Have you ever heard the phrase "don't bite the hand that feeds you?" Well, tonight, I'm in a biting mood. In fact, I feel like taking a big hunk out of that hand and ripping it to shreds. You'll have to forgive me for being irritated in this post. I am very frustrated and this is the healthiest way to get out that frustration.
So, the hubs has been OOT (out of town) for the past two weeks, wish another two weeks to go before he gets to be home for, count 'em, 1 whole whopping week, and then start another 3-4 weeks of travel. I don't like it (never have, really) but I know that it's his job and it's how he provides for us. I am grateful that he has a job. However, it's times like tonight when I just really get irritated about his job. He is supposed to come home tomorrow evening and we are supposed to go to an open house on Saturday at our Preacher's home, and then we are supposed to go up to my parents' house so I can go to a shower for Morgan and Matthew at my old church. The key phrase there, if you didn't catch it, is "supposed to." They had an "exit" meeting today, which is not uncommon once they've been on site for the go-live week and the support week (which was this week). They use it to determine different things before they leave. Well, this site complained - again, not an uncommon occurrence - and fretted about how they still need support and how they won't have anyone to help over the weekend. The last part always bugs me when I've heard that because once the reps leave the site after the installation and support week is over, there's never any weekend support. The reps don't go into the office in Mobile on Saturdays and Sundays. If there are any issues on those days, they get dealt with on Monday. So, unless the reps are actually supposed to be on site for the weekend doing a "weekend stay," there is no basis for the site to request weekend support. Anyway, since they harped about it so much, guess who gets to stay on site this weekend?? I'll give you chances, but if you've read any of the above, you'll only need one. Another thing that ticks me off - there were THREE people at that site this week from the hub's department. Why couldn't they have picked one of the other two people?? So, he doesn't get to come home tomorrow. He will leave at noon on Sunday, which means he'll get home around 5-6. Then he has to fly out on Monday morning. The kids and I won't get home from mom's until 7-8, so we won't have very much time to spend together before bedtime.
Like I've said before, I understand that all this is part of his job sometimes. It doesn't make me like it any more. I'm not sitting here complaining all the time about it and I don't get all depressed. I have 3 kids that I have to take care of and they need me to be here, physically, mentally, and emotionally. I don't have time for anything else. I just keep putting on my big girl panties and dealing with it. It's life. I know that God built me this way for a reason, and the He will take care of us all.
Okay, that was my rant for the night. You can all return to your regularly scheduled programming.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
September
And now for September...
So far it's been a pretty decent month for us. We went on a beach trip the weekend after Labor Day to meet up with some friends Jack knew when he was at Auburn. I'm not really a beach person, but we had a good time. The kids really loved it. This was Bella's and Eowyn's first trip to the beach. Dylan has been before, but it has been a while.
That just about sums up where we are right now in our lives. Nothing major to report in the Donovan Family.
