Jonas Brothers Take Over Atlanta

We bought tickets to the Jonas Brothers as soon as they came on sale way back in March, so the girls have been anticipating this concert for forever. Unfortunately its on a Wednesday. I got Grace out of school a little early to drive to Hope's school and be in line to pick her up. To get her out of school early takes an act of Congress so we just waited until school was over.

I had to open at the store and I have to open the following day, so Norm came with us. I sure he was heartbroken to know we didn't have an extra ticket. He went disc golfing while we battled thousands of girls. Demi Lavato was the beginning act. She was one of the stars from Disney's

Camp Rock. We were a little late because of road construction, but we made it. It was her 16th birthday so everyone sang to her and we watched a montage of her life. Oh, I forgot to mention the concert was held in Atlanta, GA.

The Jonas Brothers held a great concert. Hope and Grace loved it and sang their hearts out. They had a graduation party thing since Joe Jonas just graduated high school. We had to leave a little early since I needed to open. Of course, we stopped by the Varsity for a late dinner and headed home. The sould of thousands of girls are still ringing in my head. -Tina

Happy 222nd Birthday!

Today as I am sure most Tennesseans are aware, marks Davy Crockett's 222nd birthday. Crockett was born on a mountain top in Tennessee...but he spent quite a bit of time in Morristown, a town about fifty miles north east of Knoxville.

We went to the celebration hosted by the Davy Crockett Museum and Tavern. The festivities included Marshal Andy host of PBS' Riders of the Silver Screen, who showed the kids how to rope, play bugle along with telling cowboy stories and leading a sing a long of of old songs (including Davy Crockett song of course). Then a speaker dressed in Crockett attire went through the history of Davy Crockett's life. It was very entertaining and interesting.

Afterwards, they lead tours through the

Crockett home and tavern and served refreshments.

The weather has been perfect for all of

August with mid eighty temperatures

and this just capped it off.

A New Chapter

This week marked the first day of school for Hope and Grace. It came up so fast; I mean, didn't we just start the month of August?! It could be worst, the schools in Maryville started Aug. 4th. This was a particularly challenging start; Grace started Jr. High, Hope- High School.

Grace is going to Powell Middle School, Hope's school from last year. We met her teachers, signed up for PTA (finally) and walked around. She has a new science lab along with a beautiful new gym.

Hope, as written earlier, is starting Hardin Valley Academy; a school that was opened to the public just last Thursday. She went through to her classes so much she didn't have any problem finding them.
Hardin Valley Academy is a new model of high school that incorporates the college model. There are four academies: Liberal Arts (Hope's chosen academy), Health Science, Law and Public Affairs and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathmatics. They must meet all the regular high school requirements in addition to the academy requirements. These will count towards college credits. She will have enough credits to enter college as a Junior in college after high school.

Each academy has its own principal, advisor and counselor and each semester has four blocks of classes . It is the only one of its kind in the state. The principal stated there are all schools from all over the nation coming to learn more about it. The facility is beautiful, each class is equipped with a smart board and two computers. The library has about 25 computers and more shiny books than the Borders. It is also nestled in the foothills and adjacent to one of state colleges. This allows the professors to come and teach at the high school as well.

The grading is stricter that California. All Knox County Schools grade tougher; An "A" is a precentage of 100-93, a "B" is 92-83 and so on. Hardin Valley in order to graduate from the Acamedy you must posess a "B" average. The actual prinicpal over HVA was able to hand pick each teacher: good for us, sour grapes for other schools.

The only draw back is it is in Oak Ridge. The same Oak Ridge that has the ORNL (Oak Ridge National Lab-from the Mahattan Project-someday we will have to rent that movie). So I go to Grace's school about an hour early (I get alot of reading done) to get in first in line so we can drive 20 minutes to get Hope from her school. They both start and end at the same time so Grace arrives early and Hope gets picked up late. Grace doesn't seem to mind; she wants to go there to HVA when she starts high school (I don't even want to entertain that idea just yet).

Grace started her school having friends (yeah). Hope once again started a different school knowing no one. I couldn't believe she wanted to go through that again after facing the same thing just last year. But she never wavered. She loves her classes (her favorites are acting and choir, of course) and has made friends. Grace's favorite is Choir-no suprise there.

