With my father’s birthday around the corner, we are always trying to figure out what to get the man who literally has everything! This year something new came around our side of town and Michael quickly jumped at the chance to make this Daddy’s birthday present. I will have to say that this was one of the best birthday presents I have ever experienced, and it wasn’t even for me.

Michael, JD, Daddy and I went to Darlington Raceway to see the “Legends of Racing.” This was basically a bunch of old–and some were REALLY old–race cars that raced at Darlington or one of the dirt tracks around here. They were not only there for you to look at and talk to the owners, but they were also racing on the track. This was amazing!! To see cars that were racing before I was a twinkle in my parent’s eyes was amazing!! This is something I really thought I would never see!

The oldest car was from around 1917 and instead of a gas tank, like we are used to now, the owner welded an actual gas can to the inside of the car. I believe that it may have even had “Gasoline” written on the side. That to me is AMAZING!!

But, the best part was being with my father. See, my dad grew up a stone’s throw away from the race track. His father helped with many of the first races. Every section of that race track my father has a story. It was WONDERFUL to be out there with him, looking at these cars that he saw race live when he was a kid, and hear the stories behind everything. One of the best stories that I can’t hear enough, was about when he was able to ride with Fireball Roberts. Now, Fireball was a friend of my grandfathers and would come to my dad’s house. Can you imagine any of today’s drivers doing such a thing? NOPE! I guess that he asked Daddy to ride with him around Darlington. Daddy climbed into Fireball’s car, sat on some wood, since there are no passenger seats, and rode around the track going 120 mph!! The only thing keeping him from slamming against the side of the car was the strap he had wrapped around his wrist and was holding onto with ALL his might. Like I said, I have heard this story before, but when we turned the corner and Daddy saw the car that he was able to ride in, I about started crying! It was a magical moment. He was holding my baby and telling both JD and Michael the story, pointing things out to us and looking at all the memories around the car. It was amazing.

I am SO very thankful for the opportunity to share this experience with my 3 favorite men in my life. They are all connected. No one loves racing and cars like my dad, my husband and my child. It is a bond that will forever hold them together and I was just so blessed to be there with them. The pictures may not mean anything to you, but I cannot wait to show them to JD one day and hopefully he will understand how magical that day was.

Happy 60th Birthday, Daddy!!! I love you!! I am so thankful to be able to share this experience with you!

I have been asked by many people how my first week of school went and I figured I should blog and give you the answer. It was tough but I am EXCITED!

Tough part: I wasn’t ready for the AMOUNT of students I have. 140 is way beyond the amount that I am used to. Last year I think I may have had a 100. Mind you, this is 140 students A DAY! The reason I was not prepared was my own fault and I will share the embarrassing story with you. I knew I had 26 students in my biggest class. I thought I had 26 desk. I didn’t worry, I was prepared…until the first class walked in. That class consist of 25 students. So, why, if I had 26 desk were 4 people standing. I said to the students: “Some of you are in the wrong class.” So, I take roll. I call all of their names…no, that can’t be right, why are they standing? I have 26 desk! “No, class, someone  in here is in the wrong class.” They all stare at me like I am an idiot (remember, these are the first words I have ever said to this class.) “Whose name did I not call? I should have enough desk.” No sound, just 4 people standing and staring while the rest sit and stare. Then…I count my desk. “Oh, my, goodness! 3 times 5 is NOT 20…it’s 15!!! I thought I had 20 desk in that section and 6 over there! OH MY GOODNESS!” Yes, readers, I thought 3 rows of 5 equaled 20! I was SOOOOOOO embarrassed! Then, I just got SO flustered that I pretty much lost it. I couldn’t handle the students on the floor. I thought I was prepared. I can’t tell  you how upset I got. I just felt plain STUPID! The kids were great about it, though. The guys got up so the girls could sit, one sat on the stool, one in the rocker, two in chairs, and, in my big class, 2 on the floor. They didn’t care, but I was so flustered that I felt like I was drowning. Tuesday wasn’t any better…still drowning…still overwhelmed. By Wednesday I had found 1 more desk and 2 more chairs and by Thursday I had bought some tables to hold me until they can find desk. So, now, in my big class, I just have one student who has to sit in the rocker (which he loves) and use my stool as his desk. I think I am almost above water or at least can see the top but those first few days were kickers!

