Nice is Nice

The one thing I have learned about Tahlequah, Oklahoma is that some of the people here are just plain nice! There is a Love's Country Store that has good gas prices and makes these great sandwiches PLUS the employees are some of the friendliest people I have ever met.  The girl  that made our sandwiches today and loaded them full, then before she closed it, smiled and asked if it looked good to me.  She had put what I wanted on it and acted like she cared that I was happy - and willing to add more if I wanted.  We have been in there several times in the last two months and every time they have been helpful, kind and friendly.  I like that!  It speaks very highly of the whole community.  Same sort of thing we keep seeing at Wal Mart where the guys taking in the shopping cart wish you a nice evening and ask how you are. 

A friendly smile and hello can make a huge difference in the lives of so many people around us.  Glad to see them being passed around in so many locations in my new hometown.

Baby Nursing Miracles!

My daughter gave birth to her baby the 7th of November and he couldn't get it together to latch on to nurse.  His muscles in his tongue wouldn't work right, you might call it a lazy tongue...  Many tears and several frustrating days later after working with a lactation specialist my daughter switched to using the bottle.  With the bottle we could convince him to put his tongue down and figure out how to suck.  Eleven weeks she has been faithfully pumping all of his milk and using the bottle, but yesterday her pump wasn't functioning right and she tried one more time to see if he would nurse - and he did!  She called me as he was happily sleeping after having his first good meal that wasn't from a bottle. That means after weeks of super hard work she just got  several hours a day given back to her life.  Happy baby, Happy mommy and Very happy Grandma.

Color Coding the World

I accidentally used the wrong lesson plan for one of my classes yesterday, or at least part of it.  We will just say that the second year students  got a lovely review- up to the point when I told them to open their books to a page that did not exist in their texts.  Flustered, we laughed and I proved my less than perfection to the world once more.  I have now set about to put things in order by color-coding my world!  Each level has their own color of sticky notes, lesson plans and the marker that I use when I have completed an assignment, or to highlight something I want to make sure I cover in class.  Our amazing Administrative Assistant is also going to get me some colored gel pens that aren't red for grading my papers, hoping for purple or green just to liven up the world!  I figure if you get a paper back with green corrections you will see it as a positive color and showing you can "grow" and improve.  Purple is kind of a happy color to me, so maybe it will make the corrections something seen as a positive, not so much negative that they want to throw in the towel!

 

Feeling Fat Day

I hate mornings when I wake up and just "feel fat".  I know it is a mental thing, but then when I step on the scales and it reconfirms my first opinion- doesn't make me a happy camper.  I have now set all of these goals for today, started off saying, "well I am just not going to eat", that turned to a  more realistic approach, "only liquids today"  I think I have now switched it to "I will eat smarter today and concentrate on vegetables"
This reality of days when you want to be good, but oh my it can be super difficult!  It was easier thirty minutes ago when I was not hungry at all!  By the time I get to the end of the day we shall hope that I am no longer feeling quite as fat.  I did do my workout this morning, but I think that is actually more my stress relief than anything else.  Thought about posting a picture with this BUT it is a fat day and I would much rather post one later when I am in a SKINNY day.  Right now choosing to post something extremely fattening or extremely healthy is just too rough of a choice. Wonder if I can get a Skinny day to really happen????

Saturday Wanderings ' J T Nickel Preserve

Nickel Preserve is a short drive out of Tahlequah and they have a 3 mile fairly easy hike.  They have released Elk into the area, although we didn´t see any of them we did see four large deer run across our path.  Of course they ran before I had a chance to catch them with my camera.
It amazes me when hiking this time of year how nature appears dead or hibernating, either resting or perhaps holding it´s breath.  It is like a promise just waiting to come forth, knowing that soon Spring will come and everything will change and blossom.  I think we as humans sometime go through the same phases, appearing dull and lifeless to some, but when you look deeper there is a huge potential just waiting to come out into the open.

The Challenge of Starting

The difficulty in starting a blog is all of those CHOICES!  DECISIONS!  I have been working for the last month trying to come up with a name for my blog - so I could even get started.  I could call this so many things like, Steps into the Real World,  Reaching toward Perfection (really isn't that a lifelong impossible journey???)  After much pondering and frustration I have decided to jump in, therefore the title became Choices - which lead to decisions and are sometimes very hard for me.  Changes - because life is full of changes and it is important how we deal with them.  Chapters - because I feel I/we are entering into another Chapter of life, one that appears pretty amazing from here.

Quick Update:  After finishing our mission in Guatemala where we served for the last two years we returned to the USA in October.  I quickly flew to England for the birth of my lovely new grandson where I was able to stay and play for three weeks.  Next stop flying from there to Idaho to meet up again with Harold and be there for the birth of Natalie's new baby boy the beginning of November.  The joy is more intense with the birth of these two new little ones because both of these daughters lost their first baby at about one week before birth, both for different reasons.  The births of those first little ones was so full of tears of pain, and with these we wept for joy.  Now the sleepless nights - although difficult are still moments of joy.

We returned to Arkansas the end of November and I continued to pursue the job hunt.  The end of December I was hired by Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.  We quickly popped over then and found an apartment and met members from the Church.  Right after Christmas we made the move in time to be here for work on the 6th of January.   The miracle was that we got completely moved in between snow and ice storms in DRY weather, the snow hit again the afternoon after we got into our new apartment.

It is exciting to be back at the University level.  I sympathize greatly for anyone teaching in the Public High School system, it was continually stressful with the requirements and continual paperwork.  The University here is small and I really enjoy the people I work with in the department, it seems like we are all focused on the same goals and there is a shared camaraderie that makes going to work a pleasure.  So far I am STARTING to get the hang of the technology involved, getting the rhythm back into my teaching and  feeling comfortable in my work.  The goal is to survive plus enjoy the first semester!

The community of Tahlequah is a gem that seems like it will fit us well, big enough that there is adequate shopping and interesting things to do.  It is the Capitol of the Cherokee nation so there are lots of historical and cultural things available, plus the University offers concerts, lectures and plays.  I am very excited  because thanks to the heritage of my mother  I have my CDIB -registered Choctaw, I am eligible for free health care through the Cherokee health system.  What a relief to know I can, hopefully, get a few things worked out - like my teethe!  They even said there is a new program for training your eyes that may help me fix my lazy eye,  something I had given up on years ago.  Nothing like having a wondering eye!  I always tell my students it is so they can never tell who I am looking at, although it really does bother me on the inside.

There are the Ten-Killer lakes 10 minutes to the South of us and the Illinois river 10 minutes to the North, can't beat that, plus we have already discovered at least one hiking trail, Sparrowhawk, very close to home.  It is a little strange living in an apartment but it does have two bathrooms (yes, that is very important at our ages!!) and is only about a five minute walk to my classes. We disposed of so many things before our mission that it and the small storage we rent fits us for right now.