Here's to you...

Congratulations, Chris! I just want to take a minute and congratulate Chris... one of Alabama's finest and newest lawyers around! Take a minute and walk back with me...

Fall 2004- Chris informs me that he wants to go to law school and is going to start studying for the LSAT. Me, being the supportive person I am, pat his back, smile, and nod. Little did I know...

January 2005- Chris asks me to marry him! Pretty much, I was out of school, he was almost out of school. With the whole law school idea lingering in the air, he needed a sugar momma to help him through...

February 2005- Chris takes the LSAT. Afterwards, we go to Subway. Poor Chris- he was so mentally drained that he could not even think to decide which chips to get. I had to pick them out for him...

July 2005- We get married in Charlotte, go to Jamaica for our honeymoon, and then settle into our apartment...

August 2005- I start my 2nd year of teaching. Chris goes to orientation with butterflies in his stomach, and thus begins the next 3 years...

Fall 2005- Chris wakes me up in the middle of the night. He suddently sits up and tells me I've got to have it. What? I ask. Personal jurisdiction. I just have to have it. Okay, I'll get it. And we go back to sleep. The next morning, he was awfully confused when I asked him what it was...

December 2005- First sets of law school exams. Once again, I, the supportive wife, help study flashcards. I could tell you different railroad scenarios and outcomes of court cases. One semester down, 5 to go...

January 2006- Chris starts 2nd semester, a little more aware and just as hesitant. Me too...

May 2006- First Year is done! Chris finds a job, working with David Hilyer. If only I had known then! (j/k David! What a blessing they have been!)

July 2006- We celebrate our first year of marriage. They always say the first year is the hardest. Add law school on top, and whew! One down...

August 2006- Chris starts 2nd year. More confident, less stressed. Enter Joe Lester and son Carson. Just a coincidence that I have Carson in class while Chris spends time sitting in lectures with Joe Lester. Nothing suspicious there or anything!...

May 2007- 2nd year down, only one to go! We're getting the hang of it and are now tired of it...

August 2007- Chris enters final year of law school. Even more confident, much more laid back, and less prepared for classes. I think he learned the system and knew when to prepare and when to sit back. I'm just glad that didn't backfire too much!...

January 2008- Last semester ever begins. Anxiety sets in as the end is in sight...

May 2008- Last finals ever! What a relief! Though he missed a family wedding and my sister's graduation, school came first...

May 31- Graduation! TONS of family come to town for this event. We threw a party, had some BBQ and a GREAT cake (thanks Julie!). This time was bittersweet, school over but knowing the worst was yet to come...

June 2008- Worst 2 months of our life set in... bar exam studying and preparation. I stayed away as much as possible. He stayed in as much as possible. He managed to take time enough away to celebrate our 3rd anniversary with dinner, only after missing my sister's wedding (we forgive him though- hoping studying pays off!)...

July 28, 29, 30- THE BAR. Horrible! I drove him downtown every day to relieve the stress of traveling. My hand hurt for him and all the writing he did! Worst part- we wouldn't find out results for 2 months...

September 26- The long awaited day. I took the day off from school. He woke up at about 5:00, unable to sleep anymore. Waiting with baited breath, the phone FINALLY rang. It was our good friend Eric, who was able to see the list of names before they were officially posted. He passed! I screamed, we cried, then settle in for all of the phone calls, emails, and texts we had to make....

That afternoon- Chris checked the mail and got a letter. This had his scores. All I'll say is that he whooped the essay portion! And to think that I used to tear up papers of his in college because they were so bad, or even write them myself! What a turn around...

That evening- We set off to Birmingham for dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. A favorite of ours, but very rarely visited. Thanks to mom and dad for the giftcard for graduation! We enjoyed steak, salads, and some of the best chocolate mousse cheesecake I've ever had...

Present day- We are moving on to the next stages. Life without school. Life with HOPEFULLY two incomes (as soon as he gets a job). Life with a little less stress (one can only imagine)...

Congratulations! I am SO PROUD of you, Chris!

Fidelity

We have a new reading series this year. I'm getting used to it some, but it is still a lot of work. The one thing that is continually stressed is to do it to fidelity. This means to teach the curriculum like it is this year, take this year to get used to it, and do what it says. So I'm doing that.

In sticking with the whole "fidelity" thing, we were working with phonics today. I was using the words they told me to, writing them on the board as we went. We got to the word "ditch". Before getting a chance to sound it out as a group, Little Boy decides he already knows the word and hollers it out. Not before truly recognizing that it was a "d" instead of the "b" that he put there.

