Just a little Christmas cheer!

We headed to our Christmas services tonight at church. We had a wonderful time! I always love the ambience of Christmas and the feelings it brings.

Letters from the north pole

Letters from the north pole have arrived! 

 

Boys were pretty excited! 8 great days for Jacob!!!

First things first with Ms. Becky

Jacob has loved meeting with Miss Becky twice a month. She teaches through play. It has been very helpful for me and him! Today was just one of those many days I enjoyed. Watching him smile, learn and play!!!

Thanksgiving visit.

Robert.... :-)

 So dating....
Yes it proved to be very challenging.  Feeling happy and ready to move on I thought hey lets try this..  Christian Mingle...  For the birds!!!  The dates i went on were horrible!!!  Men in Hawaiian shirts, hi water pants, slamming vodka sodas.  Not pretty.

Match - Meat market.  No need to expand on that.

Then there was E harmony.  I took the dive and decided to try it. 3 months.  Its what I gave it.  I met some nice men.  Charles - wanted to retire in MN.  But after date 1 it was over.  Couldn't take the bad breath and poor manners.  Wasn't gonna work for me!  Lets just say dating has changed big time in 12 years!!!  Ryan - Well he was nice, and we had lots in common.  Dated for like a month.  But he clearly didn't know what he wanted in life.  Then I gave up.  I was done.  Too many bad dates from Feb - Aug.  To me it just didn't seem worth it to keep going.  I woke up on August 31st and bam Eharmony had CHARGED ME!!!!  I was mad!!!

Trying to get my money back I got an email.  From Robert...  Hey Jenny, I haven't been on in a while and would love to chat.  So I figured why not?  Right.  Gave him my email and still hoping Eharmony would give my 29.95 back.  No such luck on that.  But I started emailing with Robert.

I quickly found out that we had lots in common.  However, as a Navy commander in the Reserves he was currently serving in Afghanistan.  But again, I figured why not.  He wasn't scheduled to be home until Jan.  So we had lots of time to email, chat, Skype etc.  After just a few weeks we had HUNDREDS of pages of emails back and forth.  So much in common, lots to talk about.

Then I got the best news a gal could have prayed for.  He was coming home!!!  November 4th (i think) his feet were on US soil!!  I was so excited that he was home, safe and excited we would finely meet.  So November 8th, Robert flew to AZ and I picked him up at the airport.  He blushed when he first saw me. we spent the weekend at my house doing a whole lot of nothing.  Just had fun talking and cooking together.  Did I mention he loves to cook??  He has 2 boys.  9 and 10.  Lives in surprise AZ.  On Veterans Day he headed back to San Diego where he remains on active duty.

He was hurt and has 2 severed tendons and one retracted back in his leg.  He meets with the surgeon on the 16th and will find out if they can "fix" him.  If they can.  Which is what we are praying for.  He will have surgery and remain in San Diego until he is recovered and discharged from active duty.

I was able to see him again when I came home from Thanksgiving.  Met his boys and his brother.  But we talk almost everyday and he is amazing.  He hopes to be here the week of Christmas and spend a few days with me and the boys fixing things around the house.  So my dad doesn't have to do them.  AMAZING RIGHT???

Someone else would have NEVER done that!!!  Did I mention he bought me a block of knives on his visit for my birthday??  AMAZING RIGHT??

School

SO I mentioned that I was looking into getting my masters...  Well after much research I decided that the cost outweighed the benefits.  with no guarantee of a job, it just didn't make sense.  I am almost 40 you know...  who needs that much debt right???

So after lots of research and really feeling that it was time for me to move on from the daycare.  I went to a community college right next to my house.

Central Arizona College.

I applied for financial aid.  And BAM!  I am enrolled!!!  So I start January 21st. I ill be getting my certificate in medical billing and coding.  My hope is that I can get in with a hospital and work my way into an administration position.  Maybe then they will help pay for my masters.

So my last week of full time work at the daycare is this week!!!!  Yeah!!!!

March - December Catch Up

Wow!  Time flys when you are having fun!!!  Well April and May were interesting as I started on the dating scene.  It was a not what I expected it to be.  So needless to day I remained single!!!  Jackson ended school over memorial day and we had a nice long weekend to ourselves.

June = Camping, more camping, and ended with a trip home to MN
July = Started our month still in MN having a BLAST over the fourth of July.  Then headed home and had more camping trips.  The boys and I really embraced that this year. We had a blast exploring and of course eating TONS of marshmallows!!

August = School started :-( Yes I know we start school so early here.  But Jackson was excited to start 2nd grade.  He has done so awesome and has remained on the Principles list all year so far!!!  Jacob at this point was still with me at Watch Me Grow. I started exploring options about going back to school to get my Masters...  Exploring is the key word here...

September = We headed up North for Labor Day weekend and a trip to Dalia's and Larrys Cabin.  We took an awesome jeep ride, the boys helped him fix stuff, get in trouble while Dalia and spent time making items to emblesish our scrapbook pages!!!  Toward the end of the month Jamie and I decided that it would be best for Jacob to get enrolled at Imagine Eat Mesa (IEM) in the preschool program.  This way he could go every week. So we started on this grand adventure....

October = Jacob has shown us that he needs lots of attention.School has proven to be very challenging for him.  So I continue to pray that we make it each day.  But he has been sent home, and struggling with his anger.  I am working hard with the school....Grandma came to visit!!!!  Yeah!!!  We had a blast.  She helped me paint my furniture and reorganize parts of my house. It was awesome!!!

November = More Jacob Struggles...Well I have finely met with the school.  Well let me rephrase this.  I met with the school.  I brought Annette along to be my back up and second set of ears.  It went better than I guess I thought it did.  But the school has proven that they really want to work with me and are pleased with all the things that I am doing.  Jacob in enrolled in a program through first things first of Arizona.  Our friend Becky comes out to our house twice a month.  She teaches through play.  we have seen great strides in Jacob.  He has comes so far academically.

December = So far this month Jacob has done good in school.  we just have to make it 2 more weeks! Then we will be on winter break!!!  Yeah!!!