Listen to your babies

There has been a lot of drama going n lately. There's been some stuff with Women's League and at the time I was like this is crazy! Then I found out about the possibility of my job moving to another town and I was all bummed out about it. Then last night I read this...

There seems to be a lot of confusion about what's going on so I'm just going to tell y'all. We are in desperate need once again MORE THAN EVER for your prayers. It seems like we are always going through a struggle with our children but we always come through stronger than ever. I pray for Landon's healing and strength! I pray for the strength that we need to stay strong for him. Yesterday he was a normal little boy playing baseball in the yard, last night around 10:30 he started complaining that his tummy hurt (like usual), we gave him his daily medicine and he went to the bathroom then went to bed saying his tummy felt better (again this is a normal thing for us). He woke up about an hour later throwing up and screaming in pain trying to use the bathroom again, this was a little unusual. We tried giving him a little extra medicine to help him thinking there was still more for him to get rid of. He gripped the toilet with his hands and feet screaming, crying, and pouring sweat. Jeremey Tillman and I decided it was time to take him to the emergency room bc we couldn't get relief for him and the vomiting was a little concerning. We get to the ER thinking he just has a blockage (we have had this problem before, they give him meds to clean him out and the problem is solved) over about 8 hours he completely lost his color, was extremely lethargic, lips were blue, dehydrated, and couldn't even fight the nurses while they stuck him 14 times trying to get blood. They took him for a barium enema (test to try to see where the obstruction was where they inject dye and see where it's getting stuck, during the test the doctor came to the waiting room and told me that the second set of blood work they had done came back and it was significantly worse in just those few hours meaning he needed surgery and would be taken for surgery this afternoon. Just a few minutes later the manager comes to get me out of the waiting room to take me into private so the people doing the study could come talk to me. They informed me that Landon's heart had stopped. They had intubate him and we're doing chest compressions to try to revive him. It took them 18 minutes to get him back. They wheeled him by us in the hallway and couldn't stop bc they had to take him straight into surgery. They had to remove a huge part of his colon bc it had died. Due to this his kidneys and liver took a hit too and they are having to watch them. He has a colostomy bag to allow his intestines to heal, they are having to watch his lungs and heart due to the cardiac arrest and compressions, and they are having to watch for brain damage due to lack of oxygen. Please, PLEASE listen to ur babies no matter how old when they tell u something is wrong with them and figure out what it is. One day we are normal and having tummy aches due to what we thought was the normal constipation, the next my baby is in icy fighting for his life! Please listen to your kids and pay attention to signs! And PLEASE KEEP OUR LITTLE MAN AND OUR FAMILY IN YOUR PRAYERS!!

Now all the things that are going on or going wrong in my life seem so very miniscule. I cannot imagine what this family is going through. And I just heard that there isn't any brain activity showing for Landon.

My heart is breaking...

Fire Prevention 2014

It's Fire Prevention Day!

This is a BIG deal in our town. Our local volunteer Fire Department conducts an annual Town Inspection and hosts a Fire Prevention Parade.

 This year's Firemen’s Banquet, which recognizes the court, will be held last night. The parade is today at 3:30.  Floats are judged on theme, originality, and appearance. The top 3 winners are awarded cash prizes. The band judged to be the best is also awarded a cash prize. A poster contest is held at the elementary school also. 

Here's our Fire Court:

All of these girls are seniors from JHS. It's the best looking court yet!!

We get out of school early today (at 1 o'clock) so that everyone who is participating in the parade can come. 

The JWL (Jackson's Women's League) is having a float. Janie, Si and I are supposed to ride it. I have to go buy some candy for Janie to throw.

This is going to be FUN!!!

Here's my picture collage of past Fire Parades:

I hope I get some good pictures today! :)

Test day!

I love test days :) it gives me the chance to see how much of an impact my teaching is really doing with my students. And since I  have started teaching IT, it has been awesome!!

I am finally doing what I have always wanted to do. I am teaching Information Technology and these kids are actually getting it! It is amazing how well some of them are doing.

Right now we are working on the Microsoft Technical Associate Networking Fundamentals modules. It is test 98-366 and it is much harder than anything I had to do in high school.  When I was in college, I became a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (it took me over $1000 to get that certification, btw) and no one has ever paid much attention to it.

Until now.

To be certified to teach Information Technology, one must have a technical certification. There is a list of the certifications that the teacher can hold to teach certain courses. This list has changed over time (because they have realized how important some of these certifications are). There is also a list of the certifications that we are supposed to offer to our students. That is why my Information Technology Fundamentals classes are studying for the MTA 98-366 exam. I hope that some of them will be able to pass the exam in a few weeks. I am pretty sure a couple of them will.

There is another teacher in this county teaching this class also. But, bless her heart, she is not an IT person.  I have given her all the help I can think to give her -- including all of the presentations, study guides, lecture notes and videos that I have for my students. 

This has been my favorite year teaching so far :) 

Next week is Fire Prevention Week, and midterm exams. I have a JWL meeting on Tuesday night. We get out early on Wednesday (for the parade) and Thursday (for in-service). On Friday, I am working the football game and Janie is going to spend the night with Isabel for her birthday slumber party.

It's going to be a busy week!

And just for fun, here's a picture of Si's big hair-do from yesterday :) hilarious!!!!