Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Haikus

Tyler turned fourteen                         

Football, band, church mission trip

Busy, growing boy!

Sweet Emily-sis;

archery and trap shooting,

reading and bassoon.

Our scrappy Lauren--

busting moves in basketball;

Ready to grow up.

Poosie Hannah-Beth

competitive gymnastics,

loves school, choir and church.

We host Ryoki,

from Japan to Arkansas;

on his way again!

Wesley works and works,

white letters on a black screen:

job upgrade and raise!

The beach and a cruise:

vacation of a lifetime.

Sun-tanned and relaxed J

An alarming shift--

Shiloh band director leaves!

Now what do I do?

Month of resisting,

not sure if I should step up;

the job becomes mine!

School, football season,

Thanksgiving break pneumonia,

homebound snow and ice.

Busy and juggle,

spare time is a luxury.

So glad it’s Christmas!

(and the interpretations....)

Tyler is an offensive lineman, excels at playing his trumpet and enjoyed his experience in New Orleans on a mission trip over Spring Break.  He is currently working to build muscle and take his driving test.

Emily is a beautiful 6^th grader that loves middle school.  She makes a great addition to the beginner band on bassoon, enjoys archery and reading books and has taken up team trap shooting at Shiloh.

Lauren can’t wait to be as old as Tyler and Emily, and her greatest desire is to get married and have children.  In the meantime, she plays some mad basketball and is the model student at school.

Hannah is as precocious as ever, always shocking us with her mature vocabulary and understanding.  She is doing well on a competitive gymnastics team this year and lives for church on Sundays.

We had the unique opportunity to host for a week a boy from Japan named Ryoki.  We exhausted him with bowling, bumper cars, movies, Easter traditions and pizza buffet.  We are thrilled that he is coming back again over Spring Break this year!

Emily says all her daddy does all day is type white letters on a black screen.  For his hard work, he was awarded with a coveted job upgrade and raise.  We are so proud of how well he types his letters!

Our family got to take a “vacation of a lifetime” this year…one week at Gulf Shores, Alabama with Mammaw and Aunt Lizzie followed by one week on a Carnival Cruise to Honduras, Belize and Mexico with Grandma and Granddad. 

I came back rested and ready to work, and was met with the news that the head director was leaving.  I was torn, but didn’t want to take on the program out of selfishness if it wasn’t meant for me.

The search was on for a new director while I worked diligently to keep the program running and ready for football season.  Time passed while the right candidate remained elusive and I became enamored.  Right before school started, I was given the job and a wonderful assistant was hired to team-teach with me.

Life has been busy and full trying to manage home, school, jobs, activities and family.  A December ice storm and me getting pneumonia added to the holiday craziness.  We are blessed beyond measure…and thrilled for a little break!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Hope you are enjoying the season!

The Tollett Family

Season's Greetings from the Tollett Family

2012 has had many changes in store for me and our family that I simply wouldn’t have been able to fathom at the end of 2011.  On New Years Day, Dad had a motorcycle accident that halted everything normal for a number of weeks, even months.  Huge praises that everything is great now, with restorations to mind, body and relationships along the way; but on the heels of that shaky time, life seemed to be about to implode for me, a great mess of stress and confusion as I struggled to balance family, my volunteer calling to missions, who I wanted to be, and life in general. 

At the end of May, my desperate prayers for what to do were answered in a most unexpected way, after I surrendered to myself and opened my heart to the possibility that it might be time for me to move in a different direction.  In a matter of weeks of that surrender, amidst the terror and grief of change, I was offered a full-time job at Shiloh Christian in a unique position of assistant band director and administrative assistant, a job that had not existed until I inquired about the possibility of it.  I miss missions still, and hope that the opportunity will come around for me to help again, but I am in love with my job, on some days even questioning the ethics of being paid for something that makes me so happy to do!  The physical adjustment has been draining with increased fatigue, but I have been able to balance that by taking better care of myself both physically and mentally.  And the family has been so good to jump in and help; I couldn’t be more blessed during this time.

