New Experiences All Around

Life is full of drama when you have teenagers.

When Hannah's cell phone (aka main mode of communication) fell into the toilet last week, it began. We tried every trick in the book and it only partially came back to life. Meanwhile, Hannah had the new experience of spending four days in Charleston with her grandparents attending Capitol Driving School. This was the "booooring" part, the classroom part of driver's ed. She did get some driving time in with her grandparents to and from class.

When she got home, we had to resolve the "Cell Phone Dilemma". Louie and I spent way too much time discussing the options and costs involved. In the end, we chose a cost effective option that the lovely people at Ntelos worked out for us. It involved Hannah getting a shiny new phone (with a rebate!) that she paid most of. In addition, Rebecca had a new experience...getting her very first (inexpensive) cell phone... since she IS a sixth grader now and is away from us more often. (Which means in the near future we will be canceling our home phone- I'll give a shout out when we pull the plug)

Last Sunday, Garrett and his friends from his band Torn in Two had a cool new experience. They were invited to be a part of a local Christian radio show on WEMM, called The Turn. His friend Luke got to be cohost. Garrett sang live on the radio which of course you can hear LIVE on the Internet. I can't even describe how weird and awesome it was to hear my baby singing and speaking on the radio. I have to say, I thought he was very well spoken. Louie offered a bit of coaching before they went on air. They had fun and will probably be asked back on the show again. If so, I'll put it on the blog in case you want to tune in!

Tonight, the band was asked to sing for an event at New Baptist Church in Huntington. The church was having a back to school community block party. The boys performed from the bed of a flat bed trailer during the evening and there was a picnic. Garrett's 80 year old Latin teacher rushed the stage to take pictures and cheer for him. Later, the boys even autographed a picture for their smallest fan.

This morning, Hannah and Rebecca had a brand new experience. They played guitar in church and sang. Early in the summer, our choir director asked me if someone from our family would sing during a Sunday in August and I agreed. I wrote it on the calendar but we've been so busy I put it out of my mind until this week. With our church secretary out of town, I created the bulletin this week, simply writing "The Gaunch Family" as our special music. I broke the news to Garrett and then Louie, figuring one of them would step up and sing. Then Louie suggested all the kids sing with him. Garrett has been playing guitar for years. Hannah took a lesson while at senior high camp 3 weeks ago and has been practicing since then. And Louie borrowed a small bass guitar and taught Becca a few notes in the last 3 days! They chose an upbeat easy song. So are you wondering what my part was? Louie offered me a tambourine.... uh, no. My talents lie elsewhere. Instead, I just introduced the song and took pictures. I was proud. They were brave trying something new. (Lou had planned to play a drum while he was singing but can't seem to do 2 things at once any more- so we 'adopted' the pastor's son and asked him to help us out)

One more new experience I'm happy to tell you about- I have a new job. I accepted a job this week as a Grammar School aide at Covenant School where the kids go to school. It's a part time position. I'm assigned to work in the Kindergarten room from 8-12:30. Things are still a bit up in the air until later this week, but most likely, I will also teach 1st and 2nd grade PE. I was a substitute aide last year in Cabell County and I have been wanting something more permanent. I inquired with Cabell County and the answer was a firm no, there was nothing available, especially in the area of hearing impaired where I especially wanted to work. Less than 48 hours later, Covenant School called and asked me if I would be interested in coming for an interview.

Keep in mind the irony- Next week, I will send Garrett off to his last "First Dayof School", into the 12th grade as I go off to my second "First Day of Kindergarten". I'll spend Garrett's entire senior year right down the hall from him. Isn't life interesting? I'm not sure how the kids feel about having me "on their turf". I absolutely love Covenant School and what they are doing. I'm actually pretty humbled to get to be a faculty member and a part of their mission. I think my degree in speech and language development will come in handy as I'm helping with reading and certainly 17+ years of mommying will come in handy when it comes to loving and organizing a group of 18 or more 5 years olds! Oh, the stories this blog may tell by the end of the school year! I read one of my favorite children's books this afternoon for inspiration!

The next week will be a whirlwind- double checking those school supply lists, making sure we have the appropriate school uniform pieces, and deciding what we'll be packing in lunches (no cafeteria at Covenant means packed lunches every day). Also Garrett has an independent study period on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the end of the day so we're trying to work out an opportunity for him to volunteer at St. Mary's hospital. Since he thinks he wants to go to medical school, I think he needs to get a closer look in the real world. Hannah has the independent study as well and she's going to be working under a teacher's supervision taking Rosetta Stone Spanish. Since we went on a mission trip to the Dominican Republic last year, it's something she's wanted to learn better.

School Year 2010-2011, here we come!