I do have a prayer request though. My mom has worked for the Alabama Department of Youth Services for a very long time now - probably around 13 years. She's been a teacher all of her life. She enjoys her job and she makes a difference in the lives of the boys that come into the program. About a month ago, she heard that some "higher ups" with the state were going to be coming down to her campus for a meeting on the Monday of whatever week was next. She was pretty sure it was not going to be good news. The role had gotten down to just 3 kids and she felt like it was probably going to be about whether they would shut down her campus or not. For those of you who are unaware - the Department of Youth Services (DYS) has different campuses in the state of Alabama where kids (usually ages 13-18, but they've had younger) are sent by the judicial system when they've gotten into too much trouble, but haven't started committing really violent crimes. The main campus is in Mount Meigs, Alabama. I think there are 4 others. Or, there WERE four others anyway. They have one or two for girls, but the rest are for boys. There are no co-ed environments. There are men and women who work at the facilities, but the students are either all male or all female - no intermingling. Anyway, they came down and sure enough, told them that they were closing the Thomasville campus effective immediately. The 3 students who were there, were shipped off to another campus. They didn't fire anyone, but they did make it hard to keep the job. Basically, they said that they could find a position for each of the workers an one of the other campuses. The only problem is that all the other campuses are really far away from Thomasville. I think that the closest one is the main campus in Mount Meigs. My mom still has a job, but she'll have to work in Mount Meigs to keep it. There are a lot of things that complicate this even more. My mom has already asked for prayer about all this, but there are too many people who don't fully understand the different things in this situation. For one, she makes a decent salary working with the state. Unlike a regular public school scenario, they actually value the experience that she has and she is paid for her degrees, expertise, and different experiences. She has 24 full years of teaching behind her and more than just a Bachelor's Degree. I know that she was the Alabama DYS Teacher of the Year at least one time (and probably deserved it more than once). I'm not just talking biased here people. She only taught me once when I was in 6th grade. The woman knows what she's doing when it comes to teaching. She goes to conference after conference to make sure she is current on materials and methods. I am serious when I say she knows what she's doing. This is partly why it's a complicated situation. Then there's the grandmother thing. Both of my grandmothers are unable to live alone anymore. My Memaw is 93 years old and my Granny is almost 87. My Dad pretty much stays with his mom (Memaw) during the week. My mom keeps Granny at her house during the week and a lady comes and stays with her during the day. On the weekends, they all converge back at my parents' house so they can at least be a family for 2 days. My mom is planning to take the DYS up on the offer and work at the Mount Meigs campus because it's the only option for her at this time. She doesn't have to report to campus until November 1 though. It's just much more complicated than some people realize and it irks me a little when I see or hear people say that they'll pray for something that would allow her to stay in Thomasville. It's like they are over-simplifying something that has too many complexities to allow for that. There isn't a simple solution to it because every solution has more cons than pros. It just rubs me the wrong way. In the immediate future though, prayers for peace and wisdom to navigate this path are most appreciated.
I didn't mean for this post to get so long, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.... Oh well. That should catch us up to being all current with the happenings in the family.
So far it's been a pretty decent month for us. We went on a beach trip the weekend after Labor Day to meet up with some friends Jack knew when he was at Auburn. I'm not really a beach person, but we had a good time. The kids really loved it. This was Bella's and Eowyn's first trip to the beach. Dylan has been before, but it has been a while.
That just about sums up where we are right now in our lives. Nothing major to report in the Donovan Family.
I do have a prayer request though. My mom has worked for the Alabama Department of Youth Services for a very long time now - probably around 13 years. She's been a teacher all of her life. She enjoys her job and she makes a difference in the lives of the boys that come into the program. About a month ago, she heard that some "higher ups" with the state were going to be coming down to her campus for a meeting on the Monday of whatever week was next. She was pretty sure it was not going to be good news. The role had gotten down to just 3 kids and she felt like it was probably going to be about whether they would shut down her campus or not. For those of you who are unaware - the Department of Youth Services (DYS) has different campuses in the state of Alabama where kids (usually ages 13-18, but they've had younger) are sent by the judicial system when they've gotten into too much trouble, but haven't started committing really violent crimes. The main campus is in Mount Meigs, Alabama. I think there are 4 others. Or, there WERE four others anyway. They have one or two for girls, but the rest are for boys. There are no co-ed environments. There are men and women who work at the facilities, but the students are either all male or all female - no intermingling. Anyway, they came down and sure enough, told them that they were closing the Thomasville campus effective immediately. The 3 students who were there, were shipped off to another campus. They didn't fire anyone, but they did make it hard to keep the job. Basically, they said that they could find a position for each of the workers an one of the other