Trials and smiles

(Coming up with post titles is really difficult, but Kelsi needs them.)

This week, my car battery died not once, but TWICE. The second time was the day after I had taken it to the shop to get it looked at. Yes, I realize a car battery switch isn't a big deal, but considering this was a new battery anyway, we thought there was something wrong with the car. Sure enough some connectors were loose and weren't properly charging the battery. They said they fixed it the first time, but it died again in the Harris Teeter parking lot at 10pm in the rain...so I got it for real fixed yesterday.

Joel lost his wedding ring. This stinks especially because I don't think it was insured. We've learned our lesson.

His knee is healing well but it's still really hard for him to get around. It's been difficult to get everything done around the house but it's been manageable, I think.

Some good things:
We didn't have to pay a lot for the car to be fixed. They even gave us a new free battery.

My brother and his friend came over for dinner last night to celebrate my brother's birthday. We made DELICIOUS panko-crusted cod, roasted veggies, and brown rice. I made a cake with homemade buttercream icing and fondant! It was really fun.
We also went to Bahama Breeze for lunch today. We're crashing now-this weekend has been NON-STOP for us and now I'm lying on our bed, being lazy for a while.

I can't wait to visit L-Cat and the Nugget next weekend!

I get to teach some fun things this week with Google Earth. (A trial, however, is that a couple of students make it INCREDIBLY difficult to get through whole-group instruction. It makes me extremely nervous for how the lesson will go, and sometimes I don't even get through them. It makes me sad for the other kids who are really into the lessons.)

Enjoy the beautiful weather today!

It's been a while!

So much has happened this weekend... my goodness.

I wish I had time to post everything but I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say it was hectic and exhausting. Sunday, I went out to lunch for my mom's birthday. The third grade teachers came over to film a video for a fundraiser at school. I went straight from there to Broughton High School to watch some Joyner kids play basketball. I left early to finish working on a present for Laura before her going away party that night. I finally finished at 6:20, so I jumped in my car and...it didn't start.

I was so upset because of how busy the whole weekend had been, how much I had to finish, and also how emotional I was about Laura moving. Joel said he'd been waiting for my "breakdown"! Well, I broke down into tears as I tried frantically to call friends to pick me up. Joel got on the phone with AAA (thank the Lord my parents got us that when we got married!) but my phone wasn't getting any reception. Finally, Joel got ahold of some friends that graciously turned around to pick me up. I wish I could have spent more quality time with Laura before she moved, but I'm glad I was able to get to the party.

This week, my classroom has still been...unpleasant. Rather than getting better, it's gotten worse. I've called a parent of one of the "ringleaders" and I hope this will help. I am sad that it's almost 4th quarter. I wish my classroom was different. But I've had encouragement from other teachers who've let me know that it's totally normal to have difficult classes and to be more hopeful for next year's class. I hate to admit that but it's the truth.

Today I went to a conference on the Middle East. It was really interesting, and I feel like I've learned so much in just one day. I'll be out tomorrow, too. I wonder what Friday will be like when I come back! Ah!

Missing my hubs (this is mushy...beware)

So one really not fun thing about Joel's surgery is that he has to sleep in the guest room. He can't roll over on to his knee, and he has to sleep flat on his back. We have a big bed, so we decided he'd have to sleep in the smaller bed that is up against the wall so he wasn't tempted to move. I've set him up with some pillows to keep his leg elevated and immobile, and put his meds, phone, water, and remote control all within reach.

I have friends who think this is really odd that we do this, but whenever one of us is sick, we move to the other room for a day or so. It's basically so we don't get each other sick and then get a "ping-pong" cold (as my dad calls it) and so we can each get a really good night's sleep. When I'm sick, I am always extremely worried about waking Joel up with my coughing or sneezing, so that is what keeps me up. I think we both survive colds well so far because of this strategy.

