The Kohlmans

I know I just posted three times yesterday, but I'm so excited to share what I made this morning! (Maybe my sort-of resolution to post more often is already coming true!) I started playing with Photoshop Elements yesterday evening when we got the new computer all set up. This is one of the things that I've put together so far - the only one that's actually finished. We chose a Bible verse and a quote for Baby K, and I'm working on those as well to print and frame for the nursery. They're a little more complicated than this alphabet one. I made the ABC's actually for Baby's name (you know, like M is for Megan), but I'm not going to share that one until he's here. :) Sorry. I totally stole the name idea from Pinterest . I really like this version, too, and am brainstorming what others I could make.

I had my 26 week appointment today. After she measured fundal height, my doctor told me, "He's measuring perfectly. You hide that baby well." She sure does know how to boost a pregnant lady's self-esteem (which is good after said pregnant lady has to step onto the scale). I was supposed to have my one-hour glucose test today. I arrived early to drink the special "juice" and wait my hour for the blood draw. Much to my chagrin, the lab was out of "juice." Seriously?! I didn't know labs ran out of such things. I even avoided the chocolate cake in the lounge today! So I'm going to a different lab first thing tomorrow morning. My doctor did say I have a two-week window... but I really want some cake. ;) Other than that, there's not much to update. Things are pretty boring at my appointments, which obviously is a good thing in the medical world. My nurse said something about how easy I am, I replied that "I try to be," and she...

“Have great hopes and dare to go all out for them. Have great dreams and dare to live them. Have tremendous expectations and believe in them.”  – Norman Vincent Peale I've been focusing on this quotation lately (and one other that I may share another day). Maybe that's a weird thing to say. Sometimes I feel so frustrated with how things are going, particularly in relation to my job. Next year will be my fourth job description in five years of teaching - all in the same district, only the first of which I had a choice in. Granted, none of these jobs have been huge changes, but they are changes nonetheless. Sometimes I feel like it's my fault; if I were a better teacher... or if I had just ...fill in the blank... I would still be doing what I was doing my first two years. But that's silly. It's all about budgets and numbers and student:teacher ratios and the legislature not doing their job (but don't get me started on that mess).  Still... There...

In celebration of this Hallmark Holiday, I want to share what is quite possible my favorite literary proposal ever... "'In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.' Elizabeth’s astonishment was beyond expression. She stared, coloured, doubted, and was silent. This he considered sufficient encouragement, and the avo wal of all that he felt and had long felt for her, immediately followed. He spoke well, but there were feelings besides those of the heart to be detailed, and he was not more eloquent on the subject of tenderness than of pride. His sense of her inferiority—of its being a degradation—of the family obstacles which judgment had always opposed to inclination, were dwelt on with a warmth which seemed due to the consequence he was wounding, but was very unlikely to recommend his suit." -Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen Oh, Mr. Darcy. You do know h...

I memorized this, the last stanza of "Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant, my junior year of high school. The words still come back to me at times, and it seems particularly appropriate at this time of year, when resolutions and growth and change are on the minds of most all of us.  So live, that when thy summons comes to join The innumerable caravan which moves To that mysterious realm, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death, Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, Scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams.

Last Sunday my parents, Aunt Liz, Uncle Chuck, and my Grandpa Melvin were here. At one point, Grandpa got up to take some medicine. He dug a couple of loose pills out of his pocket. He went to the kitchen to take one, and Liz suggested that he just take both of them then. "Nah..." he replied. "Why not?" "They might fight!"

"Children who are not spoken to by live and responsive adults will not learn to speak properly.  Children who are not answered will stop asking questions.  They will become incurious.  And children who are not told stories and who are not read to will have few reasons for wanting to learn to read." -Gail E. Haley

Today was rough. Inservice is like that sometimes - life is like that sometimes. But today, I am thankful. So thankful that I have someone I can go to to vent, to unload my frustrations to, to look to for advice and encouragement and a shot of confidence. I can honestly say that, as a high school freshman, I would never have guessed that I'd be sending Mrs. H. facebook messages 11 years later. But here I am. And I am so grateful that I can send these messages and count on a reply that happens to be just what I need. (I've tried really hard to call her "Susan," but that just doesn't feel right. She'll always be my teacher.) So thank you, Mrs. H., for being that person who understands me, or at least pretends to,on the days I just want to quit and on the days I feel like I just don't matter and the days I just feel like a crappy teacher.   I need to record here (and share with you) what she wrote, if only to save the words for when I next need them; pay sp...