campuses. The only problem is that all the other campuses are really far away from Thomasville. I think that the closest one is the main campus in Mount Meigs. My mom still has a job, but she'll have to work in Mount Meigs to keep it. There are a lot of things that complicate this even more. My mom has already asked for prayer about all this, but there are too many people who don't fully understand the different things in this situation. For one, she makes a decent salary working with the state. Unlike a regular public school scenario, they actually value the experience that she has and she is paid for her degrees, expertise, and different experiences. She has 24 full years of teaching behind her and more than just a Bachelor's Degree. I know that she was the Alabama DYS Teacher of the Year at least one time (and probably deserved it more than once). I'm not just talking biased here people. She only taught me once when I was in 6th grade. The woman knows what she's doing when it comes to teaching. She goes to conference after conference to make sure she is current on materials and methods. I am serious when I say she knows what she's doing. This is partly why it's a complicated situation. Then there's the grandmother thing. Both of my grandmothers are unable to live alone anymore. My Memaw is 93 years old and my Granny is almost 87. My Dad pretty much stays with his mom (Memaw) during the week. My mom keeps Granny at her house during the week and a lady comes and stays with her during the day. On the weekends, they all converge back at my parents' house so they can at least be a family for 2 days. My mom is planning to take the DYS up on the offer and work at the Mount Meigs campus because it's the only option for her at this time. She doesn't have to report to campus until November 1 though. It's just much more complicated than some people realize and it irks me a little when I see or hear people say that they'll pray for something that would allow her to stay in Thomasville. It's like they are over-simplifying something that has too many complexities to allow for that. There isn't a simple solution to it because every solution has more cons than pros. It just rubs me the wrong way. In the immediate future though, prayers for peace and wisdom to navigate this path are most appreciated.
I didn't mean for this post to get so long, but you know what they say about the best laid plans.... Oh well. That should catch us up to being all current with the happenings in the family.
August Rush
And no... I am not talking about the movie! :)
August was not too eventful either, but it was kind of a rush because school started back. Dylan is in 5th grade this year - or the kings of the pack of the elementary school. Down here in Mobile County, elementary school goes through 5th grade and middle picks up in 6th grade. I know some other places start middle school in 5th grade, but not here. For a few weeks prior to school starting, Dylan played on an Upward Soccer team that is organized through our church. There was one other kind of big thing that happened in August - my baby brother got engaged.
That's how we'll start this one too, since it actually happened right at the beginning of August. Matthew and Morgan decided to go on a road trip across the country before classes started back at Auburn. They both love to travel and this was really the perfect time to plan a trip like this. Matthew would be starting back as a senior at Auburn and would be starting an internship with the Auburn Athletic Department. Morgan would be entering her sophomore year at Auburn and her second year with Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority. Needless to say, this year would be a busy one. So, they left from Kentucky (where Morgan is from) and drove all the way to California then back to Auburn. I think the trip took about 2 weeks. They stopped in Dallas, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tuscon, San Antonio, and New Orleans. Their stop in Tuscon actually took them to Sells, AZ, where they first met. Way back in 2008, the youth from First Baptist Church of Fulton decided to take a mission trip to an Indian Reservation in Arizona. The youth pastor got info from OneWay Ministries and they organized a trip to the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation in June of that year. Morgan's mom, Karen, is active in her participation with this ministry and they were there that June. So, Matthew went on this trip with the church and that's where he met Morgan. I don't know if it was love at first sight or anything, but they did become fast friends. I think they made the official start of their relationship in November 2008. It was a hard road for them because both of them were still in high school and they lived about 9 hours apart. Matthew was in Thomasville, and Morgan was in Philpot, Kentucky. They managed it though. The rest of Matthew's senior year of high school flew by and then he was a freshman at Auburn. Morgan graduated high school in 2011 and started Auburn that fall. Now, she's a sophomore and he's a senior. Anyway, back to their origins some. Since they met on a mission trip in AZ, Matthew wanted to go back there on their way back home. They had only been back to the area once since they started dating. I don't know if Morgan knew why he wanted to go back at first, but it's because my little bro is a little sappier than we all thought he would be. He wanted to go back to where they met (not only the town, but the actual reservation!) so he could pop the question there. Well, he did, and of course she said yes, so now we are anticipating a December wedding! We all went up to my parents' the weekend they were scheduled to come back. I made a cake for them, and I really *REALLY* wish I had taken a good picture of it before we left. On the drive up there, the icing melted enough for the layers to slide apart. I was SOOOOO disgusted. I may not be Duff Goldman, but I worked for a long time on that cake and I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out. The top tier looked fine, except that the white chocolate monogram had broken, but the bottom tier was a mess. That one was the tier that slid.
