Jennifer Arbuckle:
CLASS OF 1990
Fayetteville High School (East Campus)Class of 1990
Fayetteville, AR
Bentonville High SchoolClass of 2000
Bentonville, AR
Shiloh High SchoolClass of 1999
Springdale, AR
Tonganoxie High SchoolClass of 1997
Tonganoxie, KS
University of KansasClass of 1995
Lawrence, KS
Jennifer's Story
Life
I am a stay at home mom in Olathe, KS, a suburb of Kansas City. Dane, 7, starts second grade in the fall and Raef, 4, starts preschool. I will continue to go to Community Bible Study (CBS) on Wednesdays for my fifth year--we will be studying Genesis. I'm excited! I am also a member of Indian Creek Community Church in Olathe, KS. I grow to love my church community more and more every day. It is such a wonderful group of people who love me and ALL people despite our many (and often overwhelming!) shortcomings.
My husband, Lance, will begin his first year as a high Principal in July of 2008 in Leavenworth, KS. He is almost finished with his dissertation to complete his doctorate in Educational Administration at KU as well. Hopefully, he will complete this degree by December of '08, at which point I'll have to decide if I will really call him "Dr." :) He was an Assistant Principal for 6 years (5 in Olathe and 1 in El Dorado, KS) before becoming a head principal.
Before he became an Administrator, Lance taught high school Biology and Chemistry (for five years), and I taught high school Spanish (for four years) before I had the boys...So, the high school scene is all we really know, although I am quickly becoming educated on the goings-on in elementary schools now that my oldest is in school.
My life is mainly full of raising my boys. Dane is a handful all his own and Raef isn't much easier. They were both named after strong KU athletes and I guess they are living up to their namesakes!! But they get it trouble a lot and they fight a lot...well, they are completely and 100% boys!! Every once in awhile, I will stop and exclaim, "I want to have a tea party!" You know, that desire for some civilized activity? Well, if you have boys, maybe you don't! :)
Anyway, they take up a lot of my time and energy and basically suck the years right out of me!! :) But my life would be very boring without them. I would still be teaching and wondering what it would be like to have my own, I guess...
On another note, the only thing "interesting" I do is speak to Women's groups in churches about my struggles. I was raised...Expand for more
in a very conservative home, went to a pretty liberal university, and had a traumatic accident at 21 that left me with severed femur and a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Depression. After the accident, there existed so many things (especially those "mental illness" diagnoses) that wouldn't fit into the "Godly Woman Box" I was shown as the "perfect model" in my youth...I was left confused and disconnected to the life I had once known...
Thus, the journey I have been on and continue to take...I am discovering who I am to Christ and to myself, and I tell others about the little discoveries that I make here and there. What's interesting is that the positive changes co-exist with the mental, emotional, and spiritual fallout from my accident and my rejection from the religious community that I was raised to admire...the hurts never fully go away...
I combine my life as a Christ follower and church attender (along with nursery worker and intermittent adult class teacher at my church) with concern for the community, the environment, and social issues, especially as they concern Spanish speaking people at home and abroad. For fun, I watch LOTS of movies, especially classic movies. I endeavor to see every movie on every American Film Institute List of greatest movies as well as critically acclaimed foreign films. My (live) theater going is pretty limited these days to high school productions, but I enjoy them nonetheless. And of course, I see a lot of high school athletics, and now, ours sons are getting old enough to play sports, too.
Although I never pictured myself as a Johnson County housewife, here I am, and I do a decent job at it...except for the housekeeping part of it. I have the dirtiest house for at least a mile diameter, I'm sure. And it will never get better. I've been at this job too long to know I ain't getting better at that part of it!! :)
Anyway, I've talked far too long...I would LOVE to hear from former classmates and students as well. It's a lonely life being married to a high school administrator. He's gone a lot, and I would love to have more people to chat with online!! :)
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