Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Update on Job

Well, I received "official" notice last Wednesday that I was losing my job. I had hope until today that I could bump a teacher at Fassett. However, I met with our Assistant Superintendent today and he explained to me why it wasn't possible. It's hard to explain, so if you want to know...ask. I guess now I need to talk to the treasurer's office about receiving unemployment. I'm not sure what I am going to do. I know that I am not applying for a teaching job, but besides that I am not sure.

Well, it's final. We no longer need to wonder. Jeromy and I will have to cut back on some things. We may even have to put off the adoption until next year (I hope not). I know God provides for all our needs so I am not worried about that. I am also still hoping and praying that we can adopt this year (please join me in praying that God will provide us with a way to fund our adoption). Also, continue to pray for me, I have struggled with minor depression issues with the miscarriages, infertility, and other issues, all of this is not helping that situation either.

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Softball Update

I forgot to keep everybody up to date on what is going on with our church softball team. Last week we played Mt. Zion Lutheran and lost . But, this week we played Grace Community Church and won.

We are having a great time still. Yes, they are still allowing me to play 2nd base. I guess I haven't screwed up totally yet. (Actually, Jeromy says that I'm doing pretty good.)

What Not to Say...(Part Two)

Today, I realized I forgot to mention something in an earlier post (What Not to Say... - found in January, I'm not sure how to make a link to it). Just in case you don't realize it, you should not ask married woman when they are going to start trying to have a baby. I know people are innocently asking the question because they are curious, but it is not a pleasant question when you are struggling with infertility. It is just so difficult to answer that question. Just a thought for you to keep in mind before you ask a question that might hurt somebody else (especially when you don't mean to).

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

"Unofficial" Notice

Well, I was given "unofficial" notice today that I will probably be cut. One of our assistant principals was talking to me about the senior I have in one of my classes and her final exam and he asked me if any one had talked to me about the potential cuts. He then proceeded to tell me that he hadn't heard anything from the school board as of yet, but since we had a person return to our department this year our department would be considered too large. In other words, language arts isn't important enough to keep the right amount of teachers.

Oh well, as you know from a previous post, I was kind of expecting this. I know God has a plan. I just wish I knew what it was. It is definitely frustrating knowing that this may hinder our adoption process. I will just wait and pray.

Prayers for our Baby's Birthmother

Lately, I have spent a lot of time thinking about the baby that God has for us and where he or she will come from. It's so weird to think that some woman/girl out in the world somewhere may already be pregnant with our baby. I am always praying for her. This girl is probably not happy to find out she is pregnant and is probably terrified about what her future holds. I pray that God is with her and eases her stress and pain.

I was listening to a Mark Schultz CD tonight and the song he wrote for his birthmother really moved me. It is called "Everything to Me" and here are the lyrics:

I must have felt your tears
When they took me from your arms
I'm sure I must heard you say goodbye
Lonely and afraid had you made a big mistake
Could an ocean even hold the tears you cried
But you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And you made the only choice you could that night
A brand new world to see
Like playing baseball in the yard with dad at night
Mom reading Goodnight Moon
And praying in my room
So if you worry if your choice was right
You gave me up but you gave everything to me
And if I saw you on the street
Would you know that it was me
And would your eyes be blue or green like mine
Would we share a warm embrace
Would you know me in your heart
Or would you smile and let me walk on by
Knowing you had dreams for me
You wanted the best for me
And I hope that you’d be proud of who I am
You gave life to me
A chance to find my dreams
And a chance to fall in love
You should have seen her shining face
On our wedding day
Oh is this the dream you had in mind
When you gave me up
You gave everything to me
And when I see you there
Watching from heaven’s gates
Into your arms
I’m gonna run
And when you look in my eyes
You can see my whole life
See who I was
And who I’ve become

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Yet Another Day Off School

This is becoming frustrating. Once again, school has been cancelled. This morning we had incredibly dense fog. Jeromy actually woke up at around 4:30 to go to the bathroom and as he came back to bed he muttered something about the fog and that we would probably have a delay. Well, he was right. At 5:25, my mom called to tell me we had a two-hour delay (she gets a call from a friend who knows before it even gets on the television). I welcomed the extra sleep, but when I woke up at 7:50 I noticed it was still very foggy. By 8:45, we were cancelled.

