Traci Eccles~ Longview teacher first to earn national certification

It makes me sad there is so much evil in society; people who do things to hurt other people.  Whether to deliberately hurt them out of vengeance, or hurt them as a result of selfishly covering their own mistakes not realizing the harm to others, evil is all around us on a daily basis.  God's Word tells us, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:21 NIV) 

My sister, Traci Eccles, has had her share of evil in the past five years and she inspires me as she continues to move forward in her life to overcome evil [with good].   I blog today about Traci to share her story of one evil she is currently dealing with. 

*  After of traumatic experience with being sexually harassed by a co-worker five years ago, Traci found herself crushed by a "good old boys" network of which her harasser had a key position of power.

*  Traci settled with the school district and resigned from her job believing it would be the best way to leave the emotionally damaging experience behind so that she could remove herself from the negative environment and find employment teaching in another school district.

*  Unfortunately, the school district blatantly violated every part of their end of the agreement after the resignation creating a smear campaign against Traci which resulted in her more or less being black balled in the area she lived.  Traci chose to leave the state in order to get a job in education, which she did; she has a 20 year spotless record of excellence in her profession and was offered a job promptly in the state of Texas to live close to me and my family.

*  An inaccurate article about the sexual harassment appeared in the local Longview Daily News Paper during this time that effectively turned the tables on her by making Traci look like the villain and her harasser the victim.  She believed at the time that after everything she had already come up against, she had no recourse about these printed lies. However, Traci knew that any critical reader would see right through the article because it is written with such flagrant bias that it is almost comical.

Why does this matter five years later? 

*  This negative (inaccurate) article from 2008 continues to be the very first hit on any Google search that includes her name, Traci Eccles. Oddly, it connects in no way to any other name in the article or the district itself. In fact, you can put in the title of the article and it does not come up in a Google search.

*  Traci has relocated back to the Vancouver area and is currently looking for a teaching position.

*  Nearly every employer these days relies heavily on checking the online reputation of potential hires before even considering interviewing a candidate for a job (especially in teaching).

*  Less than one year before the negative and slanderous article was published in The Daily News, they did a full page article with a picture raving about the first ever Nationally Certified teacher in the district (who happened to be Traci Eccles!)

*  This article has [somehow] been blocked [by The Daily New] so that it does not come up on a Google search even if the exact title is used. And it does not come up in a search of her name or any combination of words in the title.

What can we do to help Traci?

*  All she wants is a fair chance at employment by allowing both articles (published in the same newspaper less than a year apart) to appear on the first page of a Google search of her name.   Any employer who sees both articles would hopefully be able to see that something very strange was at play here.
 
*  Most people are aware that the amount of traffic (number of hits) a particular Internet article gets is what determines order on what comes up on a search. It is ridiculous to believe that there are so many people looking at the negative article on a daily basis five years later, that it would remain on the top as number one.  This has been investigated and it could only be accomplished through internal linking to other high traffic pages at its source (The Daily News). In the same way, it is only possible for the newspapers own webmasters to prevent the positive article from getting any traffic by making it almost impossible to find. If you do link to it and you try to print it, it will print blank.

HOW YOU CAN HELP!!! I have included the link to the hidden article below...it is very difficult to locate through a basic Google search.  If it does start to get hits, I would not be surprised if the link ends up being quickly broken. If you feel led to help, all you need to do, is click on that link to The Daily News article once, or many times, closing out each time.  Don't feel you need to read it, it really isn't that interesting... although I'm VERY PROUD of my sister for achieving this accomplishment.  

http://tdn.com/business/local/longview-teacher-first-to-earn-national-certification/article_bf7209a6-8869-5921-abd8-92334980904b.html

My hope is with the help of people LIKE YOU who believe in what's right, this hidden article gets so many hits that it ends up somewhere on the first page of a Google search of any one searching her name so that future employers see the positive.  Also by writing this blog post, perhaps a future employer might stumble on the article through this venue.  God is in control!

Traci has left this awful experience in the past but it still seems to haunt her.  She is an awesome teacher, sister, and friend.  God will bless Traci's faithfulness to Him as she trusts in His providence in her life. 

