Christmas 2009

Ephesians 3:14-19 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth, I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.  And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.  May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.


What a wonderful day!


Lots of fun opening the presents this morning.  It was a bit of a hard year, but we were all very creative with gift ideas..  (I gave David a new box of vacuum cleaner bags along with an official proclamation declaring 2010 "The Year of Excessive Vacuuming."  He does love a clean floor.)


We have eaten well, laughed a great deal and enjoyed one anothers company.  We are now snuggled up in the den by the fire watching the Titans. (That is not going too well at the moment.)


I have had a bit of a growing pain since Katie spent most of  the day at Kameron's house, but I think I'll survive it okay.  I am thankful that all the children are well, happy and healthy.


Many blessings to you and yours!

My New Year's Psalm

(Written almost a decade ago, but still the cry of my heart.)

You have made me to be so much more than I am
in holiness,
righteousness,
discipline
and love.

You have called me to be so much less than I am
in vanity,
idleness
and pride.

I cry out for you to empty me.
I thank you for filling me,
thrilling me,
loving me.

Oh, gracious, beloved, eternal Lord!
I am awed by your care of me,
grace so free,
on my knee I fall.

I struggle to walk while my soul yearns to run.
Dying flesh can be so heavy.

Victory is mine!
I will not lose the fight,
the way,
the faith.

Yes, Lord! Yes!
I'm forever yours.
Your plan is mine.
Obedience makes my path straight.

The In Between Season

There is a season that falls between summer and autumn. You can identify it by the sound of acorns falling on the roof and lawnmowers on the same day. It happens when the nicely spaced and staked tomato plants explode out of the top of their cages and droop over onto the patio, while still bearing an abundance of fruit. The neatly caged cucumber plant has crept out of its enclosure and is trying to pull the tomato plants back into the garden. The carrots that were planted far too abundantly have grown into a thick border, with hundreds of mishapen carrots underground. And over it all the volunnteer hummingbird vine has appeared and woven an all encompassing net which is far too attractive to pull up.

Whatever it is called that season is here, at least in my backyard.

Another summer gone already

Well, somehow my 6 week summer break has flown by already. I go back to work on Monday at my new school. Don't tell anyone, but I am a little scared about the move. There are many new co-workers to meet and names to remember, training to receive and training to give, procedures to learn and procedures to establish. Overall, I think I'd prefer to crawl back under the covers and sleep for a few more weeks.

What if I forgot everything I know? What if nobody likes me? What if I mess up? What if I let my boss down? What if...

I suppose I would check my notes, like them anyway, get used to messing up, and apologize and move on to the next project. That's what I've done so far and it has worked out pretty well.

One of the best bits of advice I got about my job was passed down to me from the previous secretary who wrote it down when it was passed on to her by her predecessor:
"You will always be interrupted. You will always make mistakes. Get over it."

Most useful secretarial hint around.

Thoughts on social networking

First we started blogs to keep our friends up to date with our lives. We usually used them as a journal of sorts to share about our activities and thoughts. Posting once a day or a few times a week was keeping pretty current. Entries could be long and thoughtful or short and sweet. Then you could throw in some pictures of the new house or baby. People could leave comments and share their thoughts. Kind of like an ongoing Christmas card.

Then we had our social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook. Now we could share more details, find old friends and update our status several times a day. We could connect with old friends and show the world what they looked like in fifth grade. This seemed more like having friends over for coffee and some good conversation.

Now comea Twitter, the ADD network. You are supposed to share snippets of your day while on the go, and do it in 140 characters or less. I think that is more like opening the window while driving and shouting at people on the sidewalk as you speed past.

The funny part is, I have all three.
:o)

Unexpected Changes

This fall will be the first time in 14 years that I will not be at McGavock Elementary. All three of my children have attended there and for the past three years I have been on staff as the secretary/bookkeeper. I assummed I would stay there at my neighborhood school for the next 20 or so years, but I was wrong in my assumptions.

The MNPS superintendent decided to "Fresh Start" several schools that were not progressing academically. Now, McGavock has been progressing very well, thank you very much. So well that our Principal is moving to Napier Elementary School, and I am going with her.

