I'm Thankful For...

Since everyone is posting on Facebook (and I think I must of missed the memo) I'll just take time and write my list of things I'm thankful for here. It is hard to believe that it is almost Thanksgiving. I'm very excited because my Grandpa and Grandma Bensema and cousin Ben will be spending it with us here in Houston. My cousin Ben Gerwig is a freshmen at LaTourneau in Longview, TX. I got to see him also during his Fall Break because he came to Katy with a friend and his roommate. We met over at the mall and spent some time chatting about college life thus far for him. My grandparents want to see his college, so will drive down the beginning of next week, pick him up and then spend Thanksgiving with us and then drive him back and head back to Iowa. I'm very excited because this means Grandma's famous mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving and then AGAIN for Christmas.
So here is my list of things I am thankful for...

• My Husband. I'm so thankful for him and the effort he puts into everything he does. He is a husband, daddy, uncle, teacher, student, son, friend and so on... He gives 100% to everything he does and it amazes me what he can get done in a week between going to work, school and anything else going on.


• My children. They are my everything. They are 2 wonderful, crazy little sweeties and have such sweet spirits. They both are so easy going and have been that way since they were born. I'm so thankful for them each and every day.


• My other family members: Dad, Brenda, Amy, Cathy, Cliff, Aaron, April and Max.


• Our wonderful babysitter Miss Kim and her family B, Logan and Kaci.


• My co-workers.


• My students.


• My accountability group and friends: Katy, Laura, Leah, Courtney, Ryleigh, Ashly and Beth. You girls don't know how much it means to me to have you in my life. You are all amazing ladies and I thank God for putting you in my life. Also, to go along with that our small group in general.

I'm so thankful for so much more but those are just the few things that real stick out in my mind. God has blessed me so much. I have to stop myself so often when I'm in one of those moods of thinking I need something or that I don't have enough of whatever and remind myself how luck I am for the things that God has given to me. He is also something I am so thankful for. God is and will be there for me no matter what and watches over and provides just the right amount of whatever it is for us. I am so thankful for that.

Martina McBride - I'm Gonna Love You Through It

Don't Really Know What to Call It

If you are tired of hearing about my mom and my feelings on her, just stop reading now. But those of you are interested or care, you can continue :) I feel like I can I don't know, finally let some feelings out that I have kept inside. Most of you who read this know me and know that I am usually a pretty quite person in most situations. I think my 6 years of teaching have had a HUGE impact on that aspect. My job kinda requires you to be talkative and honestly, I am glad they are 5 because they don't make fun of you if you say the wrong thing or mess up.

I have a commute in the morning and evening of about 20 minutes or so. In those times, I love to turn my radio up, listen and sing as loud as I can to whatever I am listening to. Most of the time I listen to KSBJ, Houston's Christian radio station. I love it. They always seem to play just the right songs at the right times. My second choice of course is always back to my roots, the country station. These songs remind me of my childhood, as mom and dad would play these in the car, at home, dad on his guitar. Anyway, recently there have been quite a few songs on KSBJ that make me think of mom and just different aspects of her life, which for most of my life was consumed by cancer. The songs are not directly linked to cancer, but the concepts make me think of our life with it and now that she is gone and with living and dancing with Jesus forever. They make me also think and be so thankful for my family and also how much I miss them. I love Houston, but miss specifically my sister and dad dearly. I would give anything for Sioux Center, Phuket and Houston to be miles closer rather then thousands of miles.

Okay, so back to mom. I HATE that she is gone. I do. I wish so much that she could be here now with my family. I wish she knew Jerimiah. I wish she could spoil Cohen and Carlie. It all honesty, it is not fair. Lately I have missed her so much. I miss how she would listen and do what she could for me. I miss my friend and my mom. There are so many things that everyday still remind me of her. It has been 7 years since she left this Earth, but it still feels like it was yesterday. This Martina McBride video that I am going to try to link on here speaks so much of my heart's desire after losing her. At the end of the song, Robin Roberts talks about someone loved her through it and now she wants to love whoever she can through it, and that is my desire. It may not mean someone going through specifically cancer but anyone that has gone through anything like me, I want to be there to help them through anything life may bring their way.

Okay so I don't know how to link very well. But should be there. Enjoy.

I'm Back!