To the "good old boys" in Longview...

...as for you, you meant evil against Traci,

but God meant it for good. 

(personalized from Genesis 50:20 ESV)

 

I am confident everything happens for a reason, and God will bring much good out of Traci's trials.  Please include Traci in your prayers as the Lord may lead.

Admit, Commit, and Drop~ SSMT verse #4

I have recently been struggling with a couple specific areas in my life that have truly hindered my well being and left me feeling frustrated and defeated.  I tell myself "I'll be o.k... I can expose myself to these areas as long as I practice moderation and resist the temptation to fall into the trap of over indulgence".  Sadly, I have not done this. 

God word tells me to confess your [my] sins to each other and pray for each other so that you [I] may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. (James 5:16)  I am confessing my areas and asking any prayer warriors reading this post to pray for me to break the pattern of over indulgence in these two specific areas and to repent from the sin that results~

First, I spend too much time reading FaceBook which initiates mixed feeling thoughts of a small group of people's actions/behavior; most of the people my "mixed feeling" thoughts are toward I don't even really know except through FaceBook. I spend about 60-90 minutes a day (accumulative) on this social network site, but then I fall into the trap of filling my mind through the day (many hours worth) of things people posted.  We live in a society of people who are narcissistic, self centered, and have a desperate need for attention and approval of others and this is the area that I am frustrated about; FaceBook is a breeding ground for this behavior. It causes me sadness to see constant posts from people who fit this catagory; I take it as an opportunity to pray for these people.  I wonder, am I also posting things that are narcisstic, self centered, or a need for attention and approval of others?  Yet, even though I know the time I spend on this website could be used for more productive things, I continue, thinking I see a lot of good things on FaceBook that encourages me.  Why does the bad stuff consume my thoughts and lead me astray in my thought life? I enjoy FaceBook for the purpose of keeping in touch with friends and family, many of who are long distance from where I live. I like seeing their family photos and keeping in touch with what's going on in their lives. For this reason, FaceBook is good and I will miss the connection I get in this way. 

Second, I struggle with over eating chocolate candy which results in unhealthy, high empty calorie consumption.  I've  always loved chocolate candy since my youth and have had many binges in this area!  I suppose a person like myself who comes from addictive behavior genetics, chocolate isn't a bad thing to be addicted to when you consider some of the alternatives.  But no matter the temporary comfort I receive from eating chocolate candy, it's false, not healthy and leaves me with the feeling of shame and remorse. I try to exercise portion control, but I fool myself and one piece results in a spiral of an all or noting attitude; 1 piece of candy ends up being 20+ pieces of candy; one candy bar ends up being 6 candy bars. This is not good for my physical body or a way to honor God spiritually. I recognize, to some extent, chocolate candy has turned into a false god.  May sound silly, but for me is true.

I have selected my memory verse for Siesta Scripture Memory Team (SSMT) Verse #4 from Hebrews.  This verse is God's loving encouragement to me to put these things out of my life... these things that keep me from what I should be doing (NLV) or like the Voice translation states, I am to drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to me and slackens my pace, the run that God has set before me. Thinking about it, why would I want these things in my way to slow me down... to weight me down in my long race called life?

As someone who has recently started running for exercise, this verse speaks to me on so many levels!

All these many people who have had faith in God are around us like a cloud. Let us put every thing out of our lives that keeps us from doing what we should. Let us keep running in the race that God has planned for us. 

Hebrews 12:1  New Life Version (NLV)  

SSMT Verse #4

...let us drop every extra weight, every sin that clings to us and slackens our pace,and let us run with endurance the long race set before us. (The Voice Translation)



PRAYER:
Lord, help me live out this verse! Going forward today, I want to let go of these things that hold me back, so that I can focus on doing what I should... focus on You!  I pray this in your holy name, Jesus, Amen.

Color Me Rad 5K

If you had told me 6 months ago that I would run a 5K race (3.1 miles) just a handful of weeks after the new year, I would have NOT believed you and would have thought you were talking about someone else.  I would have thought, "me???  ...a 5K?... at my age... are you kidding, my body is too out of shape... No way!"

