About Me

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I've been married to my husband, Michael, for almost 25 years. I'm a mom to a biological son and an adopted son from Colombia, and I'm also a spiritual mom to my adopted son's older brother, who I claim as a son in my heart. I'm bilingual and love to work with and relate to Spanish-speaking children and families. I've been a teacher to students from all sorts of backgrounds and cultures for the last 20+ years. I'm also an author and a certified Biblical counselor. I'm in a new empty nest season in a new location far from where I raised my boys, so I'm definitely in a stage of rediscovering myself, my interests, and my purpose.

Surviving the Valley Series

Surviving the Valley Series
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Sunday, November 25, 2018

Thanksgiving 2018

I'm exhausted, as I am recalling now that Thanksgiving break has never been one to leave me feeling refreshed and rested, but my heart is full. However, for the moment, I am embracing a few hours of silence, hoping to recharge enough to head back in to a classroom full of seven-year-olds tomorrow morning. It's amazing what a little solitude and silence can do for me.

Thanksgiving break held a lot of purposeful, intentional activity, like:
 An afternoon coffee/game date with David. ( I love how we always resort to games when we have a little extra time on our hands).
 A nice dinner out with Juan after I picked him up from school and then took him to take his Spanish CLEP test (which he rocked, as expected).  A few extra Spanish credits to add to his transcript to get him a little further ahead with his studies, credits that he doesn't have to pay for and classes he won't have to take.
 Thanksgiving at my parents' house for the first time in many, many yearts. 
 Some scrumptious pies for dessert. 
 Cousin time.

 A Cowboys win
 Nice fall and Thanksgiving decorations for a change (I am not much of a decorator.)
 A little more game time with David.
 More fall decorations.

 Juan dancing while he made his grandma a pot of ajiaco soup, a soup that's typical in Bogota, Colombia.

 Family time--even Matt, who came on crutches after breaking his pelvis just a week before. (Ang is there, too, just taking the picture.)

Free coffee at Dunkin Donuts (thanks to the Cowboys win) after a day of Black Friday shopping.
 A guys' night out to watch the Sachse football team in the playoffs.
 Juan made me changua for breakfast, a typical Colombian breakfast that we enjoyed many times while waiting in Colombia for his adoption to finalize.
A coffee/tea/soda date with one of Juan's high school ESL teachers--one of the many people I am thankful for God strategically placing in Juan's life.
 A little Christmas decorating  with some of my favorite nativity sets
The set we had when I was growing up that I still put out every year.
My Jesus tree with ornaments that have different names of Jesus 
(my favorite decoration of all)



 A new nativity my mom just gave me from her collection she had in St. Louis.
The new tree we bought two years ago and haven't used yet (due to traveling last year). The cat posed just perfectly under the tree for me, but I forgot to move the shoes out of the way before I took the pic.)
A selfie at church with one of my favorite friends.

A quick selfie with my son, just before I left him at DBU for the next three weeks before Christmas break. He sure is in a good place there. I loved having him home for a few days, but I love watching him continue to grow and learn in such a good place. 

In the midst of all the gathering with family and friends, I did cherish some time alone to clean, reorganize (at least a little bit), and read two whole books that I've been wanting to read.

A full break. Fulfilling and fun. 

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