I'm here! I'm here!

It's been awhile. Sorry! I'm starting back to school with a new job and it's taking a lot of time and energy right now. But it's good. I think it's going to be much more of a fit for me. My schedule has changed a bit. Because I'm dually certified in general education and special education, my principal has elected to split my classes. I'm going to have "typically-developing" four-year-olds in the morning, which means it will be just a regular preschool class. In the afternoons, I'll have four-year-olds with special needs. It will be a nice change in the day, and I think having the typical kids will make me a better special ed teacher because I'll be able know exactly where a four-year-old should be developmentally. So yeah! I'm excited. The rest of the week is meetings and preparations, and kids start Monday.

Funny enough, I think the hardest part for me so far is having two assistants! They're both very sweet, and I know they're going to be great to work with. Norma will be with me full-time and Shirley will be in every other day. I'm SO not used to delegating - anything. It's been difficult to adjust to allowing others to do things for me, and even having to tell them to do things, like a boss. Oddly, I've thought about how good that's going to be for me, especially in thinking about marriage preparation (someday, whenever that is!). I'm learning to be less independent, more dependent, and slowly knowing it's ok to not have to carry every responsibility. It's just fine to allow others to do things for me, and I should just say "thank you" instead of feeling like a problem.

The past few weeks of being back in Texas have been such a processing and learning time for me. God really taught me a lot and I frequently have those little "aha" moments. I recognize lessons in daily life and acknowledge things I need to work on. It's been great. I feel like I'm becoming more and more the woman I'm supposed to be - God wants me to be. That's exciting, and I feel the change. Hopefully others will see it too!

Ok - flood notes!

1. The house was gutted last week! The World Relief team from the Apostolic church came and cleared out the house and took up all of the yucky flooring. I need to write an entire post on the Apostolic church. I'll just say this for now - their love for people, love for God, and hearts for service have been greater than I have ever seen in ANYONE. The character of the members of that church have been shown greatly through this entire flood experience and there's not a bad word you can say about it. They're such a witness and should be an example to everyone. THANK YOU!!!

2. Mom and Dad still don't know what they're going to do. The neighbors aren't returning. TOUGH decisions! Pray for them!

In other exciting news, I'm going back to Iowa for Labor Day weekend! I've been looking at flights for the end of September and everything is going up (as if you didn't already know this!). Mom happened to see a fare for Labor Day weekend and emailed it to me today. It's perfect! I'm getting a direct flight from Dallas to Cedar Rapids on that Saturday morning and don't have to fly out until Monday evening. I'll be able to be there for almost three days when everyone is off work - and it's Nate's birthday! The cost was about $150 less than what it's been running, which is a STEAL. Couldn't pass it up. And what makes it sweeter?! I arrive in Cedar Rapids at 10:35 a.m., and Iowa is having their opening football game just 30 minutes away from the airport, starting at 11:15. So, Nate and Kim are picking me up and we're immediately driving to the game!! AHHH!!!!! Family and football all in one weekend!!! I'm so excited!!!!

Enough for now! :)

Happy Birthday Floyd!!

Today, August 8th, marks the 90th birthday of my step-grandpa Floyd! Happy BIG birthday!

Floyd married my Grandma Stoller on May 12, 1996. (First of all, let me personally tell you that there's nothing much more strange than having your dad sit you down to tell you your GRANDMA, at age 75, is getting married!!). However, they have such a sweet story and I've been thrilled about it since the beginning.

Floyd and Grandma have known each since they were young. They each married their spouses, Floyd to Louise, Grandma Ione to Grandpa Earl. They lived most of their married lives just a few miles apart. They went to the same church, raised their kids in the same school. Some of their kids were even friends and in the same 4-H group group growing up! Later in life, Grandma and Floyd each lost their beloved spouses to lengthy illnesses. Both of them had been married for over fifty years. What a testament!

A couple years later, Floyd realized he needed someone to make coffee and cook good meals for him, and Grandma needed someone to enjoy all of her delicious cooking, so they got married! Ok, so it probably wasn't quite like that, but the point is, they were both in good health and alone, why not have a companion to live the rest of life with? We agreed! I'll never forget her wedding - my grandma was like a giddy teenager! They've been able to go on a few trips together, and more importantly, support each other as they grow old.

I had the really great privilege of living with Grandma and Floyd for about six weeks this summer. It's one of those things that if the flood hadn't happened, I probably would not have had this experience. Grandma and I spent a lot of time organizing old family photos, she and I stubbornly argued who was going to mow the lawn (I won once, she tricked me in winning several times), Grandma insisted on making eggs and toast for me every morning, and I asked both of them lots of questions on their lives. I learned quite a bit!

All three of us were greatly affected by the flood, and it was good to go through that with them. Grandma, of course, lost the house she built with Grandpa. Floyd still has his farm in that area. He moved into Grandma's house when they married, but kept his farm. He would go down there every day to tinker around or keep up the garden, and we would often have Stoller gatherings at his house because it was big and convenient. Floyd's farm also went underwater. Fortunately, he was on the edge of the water and a little higher, so he only got about 2.5 feet of water in his house. But that's enough to do plenty of damage. The house had to be pretty much gutted so stop mold from growing, but with the help of his church and others, he's going to be able to fully restore it.

Floyd's House....