Dylan did the Upward Soccer thing again, and I think he enjoyed it more this year because he knew more about how to play. Unfortunately, Jack was unable to help at all because he was out of town so much. The one week that he could have helped and gone to a game was the one week that Dylan got a bad case of Pharyngitis and was unable to go. Stinks. School started back right after soccer ended. The rest of August was pretty smooth sailing.
August was not too eventful either, but it was kind of a rush because school started back. Dylan is in 5th grade this year - or the kings of the pack of the elementary school. Down here in Mobile County, elementary school goes through 5th grade and middle picks up in 6th grade. I know some other places start middle school in 5th grade, but not here. For a few weeks prior to school starting, Dylan played on an Upward Soccer team that is organized through our church. There was one other kind of big thing that happened in August - my baby brother got engaged.
That's how we'll start this one too, since it actually happened right at the beginning of August. Matthew and Morgan decided to go on a road trip across the country before classes started back at Auburn. They both love to travel and this was really the perfect time to plan a trip like this. Matthew would be starting back as a senior at Auburn and would be starting an internship with the Auburn Athletic Department. Morgan would be entering her sophomore year at Auburn and her second year with Omega Phi Alpha National Service Sorority. Needless to say, this year would be a busy one. So, they left from Kentucky (where Morgan is from) and drove all the way to California then back to Auburn. I think the trip took about 2 weeks. They stopped in Dallas, Albuquerque, Flagstaff, Las Vegas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tuscon, San Antonio, and New Orleans. Their stop in Tuscon actually took them to Sells, AZ, where they first met. Way back in 2008, the youth from First Baptist Church of Fulton decided to take a mission trip to an Indian Reservation in Arizona. The youth pastor got info from OneWay Ministries and they organized a trip to the Tohono O'Odham Indian Reservation in June of that year. Morgan's mom, Karen, is active in her participation with this ministry and they were there that June. So, Matthew went on this trip with the church and that's where he met Morgan. I don't know if it was love at first sight or anything, but they did become fast friends. I think they made the official start of their relationship in November 2008. It was a hard road for them because both of them were still in high school and they lived about 9 hours apart. Matthew was in Thomasville, and Morgan was in Philpot, Kentucky. They managed it though. The rest of Matthew's senior year of high school flew by and then he was a freshman at Auburn. Morgan graduated high school in 2011 and started Auburn that fall. Now, she's a sophomore and he's a senior. Anyway, back to their origins some. Since they met on a mission trip in AZ, Matthew wanted to go back there on their way back home. They had only been back to the area once since they started dating. I don't know if Morgan knew why he wanted to go back at first, but it's because my little bro is a little sappier than we all thought he would be. He wanted to go back to where they met (not only the town, but the actual reservation!) so he could pop the question there. Well, he did, and of course she said yes, so now we are anticipating a December wedding! We all went up to my parents' the weekend they were scheduled to come back. I made a cake for them, and I really *REALLY* wish I had taken a good picture of it before we left. On the drive up there, the icing melted enough for the layers to slide apart. I was SOOOOO disgusted. I may not be Duff Goldman, but I worked for a long time on that cake and I was pretty pleased with the way it turned out. The top tier looked fine, except that the white chocolate monogram had broken, but the bottom tier was a mess. That one was the tier that slid.
Dylan did the Upward Soccer thing again, and I think he enjoyed it more this year because he knew more about how to play. Unfortunately, Jack was unable to help at all because he was out of town so much. The one week that he could have helped and gone to a game was the one week that Dylan got a bad case of Pharyngitis and was unable to go. Stinks. School started back right after soccer ended. The rest of August was pretty smooth sailing.
On to July!