Well, fast forward 6 months, and I say, "YES, WAY!"

Six months ago, I got a smart phone and with it was introduced to the wonderful world of "apps".  Among my first two phone apps I installed was MyFitnessPal (a calorie journal and social media place for accountability) and RunKeeper.  I originally wanted RunKeeper as a way to GPS my walking activity so I knew how many calories I was burning if I decided to exercise (walking has typically been my exercise of choice).  But when I looked over the app, there was a real neat selection of training programs to choose from, so I decided to choose the simplest looking program called Beginner 5K.  I liked the idea of having an exercise program all mapped out for me and the workout reminders sent on the day of workouts were also a bonus. I didn't even know what a 5K was when I chose this program, I just knew the training started me off slow and would build my endurance over time.  I began the 8 week Beginner 5K training program just 4 months ago, in October 2012, as a very out of shape girl who could barely catch her breathe after jogging 100 yards.  It was about the second or third day of training I heard about the Color Me Rad 5K that would be coming to my city in early February raising money for our local Ronald McDonald House charity.  Something inside me clicked and I knew I needed to participate in this race to keep me motivated to stick with the training.  Having this 5K goal to strive for kept me committed and accountable.

After I officially registered, I began getting more and more excited about Color Me Rad 5K.  I loved the sound of this race where the participants get "color bombed" with bright colored powder (corn starch) randomly through the race and at the finish line.  Participants can run, jog, or walk, whatever they choose.  The main thing was to just do get out there and have fun.  I figured if I died while trying to finish this race, at least I'd have some fun doing it.  As my Beginner 5K training ended it's 8 week time frame in the middle of December, I continued on my own to train over the month of January in preparation for Color Me Rad.

I didn't want to go it alone, so I also registered my 11 year old daughter, Jessie, to join me and also invited others from our school district to join in on the fun.  Jessie and I ran the race together as a mom and daughter bonding time and we actually jogged a nice slow pace (11.5 minute mile) finishing the entire 3.1 miles without stopping to walk! This accomplishment was to both our surprise since neither one of us had ever endured this distance non stop before!

Thousands of people getting ready for the race on this beautiful 75 degree Saturday morning.

Jessie and I open our first color packets to officially get the party started!

We jogged side by side nearly the entire race, but when Jessie saw the finish line, she started to sprint because she was so tired and just wanted it to be over.  (Jessie yellow circle in front, I'm right behind her)

YES!  passing through the finish line!!!

One cool, RAD, girl!

We had had such a great time... we can't wait to do it again next year!!!

Now that I've completed my first 5K, I'm addicted to 5K runs that have a twist of fun.  I'm amazed at how many are out there and am filling my calendar with other fun races through the year to stay motivated, to stay fit, and to support local charities through the fund raising efforts of 5K sponsors.  I'm a firm believer, that if I can do a 5K, anyone can!

(promo video to see the fun of a Color Me Rad 5K!)

"To-Do" Lists Help Keep Me Focused!

I'm a person that tends to go in multiple directions by nature and have a tendency to be a scatter brain when I don't have a written plan of action to look over.  I've learned from an early age to write my goals, make "to-do" lists, etc..   When I don't have "to-do"  tasks written out, they often times don't get done in a timely manner or not even at all!

An intelligent person aims at wise action,

but a fool starts off in many directions.

Proverbs 17:24 (Good News Translation- GNT)

SSMT Verse #2 

The above verse is my memory verse for the next couple weeks.  I chose this verse because it shouts at me with encouragement! Yes, I have been a fool in the past "a fool in many directions", and hope this year, I will be an "intelligent person" who "aims at wise action".  I am back to faithful "to-do" lists this year (short term and long term) and written goals.  Each memory verse I choose is written in a spiral notebook that I keep close for quick reference.  I am excited to experience the victory of marking off tasks from my "to-do" lists as they get accomplished.

