Our trip to SD

San Diego was amazing. It's so beautiful there. A great place for vacation, but expensive to live and a lot of traffic. It was hard to come home to the heat, but home is home. We visited a lot of friends I hadn’t seen in a while, including two little ones for Matthew to play with. My friend I’ve known since kindergarten lives there with her husband and 2 1/2 year old son. He was adorable! He gave me two really big bear hugs in a row and a kiss and a zerbert. After that we were friends for life. He even gave Matthew hugs and kisses. Matthew’s were very wet back. It was great to catch up and see them after 2 years since our last face to face visit at our 10 year reunion. Old friends are wonderful because they know you’re history and see where you are and appreciate the changes and the stuff that’s remained and appreciate it all that much more.

We stayed with a former roommate of mine, who was also a bridesmaid at my wedding. It was the first time she'd met Matthew and she just adored him. She was so incredibly energetic and entertaining for him that he was attached instantly. Now it's her turn to visit to stay in touch with her new everchanging and growing friend.

My traveling companion was incredibly helpful and available every step of the way with Matthew. We made a great team and she really enjoyed being so involved with taking care of Matty as we traveled. I wouldn't have wanted anyone else with me for the perfect trip that we had.

answered prayer

You're never going to believe this. I only just started SAYING I was going to look for a new teacher to hire. I considered putting an ad in the local paper, but my dad warned against it. Too many calls to try to screen through. So I was going to call the School District office or maybe put a flyer up at the coffee shop I meet some students at… I hadn’t really committed to any of those ideas, but have been praying and asking others to do so. And I didn’t think I’d really need to find a new teacher for at least a couple of months. I was going to hold for the perfect fit. Turns out, all I had to do to find the right one for the job was go to San Diego and back. We shared a row with someone who we asked to take our picture on our flight home. She told us she remembered us from our flight to San Diego. Matthew is unforgettable. We got to talking and as soon as she said she was a teacher in El Dorado Hills I asked her if she might know anyone I could a part time tutoring job in Folsom. It turned out she did know someone. Herself. She has since sent me her resume and I am so impressed. She is exactly what I've been looking for and more! I'm going to "interview" her on Tuesday, but she pretty much has the job. She is a substitute teacher in the area and was looking for part time work after school. That’s what I have for her. And it saves me from having to drive 20 minutes and get my husband or mom to watch Matty. I would have been away from Matty for 3 hours at a time to do this job, or I took him with me which is getting increasingly harder to do as he gets more squiggly and makes all kinds of noises and requests for my full attention. The two students were wanting to meet twice a week for two hours each and there was no way I was going to pull that off for long. So hiring this teacher will provide for them very nicely and keep me with my sweet boy. I can also tutor from home more during his naps, as students arise. God is so good! He is the only one who could have so perfectly arranged that meeting.

I also appreciate the other great teachers I have on my staff. This first of which I hired in June has broken me in quite nicely as an employer. Or maybe I should say has spoiled me. I appreciate you so much. She always goes above and beyond my expectations and instructions as a teacher! And although she's starting student teaching this week and I thought I'd lose her for most of my students, she's grown so attached and dedicated to them that she's worked her schedule out so that she can still teach each of the students she's had all summer. I'm giving her EMPLOYEE of the MONTH for that!