It's Been Awhile....

..whew ! August 23 was my last post. Eek!

I guess you could say things have been pretty busy around here. I haven't been able to do any more embroidering or sewing since TS Fay came through and I had those 2 days off for the storms. But I am hoping to this weekend, especially because I have some more gifts to make. :) And the fabric is already picked out, so that helps a LOT!

It has been SUPER busy at school. On top of keeping a team of 6 (3 brand new to our school) going, I have my own classroom things to keep running. Tomorrow night is open house, so that adds a whole other element to the current stress level. And then Monday is our last day to enter progress report grades. In the past, we've done them by hand (on carbon copy forms). But this year we have a fancy schmancy new program that we have to use. I need to grade some reading and writing assignments, and then I should be good to go. We had a slow start with reading since we didn't have our whole kids (just TEs and student books). And the pace I think is just a lot faster than lots of my new-to-my-school students are used to. I was trying to give them a chance to complete their folder work, so I wouldn't have to enter incompletes for assignments. And then writing has been delayed because we JUST got the writing criteria finalized/approved yesterday afternoon! Ay ay ay!

Last night I got home at 6, and tonight I got home at 6:30. While I have a GREAT class (really, I do!), it's still a long day when the alarm goes off at 5:30, you chase 8 year-olds around all day, and then stay in your room until 6:30. Matt is oh-so-sweetly picking up our favorite Chinese on his way home tonight. Yum!

It's amazing the things that fall by the wayside when your day is filled up with work. You know, things like:

• laundry (especially ironing... but really, it's not AWFUL... yet)
• **depositing my paycheck that I received Sept. 1**
• vacuuming (and getting a replacement belt for the vacuum, because I think mine will wear through ANY day now)
• grocery shopping/meal planning
• walking the dog
• sleep

You get the idea. ;) Then you add the WONDERFUL addition of our newest niece, Isabella Rose, to the mix, and you have a FULL plate! On top of all that, we drove to SC last weekend to meet Isabella. :) We wouldn't have wanted it any other way, but I didn't get anything done around the house. I was "lucky" do get my grading done in the car and figure out what I was teaching for Monday on Sunday night!

So, I think you have a snapshot of our life right now. There have been some other confounding factors that makes it seem like that balls we're trying to juggle are actually dropping left and right, but we know Who's really catching them--and we're unspeakably thankful to know Who really has it all in control (we'd be in SO much trouble if I was truly in control, as I'm so apt to think I am). Hopefully those things will settle out in the next couple weeks and with that will go a huge load we've been carrying.

Thanks to everyone who's been praying and encouraging us through this absolutely crazy time!

Love,
Becca