Day Pass and More...

We are in Savannah once again, and thanks goes out the wonderful LDS Family that have opened their home to us once again.  It is wonderful that we have a roof over our heads and the relief of the potential finical strain that we thought we were going to face.  This time our trip consisted of taking Dean out for the day (Friday).  We realized this trip needed to have some clothes and shoes shopping done to provide Dean with some better fitting clothes.  He is getting tall, and needed new shoes after the ones that we brought for him when we admitted him fell apart about two weeks ago.  We had a wonderful day.  It started with lunch at the Macaroni Grill, Dean is a huge fan of pasta of all kinds.  We all had an Italian Soda, mine was Black Berry, Dean's Peach, and Gerry had Raspberry.  When the waitress brought them to us, we each tried ours, then passed them around so we could each take a drink to taste the others.  They were all really good.  After lunch, we went inside the mall and did some clothes shopping.  Dean got some really cool Iron Man shoes (red and gold for his latest movie).  He also got a really nice Superman sweatshirt, among several other items.  Gerry and I got a few things, as well.  I needed a new shirt, since I got marina sauce on mine during lunch, the white shirt is still being treated as we speak, needless to say, I was not happy about this little mishap.  We had already dropped off our bags, so I had no clean shirt that I could just grab out of the car and change into in the store.  After shopping we headed to Regal Cinemas for a movie.  I Am Number Four just came out yesterday and it is the type of movie that Dean enjoys.  We all enjoyed it very much, and continued to talk about it tonight at our visit over dinner of Chik-Fil-A.  By the by, best strawberry shakes EVER!  We had a very good visit overall and Dean got to make some phone calls to his grandma's and some of his aunties.
I have started a new class, barely passed my last one, but passed none the less.  This new instructor is demanding, she has a doctorates.  But I did well in my first week, just have to work harder than I usually do, which is a lot.  I have my GACE testing this upcoming Wednesday.  I am a bit nervous, but I am getting tutoring for my math portion, and I have actually retained some of what she taught me last time.  I must drive to Albany and Gerry cannot come with me.  He was just made Section SGT of water company, and they are already demanding more of his time than usual.  This of course makes me unhappy, he is a grouch at the end of the day and usually has a migraine because he had to skip lunch to get everything done that they want him to.  My feelings on the matter are if they think it is important enough for them to take time out of their day for lunch, then he should be allowed to eat as well, ridiculous!  No one deserves to be treated this way.  I have a feeling it will be a long year, since he retires next year.  I am looking forward to the light at the end of the tunnel already!

Church callings, grades and more....

Well, a couple of months ago, Gerry was called to be the Elders Quorum. The only Sunday he does not teach is the one where we visit Dean, and I think Fast Sundays, not really sure what his schedule is. Last month, I was called and asked to sub for the Relief Society, my lesson, Fasting. I had fun planning it and searching for information on the topic and really felt inspired as to the direction of the topic. I found a great talk called Fasting: A Principle of Power by Elder Bowen of the Seventy, and a lesson in the Relief Society manuals (I believe it was A). I was soooo nervous, teaching adults is nerve wracking, I prefer teaching children, hence being a teacher in the near future if I can keep my grades up. Well, I guess my lesson went better than I expected, because the Sunday following our trip to Savannah, I was asked to be a Relief Society Teacher. My first official lesson will be next Sunday on Work and Personal Responsibility.

Dean got his grades this week, and I received his report card in the mail. He is doing great in school there! He got all 85's on it, all B's! We are so proud of him. He was receiving mostly A's right before Gerry deployed last, and had three B's, so the potential to bring them up to a better grade is there, he is a very smart child, just needs to apply himself to get there, which was part of our problem, he did not want to try for the grades. He is doing great, and we are seeing some of his usual behavior. He is beginning to argue with everything, normal, and has gotten mad a few times, but only to become upset enough to be upset, not angry. We will see.

I am doing well in school, do not like this instructor. I have been unable to start my observations, and I am waiting for paperwork to go through on post. I have asked for a replacement assignments in lieu of this, but she just told me to get them in when I was able to get the observations done. I am on my last week, and not really sure what to do. I am going to send her another message and hope that my offer for a replacement paper will work. We shall see, I do not want a zero, but if she does not allow this, then I do not know what I will do. I have a C, and think I brought the grade up with week four. She is not an easy instructor and does not give credit for some things. I had some posts that met her word count for the initial discussion questions, but she did not give me credit. Do not like that. I have worked harder in this class than any of my classmates. I get frustrated when I do not see something as fair, but have no control over it.