what's on my heart this morning

-Tim is home with me today. Yesterday when I picked him up from after-school band practice his temp was 101.4 and he couldn't wait to go to bed. With 250 kids from his school home sick yesterday and all the info about the flu this year, I am concerned. It's hard not to be. I know there's a lot of criticism over the press making it appear worse than it is, but 43 kids died since Aug. 30 from the flu. That's enough reason for the media to get the word out. We are at epidemic levels right now. I've never had the flu shot, nor have the boys. Kraig got it twice as a teacher and both times he got incredibly sick that winter... worse than all the years he didn't get the flu shot. This past month I've been considering having the boys get both the flu and the H1N1 shots. They've both had pneumonia...Tim a couple of times when he was little and Michael just 2 months ago, right before school started. That probably makes them a little more susceptible. Any advice for me? (Tim is actually feeling better this morning with a low-grade temp. and wants to be in school to avoid the extra homework, but they want kids 24 hour temp free before returning plus he's still coughing)

-It's been 1 1/2 months since I updated my resume and began "the job search". The word I've used the past few weeks is frustrated. I don't feel discouraged because I know God has the right job planned for me in His time. When part-time positions didn't appear to be out there I broadened my search to full-time. It's actually the thought of not being home until after 5:00 and possibly missing games or other early evening activities that kept me from the full-time search sooner. A recruiter I've worked with has only found 1 job for me, which was over 30 minutes from our house and wasn't guaranteed to be a permanent position. On the very bright side this week, I've now communicated with a church and with a Christian school about possible interviews in the next couple of weeks. They are both opportunities I am really excited about! Pray for me!

-My parents are in Mexico with 5 other relatives to honor my grandma and step-grandpa's wishes who both passed away in February. My grandparents wanted their ashes to be spread over the ocean near their home. I believe this afternoon is when the service is planned; however, Tropical Storm Rick will be hitting South of the area sometime tonight or early tomorrow. They were feeling the effects already yesterday (fortunately they arrived Thursday night and had some sunny days). My family is in the San Carlos/Guaymas area on the Western side of mainland Mexico across from the Baja. For those of you who know the area, they are NE of Cabo San Lucas. On Saturday Hurricane Rick was the 2nd strongest Eastern North Pacific hurricane on record. San Carlos is also still recovering from Hurricane Jimena early in September. My parents will be flying home to MN on Friday.

-On the lighter side, even though the Twins are finished for the season and the Metrodome is done with baseball, the Vikings are 6-0!!! Our high school varsity football team is 8-0 with just 2 games left of the season. Our varsity soccer team finished the regular season 9-2-4 (JV 10-4-1 and Tim's freshman team 9-3-1). One of the varsity's 2 losses was to the #1 team in the US, St. Ignatius from here in Cleveland, and we were ahead 1-0 at halftime (we lost 2-1). Our family has enjoyed many hours cheering our teams to victory!