Introducing......

the new 10-11 grade CDC teacher at Lebanon High School!!! Yea for me! Now I begin all the fun paperwork and information gathering processes. The kids are penciled in at a nearby school, but I will call back in July to see if there are any openings at the closer school. I really think I am going to love this job. The administration there is really cohesive and know their stuff. Thanks to all who were praying for this. I know that your prayers and thoughts helped me stay calm during the interview and with the waiting process. Thanks!!!!


PS: After I accepted the job and got off the phone with my new principal, I jumped up and down yelling "Mommy got the job!!" my adorable son, Caleb, yelled "Yea I get to go to school", Ian frowned saying "I want to go too". Upon hearing he gets to go too we had a yelling party while Riley looked at us like we were all nuts. Ahhhh, what is in store for this little girl! :)

PRAY NOW!!!!!!!!!

I just read Ethan's website and he was having dificulty breathing last night. They did blood work and took x-rays. They ended up placing tubes in his nose because his oxygen saturation was too low. On the website Ben stated one of the first things to look for as far as problems go was to do with breathing. As of 8:31am this morning, there is no post revealing how he is or what the bloodwork stated. Please pray for Ethan. He has already been through so much and God has worked huge miracles in this little man's life. PRAYER WORKS - truly BELIEVE that he will be taken care of.

Interview

I think the interview went fairly well. I think I answered all their questions professionally and very detailed. I did find out that it is a 10-11 grade position. I f I am offered the job, I will have 1 full time aid and 1 part-time aid. I will be teaching life skills and needed subjects. I called about getting the kids into a nearby facility, and they are checking on availability. Hopefully I will be a Blue Devil by the end of the week. :) Keep those prayers going!

A message from the Husband...

I'm not much of a blogger myself, but I wanted to let those of you who participate in our blog know how much I love the author.

Marie has been a blessing in my life for nearly 10 years now. From the time we first started dating I could see the wonderful attributes our God had blessed her with. Since that time He has continued to nurture and mature those characteristics to make my wife an even greater undeserved blessing in my life.

If you've read this blog much you know that Marie has 4 main priorities in her life.

Her hearts first desire and passion is to be the child of God she is called to be. She earnestly seeks His will everyday through prayer, study, worship and service. It's such an encouragement to know that decisions in our house are always made with consultation from the Most High. She believes so strongly in prayer that she often exposes her weaknesses on this blog in a hope that readers will add their prayers for her struggles.

What a blessing it is to fall into second place in her life. Marie is a devoted wife who has always supported me in whatever crazy endeavor I've taken on. Her self-sacrifice and servant heart are one of the greatest blessings in my life. Not because of the acts themselves, but because someone could love me so much that they are willing to give up some of their desires for me. She is a tremendous home maker. I can count on one had the number of times I have NOT come home to a home cooked meal. This isn't an expected duty but a way Marie blesses her family. Having a home cooked meal and gathering around the table allows us to talk about our days through the, often boisterous, chatter of our children. Our house truly is a home because of the effort she puts in everything she does. Her prayers help too.

Falling next in line are our three wonderful children. Every night I pray thanking God for blessing me with a beautiful wife and three healthy kids. Marie is an amazingly strong and patient woman. Our two boys are extremely energetic and their sister is not far behind. Yet, she has the ability to not only care for our kids basic needs but to engage them in education activities, worship and just hanging out with mom. It has to be very tempting to turn on Cartoon Network and read a book.

Although I love to come home to the cries of, “Daddy!”, I know how much more physical and spiritual effort Marie has made in the lives of our children. While I spend the evenings with my kids I know that their mother has put in many more long hours in care-taking, nurturing and even prayer for our three blessings.

