Sweet Life in the City

Well here we are, the last day of 2011. This year has been a whirl-wind of events and it has passed so quickly. Jeremy reminded me this evening on the way home that this year is probably going to be pretty crazy and full of change. As we started talking we realized that every four years (which also happens to be election years:) we have major changes in our life. In 2000 we got married. 2004 I had my cancer surgery, we moved back to TN, we both started teaching, started the adoption process, both of my grandparents passed away within months of each other, and Samuel Jae entered this world. 2008- Our small family of three became a family of five within 6 months. We were now the parents of three children under the age of 4 years old. So, on the eve of 2012 I cannot help but wonder what this year has in store for us. We are pretty confident that it will lead us into the biggest adventure of our life as we move away from the place we have known for so long and move to Chicago. I do not usu...

We have been enjoying our break so far. This crazy weather has given us all a stuffy nose and stratchy throat, but nothing to severe. Yesterday our good friend took Sam and Emma to Chuck E Cheese. She was going to take Chloe too, but I did not think it would go too well. So, Chloe and I went to lunch and her favorite store, Wal-Mart. This moring we opened presents with our family and we plan on leaving tomorrow for Illinois. The kids loved their presents, except Chloe was a little bratty after she opened her first present. They each had a small gift that I got from the "stocking stuffer" baskets at Target. They did not have any thing Mickey or Minnie Mouse so I got her this cute litte LaLa Loopsie doll. She opened it and took one look at it and through it on the floor saying "I wanted Minnie Mouse!" She is lucky I let her open the other gifts! We did not get her anything Mickey/Minnie Mouse. That is all coming on Christmas day. She has had a few good days but her at...

I did not realize I had not posted since Wednesday. Thursday was a crazy morning with our class parties. It was awesome, but I was worn out when I got home. I was also a little too emotional to blog. It was hard saying good-bye to one of my students and it just reminded me that my time at my school is quickly coming to an end. It is a great joy for me to see my students move on from grade to grade or see them around the community and I realized as I told my sweet girl that I would see her around somewhere it was probably not true. Friday the teachers had a work day so I was at school getting everything ready for when we return in January. Friday night we went and got new phones (Merry Christmas to us). We switched phone companies and for some reason neither one of our phones would work Friday night. We had a showing of our house Saturday morning, so the rest of Friday night was spent scrubbing and cleaning. The showing went great and our realtor said she would not be surprised if we go...

We have had a busy few days. I am actually surprised it is Wedneday already! We have a half a day tomorrow and we will be having our Christmas party from 8:30 until it is time to leave. It has been hard to keep track of what the kids needed for each day. Chloe had pajama day yesterday and Emma needed her present to exchange yesterday. Today Emma and Sam had pajama day and Chloe needed drinks for her party. Tomorrow Sam needs drinks for his party and my class is wearing pajama. I was sure that one of us would end up wearing our p.j.'s on a day they were not supposed to be wearing them:) The kids have been so excited about Christmas and I have to admit I am just excited! We are leaving next week to go to Illinois to spend Christmas with my family. We will all be there and I LOVE that fact! Jeremy is finsihing up two of his classes for his doctorate so he is super stressed and has not been feeling the best. He will be finished on Saturday. Yesterday after school I took the kids to Cla...

We had a good weekend. I am thankful that I got to spend some one-on-one time with Sam, Emm, and Chloe. That does not happen very often. I am thankful that I got to spend some time with a great family and I made one sweet little girl smile just by showing up to something that was important to her. I am thankful that the pile of unfolded socks that have been taunting me the past few weeks has finally been conquered. I am thankful that I took a nap today and did not have to worry about getting any school work done. We have a busy but fun week! We have school Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then a party day (which ends at 11:00) on Thursday. We have a work day on Friday but I am looking forward to getting some things done in my classroom and get ready for January.

Today I am thankful that it is Friday. I am thankful that I am finished with my classes and managed to pull out an "A" in all three classes. I am thankful that we are going out to dinner tonight so I do not have to cook. I am thankful that I might actually have time to get my house cleaned this weekend. It has been driving me crazy but it has been on the low end of our priority list. I am thankful that Chloe had a good day at school today so we could reward her and not feel like we are always punishing her. It has been a wild week with the kids (my school kids and my own kids) and I am sure next week is going to be worse. The truth is I am getting pretty excited myself. I feel like I can now enjoy these busy days with my classes behind me. I have a busy day planned tomorrow. One of my girls in my class (actually the one that is leaving me, sniff, sniff) is an amazing little gymnast. Her state meet is tomorrow and so I am taking Emma to go watch her compete. I think she will l...

I started to post last night, but I was working on finishing my project kinda late and then one of our favorite shows came on. We love the Psych! If you have never watched it you shoule sometime:) So, I will post my thanks from yesteday and today. Yesterday I was thankful for the joy a few snowflakes bring to the face of children ( and myself:) It snowed for a an hour or so. It did not stick to anything, but it was beautiful! In our morning prayer time at school our principal read a verse about seeing God's faithfulness in the changing of the seasons. As I watched the snowflakes fall I was thankful for God's faithful. I am also thankful that time does heal our hearts wounds. I was reminded of something the other day about a difficult time in my life and I realized that the pain was not as bad as it was last year or the year before. Maybe that sounds silly, but I am thankful that we can move past the pain in our life. For today, I am thankful that I finished my last class!!!!! T...

