SHE is adorable

It is official...we will be having a beautiful BABY GIRL! We are sooooo excited! We found out on Valentine's Day and it was the best gift ever. We then spread the news to the grandparents. My mother cried when we surprised them with the news and has already pulled out the baby clothes from my past...I am loving it.

I always claimed I would only have boys and that I never wanted girls because I wouldn't know what to do with them (all the brothers made boys sound easier), but I was secretly hoping for a girl the whole time and so was Jon, so we are thrilled. She showed a really stubborn streak in the ultrasound since it took her almost 50 minutes to show us a profile, despite massive shaking by the woman doing the ultrasound. But she was so dang cute! It is amazing that she is really inside of me! This pic is one of my favorites with her cute hands...it's like she's saying, "Please, Mom, stop poking and shaking me!"

Since the pregancy is high risk, we had the chance to see all of it again when the perinatalogist came in for consultation. He seemed pretty cold at first, but then at the very end of our ultrasound, he gave us a quick devious look and switched ultrasound tools and suddenly there was our baby in 4D! We could see so much detail on her little face, it was so unreal. This isn't very good quality since our scanner isn't awesome, but I still love it! We think she might just have my nose!

I love knowing what our little baby is and now I don't have to call her an "it." She has been moving around a TON and distracts me all the time when I am teaching with her powerful kicks. Maybe we have a little soccer player in the making :) The best part of it all is that since we are high risk, we get to do this again in 6 weeks! I love, love, love to see this little girl and can't wait for the chance to see her again!

Enter Randall Family Member #3

So....we are having A BABY!

Sorry to be so unoriginal, but I think this morning sickness has knocked out all the desire I have to be creative! We are due July 2nd and can't wait to add this little member to our family!

We are so blessed to have this baby in the first place. With the Addison's disease, my doctor told me I'd be lucky to get pregnant and luckier to get through the first trimester. We almost didn't make it, with a close call on a miscarriage. I started bleeding heavily at 7 weeks and the doctors pretty much told me to expect to lose the baby. It was a pretty rough 24 hours filled with prayers and tears before we got in to see the ultrasound specialist, but the baby was there and it's heartbeat was going strong! We are so grateful to all those who had us in their prayers and fasts. We went in a few weeks ago to double check that the baby was still doing fine and that the bleeding had stopped and everything was wonderful. Our little baby has a strong heartbeat and is growing like crazy! Whoohooo!

Oh, Junior High

A few funny anecdotes from the past few weeks that I know were funnier in the moment, but I don't want to forget them:

A student in one of my math classes had reached the end of her rope when shen looked up at me with exasperation and stated,"You, like, expect us to be math heroes!"

A random intercom announcement from this week: "Please jump down from your perch on the windowsill."

I told a student that he was talking over me and he retorted, "No, I'm not. I'm talking under you..."

A student recently made a comment that sadly denoted the failing struggle the family is having in this modern world: A fellow teacher was married recently and had changed her name. She and a student were discussing her marriage when he said, "Do you live together?"
She laughed and said, "Of course we live together...we're married."
He sadly replied, "Yeah, but lots of people are married and they don't live together..."

Thank You

Thanks for your comments, those of you who offered advice. And to those who just offered comfort. I feel almost stupid because I hardly know these girls, but again, the affect on my students has been dramatic which directly affects me. Today was the first day that I actually had my own students (I only teach English on B days) and it was very difficult. I prayed for the right words to say. I was so nervous, not knowing how to address the students in my room, some of whom were already sobbing.
Our student body officers were great and in announcements they played the girl's favorite song and then had a moment of silence. I was doing great until that point. Strong, slightly removed, but then they played Josh Groban's "You Raise Me Up." Unfortunately, music has always had a major impact on my emotional status and that powerful song, a song about Heavenly Father's ability to raise us high, resulted in tears. . .just in time for me to get up and address the class. So I went up with tears streaming down my face, hardly able to speak words, and I could see almost every student in my class was crying, even the tough boys in the back. Despite how awful this is, I can see that this event will strengthen our classroom. We all have some sort of bond...something we can connect to. But oh, man...looking at those tear-stained faces, I just didn't know how to help. But then I began to speak and I don't even remember what I said, but I felt so much better, I feel so much better. And I think I might have said the right things too...something about a tragedy, how she will be missed...but I also talked about compassion for the girl driving.
It seems that now that we have addressed the grief straight on, we can go on with life, remembering both girls. But I feel dumb...how do you say, "Okay, now set aside your sadness...we have work to do?" I guess I need to find a balance. We'll see how it goes...their personal writing time is almost up...

