tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34301841174466994102024-03-13T17:05:54.126-06:00Heart On The LineWendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.comBlogger1229125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-36575817816287548722019-04-15T13:09:00.002-06:002019-04-15T13:09:52.049-06:00Mission accomplished I graduated with my bachelors degree in marriage and family studies on Friday and I was recently accepted into grad school for marriage and family counseling. It’s been a long road and I still have more to go, but I’m really really proud of what I have accomplished. My dreams are all coming true! :)<br />
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<br />Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-60969366715753233012019-02-20T21:43:00.001-07:002019-02-20T21:45:17.255-07:00Croatia boundA big piece of family news! Josh has chosen to spend the next two years doing missionary work for our church. In our church you don’t get to choose where you do missionary service, the church makes the assignment, and it could be almost anywhere in the world!<br />
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He submitted his paperwork three weeks ago and we have been on pins and needles waiting for him to be assigned. Yesterday the letter finally came and we got the big news!<br />
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He has been assigned to serve in the Adriatic North mission, which covers Bosnia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro and Slovenia! He has been assigned to learn to speak Croatian, which means that he will likely spend most or all of his time in Croatia. He leaves June 19th and will spend several weeks at a missionary training center doing a lot of language and missionary training and then he will head to Croatia probably in August.<br />
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Missionaries spend two years away from their families, focused on the work, so while we will receive weekly letters and occasional phone calls, he won’t be home until probably June 2021. We are going to miss him, but he is so excited about this that it’s almost hard to be sad about it. He is absolutely thrilled that he gets to go to Croatia. We have spent the past few weeks trying to guess where he would go, and no one ever even came close to Croatia, but as soon as he got his assignment it’s like it made perfect sense somehow. He really wanted to go somewhere foreign where he could learn a cool language. He certainly got his wish, lol! Missionaries generally come back fluent in the language they learn after the two years is over, so it will be so fun for him to speak Croatian! He’s so excited, every time I talk to him I can tell that he’s just ready to go. As much as I’ll miss him, this is a great thing for him. He has been looking forward this for a long time.<br />
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So he’ll be home from college in early May and then we will have about six weeks with him before he heads out for two years. It’s a bittersweet time for me. It’s hard to watch your kids grow up and move on, but I couldn’t be more proud or excited for everything he’s accomplishing and the choices he’s making in life. So right now I’m just focusing on being excited for him and trying not to think too much about sending my kid halfway around the world for two years!<br />
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So there’s our news! Oh, also, yesterday in the middle of the mission excitement, I got the email from the grad school I applied to about my in person interview. Eek! The interview process is intense, it will last four hours, and has several different assessments and interview portions. But it’s officially happening, because I got it scheduled! It happens mid-March.<br />
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Lots of big things coming up for us! I’m nervous and excited and happy and sad and basically sort of a hot mess right now, but I’m hanging in there. Life keeps moving forward!<br />
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(Oh also, Clarissa just turned ten a few weeks ago. TEN!!! Remember when I was making long posts about how the adoption wait was never going to be over? That was a decade ago. Crazy! She’s doing amazing, by the way! I’ll come back at some point and make another family update, but things are going great!)<br />
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<br />Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-71003538649764519162018-12-21T13:31:00.003-07:002018-12-21T13:40:22.832-07:00End of the year reviewI realize that my blog has mostly been abandoned, but I’m back with a yearly update. I have been meaning to check in for months, but life is busy and I just haven’t done it.<br />
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This was a super crazy year, and I’ll be honest, I’m not going to be all that sad to see it go. We started it it with a kitchen remodel, and while our kitchen looks great, it was stressful and our house was torn up for quite some time. It was crappy timing, but we had a water leak in our kitchen that ruined the flooring, so it was sort of a forced kitchen remodel. But I’m happy with the results, so I’m glad we did it.<br />
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The first part of the year was crammed with senior stuff for Josh. We did college applications, I helped him do a ton of stuff for scholarship applications, he was the senior class president, so he was in charge of all the senior activities, he had prom on his 18th birthday, where he was crowed prom king, so that was a cool night. Then he graduated twice. Thanks to dual enrollment, he earned his college associate degree from Idaho State University and actually graduated with a college degree a few weeks before he graduated from high school. So we got to see him graduate from ISU and then a few weeks later we got to see him graduate from high school. I could not possibly be more proud of that kid.<br />
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After graduation Shawn, Josh and Matthew took a cross country trip for two weeks. Josh won a national leadership award and there was a ceremony in New Orleans, so they went there for a few days, and then immediately after that they went to Washington DC for a week, because Josh and Matthew won the state National History Day competition and got to compete in the national competition in DC. They didn’t win nationals, but they had an awesome time. Then they took a bus from there to New York City and spend a few days being tourists. They got to meet my amazing friend and college mentor, who lives in NYC, which was really fun.<br />
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Then after a whirlwind summmer getting Josh ready for college, we moved him to Utah in August. I could say a whole lot of things about how hard it is to send your first child off to college. Ugh. I didn’t think I was going to survive it. You raise a kid for 18 years, and your life basically revolves around them and then suddenly they’re just...gone. Off on their own, living their own life in a whole different state. Josh and I have always been really close, so we talk a lot, but it was really hard to go several months without seeing him in person. But he’s doing absolutely amazing at college. He got great scholarships, he got into the honors college, he got a job he loves at the art museum on campus and he has made lots of friends and had lots of amazing adventures. Because he already has his associate degree, he’s basically a junior in college. So he’s already taking upper level majors courses, and he’s doing great. He’s majoring in statistics, with the goal of becoming an actuary. He’s finishing out this school year and then he’ll actually be taking a break for two years to do missionary work for our church. He will probably leave this summer. We won’t find out where he’s going or when until February. Anyway, he’s happy, thriving and doing awesome. Letting him go was hard, but seeing him thrive on his own as an adult has been so amazing. We successfully raised a kid to adulthood. Go us.<br />
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In Matthew news, he’s now a sophomore in high school, and he had a bit of an adjustment after Josh left. The two of them have always been best friends, and they were inseperable last year when they were both in high school together. So he really had to make an adjustment after Josh left, and figure out who he is without Josh. He’s doing really well though, loving school, and he has a super cute girlfriend who seems to make him pretty happy. He’s still playing the piano, and his skill still blows me away. He can listen to pretty much any song and play it by ear after a few minutes. I don’t know how he does it, but I love it.<br />
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In Clarissa news, she’s now nine and in 4th grade and is doing awesome. She’s very shy, and that’s something we’ve been working on, but she’s creative, and funny and such a great kid. She loves adventures. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, if it’s new and different, she’s all over it. She’s so excited for Christmas. We put a little Christmas tree in her bedroom and she had a great time decorating it. She loves crafts and art supplies, that’s pretty much all she wants for Christmas this year. We still keep in touch with her birth family and they send her a box of gifts for holidays. They’re wonderful people, I’m so happy to have connected with them. Her birth aunt speaks really good English, so we email back and forth, and I send photos and updates. It’s really an ideal situation, and I’m grateful for it. Everything in Clarissa’s world is going really well. She’s just the best kid ever, and so easy to raise. We sure love her.<br />
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In my news, it has been an exhausting year. I’m finishing up my bachelors degree, I only have two classes left and I graduate in April!! It has been a long road, but I’m almost there! I’m also working two full days a week at the high schools, so trying to juggle school and work has been a challenge. I saved all the hardest classes to the end, so this year I’ve taken some really challenging classes, in the middle of trying to work, remodeling our kitchen, doing all the college planning and senior stuff with Josh, dealing with the emotions of sending him off to college, juggling the activities of the other two kids, and dealing with some minor health issues that aren’t life or death but certainly haven’t made things any easier. Basically I’m exhausted 24/7 and not sure how I’m continuing to function, but I just keep pushing forward, because what else can you do? Oh, and in the middle of all of this, I just started my grad school applications. So over the next couple of months I’ll be completing the application process, doing my live interviews and hopefully getting the admissions letter I’m hoping for. If all goes well I graduate with my bachelors degree in April and start grad school in September. Grad school is three more years. I’m tired, you guys. but I’m going to make it, because I’ve come this far and I know that this is what I really want. Bring it on, whatever it takes, I’m doing it.<br />
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In Shawn news, he is managing the pharmacy, and it keeps him extremely busy, and extremely stressed. He’s a busy guy. He loves his job, but it’s all consuming sometimes. With him so busy at work and me so busy with school and my job, we’re generally running around like chickens with our heads cut off, but somehow we’re managing to keep it together. Like I said, it’s been a stressful year. Everything is good, just really really reeeeeeeally busy. That’s life though, I guess.<br />
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But this week I took my finals, so my semester is done, and today I had my last day of work for the rest of the year (long Christmas vacations are the perk of working at a high school), so now I’m getting ready to settle in for a few weeks of family and holidays and some much needed relaxation. After a tough year, we’ve all earned it.<br />