Below is the Tollett Family 2012 Year at a Glance.  Read more about our year and my journey at bethtollett.blogspot.com.

Tollett Family 2012 Year at a Glance

Dec 31 I got the call that Dad had a motorcycle accident that morning.  After a little tense waiting and calling back and forth to see how bad it was, my New Years Eve plans¹ changed pretty rapidly as Wes and I headed to Little Rock to join Mom at the hospital.

January The first couple of weeks were spent getting Dad out of the hospital and into rehab. The March Malawi mission trip Wes and I had planned to go on got canceled, making my decision to not go in the wake of uncertainty with Dad’s accident an easy one.  Wes held down the fort at home in my absence, and once I was back, he started our previously decided plan of weekly “date night”² with the kids, a great time of one-on-one fatherly connecting we hope to pick back up on this year.

February Dad was able to finally come home, but tensions remained high as the recuperation process ran its course.  Even though my March trip was off, I was busier than ever with summer team planning and training.  We did manage to take a fun and much-needed fishing weekend getaway³ (I was sort of social, working in the same room with others counts, right?) with the most unlikely candidate in the family winning the ‘most fish caught’ prize.

March We went home to Nashville over Spring Break to spend some time with family.  Tyler went on his first mission trip to Indianapolis with his church music group, Motion, and had a great time singing, dancing and sharing the gospel with other kids.  (You can see a photo album of that journey on  Facebook, by liking Motion NWA and viewing the album INDY 2012.)

April Life was in full throttle, things were crazy busy, and I was desperately trying to get a handhold⁴ and figure out what I wanted to do with myself.

May School was wrapping up in a rush and we were looking forward to summer.  We went on our annual family camping trip which was a complete blast for all in the family except one. ⁵ I had a hard conversation with a friend, sent a completely random email, and unknowingly started on my journey to “something new”⁶.

June Summer was a blur of Branson vacation, kids camps and swimming lessons.  I was holding the secret of my new job until everything was final⁷.

July The girls and I spent a week at Nashville and I started my new job at the end of the month.  My first couple of days were spent cleaning the band hall (Hazmat-style, I swear you do not want to know the things I touched) and Hannah told my in-laws that mama was “at the school at her new job picking up trash”.  (When I got home, they cautiously asked me if I was a custodian.)

August School officially began mid-month.  We started a brand-new routine in our family as I became a full-time working mom of 4 kids.  Tyler was asked to be in the High School band a year early to fill a spot from someone who dropped.  (Yeah, I was proud, and yeah, he’s good at playing the trumpet).  Emily started her last year in elementary as a 5^th grader (We keep putting the book on her head but she keeps growing up anyway).  Lauren started 3^rd grade with a swag that only she can pull off (she has a brat-pack of friends, kind of like a preppier Breakfast Club).  And Hannah started full-time K4 (she loves it and refuses to miss school, even when Pappaw comes to visit and asks if she can play hooky).

September-December It’s been a complete blur, but in a good way.  Night band practice and Friday night football games for me and Tyler, lots of big upgrades and all-night work for Wes, early to bed for me, after-school football practice and games for Tyler, gymnastics for the girls, early to bed for me, competitive team gymnastics with multiple practices a week for Hannah (yep, we are keeping an eye on her, little miss precocious), early morning workout groups for Wes,  early to bed for me, basketball practice and games for both Tyler and Lauren, choir and Awana for the girls, early to bed for me, Motion and Home Groups on Sunday nights for Tyler, early mornings to school for all of us, early to bed for me…(I think I might have repeated myself somewhere in there…)

I’m not going to say it’s been all hugs and puppies…there have been lots of adjustments, hard work, long days, continued tears and introspection⁸…and it certainly didn’t go the way I had planned it to be at the start…but 2012 has truly been a most unexpected and blessed year⁹.

Love to all and a very Merry Christmas,

Wesley, Beth, Tyler, Emily, Lauren and Hannah Tollett

¹Not the Blog I was Expecting to Write

²Date Nights

³Chasing the Lure

⁴April Showers Bring May Flowers

⁵Unhappy Camper

⁶The Next Step

⁷A Job Made Just for Me

⁸Getting Rid of the Vermin

⁹Ready for 2012

Getting Rid of the Vermin

It all started with a mouse in the house.

