Way past time...

I haven't posted since February. I profusely apologize to any poor, unfortunate soul who might read this blog, because it's just way past time for a post.

So much has happened since my last post...I'm really not sure where to begin. How about a basic run-down of each month:

March-my math teaching colleagues and I worked hard preparing our students for PASS testing. We were at the point of having to hurry so that we could cover it all. If you remember I also had an intern, Brittany, who was teaching full time by March. Brittany progressed very well throughout her internship. In March I was staying with her a lot, to help her "off the record".

April-an extremely busy month. Spring Break was at the beginning of April, which was very nice. We stayed home and enjoyed our time. Brittany was finishing up her internship at the end of April, so we had lots to do to get her completely finished and ready to graduate. The second week of April, when we got back to school, I had a horrible allergic reaction to something and broke out in hives all over my entire body. It was terrible, and I missed two days of school per doctor's orders. Brittany ended up having to teach for longer than we expected because of the reaction. PASS was bearing down on us, and we were in full swing of getting ready. We also played "The Price Is Right" one day at the end of our probability unit. We combined all our classes and had them play probability games we had designed and created based on some games from the T.V. gameshow. It was so much fun, and the students were able to demonstrate that they understood probability the way we taught it.

My brother and sister-in-law were expecting their first child at the end of April, and we were getting very excited about Bella's arrival. My daughter turned eight on April 26, which was a very happy day for my husband and I!!! Bella, (my neice) was scheduled to arrive on April 30 and I was so excited! My parents and step-parents made plans to go to Knoxville on April 30 to be there when Bella arrived. My own children were performing in the church children's choir musical that night, and I helped direct, so we were unable to go to Knoxville. Just at the end of the musical my husband came to get me...he had been called during the performance and notified that my OTHER brother was in a motorcycle accident in North Carolina. Randy did not survive the accident. As we began to process this devestating news, Ryan and Lindsey's precious baby came into our lives...the same day as Randy died, about 2 hours after his death.

There are so many things that happened during that first week after Randy's death, but there were a few things which made a DEEP and LONG LASTING impression on me...possibly even changed my life. First, when I had no idea what to do or how I could help my parents who were still in Tennessee, my sister Ashley, brother-in-law Kyle, and Ashley's dad Marty DROVE from our hometown to Knoxville AND BACK in one day, to pick up both my parents and drive their vehicles back so that they wouldn't have to do that. My other sister, Becky, demonstrated some amazing thoughtfulness in having people at the house when they arrived who would wrap them in love. She even called me to ask me if I could think of someone who could be there for my mom, as they were all coming back to my dad's house. My step-mom allowed (even encouraged) my mom and step-dad to stay in their house during those few days. This is an amazing family I have and am so grateful for them all!

May-a very blurred month! I do not remember much of what happened in May. Of course, the month began with the funeral for our precious Randy. I missed about one week of school after Randy's death. I know that my students and I completed PASS testing, which I was present for. We finished the year with a unit of study on Mt. Everest and took our students on a trip to Crowder's Mountain where they climbed the mountain (about as close to Everest as we get in these parts) and were able to see an amazing view at the top. The rest of the month was filled with cleaning out lockers, collecting textbooks, signing yearbooks, final exams and grade calculations.

June-just as quickly as we got into the swing of school back in August, we left school for our Summer Break. Two weeks have passed since the beginning of Summer and we are enjoying our break. I hope that this finds each of you who read (do I have any readers?) enjoying the warm weather too!