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So there’s my update, in case anyone is still around and wonders whatever happened to me. Life is good, we’re happy, and things are never dull around here. I will probably continue to check in here from time to time. I miss blogging, but these days it’s easier to make a quick post on instagram or Facebook rather than write out long posts. It’s just all I have time for.<br />
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Anyway, happy holidays from our family, thanks for checking in!<br />
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Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-45381440132312521292018-04-30T21:43:00.002-06:002018-04-30T21:43:14.802-06:00Clarissa I’m terrible about updating, so instead I’m sharing a recent photo of Clarissa. I love this beautiful girl!<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/41100065314/" title="Untitled"><img alt="Untitled" height="640" src="https://farm1.staticflickr.com/868/41100065314_5e66c4c109_z.jpg" width="435" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-46873482052152204272018-03-03T09:18:00.000-07:002018-03-03T09:18:55.936-07:00Long time no blog My poor abandoned blog. Life has gotten away from me in the past year and blogging just hasn’t been a priority. I miss it. I loved having this outlet to write down my thoughts and I love all the people who followed along with me.<br />
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So for those of you who still check in, here’s an update.<br />
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I’m now a senior in college! A few years ago the idea of going back to college seemed terrifying and impossible. And I’ll be honest, some days it still feels terrifying and impossible, lol. But I’m rocking it! I took 41 credits last year, and I have gotten an A in every single class I’ve taken since I went back to college. I’ve never been a straight student in my entire life. If I had realized how good it feels, maybe I would have tried a little harder in high school, lol. I’m working my behind off, and it’s hard and it’s stressful, and there are so many days that I want to quit, but I’ve also never been more proud of myself in my whole life. I’m doing the thing I always dreamed of doing.<br />
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I’ve been taking a heavy full time class load for the past year and a half or so, but now that I’m doing to my last few classes, I’m slowing it down this year. I’ve hit the really heavy senior level classes and they are kicking my behind. And I’m also working and juggling three kids with very busy schedules, so I decided it was best to take these last classes a little slower. So I’m only taking two classes right now, but they’re both hugely time consuming and stressful. I’m taking a psychology research methods class and we’re actually working on writing a research proposal all semester. It’s fun and hard and stressful and interesting and complicated all at the same time. I had to write a huge section of it yesterday and last night as I was reviewing it, I had a moment of “I WROTE that?!”. I’m doing things I never thought I could do. Two years ago even reading a research proposal would felt over my head. Now I’m writing one.<br />
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So I’m going to drag my last classes out over the rest of this year, and then I’m planning to start grad school next fall. I can’t believe I’m even talking about grad school. I’m nervous and excited!!<br />
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I’m also still working a few hours a day at two different high schools and I love my job!! I love working with teenagers. This job has taught me that I think I’d really like to focus on tenagers when I start looking for a therapist job after I graduate. I don’t know exactly what direction my future career will take yet, but this job is helping me to see where my skills are, and I’m grateful for that.<br />
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One thing keeping me busy lately has been helping Josh with college applications. He graduates in a couple of months. I think I’m still in denial. When I started this blog, he was eight! Now he’s getting ready to pack up and leave home soon. He’s doing amazing, it would take me all day to list all the awesome things he’s been doing. He’s the senior class president, president of the National History Day Club, he’s headed to state for Academic Decathalon in a few weeks, he’s in the National Honor Society, he was selected this year as a student ambassador for the National WWII museum...the list goes on. He has been giving community presentations on honoring or veterans, and was on a local news program a few weeks ago talking about the student Ambassador program he’s involved with. On Monday he’s going to be the guest speaker at the state Capitol and will be speaking in front of the governor. He also just found out that he won the Billy Michal leadership award from the National WWII museum, and they’re flying us to New Orleans in June for the awards ceremony. I’m so proud of that kid.<br />
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So he’s been applying to college, and it’s been a long process. He’s been accepted to every college he has applied to, but he’s likely going to go where the money is. Scholarships are coming in, and it looks like Utah State is probably going to be the winner. He’s already got scholarships from Utah State, but we’re waiting to hear on a great big one that will send him full ride for four years. You just can’t beat free college. If he gets it, and his chances are good, I think that will seal the deal for Utah State. I’m having a really hard time with this whole leaving home thing. I’m trying not to think about it too much.<br />
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In a few weeks we’re taking him on a graduation trip to New York City, which we’re really excited about. He has wanted to go for years and this will be a fun opportunity to spend a week with him, making some memories before he heads off to college. I’m also excited because I’m finally going to be meeeting my college mentor in person, which we have been trying to make happen for a while! That’s going to be a big deal for me, so I’m looking forward to that.<br />
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In Matthew news, he’s still playing the piano, and he’s amazing! I could listen to him play all day. He’s started high school this year at the same school Josh is at, so that’s been really fun for them. He’s the freshman class president this year and is getting ready to campaign for sophomore president in the spring. He’s also in Academic Decathalon, and he and Josh have been working in a National History Project documentary together. If it wins, they’ll be headed to Washington DC together this summer. Josh had made it to nationals the last two years in a row and he’s really hoping that they make it together this year.<br />
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In Clarissa news, can you believe she’s NINE?! Time has flown by way too quickly. She’s doing amazing. I still feel so lucky to be her mom. She’s sweet and creative and artistic and funny and awesome. She loves to create things. Anything artistic or creative is her happy place. She loves to draw, she likes to decorate things, she loves clothes. She tells me that she wants to be an artist or a baker or a clothing designer when she grows up. I love watching her talents develop. She’s such a sweet, loving, easy going kid. She’s a joy to raise. She’s a constant ray of sunshine in our house. Whenever any one is sad, she’s there with a hug. I love that kid so much. I love looking back on our adoption journey. It turned out better than I could have even imagined. I’m grateful for her every day. Her big project right now is memorizing her times tables. She struggles a bit in math, so it’s our family project to help her pass off all her times tables at school. She’s on 7’s now, and when she passes off her 12’s we’e going to take her to get her ears pierced to celebrate. She REALLY wants her ears pierced, so that’s motivating her to keep working on it! <br />
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In the midst of all this craziness with school and my job and the kids, we’re also in the middle of a kitchen remodel. We had a water leak last year and insurance is replacing the floors. We thought we’d just put in new flooring and call it good, but we couldn’t find flooring that matched the cabinets, and we really don’t even like the cabinets, so we didn’t want to match flooring to cabinets we don’t like. So that led to painting the cabinets, which led to needing new appliances, which started a whole change reaction, and long story short, we’re remodeling the kitchen. So my house is currently torn up and it’s chaos around here right now, but I’m starting to see a light at the end of tunnel. We’re getting close to being done, and it’s looking amazing. I’ll try to remember to come back and post before and afters when we finish. There are a bunch of random photos I’d like to share to catch up my blog, so I’ll try to get back and do that.<br />
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So there’s our update! Life is insanely busy right now and school is kicking my behind, but I’m doing awesome, Shawn and the kids are great and life is good around here. I’ll try to come back with an update in photos soon! <br />
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Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-55499765522775601112017-10-21T18:51:00.001-06:002017-10-21T20:01:28.389-06:00Mi Vida LocaYou guys. I’m tired.<br />
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First of all, the job is going great. Having to go to work everyday is a gigantic life change, and trying to juggle it with school is making my life extremely complicated, but the job is awesome!<br />
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I work at two different schools with three different teachers in four different classes, and the program is new to the district, so right now it’s a LOT of chaos while everyone figures out how this program is supposed to work. Each teacher does it slightly differently and each class has a slightly different dynamic, so I’ve had to adjust to a lot of things all at once. It’s still kind of stressful for everyone while we figure all of this out. But overall, the job is awesome! I get to sit in a classroom with teenagers and brainstorm their problems. That’s kind of the thing I’m the very best at. Unlike a lot of people, I actually love teenagers. I like their sassiness, I like their energy, I even like it when they sit there and roll their eyes at me, because that means I get to work on getting through to them, and I like that!<br />
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My job consists of working in small groups of kids and they take turns presenting a problem that they have come across in another class, it could be a math problem they got wrong on a test, a science concept they’re stuck on, it doesn’t matter, they bring a problem and then we work as a group to help them work through it. Not by showing them how to get the answer, but by asking them a series of questions to help them figure it out themselves. Things like “what do you already know about the problem.” “What resources do you have with you that might help you solve the problem?” (ie, did you bring your math book or your science notes?) or “based on what you already know, what do you think your next step is?”. We basically help them brainstorm problem solving techniques until they can find a way to solve their own problem. This program is designed to target the kids who give up easily. Kids who don’t have a lot of resources and might drop out without intervention. This program gives them the skills and confidence to keep going when they want to give up. The goal is to get them to learn to problem solve on their own, to get in the habit of seeking out resources when they have a problem instead of giving up and to learn critical thinking skills that will get them through high school and hopefully on to college.<br />