I am very sad to be leaving McGavock. Over the years it has become home and the staff and teachers are part of our extended family. I am sure that the move from my neighborhood school to an inter-city school is the right one for me at this time. It will be an adventure and calling that will definitely stretch me and all of the team that is signing up to be part of Team Napier. However, it is a very bittersweet time as well.

Someone asked me the other day if I was happy about the move. After thinking about it I don't think "happy" is the right word. I am excited, scared, energized and content, but it makes my heart ache to leave my McGavock family and my neighborhood cocoon.

Please pray as we go through this time of transition and ask the Lord to cover everyone effected with peace and vision for the future. And don't forget to volunteer at a school, wherever you may live.

Father's Day

It's a wonderful testimony to my dear husband that when he asked them what he could do to be a better father their only response was that they would like to hang out with him more. As Katie put it, even if we aren't doing the same thing it just feels better when we are all in the same room.

The down side is that we got so busy that I missed speaking with my dad. Hopefully I will catch up with him this afternoon. I love my Daddy!

Melinda Knott's update on John

Dear Friends,
God is good 24/7. As most of you know, John was to come home this week. When I arrived at the hospital this morning, we were told that today was the day! I was not ready. Our home was not yet set up with the necessary furnishings for him to recuperate in our living room. I was frantic! But, we accepted the situation knowing that God would help us find a way and provide the necessary help.

We were packing up. The bandages were changed and the new wound vacs that insurance would cover at home were in place and we had spoken with the home health care folks. As the wound care nurse was putting away her supplies and cleaning up, social services came in (12:00 noon) and said that Blue Cross Blue Shield had approved John for in-patient rehab services at Skyline Medical Center! We were both pleasantly surprised. This was something that John felt he needed from the very beginning.

When we arrived (5:20 p.m. you know, hospital time) he was admitted and given a thorough evaluation by the doctor in charge of rehab services. We were told that everyone would put their heads together and come up with a plan to get John up and going again. The doctor said that he would be at Skyline a week and a half to two weeks. He has his first session tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m. and will have 3 hours of rehab each day. They will also train me on helping him get up and down and moving from the bed to a chair. He is not to try to get up on his own, mainly because of balance problems. We are so relieved. We feel that this will give John a much better chance at a full recovery. If you want to drop him a card, he is in room 206. Again thank you for all or your prayers in his behalf.

Sincerely,
Melinda
John and Melinda Knott

John Knott Update

Good News! John had successful heart surgery last week, and is actually scheduled to go home from the hospital tomorrow. Hurray!

Broken Window

Well, all those years of telling the kids to not play ball in the house apparently didn't quite sink in. Nicholas spent the night at a friend's house last night and he broke a window while, you guessed it, they were playing ball in the house. No one was hurt, other than being really scared. (As well they should have been!)

Nick apologized and they were gracious with him, but the fact is they still had to spend time and money to replace the window. (Nicholas now owes them several hours of yardwork.)

And this is not a characteristic limited to boys. Katie learned this lesson the hard way, too. The one time she played around with the boys at home she knocked over a glass vase which broke into a million or so pieces.

Let me repeat it again for all of you, "DO NOT PLAY BALL IN THE HOUSE."

Summer Kaffeklatsch

Are you looking for a social outlet for the summer? Starting this week I am going to host a Tuesday morning Kaffeeklatsch. Basically that means around 10 am I am going to be sitting down to enjoy a fresh cup of coffee and maybe a baked good. Anyone is welcome to come and enjoy some downtime with me. I can't make any guarentees that the house will be picked up or that I will be out of my jammies, but I will guarentee that the coffee will be hot and fresh.

Ya'll come!

Update on John Knott (6.7.09)

The latest news is that John is being moved to Centennial Hospital today (Sunday) and they will be doing surgery to remove the tumor in his heart tomorrow afternoon. The Doctors are hopeful that things will go well. They told the family that there was a 95% chance of success. Obviously it is still a very serious situation, but the reports are currently more encouraging than before.

