It's Been Awhile...

Yes, I am alive. I apologize to the few people who religiously check my blog... ok, well sorry mom, for not posting in awhile.

Over the last month I have become slightly overwhelmed with the everyday stresses of teaching and taking graduate courses combined with a few outside incidences.

The last post I wrote in my blog was titled "Worst Week Ever." I wrote that post on February 21st, upset and overwhelmed with the fact that my car had just been broken into and "everything that could go wrong was going wrong." Little did I know that the next day, my grandmother, would pass away, further adding to what was already a terrible end of February. With all of this happening, I decided that my blog would no longer be a priority until I was able to get my life back on track, and although it is still stressful, I feel that it finally is.

My grandmother, Shirley Pederson, passed away on February 22nd, 2010 at the age of 81 years, 3 months, and 4 days. For those of you I have been close to over the years, yes, this is the grandmother that was "supposed" to have died already in the Spring of 2007 when she suffered a stroke and ended up with a blood clot on her spinal chord. The doctors did not give her long to live. My family told me to take my time driving back from Minneapolis to Starbuck because they were sure I would not make it back in time to see her still alive. Just between you and I, I speed, I drove through tears, as fast as I could, in hopes of being able to tell my grandma that I loved her one more time in person.

Being the strong and stubborn lady that my grandma was, she didn't pass away at that time. I am convinced that she wasn't going to let some doctor tell her when she was going to leave this Earth, she was going to live, and die, on her own terms, and at that time she wasn't ready. My grandma went on to live her life after that incident. She not only recovered mentally, but at times actually seemed physically better as well (although in the last year or so her physical well-being had deteriorated fast).

During those "extra" years my grandma was able to spend with us she was able to experience many thing, some of them, possibly the reasons she was still here. Shirley was able to be here for the birth of her second great-grandchild, Zachary. She was able to hold him and show him off to everyone. She would brag to anyone who would listen about how wonderful her great grandchildren were. During those years, she was able to spend time and get to know the personalities of both Rylee and Zachary, who she loved and cherished so deeply.

Grandma Shirley was able to take part in her grandson Aaron's wedding during the "extra" time we were blessed to have her here with us. She was so happy for Aaron and Lindsay and felt very fortunate for Aaron to have found such a great wife.

Also during the last years that grandma was able to be with us she was able to see one of her grandchildren overcome addiction and get clean. Although grandma never really talked about it, she knew there were problems, and I know that she was so proud to see the improvements that were made with this individual and to our family over the last couple years due to this accomplishment.

Grandma was also able to see me graduate from college before she passed, along with many other special events over the past few years.

Although I was deeply hurt at the loss of my grandma and will miss her presence moving forward, I am glad that I was able to share so many of life's events with her. Many people are not as fortunate to have had their grandmother's around for as long as I have and had them play such an active role in their lives. I feel very grateful for her and thank God for the blessing she was on my life. I know she is in heaven with grandpa now, I am sure he has missed her since he passed.

Other than my grandmother's passing, I have been very busy with teaching and my graduate courses I am forced to take for my teaching certification. I am now taking two night classes, one Tuesday and one Thursday, on top of teaching tutorials (Tue, Wed, Thur), being in charge of an after school club (Mon, Fri), and teaching Saturday school (8am-12pm). My schedule eased up a little bit after the completion of wrestling season, but filled up quickly with the addition of another graduate course and a higher level of involvement in tutorials.

Tutorials have picked up at my school because the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) test are/were this month. The TAKS test are a state-wide promotion standards test that students have to take at certain grade levels. The scores that students get on these tests help to determine many things, including: teacher and principal bonuses, student promotion, funding, among others. I am not a big supporter of one test determining whether a student is learning or not and/or how effective a teacher is, but I do feel we need to hold teachers and schools accountable somehow for teaching our children and this is one way to do that. (I have a lot of opinions on the TAKS tests, but I will leave that for a different day...)

Anyway, my students completed the math and reading tests on April 6th and 7th (I am held accountable for the math scores and student growth based on those scores), and will be taking the science test in a couple weeks (April 29th). These tests are very stressful for the students and for the teachers because the whole school year basically comes down to how the students do on these few tests... (crazy, I know).

For an update on fun things I have been doing: Kori came to visit over Spring break and we went to the Houston Rodeo, saw Keith Urban perform, went to the ocean, and did some other fun things. It was a great break from the stresses of teaching and much needed.