Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

I was smiling so much my face started to hurt.
It was a sunny day in August, and I had just been offered the job I had prayed for (literally) for half a year!

Let me explain.
 
I had wanted to find a little job to help fill the hours of the day while the kids were at school.  It had to start after 9am and finish before 3pm.  I did not want to, nor have to, give up the time I had with them at home.

I had spent many hours at daily mass and time in Adoration asking God where He wanted me to be.

It was probably at the beginning of 2015 that I started asking Tommy, Ann, and Matthew, "What does Mrs. B do at the school?  Shouldn't she be getting ready to retire soon?"

Now, Mrs. B has been at the elementary school for a long time.  When the kids described what role she played there I said, "I can do that!  I want her job."

This conversation went on weekly.  During after school snacks as I sat around the table listening about their day, I would always bring up Mrs. B.  "Any news on Mrs. B retiring?"  "No", they'd say.

All the while I kept praying for the perfect job to show up, intermittently checking the school district website, among others, for a perfect fit.

In July I checked the website at THE most perfect time.  I could not believe my eyes.

Teacher's Assistant  3 hours/day.  (at our elementary school)

Upon further digging, I read that Mrs. B had resigned.  I had 4 days to submit my application.

Luckily for me, my husband helped me and made my qualifications sound stellar.  (are you familiar with the saying, "He can sell a screen door to a submarine skipper"? Yeah, that's Bill.)  He also encouraged me to call the principal before I handed in my application, which I did.  Two days later she called to offer me the job!

I ran downstairs to share the news with the kids... dancing, smiling, and woo-hooing the entire time.  (Yes, they looked at me like I was crazy)  To truly understand why this was such a big deal, you may want to go back and read the post I wrote HERE.

If I had to attach a moral to this story:  Never give up, never settle, and pray always.

Who am I to disagree?

Knee Deep In The Hoopla

I imagine you are all excited right now.  You are probably:

1. ...glad to see I'm alive.
2. ...waiting to read about the exciting things going on here that has kept me away from blogging.
3. ...thinking it's going to be a post on Big 80's music because of the title.
4. All of the above.

The other day my brother texted me this.

It felt good to be missed.  Even if he was the only one who realized I was missing.

September is always a "kick my butt" sort of month, but it seemed to continue right into October this year.  It's all good, though.

When I heard the lyrics in the song used for the title of this post, I said to myself, "That's a good title for my next blog post."  I looked up the definition of "hoopla" just to make sure.

Hoopla: Excitement surrounding an event or situation, especially when considered to be unnecessary fuss.

There definitely was excitement and unnecessary fuss lately, but mostly taxi driving on my end.

Some highlights include, but are not limited to:

* Billy, who started Scholastic Scholars at his school.  He won't let me come watch the competitions, though.  I guess he thinks I will cause him to get stage fright.

Baton Rouge, Baton Rouge!

*Mary is finishing cross country this Tuesday, and is in the midst of football and parade season for marching band.
Needless to say, we don't see her much.

 *Thomas is also in marching band and jazz band and finding his way in middle school.

*Ann is happy we let her start the cello at school. It's almost as big as she is.

*Matthew just finished his first sport....soccer.  How pumped we all were at his first game when he "booted a screamer right into the back of the net!"  (that sentence was penned by proud big brother, Billy.)

Matt with his "coach"

*Bill celebrated another birthday.

Happy Birthday, Dad.

*I started my new part time job and I love it.  I am a teacher's assistant at Ann and Matthew's school.
Dream-come-true job, I tell you.  I want to tell you about it in a post all on it's own, so stay tuned.

That's a wrap on my re-entry post.  Now you can't...... "Say you don't know me, or recognize my face."