What a year this has already been!

It’s only April and I feel like we’ve experienced an entire year crammed into 3 months. By the first week in March, we’d attended 4 funerals. Talk about an eye opener and evaluation of our life. We know our precious uncle and dear friends are now with our Heavenly Father. It doesn’t take the pain of missing them away but it does help to know they are in the place I hope to be one day. After my Dad passed on, I began a new relationship with Christ and it continues to grow daily. I’m not perfect and I don’t try or claim to be. I’ve simply turned my life over to Him and I’m so excited for what He is doing in me. I’m committed to spending time with the Lord each morning, I continue to listen to fun worship music each day and spend my day/night living for Him. We found a new church and we love it. Those of you who know me from high school are probably thinking, “HA, yeah right! This is not the Trina (Trixie) I know.” Well my friends, people change – I sure have. I love to see my kids in the Word and see all of us grow closer to Him. I could go on and on but I’ll leave it at that for now. Update on Jeff – They still are not exactly sure why we had that scare but the Cardiologist has since found that he has high blood pressure. This may or may not have caused the AFib. He went through extensive stress tests, heart ultrasounds and many blood tests and has been to the doctor every 2 weeks since the AFib. His blood pressure is now regulated and he is feeling good. Let me be clear, besides the night we went to the ER, he wasn’t feeling bad. Of course there is no telling how long he’s had high blood pressure but he’s on the right meds now and that is all that matters. He is back in the gym doing cardio and working out (restricted weights per doctors orders). He celebrated his 10-year anniversary at AT&T towards the end of last year. He still enjoys his job and is working hard to learn all he can. He just took on 6 more guys so he now has 24 in his crew. Jayden had the chance to go to work with him on Saturday and played “boss” for day. They had a great day together. Well, today is my official last day on the payroll. I went to the office last Friday to turn in my laptop, credit cards, badge, etc and for a final transition. I was worried that I'd be upset and cry saying good-bye to some dear friends but I didn't. With my head held high, I was relieved to walk out of there! Don’t get me wrong, I don't have anything negative to say, my overall experience at BP was great. In fact, I thought I'd work there forever but God had other plans for me. I'm not sure what is in my future but I do have a few ideas up my sleeve! I’m praying about it and seeing where God leads me. For now, I’m staying home and really enjoying it. I have to admit that these past 11 weeks have been challenging as I went from working anywhere from 50-110 hours a week for 6 years to sleeping in and running errands! At first I was missing adult interaction but now I’m content with the quiet and calm of my life. No more drama – AMEN! I’m really looking forward to summer and spending time with the kids. Speaking of the kids…how about a little update on each of them. Tamia will be a teenager in a few months! WHOA! She is now taller than me and is wearing a 10.5 shoe. She continues to get good grades (or so she says since her Mom won’t give us copies of her report card). She was in track but since the coach didn’t let her run during a meet, her Mom had her quit saying her it was a waste of time… Umm, kinda hard to get better if you don’t practice, right?!?! Ugh - Whatever! Tamia loves to play volleyball so I’m enrolling her (and Kiarra) in a camp this summer to improve their skills. I think it will be something fun for them to do together. We are looking forward to July where she will be with us the whole month. Kiarra turned 12 in February. 12!! TWELVE!! Oh my goodness, I can hardly believe it. She is so beautiful inside and out. She is getting All A’s and B’s and we couldn’t be more proud of her. She is playing volleyball again and has improved a lot over the past few months. She loves our new church and got involved in the youth group the first week we attended. She won’t miss it and I love that about her. After her b-day, the makeup question came up; I think she is feeling the pressure from some of the other girls in Jr. High. I can’t believe how many 6th graders wear makeup! After taking the weekend to pray about it, she decided she wanted to wait another year. YES!! I’m soooo not a fan of young girls wearing makeup (except for playtime when they are 3). I don’t care if it’s a little blush, mascara and/or eye shadow or the whole face full of it, I think it’s inappropriate and I will do my best to hold my own on her waiting until 8th grade or high school. I’ll make an exception for special occasions…maybe. These girls already have to grow up so fast; there is no need for them to look older too! I’m not trying to judge here, just speaking my opinion! Jayden…. Oh where do I start with this kid? In February he got into a little trouble at school. We