Busy Life

Stockton had to be at school early. He had an Academic Decathlon competition today. It was their first one and he had no idea what to expect. The frustrating thing though is today they are doing yearbook pictures. Stockton won't be there for the bowling picture. They were going to change it to after school so Stockton could make it, but then the basketball guys had practice. Stockton was a little annoyed about that. I took Jorja to school. She still has her black eye, but used a lot of makeup to cover it up. She is also getting her student government yearbook picture taken today. She was not thrilled with her black eye this morning. She was supposed to wear jeans, a grey shirt and her student government sweater. Jorja picked a grey shirt that had words on it. They made her turn her shirt backwards, so Jorja will be wearing her shirt backwards in the yearbook. Haha! That made me laugh. I'm sure she'll still look adorable. I went straight to the temple after dropping Jorja off. I was able to make it to the 8:00 session. I was quite happy with that.

Preston received his school reflections award today. They had the award ceremony for the kids that moved on yesterday. He thought it was so cool going into the ceremony knowing he was already chosen to move on. They announced the kids that moved on at the end. These two boys were both chosen for film.

Preston and Seven

As soon as Preston's name was announced we skipped out of there. I took Preston with me and we hustled to get Jorja. While I was at the ceremony I got a text from Stockton saying he wouldn't be back from Academic Decathlon before school was over. Then I got a text saying he needed to stay after for a NHS meeting. Jorja was supposed to be home right at 2:45 today to meet Damian. He is going to work with her on softball. I texted Damian and hurried and brought Jorja home. Damian ended up cancelling; but at least it wasn't us who didn't show up. I hate that. The missionaries did come over. Jorja wore Sister Hutchinson's jacket for awhile.

Jorja

Stockton had bowling as well today. He didn't get home for a long time. He told us about the crazy tests he had to take. They took tests all day long. The theme this year is Africa. He was laughing about the African music they were tested on. Stockton didn't feel prepared for this. For example, he was tested on African economics. That isn't something you can just randomly pick up; but at least he knows what to expect now. He had a great time at bowling though.

Jorja went to Sami's house today. She had dinner with them and stayed until Sami needed to go to soccer. I was at Javita's house when Jorja called for me to pick her up. I talked Jorja into going back to Javita's house with me. I finished up what I was doing with Javita while Jorja talked with Damian and a few other people. The missionaries also stopped by there. Haha! It was great. Javita had us come upstairs and pick up a box of Whitley's old clothes. Jorja loves Whitley's hand me downs. Whitley knows how much I despise shopping. The box was huge and heavy, but we managed. Jorja and I went through some of the clothes late tonight. Jorja has to dress up tomorrow at school. There was a dress in there that will be perfect.

Within Reach

I went to Gavin's house this morning to exercise. It's funny I keep calling it Gavin's house when he has nothing to do with why I'm there. Sounds better than Shannon's house I guess. I met a lady there named Sarah, who is my friend Becky's cousin. Small world. Anyway, Stockton needed me to come to school today to talk about something for government that was due. We had to discuss a problem and I needed to sign a paper. It worked out perfectly because I was already planning on taking Jorja out to lunch. She has hated lunch for the last few weeks, especially on B days. Sometimes she goes and sits in a math class during lunch, but today I asked if I could take her out. I took her, Hailey and Allison to Chick-Fil-A. I don't want to do that very often. We were speedy quick, but they were late to their math class. I did not like that at all.

Jorja and Isaac had planned to finally work on their biology project after school today. I have been after Jorja to get this done. I have practically begged her to just do the project by herself. I don't want her grades to suffer. Jorja was a little nervous. She played the piano while she waited. Soon Stockton came in with an unfamiliar backpack. It was Isaac's. Isaac was running to our house from school. Stockton stayed late to do math tutoring. When he passed him he asked if he wanted a ride. Isaac asked if he could take his backpack, then he ran the rest of the way to our house. That is a long run! While we were talking to Stockton, the missionaries pulled up. Jorja freaked out! She ran outside to them. They came in and talked to her for awhile. Seriously, these missionaries are the best thing for Jorja. Sister Hutchinson has been here for several months. She has had a couple of baptisms; but I think Heavenly Father sent her here for Jorja. They have the best bond, and she always seems to show up at the perfect time. Isaac came a few minutes after the missionaries were in the house. He sat down super tired in the front room. I went and sat beside him. I hit his leg and said, "I am so mad at you!" He nodded and said, "I expected that." He then asked if I could get him water. Isaac and I went into the kitchen. I talked to him for awhile. I don't want to write what I said to him; but one thing about me is people always know where I stand. Anyway, they worked on their science project until it was time for me to take Preston to his reflection award ceremony. I dropped Isaac off and talked to him a little more on the way.