As far as memorizing Scripture~ I am so excited Siesta Scripture Memory Team (SSMT) is back for 2013!  Siesta Mama, Beth Moore, started SSMT through her blog community in 2009.  We have made a team every other year since the 2009 with this year our third.  [If you are interested in joining the memory verse team, HERE is the link for instructions]

As part of the team, all who commit to be involved for the year, memorizes a Scripture of their choice on the 1st and 15th of each month.  We are encouraged not to JUST memorize the written word, but to plant the word (scripture) so deep in our hearts that we live it out in our daily lives.  For me, memorizing Scripture keeps me grounded, balanced and spiritually healthy; my goal is to reflect the character of Christ as much as I can and give Him the honor and glory.

OK, enough blogging, it's time to go conquer my "TO-DO'S" for today!

What a year!

Click on the picture above for our complete year at a glance with photos. When you get to the bottom of the page, click "Older Posts" link to continue.

• We started the year by making huge progresses on our home renovations. We continued much progress through the whole year.
• Kelsie (our oldest) turned 18, and graduated from High School.
• Kelsie moved to Cleveland, Tennessee to attend her first year of college.
• Kirk retired from the Navy after 20 years of service. He is currently flying for a civilian contractor working with the Army in Afghanistan flying surveillance missions.
• Kirk is hoping to fulfill his dream job in the new year with a commercial airline.
• Andrew turns 16 and is working on getting his driver's licence.

We close the chapter of this year, 2011, with thankful hearts. God is forever sovereign and faithful in our lives; He has revealed that to us many times this year. His plans are always perfect even though we don't always understand them. The LORD asks us to simply trust Him with all our hearts. As we begin 2012, we look forward to His direction with an attitude of hope and adventure towards what the future holds as He directs our paths.

May God bless YOU, as well as all our friends, and our family as we share in the goodness of 2012 and the Hope that is yet to come!

Family Updates

Life has a way of sneaking by and before we know it, time has passed and we're getting ready to start a new year!

My family has had four Birthdays (Andrew, Teri, Jessie and Kirk), several holidays, and random happenings since my last "family" update post in August when Kelsie left for college. So with that said, I dare not start 2012 without finishing 2011 with our year end Wymore happenings and family updates.

SEPTEMBER~

Andrew turns 16...

... and is surprised with a "stang"

(2001 V6 Mustang, stick shift- the not so fast model).

He also got a shotgun for his birthday.

Andrew likes to hunt birds and target shoot.

Andrew earned his letter man jacket last year for varsity swimming, but received it early his 10 grade school year.

OCTOBER~

Jessie turns 10!

We celebrated with a small family party.

Pumpkin carving~

Jessie and a few friends carve for part of the fun for a sleep-over.

Halloween 2011

NOVEMBER~

Andrew tries on Kirk's Army issued bullet proof armor since he has aspirations to someday go into the military. Kirk went through training with his new job in September-October and was issued this vest for his time flying in Afghanistan as a civilian flying Army C-12's. Kirk's first rotation to Afghanistan started mid-November and he came home mid December.

Jessie plays soccer on the Padre Thunder team.

Since dad was away, Andrew was in charge of cooking the turkey for Thanksgiving; the job Kirk usually does.

Joe helped make the Pumpkin Pie. Jessie also helped.

(notice the newly renovated kitchen compared to past posts? I have not officially posted before and after photos, but Kirk and I have recently completed the dining and kitchen areas and will post comparison photos soon.)

DECEMBER~

Decorating their individual Christmas trees that go in their bedrooms.

The kids posed in front of the Dining Room Christmas tree to send to their dad in an email while he's away~

He'll be home for Christmas Dec 13-Jan 5 !!!

Jessie and Joe on the last week of school the day of their Christmas Concert.

After school they receive a special gift from Kirk in Afghanistan...

A Christmas book with a DVD of Kirk reading the very same book (notice the computer screen of Kirk sitting in a chair reading). The USO provided this service to parents (a book with a DVD of the deployed parent reading the book) who have younger kids back in the states.

Andrew had several swim meets over Christmas break and practices most every day. Andrew's Men's 200 Free Relay Team are focused and set to break the school record (1.34:08) this year!

COOKIE MAKING TIME!

Christmas Eve~

CHRISTMAS DAY 2011~

We enjoyed Christmas Day together in the quietness of our home.

