what happened to my girl?!

Until recently Hannah had been doing very well in school. Then suddenly she started having problems with her work and spending a lot of time in work hall. That is where you go during recess if you don't finish your work in class. That wasn't horrible. I understand that sometimes you don't get your work done in class if it is harder for you or something. But then she started going to work hall and still not getting her work done after half an hour of extra time, sometimes not even doing anything!

Math has always been hard for her. Just like it was for me. I always hated math. I never could get it, no matter how hard I tried. I just didn't understand. And my dad was a math teacher! So I was hoping my kids would excel in it so I don't have to go through it all over again with them.....not gonna be the case with my girl.

So when it was time for parent/teacher conferences a few weeks ago, of course, I was not going to miss it! The teacher and I had been writing notes back and forth already but we needed to sit down and talk. Hannah and I are both very lucky that she has such a good teacher who tries to spend extra time with her (as much as she can with a class of 20 rambunctious first graders) and gives me extra papers for Hannah to do at home. We were both very confused about what happened all the sudden. It seems that she can't focus in class. Her teacher says she sits there and stares off into space while she is teaching the class and often has to be directed to where they are on a page. She doens't get in trouble for talking, which I thought would be a big problem for her. Her teacher has tried moving her to a table by herself so she doesn't have the distraction of all the other kids. She still acts like she has no idea what is going on a lot of the time. Teacher seems to think that she is just "immature" for her age and hasn't figured out how to focus and pay attention and that she should grow out of it. It's just now becoming an issue because now the work isn't easy and she actually has to think about things. I don't know. I'm in no way a teacher. We also both noticed that she has no confidence in herself so she always doubts her answers. So we do extra math homework every night on top of her spelling words that we have to practice every night and she reads to me. I hate that she spends all day in school and then has lots to do in the evening. I'm praying this isn't going to be the way it is her whole school career. And I'm praying for an answer to her problem, patience on my part when we are doing work here, and that she will become confident in herself!

Just like grandpa

When my parents moved to North Carolina, almost 3 yrs ago now, I knew a very important part of my kids' childhood was going with them. When we would go to church they would run in yelling, "Papaw!!" There was always lots of hugs and kisses for grandma and grandpa. He always had candy on his desk that Hannah had to have a piece of. Ryan was too young.

It was grandpa who intoduced and dedicated both of them to the church when they were newborns. I'm so sad that I won't have that picture of baby Abigail.

It was grandma who let Hannah come out of the nursery before she was of age and sit in Bible Club with the older kids on Wednesdays.

For months after they were gone, Hannah and Ryan would still run in the church from time to time and look for grandma and grandpa. Ocassionally I still get the question, "why did they move so far away?" It's hard to know exactly what to say to that but there is one thing I know for sure: God has a reason for everything and his ways are perfect!! Even when we don't like what He does or understand it.

This morning Ryan dressed in "full papaw gear" for church. Tie, "papaw shoes", pen and pad in pocket. Grandpa isn't lucky enough to own a Cars notepad and pen, tho.

more conversations with a 4 yr old...

On the way home from taking Hannah to school this morning, the sun was so bright and there wasn't a cloud in the sky, something we haven't seen much of the past few days. Ryan pointed at the sun and said, "look, there's God." I have no idea where he got the idea that the sun is God but he has referenced the sun being God more than once. He would have no part of my explaination that God is not the sun. He asked, "then why is it so bright?"


By lunchtime he had asked me at least a dozen times if he could go outside. It is very beautiful out but still quite chilly. I finally gave in and let him out. I walked down to the mailbox while he was riding his bike. He has a new favorite spot where he likes to ride. The corner where grandma's driveway meets our road gets very muddy and gross. He discovered that last week and after riding his bike through it a million times I made him stop because he was making a big hole and grandma is very peticular about her yard. What's the conversation, you might be thinking....It's coming, give me a minut to describe the situation. =) So today I told him very clearly, again, that if I saw him riding his bike through the now mud hole that he creatd last week, he would be going in. I didn't even mae it back to our yard before I caught him trying to get as close as he could to that hole. His training wheel went thru it so, you guessed it, he had to come with me. Now comes the conversation. While he was taking his shoes off he told me that if I kept yelling at him he was going to run away. I asked him where he would go and who would feed him? He said he'd go to grandma and Max's (that is Brad's mom and her dog). I told him how long of a walk that would be and he quickly forgot about that.