To Austin on your 8th....

Dear Austin,

You are 8 years old today! I know it seems to you like it has taken forever to turn 8, but for me the time has flown. You had a very busy year being 7 years old, so here's some of your highlights!

Last year on your birthday, you were in DeKalb with Grandma, Poppy Loe, and your cousins. This picture was taken at the Mexican food place in DeKalb on your birthday. I love your face in this pic!

You lost both of your front teeth just before Christmas, and no, it is not ALL you wanted for Christmas, but you sure did look cute with your missing teeth!

During Christmas last year, we went snow skiing for your first time. You took a half day of ski school our first day and then decided you no longer needed to be there. So I checked you out and took you up the mountain with me. Poppy Loe had to ski backwards to get you down the first trip up and you almost gave up after your first day, but you decided to keep trying and it paid off because after that, you OWNED that mountain! You were such a champ out there. You skied right beside me with no fear at all. It is one of my favorite memories of you being 7. You were singing and laughing all the way down the mountain, and when you would see someone fall down, you'd ski around them and say "ain't nobody got time for that!" and keep on going. I loved every minute of it.

The fall of last year was the most difficult time you have had in your little life. You struggled so much in the first half of first grade. Learning to read was difficult for you, so you and I decided together that what we needed to do was to READ, and read a LOT. We worked together to come up with goals, rewards, and set a timeline. We made a 200 book chart and had rewards after every 50 books. You and I had a standing date at Books-million every Sunday afternoon for a few months. We would go in and pick out 5-10 books and then you would read to me curled up in a Books-a-million chair. You got so excited with every 10 books read so you could color in that block on our chart. You learned to love to read, and it was a special time for us every time we sat down to read together, even if we were in the car. You were so proud of yourself when you reached your 200 book goal, and school got easier for you during this time. I am so proud of you for wanting it so much for yourself and for the fact that you felt the urgency to need to become a better reader in order to make it through school. You have always been wise beyond your years. 

Austin, you are one of my very favorite people in the world. You have such a kind heart and I can't wait to see what God is going to use you for.

 You love people and care so deeply for those that you love. You still haven't outgrown how much you love me. In the evenings, you still crawl up in my lap and put your arms around my neck and say "I just love you so much" and it's just the sweetest thing. 

You absolutely melt my heart. Happy 8th birthday my sweet little boy...I'll love you forever!

Love,
Mom

To Aaron...on your 13th

Dear Aaron,

   Today you are 13 years old. I don't even know how this is possible. I'm pretty sure that I just brought you home from the hospital last week, all wrapped up in your little hospital nursery toboggan and newborn clothes that you didn't fill up just yet. This day 13 years ago was a good day for me. I no longer had you inside of me making me throw up every few hours. Or have heart burn so bad I couldn't lay down. My feet actually had hope of fitting into more than one pair of shoes again. Oh yes, you were a joy from before day one.

     After we got you home, you weren't much easier on me. You cried from about 5 pm to 3 am daily. You spit up every time someone touched you. You were ready to nurse as soon as we would go out in public with you. You had dad and I driving the roads in the middle of the night just to get you to sleep and make the crying stop.

     You were a hard headed little toddler. You did things when YOU decided that you wanted to do them and couldn't be talked into things that you weren't ready for. Do not EVEN get me started on potty training you. I'll just say that I wasted about 2 years and 100 million words trying to talk you into tee teeing in the potty on MY timeline. But it happened as easy as pie when YOU finally said that you were ready.

     Do you remember the year that I took you to swimming lessons at the college and you were the only kid in the place that dropped out because you simply refused to get into the pool when you were told to? Aaron wasn't ready, so Aaron wasn't doing it. Period. Now you are an awesome swimmer and beg us constantly to put a pool in the back yard. That was done on YOUR time...just like everything else. You have always been the EPITOMY of a strong-willed child.
 

 

     But here's the cool thing about being a strong-willed child. You turn into a strong-willed teenager. You do things when YOU choose to do them and not when someone else tells you it's time. You have never been a follower, but instead a leader who is respected for being his own way. I have banged my head against the wall many times trying to figure out why in the world you were the way you were and why you couldn't just conform and do what we wanted you to do at the exact time we wanted you to do them. But as I sit here today, I know exactly the reason God made you the way you are.