Kelsie finds the first Christmas Pickle hidden in the tree.

An Old World Christmas tradition- after all the gifts are open from under the Christmas tree, the kids begin to hunt for the hidden Christmas Pickle (an ornament). The first child to find the hidden ornament will enjoy a blessed year and receive a special gift.

At our house, we let each child find a pickle (we hide four pickle ornaments between two trees) and each child gets a little gift after they find their pickle.

The boys are still looking!

Joe is very close.

Yeah! Teri gets the cement mixer she'd hoped for. She loved making "mud". There's a lot of work to be done outside with our home renovation and this machine will come in handy (save time and her back)!

We wondered where all the ice from the ice machine was going... HERE IT IS!!! Joe was trying to make "snow" on the sidewalk by crushing ice cubes with a brick. The problem is, it's 78 degrees out side and the "snow" is melting almost as fast as he makes his "snow".

UGH!

I'm a "glass half full" kind of gal. I challenge myself to find the positive in every negative. However, I've realized there are certain things in my life that I have trouble finding the positive. No matter how I look at it, these things make me want to yell, "UGH"!!!

• Scooping dog poop from the yard (we have a German Shepherd, and she has BIG poop).
• Trying to peel a boiled egg that refuses to be pealed.
• Fire ant bites, chigger bites, mosquito bites... ANY bug bite that hurt or itch.
• Going to the dentist for any kind of dental work (I know~ there's a lot of positive to fixing my teeth... but still- "UGH!").
• Slow motion grocery store check out lines (especially when I have ice cream in the cart).
• The outrageous price of toilet paper. (Maybe I should look into a bidet?... how many trees would we save not using toilet paper... how much $$$ would my 6 person household save a year?... not to mention all the times my kids plug the septic line with using too much tp... Hummm)
• People who throw lit cigarette butts out their car window while driving (somewhat common in Corpus and YES, the start of many of our fires!).

This is a list of my "UGHS".

How about you?

Any things make me want to yell, "UGH"!!!

Our Popcorn Ball Tradition!

When I was a child I remember a little old lady up the road from where I grew up give out home-made popcorn balls every Halloween to those who visited her house for "trick-or-treating". They were delicious, about the size of an adult fist wrapped in clear wrap tied with a ribbon. This was about 40 years ago when we didn't worry about getting homemade goodies in our trick or treat bag in fear of drugs or sharp objects hidden inside.

About ten years ago as I was sharing memories with my own children, I had a flashback of this fond memory. I searched my Betty Crocker Cookbook (1982 printing) for a recipe that sounded like what we would get from the little old lady up the street. I found "Caramel Popcorn Balls" and believe I found a close match if not the same recipe!

I started a tradition of making Popcorn Balls in the month of October & only in the month of October. This tradition was unintended the first year, but has become a family favorite as the years have passed. This year, my 9 year old was quick to ask me on October 1, "mom, can we make popcorn balls, today?"... and that's what we did! (in the past week and a half, I've made three separate batches.)

Caramel Popcorn Balls

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup butter (1 cube)

1 teaspoon salt

21-28 cups of popcorn (about 3-4 regular sized micro-popped corn; each popped bag yields about 7 cups of popcorn)

Directions

Pop popcorn. *(I use two different bowls to sort the popcorn; one to initially dump the newly popped corn into, then a second to transfer the popcorn by hand over to ensure any unpopped seed get left in the first bowl. No one wants to break a tooth on a popcorn kernel!)

Heat brown sugar, dark corn syrup,butter and salt in 4-quart Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Cook, stirring constantly, at medium heat. Bring to a boil and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.

Remove from heat and wait about 1 minute to add to popcorn. Drizzle over the top and stir completely. Cool slightly.

Dip both hands in a bowl of cold ice water until very cold; lightly pat dry on dish towel.

Shape mixture into 2-3 inch balls. Place on waxed paper; cool completely.

Store wrapped individually in plastic wrap or in plastic sandwich bags; tie bags to seal. For a seasonal touch, I add halloween stickers to the outside of the wrapped popcorn ball.

