Make a Prediction, Boy or Girl?

This Friday, October 12th, I (Amy) am having an ultrasound. Hopefully if all goes well, they will be able to tell me the sex of the baby. Would you like to make a prediction? Just post a comment to this blog entry. I will post on here again when I find out.

What Were You Doing 5 Years Ago?

What were you doing 5 years ago today? Five years ago I (Amy) went to the hospital pregnant to be induced. By the end of the day, we had our first baby girl. Cassidy was born around 8 pm. I can hardly believe it has already been 5 years. Where does the time go?

Cassidy's Birthday Party

Cassidy & Callie posing for their picture.

Cassidy got a lot of nice gifts. She was pleased with everything.

We set up our bounce house. The kids loved bouncing.

We had Cassidy's birthday party on Saturday. It was a beautiful day. She had about 10 friends come, along with their siblings and parents. Nearly everything worked really well.

We took each child's picture with Cassidy as they arrived. After everyone arrived Ryan went to Wal-Mart and printed the pictures. The kids decorated a frame and we put the picture in for them to take home. Thank you to everyone who helped with this project.

We had a cake made by Mrs. Williams who lives close to the park. I have to say it was the best cake I have had in a long time.

The only real problem we encountered was with the pinata. Ryan make a really nice place to hang it, but it did not work as well with the added weight. Ryan had to hold the string, thus we have no pictures or video of the pinata. The kids all really enjoyed pulling the strings (no we did not get one that you hit with a stick) and scampering for the candy.

Each child left with their picture and frame, a few small toys and of course lots of candy. I think the party was a huge success.

Update on Pumkins Again

Some of you were asking how the pumpkins were coming along. Here are some pictures I took tonight. I still have some hope that we might get a couple of them to turn orange before Halloween! We are keeping our fingers crossed!

16 Weeks Pregnant - Another Doctor's Appointment

I am now 16 weeks pregnant. I am not feeling much different. I do feel a little more pregnant. I think my belly is starting to look a little pregnant. The baby now weighs 4 ounces and is 6 inches long. It won't be long and I will be feeling the baby move. I enjoy that time of the pregnancy.

I went to the doctor yesterday. The visit went well. I listened to the baby's heartbeat, which is such a sweet sound. The doctor gave me the order to get an ultrasound. I will go in 2-3 weeks. We will find out the sex of the baby at that time. We will keep you updated.

15 Weeks Pregnant

I am 15 weeks pregnant. This week has been good. I did have a headache that did not want to go away, but it finally has gone. That makes me happy. The baby is now 4.25 inches long and weighs 3 ounces. The baby is still very small, but he/she is getting bigger everyday. I am just trying to enjoy each and every day. Life is good. I have a great husband, 2 beautiful girls and a baby on the way. Can life get any better?

Update on Pumkins and Other Stuff!

It’s been a while since I have written much. I hope there are at least a few of you out there still checking the page to see what is happening in the Robinson world.

To begin with, I know some of you are probably wondering what all went on at the high school this past week. To be honest, I don’t feel comfortable speaking much about anything that has not been reported, so first off let me link to the Register News site so you can read all the stories about the incident.

http://www.register-news.com/

When I saw the incident occurring, I went to help. I felt that our staff, administration, and police department did an excellent job of ending the incident before anyone got seriously hurt. The following link will take you to some pictures posted on the Register-News forum after the incident had been dealt with:

http://community.cnhi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/231104611/m/8931056301/p/2

It all made me think about the type of environment we have in which we send our kids to school. Public education must accept ALL students. It accepts those who were brought up with guidance and direction from a good mother and father, as well as those who live in much less fortunate circumstances. Public education takes both the rich kids and the poor kids. The state says that even if you have been in trouble with the law, or have anger management issues, or behavioral problems, you are still entitled to an education.