later realized that he was stressed out and acting out because he didn’t know how else to release the pain he was feeling in his heart. He was so sad about our dear friend John passing away, his great uncle Virgil passing away (Jayden was the only great nephew) and then stressed out about me loosing my job. That translated to him as us being poor, loosing our home and NEVER being able to go out to eat, do fun things, etc. He’s seen this with some friends of his from school and thought it would be the same for us. After a long weekend of talking and praying about it, he quickly went back to being that good boy that he is and I soon received a new praise report from his teacher! Whew! I do have to say that he was pretty clever with one of the things he did in school to a kid that was being mean to him. I hate to admit that I was a little proud of him for finally standing up for himself (of course I didn’t admit that to him). Let’s just say that the other kid, who punched Jayden in the eye the week before, ended up in the coat closet after he tried to trip Jayden on their way out of the classroom going to lunch. Jayden said the closet door was open so he just pushed him in there and shut the door! He almost lost his student council role because of this. He did learn his lesson and that is what matters. Besides that week worth of craziness, he continues to do great in school, all A’s. He’s been getting a lot of headaches again so I had his eyes checked and they have not changed. He still wears his glasses for reading and homework. And then there is Taryn! Since I’ve been home, I started keeping her home with me 2 days a week. She is in pre-school now and with the other tragedies earlier in the year, I didn’t want to shake up her world too much. Along with the family deaths and sadness in our home around that, she had to say good-bye to a teacher she loved (she quit to get married – how dare her!!), and had to welcome a new teacher. Well, this new teacher was something else. I guess she was used to teaching Jr. High kids and came in thinking she was running a military camp. Within days the director of the daycare was in the room monitoring and seeing what all the complaints were about. I hate complaining about teachers but this woman was something else. She had a whistle and would blow it at them when she wanted their attention! Taryn did not like her and would cry when it was time for her to go to daycare. This was not like her at all; she’s always loved her teachers and would connect with them right away. I knew I had to do something so I made my official complaint. Well, within a couple of days she was no longer employed there and Taryn’s teacher from a previous room was going to be the lead teacher. YAY! Miss Brittany saved the day! Taryn is happy again and when she is happy, everyone in our home is happy! She’ll start pre-k in the fall but I’m not sure what all they have left to teach her. She already knows so much! She and I are enjoying our days together, whether it be snuggling in bed until 10 watching cartoons or running the town shopping and having lunch, we are having a great time. All the kids have new friends! This sweet family moved into a house down the street from us and we couldn’t be happier with them! Get this…they have a 4-year-old daughter who is now Taryn’s BFF, 9 and 10-year-old boys who play great with Jayden, and an 11.5-year-old daughter that Kiarra first met at school and talked to on the bus. They all get along so good!! They also have a 16-year-old daughter who is so sweet and such a great role model for all the kids in the neighborhood. I’m so thankful to God for them moving here! I’m pretty stoked about our new friends and I’m looking forward to building many memories with them. I am totally going to contradict myself here but go with me. I love love love watching the kids grow up and am so grateful that God has allowed us to parent these awesome kids. The older girls are becoming beautiful young women and are very responsible. They are about to go through a babysitting class together and that will qualify them to baby-sit their siblings and other kids. They’ll learn CPR, what to do in an emergency, etc. Jayden is such a gentleman and he loves to read his bible! He is such a great kid! Taryn is just so dang cute and sweet. She, along with all kids, is such a sponge. Nothing gets past her. On the flip side of all this, I love them at the age they are at and want time to slow down! The girls no longer play with any toys and are content listening to music, drawing and watching movies. Jayden still loves his Lego’s and working in the yard. Taryn is happy doing a puzzle (or 5 at one time) and playing with play dough, babies, ponies or everything at once! They are all amazing. I love to look at their beautiful faces and praise God for waking us up each day to have another day on earth with them. So, I love them growing up and becoming responsible but I also love them being kids! Well, I’ve rambled enough for this fine Monday! I hope to get back on track with blogging every 2 weeks or at least once a month.