Without hesitating, I moved on before anyone had a chance to recognize what was said. Most of my others were still trying to sound it out. We broke it down as a group and quickly changed topics. I think next year I may use a different word in its place! Yikes!

Rush, the Hunting Dog

I can now classify my dog, Rush, in the category with other hunting dogs. As I am sitting on my couch checking emails and unwiding from the day, Rush jumps up and hops across me. He quickly returns back across and sits looking at me. After I don't pay attention, he huffs at me under his breath. I look around and notice something on the seat next to me. Chris turns on the light. Low and behold, what do we see?

A fly. My dog has not only killed a fly but has also brought it to me to see. Normally he just eats them when he catches them. I was as proud as a mother could be. I was so excited I jumped onto my page to write this. What an event!

(This is him sleeping on the towels I was trying to fold. He's such a momma's boy!)

Aches and Pains

Aches: So Chris woke up in the middle of the night Monday night. He said he felt like someone was punching him in the stomach. In my sleepy state, I told him to put a heating pad on it and go back to sleep. Before leaving for school the next morning, he asked me to leave the doctor's phone number for him. I did.

Pains: On my way home, he called and said he had to get a CT Scan, because the doctors were not sure what it was. He HATES needles. I told him to suck it up, hold his breath, and turn his head when they did it. I was on my way there.

Aches: After arriving, we had to wait an hour before he could get the CT Scan. We then had to wait another hour until the radiologist at the hospital could see the prints and determine what it was. I was still in my school clothes and had not eaten. Chris had not been home since lunch, and it was close to 8:oo.

Pains: After finding out from the preliminary report that it possibly was appendicitis, we had to go to the emergency room and meet our doctor. This was when my mind started racing, making about 1000 phone calls to family and friends, trying to arrange a sub and take care of Rush. Poor Rush. He had not been out in over 7 hours. Our great neighbors helped out, came and got the key from the hospital and let him out. By then, Leslie had arrived at our house to grab clothes, food, and Rush. He spent a few days with her.

Aches: By the time our doctor got there, things were in full swing. He placed a call to a surgeon who was on his way. When meeting with the surgeon, he said it may or may not be appendicitis. Chris had half of the signs, but hardly any of the symptoms. We were going to go ahead with the surgery. If it was, he would take it out. If it wasn't, he would take it out still and look around to see if it could be anything else.

Pains: When we were finished, the surgeon asked if Chris had any questions. Chris asked how long until he could do physical activity. Puzzled, the doctor replied it would take about 2 to 3 weeks. Knowing Chris' brain and thinking, I cleared it up for the doctor. I asked how long it would be until Chris could play softball again. Fall league is starting, and he didn't want to miss it. We were told it would be at least a month or so. Poor Chris. If only you could have seen his face.

Aches: Chris was starting to hurt more, with people poking and prodding his stomach. We were informed that the surgeon was going to do one surgery before ours. We were sent to a hospital room to wait.

Pains: At about 12:30, they came to get Chris. We walked back and they wheeled him away. The waiting room was COLD and UNCOMFORTABLE! The nurse stuck her head in at 1:15 to say they were starting surgery. I slept in the chairs, with a pair of sweat pants over my jeans and my sweatshirt hood on, trying to stay warm. They finished the surgery, things went well, and the appendix was removed. It was in fact appendicitis.

Aches: Chris made it out of recovery and back to the room at about 3:00. Chris' parents had come into town. Because Jim was talking about the chairs not being too bad to sleep in, he unknowingly nominated himself to stay the night while Teresa and I went home for a few hours of sleep. Apparently, he was wrong and the chair was NOT condusive to sleeping.

Pains: After arriving at home at about 4:00, I got about 2 1/2 hours of sleep before text messages and phone calls started. We were blessed to have so many concerned. I was exhausted as we headed back to the hospital.

Aches: Chris was doing well. He was up watching Sports Center and talking. He couldn't get up yet, and it hurt to move. After a few hours, he got up and took small walks around the hospital. This was much progress. The surgeon came that afternoon and said that we were going to get home after a round of antibiotics.

Pains: The antibiotics did not come until 6:00, about 4 hours later! We had to wait until it all went in through his IV. If that was not the slowest drip ever! Eventually, it finished and we were able to go home. After grabbing Chik-Fil-A on the way.