Enjoy!!!

Graduation, Birthday, & Retirement...

Family Updates~ Summer 2011

Where has the summer gone... it seems like it was just May, and now it's already August! I reflect on the summer 2011 that has been filled with many memories, fun times, and life changes.

Our oldest, Kelsie, Graduates from High School with honors!

May 2011

Kelsie graduates as Salutatorian with friend Cassidy, Valedictorian. (Their High School had approximately 250 graduating Seniors)

Kelsie did awesome on her speech. She didn't share what she was going to say with us until we heard it first hand at the graduation; her speech was heart warming and God honoring. We are so proud of her and the woman she is becoming.

Kelsie's Grandma and Grandpa came from Oregon state to share in her special occasion!

Joe, our youngest, turns 7!!! July 9.

Fun Times at the Beach!

Kelsie and Jessie have morbid fun. (hint: one big hole, one smaller hole, and just the perfect camera angle)

...feeding the seagulls is always fun.

Kirk and I celebrated our 23 wedding anniversary this summer...

Can you believe we met on a blind date in the summer of 1983 and have been together ever since!

(a total of 28 years)

First Day of School, July 18th.

Jessie (4th grade), Joe (2nd grade), Andrew (10th grade)

Kelsie not pictured, will be starting college classes August 24.

Our little fixer upper house is surrounded by farm fields; this season the harvest is cotton! We took a bunch of pictures to include one in this year's Christmas cards.

Kirk ends his 20 year military career with his last flight as a Navy Pilot/Flight Instructor on July 22. The last flight is called a "Finny Flight".

Kirk ends his Navy career in a TC-12 with a total of over 5,500 multiengine flight hours.

His multiengine time as a Navy Pilot also includes flying the P-3 and T-34.

The tradition of a finny flight is to water down the pilot as he departs the plane; usually with a fire hose as we did here. As his family, we took the honor to hose him!

Another tradition is to spray the pilot down with champaign. Kirk's Navy buddies did this honor.

After all the hoopla outside, we went to the hanger for a simple retirement ceremony. Kirk's "official" retirement is October 1, but since this was his "finny flight", he opted to have his ceremony at this point to include his Navy buddies from the Reserve Department.

Kirk is honored by his Squadron~ he receives several certificates, a Meritorious Service Medal, a Photo Board signed by his Navy buddies, and this very neat shadow box.

We all got certificates of recognition, but the man of honor is Kirk Roman Wymore!

We are so proud of you, Kirk.

Now that Kirk is retiring from the Navy, his hope is to continue to fly as a civilian pilot (God providing the perfect flying job for him). We also hope to invest in rental properties and possibly a couple flip houses.

Remodeling our "fixer upper" has consumed much of our time in between our family events this summer. The day after Kirk's "finny flight" (Sat, July 23) we began demolition on our kitchen which has turned into a project much like a full-time job! ...thank goodness Kirk is on paid vacation for the next couple month so we can work on the house full time!

In two truck loads we discarded our entire kitchen (minus the appliances which are all in new & good condition and will be re-used). Renovation Updates- "AFTER" pictures on Living Room, Hallways, Dining Room and Kitchen will be posted on this blog soon.

Kelsie getting ready for her road trim to College; she willll be attending Lee University in Tennessee. God blessed Kelsie (and us, her parents) with a "Centennial Scholarship" (full tuition paid for qualifying ACT test score). Kelsie has also been accepted in the Lee Honors Program (1 of 22 students out of 900 incoming freshman). Kelsie plans to explore the Medical and Christian Ministries fields- double majoring in Health Sciences to someday become a PA and also in Spanish, minor in Theology.

...getting her bedroom packed up.

will it all fit in her car? It's a tight fit, for sure!

Tennessee or BUST~ Kelsie and her Dad hit the road early (6:30 am) Wednesday for a long 2 days of driving. Kirk will attend parent orientation and several other events while Kelsie registers for classes, meets her new room-mate, and gets settled in her new college life. Kirk will fly home Sunday morning.

Kelsie loves her new school already!

Classes for our new College Freshman begin August 24, 2011.