mykids- i lost my dad unexpectedly the week of christmas, got surgery 2 weeks before christmas, my daughter had surgery in feburary, and lost my grandfather the week of easter. the one thing i learned from all of that is that God is first, family is second, and everything else falls into place one way or another. my thoughts and prayers are with your family.

Ok, one big prayer and one big hug for all of us. I think we all truly need it. I am glad that I have gotten to know you all. Ya'll are all great people and you all mean a great deal to me. No matter if we are thousands of miles apart, we have all become such great friends thru this site. ( Big shout out to TIM...your great for starting this!! )

I hope all goes well for everyone. Our welcome back packets HOPEFULLY will be ready Thursday before K registration. Yes, we cheat...we had them printed.

Take care of you!
-B

mykids mom, I feel like i know you after reading so many of your posts. I can understand how tough that situation is, my grandmother was dieing of cancer the first year I was involved. I felt like I was coming apart at the seams.
Can you go visit for even a weekend? Do they have a computer? You could do a webcam.
And let people know what is going on. When people say "let me know if i can help", take them up on it!!
And try to let go a little bit. You can only do so much. You still have to take care of yourself so that you can take care of the others.
My prayers go out to you and your family.

Momma's and family come first. That's why we're in this job. Secondly, prioritize first things first. The only way to eat an elephant is one bite at a time. So prioritize your bites....nobody should be rushing to the library the first day to check out 6,000 books. Try getting the first 100 on the shelves the first week and then go from there. Kindergarteners can't even read yet [img]smile.gif[/img] . You know maybe just concentrate on balloons to greet the kids the first day and hand out a flier to the drop off cars asking for some help that week and listing what there is to do....I suspect you'll get bodies without too much trying. Make it a point to be there and smile and wave as the folks go by so they see you and know you and then when you call for help...they'll find it harder to say no....We always have a PTO workday at my house the week before school starts to get people in the mood...usually folks are happy to get out of the house with the critters for a bit.
Phew--you guys almost made me panic...but just think about doing balloons...those first few smiles will put things back into perspective!!!!!

d

WE ALL NEED A TREE I hired a plumber to help me restore an old farmhouse, and after he had just finished a rough first day on the job: a flat tire made him lose an hour of work, his electric drill quit and his ancient one ton truck refused to start.
While I drove him home, he sat in stony silence. On arriving, he invited me in to meet his family. As we walked toward the front door, he paused briefly at a small tree, touching the tips of the branches with both hands. When opening the door he underwent an amazing transformation..

His face was wreathed in smiles and he hugged his two small children and gave his wife a kiss.

Afterward he walked me to the car. We passed the tree and my curiosity got the better of me. I asked him about what I had seen him do earlier.

"Oh, that's my trouble tree," he replied "I know I can't help having troubles on the job, but one thing's for sure, those troubles don't belong in the house with my wife and the children... So I just hang them up on the tree every night when I come home and ask God to take care of them. Then in the morning I pick them up again." "Funny thing is," he smiled," when I come out in the morning to pick 'em up, there aren't nearly as many as I remember hanging up the night before."

2 years ago at the beginning of the year, my grandfather had a heart attack, not two weeks later my mom had some kind of heart episode, and I had to deal with a president who wanted to run the checkbook like her own personal account. I was so excited for that year to start and by the end of October I was pulling my hair out!
This year we have stuff in order for the principal that left, the new principal wants some things changed(!), and we are 2 days into moving with enrollment a week from Thursday. I don't even have my printer hooked back up to start welcome packets, because I didn't want to start them before we moved and lose them.
To be honest, each day I make a list of what has to be done, what I'd like to get done, and what I have to get done at some point. Without that organized list, I do nothing. As for your mom, I know, I stayed at the hospital for 4 days with my mom with my kids in tow when they weren't in school after spending a week with my grandfather. Is it possible you could sneak in a visit to your mom before school starts to make you feel better and go back later if necessary? The worst part of this all, is no matter what, you feel disorientated by having your hands tied. She's your mom and you don't have to feel guilty about e books or anything else. Do what you need for your sanity. I know I wasn't really able to focus on anything but worrying about my mom. Lots of big hugs!