Death

I'm sorry I have been MIA in the blogging world. I promise to be better and this weekend I will post a catch-up post. But something happened today and I just needed to get my emotions out. I'm not by my journal so I needed an outlet. You happen to be it. I'm not very eloquent about grief so bear with me as I put my feelings on the page.

This morning, a student from the school where I teach died in a car accident. She was waiting for the bus when another girl, driving a car without permission or driver's license, hit her. Both girls were only 13 years old...13. I didn't know either of them, but the shock to the school, to the students and to the faculty has been dramatic. It feels like a dark, heavy cloud has come over the school and is pressing down on everyone. I couldn't believe how much the loss affected me personally. As I said, I didn't know either girl, but as I watched my own students struggle with this tragedy, I just wanted to wrap them up in a big hug, cry a few tears with them and take away the grief. Instead, I watched as a bystander, not knowing what to do to help, yet wanting to help so badly. As I watched and felt useless, I kept wondering why I felt so awful, so sad. And the more that I thought about the affects of this loss, the more I realized that my school is such a tight-knit community and a loss, no matter how well or little I knew the student, is still a terrible loss for us as a school. It made me recognize and feel grateful for such a wonderful school to be part of.

And yet this was still a major trajedy, a double tragedy. For the family and friends of the girl who died, their pain is intense and their loss very real. But I also feel immense pity for the girl driving the car. From what my fellow teachers have said, this girl was a sweetheart. She made good decisions and treated everyone well. They were shocked to learn that the driver in the accident was this girl. Unfortunately, she made one bad decision, one single moment of irresponsible thinking, that led to an accidental death, a death that she will have to live with for the rest of her life. So not only was today about mourning for a student who passed away, but it was also about a student who just lost the life she knew. She accidentaly took the life of another and consequently will never be the same nor will the lives of those involved ever be the same.

So to sum, today sucks.

The Last Four Months In Pictures

This past semester has been fairly crazy! It is my last semester at BYU (technically) and in just 2 more weeks I will never have to go to another class or take another final in my life. HOOOOORAAAY! Jon and I are doing great and loving life! See pictures below to see what we have been doing with all of our spare time.


We went to the wedding of Jon's sister, Elyse, early in October. She looked so beautiful and the day was really fun spent with lots of family.


It was also our first trip to the Bountiful temple, which we loved. The weather was perfect and the temple was amazing, as always.


Jon turned 24 on November 14! We had a wonderful day spent shopping for new basketball shoes among other delights. Then we were treated to a weekend long celebration, with parties from his family, my family, and his friends.


Our families spoiled Jon well and it was great to spend time with them and celebrate Jon.


I love Jon more than I can say and am so grateful that he is part of my life! He is such a blessing and he makes everyone around him so happy! I always love birthdays because I get an excuse to spoil him rotten and spend the whole day with him. Happy Birthday, Love!

I know that this is random, but here at Wymount, we have our own wildlife preserve. We have a family of deer that consists of three bucks, three babies, and two mamas. We got to watch the babies grow up from practically newborn and now they hang around in our backyard almost every single day. Sometimes, when we are getting ready, we can feel something watching us...and then we look out the window and see eye to eye with these deer! Jon LOVES it! Haha...one time, he even stalked the deer, crawling on his stomach to get a good picture (with lots of neighbors wondering what the heck he was up to).



Then, last weekend, we took a road trip down to Arizona. Jon's other sister was getting married and we wanted to be there for support. We drove the 10 hour drive in one day, bringing Jon's sister April with us.


I loved this trip because I used to live in Gilbert, AZ for 9 years. I haven't been back since we moved to Utah, so it was a trip down memory lane. This is my old elementary school. The name is changed, but it is the same school. We used to be called the Neely Knights.


This is my old house!!! The people who live there now really trashed the place. They tore out four really beautiful trees, tore out the backyard grass and made room for their 4 rotting cars in the back. But it was still fun to go see....



We got to stop by the Mesa Temple and take some pictures. It is such a beautiful temple and the weather was FABULOUS!!! We wore t-shirts, shorts, and flip-flops to a soccer game and got a tan! We loved it. Especially since we drove home to Utah in a BLIZZARD. I hate snow.


As tradition, my family always stopped at the Lake Powell dam and had lunch and that is what we did on our road trip. Overall, it was so nice to get out of Provo and be somewhere warm. We got to stay with my aunt and uncle and with Jon's sisters. We had a lot of fun spending time with them, soaking up the sun.



When we got back, Jon's brother asked us to watch their two little girls while they went out of town! It was a crash-course in parenthood. We had to think of things to entertain them constantly. One of the items of entertainment was my hair. They thought I looked so beautiful after covering my hair in bows that they did it 4 more times. It was a dangerous game though, I have gouges all over my head from where they scraped me with the clips.