The exciting part: My kids really are great. I think and pray that this is going to be a great year. A few of us met Monday morning to pray for the school, kids, administration and ourselves. One of the prayers mentioned was that we don’t give up on any student or assume anything bad. Teachers are human and all humans fall short when it comes to judging someone before you know them. This is our big prayer this year: don’t judge a student based on their attitude or appearance. I am asking all of you to keep all teachers in your prayers. This is hard…for everyone, not just teachers. I love my students already. They have already made me laugh so hard I could cry and encouraged me to be the best for them this year. I think it’s going to be great. They seem very eager to do well in high school. I love freshman. They are like clean, fresh clay waiting to be shaped and molded into wonderful people and citizens. I can’t wait! I know that God has put these students in my path for a reason. We will learn from each other and hopefully help each other along the way. God is good…ALL THE TIME!

Need I say more? I don’t think so! I hope you have been able to watch the latest swimming by Michael Phelps! Guys, it was awesome! Totally thought he didn’t win and sure enough, he pulled it out! BY 1/100th of a second! Crazy people!!! Crazy!!!

Most teachers this week will spend most of their waking hours preparing their classrooms and lesson plans. We will attend meetings after meetings and not see our classrooms. We have parent night tomorrow night and students coming in for orientation on Friday. So, I should be preparing, right? NOPE! I am spending most of my evenings staring at the TV in AWE of Michael Phelps and his team! I am AMAZED! I cannot beleive how well he did last night in the 800!! He was at least 3 full body lengths in front of the other swimmers in the pool. How INSANE is that!? I get SO into the Olympics that I find myself holding my breath until match/swim/event is over. I clinch my teeth. My heart pounds! I just want them all to do well–even the other countries. I don’t care who you are, when you are watching gymnastics and someone falls from any country, you gasp and feel bad for them–for at least a second. Then, hopefully they aren’t American, you can feel good because the Americans now have a better chance. Unfortunatly, that wasn’t the case last night as one poor American girl fell twice. Oh, I thought I was going to cry right there with her. I will give her some “ups” though, she didn’t cry in front of the camera until she was completely done. Oh, it was just heartbreaking! Can you imagine living with the fact that your falls caused America and yourself to not win the GOLD in the Olympics!? How sad for her!

So, I have LOTS to do tonight, so I need to get working–oh, and don’t worry, none of it is school work!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Ry-Ry came to spend the night with us again tonight! Too much fun with these two. No pictures of our ice cream adventure, though! It would have been a pure white picture of the two of them covered in vanilla ice cream!! Thanks to Mrs. Mandy for helping to clean them up–they were pretty bad!

Tuesday I start back to work. I am not happy about this at all. I have really enjoyed being a mother this summer. Now that JD can interact and hold a conversation, somewhat, I have enjoyed everyday with him. He is talking so well and everyday he does more and more cute things.

We got his hair cut and he looks like a little boy instead of a baby. I love it. I will try to get some pictures of him tonight and post them. Ryan is on his way over for a sleepover so that should be a blast! JD doesn’t know about it yet, but I am sure that he will be excited!!! I’ll post more later!

When I woke this morning, it was just a normal day. I asked JD what he wanted to do and, of course, he answered “No!” which is his answer to every question. Then…the phone rang.

The first call was from my mother. She confirmed that we are having a yard sale Saturday. She suggested that I sell baked goods and drinks. The second call was from my sister suggesting that I email my friends and see if anyone can donate items. So, I did just that…let me tell you how great God is: within 20 minutes of my email, my phone was ringing once again with donations and my Inbox was overflowing. Wow…that is God, people. That is what would be described as a miracle. Don’t believe that miracles still happen? Then you are NOT paying attention to the world around you. Worldy people will read an email about a person they may not know and delete it. People who are attentive to God’s work will read an email and ask: “How much do you want because I will give my all?” That is a miracle. God is so good!!

