A Day at the Zoo

Somedays at work, I feel like I'm at the zoo, but today I really was.  We took a field trip to the zoo.  I'm not going to lie, I was VERY nervous.  Twenty 5-6 year old kids.  Wide open spaces.  No structures.  Wild animals.  Those things all together just spelled disaster in my brain.  I have to admit, with the exception of the one adventerous girl who takes off on her on quite frequently and the boy who got his arm stuck in the fence in front of the white tiger exhibit, things went pretty well. 

For field trips, our art teacher has the students draw and paint on tshirts.  Look how cute they are...

I had never been to the zoo here.  I have been to the Ft. Worth Zoo, the Dallas Zoo, and the San Diego Zoo.  I knew a zoo in a town of 100,000 in the middle of nowhere wouldn't compare.  But, surprisingly, it still had it's on unique features that impressed me.  You see, I love giraffes.  I have no idea why, but I do.  And this zoo has a bridge over the giraffe habitat.  You could walk up on the bridge and feed the giraffes.  So cool!

Here are some other pictures from the zoo.  The librarian wrote a grant for 22 cameras and lets teachers/students take them on field trips.  She also teaches the kids how to use them.  These are the pictures the kids took.

(I'm not sure this was real.  It didn't move the whole time we were there.)

(In case you were wondering, this is a prarie dog.)

(American Bison)

After the zoo, we went to the park to have a sack lunch and to play.  We had a blast, but were all worn out when it was over with.

XX Days to Go

We're not really sure how much longer until Anthony leaves for his deployment.  All we have is a window.  It could be 20 days from now, it could be a month.  We don't know.  He doesn't even have his orders.  Ahh!!!

It just hit me though that it's coming up pretty soon.  And the way things are flying by, I'm sure  it will be here before I know it.  Right now, I'm okay with it.  Don't get me wrong, I'd much rather have him here with me, but I know what he signed up for and I know that by marrying him, I signed up for it too. 

I've read about other wives going through various stages before their husband leaves and I've gone through my own stages too.  For the past 3 or 4 weeks, I've been mean to him.  I've had a lot of anger.  I'm not sure it all had to do with him, I'm sure part of it had to do with my stomach issues.  Regardless of why, I was mean.  He asked me numerous times if I still liked him.  Looking back on it, I feel bad for being so mean, and I've said my appologies.

That's slowly started to change into clingy.  I want to spend every possible minute I can with him.  I know I don't have much time until he leaves, so I'm charishing every second with him.  Even if that means he's laying in bed playing on his laptop watching tv while I try to sleep.  I wonder what I'll go through next.

What stages did you go through?

Hanging On

In case you were worried (I'm sure you anxiously wait for my randmomness), I'm still alive.  Life has been CRAZY!

Friday was my birthday.  The day started off great.  The kids sang happy birthday.  My team brought me a birthday cake.  It was a wonderful day of work.  After work, we loaded up the car and headed home.  My aunt and uncle had came in from Mississippi.  The men were headed to the races and the women were having girl time.  I dropped Anthony off with my dad and uncle and was told my grandfather (92 years old, living alone) had fallen and they had taken him to the ER.  He was okay, but they wanted to check him out.  So, I continued the drive to my parents and when I got into town, he was still there.  So, I went up to the ER.  They had decided to move him to the ICU, but never really told us why.

Needless to say, our plans didn't really work out.  He was in the hospital up until yesterday.  Other than a blood infection, they never found anything wrong with him.  He has now been released and moved to a nursing home.  It was something we knew was needed, but getting him there was hard.  Now that he's there, I think he's going to like it.

Don't worry though, the guys didn't get to enjoy their fun either.  It rained ALL weekend there.  The races didn't take place until Monday.

While I am sad that things didn't work out as planned, I'm more grateful that my aunt and uncle were in town to support my mom through the whole experience and she didn't have to go at it alone.

I took Monday off work.  I had my GI appointment.  More tests will be run over the next few months.  It's going to be fun (here's where we need a sarcasm font)!

My kids have been CRAZY.  This is the worst case of spring fever I've seen.  They are chatty as ever.  They are mean to each other.  And they won't listen to me! 

I am so glad tomorrow is Friday.  And I'm so glad there are only 27 days of school left.

Update

Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  I saved them on my phone and read through them several times today. 

Turns out, the only reason the doctor wanted to see me was because my bloodwork showed that I'm anemic.  All that stress and worry for something that's treated by taking a vitamin.  So, I'm very relieved.