Marie's last priority follows the previous three in that it involves a servant heart. That is her desire to help other people. She genuinely cares for each and every person she meets. If you keep up with our blog this is quite evident. Not many people post requesting prayers for other families. Look for posts on the Quads, Ethan, etc. I'm constantly reminded of these people and their need for prayer, as is every prayer/study group we attend. Marie always finds the good in people. I can become frustrated with someone and she can point out their situation or their good qualities. This is a great reminder that if not for our Lord Jesus Christ, none of us would be worth much.

God constantly showers blessings on us, even though we are undeserving. One of the greatest blessing I have ever received is the gift of my wife. I thank Him everyday for her. I hope, through this blog, she can be a blessing in your life as well.

~Matt

Wish I had my camera

Around 6am this morning, we got a lovely awakening from 2 sweet boys. Neither Matt or I were ready by any means to get up. The boys were asked to go back to bed. Next thing we know we can hear them laughing, Matt opens the door to find them sitting in front of the door watching the birds and leaves out the window. I come out to find my 2 little boys and my grown boy sitting side by side looking out the window at the birds. Same expression on their faces, sitting the exact same way and giving me a huge smile as I walked out. For the next hour, we played and kidded around, till the boys were ready for breakfast. Early start, but well worth it!

I have an interview!

I have an interview next week for a CDC position at a nearby High School. Please keep this in your prayers.

Job Possibility

I received a phone call from a HS principal today while out. I have returned his call and am not awaiting a phone call from him. Please pray that this is a possible interview situation. I would LOVE to teach HS. This would be such a blessing and give me the peace of mind of having a job in the fall. I want to go where God leads me- this is out of the blue, since the job is not even listed on the web service. Thanks!

The Quads

I have a link over on the side that I would like for you to checkout. Suzanne and Joe Steece are expecting Quads (yes that is 4!) near the end of summer. Yesterday Suz was admitted to the hospital for the rest of her pregnancy. She is doing well- having some issues with protein and glucose in her urine, but in high spirits. She is at 24 weeks and they are praying to make it to at least 28 weeks. Please be praying for Suz and Joe and their 4 little ones.

This Early?

While we were in NY, Riley started showing signs of wanting to start potty training. I kept noticing that she would pat her diaper or tell me she was wet or dirty when she had gone. So when we got home I pulled out the little potty so she could see it and get use to it. Well she LOVES it! Every day she wants to sit on it and will sit for over 10 min. She even cries when I take her off. The other day she actually went #2 in the potty and I think it scared her at first, but then she got really excited. It is weird for me to be doing this at 18 months. The boys never really started until 2 1/2 or later. But we are trying it. The bad thing is they don't make pull-ups in her size, so we will have to stick to diapers for a while. Do girls really start this early or is this just the warm up to the big thing?

Ethan

I was going to post some pictures of Miss R today, but thought this was more important! Check back tomorrow for news and pictures of the kids!

Many of you head the wonderful news about Ethan on "Miracle Monday". His bone marrow asperate came back with zero cells- no good ones, no bad ones! Everyone praying for this lil' man have been rejoicing all week!

Here is the not so good news. After reading his site, they now have a few more hurdles to jump through. 1 Ethan has developed a diaper rash- this can be very bad because he has no immune system. The worst kind of infection to get would be fungal- which is possible with the open sores on his bottom- in a diaper. 2 They were told today that he as liver damage. If it progresses any more it will become fatal. Ben (Ethan's dad) didn't say whether it was caused by the chemo he just finished, but I think it might have been one of the side effects. 3 At the meeting with the Dr today, they were told all of the ways that Ethan could die with in the coming weeks and months. I cannot imagine how hard that was to have it all listed out after such a victory.

Ben and Becky are calling all prayers warriors to enlist again on behalf of their son. Take a moment to pray for Ethan, his mommy and daddy and for the medical personal treating him. Pray for healing in his body and strength to endure the coming procedures. PRAYER WORKS!!!

