleep to make sure they are still covered up and sleeping soundly. I lay down in my own bed and doze off. By the time I wake up there are a pair of little feet in my side or a small arm across my face. Some times there are four feet poking me in various (and uncomfortable) places. There is ALWAYS a child in my bed by the time I wake up. I usually leave them there to snooze a bit longer while I start my morning routine.

A few mornings ago I did just that. I left Cali asleep in my bed while I proceeded with my morning routine. I finally got around to my shower when I heard her crying as she walked into the bathroom. I asked her what was wrong. She proceeded to tell me that she had a bad dream. It was really scary and she just needed to see my face so that she knew everything was ok. I leaned out of the shower curtain and she walked up and put those sweet little four year old hands on my cheeks and said "Thank you, Mommy. I'm ok now." She gave me a kiss and then laid down in the bathroom floor (don't worry I had just cleaned the day before). I asked her what she was doing and she said she just needed to be near me.

As I finished taking my shower I realized how much my relationship with my girls reminds me of our relationship with Christ. How many times do we have a rough day and don't think we can go on? How many times do we get bad news that we just don't think we can handle? We feel helpless. We feel hopeless. We are scared and alone. But we don't realize that we are just longing to see our Heavenly Father's face. We want to wrap our hands around his face to reassure ourselves that He is really there. We want to sit down at his feet and rest. He is our safe haven. He is the place we run to when we are scared to death.

Cali showed me a picture of myself that morning. For the first time in a long time I realized that it was ok if I didn't feel in control. It was ok if I felt helpless. When I am weak that is when the Lord wants to be strong. There is no shame in admitting that I can't do it and I need my Daddy! :-) God is so good! I am so thankful that he continues to use my children to teach me about His great love for me!

I can't believe that I haven't posted a single thing since FEBRUARY! WOW!!!!! I really did go MIA this time didn't I? Sorry about that guys! I would like to promise that I am back and won't go MIA again, but you know, I just can't.

When I left you hanging last time I had gone back to teaching. I was teaching middle school Language Arts full time. My girls had gone back to school full time and life was settling into a new routine.

Guess what??? Nothing is the same now, imagine that! I only had a 5 month contract to fill in for a maternity leave. That maternity leave was up at the end of the school year and so was my contract. I have spent the summer applying to every opening that I could find hoping God would lead me to the right one. I am happy to say that my patience has paid off. I am preparing to teach 5th - 8th grade math and science at a local school. It is only part time, but I couldn't be more excited. I will be teaching homeschooled children two days a week and plan out the rest of their week. Their parents will take the plans and teach their kids the rest of the material at home the other three days of the week. I may even get the chance to do some drama with them. :-P This also means that I get to go back to one of my great loves...homeschooling my children. Melisa will go to school 2 days a week and then be home with me the other two days. I am so excited about what the next school year holds. :-)

In the mean time I am not bored. God called us to move to Kissimmee for the summer to be house parents for all of GOBA summer missionaries. We have 18 extra "kids" for the summer. Clark and I wear MANY different hats but when we come down to the bottom line, we are just mom and dad for the summer. It is a true blessing to have a front row seat to see how God is using these amazing students for the summer. It is also wonderful to know that these are the teenage roll models in my children's lives.

Melisa FINALLY made the competition team at her gymnastics center, so that is taking up the rest of my free time. It takes at least an hour to drive to the gym and she has training 3 days a week. Needless to say, the gym feels like our home away from home. It looks like we may even move to 4 days a week in the fall. It is a BIG commitment, but I couldn't be more proud of my Misa Bug!

Cali is along for the ride! She is laid back and easy going...but at the same time she is coming into her own, lol! Yes, that is a nice way of saying that she has her days where she can be quite the handful. She is my little shadow and just goes along with the flow most days. She is following in her sisters footsteps by loving gymnastics and the water. I can't keep her out of the pool this summer. She is even starting to swim on her own some. :-P Unfortunately we may be dealing with the onset of asthma this summer. She has developed quite the cough that we just can't seem to shake. We went to the doctor this week and he said it may just be an allergic reaction acting like asthma, but if she continues to have flair-ups we are going to have to go in to see if she has asthma and needs breathing treatments. Poor baby! Like I said, she has been a trouper this summer.

Clark is still working full time as an EMT and volunteering with the Apopka Fire Department. We have heard of a few departments in the area hiring, so we have his application in and are still playing the waiting game. We know that God has a perfect department for him to serve in and we are waiting for that door to open. God is so good and we know it will come at just the right time.

Soooo...there you have it. A 4 to 5 month update in a few paragraphs. I have a few funnies from this summer that I will be posting in a bit, so come back to read...the girls have pulled some great ones recently!

I may be teaching Language Arts right now, but I promise this is NO Creative Writing project. I honestly don't think I could be this creative! The stories and events you are about to hear are entirely true. In fact they are a pretty good representation of what my life is really like.

