bizarre pregnancy dreams

In my first bizarre dream I was being forced to eat a jar of Mayonnaise at the Airport because of failure to bring my passport which apparently was needed.

In my second over-the-top, bizarre, only-when-pregnant dream (last night) I came home to find that Steve had gotten a tattoo covering his entire chest/stomach. He has a somewhat hairy chest, so it was first of all shaved off. The design was of Noah's Ark with Noah being in cartoon form. To make things worse Steve was insisting on going shirtless everywhere we went. Thankfully, I soon woke up and the nonsense ended.

I have three months left of this pregnancy. What more bizarre mysterious dreams have yet to come to me in my sleep?

an unforgettable woman

I want to remember Lois Hautamaki who died on Tuesday. She was 57 years old.

She was my principal/co-worker/friend/teaching mentor for the 6 years I taught at Heritage Christian Academy. I have known her now for 9 years.

She was a single woman who poured her life into teaching and being an administrator at HCA.

She was incredibly foundational in launching my teaching career. I cannot begin to number all that I have learned from her.

I regret not expressing to her enough how much she impacted my life.

A Conglomeration of Thoughts and Memories of Miss H.

• She watched me teach and encouraged me.
• She hugged me and told me she loved me and that she loved my family (even though she rarely saw them).
• She expected excellence from her teachers and herself.
  
• She came immediately to my classroom very early one morning after I left a tearful message on her voice mail about a difficult situation I was in. She then prayed with me and did everything she could to fix the problem and stood by me the entire time. I was loved and supported.
  
• She wrote Christmas cards and "end of the year" cards to each teacher. She didn't just sign her name, she wrote lengthy and thoughtful words (in amazingly neat handwriting).
• She prayed for each of her teachers daily....and if they had a spouse and kids, she prayed for them too.
• She worked hard at doing things that did not come naturally for her.
  
• She made it a point to learn each child in the entire school (300-400 students) by name.
  
• She embraced her singleness and lived it fully.
• She never gave up and stuck to her guns...even if it wasn't always popular.
  
• She called me up one year after I had my first baby and told me she had the perfect part time teaching position for me. She was right.
  
• She often shared personal things.
• Her eyes welled up with tears a lot. She was a passionate woman.
  
• Her life evidenced a deep love for Jesus.

I know God's timing is perfect. I rejoice with her being with Jesus RIGHT NOW. I know there are many who wish they could have told her something or given her a hug before she left. I am reminded that none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Miss H, you are missed!

whiz bang days

Jeneva and Madeline ran in a 1/2 mile race today for the Robbinsdale Whiz Bang Days. They had fun running together, wearing their numbers and getting their medals. They did great!

Click here for some pics from her last race on Labor Day weekend.

we haven't had much rain lately...

...but when we do.....

...we like do do a lot of this!

a new found appreciation for walmart

So, Jeneva needs glasses. Her eyes aren't too bad. They're 20/30 and she has astigmatism. The doc says her eyes may improve to 20/20 if she wears glasses for awhile.

So on Wednesday we went on a hunt for some frames. We stopped at Super Target first (remember how much I love Target?) The cheapest frames for kids were $99. Ridiculous! I'll pay that much for adult frames, but not kids.

Next we decided to try Walmart. We found frames for $10. TEN DOLLARS! Target had a better selection and were a bit more fashionable, but the Walmart ones were of similar quality AND had a one year warranty.

So, we placed an order at Walmart for her new specs. She's totally stoked and is counting down the days until they arrive. I'm sure in a few years she'll be begging for contacts, but until then, I'll just be excited with her. Oh, and I'll post some pics too. :)