To the Man in our lives

I know this is a little late, but the guy you see to the left is the most amazing man I know. We have been together for a little over 6 years now and I couldn't imagine my life with out him. He is a wonderful dad and the kids love him to death. They don't run for the door screaming like that for anyone but him. He is a man of integrity and a man of God. He is passionate about God, his family, sports and his work. I love knowing what he does through his day (even if I have no clue what he is saying!), watching sports with him or just reading next to each other. God truly knew what he was doing when he placed us together. I love working along side you, traveling through our life together. You are an amazing hubby and daddy- we love you!!

Check it out!!!

http://www.ethanpowell.com/Encrypted.cfm?id=121

Our NY Trip

Here is my first attempt at a slide show. So if it doesn't work, please don't harass me! :) Our trip to NY was a lot of fun. It was wild and insanely crazy at times, but I am glad we got to go. Not knowing how my grandparents health will go or when the next time we might get up there made me suck up the 12 hour drive and take it all in. The kids did real well on the trip. Their nap schedules got a tad messed up (to be expected) so towards the end they were fussy. They had a great time at Grand-Papas house and then at the assisted living apartment. We even got to sneak in a visit with my Aunt Sharron. We met at a park and the kids loved it. Although it made me nervous, they loved sitting on the concrete wall my the lake. Not that the water was deep where they were, but I still would have hated for them to fall in. I use to go swimming in that lake when I visited my Grandma Mary for the summer. It was so nice to see all the places I remember as a child. The weather was awesome- cold enough at night to need a blanket. The kids really loved having my Aunt Judy and cousin Tuna (Tina) around. It was nice to see them and will be even better when we see them this summer on our Fl trip.

*OK for some reason some of the pictures didn't rotate correctly, so you may have to turn your head to look at a few! Sorry! :)

So I got to looking at our grass last night and noticed it was a little brown (well a lot since we are in a drought). So I decided to water it ans see if that helped. Had I known that less than 24 hours later we would get rain- I wouldn't have wasted my water! :)

Randomness

I'll be out of town till the middle of next week, so this will be my last post for a while. I am taking the kids up to NY to visit my grandparents for a few days. My Aunt and cousin are flying in from FL tonight and we are all riding together along with my mom. Hopefully it will be a great trip.

I called on a job today. I am a little nervous since it is an Elementary position rather than Middle or High school. But if I can get it I will take it. It is also in a different area of Special Education than I am use to. I think I will like it, if offered the job- just makes me nervous to go into a new area. I am supposed to talk to the principal on Monday. Please keep this in your prayers. Part of me would like to wait to see if something in the upper grades comes along, and yet I am just so glad that there were some SPED posted and think I should grab what I can. Hopefully I will be granted with clarity over the weekend.

VBS is now over. The kids and I are happy to be back in our routine. The boys are still singing the songs that we learned. I don't think I will ever forget "Great Adventure". It was a lot of fun. The evenings went by quickly and I got to meet a lot of the families at Community. As tired as I am from it all, I would do it again in a heart beat. Getting to watch my kids sing songs and have fun was priceless!

VBS: 6:30-WHAT?????

We have VBS this week and I must say it is taking a toll on all of us. Matt and I are Crew leaders at Avalanche Ranch, while our boys participate and Riley plays with her little friends. We arrive at 6:15 to get our tags and bags, then drop off the kids in time to get to our area to meet our group o fkids. Y'all I have NEVER been to a VBS that lasted till 9! By the time all the kids in our group get picked up, we get our kids and get in the car it is 9:30. Then we drive home and have the kids in bed by 10 or 10:15. By the time we get things cleaned and are ready for be it is 11 or later. Then Matt has to be up around 5 for work. The adults in this family are feeling the fatigue. I think the kids are starting to also. Don't get me wrong- we love VBS, and the kids have so much fun. But I am happy that we only have tonight and then tomorrow night and we are done!