Mike met us at the middle school where the ceremony was. Preston and I weren't able to make it to the open house, but Mike took pictures for us.

Preston's game

He did a video of him playing the game he made while he had a voice over explaining what was happening and how things were programed; how he got the wii remotes to work with the computer . . . things like that.

Not a great example, but the only one I have

Preston in the Hawaiian shirt with other random kids

 Ribbon

When we came home we watched Preston's video. None of us had ever seen it before. It was stinking cute! That kid is so smart and talented. He came home with his paper that he had to fill out for the reflections. Preston did this at school and the office people helped him fill it out. The parent signature was left blank. Whoops. Yep, we didn't help him with this at all.

Stockton and I talked with Jorja in her room for a long time. It was good. When she was telling Stockton how scared she was to go to lunch on B days, Stockton mentioned that he thought Gavin had the same lunch as her on those days. He asked her if she would like to sit by him. She nodded but wanted to wait a few days before he asked Gavin. I wish with all my heart that Jorja and Stockton had the same lunch. That would be perfect. I went to bed and let Jorja have her phone a little longer than normal. She said she wanted to finish a conversation with one of her friends while she was getting ready for bed. She promised me she would put her phone upstairs as soon as she was finished. I ended up regretting this. Jorja woke me up, I'm not sure what time it was. Mike was working on a maintenance issue in the guest room, so I was all alone. Jorja was crying pretty hard. I pulled her in bed with me so we could talk. Jorja has had a hard, hard, hard, hard time these last few weeks. She is trying her best, but feels like she lost all her friends when Isaac broke up with her. The sad thing is, Jorja was so worried about Isaac losing his friends and made a conscious effort for this to not happen, instead she lost hers. The girl that texted her hasn't had much contact with Jorja since Isaac and Grace became a thing. Grace was Jorja's confidant. Jorja bared her soul to Grace. All her hurts, fears, and her deep feelings for Isaac. Jorja was devastated when less than a week later Isaac and Grace became a couple. Jorja has been trying so hard, but it hurts more than anyone knows. This girl started texting Jorja out of the blue and telling her she can't be mad at Isaac and she can't be mad at Grace. (Jorja isn't mean to them, she just tears up when she sees them. She has to walk away so people won't notice she is crying.) This girl told Jorja that she is making them sad and that is not fair. Lots of things around those lines. I held Jorja while she sobbed. I kept telling her that this girl doesn't know anything. She has no idea how deep her hurt is, she has no idea the level of betrayal that she is experiencing right now. I begged her to walk away from these people and find new friends. Anyway, it was not a good night. I am so sick of this. I can't wait until Jorja can be healed. It seems like every time she takes a step forward something happens to pull her three steps back. Jorja asked me if I had set up a therapy appointment for her yet. Luckily I just had today. I got the bishop's referral this morning and was able to get her in for an appointment on Monday. I hope she will be able to get some tools that will help her with her anxiety. I think this will be really good for her.

Reflections

They announced the Reflections winners today at the elementary school.  The first picture is Preston getting his certificate.  There was over 90 participants, so they called the kids up in groups of 10.  The lady behind Preston is the new principal.  Her name is Stacy Tracy.  Or Tracy Stacy, I can't remember.  I hope she is as good as Principal McKay.  He was great!

Preston's group

Audrey won for dance.  I was so happy for her!  Audrey is the one wearing the cute ears.

Audrey

Preston won in the video category.  He took a video of him playing a game he made.  There is no computer game category.  This is the only picture I got because my phone ran out of space.  I tried deleting other pictures, but I wasn't fast enough.

Preston with his trophy

Jorja picked our ponderizing scripture for the week.  It is: The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the Earth shall see the salvation of God. --3 Nephi 16:20