My View.

This will be my view for the next three weeks

or so.  I am so excited to jump out of bed at

5:30a.m. tomorrow morning and hit the

streets for my 8.3.  As soon as I come back

in the door, I am calling my three principals

to schedule their interviews.

I pray that I will get to interview all three

principals this week.

 As soon as the interviews are complete, I

plan to have them transcribed and get crackin'

on writing Chapters 4 and 5 of my dissertation.

 I am setting a personal goal of three weeks

to type Chapters 4 and 5.  I am super excited!!!

After writing Chapters 4 and 5, they have to

be edited and submitted to format editing!!!

I am pray, pray, praying that the whole 

process will be over by summer!!!!!!!

Green Light.

After days and weeks and months . . . I have

FINALLY received approval from BOTH my

university and the school district to begin my

doctoral research.  Get your seat belts fastened!!!

I am going to be one busy, busy girl over the

next couple of months!!!  I plan on interviewing

my principals right away, getting the interviews

transcribed, coding the material, tallying the

surveys and writing like the wind over the

next 60 days . . . 

On your mark, get set, finish this doctorate!!!

Jeff's FIRST Haircut.

My little bro showed up today desiring

one of my specialty haircuts.  I sure do

wish that I had taken an "after" pic

also, because he looked amazing!!!

He put a bandaid on his soul-patch

as he knew I was dying to cut that off

as well.  Fun times with brother!!  I am

so thankful that we are so close!!!

Luke's New Bike.

This is Luke's new bike helmet to go with

his new bike!!  Luke's bike IS MOST
DEFINITELY the best investment our

family has made . . . He loves being 

outdoors and has so many friends and

things to do within riding distance.  Giving

him these wheels was the bestest idea

EVER!!!!  I am so thrilled that he is having

so much fun!  I love that he is outside and

getting exercise also!!!

Great buy!!!

Four Months.

Of course my Sam took these amazing

pics when the guys were out on fishing

trips in Reno.  We do realize that we 

have so very many blessings!  Our

family is so thankful for our wonderful

cheerleaders and support team.  We

pray for them always and are ever

grateful for their constant presence in

our lives and their constant care,

thoughts, and prayers for our family.

I would be hard pressed to say that we

would be in such good shape without

them.  We continue to praise God for

the fact that I am able to stay home with

our boys.  We understand what a 

hardship it would be if I had to leave the

boys each day to go to work and to come

home, keep the house inside and out,

care for the boys, run the errands . . . and

the endless list of things that must be

accomplished each and every day.

As we approach four months, we are

now coming to understand that our

new "normal" will now be the way that

we navigate through this life . . . We are

prepared to embrace our new journey

and excited for the triumphs and trials

that we encounter along the way . . .

Buckle up!

Missing our Dad.

The boys and I were talking tonight about 

how very much we miss our Dad.  He was

most definitely one in a million!!!  We talked

about how devoted he was to our family and

how he was interested in ANYTHING that

we were interested in.  He loved to support

us in ALL that we did.  Luke especially misses

all of the outdoor fun and activities that our

Dad so loved to participate in with our

boys.  Even when we moved back to Las

Vegas and his health was failing so, he

would take Luke out to look for birds and

wanted so desperately to take him deer

hunting.  It has been almost four months 

since our wonderful husband and Dad 

passed from this life.  It is still so very

difficult to imagine that he is really in

Heaven.  It is difficult to imagine that he

is really not going to walk through that

front door at any moment.  As the rubber

meets the road, we are encouraged by the

legacy of this sweet wonderful family man.

We are so grateful that he was ours and

that we were so very, very blessed to

have him as the head of our family.  We

miss him so and cannot wait to meet

him again ONE DAY VERY SOON!

Monday Madness.

Much of my day was spent here with my

sweet Sam on the links and my sweet

Luke completing all of his schoolwork in 

the golf cart.  For the first two hole it was

beautiful out . . . then it turned cloudy,

a little rainy, windy, and cold.  I made

a quick trip to my Mom's to pick up

blankets.  Luke and I were so much more

comfortable the rest of the day.  I usually

take my scary quilt that has been dragged

to every golf match, baseball game, and

outdoor activity, but thought it was going

to be warmer out.  Ugh!!

Sam finished well . . . he just loves holes

9 and 18!!!

Luke and I had to make a quick run 

to home for Scout clothes and then off

to the church for Scouts.  We have had

a b-u-s-y Monday.  I am very grateful that

my days are full and that we have such

great kids to share them with.

Happy Monday!!!