We have now etablished our route after much trial and error. Norm would call me at work and tell me how he went, I would see him in the evening and tell how I went. The first day was tough (on me). Ah back to school lunches, projects and No. 2 pencils. -Tina

The Hollers' Visit

They got here, as Norm posted, on Tuesday afternoon. While we had just seen them Saturday, that didn't seem to lessen the enthusiasm. Most of the time was spent just hanging out which seemed okay with everyone, but we did manage to do a walking tour of downtown Knoxville and Old City. We would be remiss if we didn't stop by Magpies Cakes. The first night I taught the girls all how to make their own sushi which was fun.

Sivana (ten) is growing into a young lady with insights that are amazing, Gaveriel (eight) is just full of life,sweet and helpful. Trinity (four, turning five in Nov.) is just hillarious. It's so hard to believe how much they have grown and matured in such a short time.
Since we weren't together for any of the girls' birthdays, we decided to do a mass birthday party for all of them. After the party, the girls all put on a play called Frog in the Pond. The girls had worked on it from day one and it was great.
We also took a trip to Hope's brand new high school built (more on that later) and checked out Grace's new Jr. High (I can't believe it). It was so great to have them here and was hard to say goodbye. They left about the same time we headed for church. -Tina

Disc Golf At Morningside

Today Buck and I played a round of disc golf at Morningside Park in Knoxville. It was my second time to play there, or play a whole round for that matter. Buck hadn't played before. The weather was absolutely great 85 degrees and low humidity. We didn't keep score but were on the average 1-2 over par on most holes. I have posted an arial picture of the course to the left.

We had been waiting for an opportunity to go play since they arrived on Tuesday. With work, shopping and transportation challenges we did not get to go until today. It was great just being out there with Buck doing something we'd never done before.

Following our round we went over to Plutos. If you are in Knoxville and like disc golf, it's a must do. They have so many discs by the all the major manufacturers as well as shirts, hats, and the baskets too. I am amazed at how many types of discs there are. Different types, weights and plastics. Discs range in price from $8.00 to $20.00. I definately saw a few I would like to get, who knows maybe even a disc bag............ -Norm

Good and Bad News

A week ago Knoxville made the national news for a shooting at a church. A man entered the Unity Universalist church last Sunday and opened fire while the children were preforming a play. He killed two, was tackled to the ground and will have his first court appearance this week. His motive was a mystery for a while. He wrote a four page tirade about his motives. Basically, he is an unemployed machinist and said he couldn't find that kind of work. He is an alcoholic with a violent past who was frustrated that his food stamps were being decreased. He blamed the "liberals" for all his ills. He decided since he couldn't shoot the policitians he would shoot those who put them in office. Why he targeted this liberal church was that his ex wife used to attend. He himself, has no affiliation with any church. He had seventy six shot gun shells with him but only was able to fire off two. Besides the two that were killed seven other were wounded. This has been very unsettling to the whole community; it reminded me of the Dave Mobilio shooting that happened in Red Bluff CA.

Okay, on to the good news. RaChael, Buck, Sivana, Gaveriel and Trinity are vacationing in North Carolina. They have visited Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville. Ashville is about an hour and a half from us, we couldn't resist, so the girls and I joined them. It was so great to see them. We hiked Grandfather Mountain and went on the mile high suspension bridge. It was gorgeous. They will be coming to Knoxville for a few days this week and we can't wait. -Tina

Tough Week.

This past week has been a challenging one. One of the expectations of what I do for a living is to be "on call". This involves carrying a pager and cell phone, responding to and dealing with any issues that arise after hours/weekends. This is in addition to working 10 to twelve hour days this week. A new expectation is the "on call" person also works the Saturday they are "on call". I do not like "on call" weeks. I like them even less now that working a Saturday is involved. In theory, if we work a Saturday, we are suppose to get the following Monday off. Not this week. We are being visited by the State for two weeks beginning tomorrow for an Annual Review. I guess these have been very unpleasant experiences in the past. I will hold my opinion until after it is over. Saturday was longer than it should have been. I visited nearly all my houses (9), plus one more. Tina and the girls went to Asheville for the day, while I worked.

This past week we moved of two residents, one to another agency. I have mixed feelings about this. I spent alot of time with this resident giving medications, shopping and scheduling staff for the home. When staff were not available, I worked there myself. The move was a relief and a sad day all at the same time. I received a nice letter from a family member thanking me for all I did to support this individual. I will add this to my portfolio.

The second resident moved to another apartment due to some safety issues. The new apartment is in a quieter and safer part of town. Both required my assistance to move.

I am glad to have this week behind me. I am confident that even being reviewed by the State, this week can only be easier. We shall see. -Norm