I'm daddy

I was taking Patrick to Miss Sandee's house this morning. He saw the mountains in the distance. He pointed to himself and said that he was going to "climb mountains with daddy". I told him that it was a great idea and he wanted to call Steven to tell him this great idea.

I dialed the number and gave him the phone. Steven didn't answer, so Patrick waited patiently through a list of options after the beep.

Then, he said, "Daddy. Climb mountains. Bye. I love too."

We arrived at Sandee's house and he put on his brown corduroy jacket. He told me that it looked like "daddy's jack".

April 2010. Oh my gosh. He is so cute!!

He pointed to himself and said, "I daddy. I Steve".

No, he's ours

Yesterday, I went to pick up Maggie from school. I was talking to Kirsten and Maggie and Katelyn were playing. Maggie's teacher called me over. I must confess that I thought, "oh crap. What did Maggie do?".

But, it was a good thing. Her teacher asked me if Patrick was adopted and I said that he was.

She laughed and said that they were talking about families in class today for language arts. They got to a section about adoption and Maggie raised her hand and told her teacher that Patrick was adopted.

Her teacher said that Patrick wasn't  and asked Maggie if she knew what adoption meant. Maggie said that she did and she was sure that Patrick was adopted. She thought maybe Maggie was confused.

Maggie went on to explain that we had adopted Patrick and she had gone to Stockton to watch us sign the adoption paperwork.

Maggie's teacher was shocked. She couldn't get over it and said, "But, he looks just like you." I laughed and said that I was glad that one of my kids looked like me.

She asked Maggie to bring in pictures of his adoption signing and I sent in the scrapbook that Christine made for me.Christine took pictures for us that day before she started her own photography business and the pictures are precious to me. It's one of my favorite things. Wanna see Christine's new website? Click here!

So, we shocked Maggie's teacher yesterday. I was talking to Maggie about it as we were walking to the car and another one of Maggie's friend's mom overheard us talking. She said, "WHAT?! Patrick's adopted?! NO. He couldn't be. He looks just like you!".

Yep. Here's the proof!

Kitty cat

Patrick likes to pretend to be a kitty cat. He gets on all fours and meows and will even give you a kitty cat kiss (aka lick you on the face).

Yesterday, Maggie was getting ready in her room. Patrick was meowing through the house and saw that Maggie's door was opened.

He crawled into Maggie's room and meowed at her.

In true, big sister fashion, Maggie said something sweet like, "Get outta my room, Pat Pat!".

He looked at her and hissed as loud as he could.

Money

Last night, I saw a job opening for a teaching position at a local college. It's a a full time job teaching psychology. I am not necessarily looking for a job right now, but you don't see full time teaching jobs at a college with just a master's degree very often.

I was telling Steven about it and I read the job description to him. Then, I read the salary range. The upper end of the range was close to $100,00.

One hundred thousand dollars.

That's a crap load of money.

This made me tempted to apply for the job. But, not really.

This has been such a dillema for me since we moved here. We are taken care of by Steven's salary and by living in the parsonage. I actually make a decent amount of money teaching online classes. It's pretty good for part time work.

We are working really hard on getting our debt paid off and living on a budget. It's amazing how much we were blowing each month. And it feels good to be on track.

But, $100,000?! Seriously? We could pay off all our debt (even Steven's stupid student loans), go on vacation, the list goes on and on.

Usually, I would have applied right then. I felt differently about it this time. I enjoy my life. I love hanging out with Patrick's a few days a week. I like volunteering in Maggie's class. I like meeting Danielle for coffee during Patrick's nap time.I (sometimes) like being the president of the school's parent club. I like being able to see Steven during the day if he is working late nights. I like being able to catch up on laundry during the week.

I feel content with where I am right now. I mean, we could do some crazy, cool things with that much money. And it's fun to daydream about that much money.

Maybe in a few years....but I'm happy right now.

Shameless Mama Bragging

(Please note that I am bragging about my daughter here. I gotta write this stuff down or I'm afraid I'll forget and I am so proud of Maggie)

Today, I was in Maggie's class grading papers and cutting out laminated words. Maggie's teacher asked me if I heard about Maggie's big news.

She hadn't told me, yet, so her teacher made this announcement to the class while I was there.

Maggie's teacher said that she tested Maggie's reading fluency. Fluency is tested by how fast a child can read without making a mistake. She had to read 85 words in a minute to pass. Maggie read 165 words in a minute!

I am so proud of her. She was proud, too. She is so sensitive and has had kind of a hard time lately. I was glad to hear this news. Her teacher made me promise to get Maggie a surprise to celebrate her accomplishment.

I think I can handle that!

TLC: reality (?) show about pastor's wives

Ramona beat me to it, but I couldn't wait to blog about this. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote this article about the new reality show on TLC. The AJC says that TLC is in the works to start a reality show about the lives of pastor's wives.

According to the article: TLC has ordered a new program that follows strong-willed Atlanta women with leadership roles in the city’s religious community. The women on the show manage day-to-day politics at churches, help troubled or needy congregants, and hire and fire staff. Some even step up to the pulpit to sermonize.

What?! Why didn't they ask me? Oh, I guess it's cause we're not living in Georgia anymore. That's the only reason, right?

Or maybe it's cause I don't have enough drama in my life. Don't they know about the random people ringing my doorbell at 10 at night asking for blankets or eating the goldfish crackers in my front yard. What else do they want?

Or maybe it's because according to the Huffington post, they are highlighting women who: The Real Housewives of Atlanta," will follow the "outspoken ladies who work to ensure that their churches run as smooth as Southern-churned butter."

Southern-churned butter? Well, what church is that? And really what is southern-churned butter? Is this some kind of slam against Paula Deen and her recent diabetes ordeal.

Okay, back on topic. How in the world can this be a good thing? Most  women that I know who are married to ministers don't want to be on a reality show. I guess I can hope that it will show ministry in a good light. But, it's just not going to be a real look at ministry. I guess it could give the general public a glimpse into the lives of ministers and their families.

I read in one of these articles that the wives in this show will be married to pastors who at mega churches and have to deal with financial issues and groupies going after their husbands. I can relate to the financial issue part, but Steven doesn't have any groupies. So, I probably won't get tapped to be in this latest reality show.