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So it’s really fun because the problems are constantly changing. We walk someone through working out a math problem and then we might immediately switch to helping someone figure out a method for memorizing Spanish verb conjugation. You never know what’s coming next! It’s fun in that way. The kids are always hesitant at first, but then they get really into it. Watching someone who is convinced that they don’t know the answer have a lightbulb moment and realize that they actually CAN figure it out is the best thing.<br />
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The other day I had a kid who just wasn’t able to figure out a problem, but he kept referencing what his teacher had said about it. So I said “ok, so explain it to me exactly the way the teacher explained it to you.” And 30 seconds into his explaination the lightbulb went on and it just clicked. He realized knew the answer, he just needed to talk it all out. I love it.<br />
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So the job is great and it’s the perfect job for me right now. However, trying to fit it into my already crazy life has been hard. It’s taking away a lot of my study time, so I end up putting a lot of stuff off and then cramming it all in when I have time, and that’s really hard. My Saturdays are now packed with homework.<br />
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The great thing about working for the school though is that if the kids aren’t there, I don’t have to be there. So any teacher work days, snow days, holidays, etc, I get the day off. There tends to be several of those throughout the year, so that will help. I get thanksgiving week off, a long Christmas vacation, etc. School jobs are awesome in that way. So I look forward to those days. I will get some breaks to help lighten the load a bit. I know that tons of people work and go to school and raise kids. It’s just new for me. I’ll adjust.<br />
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And to add more craziness to my life, I recently signed up to foster kittens for a local cat shelter. I currently have three of the cutest four week old kittens living in my basement. It’s kind of like having a house full of toddlers, and I really don’t know why I’m taking it on in the middle of everything else, but kittens are cute and I couldn’t say no. It’s extra work, but I get to cuddle with kittens, and that’s kind of my happy place.<br />
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So things are good. Crazy, busy, insane and I think I might drown, but you know...it’s fine, lol. It’s good stuff, just a lot of it. I’ll survive. :)Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-28941829626572585542017-10-01T10:17:00.001-06:002017-10-06T09:16:35.552-06:00I got a job!On another edition of “can my life get any crazier?” I now have a job!<br />
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So part of my college experience has been putting together a LinkedIn profile and starting to gather stuff for grad school applications. And what I have discovered during this process is that I have NOTHING. I haven’t worked in 17 years. I have no experience, no professional contacts, pretty much nothing.<br />
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So I’ve been going to my mentor in a panic and he reassured me that it’s fine but has encouraged me to find something to put on a resume. I’ve been thinking about doing volunteer work or something, but I’ve just been so busy that I haven’t had time to even look.<br />
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Then a few weeks ago I stumbled across a listing for a job with the school district. I wasn’t really looking for a job, but this one caught my eye because it sounds exactly like something I would love to do. They’re starting a program in our district for high schoolers who would be a good fit for college in theory, but aren’t currently doing well in school for one reason or another. They identify those kids and offer them an elective to help them get on track for college. The class has a teacher, but they were looking for someone to be kind of a mentor for the program. To work with the kids, encourage them, help them in the classroom and facilitate group activities. The job listing said it was part time, two days a week, which would work perfect with my schooling.<br />
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This is right up my alley and exactly the kind of thing I’m good at. I love working with teenagers, and there’s no one who understands struggling to get on track for college better than me! Being the mother of teenagers, a college student myself, and working towards a counseling degree, this job was perfect for me. So on a whim, I applied. I haven’t applied for a job in 20 years, and to be honest I didn’t think I was going to get it. Every stay at home mom in the city wants a part time job with the school district. I assumed they’d probably get a hundred appplications, mine would get lost in the shuffle and I’d never hear anything about it. My application was almost embarrassing, because there was no job history on it or anything. I didn’t even submit a resume with it, because my resume is basically blank at this point. But I did really play up my schooling, because what I’ve been learning in school right is right on point with this job. I’m a great candidate in that way.<br />
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A week went by and I didn’t hear anything, so I kind of forgot about it, and then I got a really bad cold and was miserably sick in bed for a few days. Then, in the midst of my cold medicine induced haze, I got the call that they wanted me to come in for an interview, and to submit a resume. I was really sick, but not going to pass that up, so I agreed. I spend a frantic day putting together a resume. I shoehorned any possible relevant information on it and emailed it off.<br />
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The next day I drug myself out of bed, got dressed up and headed off for the interview. I was still getting over a cold, and I had that cold medciney head in the clouds feeling, but I was so determined to pull it together. I walked in there and it was a panel of three people. Two vice principles and the coordinator of the program. I haven’t had a job interview in so long, and I’m so not good at this. It was scary!<br />
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But they started firing questions at me, and it was actually really funny, because it turns out that school has totally prepared me for this. I answer essay questions for school all day long. I have answered a billion questions about child development, socialization in schools, community intervention and every other related topic over the past year. They started asking me questions about motivating teenagers and college related stuff, and my school training just took over. I knew stuff I didn’t even remember I knew, lol. Thank you college! I felt like it went really well.<br />
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And apparently so did they because they called me the next day and offered me the job! But here’s the problem. It’s not two days a week like the job listing said. It’s every day for a few hours in the afternoon. That’s tricky for me because of school. I do homework all day while my kids are in school. That’s precious study time for me. And now I’m going to lose a good portion of that time every day. I’ll be honest, I’m still not totally sure how I’m going to pull it off, but I’m going to make it work. Plenty of people work and go to school. It’s just new for me. This job is perfect for me, it will help so much with grad school applications, and the little bit of extra money will really be nice. I’m just going to do it and make it work somehow. Life is about to get a little crazy.<br />
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So...now I have a job! I start in a week. I haven’t had to go to a job everyday for almost two decades, so this feels really weird. I need to go shopping for work clothes, because I live in yoga pants and I have no idea how to dress professionally for a job. But I’m really excited about this! This is probably the first job in my entire life that I’ve ever actually wanted and had specific skills for. I’ve had plenty of jobs in my life pre-kids, but they were all just random entry level jobs I took because I needed money. This is the first time I feel like I’m actually going to do something that I’m good at, trained for and genuinely enthusiastic about. That feels really good. I genuinely want to help motivate kids and help them get on track for college. If there is anyone who understands the significance of a college education, it’s me. And while this job isn’t counseling, it’s somewhere in the realm. It’s the opportunity to help people, and that’s what my goal has been all along.<br />
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So that’s what’s new with me! Life is about to change in a big way, and I’m nervous and excited! I’ll let you know how it goes!Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-53544990809726773772017-09-14T21:17:00.002-06:002017-09-14T21:20:04.248-06:00I'm back! I appreciate everyone who posted on my last post and said they were still reading. I hate that I've abandoned my blog. I love having the history of my family written down, I'm just having a hard time getting here to do it.<br />
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So here's what's going on with us lately. Clarissa is doing amazing! This summer we had a friend come back from living in Korea and she offered to teach Clarissa some Korean over the summer. She was so great with Clarissa, giving her lessons about Korean culture, teaching her the Korean alphabet and some Korean words. Clarissa really loved it! Then at the end of the summer our friend moved to go to college and Clarissa lost her teacher. There is a very small Korean community here, so finding another Korean teacher seemed impossible. But then an opportunity fell in our laps! We found a Korean organization starting up Korean classes! Three hours a week Clarissa goes there and learns the language and the culture. It's taught by Koreans and there are other Korean kids in the class. This is such an awesome opportunity for her! She's so excited about it.<br />
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Clarissa is in third grade now (can you believe it?!!) and she's loving school! She such a happy, easy going kid. She loves art, she likes to read, and she's obsesssed with clothes, so she's so fun to shop with! She's doing awesome, everything is great with her.<br />
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In Matthew news, he just started high school! He's going to the same honors high school that Josh goes to, so they enjoy being in school together for the first time since elementary school. Josh is a senior this year and ran for senior class president last year and won, so he has talked Matthew into running for freshman president so they can hopefully do student council together. So he's been campaigning all week and we find out tomorrow if he won. It's been an exiting week! Matthew is also still playing the piano, and he's SO good now! He's working on a version of Bohemian Rhapsody for his upcoming piano recital and it sounds amazing. I'm loving it. He's doing great, everything is going well in Matthew's life.<br />