(Kind of like a shoe on the wall…shouldn’t be there at all)

Following that mouse was a second, and a third and a fourth.

(He said mousetraps were disposable until we ran out…then they became reusable in a hurry)

And then a slightly larger fifth.

(Babies are expendable to take first venture out, but Mama finally got hungry)

It was downright ridiculous by the third morning.  My kids had squealed and “eww”ed and “cool”ed their way through snapped noses, crushed bodies, bits of blood and fur and the ever present horrid hanging tails.  The dog had even discovered the threat of peanut-butter-bread on a set trap. 

I had multiple times run from the kitchen, shuddered in great disgust and crept up on the pantry door and under the china cabinet with trembling hands and flashlight at the ready.  I had been teased and taunted by the rest, the fake white-rubber life-size mouse placed carefully around my things in the kitchen, just waiting for my sharp intake of breath and frozen-yet flight-ready body. 

(It’s not funny!…yes it is teehee!...went the round and round argument)

I was more than tired of the indoor rodent invasion.

It seems to be over, although I’m still cautiously checking.  I keep my feet curled up in the chair when I sit at the kitchen table.  I start at the wind making the blinds rattle near the china cabinet.  I curse the floor tiles being gray when the night shadows come.  I debated tossing the white rubber mouse into the trashcan with the rest of the baggie-sealed mouse corpses.

I love to blog, and it’s been awhile.  I’ve been busy.  With work.  With life. 

And with getting rid of the vermin.

2012 was going to be “the year”.  I had a whole list of things I was going to do.  Books to read, projects to start (and finish).  A banner year, I said.  And then everything seemed to fall apart right at the start and I wondered why I had bothered getting so pumped up about another wasted year.  But on reflection, it has been a great year, just not how I had it all planned back in January.

There have been lots of unexpected changes this year.  But the best part has been the toughest part.  Looking into the dark places, shining in with a flashlight, seeing all of the creepy crawly unspeakable things…and reaching in to gather them up one by one and dump them in the garbage heap.

It’s a process.  Its taken time, tears and talking.  I’m working on me, and it’s been a good thing.

Way past time to boot the mouse out of the house.

Some Things Change...but Some Don't

So I knew some things would surely have to change a bit once I started working.  

And they have.

These days, I have more of this that piles up in various places

I have more projects like this that just aren't going to get done anytime soon.

My plants are crying...or dying...or, let's just face it...gone.

But friends, there is one thing that isn't going away.

That's right, you are looking at a pot of homemade chicken and dumplings I whipped up in between school and evening band practice.  Real whole chicken, boiled and deboned.  Real chicken stock, not that canned nonsense (ok, I admit, I have some of that in the pantry for emergencies but it's not in this pot, baby).  Bisquick dumplings rolled out on the counter with a real rolling pin (bonus points to anyone who still owns one much less uses it anymore), cut one-by-one and dropped meticulously into the rolling boil of rich chicken goodness.  (Ok, I dumped in the last few pieces all in a clump because it was taking WAY too long).

I'm not bragging.  Well, maybe I am a little.  But just so we all feel on even ground, it's ok to be jealous of manna from heaven in a stewpot.  Or of me and my happy tummy tonight.

Some things change...but some things don't.

Going out to eat is awesome.  I love it.  Take out is awesome.  I love it too.  Junk food is the bomb.  I love it a little too much.

But nothing compares to home cooking.

There is nothing negative about it.

Well, except for this part.

But one of the happy changes of me working?  My job isn't doing dishes!

(Now I KNOW you are jealous)

More Than Just Music

In high school, one of the most stressing questions for me was what I was going to be when I grew up.  I only wish I had possessed the wisdom to quit taking the battery of tests that would try and define that question and simply responded with the healthy truth.

I am going to be me.

And then, instead of the pressure of trying to define a particular profession I might or might not really do, maybe I could have focused more on my strengths and giftings with the purpose of using those in whatever interests or jobs I found myself doing in life.

