May's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

One benefit of being back in the States was that the kids finally got the braces they wanted for their teeth, and then of course, off they got the braces off eventually. Here are the results from my oldest child after about a year and a half in braces. She's very happy with the results.

February's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

December's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

My oldest plays "Silent Night" for us.

October's Beautiful Pictures from Tennessee

Belmont University, where I teach part-time, was host to one of the three Presidential debates this year. The entire campus has been buzzing about this for months and months.

The bell tower:


The Curb Event Center, site of the debate:

September's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

August's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

July's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

This weekend we went to the aquarium in Chattanooga with my mom. We really enjoyed the sea horses and the jelly fish.

June's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

May's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

My oldest daughter had me cut off her 18-inch-long ponytail so she could send it to Locks of Love. She got the idea when we were at the 2006 ACS Relay for Life with my dad. I'm very proud of her.

Last exam graded

N helped me grade exams today, so I got them finished in record time. Almost everyone made the grade I was expecting.

I have one student who has a note from the disability office that says I am supposed to give him extra time on the tests. Everyone else took from 45 to 75 minutes for the final exam. He took 4 hours and 20 minutes. (That's why N and I got so much grading done. We were sitting there waiting for him to finish the test.) He still scored less than 50% on the final exam. He doesn't always come to class, and he's never turned in an assignment. I kept telling him that I didn't have them, and he would always have some kind of story about his computer or my email account. I'm not at all sorry that he failed. Darin says that guys like that who know how to work the system will go far in the world. That might be true, but it doesn't mean that I have to pass them.

I had another student who had been working really hard to pull up his grade. He needed a 96 on the final to make an A in the class. (He had a C at midterm.) He made a 99 on the final. And no, Darin, he wasn't cheating.

I'm glad to be done with my first year at Belmont. I'm scheduled for 2 more sections in the Fall, and then I think I'm going to take off a semester. I'm looking forward to summer vacation also.

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April's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

March's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

Just some of the 192 plastic eggs we hid around the farm for the girls. It had been years since they had a big egg hunt. I suppose that they are getting too old for this, but they still had a great time.

Anniversary

Today is the 2-year anniversary of my fall, broken leg, and surgery. On most days, I forget my leg was even broken, and today the weather is clearing and it feels good. Sometimes when the weather changes it gets stiff, but it's very rarely sore, even after I've been hiking.

I remember that I was depressed that day --- I really didn't want to go to work and face Francois. And I remember that I was relieved, even through the pain, that I didn't have to go to work that day. But now, two years later, so much of that time seems like a dream. It seems unbelievable that we were even living in Europe, let alone that we got to go to the Italian Riviera because I broke my leg. And today I have to go to work, but I'm looking forward to practicing my French during the commute, and I'm looking forward to going over Student's t distribution with my students at Belmont. I love teaching the girls, too, and tonight is Spanish night with my high schooler.

I got out my scrapbook yesterday of the trip to the Mediterranean, just to remind myself that God really can use all things for our good, and that He does work in mysterious ways.

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February's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

Super Tuesday and Anniversaries

It was 65 degrees this morning when Darin and I got up to vote at 7:00. So after we got home, we told the girls they could go play in the creek. It's been raining quite a bit, and the creek was full. It's also Mardi Gras, so it seemed appropriate to give the girls a short break from school.

Darin and I both had a time with the voting machines today. There are only two machines at our precinct, so if we are both having trouble, we can even create a line. (OK, only a line of 1 at 7:20 this morning.) Darin was trying to vote before he had reviewed everything, and his machine started beeping at him. While I was reviewing my vote, I was trying to count everyone, and I accidentally touched the screen, so it sent me back to somewhere so I could change things, and then I had to review it again. The ladies were impressed with how much fun I was having. But what are you going to do? If you make a mistake, you might as well just laugh. Cussing at the machines won't help, and I bet it would upset all those nice old ladies who are volunteering.

I'm happy that we got to go together to vote. After meeting Darin because of the Iowa caucuses, it seems like a romantic thing to do.

That reminded me that this Valentine's Day will be a big anniversary for us --- 20 years since the day we met. Well, it was the day we were introduced. I remember where we were and even what *he* was wearing (not something impressive or flattering). He shook my hand that day, but he didn’t speak to me. The first time he spoke to me was at a college Bible study the next Friday, February 19th, which happened to be my Grandma’s birthday. On that day, he said “Hello,” and he was wearing shorts (in Iowa in February), but I was much more impressed with his looks that day, though it still certainly wasn’t love at first sight for either of us. (It took him until June to actually say anything more than "hello" to me.)