Scrapbook pictures

I was asked to post my pages that I have completed in the scrapbook. I was trying to get them in a slide show so everyone wouldn't have to scroll down, but I am having trouble- so maybe next time. I have a few others started, but don't have them complete. I think they are pretty simple since I have just started. But I like them. I'm sure as I scrap more that I will get more extravagant and artsy :) So here is some pages out of our family scrapbook:


Our wedding page
Caleb's birth page
Ian's birth page
Riley's birth page
I have pages planned for our AR time after we got married through now. I have a feeling I will be scrapping forever and may not ever catch up. I think I should have started this earlier. I have found the neatest tool though. I love having mats on my photos, but they can be troublesome getting the picture straight and then getting the mat even. There are these rulers called perfect layers. Stampin' up has them and you can get them on QVC too. I don't have a set yet, but plan on getting them.

Please Read about Ethan!!

If you don't read any of the other updates on our family from today, please read this! There is a link on the side for Ethan Powell. He is a 6 month old little guy, who was diagnosed with leukemia at 2 months. He has beat all odds and many prayers have been answered on his behalf. They recently received news that his bone marrow and spinal fluid contained 78% leukemia. At this time they are unable to do a transplant. As of today, they are starting the last round of chemo available for Ethan. It is initially for children 1-21, so it will be hard on his little body. Please pray for the Powell's and for Ethan's levels to drop below 28%. 0% would be best. Right now stop reading this and say a prayer. You will be heard!

Ian's Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from Ian's birthday party. We had a lot of fun. Family came down from KY and here in TN. We also were able to have our friends, the Tomlinson's, over as well. The boys had a blast playing together. The "big boys" played basketball, while the ladies watched the kids play in the neat pool that the boys got. Thanks to everyone who came! The kids had a blast and it was a very memorable birthday for Ian!

My Growing Children

At the kids check-ups we got some interesting results. Riley is still tiny (go figure!) and Ian has leveled out. They both did real good. Riley is still in the 9th %tile, while Ian has moved into the 55th %tile. Riley still has some lingering fluid on her ears so we will be seeing an ENT here in the next month. Caleb is going to see an Audiologist around the same time to double check his hearing. Since he had tubes for so long and every now and then will request for us to repeat something, we thought it might be worth checking out. Ian on the other hand will be re-evaluated in November as far as intonation. He speaks pretty good, know lots of things, but his intonation is off. Hopefully it is just age and he will grow out of it by November. If not then we will head it off early and get some help.
In other news Ian is doing real good at potty training. He has not had any accidents in a while. We are still working on aim occasionally. He still wears pull-ups for nap and at night. The only issue we have is he is not to thrilled to poop in the potty. Hopefully I can find a neat incentive to get him to do it. Caleb is now night potty trained. We are really excited! So is he, although I think he kind of misses the cars pull-ups! :) I think that is pretty good for a boy. The experts usually say that boys will night time train between the ages of 4 and 7. So for him to be doing it at 4 1/2 is really good. Not to say we won't have relapses, but we are on the road to diaper and pull-up freedom!

Celebrating

Last friday I celebrated starting my 29th year of life! How crazy is that? It was rather uneventful, but much fun. The kids had drs apointments (stats later) and then we met Matt for lunch. Not the most exciting thin since downtown is extremely crowded and somewhat non-kid friendly, but none the less it was nice to eat with the hubby/daddy. Then the kids and I headed home for naps and bubble play. For dinner it was pizza and cinnamon sticks. Then a movie with the family. The kids and my hubby gave me a gift card to top it all off. As simple as it was, it was a good way to celbrate getting closer to the big 3-0! :)

Long time

Sorry it has been a while since I have posted. We have had family in town all week and have been on the run. Linda and I have been scrapbooking up a storm (yes I now scrapbook- it is quite fun and relaxing!) I have some pictures from Ian's birthday party to upload in the next few days and a bunch of news. We are on our way out the door for Riley's 18 month check up and Ian's 3 year check up. I'll post the stats later. Have a wonderful Friday!!