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In Josh's world, things are crazy busy! He's a senior this year and he's in about a million clubs and activities. He also works at Shawn's pharmacy after school, so between all of those things, I feel like I hardly ever see him anymore. I know that this is the way things go with kids, they become more and more independent until they finally leave home. But I'm not going to lie, it's been hard for me! Josh and I are really close and knowing that this is his last year home before he goes out in the world has been kind of tough for me. He's doing awesome and I have no doubt he's going to go out in the world and do amazing things, but I'm going to really miss him. I'm trying to soak up as much as I can this last year before he goes. He's doing a dual enrollment program where he's taking college courses at his high school and he's on track to graduate with over 70 college credits! So he'll graduate from college with his associates degree at the same time he graduates from high school in the spring. Right now we're getting ready to start college applications and wherever he gets accepted, he'll be going in as a junior. This has been a great start for him and he's really looking forward to what's next. He plans to major in something math related, probably applied math, and work towards becoming an actuary. Big things are in store for that kid!<br />
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Shawn is doing great, work is just super busy for him. Managing a very large, busy pharmacy is a challenge at times, but he loves his job and is great at it. So he's stressed, but things are good.<br />
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As for me, I'm still plugging along with college! I started a new semester this week. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little (lot) stressed. I took classes over the summer, so I really haven't had much of a break all year. I'm trying to get through school as quickly as possible, so I'm just cramming classes in as much as I can. It's a lot. I'm liking what I'm learning, it's just...a lot. The first week is always the worst. Getting used to new rules, new books, new assignments, new teachers. It always takes me a bit to adjust. But I'm doing great, I'm getting straight A's every semester, so things are looking good. I have about a year and a half left before I graduate, and I'm already looking at grad school. Going back to school has been a life changing experience for me. Stressful, which explains my lack of blogging, but it's been good. I know I'm headed down the right path and I feel good about how things are going. I'll just be really really glad to be done someday!!<br />
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In random news, our garbage disposal broke a few weeks ago and ruined our hardwood floors, so we're currently working with the insurance company to sort that out. That's a mess. Right now I'm also working on planning a trip to NYC in the spring with Josh. I promised him a senior trip and I'm working my hardest to make that happen in the middle of the rest of the craziness. While I'm in NYC I'm also going to finally meet my college mentor in person, which I'm excited about! We have big things coming up! Now if I can just find time in my crazy busy life to make them all work! Life is crazy but always exciting! :)<br />
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Here's a family photo I took on a recent getaway to the mountains!<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/36829147801/" title="FamilyFall2017"><img src="https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4401/36829147801_2613ef0aa6_z.jpg" width="640" height="427" alt="FamilyFall2017"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-7999006758839432642017-06-28T13:50:00.002-06:002017-06-30T14:30:47.086-06:00UpdateI'm not even sure if anyone is reading my blog anymore. I know I've kind of dropped the ball on it. Life got crazy.<br />
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</div><div>But I wanted to update you on something important, although I apologize that it will be a little vague and short. We have been communicating with our adoption agency recently and we have had the opportunity to open Clarissa's adoption. Her birth family contacted the Korean agency a couple of months ago and requested contact and we have agreed. As much as you all know that I'm long winded and can't give a short explaination about anything, this one will be short, because I'm tying to protect the privacy of everyone involved. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Basically, due to some complicated circumstances (that are all fine and good, just complicated), I am communicating with Clarissa's birth aunt, not her birth mother. The agency has decided that this is an acceptable situation, and we have agreed, so they have backed out of it and I am communicating directly by email with Clarissa's aunt, who speaks English. We have received a few photos of her birth mother and we are slowly getting to know each other. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Right now it's pretty much just me and the aunt in email, and it will remain that way for the time being. Clarissa knows, her birth mother knows, but right now it's just me and the aunt having some conversations and getting to know each other. </div><div><br />
</div><div>It's a sensitive situation for all involved and opening an adoption 8 years in comes with some adjustment, but I'm grateful for this opportunity, and we are starting very slow and seeing where it goes. I will probably not mention much more about it, because at this point, it's Clarissa's story to tell, not mine, and it's important to me to protect her privacy. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I will say that this is extremely rare are hardly ever happens. The official situation in Korean adoptions is that they're all closed until the child turns 18, at which time, if they choose, the agency will open their files and help them try to contact the birth parents, but more often than not it's unsuccessful. Having an option Korean adoption while the child is still young is pretty rare, and is basically just handled on a case by case basis when it comes up. So here we are. </div><div><br />
</div><div>I could go on for pages about this to be honest, and I'm holding myself back from saying all the things I really want to say because I really do want to maintain everyone's privacy and this just doesn't feel like something to share publicly. But needless to say, there are lots of emotions happening, some questions have been answered and we're all still getting used to this new development. I'm grateful for this opportunity. I have always said that one day I wanted to hug the woman who gave my child life and tell her thank you, and now I know that there is a possibility of that actually happening. An in-person meeting is likely eventually, but not for a while. But we're all open to it when Clarissa is older and decides she's ready. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Until then, we are getting to know each other and we're grateful for the things we've learned and the connections we've made. I have always said that adotion is both beautiful and heartbreaking, and both of those things have never been more true to me than the are right now. It's been an emotional few weeks.</div><div><br />
</div><div>So there is that story. I'm sorry it's vague. Maybe some day Clarissa will want to tell the story in her own words. But for now, I'm just feeling really grateful for all the love she has in her life. She is loved by a birth family, by a foster family, and is so loved by our family. There's no bigger blessing in life than the love of family. </div><div><br />
</div><div>Here are some photos I took of her yesterday. I love this girl with all my heart. </div><div><br />
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Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-72935563904723726622017-05-30T18:36:00.001-06:002017-05-30T18:36:46.141-06:00Victory!It's a big day at our house for two reasons. <br />
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First of all, Josh ran for senior class president last week and found out today that he won! I still can't believe he's going to be a senior next year, but if it's happening, I'm really excited that he gets to be the president! Big things are happening for that kid!<br />
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The second piece of news that happened today is that I got my Associate degree in the mail!!! I have a college degree!!! I'm currently working on my bachelors, so I technically don't really need my associates, but I realized recently that I had met the requirements for it so I decided to go ahead and apply for it. It won't do much for me, it's more of a personal milestone. I have lived the past twenty something years feeling bad about myself that I never got a college degree, and the more years passed by, the more certain I was that it was never going to happen. But today I took that diploma out of the envelope and held it in my hands. I officially have a college degree. Granted, a little one that won't do much for me professionally, but it's a huge milestone in my life that for a long time I thought I'd never reach. So I'm feeling pretty great today. It's a little stepping stone on the way to bigger things. It's a reminder to me that I'm getting somewhere and that I can really do this. I'm proud of me.<br />
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Oh, and in case you were wondering, we haven't heard anything from Clarissa's birth mother yet. I'll keep you posted.<br />
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I'll be back later with more stuff, but I wanted to make sure I documented our exciting day! :)Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-23581786348932344032017-04-20T11:39:00.002-06:002017-04-20T11:49:29.675-06:00I'm back! I feel so bad that my blog has been neglected. Over the past several years this blog has been a lifeline to me. I needed a place to write things down, sort out my thoughts and record our family's moments, and I have loved it. I still love it, I just never seem to have the time to sit down and write anything anymore that isn't being turned in for a grade. So my blog sits abandoned and it makes me sad.<br />
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So I'm here today to update. I have tried to update a few times over the past couple of months, but I have so many things to discuss that I never have time to finish a post. So I will try again. Here is an update on my life.<br />
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Winter semester ended two weeks ago. The fact that I pretty much didn't make a single blog post the entire semester should tell you how things went, lol. I was SO busy! I took 14 credits, which was the most I've ever attempted at once. I know that's not a crazy high amount for a college student, but it was a lot for me. I am proud to say that I ended the semester with straight A's, but not without a lot of work and a few breakdowns along the way!<br />
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The biggest news from last semester was my stats class. I have feared stats pretty much since I started college at 18. All I've ever heard about it is that it's hard. And everyone was right, it is! I went into that classs just hoping not to fail. Then they put us in manditory study groups and I grumbled about that because online meetings are such a pain. We had to meet twice a week in Google Hangouts for at least an hour to do some assignments as a group. At the beginning of the semester the idea of two long online meetings a week was pretty much my worst nightmare. Then I met my study group. It was three other women who are moms with kids at home like me, all marriage and family study majors, all scared of stats and hoping not to fail. I scored the BEST online study group I could ever have hoped for. Over the semester we spent a ton of time together in online meetings and group texts. We started out learning stats together because we had to, and by the end of the semester we were group texting just to check in with each other and discussing life and family. I love those women. I thank my lucky stars that I was forced to study with them. So we kicked butt together in that class. We spent a ton of time in our meetings learning together, supporting each other, teaching each other, and getting through all the hard parts as a team. I could never have passed that class without them. We celebrated our successes together, cheered each other on when it got hard and in the end, all four of us got A's in the class. I love those women. Because we're all in the same major, we got together and discussed what else we can take together, so this semester I'm in a class with one of them, I'm doing a short summer class in August with another one, and in the fall all four of us will be back together for another really hard class that we're all dreading and determined to get through together. Those women are such a blessing to me. I have no idea how I would have survived stats without them, and I'm so grateful that I still have them with me going forward.<br />