     Welcome to the part of your life where that strong-willed side is actually going to pay off big for you. Before you leave your teen years, you will make many choices. Some very easy ones, some very difficult ones, and some life-changing ones. The things that you do today will forever be in your memories and leave a thumbprint on your heart. Make smart choices. Do not ever treat a girl with disrespect. If she respects herself, she won't put up with you for a minute. It's next to impossible to undo something that has been done or un-say something that has been said, so think before you act.

     Think about the big picture for your life. It is easy to get caught up in what is going on right now, and it sometimes makes us lose sight of what our end goal is. Keep your eyes on what you want for your life and make decisions based on getting there. Don't forget to keep God as the forefront of that big picture. He will help you get to where you want to go.

     You've thrown up on me, screamed in my ears, caused me to lose more sleep than I care to think about, and made me so mad that I've just had to walk away for a minute, but you are worth EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT. I love being your mom, Aaron, and I can't wait to see what all God has planned for you. Stay strong-willed and you will be just fine.

HAPPY 13TH BIRTHDAY, AARON!!

I love you,
Mom

No, this does not mean I'm going scuba diving...

Last weekend, I heard a speaker talk about a scuba diving experience she had with her family a few years ago. She said that she and her husband, along with their children, went through the training needed in smaller bodies of water before they went on the big dive in the ocean. She was feeling pretty confident about it when it came time to go out for the big dive. They had a dive master that went on the dive with them that would be there and help them through any problems that may occur. After experiencing some problems with her weights, she finally made it down to the bottom of the ocean with her husband, children, and dive master. But soon after she got down there, she saw a large fish (possibly a shark) swimming around them. The fear of being eaten by a shark took over her thoughts, and before she knew it she was throwing out her weights and floating back up to the surface of the water with her kids in her arms in a complete panic. When they got up to the top, the guy in the boat asked what happened. She tried to explain why she was afraid down there, and he stopped her and said, "you took your eyes off the master. He knows things that you don't know and sees things differently than you see them. You HAVE to keep your eyes on the master."

I have thought about this story so many times during this past week. Not because I wish to someday go scuba diving (because the thought alone gives me a little panic attack), but there's a bigger meaning here. How often have we felt like we were the ones in control, just to mess it all up and later realize that we left God out of the equation and tried to handle it ourselves? When we take our eyes off of the Master, life somehow seems to get all messed up.

A year ago I wouldn't have dreamed that I would be doing what I'm doing right now. I had no thoughts of going back to school. I had never wanted to be a teacher (unless you count the days of lining my dolls up and writing on my chalkboard for them when I was 7). A year ago I was at a point in my life where I had done the 'stay-at-home-mom' thing for 11 years, but no longer had kids to stay home with. I guess I wasn't ready to let them go yet, because my first thought of a job was to work at their school where I could still be close to them. I didn't know at the time that God had placed me right where He wanted me, at exactly the right time. At some point during the late winter/early spring, I began throwing around the idea of going back to school to get my license to teach and my master's degree. Things started happening to make this work that could only be explained by saying "that was God". I hadn't taken a test in 15 years, but passed the 2 tests I needed to start school on the first try. That was God. I was afraid going back to college was going to mess up my summer with my kids, but the schedule was changed at the last minute and it worked out perfectly for me. That was God. A first grade position came open, and that just happened to be the grade I worked with last year and knew the most about. That was God. My principal decided to take a chance on me and hire me for that position only months after I had made the decision to do this. That was God. And through ALL of this, I have tried very hard to keep my eyes on The Master. This past month has been crazy busy for me. Five days a week, I'm teaching 20 6-7 year olds, and on my nights and weekends I'm working on my master's degree, juggling football, church and church activities, soccer, house cleaning, laundry, bills, and everything else that comes up. But you know what? I wouldn't change a thing. I am completely overwhelmed with all that I have to do, knowing I will NEVER get it all done, but I know that God has put me where He wants me and I will be ok. There are many days that I think "OK, God will never give me more than I can handle", but then I worry that maybe He is giving more credit than I deserve! But I always make it though whatever it is that I'm worried about and always seem to come out better because I went through it. My heart is where it needs to be, and my eyes are on The Master. This craziness will pass and I'll be a better person because of it. I will praise Him in this storm. I absolutely love my job and the people I work with. My kids continue to amaze me with their kindness and love, and my husband has stepped up to help me in more ways than I can count. I am so very blessed, and all the credit goes to the One that is making it all happen. My Master.