We made a fort and partied all afternoon with candy, cookies, and a Barbie princess movie.


Over the next 48 hours, we went to Kangaroo Zoo, BYU Bowling Alley, and the movie theater. It was a wild ride filled with whining, temper tantrums, and lots of fun. We even got to deal with throw up after the little one bounced too hard on a blow up toy.


They really loved this place and the slides and we spent almost two hours making them tired :) Despite the massive exertion of energy, these kids woke us up at 7:00. It was still dark and it was a holiday. Needless to say, it was an excellent form of birth control :) Jon and I were exhausted after those two days. I can't imagine it full time! Those of you who do it full time, you are incredible! I don't know how you do it!!!

The BEST Halloween Ever!!!!

This Halloween just happened to be the best Halloween I have ever had. For multiple reasons. But the most incredible part of the day was when Jon and I drove up to Saratoga Springs and were reunited WITH MY KIDS FROM ETHIOPIA!!! Cherish and Kelly are their new parents. This amazing couple adopted 7 of these adorable kids from Africa, ranging from age 2 to age 17!!! And they already had 4 kids of their own! And then Cherish's father adopted 3 more of the kids!!!! The day I got a call from them from America I shed quite a few tears and said a million prayers. I thought that if I was ever going to see them again, I would have to raise thousands of dollars to go back to their remote village. But here they are in UTAH. I cannot believe it still! What amazing, incredible, AMAZING people these two families are and what an incredible, overwhelming blessing it is to be able to see these kids that I lived with for three months (in one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world) be adopted to families that live within 30 minutes of my house into a home where the gospel is loved and taught. Dibabbe, the oldest of the girls, is currently taking the discussions! Her father, Kelly, is also a seminary teacher, and after one of his classes, she text her mom and said, "Daddy is such a good teacher. GOD is LOVE." Incredible. When we got to Saratoga Springs, the kids were already out trick-or-treating, so we snuck up on them from behind. Dibabbe was the first one that saw me and in two seconds she was giving me a life-squeezing hug. And then she cried. I can't explain the incredible feeling of love that I had for this girl and the love that I knew Heavenly Father has for her. I just know that there is something amazing in store for these wonderful kids. Overall, it was one of the best nights of my life, and with a full heart I could tell these kids that I would be back to see them as often as their parents would let me.


These are all of the kids from the Village of Hope the night that I left. Of these kids, TWELVE, have been adopted, plus three more that came after I left. There are 7 in Saratoga Springs, 3 in Spanish Fork, 2 in Salt Lake City, and 3 in Logan!!!!!!


And as a special surprise, Fayisa was there for a 2 week visit!!! He practically made the Village of Hope run while we were there. He helped to teach me the native language and was the only father-figure these kids ever had. They adored him and it was so wonderful to see him again!! Another awesome surprise is that Fayisa is also taking the discussions from the missionaries and on the night that we saw him, Oct. 31, he had begun reading the Book of Mormon!!!!! Steffanie and I always insisted that someday he would become a Bishop. At the time, he didn't know what that meant, but he knows now and laughs. I am so positive that he will accept the gospel. His heart has been ready for a very long time.


Again, what an incredible blessing this weekend has brought! I just want to hug Cherish and Kelly for forever for taking these incredible kids into their home and giving them a real chance at life. I can't imagine the hardships that this merging will bring to their families, but I am sure that they will be blessed tremendously for their outpouring of love. It is such proof that Heavenly Father really hears and answers our prayers and that He knows each of us individually!!!

Well, after those amazing few hours, the rest of Halloween can't quite compare, but it was really fun. Jon was the creative one for this Halloween and we dressed as Lumiere and Babette, from Beauty and The Beast. We had a lot of fun putting together our costumes...

Can you see the resemblance?? Haha...Jon's costume is made solely from women's DI clothing and oatmeal cans and my dress was also a DI addition...with some feathers from some white dusters I bought. Let's just say that when we got home, it looked like we had killed and defeathered a chicken! There were feathers everywhere. And they still are everywhere. Even though we cleaned up, I found at least three lingering feathers on my jeans in the car this morning.

We went over to our friends' house for a good Halloween party where we could show off our costume! By then, Jon was fully into his character. He sat like Lumiere, with his arms at right angles, for the entire party! And occasionally, he would lean forward to "sizzle" a feather on my dress and then apologize for burning me. It was so great! Thanks to the Robertsons for having us over! Afterwards, we went to Jon's parents and raided the candy and talked about their Halloween evening and then we headed to the Low's house. As always, we stayed late and talked, but we had to bolt before Andrew could put on a scary movie or Lord of the Rings or Joe Dirt :) (thanks for veto-ing, Court!). All in all, it was the best Halloween ever.