Top 10 reasons to marry a elementary school teacher

1. Holidays. Almost every holiday elementary schools celebrate. What do you when you celebrate? You eat! So following these class celebrations, Jory, my elementary school teacher, brings home all the left over treats, candy and “holiday gifts” given to him through out the day (how come patient’s can’t be as generous as PARENTS?!). There is NOTHING better than us (more like ME) sitting on the floor sampling all of Jor’s presents and treats. Oh, I admit it, I am terrible, but I have no holding back when it comes to Holidays.

2. Summers off. I still think this might almost be illegal. To be paid while NOT working? I still haven’t wrapped my brain around it. I’m too jealous to write anymore about it. But I’m happy Jor gets to be home so much.

3. Logging into FB and seeing 4 friend requests- just to find that it’s Jory’s 10 year old students. Boosts my self confidence every. time.

4. Decorating and organizing his classroom.

5. Being called Mrs. Schmidt.

6. Having other people’s children take care of our animals. This week Jory and I moved our too large and in charge fish tank into his classroom. It’s nice to get a little break from our Toby and Desmond. Now if only we can teach the kids how to clean the fish tank…

7. Having your husband, the teacher, wake you up at 3:00 am talking in his sleep… rambling about electronic random name generators and ipad based classrooms… Not something I would dream about that’s for sure. and if you’re wondering YES that does happen.

8. Having to clean grass stains out of your husbands nice dress clothes cause he played kickball at recess again and those 6^th graders just make him a little too competitive.

9. Getting all of our gingerbread house making materials donated to us every year from the left overs from the donations for the classroom…. This really might be my number one reason for marrying Jor.

10. Costco, gas stations, and restaurants running into cute little kids that get sooo excited to see Mr. Schmidt.

Miracles

As many of you may know, last Wednesday, thankfully now- than later, they found a tumor in my sweet mamas brain.
It's all I've known, my Mother having cancer. It's just been a way of life. Watching her battle through everything that someone diagnosed with this awful disease has to go through, has been something that our family has learned to live with and has been very difficult to see.
Watching a woman lose every physical thing that makes her feel beautiful is something that just makes you ache.
Countless CT scans, MRI's, surgeries and chemo treatments. Through moderate heart failures, blot clots, body cramps, fatigue and headaches. My mother is a miracle and has been for 17 years. I feel so blessed to have her in my life.

It's hard for me to write that I am thankful for all of her trials, but I'm grateful for everything that it has taught me. Observing her through out these years, I have never met anyone more faithful, diligent or strong. So positive towards life and willing to put everything in God's hands and to just TRUST.
I've also learned that people; friends, families, neighbors, do have the power to heal you. There is nothing more overwhelming to me, than the love that our family has been shown through out my childhood still to this day! Hundreds and hundreds of meals. Letters, phone calls, visits. Babysitters, neighbor laundry doers, house cleaners, and comforting words. Flowers. Money... I even remember full Christmas's being brought to our doorstep on Christmas Eve, not just once. These are the things that I think about when I think about my Mother's disease. I think about how people, every day people, with their own hard lives, give to make ours a little better. People who give so much their time, love and energy to someone else is something indescribable, really.

It can always be worse, and we know that. There are so many terrible and unfortunate things we all hear about daily. Circumstances that are so much worse than ours. Or just little things that can take over our happiness. Everyone has something hard in their life, and this is my mothers, and our families. But it's something we will conquer, because that's what you do. You don't turn your back on life, and give up. But you are hopeful, wish for the best, and it will work out. It always does. Maybe not how we want it to, but it will work out how it is supposed to.
We actually feel lucky about- well almost everything about this tumor. When and how we found it, where it's located, what kind it is - down to the anesthesiologist and the Dr who will be removing it tomorrow. We've already got meals lined up for the almost week she'll be in the hospital and people who've offered to babysit Scotty or clean our house. Most importantly, thousands of prayers have been said, by these same everyday people who care about her. She's my miracle mama who's gonna conquer this curve ball, too.