Memorable Memorial Day

Well, I wish I could say that our weekend has gone exactly as I described it in my last post....boring, no real plans, just family fun. It did go like that until today. I don't have too much time to write, but I will try to write the big happenings.

Around 11am my mom sent a text saying my dad thought he was having a heart attack and they were on their way to the ER. They went to the small town ER where they live because my dad didnt think they could make it to Jackson. Once in the ER, they transported him by ambulance to Jackson. Mom & Dad got to the ER in Jackson and they were preparing to take my dad back to do a cath. While the cardiologist was in my dad's area in the ER, my dad had a heart attack so they took him back right away. Once back they found 99% blockage in his front valve(?-or something like that) and put in a stint. The cardiologist said he did well, but did have another heart attack while on the table and they were still working on him. He got out of surgery and sent up to ICU. I arrived to the hospital right after this but before visiting hours. Visiting hours came and they told us we could not go up yet because he wasnt situated in his room. We waited and waited and my mom finally asked to speak with a nurse on his floor. They told her that there was an emergency, but it was not my dad.....anyway, we finally got to go up, and it turns out the emergency WAS my dad. He has been pumped with so many blood thinners that they were having trouble getting his bleeding to stop.

So far, we have been able to go up twice to see him. I could tell he had improved from the first time until the 2nd time. My brother, mom, and I are all camped out in the ICU Family waiting room for the night. We are hoping he gets moved to a regular room sometime tomorrow and then home by the end of the week.

I am off to get some food because I havent eaten since breakfast. Please keep our family in youru prayers. It has been a rough day, but I am praying the worst is behind us.

Blog, blog, blog...

I know I haven't been blogging much over the past few months. It's not because I have nothing to blog about, it's actually the opposite. I often have things that happen during my day and I think "now that would be a great blog", but I just don't blog.

Anyway, we have no plans for Memorial Day weekend and I am so excited about that! Well, we do have plans, but no set times or rushing around to a million cookouts or anything....we just plan to have a relaxing family weekend playing outside, going to the pool, grilling out at home, church on Sunday, maybe a family bike ride, and that's about it.

I also plan to do some catching up with my blog this weekend.

I hope everyone has a great, long weekend. Just take some time to remember why we have Memorial Day. Even when life isn't perfect, we ALL have reasons to be so thankful!

Yes, I'm a Dork

Growing up in my house meant that I (along with my siblings) were expected to do well in school, continue our education after high school, and grow up to be successful contributors into society. You see, my mom was a teacher for 36ish years and so applying ourselves to do well when it came to our education was something that was important and expected.

I am blessed to say that school for the most part was pretty easy for me. I didn't have to study HOURS upon HOURS to get good grades. My school may have been a little easier than others, or maybe my siblings and I inherited great genes, but whatever the case, I didn't struggle with school.

In fact, of the 4 kids in my family (including me), all 4 of us graduated in the top 10 of our class...not 10%, but top 10 people....if you are wondering, I was #5.

That being said I HATED science and history. Although I could pass the classes, I didn't really learn much, retain much, or whatever. If you asked me about wars, presidents, geography, etc, I probably wouldn't be able to answer it. However, when it came to math, well, I LOVED math. There was just something so rewarding about getting to the end of a problem that took up a whole page and seeing that you got the right answer. Call it instant gratification, or whatever else, but I just loved math...and not just math, but Algebra, Geometry, Calculus, etc. It came easy to me and I loved the challenge.

After my first semester of college, where I took Calculus and passed with an A, I never took another math class. I didn't need anymore math credits for my major, so I stopped there.

Fast forward 11 years....I had a friend ask me if I would be interested in tutoring her homeschooled son who is not good at math and needed help. I told her I would love to. Of course, at the time I wasn't thinking that it had been 13-15 years since I have had an Algebra class. Once I committed, I got a little nervous. What if I don't remember how to do the math? What if he doesn't understand what I am doing? What if I can't explain it to him in a way that he "gets it"?

Monday morning was THE day. It was the first time I was going to sit down with him to tutor. We jumped in and went over so many concepts. He kept telling me he 'got it', but i was a little nervous that he was just telling me that. Don't get me wrong, I would make him do problems with me and then do them alone, but I was still a little uneasy that he wasn't grasping all that we were doing.

Well, he went to take his test this morning....yes, he is homeschooled, but has to go take a test that is administered by someone. When I showed up today to tutor him for a little bit, he shared his test results. This kid, who does not do well in math, does not like math, doesn't understand math, hates math, etc......THIS kid made a 100 on his test which covered all the material we went over Monday!!! To say I was proud woud be an understatement. I thought I was going to cry hearing this news.

His mom is a dear friend of mine and I wanted her to see progress with my tutoring because he has not had the best experience with tutors in the past, but I never expected a 100 on his first test!!!

That was such great news today....yes, I know I'm a dork that loves math, but now I am a dork that loves math AND can teach it too!!