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So in related news, near the end of the semester we got some info from the school about the internship for our degree. Originally, everyone was expected to do an internship as part of the marriage and family degree. You basically needed to find a job in marriage or family related field for a semester. I've been dreading this. It's a big time commitment for not many credits, so you basically have to take it by itself, which adds a semester to your schooling, and without a degree there's not a whole lot I'd be qualified to do, so I was just planning to see if I could volunteer to do paperwork in a counseling office or something.<br />
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But a month or so ago they announced an alternative to internships. You can still do an internship if you want, or you also have the option of taking a certification course from one of a few different options they provided, and that would take the place of the internship. One of the options was to take a seminar from the Gottman Institute on the book The Seven Principles for Making Marriage work, and get certified to teach workshops on the book. I just spent last semester studying that book in depth for my marriage class and I'm a huge fan of it. John Gottman wrote the book, and he started the Gottman Institute, which is basically a marriage research and education institute. I've been really interested in eventually training at the Gottman Institute anyway, a lot of therapists doing marriage counseling training there, so when I got the opportunity to skip my internship and take a seminar on my favorite relationship self help book instead, it was a no-brainer. I was on it.<br />
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We got the information at the end of March. There was a seminar taking place in Seattle on April 1st. It took me about five seconds to decide that I was packing up and going to Seattle for that seminar! The good news was that one of my awesome stats buddies lives in Seattle and she was totally on board, so we decided to meet up and do it together.<br />
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So at the very last minute, right before finals week by the way, we decided to make a family spring break trip out of it, and we jumped in the car and road tripped to Seattle. It was right before finals, so I was swamped with school, I actually got a bad cold in the middle of it that got really bad in the middle of the trip, and we got stuck in a horrible storm going over a mountain pass on the way into Seattle and thought we might die, but we had the best time! We went to the top of the space needle, we watched them throw fish at Pike Market, we went to the pop culture museum, we took a boat ride, and then Shawn entertained the kids for a day while I met up with my stats friend and took a very long all day seminar and got certified to teach classes on the Seven Principles book. I can run workshops on that book now. I don't really have any plans to do that at the moment, but I could if I wanted. But because I did it, I got my internship waived and shaved a whole semester off my bachelors degree. Totally worth it. The seminar was great, I am likely going to be doing more Gottman training in the future. Plus I got to meet my awesome stats friend in person, and she's even more awesome in person!<br />
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So after all that craziness, I took my finals, got straight A's, took a glorious week off, and now I'm back at it. The new semester started this week. I'm only taking four classes this semester instead of five, because this semester goes into the summer and it's going to be harder for me to get everything done when my kids are bome and we have summer activities. And frankly, I needed a break. School is good, but it's exhausting. Plus I'm a junior now and I'm getting into the harder classes, and some of the stuff I have coming up is going to be really time consuming and stressful. I'm tying to balance out getting this done as fast as I can with still managing not to burn out and fall apart. It's tricky.<br />
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One class I'm taking this semester is more for personal enrichment than academics. I need to take five credits of any elective at some point, so this semester I'm taking a two credit heath and fitness classs. We're basically getting graded on diet and exercise for the next 14 weeks. After sitting in my house doing homework for the past two years, I need this class. I need the motivation to get off my behind and get active again. So I'll be getting my bike out and hopefully doing some fun stuff this semester. I'm looking forward to that.<br />
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So things are good with me. I'm busy, occasionally, burned out and exhausted, but I'm hanging in there. Last week my mentor emailed me a copy of the email I sent to him two years ago when I first told him that I had decided to go back to school. He thought I might want to be reminded of how far I've come. The email I sent to him when I started this kept talking about how scared I was of failing and how I wasn't sure if I could do it. I remember being terrrifed of taking the first step and giving this a try. I thought I was going to crash and burn. You guys, I got an A in stats this semester. In fact, I've gotten an A in every single class I have taken since I went back to school. I'm not failing, I'm doing awesome. You have no idea how good that feels!! I remind myself of that every time I want to quit. Which I won't lie, is sometimes a lot, lol.<br />
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In family news, Josh went to prom recently. Another milestone in his life, and another moment for me to contimplate how fast this whole parenting thing is flying by. He'll be a senior in the fall. I can't even think about it. In other exciting Josh news, last weekend he won first place in the documentary category at the state National History Day competition for the second year in a row!! He's off to Nationals in Washington DC again in June! Last year Shawn and I had the best time in DC with him, but I think just Shawn is going to go with him this year. I'll be in the middle of the semsester and I just can't get away. But his documentary is awesome and we're excited to see how it does at Nationals! <br />
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In Matthew news, he joined the middle school tennis team! We are not exactly a sporty family, so this is kind of our first experience with a kid participating in a sport that isn't academic! He loves it, it's been really fun for him. I'm proud of him for getting out there and giving it a try! We also got him registered for high school recently. He'll be attending the same high school that Josh goes to, which I'm really excited about! We've been really happy with that school and I'm excited to have the boys together at school! They haven't gone to the same school since elementary school, and this will be the last time we ever have two kids at the same school, unless they decide to go to college together or<br />
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In Clarissa news, I actually have some big news that should probably be it's own post, and I apologize for burying it at the bottom of this long post, because it's kind of a big deal. We got a call from the adoption agency last week. Her birth mother is asking for contact with us. This almost never ever happens with Korean adoptions. Korean adoptions are closed. We don't even know her birth mothers name. We don't know what this is going to mean yet. Honestly, I haven't even told Clarissa yet, so maybe it's premature to announce it here. What I know now is that last week I wrote a letter to her birth mother, as requested, and I included recent photos of Clarissa. The agency will be send it to Korea, it will be translated for the birth mother and she will have the opportunity to write back, which will be translated to English and sent to us. After that, I don't know. The agency said that it's rare that this happens, so for now it will all go though the agency, but that if things go well, they may connect us directly and back out of it. This is all kind of a tricky, sensitive topic for everyone involved and I don't really have any information yet, so I've kept it kind of quiet until we know more. I decided not to mention it to Clarissa until we receive a letter and I have a better understanding of what the situation is. I'll hopefully hear something in the coming weeks, and I may share the basic story on my blog, because this blog was originally made to tell Clarissa's adoption story, and I'm hoping this is a great postscript to the journey, but given the sensitive nature of it and depending on how Clarissa feels about it, I may not share the details. I'm still waiting to hear. To be honest, it's a lot to process emotionally. I'm happy about it, but it's tricky, and I still don't know where it's going to lead. We'll see. Clarissa is doing great and growing up so fast! She's amazing, I love that kid. <br />
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So that's us. We're happy and healthy and busy. I almost hate to blog anymore, because I feel like all I do is come here to announce that we're busy, but...we're busy, lol. Just living life and surviving school and watching the kids grow up far too quickly. Life is good. I'll be back with more hopefully soon. Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-7686527476885797302017-01-24T17:31:00.001-07:002017-01-24T17:31:58.714-07:00WinterSo, this winter can pretty much be summed up in one photo.<br />
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It snowed. And then it snowed. And then the kids had five snow days. And then it snowed. And then it rained and everything turned to ice. And then it snowed. As of yesterday, this has officially been the snowiest winter in Boise's history. You probably think that we're used to snow, because we live in Idaho, but Boise is in the corner of the state that has warmer weather. If it snows here at all, it usually only lasts a day. Last year it snowed once, and that's pretty typical. Winters here are dark and grey but not usually snowy. Except for this one. I'm so over the snow. We all loved it at first because it was a novelty, but now everyone is getting pretty grumbly about it. </div>
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And unfortunately, snow means slippery roads and unfortunately for Josh it lead to a car accident yesterday morning. He's fine, but it may have totaled his car. We're still waiting to hear. It was a scary phone call to get first thing in the morning. He was on his way to school to take his semester finals when the accident happened. He really couldn't miss school so after they dealt with the police and the tow truck and everything, Shawn drove him to school and he took his finals still pretty shaken up. I felt really bad for him. He was a trooper, but it was a tough day. So now we're dealing with insurance and figuring out what's going to happen to the car and all of that. it's only Tuesday and it's already been a long week. </div>