Trust me, we don't do this when we're angry :)

So it's not unusual for us to sleep in separate rooms, but we both hate it. Last night, I guess I was feeling emotional about this weekend. It's been extremely busy and we haven't spent a lot of time together. That and going to bed alone...well, I was being a very mushy girl about the whole thing. I pulled open my drawer and took out the many letters Joel wrote to me when we were broken up.

We both agree that we really needed that time...that the Lord grew us so much in that year. But it was definitely hard. Joel wrote me a letter everyday for about a month.

Rereading those words and remember all those raw emotions at that time... I needed a hug.

So I went into the guest room and surprised my hubbie with a big kiss and a hug. I interrupted a basketball game but I don't think he minded :)

Today I am taking off the dressing from the surgery. It might be pretty gross. I'm not excited.

But I AM excited about having my hubs here to snuggle with again!

Saturday surfing

The many wonders of the Stumble! feature on Mozilla...


I laughed about these links:

Abe Lincoln's facebook page

How to write a college paper

Vending machine pizza

Funny Bunny



Good news:
-Joel feels great!
-I slept in this morning.
-1-800-Got -Junk came by and hauled away all the crap that's been on our back porch forever.
-It's sunny and pretty. I'm going grocery shopping at Whole Foods and the Farmer's Market.
-I'm going to see a play by ArtsTogether that a sweet little girl in my class is in. She's been a nervous wreck for 2 days because of it. But I'm so proud that she did this!
-I'm wearing my favorite outfit.


The end!

Update!

Joel's surgery went really well! It only took about an hour and we were out of there by 9:45.

The doctor said he was lucky because the rest of his cartilage looked really good. They basically took cartilage from one part of his knee and "filled in" the gap where he was missing some. He isn't in pain, but he's also on lots of meds. He is passed out in the guest room.

I am about to sleep too. We woke up at 5:15 so I'm exhausted!

Surgery Day

Today is Joel's knee surgery day. We arrived at the center around 6:15am (so early...) and Joel was just admitted. He had some pre-op (including donning a hilarious hospital gown) and they just kicked me out back to the lobby to wait. The surgery should be around an hour and half, and the post-op waiting should be around that same amount of time. I've brought plenty of papers to grade, but there's WiFi here, so who knows how much work I'll get done! He is not at all nervous, but I almost burst into tears when the doctor described the procedure! I'm not sure why, because I know it's a really routine surgery. I guess I hate the thought of him being cut open and then not being able to walk for a while. But hopefully he'll be back to normal in 3-6 months! We are really excited to go running again this summer. 

When I got my wisdom teeth out, the "sleeping gas" made me burst into tears when I woke up. I was super emotional for a while after. I'm really curious to see how he'll react to all the meds. We've made many jokes about it-I'll update on his reaction in about 3 hours!

Please pray for a smooth and speedy recovery! The doctor said the procedure should be really simple, but there's an itty bitty chance he would have to come back for a 2nd surgery. I just pray that it can be fixed today. I also pray that the finances work out and that he can rest and be ok while I go back to work tomorrow. He's really excited about an excuse to lay on the couch and watch the NCAA tournament all weekend! We might even borrow a friend's minifridge to stick beside the couch so he doesn't have to get up at all. 

One thing I do not understand about my husband: His only concern for the doctor was how soon he'd be able to go work out. When the doctor said he could be doing upper body exercise by next week, he was ecstatic. I told the doctor that if someone told me I couldn't work out for 6 weeks, it'd be just fine with me ;) 

Thanks for your prayers!

Sunday sweets

I love this idea! I'm posting a sweet thing my husband did for me. This week, Joel dropped me off at Laura's for a sleepover and picked me up in the morning. He took me to brunch at Whole Foods and we got to splurge a little on groceries. When we got home, he had already started laundry. He let me nap for a long time and helped me cook and clean for some friends that were coming over. PLUS, he drove me to Michael's (one of his very least favorite stores) and picked out a beautiful frame for our favorite wedding picture.

I love my husband :)