July was not terribly eventful for us. We celebrated Independence Day twice. How, you ask? Well, we went up to my parents' for the weekend before Independence Day (which was actually the very tail end of June. Thomasville does a local "Hometown Celebration" for Independence Day every year, but since July 4th doesn't always fall on the same day, they do their celebration the Saturday before. It was a little more subdued this year than in years past though. They used to go all out and start that morning off with the Kids Parade. Dylan took part in that in 2009. Then the rest of the day has various activities in the downtown area, culminating in the fireworks show that starts around 9 pm. This year, I think it was probably a little too hot to have stuff going on all day long. I believe the kids parade was later in the evening (maybe 5ish?) and they had the Clarke County Idol stuff going on too. We weren't up there for a very long time, so we just decided to catch the fireworks.
After having this Independence Day celebration, we celebrated my brother's upcoming 21st birthday. His actual birthday is on July 7, but since we were all at my parents' for this, we celebrated it early with them. His girlfriend (now future bride) made his cake and we all took pictures.
We came back home after this and got back into the groove. Jack was only off work for the actual July 4, so we went to his mom's to have lunch with them for the day. I made an Independence Day cake that had red, white, and blue layers. :)
After having this Independence Day celebration, we celebrated my brother's upcoming 21st birthday. His actual birthday is on July 7, but since we were all at my parents' for this, we celebrated it early with them. His girlfriend (now future bride) made his cake and we all took pictures.
We came back home after this and got back into the groove. Jack was only off work for the actual July 4, so we went to his mom's to have lunch with them for the day. I made an Independence Day cake that had red, white, and blue layers. :)
A little more June
Of course the CA Reunion was not the only big thing to happen in June this year. My sweet baby boy turned double digits this year. The big 1-0!
There was also another big 10 year marker, but it was a sad one for the hubs and his family. This June marked 10 years since his dad passed away.
Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to meet him. Though Jack and I had begun forming an email friendship at that time, we did not meet in person until December of 2002, which was 7 months after his dad's death. I feel that he would be very proud of the husband and father that Jack has become. If you noticed the birth date and date of death in the picture, you would see that they are close together. Let's just say that the first half of June does not illicit the most pleasant memories for Jack. There's the anniversary of his dad's death on June 4, then what would have been his birthday on June 10, then followed by Father's Day, which is usually around the middle of the month. Though, now that Jack is a father, that day does hold some happiness as well. This year, since we have the 3 kids, I decided to put together a cute present. I got the initial idea from a website that I pinned on Pinterest. I thought it was a really cute idea, and decided that it would be very neat-o since we have 3 kids.
This was my result and I'm pretty pleased with it. Of course, shortly after I took Eowyn's picture of her holding the letter, she swung it around and clocked herself on the corner of her eye, which resulted in a teensy bit of bleeding and a LOT of crying and consoling.
Back to Dylan's big birthday. He's the kind of kid who likes to read and has a pretty active imagination. He isn't really big into sports, which is okay. He does play outside some, and he has played Upward Soccer at church for the past two years. I do wish he would show more interest in sports, but I don't have the opportunities to get out and teach him stuff and Jack is gone a lot with work, so it doesn't get as much emphasis. He's a big reader, for which I am very glad. I truly believe that if you can help your child develop a love for reading, then it will be much easier for your child to learn things later in life. If for no other reason, reading can be a way to escape stress and everyone needs that kind of escape. He also likes video games. I can't really fault him for that because if I had the time, I'd probably play them more as well. I love a good Guitar Hero or Final Fantasy game. :) We had this initial idea this year to get the kids together and take them on a special trip after Christmas. We planned to be back before school started for the new year. I won't say where we were thinking about going because it may be where we can plan it for a little later on in the school year. Anyway, once we got to thinking about it, we determined that it wouldn't really be the best to do it at the end of the year. The point of that little diversion was so you'd understand why we got him the birthday gift that we did. If we had decided to do this trip as planned, we would not have gotten him this birthday gift because it was more than we normally spend. Since we are not doing the trip, we decided to get him a Wii. I've already mentioned his love of video games. There were multiple reasons for this gift. One - he likes video games. Two - he doesn't get to play outside too often because there aren't very many kids in our neighborhood. Three - He doesn't have too much exposure to sports. Four - there aren't very many things that we do as a family. I could probably go on a little more, but those were the main reasons. Obviously, he likes video games, so we knew he'd like the Wii. Since he doesn't get too much outside play time/exercise, we got him some active games so he would get some physical activity when he played. One of the games was Wii Sports, so that increases his exposure to sporting games and provides opportunities for us to educate him on how to play certain things. These games are family oriented, so it's possible for Jack to play a game with him or me to play a game with him and provides more opportunities for family bonding. So, all those factors were considered. Dylan was certainly surprised when he opened that gift, but he definitely loved it! Here are some pics from Dylan's party.