I trained to teach music.  But I am more than "just music."  I took a secretarial desk job that morphed into insurance adjuster.  But I am more than "just office worker."  I ended up being a mother four times over.  But I am more than "just mom."  I just got done with two years of volunteer Africa missions.  But I am more than "just Africa."

My school day is now centered around band, but I have another responsibility as well.  When I am not involved in band classes, I pack up my laptop and walk to the other side of campus where I have a quiet (Africa-themed) office.  And there, I suspect, I will fully learn just what "me" is capable of.

The other half of my job is Administrative Assistant to the President of Shiloh Christian School.  Not to be confused with personal secretary or filer girl which wouldn't be exciting to me at all, my job is like Special Ops...I get to do all of the interesting projects nobody else has time for.

Band is easy.  I walk in the room and I know what to do.  I can teach the instruments, I can sing the parts, I can tap the rhythms, I can march the drill and I can clean the petrified food out of the hidden corners of the band hall all while taking roll and telling someone to use more air and raising my eyebrows at the tuba player doing a funny little dance in the back of the room.

But the admin job will stretch me.  I will have to get good at things that aren't currently second nature.  I will have to learn skills I don't currently possess.  But I am not coming in unprepared.  I will be tapping into my natural love of organization, my adamant need for near-perfection excellence and the social leadership skills (yes, I said social and leadership in the same sentence) that I learned over my last two years in missions.

And I am excited.

This is me, the whole thing.  The teaching, the music, the organization, the administration and the joy of knowing I am using my gifts in two completely different areas I am capable in.  This is a job I could have never dreamed up for myself.  It's a job in which I have been placed for this moment of time.

I'm so glad I said yes to being "more than just". 

It All Comes Back Around

When I was in elementary school, I thought it was the coolest thing when my Dad starting teaching band, utilizing his college degree he had set aside for a number of years. A few years later I thought it was amazing when my Mom, armed with only a vocal education degree, went back to school and got her certification to teach band too.  I jumped right in and became a band geek myself in junior high and high school, and although I didn't particularly want to make a career of it, in the end it was really all I knew how to do.

So I got my degree in Instrumental Music Education compliments of Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.

After marriage and graduation, Wes and I moved to Northwest Arkansas.  Having just completed 4 1/2 years of intense schooling, I was sick of music so I applied for a secretarial-type job to bide the time until we started a family.  

I remember in my job interview I was asked what my degree was.  When I answered, I was told "Well, there aren't any musical instruments around here."

Although I still got the job, I couldn't help but cringe a little.

Meanwhile my parents were still team teaching band and choir at my high school and my brother, who had followed in my footsteps, graduated with his own band degree and was carving out a teaching career in Texas.

It has been roughly 14 years since that time, and although I have been involved in some sporadic music endeavors along the way, I have mostly been a stay-at-home mom; never have I taught officially.

Until now.  Where I am daily surrounded by musical instruments.

I am the Assistant Band Director at Shiloh Christian School and so proud to be using the gifts I have in the area of teaching and music.  I have no idea why now, but I am excited for the opportunity.  Although my parents have retired, my brother is now Head Director at his school in Texas.  Tyler, my oldest, is starting his second year of band and is quite talented if I do say so myself.  (He thinks he wants to be a chef when he grows up, but we shall see, won't we?)

It's funny how it all comes back around.  

A Job Made Just for Me

A simple conversation with someone in a hallway, within minutes on the heels of tears and prayer and the submission of my own will.

An awkward email to someone else composed hours later, me throwing myself out there, inquiring to the possibilities, if there even were any possibilities.

Me wondering what in the world I was thinking, sure it would come to nothing.

An immediate response that caused my knees to buckle.

A meeting. 

An opening I didn't even know existed that was now being silently held.

A conversation between two people, unknown to me, the converging of the earlier simple conversation and the awkward email set into motion without my knowledge or manipulation.

The creation and offer of a part time + part time = full time job, utilizing my best gifts to help two different people in a unique way, created just for me, just for now.

The wonder and awe that still hasn't gone away.