While we know something, we still don't know what's causing my stomach  pain.  He didn't have the results from my sonogram yet so he didn't have anything to say on that.  He did say he would discuss that with me over the phone.  He sent me for more blood work to see exactly where the deficiancy is so we can treat it.  And I go Monday to my GI. 

So, still no real answers.  But atleast it's nothing scary.

Prayers Needed

I need prayers.  Please.

I've contemplated writing this email for a few days.  Today though, God has made it evident that it's okay to ask for help from everyone.
You may or not remember in past posts that I've been having stomach problems.  First I thought it was a bug.  Then found out it was a stomach bacteria that causes ulcers.  I've been through 2 strong rounds of antibiotics.  I've found some relief, but the pain comes back.  Other than intense pain (think electric eels in my stomach), I don't really have other symptoms.  It doesn't matter what I do or don't eat, it hurts.  My doctor seems at a loss.  He's ordered blood work (third time) and a sonogram and is sending me to a GI.  Today I went in for the blood work and sonogram.  This afternoon, the office called and said he wanted to see me to discuss the results.  I'm very scared.  I go in tomorrow after work.  Anthony can't go because of work, but a friend from work is going with me.

Please pray for strength.  Comfort.  And  healing.

One Year

It has been exactly one year ago (yesterday) since I said goodbye to family and friends and started my new life as a military wife.  I left the middle of DFW to leave in the middle of the desert.  And while I do miss my friends back home, I have truely been blessed with the many changes that God has brought my way.

Good bye dinner with my great friend Caren.

I have been able to spend a full year living with my husband.  We've learned so much about each other and about being married.  Being away from family and friends has truely brought us closer.

I have made lots of new friends who are also military wives.  Friends that know what I am going through and that I know I can call on.

I have found a wonderful job teaching kindergarten at a school I absolutely love.  I know exactly why God made me wait until after school started to find a position.  The school I am at is filled with some amazing Godly women who I am blessed to be able to call my friends.

While I'm not so excited about the deployment looming over our heads, I am excited about the things the deployment will bring.  I will get to spend 2 full months with my parents.  I haven't done this since I graduated high school.  I will be able to go visit San Antonio and California and maybe even DC.  I will get to spend time with friends I've missed.  And I won't have to feel guilty about being away to do all of these things. 

I guess change isn't so bad after all.

It's My Birthday Month!

(Last year's birthday)

This is going to be a good month!  My birthday is coming up on the 16th.  I will be...gasp...26.  I know, I look 16.  And I think I've finally learned that's okay.  I'm also excited because this year I will be able to celebrate my birthday with my family on my birthday.  It's the first holiday (yeah, my birthday is a holiday in my book) that I've gotten to be home for.  Not only that, but my aunt and uncle that live in Mississippi will be in to visit.  I can't wait.

It's kind of a bittersweet month though, because I realize it's the last full month before Anthony deploys.  It's okay though.  I've gone plans for the summer.  I'm ordering some good books.  I'm getting a library card.  I'm surround by wonderful people, both in real life and in the blogosphere.  I will get through this.  I am strong.  "For I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Philippians 4:13.

I said I'd keep you updated monthly on how I was doing with my New Year Goals.  I can say the goal of going to church and being green are going well.  The working out goal, however, isn't going so well.  Everytime I start back to working out, my stomach ulcer flairs up for a couple weeks and I'm misserable. 

Kindergarten in Review

This week, I've taught...

1.  It is not okay to pick your wedgie in front of people.  It was very difficult explaining to the poor girl why a boy had called her nasty for picking her wedgie in class.
2.  The improtance of keeping your shoes tied.  If you don't you'll land on your face and spill your cup with your newly planted seed.
3.  Accidently, read about the male frogs putting their sperms on the females' eggs.  Thankfully I cuaght myself when I got to the word sperm and the kids didn't seem to notice.
4.  It is impossible to ACCIDENTLY bite someone's finger or to ACCIDENTLY choke someone.  I mean really...you expeect me to believe either of those were an accident?
5.  Treat others how you want to be treated.  And this was not to a kindergartener, but instead, to a colleague.  She talks to everyone very disrespectfully and most are scared of her.  I refused to let her talk to me that way and just accept it.  I took the easy way out and emailed her a very respectful email  express that it was not okay to talk to me that way and that I expected to be treated the way she would want to be treated.  She responded, not by appologizing, but instead by totally missing the point.  I just let it go.  If she wants to be an old lady with no friends, then it's her choice.  I did my part to try to help her.  But, since she doesn't think I should be treated with respect, I hope she doesn't expect to recieve any respect from me.