Tuesday in Punta Cana

Today started with breakfast buffet in the open air ocean view restaurant again. Cafe o lait, omelet and bacon and delicious pineapple that we now have with every meal. Then a quick change and sun and ocean. We sunned and read and played in the waves some. We put on dry suits and ate lunch in the same place as yesterday--actually had a similar meal--cheeseburger and today, tortilla chips and cheese sauce. We rested then showered then took a short golf cart ride to a shopping center. It was very nice, very upscale, too expensive, but we did find a Life is Good store where we bought t shirts and stickers. Mom bought a Punta Cana tote bag in one store and I got a braided bracelet. I got some super cheap earrings and we got a neat dominican republic scrapbook. We caught a ride back to the hotel and I changed and took a long walk along the beach while mom rested. Then we got fancied up and sat by fountains. There are many places to just sit and chill with fountains and art nearby. We got bored so we went into the game room and played a set of wii bowling. Mom won :). We then caught another ride to the hotel nearby and ate at an italian restaurant called aqua. The food was waaaay too fancy for me. I had the smoked salmon for an appetizer and it seemed raw so he brought me scallops. Yipes. I think he laughed at me while I was tasting them. Then they brought a New York steak. I don't think so. But the restaurant was beautiful. I even took a picture of the restroom it was so gorgeous. There was amazing statues and fountains everywhere. Hannah would be really interested in the art. We are now in our pjs sitting on our balcony. See you tomorrow.

Monday in Punta Cana

Breakfast at 9:30 in an open air cafeteria, bacon and eggs, cafe o lait, light ocean breeze blowing through, fresh squeezed orange juice.... Chatting, internet (made my scrabble moves). Then ocean and sun. Lovely. Mom was restless, in the sun she wanted shade, in the ocean she wanted pool, sitting she wanted to go, walking, she got tired. We decided she was tired still from the trip. Lunch in the market grill--a very american cheeseburger and fries--yum. Then mom went back to the room to rest and I sat by the pool. Read The Descendants--very, very good book. I started to feel the sun, so moved to a shady hut nearer the ocean. Went back to the room and took a nap while the maid tip toed around me. Then we came back out, got afternoon cocktails and played in the waves and laughed and laughed, letting the waves knock us down repeatedly. Fun. Then we showered and changed. I put on a sun shirt and white jeans. We tried to go to Gabi club for dinner but they had a private party. We were disoriented. We went to the asian restaurant and they gave us a hard time about not having reservations. We couldn't find an appetizer that we liked so we just had our entree--sweet and sour pork. We didn't linger, were tired so went to the room early again. We read late but I couldn't sleep for some reason so read til late. I was, believe it or not, a little homesick, well, missing Scott and wishing he were here....

Good Morning from Punta Cana

Our day yesterday was long and tiring, about what could be expected, but no delays or hitches:). We arrived in the late afternoon. Our room is fantastic--huge--actually several rooms. We have a full kitchen and dining table, a living room, a bedroom, a bathroom and a separate jucuzzi tub. The shower and toilet are in little rooms, too. It is all marble floors, very plush. The pull out couch was torn so they brought me an entire twin bed and there is room for that, too! We slept 10 or 11 hours. We aren't exactly sure what time it is. I guess we had one hitch--they locked my suitcase which used to belong to my dad and jean and I didn't have the code! I quickly figured out how to gt on the internet and sent a help email and then I prayed and tried their birthdays and voila! It was Jean's birthday that opened it. So we unpacked and walked around and were overwhelmed with the sheer size of this place and the beauty. We walked to the pool and the beach. Beautiful! And then tried to figure out the restaurants. We found one and got our food--must have been latino food, I didn't love it.... and then went a sat by the beach in lounge chairs as it got dark. Then we came up and got the bed made up (room service) then crashed. It was probably 8:00. :). Right now I'm sitting on our balcony while mom gets ready. I got up before her and went to check on my snoring little mama who was sound asleep! She's up now! We are ready for our day in the sun!

Life Stage

I always hesitate to put too personal of stuff on here but it also helps me to process stuff. I don't have anyone to regularly do that with. I've learned that Scott is a person who needs to process things aloud so traditionally, when we spend time together it is I listening. I suppose he might feel differently. It is never enough, I know.

Lately we have truly struggled due to the life stage we are in. Our marraige has had many of these such struggles and they always bring you closer in the end, with the Lord's help, but they are hard to go through. I suppose marraige is a series of difficult life phases that you go through and work through together.

