Back to School

I can't believe that summer is over! And boy are we happy about it in the Ebbert household! Ethan and Emily have been so ready to be back in school and so have I. Ethan still loves to hole himself up in his room and just play Legos. Emily has spent the recent weeks being the little helper around the house or going to Nana and Papa's. With a little encouragement from me, the kids and their Daddy started having Monopoly challenges during the day and Ethan and Emily really loved that! And the kids have gotten into playing other board games as well. One day when they were playing the game of Life, Emily said, "I'm going to let Ethan be the banker because he is the smartest person in the house." At the time she said this, we were really at a crossroads on what to do about school this year and whether or not we were going to keep them separated or put them in the same class. There were some changes that had taken place over the summer with teacher changes and Emily's teacher that she was going to have had moved to a different school. Well, considering her horrible year last year with headaches, I was panicking about what to do. I just didn't want to risk having her in a class with just anybody, especially with me working now and not being as easily accessible. I was considering putting them together. However, when Emily made that comment about Ethan being the "smartest person in the house", I was instantly reminded why we separated our kids from the very beginning after Kindergarten. Our kids are not dependant on each other, but they do COMPETE with each other. I did not want either one of them to start having self-esteem issues again. We have tried really hard to make them realize that they each have their own strengths. Emily is a reading and language arts genius and Ethan is our math and science whiz. As it turns out, I am actually very happy now with Emily's new teacher. I had received a call from her first grade teacher informing me of the change and she assured me that the new teacher would be a good fit for Emily and be wonderful in dealing with her issues. I didn't totally rest easy, though, until I met her myself. The moment we sat down and started talking about Emily's issues, she instantly told me that she would just put my cell number in her phone and would text me when Emily is having a problem. Phew! And I think that Ethan's teacher is going to be great. We just got to meet her for the first time last night. This is the teacher that was recommended from his first grade teacher. According to her, she felt like this teacher would be perfect for him because she really pushes her kids and can push Ethan to reach his full potential. When I had mentioned this teacher to another one of my teacher friends, her comment was "she is great for those little Sheldon's". Ha-ha! And yes, we are referring to the character Sheldon from the Big Bang Theory tv show. That is our little nickname for Ethan. When Ethan met his teacher last night and she told him that she likes to do a lot of science, he exclaimed "YES!!!!!" And just so everybody knows, I did ask the kids about being together this year or being separated, and they both said that they DID NOT want to be together.

So, Monday is the first day of school. We have everything ready. The supply fees have been paid. Their uniforms are washed and ready. And this year the kids will be doing something brand new. They will be attending After School Care every afternoon. Since I'm working now, and hopefully Rob will be soon, we just had to make arrangements for care for them now. This year the school received a grant for their ASCC program and they will offer music, art, and even tae kwon do. The kids are actually pretty excited about going. It's nice to know that I don't have to worry about them and they will have a chance to get their homework done there before they even come home!

My job is going okay. I've been there a month now, although it feels like a year. Ha-ha! I've gotten into a routine and so that is good. After all of my training was over and I was actually working on my own, I had only been there three days before they had offered me a full time position. I was hired in as part-time and was told that full time positions are few and far between in the bank. So, when they offered me the full time position, I jumped on it and accepted. That day, I came home from work and broke the news to the kids. I had warned Rob on my way home. Emily had still been really struggling with me working anyway, and so I knew the news would be hard to take. I came home that day and was in a good mood and said, "Guess what? I have good news!!" Emily said, "What? You don't have to work until 5:00 anymore?" In my mind, I thought...Oh shoot, this isn't going to go well. I then said with enthusiasm, "No, they offered me a full time job and I accepted." Emily made a scowling look on her face and replied, "How is THAT good news?!?!?!" The bright side now is that she has adjusted. A month has gone by and she is no longer crying when I leave. She tells me all the time how much she misses me during the day, and I know that she does, but once school starts then she will be so much happier.

I also wanted to give an update on my dad. He is needing prayers right now more than ever. He has had a really difficult time this summer with his health. He was having that heart flutter and had to have his heart shocked back into rhythm. He suffered from that horrible allergic skin reaction that made him miserable and he's just now feeling normal again from that. He finished his radiation treatments for his cancer and he had his follow-up CT scan just last week. The news was not what we had hoped for. The mass in his lung did not shrink at all from the radiation like they had hoped. In fact, it had grown some. The doctors have said that time is of the essence right now and that the mass MUST come out, and soon. It is starting to wrap around his airway. The mass is about the size of your fist and is sitting in his lung almost against his heart. The plan is to go in and remove the mass and part of his lung. That is if it all goes well. If it doesn't go well then they will have to remove the entire lung. The recovery will be very long and very painful. The surgery was originally planned for next week (Aug 18). Dad went yesterday to do some preliminary testing and he found out that he isn't stable enough for surgery right now. The surgery has been postponed until Aug 27 to get everything stabilized. We really need all of the prayers that we can get.

I know that I have gone a long time between updates, but I will be updating again soon since we have the first day of school next week as well as Dad's surgery coming up.