Blessed

I am so blessed...Let me just try and count the ways...

It has been a while since I've posted, and I'm desperately behind in pictures, but this may not be the post to catch up in that respect...bear with me, please.

The REU-EXCITE students have come and gone...and they were more fun that I could have ever imagined. For those of you who don't know to what I'm referring, in addition to my "normal" stuff this summer at work, I also coordinated an NSF grant where we brought in 8 students from across the US to do a 10-week research program in our department, the first REU program in a department of entomology, we believe (YAY!). The last few weeks of this program have been a whirlwind, with Matt and I hosting them week before last at the house for a movie night, then last week on Wednesday being the culmination of their entire summer displayed in the form of our departmental student symposium where they gave oral presentations on their research to our departmental audience. They were F A N T A S T I C!!! Then later that afternoon they participating in the University-wide REU poster presentation and our group was heads above the rest of the groups in terms of at least the overall "look" of the posters (so at least I'm told...I didn't make it over to the poster presentations). I was helping to get the rental car for the field trip for the next day.

"Where did we go?" You ask...

Well, note above when I indicated that these students were from all over (our cohort ended up having 5 native Texans, but we weren't sure how that was going to pan out when it was planned), so we had a field trip to Schlitterbahn planned into the grant all along...And myself and a faculty member took the students to Schlitterbahn on Thursday. All went well...No injuries of which to speak, thank God, but lots of funny stories and fantastic memories.

Then on Friday night Matt and I hosted them again for a final farewell, which consisted of Matt cooking hot dogs on the grill and us all watching A Bug's Life (while everyone was eating and the kids were still awake) and then watching The Fly once the kids went to bed (well, once Tatum went to bed and Matt took Kellen into our bedroom to watch something else, anyway). The students were so appreciative of everything that the department had provided them, and I really had to fight tears off and on all night long, especially when one of them shows up with a dozen roses for me just to say, "Thanks" for everything I had done for them all summer long.

It's students like this and moments such as these that help me to remember and realize that I'm EXACTLY where God wants me to be, touching lives in the manner in which He wants me to. I made an impact on these students that will hopefully resonate for years to come. And no, this isn't a "look what Rebecca did" post, but I did need that oh-so-much right now for so many reasons, because this summer has been so overwhelmingly stressful on so many levels and having that as a little God-reminder was so precious to me!

Moving on...

Kellen
Kellen had his birthday party on his birthday this year...it will warrant its own post, full of pictures of the many friends that came to share in his day, but that day was quite the blessing in and of itself. The poor guy almost wasn't able to make his own party! He had been sick the day prior with an unbelievably high fever that I just couldn't get to come down, despite all of my normal tricks of Tylenol, cool baths, little clothing, the works, but with many prayer warriors doing their thing, he woke up feeling much better on his actual birthday and, although wasn't completely himself by party time, was able to attend, play, and have a good time. WHEW! Crisis averted on that one!

This past Friday I picked Kellen up from school...his daycare that we've always called his school...and I cleaned out his cubby for the last time. I didn't cry, but it was close. Friday was his last day there. For the remainder of August until he starts kindergarten on the 25th, Matt will do daddy-duty every day, except for the days he works, then Kellen will ride with daddy and go to MawMaw and PawPaw's to stay.

Can I say again that I'm not ready for him to start school? Why did I think that it would be easier on me since he always gone to school? I did, though...I honestly thought that the transition from day care "school" to actual school wouldn't be that hard on me. WRONG. Every time I let myself think about it for more than 30 seconds to a minute, I have to stop myself from breaking down into a bumbling, crying mess.

Why is that?

Matt seems to be dealing with this very well...and I'm blessed that he's going to a GREAT school that is SO CLOSE to us! If we didn't live in the days that we did, he could actually walk to school, we're THAT close.

Tatum
And Tatum, what to say about her....She's finally gotten both of those top molars in all the way, but the other teeth that I just know she's cutting haven't come through yet. I'm convinced she's cutting teeth. it's either that or she's like the dog in Turner and Hooch and has a major drooling problem, and surely it can't be that...She's just gone through or is still going through a growth spurt, and I went through her closet tonight pulling out her shoes and some clothes that no longer fit her. How is it that my 17 month old - as in 17 months old TODAY - is wearing 24 and 2T clothes - and if they're shirts they're already fitting too snug and should be 3T? There's something inherently wrong with that, isn't there? *sigh* Then again, I guess it just depends on the outfit, because the 18 month size dress looked adorable on her today at church other than the straps continually falling off of her shoulders. Ha...It's a clothing manufacturer conspiracy I tell you!

What I did learn today is that she seems to L I K E trying on clothes. Yes, you read that correctly. She likes it. Shoes and all. Oh boy. I'm in trouble! I was trying some shoes on her that I wasn't sure would fit her because, like I mentioned earlier, I realized she had grown quite a bit....tried on some and they didn't fit, got the bigger size out and tried them on her and it went something like this.

"Tatum, come here and let's try these shoes on." (She proceeds to walk to me, turns around and sits in my lap, putting one foot out near the shoe I'm holding in my hand)

I put the shoes on her. "Walk around and see if you like those." (She prances around her room)

"Do they feel good? Do you like them?"

Appropriate head shake according to her preferences.

Wow...this has to be genetic because it certainly isn't learned behavior, but where did this genetic material come from?

And me...
Well, I have decided that I'm actually going to take a week off of work. Yup. Seriously. A WHOLE week. So after this week of work, I'm taking off! YAY me! We have a family vacation snuck in there for one of those weekends, but other than that, I might not do much of anything but watch movies with Kellen and take him to the pool. And nap. A lot.

Sounds like a plan to me!

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get back into my running routine again this week...with the craziness of the REU-EXCITE schedule last week, it just didn't happen. I won't say there wasn't a way, but it would have required even less sleep than what I got, and I don't function well on little sleep (can those of you who know me say BEAR?). But I miss it, and I'm hopeful that I'll find a way to make it happen in a feasible manner this week.