There was also another big 10 year marker, but it was a sad one for the hubs and his family. This June marked 10 years since his dad passed away.
Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to meet him. Though Jack and I had begun forming an email friendship at that time, we did not meet in person until December of 2002, which was 7 months after his dad's death. I feel that he would be very proud of the husband and father that Jack has become. If you noticed the birth date and date of death in the picture, you would see that they are close together. Let's just say that the first half of June does not illicit the most pleasant memories for Jack. There's the anniversary of his dad's death on June 4, then what would have been his birthday on June 10, then followed by Father's Day, which is usually around the middle of the month. Though, now that Jack is a father, that day does hold some happiness as well. This year, since we have the 3 kids, I decided to put together a cute present. I got the initial idea from a website that I pinned on Pinterest. I thought it was a really cute idea, and decided that it would be very neat-o since we have 3 kids.
This was my result and I'm pretty pleased with it. Of course, shortly after I took Eowyn's picture of her holding the letter, she swung it around and clocked herself on the corner of her eye, which resulted in a teensy bit of bleeding and a LOT of crying and consoling.
Back to Dylan's big birthday. He's the kind of kid who likes to read and has a pretty active imagination. He isn't really big into sports, which is okay. He does play outside some, and he has played Upward Soccer at church for the past two years. I do wish he would show more interest in sports, but I don't have the opportunities to get out and teach him stuff and Jack is gone a lot with work, so it doesn't get as much emphasis. He's a big reader, for which I am very glad. I truly believe that if you can help your child develop a love for reading, then it will be much easier for your child to learn things later in life. If for no other reason, reading can be a way to escape stress and everyone needs that kind of escape. He also likes video games. I can't really fault him for that because if I had the time, I'd probably play them more as well. I love a good Guitar Hero or Final Fantasy game. :) We had this initial idea this year to get the kids together and take them on a special trip after Christmas. We planned to be back before school started for the new year. I won't say where we were thinking about going because it may be where we can plan it for a little later on in the school year. Anyway, once we got to thinking about it, we determined that it wouldn't really be the best to do it at the end of the year. The point of that little diversion was so you'd understand why we got him the birthday gift that we did. If we had decided to do this trip as planned, we would not have gotten him this birthday gift because it was more than we normally spend. Since we are not doing the trip, we decided to get him a Wii. I've already mentioned his love of video games. There were multiple reasons for this gift. One - he likes video games. Two - he doesn't get to play outside too often because there aren't very many kids in our neighborhood. Three - He doesn't have too much exposure to sports. Four - there aren't very many things that we do as a family. I could probably go on a little more, but those were the main reasons. Obviously, he likes video games, so we knew he'd like the Wii. Since he doesn't get too much outside play time/exercise, we got him some active games so he would get some physical activity when he played. One of the games was Wii Sports, so that increases his exposure to sporting games and provides opportunities for us to educate him on how to play certain things. These games are family oriented, so it's possible for Jack to play a game with him or me to play a game with him and provides more opportunities for family bonding. So, all those factors were considered. Dylan was certainly surprised when he opened that gift, but he definitely loved it! Here are some pics from Dylan's party.
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