Okay, I know it has been awhile so I'll give an update of the happens at the Kindrick's. School has been off and running and has been going well thus far. I started the year with 17 little kiddos. This by far has been my best class, EVER! It makes me so happy and makes going to work a joy knowing I don't have to chase anyone out from under the table because they are upset or have them sit and cry until they have to be removed from my room. Sixth year is a charm I guess. This week was CRAZY! We started the year with 7 classes, as that is what we had last year and I guess the numbers projected looked high for us again. Well, like I said I had 17 and the other 6 classes had about that many also. I guess Katy ISD thought we didn't have enough per class because they rocked our world and decided to take a 7th teacher away and make it be 6. The rule is usually the last hired would be first to go. You see we are contracted to the district, not a particular campus. Julie was our art teacher last year and was hired as our 7th teacher the end of July, so it would be her that would be transferred. But instead Neely decided to take the offer and move to a different campus and different grade level. It was a tough day. Then our other teammate Erin, who is pregnant with twins went to her regular dr. appointment and her blood pressure was so high she needed to be admitted to the hospital. They got it stabilized and her and babies are doing well. But, she will not be back until February, after the babies are born!! Yikes, we were thrown quite a loop this week! I will dearly miss Neely, she was my planning partner for science and social studies. She is a wonderful, dedicated teacher and I know she will excel in her choice to move. I will also miss Erin until she returns, because beside my team leader, she has been here for me all 6 years of teaching at WME. It is amazing what kind of relationships have been built in teaching with these amazing ladies. I love our team because we have all gotten along so well, at school and outside of school. We go to each others kids birthday, we go to weddings, showers, anything you name it and we are there for each other. I guess I was going to update on everyone. Jerimiah is doing well also. He is back in his Life Skills class and loves those kids. He has also been helping out with some volleyball games and he also takes class Monday and Wednesdays. Weeks seem to fly by with us being so busy. We have also started our new year of small groups and are very excited to start a new study with the book Radical. Oh and every other Tuesday I meet with my wonderful friends for an accountability group. I love these girls also! We share so much in common in our lives as mothers, wives and Christian friends. I don't know what I do without them knowing that they are all praying for us and I for them weekly about things that are on their hearts. I feel like I can be so open and real with them because they are feeling so many of the same things and dealing with similar things. It is amazing to see how God brings us to the people in our lives.I've said it before but I will say it again, I am so so grateful for this special group of friends that we have found at Kingsland. This is getting kind of long so I guess I'll end. May all you who read this be blessed this weekend.

Love-Hate Relationship

I love this time of year. I will be headed back to work in about a week and although I love my time off, I'm ready to get back in the swing of things. Having kids has changed summer breaks. There no longer is sleeping in and I guess I must be getting old because even if I want too, I have been getting up earlier and earlier recently. We will be "Riding the Wave to Learning" this year at West Memorial Elementary and I'm excited about what this year will bring. I'm going to try my very best this year to be a real servant at school. Show God's love in any way that I can, even if I don't directly talk about it. I want to be as loving to these kiddos as possible. It is sad, but what I have seen in the past is that school is the only place where they feel loved, secure and feel like they really matter.
Now comes the hate part of this post. 7 years ago at this very time, I had to go through with my family what no 20 year old college girl should. We watched the era of an amazing women be taken by a stupid pneumonia essentially caused by the cancer that was taking over her body. I hate cancer. I hate that it effects so many people. Everytime I go to the dr. I secretly fear that they are going to tell me that I too have it. But, in the those final days at Mercy Medical Center we all somehow felt a peace. We knew that the afterlife that Mom was about to have she wouldn't have to worry about drawing her eyebrows or setting her wig on her head just right or spend hours at a cancer center. That hope and faith that she had carries me through times when I miss her terribly. I hated seeing her suffer. She was very quiet about it in a public setting, but watching her at home, you could see it differently. She never complained though, she went on like nothing was wrong. When someone I know is diagnosed with cancer that's the one thing I always tell them. Chin up and keep your attitude up, it does wonders! So as I start my new year and get into my school mode, August 15 will creep up on me. I sometimes am glad that it is during a busy time so that I don't have to be consumed by the date. I miss her everyday but secretly think God has sent a little bit of her in Carlie. There are many features and faces that remind me so much of her, which I am so thankful for.