Aches: Getting Chris in and out of the car was a challenge. He can't use his abs, so it takes a lot of little ol' me to help him move. Once we got him in the house, we settled him in for the long haul.



Blessings: Chris is doing well now, a few days later. He is up and walking around on his own. He can't bend over or pick things up yet, so I am still hanging around. I was blessed to be able to take a few days off of work to stay here with him. Though it's almost as many days as I've taken in the four years I've been teaching, that's fine. Family comes first.

Blessings: We are also so blessed to have such great family and friends that have helped us out so far. Every day we are reminded that we are loved, and that God is so good to us. It's going to be awhile still, but he is making so much progress. We'll keep you posted as the days go on. And until he can play ball again, he'll have to settle for the Wii or the hand-held games my grandparents sent.

So, here goes nothing!

Flashback

I just wanted to take a moment to reflect on life one month ago. Chris was two days away from the bar, and life was very stressed. We are exactly one month away now from finding our results. Yay!

Thus being said, one should know that Chris used the guest bedroom/office/storage room/anything else possible room as his study area. At first, he studied at school. As time went by, he got tired of that and moved into the room. I took pictures to show exactly what it all looked like. Just know, that this past weekend, I finally got my room back.

The bed, desk and guilty party.

The desk. Please note the number of water bottles, coffe cups, and plastic cups.

But like I said earlier, I finally got my room back. Though we tried to keep it straightened, I eventually gave up. It got to where I would not even go into the room. I would just shut the door and walk past. You can see why. I'm just glad that's over with!

My Other Life

Well I figured since I live in two worlds, I'd share the other with you. I redid a bunch of things around my classroom over the summer and got so excited that I took pictures. When I first started teaching, I had red and white gingham and apples. The apples quickly left and the red and white faded out. I figured this year I'd go with bright colors... something that would help me out on days I would need it. Enjoy!

My new curtains!

A LONG bookshelf I inherited this year. And yes, the curtains are stapled on!

My Helper Chart and my cute door window curtain.

Backpack hooks. I just really liked the picture!

Feel free to come and visit any time- I'm sure I would enjoy some adult conversation every once in awhile!

Whirlwinds

My mom Facebooked me today. That's how life goes in our family. Haven't heard from you in awhile... we'll drop you a line. I normally call mom to chat on the way home from school, but I haven't called her in about 3 weeks. That's how I can measure the hecticness of my life: how long it has been since I called my mom last.

After Chris took the Bar, we headed to the beach. We had a GREAT time! What did we do? Nothing! We laid on the beach and the biggest decisions we had to face- where are we going to eat? Once we got back, we hit the ground running.

I had a week of workshops and meetings, trying to "prepare" myself for this year. Prepare is a complete understatement, since you have no idea what to expect. After that week, I was running circles around myself.

School started last Monday. I have quite a group this year. Interesting characters. None really bad, but some that may challenge me in new ways. I like a challenge, but not normally 17 of them! I'll make it short and say one note went home the first week, and I now have a Group #5. I haven't had a Group #5 since my first year of teaching. Group #5 is not good. Just know that it involves a group ALL to yourself and is in extreme proximity to myself. But we love Group #5. It's been a great second week with Group #5.

After that first week of school, we decided to up and haul ourselves early Saturday morning to Atlanta, where we enjoyed the rides at Six Flags and a Braves game that evening. My favorite part of the day was the grand opening... Leslie, this is for you. We enter the park and head to the Scorcher. After deciding to skip that until later, we continue on and come to the Goliath. Our first ride of the day. Chris and James take the end seats while Leslie and I hold down the middle. Well, Leslie holds down the middle. She is holding not only her own bar, but mine as well. I have never heard her scream so much in my life. Even above my screams, hers were piercing the air. It was her good scream too, for those that know her. The only time she stopped was to breathe. That was the best ride of the day! I'll fast forward throught the rest of it all, only pausing to say I had a near brush with death when speaking a little too loudly to myself when a several folks pushed past us while waiting for Superman to work again. I'm working on that!

That day ended in one exciting moment. As I'm driving us home, I call my brother who gives the the "play by play" of Michael Phelps' last gold victory. My heart was racing while I was driving through construction in Atlanta trying to avoid barracades on the sides and police hiding in the dark. We made it, and we were still able to make it to early service. What a day!

As this week is halfway over, I hope I make it through the rest! So, here goes nothing!