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School is back in session for me and I'm hard at work this semester. I decided to take 14 credits this semester when I had previously told myself my limit was 12. It's pretty much kicking my butt like I knew it would, but I'm trying to hang in there. Part of the stress is that one of my classes is statistics, which is notorious for being particularly difficult. This is my third math class in the past year. Which, really, when I look back at how much math I've learned this year, is kind of awesome. I failed math so hard in high school. I was honestly convinced that I wasn't capable of learning it. Now here I am learning it and actually not doing so terrible. I mean, I'm not great at it, and probably never will be. But I can learn it, and I'm even getting through statistics. I alternate between being exhausted and frustrated to being ridiculously proud of myself. It's hard, and sometimes I hate it and want to quit, but then I see myself understanding something I didn't think I could get and the sense of satisfaction I get from that is huge. The greatest thing about statistics has been my study group. At the beginning of the semester they assigned us to mandatory groups and we have to meet via webcam twice a week for an hour all semester. I reeeeally didn't want to do it. I have not had awesome experiences with online group work so far. But I met with my group the first week and it turns out we're four moms, all going back to school later in life, all with the same major and all with the same fear of statistics. I absolutely adore those women. We're kicking statistics butt together, lol. So I'm going to survive this. I may not love it, but I'm going to survive it. </div>
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My other four classes are going pretty well. It's a ton of reading and quizzes and papers this semester, but I'm keeping up. It's an all day every day job to get it all done, but it's quiet here during the day with the kids gone, so I'm able to get a lot accomplished. I've still got a long way to go, but I'm getting there.</div>
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Everyone else is doing good and keeping busy. Same old stuff, we're just plugging along. I feel bad that I haven't posted on my blog much lately, but honestly all I really have to say is that I'm busy with school and we're all doing well. If that should change, I will be back to let you know. :) </div>
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Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-36674891356767912322016-12-30T09:48:00.000-07:002016-12-30T09:48:33.879-07:00Josh got his braces off! After two and a half years, Josh is finally free of his braces! He looks great! <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/31105597594/" title="Joshteeth"><img src="https://c3.staticflickr.com/1/454/31105597594_dbf70e244b_z.jpg" width="437" height="640" alt="Joshteeth"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-71431611393491741542016-12-25T12:36:00.002-07:002016-12-25T12:36:54.174-07:00Merry Christmas! <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/31013949544/in/photostream/" title="Christmas2016a"><img alt="Christmas2016a" height="453" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/394/31013949544_ef3ba95bca_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/31014282494/in/photostream/" title="Christmascollage2016a"><img alt="Christmascollage2016a" height="640" src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/1/300/31014282494_619643e20c_z.jpg" width="473" /></a>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-56190308911625347722016-12-22T16:06:00.000-07:002016-12-22T16:09:16.901-07:00One more school update Final grades posted yesterday and I got an email letting me know that I am no longer on academic warning with the university! I'm pretty sure I mentioned it a while back, but when I went to my one disastrous year of college at 18, I dropped out on academic probation. And then when I decided to go back to college at 40, I was still listed as being on academic probation all these years later. I got that upgraded to academic warning by taking a little mini class before the semester started, but my good grades this semester (straight A's, yay) finally bumped me off of the warning status and I have now officially repaired the academic mistakes of my 18 year old self. I have spent the past 23 years being really bothered by the fact that I made such a mess of my college goals all those years ago, but as of last night I feel like I officially wiped that slate clean. I know it doesn't really matter, but it feels like a weight off my shoulders. It feels good to fix something that has bothered me for so many years. Even if I never take another college credit (don't worry, I've got 14 coming up next semester), I feel a lot of accomplishment knowing I went back and fixed a really old, but really bothersome mistake. If you look up my college transcripts, there is no longer a big red "academic probation" mark on them, and probably if you looked into my brain, there is no longer a big red "you failed college" mark in the there either. It feels good, and I felt like sharing it. :)<br />
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<br />Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-13352800935243042542016-12-14T09:50:00.001-07:002016-12-14T09:50:52.269-07:00Semester complete!!Last night I officially hit the submit button for the final time this semester and I can officially declare it complete. I'm still waiting for some grades to come in, but I feel really good about everything and I expect to finish with straight A's. Yay me!! This semester turned my life upside down a bit, because I had to get used to a full time schedule for the first time. After 16 years of being a stay at home mom and having a lot of freedom in my daily schedule, having deadlines to stick to and figuring out how to balance school and motherhood was a challenge. But I kind of got in the groove by mid semester, and it got easier after a while. I survived, and I'm proud of myself for hanging in there.<br />
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I'm currently signed up for five classes/14 credits next semester. I'm going to give that a try and see how it goes. My original plan was to do 12 credits, but I want to kick it up a bit and see how that feels. There is a possibility that I may drop one class early in the semester if it feels like too much, but I want to give it a try. The sooner I can get through all of this, the better, so I'm going to keep plugging along. The good news is that I have pretty much finished my boring core classes and now I get to start taking the fun stuff. Next semester I have some marriage and parenting classes coming up that I'm looking forward to. I'm finally taking the classes I want to take for my major instead of all the English and history and math they make you take in the beginning. So that will be fun. It's more credits that I've done before, but it's also classes I'm actually excited about, so that might help keep me going through the semester.<br />
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But for now I have three blissful school free weeks to enjoy before next semester starts. Our whole family has been crazy busy this year. Shawn has had a difficult year at work with some things they've been dealing with, Josh's plate is so full with school, work, and extra curricular activities that he's rarely home anymore, and Matthew and Clarissa are always busy with friends and school and their activities. So I'm looking forward to shutting it all down for a few weeks at Christmas. Christmas is the one time a year when everyone comes home and we kind of lock ourselves away from the world for a bit. We have lots of fun traditions that we enjoy and it's a good chance for us to reconnect for a few weeks. After the year we've had, we really need it.<br />
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So I guess I don't have a whole lot more to write about besides that. I feel bad that I've abandoned my blog lately, but it feels like the main thing in my life right now is school, and it's a boring blog topic. The tales of my history tests and English papers aren't really that interesting.<br />
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In family news, Josh is currently hard at work on another documentary for National History Day in hopes that he's going to make it to nationals in Washington DC again this summer. He would love to get back there and see some of his NHD and France trip friends again. His topic is really interesting this year, so I think he has a chance.<br />
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Matthew is still hard at work at the piano and he's starting guitar lessons after Christmas. Is Santa going to bring him a guitar for Christmas? We'll have to see. He doesn't read my blog. The answer is yes, lol.<br />
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Clarissa is loving life, as always. She's such a happy kid, just always excited to be along for the ride. She's looking forward to Christmas and hoping that Santa is going to bring her lots of art supplies to replenish what she is constantly running out of. That kid loves art. She paints, draws, loves to make jewelry and all sorts of little crafty things. I think she can look forward to lots of art supplies for Christmas. She turns 8 in a couple of months, can you believe it? That's how old Josh was when I started this blog. Crazy how fast time goes.<br />
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So we're doing good. Busy, but good. I feel like that's all I ever say in my blog anymore, but that's life in our family these days. I'm excited to be done with the semester, eager to start the Christmas festivities and hopeful about what's coming up next semester. Life just keeps moving forward!<br />
<br />Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-61471841972603634542016-11-19T20:43:00.004-07:002016-11-19T20:43:56.991-07:00Playing catch upSo, clearly I'm way behind on blogging. Life is good here, just busy. School is going great, but I'm ready for the semester to be over. I'm getting straight A's and doing well, but I'm ready to be done with these classes and move on to new material. Only three more weeks left of the semester! I got registered for next semester. I'm excited because my required core courses are basically out of the way and I finally get to start taking the fun stuff. Next semester I'm taking classes on marriage, family relationships and all sorts of fun stuff. Except I'm also taking social stats, which I'm kind of terrified about, but I'll be through it.<br />
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Anyway, things are good, we're all just plugging along. I don't have a whole lot to say, but I did want to catch up on some of the photos I've been meaning to post over the past couple of months. We went up to the mountains in September for Shawns birthday and did some family photos, which turned out nice.<br />
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Josh went to his first date dance. It was Homecoming at another school. How cute are they?! She's a good friend of his, I really like her and I was excited for them to go on a date. <br />
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Then a few weeks later he went to homecoming again at his school with a different date. This time the theme was Great Gatsby, which explains the hat and the clothes. :) I didn't get to take a picture of his date that time. The bummer about having boys is that you miss a lot of the date stuff because he goes over to their house, the girls don't always come here. Therefore I don't get to be the momarazzi, which you know I love. :) <br />