Today I am thankful for coffee. I have not always liked coffee, but since I became the mom of three I have learned to be addicted to   love it! I am thankful that it gives me that extra push each morning. I am thankful for all the lessons I learn each day from teaching. Today we did a craft and watched the movie "The Legend of the Three Trees." Each tree has big hopes and dreams to be made into something amazing. Each tree is cut down and they are made into lowly things like a manager, a fishing boat, and a cross. The lesson is that God knows what is best for us and had better plans than we could even imagine. We made a little ornament and on the back and it said something about trusting God's plan because they are always better than our own. It was a great lesson for me to remember. I took this picture of Sam the other night after he was feeling better. I love it because it totally encompasses his personality. He is using a plastic bowling trophy that he won in a Wii bow...

I saw  several people on Facebook during the month of November post some thing they were thankful for every day. Well, I am a little behind, but I thought I would take these last 25 days of 2011 to focus on what I am thankful for. It is easy to go down the generic list (not that they are generic:) of what I am thankful for, but to take 25 days and see all the blessings that come my way. So, today I am thankful that I have the opportunity to teach. Every morning Monday-Friday I am greeted with 13 beautiful smiles that are eager to learn. I am amazed at what I learn from them each day. It has been quite an adventure teaching 1st graders because I never know what they are going to say! I have so much fun being with them. I am thnakful that I have students who are now in the 6th grade (my first year teaching kids) who still hug me and are happy to see me. Friday night I had a young man that I had in my 4 year old class 7 years ago come find me after Sam did his Homecoming thing. He came to...

Look at me posting two days in a row! I just wanted to let everyone know that Sam is much better today. He has been fever free since last night (Woo Hoo!) He wanted pancakes for breakfast so that was a great sign. He also wanted to play today. He and I laid down on the couch around noon to take a little nap. His was not so little. The child slept until 5:00 and we had to wake him up! Guess who will not be going to sleep early tonight? I know being sick just wears you out and I am sure his little body needed the rest. We stayed home all day today even though we are in desperate need of groceries. Jeremy did run a 5K this morning for a race hosted by our church. I cleaned the house until I got tired and organized and threw away a bunch of stuff we do not need. I found mine and Jeremy's college ID from 1999-2000 in the drawer in the kitchen, so, yeah, time to throw some stuff out:) I have one final project due for one of my classes and then I will be done, Hallelujah!!! Now if I can o...

I hate that it seems the only time I have been posting is to describe some calamity in the Riggs' household, but here I am again. The whole week of Thanksgiving Sam was not feeling great. He complained of a sore throat and was stuffy. He never ran a fever and he seemed to get better. This whole week I could tell in his eyes that he was still not feeling the best. Yesterday morning when I went in to wake him up he was burning up. His fever was 102. Jeremy stayed in with him yesterday. No new symptoms, just the fever on and off and he took a 4 hour nap. When I got in from class last night he was in bed but he was awake and he seemed to be feeling better. I had already called in because he still had the fever, so I slept with him. Jeremy came in around 5:30 this morning to give him another dose of Advil. Around 6:00 Sam shot out of bed and said his nose was about to bleed. Bleed it did. I have never seen so much blood come out of somebody's nose. It was shooting out. Our bathroom ...

"The birth mother was born and raised in Seoul. Her father is a calligraphy teacher. Her parents were divorced when she was little. She was cut off from her father and she lived with her mother. When her mother got a job in another city, she moved in with her grandparents. When she was a junior in high school, she lost interest in studying and she quit school. She left home and started living alone. She gave birth to a son from another boyfriend in February 2004, and he us adopted into an American home (Not Samuel). In January 2006, she first came to know the birth father of this child while playing internet games and they started going out. At her 5th month, she realized her pregnancy. She told it to him and he evaded his responsibilities. In November 2006, she entered a shelter for unmarried affiliates of SWS (our agency in Korea). She delivered this child during her stay at the shelter, nine weeks earlier than planned. The birth parenst decided on adoption since they were both ...

We have had a pretty crazy week! Thankfully we were able to get Jeremy's truck (okay it is an SUV, but we call it a truck:) fixed and we went to Chicago on Friday. On the way we stopped and ate supper with me mom, dad, and brother. Emma got her birthday present from Grandma which was her monkey bedding. I am not sure when she started liking monkeys, but that is what she wanted. Chloe is wanting Minnie Mouse bedding (which Grandma already purchased) for Christmas. Sam wanted Cars stuff and I found a great sale on the old Cars bedding when the new Cars 2 stuff came out. It is weird, but not since they were babies have I gotten them bedding that they wanted. We have just been using the sheets and comforters we had.  Anyway, we got to Chicago Friday night and the kids were in awe at all the buildings and lights and traffic! Chloe was relieved that they had a McDonald's, but was upset that we did not see a Wal-Mart anywhere:) We stayed with a family that we stayed with last time and...