Then, I got another phone call from Crystal. A friend of ours father passed away this morning. He had been struggling for many months with cancer and fought the good fight. Today that man, who has been ever-present in my life, is now present in front of the All Mighty Healer. It is heart wrenching to see a family deal with death. But, again, even in such a sad state, God appeared. He really is everywhere! When I drove up to this family’s house, my dad was cutting the grass, Momma and Crystal had just finished feeding all the kids (and I think there were about 10) and Crystal, Momma and another friend were scrubbing, cleaning and vacuuming. That is God, people! How amazing is HE??

I just want to thank everyone today for stepping up and helping our family and others. Give God who you are–not who you think He wants you to be–and He WILL use you! I thank you all so much.

Please come out to Crys’ house this Saturday to browse and buy.

And, mostly, pray for the Chapman family this week…

Starting in the morning Michael will be on first shift for about a month or so. This is strange…as most of you know, Michael has been on 2nd shift for more than 8 years! 2nd shift is 3:30 to midnight! Now, he will work from 8-4!! It will only be for a month or so, but I will take what I can get!! Yahoo!!! Just pray for us as we will have to adjust to actually being a “married couple” during the week…it is strange! I’m so excited!

We have been gone for almost a week and I can say that I am glad to be back and look forward to my bed tonight. But, other than that, I have had a great time!!! After being sick Tuesday, JD and I headed down to the lake Wednesday to be with a few of our friends. They invited us to stay at their place, cruise on their boat and eat their food. Who would turn that down??? We had such a great time. I am so blessed to have friends that are so gracious to open their vacation to the 3 of us!! Tori and I worked on a 1000 piece Photo-mosaic puzzle of Micky Mouse and got most of it finished…except for the hard parts. That is a record for us. She and I started a puzzle before she had her daughter and we just finished it last month. Her daughter is almost 3!! Yeah…it took that long. So, we started this puzzle for JD and made pretty good progress considering we had to work when the almost 2 and almost 3 year old were both asleep. So, I left Sunday after a wonderful full weekend of sun and “wawa.” On my way home I get a message from Crystal saying that they were going to be at the beach until Tuesday and if I wanted to come, I could. Well, how could I say no??? So, I did a load of laundry, threw JD back in the car and we drove to the beach. I was SO glad to get there that I can’t even explain it. Why? You ask? Because if JD asked me one more time “Where’s Ry-Ry?” I was going to scream! So, when we got to the beach (after almost a week of the 2 of them not seeing each other) I thought JD was going to run them over. They were all so excited to see each other. It really is the sweetest thing I have ever seen. We have to have daily Ry-Ry fixes because JD can’t go too long without seeing him. I actually got to the beach this time, got super sandy, did a little body-boarding and was again in awe of how beautiful the beach is. I really can’t believe how majestic the beach is. I am not a big fan of sand and waves, but I am a big fan of God’s beauty and the beach is IT! Gorgeous!! Absolutely amazing. I am so thankful for my vacation. God is so good!!

Crystal and Addie and now, me…yep…I have strep throat. I don’t remember ever feeling like this with a throat ache. I feel like my head weighs 4 million pounds and is just going to roll of my shoulders! I am not even worried about my throat because my head hurts so bad. I don’t think I would be feeling this bad if it wasn’t for my head.

The sad things is I am supposed to be at the lake on vacation. Obviously, I’m not. I am hoping that I feel much better in the morning and I can pack up and leave. Michael is taking Thursday and Friday off and we are supposed to be having a weekend of fun in the sun!

The great thing is that I have such a wonderful sister that took my child and kept him over night. I am so grateful. I slept for hours this afternoon and I can’t imagine having to have gotten out of the bed. Thanks, Crys!

Hopefully tomorrow I will be much better!