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Then we had Halloween and Clarissa was the cutest Darth Vader princess you've ever seen. Seriously, how fantastic is this costume?! I had it custom made on Etsy in September. Now that I only have one kid left who dresses up, I get to focus all my attention and Halloween budget on one costume. I'm not going to lie, I love it. :) <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/29997788654/in/photostream/" title="clarissahalloween2016"><img src="https://c7.staticflickr.com/6/5642/29997788654_f9f548d516_z.jpg" width="421" height="640" alt="clarissahalloween2016"></a><br />
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Then tonight Matthew had his piano recital and got to play two songs. This one was the prelude piece at the beginning of the recital (which explains the guy still setting up chairs in the back). I love this song, he did a great job. <br />
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So things are good here! This week we're getting ready for Thanksgiving, which if you have followed my blog for a while, you know it's the only holiday I hate. We'll be staying home and ordering out as usual. Thanksgiving can bite me. I'll be fine by Friday, lol. <br />
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So there's my update! Life is good! Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-76711040989226620862016-10-10T10:35:00.000-06:002016-10-10T10:46:09.354-06:00I'm still alive!So, I've basically abandoned my blog, but life is so busy right now that I just haven't had time to sit down and write. And I have so many things to write about that it's a bummer that I'm not doing it. I have pictures I wanted to post and things I wanted to talk about, but I can't seem to fit blogging into my schedule lately.<br />
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But here is a super quick rundown.<br />
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In school news, I'm swamped. That's the biggest reason I haven't been blogging. In fact, I shouldn't be blogging now, because I have a pile of things I should be working on right now. I'm both enjoying and not enjoying school. I like having something to do to keep my brain busy all day and I'm incredibly proud of myself for doing the thing I always wanted to do. My grades are awesome right now, and it's HARD, so I'm proud of me. But I'm taking a math class that I absolutely despise, I'm working around the clock including most weekends to get everything done, I'm often overwhelmed and a little burned out. I feel like I do homework and sleep, and that's pretty much it.<br />
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College is a lot different than it used to be when I went the first time in the 90's. It used to be mostly lectures and tests. Online college is mostly reading (sooool much reading), writing (soooo much writing), posting on mandatory group discussion boards, and a pile of various assignments each week. My English class has three units a week. Which basically feels like a weeks worth of work, three times a week. It's a beast. My math class basically has no teacher (it has a teacher, but as far as I can tell he just monitors our grades and answers occasional questions) and we're basically teaching ourselves out of the text book, which does not work for me at all. I've basically abandoned my very expensive text book and I've moved on to searching for YouTube tutorials every week. It's a mess. Josh is usually my math tutor, but he's busier than I am right now, so I rarely ask him to help. He's taking more college credits than I am, plus he's working, he's in every extracurricular activity you can possibly imagine and he has an active social life. I'm fairly certain he still lives here, but judging by the amount of time I actually see him here, I'm not so sure.<br />
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I'm also taking an American History class, which is not super hard but it's so much dry reading each week. It's fine, just a little tedious, a religion class that is mostly just a lot of busy work, and an intro to Marriage and Family studies class that isn't hard, and will be over in a few weeks. Sadly, it's my favorite class. So I get to lose a class in a few weeks, but it's the one I actually like.<br />
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I could go on all day about group projects, my frustration with group projects, the gigantic amount of research I'm doing for an English paper right now, a 2,000 word rant about taking a math class with no teacher, and many more things, but I will stop here. Basically, I'm busy and tired and overwhelmed, but I'm doing things I never though I could do and I'm ridiculously proud of myself for hanging in there. I've got this.<br />
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In family news, Josh is rocking college. He's taking something like 18 credits, working as a pharmacy tech for Shawn in the afternoons, he's Vice President of the film club, running for president of the National History Day club, he's the senior member on the Academic Decathalon team and they're studying WWII this year, which his specialty, so he's really excited about that. He volunteers as a math tutor once a week at the school's tutoring center, he went to his first date dance, Homecoming, a few weeks ago with a girl from another school and he's going to his schools Homecoming dance with another girl this Saturday. I'm sure there some stuff I'm forgetting, but that's the gist of it. He's also getting straight A's. Oh, and he's considering running for student council this year.<br />
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Matthew is in 8th grade and doing awesome. He's in the gifted program and all the honors classes, and he's loving that. He's doing a really intense PE class this year that he likes and he discovered that he likes to run, so he's thinking of doing cross country next year. He's still playing the piano and he's awesome at it. He's writing his own music now. He can hear a piece and play it by ear, which mystifies me, because I don't understand how he does it, but it's cool to listen to. He's also the most social of our three kids and there is a steady stream of teenage boys in and out of this house all afternoon and weekends. Someone is always calling for him or knocking on the door. I told him he needs to hire a secretary.<br />
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Clarissa is in second grade and doing awesome! I wasn't super impressed with her teacher last year, but this year she has an amazing teacher. Clarissa really loves her. She excitedly comes home every day and tells me all the fun things they did. Clarissa likes to read, she's struggling in math a bit (you and me both, sister), but we're working on it, and she's an amazing artist. She loves to draw and paint and color and our whole house is covered in her artwork. It makes me so happy to look at. She's still joined at the hip with her best friend Sophia, which I love, and she's eagerly awaiting Halloween, which is one of her favorite holidays. Clarissa is obsessed with clothes and dressing up, so a holiday where she gets to dress up is pretty much her dream come true. I love that kid.<br />
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Shawn is doing awesome, just so incredibly busy at work. He's the manager and it's a daunting task sometimes. He's been really stressed over some recent changes, but he's pushing through it. That man is a rock star. We're all running around like chickens with our heads cut off lately, but there's no one I would rather ride out a storm with.<br />
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Oh, and in extended family news, my mom and stepdad, who just got back from an 18 month church mission to Malaysia in December, left yesterday to serve another 18 month mission in Ghana, Africa.<br />
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So that's us in a nutshell. There is a lot more I would love to blog about, but my homework isn't going to do itself and I've got quite a pile of it waiting for me.<br />
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I'm busy, I'm tired, and I'm stressed, but under all of that, I'm happy about what I'm accomplishing. Look at me, I'm doing it! :)<br />
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Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-25736951127926426682016-09-13T17:47:00.002-06:002016-09-13T17:51:44.991-06:00The one where I wondered what I was thinking So, school started yesterday. I'm a full time college student! And today I don't know whether to celebrate or cry, lol. I'm taking 12 credits, which really didn't seem like all that much. It's barely full time. Josh is taking more college credits that that right now and he's plugging along just fine. And he has a part time job, after school commitments and a social life. Oh, to be young again. :) <br />
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I'm taking five classes. Math, advanced writing, American history, religion, and an intro class to my marriage and family studies major. Classes started yesterday, but they opened up the online classes over the weekend, so I've been poking around at them for a few days.<br />
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And to be honest, I feel like I'm drowning. :( I know that's it's just because it's new, and new things always come with an adjustment period. I keep telling myself that it's going to get better, and I know that it is. It's going to be just fine. People go to college all the time and survive. I just wish I could get past this first part, when everything is new and different and I don't know what I'm doing.<br />
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Most of the classes aren't too bad. I'm kind of starting to figure out what's going on and I'm making myself a color coded calendar of assignments and due dates and all of that so that I keep it together and stay organized. It's just a lot at first and I'm really overwhelmed. I'm taking math again and two days into it it's already kicking my butt. I struggle so hard with math. I took a math class last year and as much as I hated it while I was doing it, I also really loved it because for the first time in my life, I felt like I really started to get a handle on math. I learned a ton in that class. And I felt like I could use that knowledge to speed right through this class, but nope. I feel like I'm back to square one, limping along again. It's not particularly difficult math, it's more finance math, not algebra or calculus or anything. It's not that hard, I just really struggle with math, and the class isn't laid out very well. I'm having a hard time with not just the material, but figuring out how to navigate the system and figure what to do next. I don't mind taking most classes online, but I really hate taking math online. I need to sit in a classroom with a teacher for math. It looks like a lot of this class is reading a math textbook and teaching ourselves, and that's going to be a semester of torture for me. I'm struggling with it.<br />
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Aside from that class, which is taking up most of my time, the rest of it seems like I'll be able to get through it. I don't mind writing, that looks doable. I do have to write a 15 page research paper later this semester, but I like to write and I can handle that. And American history is mostly memorizing dates and events things like that. That will take a fair amount of studying, but I can do it. It's just that darn math class that I'm not sure how I'm going to get through.<br />
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The one class I am excited about is the intro to marriage and family studies class. It's a class that everyone in my major has to take that introduces us to what we need to do going forward. We'll be making a graduation plan and discussing career options and things like that. I'm so excited to finally be getting to the classes for my major. I'm really anxious to get the rest of these generals out of the way this semester so I can start focusing on what I really want to learn about. This class gives me a little taste of what's coming, and that's helping me push through this hard and mundane stuff.<br />