Because I haven't been able to post any since school started, I wanted to put a few pics in of some highlights of our month...

The first day of 7th grade and 2nd grade.

 

We've had friends over to the house

and managed to have fun despite the fact that Jonathan got a bug in his ear.

 

We have fed the homeless

 

 

and tried to show them the love that Jesus would show if He were there.

I finally admitted that Aaron is taller than me :(

Austin got glasses.

We went to the fair

 

complete with fair food.

I praised God with 12,000 other women in the American Airlines center.

and spent the entire weekend laughing and crying and being sleep deprived.

And I actually broke down and opened my mail. The stack on the left is what I actually NEEDED and the stack on the right went straight into the trash.

 

 

It has been an amazing month!

Y'all have a good week, and remember...never take your eyes off The Master. He knows things that you don't know and sees things that you don't see.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A letter to my First Graders

Dear First Grader,

Over the past several weeks, while you were busy enjoying the last little bit of summer, I've been working hard for you. I have thought about you, prayed for you, and worked hard to make sure our classroom would be a comfortable learning environment for you. I've burned myself with hot glue (more times than I care to admit), climbed higher on a ladder than I'm comfortable with, cut out things, laminated things, cleaned things, tore things down, put things up, painted things, bought things, organized things, and today I will finally get to meet you and give you a hug and all of the hard work will pay off.

When I was getting my classroom ready for you, I thought about what all we are going to go through in our next 9 months together. We will celebrate your birthday...

You will lose teeth this year, probably even some while you're in the classroom, and you will be excited because that will be one more tooth on our monthly 'tooth count'...

You will leave me everyday and we can have a fresh start every morning...

You will eat close to 200 lunches here before June...

We will meet everyday on the carpet and talk about the day, the weather, the time, money, and we'll count and sing cute little learning songs together...

You will improve your reading by leaps and bounds this year...

You will have jobs to do in the classroom that will make you feel special and important...

You may need to move your clip every once in a while, but we will talk about why we need to make better choices next time...

And I will read to you...lots....

I'm so excited that I get to be your 1st grade teacher. When you hurt, I will hurt. When you're excited about something that's going on in your life, I will be excited too. When I see you carrying a burden that 6 and 7 year olds should not have to carry, I will cry for you and pray for you. I will make mistakes, because we'll all be learning together, but I will learn from them. I will forever call you 'one of my kids', because you will be.

I love you already,
Mrs. Barwick

Avoid Confrontation with the Bears

Just after Aaron broke his foot, Robbie and I began thinking about what kind of long weekend get-away we could do as a family before school starts. We thought about driving down to Galveston for a few days, but making Aaron use his crutches in the sand just seemed like cruel and unusual punishment. This also ruled out any type of activity that requires a lot of walking, such as amusement parks and zoos. So no beach, no six flags (I was totally cool with that one), and no zoo (this one too)...what is a family to do that will provide enough activity that will keep the boys happy but keeps you off your feet?

I am not a big fan of watching TV. I prefer it to be off unless Duck Dynasty is on, and even when I do watch it I fast forward through commercials because I almost never watch something when it's actually on (thank you TIVO). I can probably count the number of advertisements I've seen this summer on one hand. But one night a few weeks ago Rob and I were eating dinner at Amigo Juan and I couldn't seem to make myself look away from their TV that was just one local advertisement after another. It was bad, y'all. At one point, Rob smiled and said "you just can't look away from it, can you?" I'm not really sure why, but I NEEDED to know what business was going to be advertised next. Then, this advertisement came on that would show a picture of a resort, then it would flash MENA MOUNTAIN RESORT (with their phone number), then another picture, then MENA MOUNTAIN RESORT (with their phone number), for what seemed like 10 minutes (I'm sure I was a JOY to sit across the table from that night). Then I decided I needed to put their phone number in my phone in case I ever needed to call MENA MOUNTAIN RESORT for anything. THIS is why I don't need to watch advertisements, people. I had to stop watching advertisements years ago after watching an infomercial for the Little Green Clean Machine. I never did buy one, but the phone was in my hand and the number was already dialed before I realized that this was not a product that I needed to own, nor did I want to agree to 5 easy payments of $29.99. Anyway, Rob and I started talking about the Mena Mountain Resort and he mentioned that Mena is a really good place to ride four-wheelers (which just happens to be one of the few activities that Aaron can do). Thus, our long get-away weekend was planned.