Cohen

Last night was our adventure with our crazy little two year old. Last Monday when we were still in Fairfax at my dad and Brenda's, Cohen starting running a fever. We gave him Tylenol and it lasted until we started traveling back. But I wanted to just get home so if he needed to go to the doctor, we could bring him to his own. Well by the time we were back in Houston, it was gone. So I didn't think much more of it. Yesterday, we were heading to Galveston for our nephew Max's birthday celebration at Moody Gardens and Cohen threw up in the car on the way there. He has had car sickness in the past so we just kinda figured it was that. He continued to throw up pretty much all day so we left early from there and came home. He threw up again right when we pulled up in the driveway so we decided it was time to bring him somewhere so he didn't get dehydrated. We are lucky enough that Texas Children's Hospital just opened a campus just minutes from our house, so we brought him to the ER there. Once there, it was really quick with getting in and seen. He wasn't running fever, but by this time, he had it come out both ends. So they decided to do an ultrasound to make sure there wasn't something else going on. That came back clear so they decided to admit him to run IV fluides through him to make sure he didn't become dehydration. They got us to a new room and starting the IVs. He was a trooper, although there were lots of tears trying to get everything going. He slept good all night after some motrin and woke up in a much better mood. He has not thrown up since. We were discharged about 4 this afternoon and he is back to 2 year old crazy little boy self. We praise God for healing for Cohen last night!

Iowa

Ahh..the smell of pig poop and cow poop never smelled so good when you are here in Iowa. Just kidding, but it has been wonderful to be back in my stomping grounds this past week. We have done several things and rested. We got to my dad's in Sioux Center about 10:30 on Friday night. Cohen and Carlie were wired after riding in the car all day. They didn't end up falling asleep till at least 1. But, we could sleep as long as needed on Saturday so it wasn't so bad. We have been to Sioux City, Orange City and Le Mars so far. We have been to Pizza Ranch twice which is the best part for me. Oh, and I've had Grandma Bensema's mashed potatoes. Life is good again! Tonight we will be hanging out with my good friend Maggie (who I know will love I finally posted again! :) ) and Jon and their sweet baby Carter in Orange City. It is always good to catch up with old friends. Next weekend we will head to Cedar Rapids to my dad and Brenda's house and spend some time there and do a few small trips before heading back to Houston the last week of July. This summer has flown by, probably since I worked for most of it. But, the money that I made is such a good thing that I may consider doing it again, even though I got a little bored at times. Next time I will post some pictures of our trip, hopefully it won't be too long from now.

Summer

Summer vacation is here and I'm finally updating our blog. But really for me, I don't have much time these days. A week after school was out, I started teaching summer school. It really has been great so far. In our school district, Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten ESL students are offered summer school. At the school I am at, we have 15 kindergarten classes! But I've been lucky enough to only have 11 kids, which is so nice! We basically have the same schedule as my normal routine and we are just reviewing the major points of kindergarten. We only go Monday through Thursday and I love the three day weekend! I will be done July 7, and the very next day we are leaving to drive to Iowa. I am very excited to spend a few weeks at my dad's and also enjoy catching up with lots of family and friends. Between fire in Texas and flooding in Missouri and Iowa, it could be an interesting trip. But we are just praying things won't be so bad in a few weeks. Speaking of flooding, please pray for my family in North Dakota. Two of my aunts and uncles have had to leave their homes and it is predicted they could have 7 or more feet of water in them. So scarry. They are staying in their campers at one of my cousins. Be thinking of all the flooding that will be happening there and further down the river into Iowa also. We have enjoyed walks in the evenings and time at the park. Jerimiah has been had the lucky job of babysitting the two kiddos and it seems to be going alright.

Family Friday

I'm not even going to start by saying that it has been awhile, because we all know after a long vacation from blogging I always say I'm going to get better and all that jazz. Let's just skip it this time. We are down to a week and a half left of school and tonight, Jerimiah and I wanted more then to come home and be with our family and not do anything or have to go anywhere. Well besides the trip to Whataburger for dinner, we have spent the night watching cartoons, playing, drumming and just being a family. I am more then ready for this year to be over and move on to summer. Even though I am working summer school, I'm still just looking forward to times with my family and friends. We have been blessed to be part of a wonderful small group this past year from our Sunday School class at church and I know I speak for myself but I'm sure Jerimiah can say the same. I finally feel, after 5 years of living in Texas, I have found the place where I fit in and just another reason for why God brought me to Houston. So many friendships have been made, which I am so grateful for. Not only can we share our moments of kids, families, etc. but we can be open and real about the struggles of life and know that they will uphold each other in prayer. I feel so blessed! So thank you Northside Bible Study friends, you are more then friends to me, you have become my Texas family!