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So it's going to be fine. I'm having a lot of moments right now of wondering what I've gotten myself into, but I'm trying my best to push through it because I really do believe that it's going to get better. As much as I sort of want to quit and never speak of it again right now, I know if I push through it, I'm going to get to a place where I'm more comfortable and it's not so overwhelming.<br />
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Clearly I've given myself a lot of pep talks the past couple of days, lol. It has been a dream of mine to go back to college for years, and I'm finally doing it! So when I get discouraged I tell myself to suck it up, because this is the thing I wanted to do. I can do hard things. I just might complain about it a bit, lol.<br />
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So there's the update. I'm sort of hating it right now, but I'm optimistic that it's going to get better and that hope is pushing me through the hard parts.<br />
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But right now I'm going to go put my jammies on and watch mindless TV, because hours of trying to figure out math today has given my a headache and I'm tired.<br />
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I'll get there. I might limp along a bit, but I'll get there.<br />
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Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-39811917612259185942016-08-28T10:13:00.000-06:002016-08-28T10:13:00.216-06:00College boundI've really been enjoying the fact that Josh and I are both in college this year. I never thought I'd get to go back to college and I've been so excited about this opportunity, and then with Josh starting his associates degree now too, it's just been a really fun thing for us to bond over. We both got college acceptance letters this summer and we've planning our classes.<br />
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Josh is getting his degree through Idaho State University and I'm getting mine through BYU-Idaho. So I decided that it would be fun for us to get college t-shirts and do a photo shoot. Josh in his teenager-ness (I love you Josh!) gave me a bit of an eye roll at the idea, but he was a good sport, lol. I can't help it, I like pictures and this is something I want to look back on and remember later.<br />
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So yesterday we put on our college t-shirts and sat for a quick photo shoot. This was the result. It will be fun to look back on this and remember the time we got to be college students together. :)<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/28986176420/in/datetaken/" title="collegebound"><img alt="collegebound" height="460" src="https://c5.staticflickr.com/9/8225/28986176420_4e0d1fab14_z.jpg" width="640" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-20085711539772752322016-08-22T09:35:00.000-06:002016-08-23T18:15:35.476-06:00Home alone Well, another school year has begun for the boys and I am officially home alone. You would think that would be super exciting for a mom, but to tell you the truth, I get lonely pretty quickly. It was fun at first last year to have the whole house to myself all day, but I got over that pretty quick. I like having my kids around. I start school on September 12th, and once that happens I'll be busy, so it will be fine, but until then it's just too quiet around here.<br />
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The boys were excited for school this morning! Big things are happening in Josh's life this year. He in a junior this year, and thanks to the dual enrollment program at his high school, today is also his first day of college! He is a full time college student through the Idaho State University. He's taking five college classes this semester (and three high school classes). He takes them at his high school, but they're college level classes and he gets both high school and college credit for them. His schedule this year is intense. Basically no electives or fun classes, it's just a full load of really heavy college courses. He's taking stuff like college chemistry, college biology, a college art history class, some sort of European history class, along with college level English and advanced math. Plus he's going to compete in the academic decatholon again this year, he's going to help the teacher he went to France with start up a National History Day club, and I don't know if I mentioned it, but he worked as a pharmacy tech for Shawn all summer and he's going to continue to do that part time during the school year.<br />
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So that kids schedule is beyond packed. He thrives on being busy, so for him it's good, he'll be fine. But honestly, I'm kind of in awe of what he's got going on. When I was his age I was barely getting by taking regular classes and I spent my free time writing notes to boys I had crushes on. I don't know where Josh came from but he rocks.<br />
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Here is Josh's yearly front porch collage. It occured to me as I was adding this years picture that aft all these years, he only has one picture left. Next year he'll be a senior and this collage will be complete. Ugh. I can't talk about it. No crying today. <br />
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Matthew started 8th grade today! 8th grade is my favorite for my kids. When they start middle school in 6th grade, the 8th graders look so old and they're so intimidated by the big kids. And then they eventually become one of the big kids and their confidence really skyrockets. Josh really found his niche when he hit 8th grade, and I think it's going to be the same for Matthew. He's involved in some fun things this year. They have expanded the gifted program this year, so he'll spend more time there, which he loves, and he's in all honors classes. Being a kind who loves school in middle school can be hard, but once they start honors classes and they're in there with other kids who love school, it gets a bit easier. Those are his people. Matthew is also in the National Junior Honor Society this year and he's on the yearbook staff. He's really looking forward to those things. I think he's going to have a great year. <br />
Next year he's off to high school with Josh! He's planning to go to the same high school as Josh and do the dual enrollment college program, so it will be fun to have them in the same school next year.<br />
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So now that leaves me home alone. I have a few projects I'm working on for the next few weeks and then I'm really looking forward to starting school in September. I'm ready to tackle full time school. I've got the time in my day for if and I'm ready to get moving on my degree. Exciting things are ahead! Bring it on! Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-27662798493547641282016-08-15T09:35:00.000-06:002016-08-23T10:34:01.896-06:00Teenager #2!! Matthew is 13!! I can hardly believe we have another teenager in the house. He had an awesome birthday. My mom was here to celebrate it with us and he he got some fun presents that he has been loudly hinting about. :)<br />
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The other fun thing we did was the tradition we have where we redecorate our kids room when they turn 13. I don't have good before and after pictures to share yet, but Matthew and I had a lot of fun this summer redecorating his bedroom. His room needed a lot of work and it got a complete makeover! He wanted a reading room, so we bought him a big bookshelf for his books and a fun reading chair he can curl up in. He's really been enjoying that. We also finally got rid of his loft bed and bought him a bed that fits him better. He's happy not to be climbing a ladder to sleep anymore. His room turned out great, it was a great welcome to the teen years.<br />
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Matthew is an awesome kid and I'm excited to have another teenager in the house. We love you Matthew!!! :)<br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/28928211201/in/datetaken/" title="Matthew13"><img alt="Matthew13" height="800" src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/9/8478/28928211201_0c8c365134_c.jpg" width="534" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-62162873825415859952016-08-08T09:25:00.001-06:002016-08-08T09:26:30.118-06:00Second grade!Big morning at our house, it's Clarissa's first day of school! (The boys don't go back for another two weeks.)<br />
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She seemed really nervous this morning, so I'm a little nervous for her, but I'm sure she'll do great. We met her teacher last week and she seems great. I think this will be a good year!<br />
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Here is the first day of school picture!<br />
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<<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/28232226424/in/datetaken/" title="clarissacollage2grade"><img alt="clarissacollage2grade" height="800" src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8745/28232226424_33084e88c7_c.jpg" width="474" /></a><script async="" charset="utf-8" src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-87148584206702241482016-08-01T20:37:00.003-06:002016-08-01T20:39:50.488-06:00Viewpoint I'm so excited to share the video of Josh's news interview!! I'm so proud of him! <br />
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His portion starts about 11 minutes in.<br />
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<iframe height="360" src="http://interactive.tegna-media.com/video/embed/embed.html?id=2318061&type=video&title=Viewpoint%20-%20Salvation%20Army%20raises%20money%20for%20new%20campus%3B%20'Silent%20Hero'%20&site=277&playerid=6918249996581&dfpid=32805352&dfpposition=Video_prestream_external§ion=home" style="border-width: 0;" width="640"></iframe><br />
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Here's the direct link if the video doesn't play.<br />
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<a href="http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/viewpoint/viewpoint-salvation-army-raises-money-for-new-campus-silent-hero-/285628584">http://www.ktvb.com/news/local/viewpoint/viewpoint-salvation-army-raises-money-for-new-campus-silent-hero-/285628584</a>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3430184117446699410.post-23501176945850600442016-07-29T13:13:00.001-06:002016-07-29T13:13:23.726-06:00And then this happenedJosh and his teacher were invited to share their France story on a local news talk show this morning! So he got all dressed up and we got to spend the morning at the news station. It was really cool, Josh loves anything video camera related, so seeing how the news was filmed was pretty fun for him. <br />
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They filmed a really great segment about their experiences in Normandy and the silent hero project. I was so nervous watching him, but he did great! <br />
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The show airs on Sunday. I'll post a link to it when they add it to the news station website. <br />
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In the meantime, here's a sneak peek photo!! <br />
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<a data-flickr-embed="true" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wenders11/28635195725/in/datetaken/" title="image"><img src="https://c6.staticflickr.com/9/8367/28635195725_09d1b70ff6_z.jpg" width="640" height="480" alt="image"></a><script async src="//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Wendyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11009152463875511616noreply@blogger.com0