Please continue to pray.

Please Pray for John Knott

One of our teachers at McGavock Elementary is in serious medical condition and needs your prayer. I've posted the information below that was sent to me by a friend of the family. This started Wednesday.

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(Wednesday afternoon)

Melinda has asked me to email you regarding John, her husband. He collapsed today at the YMCA and was taken by ambulance to Summit Hospital where he is in surgery right now. He had lost feeling in his legs and was in much pain. they discovered he had blood clots in his heart and they had traveled south to perhaps his abdomen and definitely to his legs. They have cleaned out one leg and they are still working on him. Their son has been called in from the Persian Gulf to come home. So far the reports have been good (they have been calling Melinda every hour with an update). We are very thankful about that. Please pray. Thank you very much! Susan
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(Thursday morning)

I wanted to send an update on John. He had over a 5 hour surgery and it is very major. Apparently John has a tumor(nonmalignant) growing in his heart. A large piece fell from his heart and cut off the circulation to his legs. The doctor was able to restore circulation to his legs. The doctor stated that he is doing as well as could be expected but has a long way to go. They had to cut his legs to account for the swelling. Also, they do not know how much of the tumor may be in other organs like kidneys, spleen and intestines.


The good news is that he can wiggle his toes and he knows people. The other news is that once he is stable, the tumor in his heart has to be dealt with. The doctor put it this way: "We are in a long game and we are still in the middle of the first inning and the score is tied."


I will try to update you when I get other news. The prayer for tonight is that there are no complications to his surgery today and also the tumor does not damage any other organs (eg. the doctor gave was his stomach hurting which would mean immediate surgery to look at his intestines.). Tomorrow they are doing an echocardiogram and calling in a cardiologist.


He has been given 3 pints of blood when we left and the doctor was sure that he would need more tonight. Pray that Melinda gets some rest. it will be a very long journey for the two of them.


Their son should be here tomorrow night or early Friday morning. He was able to talk with his dad before the surgery.

Ahhhh....

I finally finished up the inventory at work today so I am officially on summer break. Right now David and I are sitting on the loveseat enjoying brownies and coffee. Tomorrow I don't plan to do anything, even make the bed (if I get out of it...)

Any Advice?

I am starting a checklist of things that Katie (or anyone) should know before they live on their own. The goal is to make sure everything has been checked off by the time she is ready to move out (whenever that may be.)

What do you wish you would have known, or was the best thing you learned?
What skills do you think are the most important to know?

I'll pull everything into a single document and post it when it's finished.

Thanks!

Crazy Busy

This past week has been crazy busy. Even though Monday was a holiday it still felt like a long week! I spent the week at work closing out the books and getting my paperwork finished and packed off to be audited. I worked late most nights and then had guilt for not being home in time to make supper before eight o'clock, if at all. We went out for my birthday Tuesday, but decided to postpone going to see Night at the Museum 2 until I was sure I wouldn't fall asleep during the movie. I'm looking forward to a long summer nap...

Katie's New Old Car

Miss Katie finally has a car!

Great Place to Live

I think Donelson, TN, is the most fun place to live. Tonight David and I went to the Grand Ole Opry to see Steve Martin's debut Opry performance. (He is a darn good banjo player!) Not to mention hearing some really good music from the likes of Riders in the Sky, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Amy Grant and lots of other amazing artists. Even if you aren't a country fan, there is just something about hearing "Tennessee Waltz" sung by the original artist. Then after we picked Mike up downtown, we came back to our part of town and went to Shoney's for a late night dinner. (Normally we do Steak and Shake for late nights, but decided to do something different.) About halfway through dinner Kenney Chesney came in with some people and they sat down about three booths away from us. All this within 4 miles of home. Nifty!

Mike is Driving

Mike got his driving permit last Friday. He has been behind the wheel every since. We are finally car shopping for Katie, so hopefully she will be driving herself wherever her heart desires very soon. (If you know of a nice car for sale, let me know!)

My Brilliant Children

Here's a quick rundown of end of the year honors:
Katie graduated with honors from McGavock High School last weekend.