Things I Learned While Living with Grandma and Floyd:

1. While eating breakfast at 6:30 - 7:00 a.m. seems VERY early during the summer, it's good to all sit down and eat together.
2. You don't need television. There's lots of interesting programs on the radio.
3. Family history does matter. Learning how your grandparents met, fell in love, and married is important.
4. You can get all kinds of blackmail stories on your dad. :)
5. No matter how stubborn your grandmother is, you should always win out when it comes to mowing.
6. There's plenty to talk about and similarities in life even though you're 60 years apart.
7. Grandmas do have a way of making simple food better.
8. Spending an afternoon with a group of elderly ladies should be viewed as a treat and treasure.
9. Your grandmother knows you much better than you think. After all, she's known you in your entire life.
10. NEVER, EVER play Scrabble with two people that have SIXTY more years of writing, speaking, and reading experience than you. It's just not worth it, unless you happen to get a 42 point word like "zap." Then you might have a fighting chance. :)

Love them both!

My Other Childhood Home

So far, all of the focus has been on the home my parents currently live in, and rightly so. There's a lot of history there. Grandma and Grandpa Stoller bought that farm after the flood of 1946. The land has been in the Stoller name for 62 years. There was a different house on it at the time that they lived in. In 1964, Grandpa and Grandma built the current house. It's the house my dad grew up in. They lived there until 1989, when they moved to Mediapolis and we moved in. Of the total 44 years the house has been in existence, Grandpa and Grandma lived in it for 25 years, and we've been in it for the remaining 19.

But before we moved in, we lived just a half-mile down the road from Grandma and Grandpa, in a little double-wide trailer, nonetheless. Mom and Dad set that trailer down when I was just a year old. I have tons of fond memories from it. We moved from it when I was in fifth grade, but I vividly remember the layout of it. A few of my favorite memories of growing up in the trailer:

• Dark wood paneling. Enough said.
• Rolling around on my parents' waterbed.
• Having bunk beds with Nikki in the corner bedroom.
• Waking up on my 10th birthday and seeing a sign on my door, "you're now in the double digits!"
• Constantly playing on the swingset. That thing was the best!!
• Having a slip-and-slide in the yard.
• Making paper boats only to have them immediately crumble in the pool.
• Sledding in the ditch in the front yard.
• Attempting to play the old organ in the living room.
• Using a hair dryer to put plastic sheeting over the windows in the winter. Sounds slightly redneck.... :)
• YELLOW OVEN.
• The Toaster Story - This is classic. We had a toaster that you mounted underneath the cabinet. I don't remember how old I was - 9? Nate was little and he put pop-tarts in the toaster. I still remember sitting in the living room watching "Mr. Roger's Neighborhood" and starting to smell smoke. Mom was outside at the time and I went into the kitchen. Smoke was coming out of the toaster! Nate had put the pop-tarts in for too long. I remember unplugging the toaster and by then Mom came in and pour water on the toaster, getting rid of the small flames. We still talk about this story occasionally!
• Dad working on redoing a John Deere plow for Grandpa. It was a surprise, and I remember Dad trying to hide it when Grandpa and Grandma would bring me home from church. That plow was still decoratively sitting in our yard this year.
• Riding my bike down to Grandma and Grandpa's to feed the lambs, and of course, Grandma would always have a plate of homemade cookies!
• Cutting through the corn field to bike to Kandi's house (my cousin).

There's a lot more, but that's a sampling. The reality is that a lot of history was lost this summer. Memories, no. We'll always have those. But the two houses my family has ever lived in are now both gone. It's sad to see such a big part of your childhood washed away.

So what does the trailer look like now? It's completely crumbled....



Flood News:

1. You can now drive to the house! One of the roads leading to the house is now out of water. This will begin the line of sight-seeing. Of course, I can't say much, because I did enough sight-seeing of my own before I left.

2. Nearly two months later, my parents are finally getting the trailer unpacked! They now have a REAL mattress to sleep on, a couch, stove, washer/dryer, table, and several other things of theirs. Mom said it's starting to feel more like a home now!

3. Dad went into the basement of the house the other day. SCARY. It looks like a possible floor support is missing, meaning it may be harder to rebuild on that foundation, if they choose to.

4. Speaking of that, no decisions have been made on rebuilding, etc. Still some time for that!

5. Oakville is now going to pursue a FEMA buyout. Originally, officials were not going to do this. However, enough residents protested and they're going to go forward now. This means there's the possibility Oakville could cease to exist, at least as we know it. But it will be a LONG time before anything is decided.

Thanks again for checking in! The comments on the TPing post were fun! :)

Best TP Job EVER

Back in high school, I was part of the youth group at Oak Street Baptist. On one particular night, we had a youth group event at our house and Dad took us out on the river. When it was over, I thought everyone went home and I went to bed. I was wrong. Very wrong. Unknowingly to me, a group of guys - Chris Day, John Gerdes, Micah Anderson (Chris, I'm not sure who else!) - came back and toilet papered our house. I guess I had smack-talked (me, smack talk?!) about how no one would drive ALL the way to our house to TP it. They got us GOOD. I didn't know a thing until the next morning.

What I found out the next day, though, is that MY DAD, Steve Stoller, gave these guys PERMISSION to toilet paper the entire yard!!!! Unbelievable. On top of that, he and Mom laughed as they watched the guys do it!! My own father was a traitor to me! :) On top of that, he made ME clean it all up, and it started to rain a little the next day. Not fun! That summer we were also having a professional, aerial picture taken of the farm, and Dad was convinced that toilet paper was going to show up. I had to make sure I picked up EVERY little square of TP. As you can see, there was a TON of it to clean up.




















Good job guys! This is one of my favorite memories of the house. You'll always be known as the best TPers! :)