Red Tape

So it took about 3 months to get all of the paperwork necessary for me to apply for my pay raise for my new degree. Well today I received notification from the State Professional Standards Commission that the paperwork I submitted was not correctly done. The problem is that the transcripts that were provided to me by KSU did not have a graduation date printed on the transcript. So I had to call KSU and try to figure out how to get a correctly formatted transcript so that I can get my new upgraded teaching certificate.

I am also disappointed because my $6500 pay raise for earning my new degree is slowly being chipped away. I lost about $3000 of it when my contract was changed from a 200 day to a 190 day contract. Now this week with the 3 day furlough I am loosing about $1000 more. At least at this point my pay will not be lower than what it was last year, but if they cut much more it will be.

This economy has to improve soon.

A few Extra Days of Summer

Due to the budget crisis in the state of Georgia, I have been given 2 extra days of summer and will also have election day off in November. I was suppose to return to work on Monday, and now that return date has been pushed back to Wednesday. While I will enjoy the extra few days of summer I will not enjoy yet another pay cut. I also do not like that I will not have time to get everything ready to go for my students come next Monday, but there is really nothing that I can do about the situation.

Where did summer go???

Today is my last official Friday of summer. Monday I have to start back to work by attending the annual GACTE conference. Unfortunately this year I am going to this conference on my own time and not being paid to go. Last year the dates of the conference were tied to my school contract dates which was nice. However, this year since my contact days have been cut, this conference is cutting into my summer and I am not happy about that. The kicker is that we also no longer earn Professional Development Units for attending this conference. So I wonder what is the point of attending is other than going to small group sessions that may or may not be related to what I need to know for my job.

I finally got all of the documents necessary to apply for my upgraded teaching certificate and pay grade increase. When I dropped off the paperwork I was informed that the pay increase was retroactive to May 13 which was when I graduated. So that is nice I will have a little extra in my August check.

I just can not believe that summer is over already.

Quick Trip to IN

Caleb went to Indiana with his grandparents and cousin on Tuesday, July 7. So on Thursday afternoon David, Madilyn and I headed to IN to pick Caleb up so that he could leave for Scout Camp on Sunday (today).

Madilyn did really well on the trip to IN. She was in her new "big girl" car seat and acted like she was all grown up. Shortly before reaching our hotel we had a message that they had upgraded our room to a Full Suite. When we got to the hotel I could not believe the room. It was larger than the first apartment that David and I had together. We were all tired and slept really well. Madilyn actually slept until 8:00 am. That in itself was a miracle.

We spent Friday at Tim's house visiting with his family and David's parents. Stephen and his wife, Tasha stopped by for a little while. Stephen and his family are in the process of moving to the property that is owned by David's parents. Tim already lives on the property.

Tim got a cake for Diane and Aubrey's wedding anniversary which was on Friday.

Saturday around 10:00 we head back to Canton. Our trip took a little longer than expected. There was lots of traffic and several construction zones that slowed us down. We arrived home around 6 pm. Caleb had to finish packing for scouts. By the time we went to bed everyone was exhausted.

We attended the 8:30 service at church today and then came home to get Caleb ready to go to camp. It was strange to attend service and not stay to serve in Planet Shakers. Right now Madilyn is napping and David is taking Caleb to the meeting place for camp. The house is quiet and I am enjoying a few minutes of down time.

Bad Week

So I had a really bad week. First off my birthday was on Tuesday and only 1 extended family member even bothered to wish me a Happy Birthday. I knew some of them were mad at me because of some events that occurred while we were on vacation last week but I did not realize that they were all still mad to the point of being so cruel as to not even text or email birthday wishes.

On Tuesday also broke a bottle of David's cologne when I was unpacking our bags. The house smelled for days and was over whelming. On Wednesday, I dropped my coffee cup and the lid to Madilyns sippy cup came off so we had a big mess in the living room. Then on Saturday I broke an expensive crystal decanter. I did not think that things could get any worse.

But then they did....

On Sunday July 5, on the way home from church I hydroplaned while driving David's truck. Thankfully no one was hurt and Madilyn was already safely at home with David but the back end of the truck is a mess. We got the estimates on damages, and I am just thankful that we have insurance. Our out of pocket will be $500 but the estimated cost of repairs are $6300 and will take about 12 working days to complete.

Here's hoping that the coming days will much better.

July 01, 2009-One Year ago today

Last year at this time we were arriving in Iowa and contacting the adoption agency, shopping for baby stuff like crazy and playing a waiting game. One year ago today we were on pins and needles wondering if we would actually leave Iowa with a newborn baby girl or if our trip had been made in vain. One year ago today I walked around in a fog happy and both scared at the same time. One year ago today we met our wonderful, happy baby girl at 11:45 pm in a hotel lobby.

Time has gone by very quickly and I feel so blessed to be the mom to 2 great kids. Both of who joined our family in a "non" traditional way. Caleb (13) joined us after several stressful years of fertility treatments. Just when we gave up on having a child God blessed us with a wonderful healthy son. Then 12 years later just when we gave up on ever adopting a child God blessed us with our wonderful daughter Madilyn (1).

I don't know why forming our family has been so hard, but we made it through both the struggles of infertility and adoption. I know we lived through these struggles for a reason, I just am not sure of the reason. I truly feel blessed to have the children and husband that I have.