I cannot believe it is already November! Where has this year gone? I am happy to report that I am feeling much better. I had a pretty good weekend and I have felt pretty good these past few days. I think the new medicine might be working! I am in a little less pain, but there are a few things I have noticed. One I seem to be a little bit forgetfull. I really have to write things down if I am going to remember to get them done. I have also noticed that I get a little bit more aggrevated with people. It has not been too bad, but I find myself speaking my mind a little more. I am not sure if that has anything to do with the medicine, though:) I know I have not posted much about the Sensa recently, but it is still going well. I really did not do it the past few weeks because I had enough to worry about, but I did lose 10 pounds and I am feeling so much better (minus all the muscle pain:)I realize that losing weight is going to be a slow process for me so I have resolved that even if I only...

I am doing much better today, but I am sorry to report that it got worse before it got better. Despite the rain yesterday I woke up and felt a little bit better. I attribute that to the many prayers that were said on behalf of me. I got to school and that really does cheer me up. I love my little class! I had my pity party and I was ready to move on. At lunch I was heating up some soup that I had made the night before and I took it out of the microwave and I am not sure what happened, but the next thing I knew I had soup all over the front of my shirt and red welts were beginning to form on my wrist where soup has burned me. One of the teachers came up behind me and thought I had spilled some on the floor but soon discovered that I had made a bigger mess of the soup and myself. I was shaking and trying with all my might not to burst into tears. I went into the bathroom, but it was obvious that I was going to go home and change. I was trying to process what had happened and it was like ...

Okay. So life has been hard these past few weeks. Well, maybe not life in general, but I have been having a rough time. So, I am choosing to have myself a little pity party. If you would like to join me, keep reading. I do not talk much about my fibromyalgia. One, I do not like to complain and I feel like I am just a big complainer when I do talk about it. Two, the truth is that if you do not have it you cannot fully wrap your mind or sympathy around the pain I feel every day of my life. Over the past two years I really have learned to live with it. My husband and kids would see a glimpse of my pain, but I even tried to hide it from them. I really struggle with letting people know my own hurt and pain. Almost a year ago I was finally diagnosed and was able to get a mild relief from the intense pain. Of course the first few medicines work for a few months but then I was changed to a more powerful medicine. Well, about a month ago my pain has returned at full force. I was scheduled to go...

We had a wonderful time in Oklahoma. We left Friday morning and traveled all day. We arrived at Josh and Allison's house (Jeremy's brother) around 6:00. We ate supper and Jeremy and Josh had to run to Lowes to fix our display for church. The kids ran around the house and had a blast. Allison and I sat and talked. The guys returned sometime after 9:00 to the kids still running around the house:) Us moms were enjoying talking too much and lost track of time. Saturday was Samuel's 7th birthday, yes I said 7th. He is growing up so much! I am so proud of him. I pray he keeps his tender heart and sweet spirit. We got up early and met some of our great friends for breakfast. They live in Oklahoma and we only see them every few years. We went to IHOP and enjoyed catching up on our lives. After breakfast we went to the Tulsa Zoo. My sister and Isabel drove up from Oklahoma City to spend the day with us. The kids had so much fun! After the zoo we went back to the house and we all too...

We had some excitement yesterday. We were on our way home from school yesterday and Sam started asking some questions about church stuff. He started out by asking me if  daddy and I were  Christians. I told hom "yes" and then he asked about the girls. I tried to explain to him that they did not really understand yet what it meant to ask Jesus to come into your heart. Sam was about Emma's age when he decided to pray and ask Jesus to come into his heart and so the past month or so we would talk to Emma but she had no idea what we were talking about. So, as we are driving home I can hear Emma asking Sam questions. She asked him "What happens to people who do not ask Jesus into their hearts?" Sam actually had a good answer, "They do not receive the key to Heaven." They continued to talk back and forth. We get home and Sam and Emma run off to Sam's room. About 10 minutes later Sam comes running out of his room with his Bible in his hands (this moment wa...

I know, I know, I have been a terrible blogger. Have I mentioned that I am a little busy? Well, every free minute has been spent doing something! We had an amazing time at our family reunion. I think Labor Day weekend it one of my favorite weekends. I do not have much to blog about. We have had a few showings on our house and we actually got a "maybe", but we have not heard anything else.  We have started lining up services at churches to share our vison of Chicago, so that is pretty exciting. So, I debated about sharing this because it mat be kind of silly, but it may help me be accountable. I started using something called Sensa. You sprinkle it on your food and it is supposed to help you feel full quicker (okay so that sounds pretty silly) I started last Monday and I weighed this morning and I have lost 7 pounds!! I was pretty surprised. I am a few pounds from the number that I always get stuck on so I am hoping that it continues to work. Here are a few pictures. [caption ...