Mike finished his freshman year at Nashville School of the Arts with wonderful grades and the award for the top student in Music Theory I.

Nicholas finisehd 5th grade at Two Rivers and was the student of the year from his class and won the Outstanding Math Student award and had perfect attendance and straight A's all year.

Hurray!

Graduation party webcam

For those of you who'd like to join the Graduation Party Sunday afternoon but won't be able to make it, we will be setting up a Katie Cam. Right now I can pick you up on Skype or Messenger. I'm working on a couple of other options. I'll keep you posted.

A helpful note for job seekers

If you use the phrase "please overlook my resume" or any variations that involves the use of the work "overlook" we will do exactly that. We will be happy to look over, review, peruse, consider, analyze, or just a simple read.

Prom pictures

For those of you who haven't already seen them on Facebook, here are some prom pictures of Katie and her boyfriend, Laurington (Lo).

Good Formula

Shingles + mumu = comfort

Shingles...and I don't mean on the roof

I'm trying to decide if taking a sick day off and laying in bed on a rainy day is worth the pain of shingles. At the moment I'm thinking not, but maybe after the Lortab presecription is ready...

Better than backward pants

So, does anyone remember my backwards pants incident that happened several months ago? Well I finally topped it today. I was in a rush to get out of the door this morning and when I got to school I was walking in with a co-worker and realized that I could see my shoulder pad out of the corner of my eye. I reached down to tuck it in when to my surprise I discovered I was walking into work with my shirt on inside out. The greatest part was having at least two (short) conversations with people who didn't appear to notice my dilemma. As someone pointed out, at least I didn't wait and notice it around 2 o'clock!

Notes From the Office-April 24th

I put riddles on my door every week, and the one from this week was, "What is red and smells like blue paint?" The funniest answer by far was the student who said, "I know-it's perfume! Because it rhymes."

New York 2009

What a fun weekend. I am sitting in my friend Ginny's living room after a couple of days of stiching temari with friends and laughing ourselves silly. Life is good.

Notes from the office-April 10, 2009

As an elementary school secretary I have lots of good stories to share. I'll try to start posting a few so you can get a view of life in the office.

This morning a student came in the office crying. When I asked her what had happened she told me she hit her nose another student's head. I asked her how his head was and she replied, "Hard!"

I also had a student come in during lunch and announce that he had a fever. I asked him why he thought he had a fever and his response was that he had gone swimming in the lake over the weekend and touched a fish and it made him sick. I told him I didn't think that would make him sick, so he told me that he also touched some fruit on a stick. I took his temperature and he was just fine. This was the same child who earlier in the year came in the office and told me that he was sick. I asked him how he knew and he told me that he "licked a nut."

Oh, and one final image for you. A child came in from PE and had a bump above his eye where he had been hit with a basketball. I was out of ice and alone in the office, so I grabbed the first thing I laid my hand on in the fridge and sent him back to class holding a pudding cup on his eye. Hey, it worked and I did call his mom and warn her that I had made him a pudding head.

April Fool's Day!

So for April Fool's day Katie dyed her hair brown. Go figure.

Perfect Prom Dress

You know the prom dress is perfect when she wears it around the house, just because she loves it. The swishing when she walks and sighing contentedly when she sits down are also clues.

24 Hours

I know that God put only 24 hours in the day, so if I can't do everything on my chore list in one day I'm the one who needs to make a change, right?

Some days I'd really rather stay in bed and pull the covers over my head than be a semi-responsible adult!

2009, More or Less

It seems to me that often times the resolutions we make to start a new year are all about things we do or don't want to do. Those declarations are only half of the equation. I can't commit to doing more of one thing without doing less of something else. With that in mind, I'm working on my list of resolutions for 2009, more or less.

More going to bed on time and less playing games on Save the Planet.
More time reading my Bible and less time reading murder mysteries. (There are plenty of mysteries in the Bible to keep me going.)
More water and less soda.
More fruits and veggies and less of all that other stuff.
More time with friends and less worrying about how the house looks.
More walking and less sitting.
More blogging and less just thinking about it.

That should do for a start!