Anyway, we are two selfish people with huge needs and right now, our needs are in exact contrast to each other. Scott is lonely since he retired. He sits here alone all day with the dogs driving him crazy and no one to talk to. And he's in an online grad program. If you are a social person who needs to process things aloud, do not enroll online. He has tons to process and no one to process it with. I, on the other hand, have been with people all day long and have processed the holy hell out of every issue in meetings and emails and conversation all day long. It is a particularly difficult time of year and I feel like I'm fighting to put one foot in front of the other every day. I live for the quiet weekends. In the evenings, I nap and rest and do avoidance things like facebook and pinterest and tv. I work out every day which takes a huge chunk of time. I am terrible, terrible, at putting my needs aside to listen to Scott. And on top of that, he wants me to give him his full attention, at the time he needs it (even if I'm trying to cook or get out the door for my class or go take a long waited for nap or go to bed), and he wants specific feedback at the right time and in the right way. He deserves better attention than he's getting and it comes across as totally disrespectful when I keep one eye on my computer or say, "hum" or something. Even if we totally try, it is impossible to have both of our needs met. So with God's help we will get through this. Scott's soccer season starts next week so that will help. I guess. Your prayers are appreciated.

I want to add here for anyone who worries (and I know kids naturally do and moms naturally do and those are my main followers, ok, my only followers and readers): Scott is my best friend and we are truly enjoying this time without kids in the house and we are having fun together and are reconnecting. Its just this difficult life stage on top of it. So don't worry. But do pray us through it.

Renovation Update

Frustration. Patience. Amazing amounts of dust. Excitement but wait, wait, wait, wait. My mantra, "Its going to be so great!" But Scott and I admit to each other frequently, "I don't know how much more of this I can take." We can't do a thing about the dust because there is so much dust to come that it is pointless to change the furnace filter or try to dust. So many broken promises. Like this week, "By next week we'll spray the ceilings and sand the walls and you'll be ready to paint" then a text that Rex had to go to a fire and that puts us back a day which is three days for Rex due to his job. Then I found out that it was a friend of mine's new house that burned, two weeks before their move in date. Unbelievably difficult after all the work that had to go into it. My heart just hurts for them. It really puts all this into perspective. Its an exercise in gratitude. It really is going to be so great! The dogs are starting to get that they aren't supposed to go into the new room to pee. The sheet rock and openings to the new room look so awesome! This place is going to be a castle! I am so excited and have tons of ideas for decorating (but no money and it is overwhelming). As I type, my computer keyboard is filled with dust. Scott is sitting here dusting off his screen repeatedly but the dust just settles back down. And we cough and cough. The dogs smell like dust bowls. The new bathroom and closet are dust filled. The new entertainment system is covered with plastic which is a joke because it, too is dust covered. All the things on every shelf will need to be dusted in great details. Enough. Enough. But its going to be so great, right??????

Amazing Week

God is good. This was a very hard week but God was there and all the outcomes were good. We had tons of stressful things and some super fun things yesterday at work. We had to move one young lady to the Therapeutic Learning Classroom because of her anxiety and acting out because we just don't have any ideas left and she just resorts to refusals and tantrums. It is so hard. Another young man created a lot of stressful meetings, conversations and emails over the last few weeks also. Staff conflict and issues are the hardest part of my job. On Thursday it was my big idea to mediate three kids in the TLC room who are gang members and are all mad at each other which has been going on all year and causing lots of office referrals and suspensions. God laid it on me to attempt the mediation and so I had to lay down serious ground rules and had b www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYfv6BO5Whc ack up in case it flopped but it miraculously went really well and the kids have been much calmer since. These are kids who have heavy court involvement, etc...really a God thing that it went well. I hope it makes a huge difference but that is up to the kids.

On top of all this, I was fighting off a cold all week so though I didn't have supervision except on Wednesday, I also didn't go work out after Monday. This was huge for me. I got as much rest as I could and piled on the emergenC and fought the cold off for the most part. Nancy was gone Thursday and Friday so I picked up some extra stress including pregnancy rumors and drama. Middle School. Ugh.

Then yesterday we had the performance of the thriller dance for the kids to pump them up for State Assessments. I think it is one of the funnest things we've ever done at EMS. It was a lot of hard work, extra practices before and after school, even practicing at home. It turned out well (pics and video on my facebook page but I will put the link on here also. My mind went blank so I was copying the gal in front of me for much of it but it turned out well. The kids loved it--screamed and gave a standing ovation, lots of applause. Putting on the makeup and walking around school afterward as a zombie was pretty fun too.