There are birthdays and other anniversaries coming up (including the three year anniversary of my leaving my good government job, and the two year anniversary of my broken leg in Luxembourg). It will be an interesting few weeks.

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Driving Lessons

We did it. With all my prodding to get caught up in school, my oldest finally had some time to read through the Drivers' Handbook that she needed to read before I would take her to the Department of Transportation to take her written driver's test. She did take the test on Monday, and she passed, so she now has her "graduated driver's license", what used to be called a learner's permit when I was a kid in Tennessee.

So she drove a little bit on the way home Monday, but it was getting dark by then, and she was a little bit stressed. Today we had our first real lesson other than driving down the driveway and up the driveway and into and out of the garage. She drove down our winding road, and we practiced slowing down for and accelerating out of curves. We also had to practice avoiding dogs, with three separate incidents with two separate dogs.

On the same day that my oldest took her driving test, my youngest started high-school-level algebra. It's hitting me hard that the girls are really growing up. They are making fun of me, but it's more difficult than they think.

January's Beautiful Picture from Tennessee

New job for Darin

Daddy always said to write if we got work, and blogging is the best way for me to get the word out.

Darin got a promotion at the factory. He started there officially in February after being a temp for several months. His temp job and his first job was as a press operator --- a job he hated. It was hot and messy. Then he got a job driving a fork lift --- a job he liked better. Monday he starts in the Quality Assurance department as an inspector. A lot of the promotions are based on seniority, which Darin doesn't have, but Darin does have many impressive qualities. Other people who have been in Quality Assurance don't like the job because they don't like to argue with people. Darin loves causing trouble, so this job should be right up his alley.

I'm very proud of his quick rise through the ranks.

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Merry Christmas

My mom called me last week and said that she had gotten a Christmas present from my dad. She said that she heard a poem on the radio, and she believes that Daddy sent it for her. I agree.

Today, in my complete insanity, before we could open presents, I made the girls help me unpack some of the boxes in the dining room so I could find my good glasses to use for Christmas dinner. We didn't need them at Thanksgiving because we weren't at home, but I really wanted them for Christmas. We didn't have them last year either, and I was tired of waiting. So I came across a smaller box that was packed inside a big dish box. I knew it wasn't my holiday glassware, but I wanted to see what was in the smaller box.

Inside the box was a note from my dad. It was a list of things that were in the box (things that came from his mom's house), and a note at the bottom to me. I remember Daddy giving me the box and telling me what was inside, but I don't think I'd opened it before. I started crying because I'd gotten a Christmas gift from Daddy, too, and I was just insane enough to actually be opening it on Christmas morning.

I miss you, Daddy.

Merry Christmas!

A very emotional day

I expected that last Christmas would be the last Christmas with my dad on this side of heaven, and so I knew this Christmas season would be tough, even as far back as last Christmas season. But today was really tough.

My oldest was singing in the youth choir today at the Methodist church for both the 8:30 and the 11:00 service. So we all went to the early service, and then stayed for Sunday School and the 11:00 service, too. We sang "Hark the Herald Angels" today, and the alto part is too high, but I can't sing tenor on the hymns anymore because I think of Daddy and I start to cry. We also sang "Once in Royal David's City," which also made me think about Daddy, so that was difficult to sing also.

I went to Sunday school and enjoyed it. Pastor Carlos talked to us about Christmas traditions in Mexico, and I learned a lot about Mexico and the Spanish language. We also discussed the origins of various traditions. I like Carlos.

Then I went to the second service, which is pretty much the same service as the first service, except that there is a baby dedication in the 11:00 service. I didn't think much about it before time, but at the beginning of the dedication service, I realized that I hadn't seen a baby dedication in years. I usually go to the early service, and baby dedications seem to happen in the later services. As I listened to the parents promise to avoid sin, follow Jesus at all costs, to raise their child for the Lord, it hit me really hard that at one time Darin had promised all of those things,too. It made me really sad. Every time they said "I do" or "I will", it felt like another knife in my heart. The baby's grandfather was a minister, so after the vows had been said, the pastor let the grandfather pray the prayer and do the baptism. The grandfather's prayer just broke my heart because it reminded me so much of my dad, and how happy he was with his four granddaughters.

I've been a wreck all afternoon. I just want to be left alone, and I can't explain to the girls what is going on in my head and in my heart.