This is so frustrating! Our last day of school was supposed to be May 31st with the teacher workday on June 1. The student's last day is now June 6 with the teacher workday on June 7. I feel like Summer Vacation is never going to get here. It's kind of like the movie Groundhog Day. We will be stuck on 18 school days left until summer vacation forever.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

The Great Unknown...

I realized just now that I have not written about the dilemma that is going on with work. Our school district is going to be 11 million dollars over budget in a few short years (this is a projected amount). This is not totally due to decisions made within the district, this deficit has been caused by House Bill 66 which was passed this winter by the Ohio Senate. In this bill, the school district loses much of the tax money that it once received from different industries. For those of you who don't know, Oregon is chuck full of industry (the main ones being oil refineries for BP and SunOil). Because of this loss we are facing a huge hole in our budget. Not to mention that the supreme court has deemed school funding in the state of Ohio as unconditional. Don't even get me started on that.

To fix this budgetary problem the school board has made some very unwise decisions (at least in my opinion). To begin with, they have known of this problem for a while and have dragged their feet when making decisions. This is a problem for us who may lose our jobs. We would just like to know what is going on. When the process began the board and administration promised that they would make cuts that would least affect the students' education. Well, last night they made decisions that proved that they were not actually thinking about what was best for the students within our district.

They are placing a levy for 5.9 mills on the ballet in November. This is problematic because that is a huge jump in taxes for the people in Oregon. Not to mention that school levies across the state have been failing for years. Also, it is going to be a hard sell because we are just completing the building or remodeling of many of our buildings. Then, of course, there is the football coach that we just hired for $50,000 a year (yes, high school football. He does not have a teaching or administration degree. But they are making up an administration position for him.)
Meanwhile, along with yesterday's announcement of millage, it was announced that they would be making $2 million dollars in cuts. These cuts would mainly be teaching positions throughout the district, but mainly at the middle school level.

This may also affect me and my job. According to the cuts, two academic positions at the high school will be cut. So now, I'm just waiting for any news that tells me if I am safe or not. I'm not going to worry about it. There isn't any reason to. Whatever happens is all in God's hands. I know he has a plan and I trust him!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

Well, we had our first game on Monday and we won! We played this team which has been mean to us every year, so we take pleasure every time we beat them. They are very cocky.

We did have a slight advantage over them as well. They could only play nine players (even though they had 11) and every time the tenth batter came up in the line-up they had to take an out. This is because they only had two girls and the league rules require three. If they would have played 10 they would have had to forfeit.

Anyways, enough of that! We had a blast (even before the game began). As a team, we get along incredibly well! We were all laughing throughout the entire team. We claim each season that that is why we are a winning team. We are playing to win, but we are mainly playing to have fun. Boy, do we have fun.

I had to play 2nd base. This is a huge change from every other year I have played. Usually, I play either right field or left center. At the end of last year's season, they began playing me at 2nd base. I think I am starting to get better this year. Jeromy said that he was very proud of me Monday night! That really makes me happy to hear him say that.

I can't wait until the next game! It's against a new team from a local church who has joined our league. It should be interesting and a new challenge.

Friday, May 4, 2007

Softball Season is About to Begin!

For some reason, I am very excited about softball season starting up again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not very good (however, our team won the league and tourney last year). We have so much fun playing and fellowshipping with each other!

Our first game is this Monday night at 9:00 pm at Railway Park in Walbridge. I don't like the late games when school is still in session, but I will survive. We have one last practice tomorrow afternoon to get ready.

In other news...We may finally get our plumbing issue in the upstairs bathroom fixed this weekend. For those of you who don't know, we have had a drippy faucet in our bathtub for at least a year. It started as a drip and is now much more than that (it is actually running 24/7). Kelly's husband, Monny, is coming over tomorrow to help Jeromy fix it. He says he knows what is wrong and that it is an easy fix. Let's hope so. Now, if we could only get the dead tree out of our front yard...