Last night I picked up Adelle and we got some food then came to the house to eat then walked up to the high school to watch the girls basketball game. Adelle has three close friends on the team so we'd made them some posters. She held up the posters whenever they'd get the ball and kept switching them out rapidly. She has sooooo many friends that came to talk to her because she is such a happy, friendly girl. She loves writing on people's facebook walls. The game was tons of fun and we laughed and sang to loud music in the car, also, which is always fun. It is so cool to be a blessing to someone else but the blessings that come back my way are huge too.

So that leaves an entire free weekend to nurse my cold and get done all the things I dream about doing during the week that I can't do. But I will need to rest up for yet another stressful week at work ahead. Spring Break--I'm ready for you!

Saturdays and a Crazy Week

Wow, this was a crazy week. Lots of stress at work and worked Parent/Teacher Conferences until 7 on Monday and Wednesday nights. Usually I get tons done during conferences but I have been so crazy busy at work that it didn't work out that way. I am also doing clinical supervision outside of work hours so I did that on Tuesday night and Thursday after work. Then Friday morning I took the KAY kids to a conference at Anthony Middle School. So I worked over 50 hours this week. Yesterday afternoon I took two naps and ran some errands then Scott and I and Jon drove to Olathe to eat with the fam for Jeannie's 75th birthday. I always pig out at Aberdeen--I think the food is fabulous. We surprised Jean and got to spend time with them and the entire Griffith clan, always a huge treat PLUS I got to meet Landon for the first time! He is amazingly cute and good and quiet! Liam is adorable, too, at 9 months and crawling! He is going to walk early. And an extra surprise--my Mom was there! I love to see her and am so looking forward to our trip in March.

So we got home and I crashed right away. I woke up at 9:15 and probably could have slept longer but my body was aching and the doggies were getting restless. The house is perfectly quiet and sun is streaming through the windows. It is finally much warmer in here since they put the insulation in all the walls. Yesterday they put the sheetrock in most of the new room. Monday they will put up the remaining sheetrock including the diningroom and kitchen. This is a very dusty, messy process so I am not doing any cleaning for a few weeks at all! Next week they will need to mud and sand (repeated about 3 times) and dust will be everywhere! We have TONS of painting to do after that--a bunch of trim, the new room, the kitchen and diningroom. And then Rex will put in the front door insert and we will have to move out for a few days while he insulates and sheetrocks thebedroom and has a crew completely sand and refinish all the floors and steps. That will complete the renovation for now as we will need to wait to have the deck put on, the outside parts repaired, and the front steps repaired--until Spring. Rex estimates that this part of the renovation will be done within a month! I will believe this when I see it. Oh, he'll also have to repair the large hole in the livingroom caused by a big clumsy foot in the attic. I am not sure, but I think that involves putting new "stuff" on the entire livingroom/foyer ceiling. Then when this thing is done and we move back in, literally every single surface and every single item will need to be thoroughly dusted and cleaned. A huge job.

More updates--Scott is doing fine in the class that he was so stressed about, of course, but with his high school soccer season looming, he has decided to stretch his program out until next December. Much more realistic. Besides, the drama of a new season has already begun. You'd have to be a coach or be married to one to know. There is no such thing as coaching without drama.

By the way, Scott is super fun. We laughed and sang all the way home from Olathe in the car last night. I would love to know what Jon was thinking. He wasn't feeling well and dozed for much of the ride but Scott was playing random songs, mostly old, some country, some strange. I enjoyed this very much. I hadn't spent a whole lot of time with him this week!

I miss my babies and hope I get to speak to each one this weekend! I have more errands to run and things to do for Homestead. We are also learning a dance routine at work to Thriller (I will leave out details just in case as it is top secret) so I need to work on that.

And oh, this is funny, but I'm going to try it. A friend of mine is spending money on this wrap thing that is supposed to make your body shed toxins in certain places and make you lose inches. I refuse to spend money on that so I am going to wrap my tummy and thighs with saran wrap and work out then sit in the sauna. I'll measure before and after and let you know!

Have a great day! Text or facebook us ideas for paint colors for the new room! We are thinking maybe a lighter shade of what we put in the hallway.... what do you think?