“Your beliefs will be the light by which you see, but they will not be what you see and they will not be a substitute for seeing.”  -Flannery O'Connor

Sometimes, I feel frustrated. Sometimes, I feel lost. Sometimes, I feel lonely. Sometimes, I feel insignificant. Sometimes, I feel like I don't know how to feel. And then, I always feel grateful that I got to marry my best friend, because, without him, I might feel these things usually, or always, instead of just sometimes.  "God gave me you for the ups and downs. God gave me you for the days of doubt. And when I think I lost my way there are no words here left to say, it's true. God gave me you." Is this unnecessarily mushy or a downer? Maybe. But I don't care. It's true, and if this blog isn't to record what's been going on in all aspects of life, then I don't know what it's for...

"We Carry On" Tim McGraw He hasn't seen a drop of rain for months it seems Rollin' river is nothing but a trickling stream The crops are dying in the harsh sunlight The dust on his tongue is dry The fatted calf is down to skin and bones We carry on ... And we carry on When our lives come undone We carry on Cause there's promise in the morning sun We carry on As the dark surrenders to the dawn We were born to overcome We carry on

I'm starting a new "series." It will be irregular and will depend solely on my Grandpa Melvin. I'm calling it Melvinisms, because he says hilarious things. You can read his comments about our dog here . Seriously... last night I laughed until I cried at this one: My mom was talking about their church's 200th anniversary celebration (of being a church, from the old country to the new, not of being a church in America). My grandpa lamented that he had missed one part because he was still in the cemetery. My mom asked, "Were there still a lot of people out there?" My grandpa thought about it... Dad interjected with, "Well, I'd hope so. I hope they're not climbing up out of the graves." Grandpa just had to add, "Eh... I pushed 'em back in."

"Bidden or not bidden, God is present." -Desiderius Erasmus If you've been lurking around my blog for any amount of time, you may have noticed that there's definitely something I don't post much - maybe not really at all - about: faith. (And I do say lurking on purpose, because ya'll don't comment... and I have fixed my commenting settings so everybody should be able to comment without logging into anything. I'll keep it that way unless somebody says something mean.) Anyway, back to the point. Faith. Mine, specifically, since this is my blog after all. Yikes. Isn't that one of the things you're not supposed to talk about with friends? Politics, religion... I always thought there was a third but I can't seem to think of it right now. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good discussion about my faith and all that entails. I just don't post about it, well, because I feel like so many people who do blog about their faith have thi...

"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." -President Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1937

Just wanted to share my favorite summer song... I like the official video better than this live version ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZjosn2u1gA ), but Blake Shelton won't let me embed it, so you'll have to click on the link to see the music video. p.s. we named the car Loretta. So I told Brad we have to call his truck Conway Twitty... although I have to admit that my knowledge of them is limited to this Blake Shelton song, a few songs on youtube, and a few wikipedia articles.

i thank You God for most this amazing  day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees and a blue true dream of sky:and for everything which is natural which is infinite which is yes -e.e. cummings

"If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job." ~Donald D. Quinn It's finally, officially that wonderful time of year that we call summer. I'm breathing a sigh of relief that this school year is over - it was difficult... that's been no secret to anyone around me - and crossing my fingers that soon I'll be posting on a more regular basis.

I am still processing events of late. There is much going on in our world. It is a time of great celebration for many yet a time of great mourning for others; I don't think either of those responses can be ignored or dismissed. As someone who was raised in a strong pacifist belief system and is unsure that violence is ever the correct or best answer, I have mixed emotions about it all. Maybe later (after my semester paper is complete - so close!) I will do more writing. For now, I believe Martin Luther King, Jr. said it very well, and his words will suffice... ‎ I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. "Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -Martin Luther King, Jr   Edit: after a little online searching, the actual quotation ...

Although I'm currently in a phase of life where all clutter is frustrating to me and even books are eliminated (I finally came to the conclusion that the only reasons - for me - to keep a book are: a. I've loved it so much I want to read it over and over again, b. to save to share with someone else, or c. to show off that you read that book), I do dearly love this quotation that I ran across today. "I would be most content if my children grew up to be the kind of people who think decorating consists mostly of building enough bookshelves." -Anna Quindlen

A conversation between my grandpa and Brad today, about our new dog. "Well, did you build her a house?" "I put it together." "Put it together?" "Yeah. I got a kit at the pet store." "Oh. What about the dog? Did you put her together from a kit, too?" Melvin's a pretty funny guy.