HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!

I hope Cindy & Randy have a lovely day.  I didn't get a card sent (surprise, surprise!) but I am thinking of you and glad you are celebrating another year together.
I have been sooo tired lately.  Last night I ate supper and went to sleep from 6:00 - 9:00, got up for about 45 minutes and then went back to bed.  Nick has also come straight home from school and slept.  I think last week is finally catching up with us and we are exhausted.  I do feel a bit more energetic today, though. 
I am glad to see that Tori & Ashley made it back to their locations. 
The JB boys are going to state BB next Thursday.  They play @ Lincoln High Thursday @ 2:00pm for anyone who wants to know. 
Have a Great Day!  Love You All!
Di

Happy I Want You To Be Happy Day!

I was just getting journal prompts ready for the rest of the month and the book that I have lists every random and unknown holiday imaginable. For example, today is, I Want You To Be Happy Day!

I thought this was ironic, seeing as how it just happens to also be my wonderful mom and dad's anniversary! I can honestly say that them getting married has made me happy :) I hope that they have a great day and I can't wait to celebrate with them this evening (no school for this elementary teacher tomorrow...whoopee!)
I hope that you all have a great end to your week! xoxo

musings from memphis

to my dear family,

i am digging this idea of a centralized location to share our thoughts. brilliant work diane and taryn! she would really love this, you know. all of us staying connected and in tune with everyone's lives. brilliant!

i, like all of you, am trying to sort through the monotony of every day life after our world was turned upside down. it has been a bit of an adjustment and a lot of a change in perception. everywhere i go, i am reminded of grandma. the river walk that we so much enjoyed when she visited, the halls of st. jude, my little apartment, the restaurant we went to downtown. at first it made me sad. and i cried. but, then i realized that the memory is okay. she is everywhere. and always will be. with each of us. and that is a blessing beyond what words can articulate, right?  

the weather has been divine so far. this weekend it is supposed to rain a bit, but still climb into the high 60s [tori, please omit the taunting "it's 85 here" comment!]. i plan on relaxing and catching up from last week. [pretty sure my traveling clothes are still in the hamper and i am eating all the non-perishable food left in my pantry so that i don't have to expend any more energy than necessary.] i hope you all have a chance to unwind and be still for a moment or two this week as well.

so glad to hear everyone made it to their final destinations safely! be looking for an email with an attached "ode to grandma" tonight or tomorrow. thinking of, missing and praying for you all. 
love you, love you, love you!
ash

Back in South Africa

LOVE this idea!

Just wanted to let you all know that I made it back to South Africa safely. It's noon here (4am in Nebraska) so I am exhausted. The flights were all fine ... long, but fine. I had two seats to myself from London to Cape Town so I was able to stretch out and sleep a little. At one point I started crying on the plane thinking about Grandma and I just wanted someone to hug, but obviously I was surrounded by sleeping strangers. Ugh. It will be hard being so far away from you all, but I think it will get better once I get settled in again!

Okay, after 24+ hours on a plane/in airports, I need to take a shower ... and maybe put off all that homework I have (I did NONE on the plane) and take a nap. :)

Thank you Diane and Taryn for setting this up ... cannot wait to read updates!

Love you all so much,

Tori

P.S. For those of you who never got my blog address: everythingislekker.blogspot.com

I'll try to update it with shark pictures, etc. once I get a little caught up on everything I have to do (aka..don't expect anything soon)! :)

Kim's attempt

Hello family!  At first when I was reading the instructions I thought, "No way I can do this!"  Then I thought to myself...Ashley took off by herself and went to Memphis, TN, Tor is traveling to South Africa (doesn't get there until tomorrow, Wednesday) I can MAYBE challenge myself and try to blog!   So far it is pretty easy, but I am not attempting pictures for awhile....baby steps!

Today was my first day back at work.  The kids were really sweet.  One little seventh grade boy, who I think has a form of autism, came right up to my face and whispered, "I'm sorry about what happened Mrs. Bender.  I was sad all last week thinking how sad you were."  Which, of course, made me cry.   Then about five others of those usually little brats came up and hugged me, so needless to say, the beginning of third period was tear filled!  In the afternoon I just was plain ole tired.  Came home and instead of doing anything productive...open cards, cried (which made me cough) and then slept. 

Maybe I will get something done later tonight...or tomorrow! Will definitely be checking our blog.  Great idea Diane...and really, if I can do it, you can all do it!  Hope to be reading posts from you all!  Love you all so much...so, so, so much!  We have a little boy who has been taken away from his home by social services (he's in first grade) and it is crazy to hear all the abuse he has endured from his parents...made me think, "Maybe we only had our parents for a short time, but how lucky we were to have THEM!"  We had/have so much LOVE surrounding us! Okay, signing off before I start writing more...English teacher issues, you know! :)

So...it's Taryn again :) Can you tell that I don't have much of a life? (Besides sitting on the couch watching tv and surfing the internet!) Anyway, if you've looked at my blog lately http://www.msbohlken.blogspot.com/ (like the plug?) you've probably noticed that I LOVE posting pictures. Now taking pictures of my sweet second graders is easy, they're crazy photogenic; finding pictures of myself that I like is much harder. I was looking through some old pictures from facebook to see if there was anything worth posting and I ran across some from Wendy's wedding. I finally checked my mail today and opened all of the sympathy cards that I received. Although it's so nice to know that those people are thinking about you at such an awful time; it made me miss grandma like crazy. I cried for a while and then called mom. Finding these pictures was hard but seeing grandmas face made me feel a little bit better. Hope it works for you guys too. Love and kisses!

Hey there everyone! This is Taryn. I worked on tweeking our blog a little bit today. Hopefully, you like what I've done. If not, then fix it yourselves! :) My goal tonight is to type up some "blogging instructions." I will post these on here and e-mail them to everyone. This should make it super easy for everyone to log in, make posts, put up pictures, change backgrounds, etc. I think that this will be the perfect way for us to share the things that are happening in our everyday lives. LOVE the idea Diane! If you have any questions, I check my e-mail, oh about every five or ten minutes during school days, so I can definitely be in touch!

The weather here is absolutely beautiful! I wish that I had the self motivation to go oustide and do something productive...most likely, I will take a nap on my couch instead! :) I can't wait to start reading all of your posts. Love you all so very much!