We left last Thursday with four-wheelers, kids, and luggage loaded up and headed to Mena for our long weekend. Our room was just perfect. This place only has 14 rooms, and Thursday night we were the only people there, so we had the pool and game room to ourselves. We were up late swimming, making up our own rules to shuffleboard, and listening to music in the game room. Our room was really cute and comfortable, and at one point in the weekend Rob stated that we could live in this room and be happy (and I had to agree because the kitchen only consisted of a mini-fridge and a microwave, so no cooking required). The rooms made the shape of a rectangle, with the game room on one end, the breakfast room on the other end, and a pool in the middle. There were rocking chairs out on the porches, beach towels rolled up beside the pool, and every morning Mrs. Denny (the owner) cooked us breakfast. It was such a cute little place.

Friday and Saturday we spent our days riding the four-wheeler trails at Wolf Pen Gap, which was about 20 minutes from where we stayed. This place is ranked in the top 10 places to ride ATV's in the US. The scenery was beautiful and the trails were all marked like ski slopes (green-easy, blue-more difficult, or black-you could possibly die), so we rode every green offered that we could find. Robbie and Austin led the way, followed by Aaron, and I brought up the rear because I liked to stop and take pictures every once in a while and they were riding like they had somewhere to be. Rob told me that every once in a while, Austin would say, "Dad, wait on your wife", and Aaron was constantly looking back and checking on me. I have to say...it was just glorious. There are so many different trails that we didn't see many other people and could just go at our own pace. It was perfection until I saw this

sign. I pretty sure this is the first time I've ever worried about my family being chased or eaten by bears, and I can tell you will all certainty that I would avoid confrontation with them. I would drive by some trees and think 'was that a bear?' several times an hour after seeing this sign. Good times.

He hates this boot.

Ponytail, no makeup, no filter.

He choose his own outfit. Whatever, man.

A fruit by the foot break!

I'm digging Austin's hair.

On Saturday afternoon, we decided we needed a four-wheeler break and went geocaching for a while. Ok y'all, I've posted on it before and talked about it several times, but I'm about to just break it down for you step by step because I still have so many people asking how it works.

First step, get the geocaching app on your smart phone. I just have the free one and it works well. Next, you choose 'find a geocache'. This will take you to several geocaches that are close by, and tell you how far you are from them.

Choose one that you want to find and it will show you a map of how to get there from where you are.

Once you get close, it will tell you how many feet you are from it and which direction you need to go to get to it.

Every cache has a name and most of them have hints as to where exactly you need to look to find it. After you find it and open it up, there is a paper inside where you can write your name and the date. On the micro's, it is very small and you have to bring you own pen (BYOP).

This was a medium size cache found in a cemetery.

This is a micro found in a light pole base.

The larger ones have pens inside the container and also other items. If you want to add your own item, feel free. And if you add something, you can take something out. There is some learning curve to the words used, such as muggles (which means there will probably be people around) and LP (which means it's hidden in a light pole), etc. Most of them can be found without knowing what all of the words mean. Throughout our geocaching in Mena, we visited cemeteries, parks, and businesses. It allows you to see parts of town you wouldn't have gone to otherwise. Just be careful, because before you know it, all of you will be out there with your phone in your hand walking in the direction it tells you to go not even aware of where you are or what you may be getting into. It really is such a fun family thing to do wherever you go.

I have spent much of this week working on my classroom and getting everything ready for school. I'll try to post some pics of my classroom soon.

Y'all take care...and avoid confrontation with any bears you may come across.