For most of my life, it has always been my opinion that this is how it should be. Now that I am a parent, I find myself revisiting my thoughts. I find myself asking, “Do I want to send my children through public education?” Of course I won’t answer that question today, and I don’t need to yet. But what I do know is that I would like to see definite reform in public education. The “one-size-fits-all” style of learning is not working. Recently I had an upperclassman tell me, “Mr. Robinson, I don’t have hardly any credits. Why am I here?” To be honest, I wondered the same question. This young man is very troubled, and at one point he told me he thought he would end up in prison. I see no way he can graduate. I told him he needs to stay in school and learn what he can so he can pass the GED, and then perhaps get into college or find a good job or think about the military. I explained to him that the choices he made that got him to his bad decision did not happen overnight, and it will take time for him to get back on track. I gave him the nice motivational speech, but in the end I thought to myself, “What would I do in his situation?” And honestly I’m not sure. I hope he makes it, but the statistics are not too good for him.

So what is the answer? For me it is to do the best I can to make a difference, and then wait and see what happens. Things need to get better!

Turning to a different subject now—it has been a long time since I reported on the progress of my pumpkins. You might remember that I planted them way to late, but was hoping that by some chance they would produce pumpkins before Halloween. Below are a few pictures of where they are at. They will have to grow a lot to make it, but the race is now on!

Coming Soon... UPDATE ON PUMPKINS and stuff

keep looking

14 Weeks Pregnant

I am now 14 weeks pregnant. Everything seems to be on track. I am just trying to enjoy being pregnant and not being sick. Some days it is very difficult. I seem to allow myself to get down a little easier during this time of my pregnancy. I want to be happy and I want to enjoy life. I know everything will be better soon. I just have to try my best to be happy.

On the up side, the baby is 3 inches long and weighs about 2 ounces. I know that is not much but he/she is growing everyday. The baby is kicking and stretching, yawning and sucking on his thumb. It is hard to believe that all of that is going on and I cannot even feel it yet. It should only be a few more weeks and I will feel the baby more. I am excited about that. I should also be able to find out if we are having a girl or a boy in about 5 or 6 weeks.

Unable to Make Decisions: Part 1

I don’t know why I am plagued with indecision. Sometimes I feel like this has become my lot in life. Not long ago I had to make another choice. Here is how the story began:

All summer long I was thinking about whether or not I wanted to go back to teach again at Mt. Vernon. Early in the Summer I was convinced that I should find something else to do, even if it meant getting out of the field of education altogether. I got a call from a gentleman in Florida who heads a ministry for troubled teenagers. Amy and I both gave serious thought to going there for an interview. We chose not to, and in the end I believe we made the right decision on that one, but the process was daunting.

After attending the conference in Washington, D.C. this past summer, I felt a renewed interest in teaching. I was with a group of people who seemed to have vision, and it was exciting! I came home with a stronger desire to go back to the trenches, and be the best teacher I could be. Unfortunately, it didn’t take too long before I once again had that unsettling feeling of dissatisfaction. I began to look intently for someplace else. I found there were a few other positions at local schools needing science teachers, but none in which I felt a strong urge to apply.

Then, one morning, on a day when I had had about all the frustration I could take, with great intensity I knelt down and prayed that God would open a door. I really felt like God was going to answer that prayer. Soon after I went to the computer and found out that a church in Indiana was looking for a youth pastor. This may come as a surprise to some of you, but Amy and I once worked in this capacity several years ago. I called the pastor to inquire about the position, and to make a long story short, we found ourselves going for an interview, and being asked to come for a second interview. After a lot of soul searching, and long conversations, Amy and I reluctantly decided to not pursue the position further. At the end of the day, like so many times before, it just didn’t “feel” right. I can’t say that our decision was made with confidence. Honestly, we just didn’t know what to do, so we thought maybe we should just stay here. Perhaps we are both afraid and both have too little faith. Maybe we are both so far away from God that we just can’t discern his voice anymore. Either way the fear of leaving what we do have was just too overpowering.

So, how in the world did we get to this place? I suppose that story deserves its own post.