Tuesday morning started like another. I was up at 5:30 to get ready for another day of teaching. The girls were up at 6:30 to begin preparing for another day of learning. We were out the door right on time at 7:15. Nothing and I mean NOTHING was out of the ordinary. After we arrived at the school with no questionable or concerning events, I dropped the girls off at their respective classes.

As the morning announcements began my shoulder began to itch. I was wearing a shirt that I have worn many times in the past two years. It is a black and white shirt and the arms are lace. I have always dried it on the delicate setting. However, we just had our heating element replaced last week after it blew. My best guess is that the new heating element puts out much more heat than the old one did. As the day went on I noticed I was itching more and more. Between second and third periods I looked down and everywhere that I had scratched a hole had formed in my shirt. It was disintegrating as the day went on.

I RAN to the back of my classroom and grabbed my jacket. I zipped it up to the neck to hide. The itching didn't stop. In between classes I would unzip my jacket and look at the damage done. It was always worse than before. My shirt was literally falling apart as I wore it. By noon the sun had come out and people kept asking why are wearing a jacket. This made my day even worse because then I had to explain that my shirt was falling apart. If I made up a lame excuse I could just see them trying to blame my husband for abuse or something!

At about 2:00 I checked the calendar just to realize that I had a parent/teacher meeting at 3:00. At this point I FINALLY give in and run to the front office to call Clark. My loving, amazing, wonderful husband dropped what he was doing, drove home, ironed a new shirt for me, and brought it up to the school for me. Once I had the new shirt on I was sure my adventure for the day was over.

The parent/teacher meeting went well. I picked the girls up and we headed home. Melisa had most of her homework done, I was headed to workout, meat was defrosting for dinner, and our nightly routine was in full swing. Before I knew what was happening, Cali came RUNNING into my bedroom crying "There's a ba in my ear! There's a BA in my ear! There is a BAAA in my ear!" We thought that she might have heard a fly or gnat buz by causing her to think there was a bug in her ear. We tried to calm her down and tell her there was no bug in her ear. Cali proceeds to throw her hands down on the table and say "NOOOOO, there is a BAAALLLL in my ear!"

For the second time today, panic sets in. I lay her down in the bathroom counter, shine a flashlight in her ear and sure enough, there is a tiny red ball in her ear. It seems Melisa was playing with aquadots and Cali found one. She decided it would be fun to see how well it fit in her ear. She immediately realized what a bad idea it was and started trying to dig it out. As she dug the ball was pushed farther and farther into her ear.

My Paramedic Father and EMT husband laid her out on the kitched counter and procceeded to try to get it out of her ear wtih the suction bulb that we got from the hospital when she was born. Of course that didn't work, so we were off to he ER. She had NO pain. Everyone else in the ER waiting room did have pain. Guess who had the longest wait? Oh yeah, it was us.

We were at the hospital for about 4 hours. It took the doctor all of five minutes to attach different sized attachements to the end of a suction unit (yeah that is a nice way to say a vacuum). They sucked the ball right out of her ear. They asked us if we wanted to keep the ball...if you could have seen the look I gave them, they knew the answer was no!

We got home at 9:30 or so and then had to do dinner, bathtime, and bedtime. Needless to say we were HOURS past bedtime. By the time I was finally able to go to sleep I was out cold with strange dreams of disintigrating shirts and tiny balls stuck in ears. Hmmmm....wonder where that came from?

Thankfully Wednesday was an uneventful day! I don't think I could have lived out a second day that seemed more like a Creative Writing project one of my students would write rather than my REAL life.

As of one week ago, I am one year older. I am no long JUST 30, I am "into" my 30s! I still don't feel any different. In fact I often forget I am already 31...I think I have convienced myself I am still in my 20s.

The last birthday that I was able to celebrate with my extended family was in 2002! Unfortunately, Clark had to take one last class for his certifications and was gone from 9 to 5. The girlies and I had a fun day together though. When Clark got off work we headed out to Outback Steakhouse and had dinner with my Dad, Mom, and Stepdad. It was a quiet birthday, but special all the same.

The exciting thing is....guess what I got for my birthday...my new computer cord. SOOOO, I am FINALLY back on MY computer. I shouldn't be MIA so much now. YAY!!!

I didn't see this one coming at ALL! I was blindsided and knocked off my feet. A few weeks ago I stopped by Melisa's table in the school cafeteria to give her a hug and kiss. I whispered that I loved her and was on my way. A little later that day I hear a small knock at my classroom door. I was surprised to see Melisa standing there looking a bit shy (which isn't at ALL like her). She the says, "Mom, I need to talk to you about something. When you see me with my class, don't give me kisses. A hug is ok, but kisses are embarrassing. At home it is all ok, but not when I am in class." I agreed to it and gave her a HUG without a kiss with a smile on my face and my heart breaking inside! It seems that I have reached a new level of motherhood that I wasn't prepared for...are we really, truly EVER prepared for the next one?