My New Toy

I decided to try out Carlie in her bouncy chair while I was getting ready. She was being fussy and I thought maybe if she could be sitting up and see me it might help. So I put her in as tight as it could go and she seemed to like it. I now have batteries in it so next time she will get to hear music and it will vibrate. Thanks Kristy and Katrina for the gift at the baby shower, she loves it!

Mom's Helper

I decided to keep Cohen home with me today and tomorrow. We decided to bake dad some cookies for when he gets home. Hopefully they turned out okay!

2 Weeks Old

Carlie is doing great! We have been staying busy and on the go and that is good because it keeps me from going stir crazy in the house. Don't take me wrong, I love being home with my daughter, as I did when Cohen was born, but I know that God has not called me to be a stay at home mom. I need to have some kind of routine or else all I want to do is shop! Haha. I'm sure when I go back to school in a few weeks I will wish I was home or the end of the year was near, but I am excited to get back in the routine and see my kiddos again.

My Aunt Brolene (see last picture) and my cousin Ben were in town last week as they were passing through on their way to visit a college that Ben is interested in in north Texas. We spent the day with them and it was great to catch up. We will get to see them again in a few weeks as I will be going to Iowa for my grandparents 50th wedding anniversary. All the Bensema side of the family will be home, it will be great! Even my sister from Thailand is coming home for a few weeks and we will also be traveling to North Dakota to see my mom's side of the family, as long as the weather holds up!

Carlie is sleeping well also, people seem to ask that question alot so I'll just go ahead and address it. If she is fed around 11 or so..she will sleep until 5-5:30...which is a nice stretch. She is a snuggler so some times just to get her back to sleep she is in the bed with me, but I'm trying my hardest not too, we struggled with Cohen sleeping in his crib and don't want that to happen again.

Even in our busyness with 2 kids under 2, God has blessed us so much. I feel so extremely lucky to be mom to these two beautiful children. I can't wait to see them grow up together, Cohen already is very concerned with her when she is fussing, I'm sure it won't always be that way, but he loves her so already.

First Bath with GiGi

GiGi (Jerimiah's mom) was again in Alaska when Carlie was born, as she was when Cohen was born. She had planned on taking five weeks off and came home the week after Carlie was born. Had I had gone to my due date, she would have been here. But again, it just happened to be that she was there at the time of their arrival. This time though, we had Skype and it was only a week before she came back in and will be here until February. She likes to give the grandkids their first baths, so of course we waited for her to give Carlie a real bath. Let's just say Carlie was not a big fan of it!! Too cold for her liking, she was better after she was all dressed and done. She, as her brother, needed her binkie in the tub. Silly kids! Then to calm her down during the lotion time and getting jammies on, she needed her bottle also.

Carlie Ann Kindrick

Okay, sorry people who actually read this, I hopefully will be back at this better. I know I have said that before, but really, I'm going to try my best to do it. Being off of work will hopefully help and I have two darlings that I could blog so much about now.

Miss Carlie Ann joined us last Thursday, January 6. She is an angel. She is really a good baby so far, which we are so thankful for. I was induced at 38 weeks simply because I was ready to be done and the dr. agreed! I had been dilated since 35 weeks and it was so close anyway. When I had an ultrasound the week of Christmas, she was measuring almost 7 pounds already so the my dr. told me she would not stop labor any time after 37 weeks. I went exactly the same amount as Cohen and she was born the same day of the week also. My water br0ke with Cohen and he was born exactly at 38 weeks also. She weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and 20.5 inches long. She was a pound bigger and 2 inches longer then her brother. I believe she has alot of traits of my mom, so obviously looks like me a little I guess :) She for sure has my mom's hands and feet which come from the Schuler side. Her hair is a brownish reddish and has beautiful blue eyes just like her brothers.

I will be off of work until February 14 and am excited to spend it with her. Also, I will get to make a trip to Iowa with her and see all my Bensema side family as my grandparents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on February 12. My sister will be coming home also and we will be able to visit our family in North Dakota as well. I'll end with some pictures and I promise people, I will be back soon!