Thinking out loud

I know God puts people in our lives...and in turn places us in the lives of others so that we can shine the light of his Son and stand as a witness. I work with a teacher who talks to God often and personally. What is so cool, is that he listens and speaks to her. She recently told me about an experience in which she was praying for a student and how best to help him. During the night, the Lord spoke to her and told her exactly what to do...and she did what he told her to do. I was impressed that this student was given into her care because she would lift him up to God and I told her that. Lucky kid, to have a prayer warrior for a teacher.

I realized how much I love those kind of conversations. Talking about God and his goodness and his blessings to his children. I crave them, much like I crave a good salad without even knowing it. When I finally get around to having salad, I realize how much I missed it on my steady diet of fast and convenient food. My teacher friend reminded me of my obligation to pray for my students and in turn that reminded me of the opportunity of have to pray for my loved ones.

I have a heritage of Godly women with deep connections to the Almighty. Both of my grandmothers were prayer warriors. Each met a different kind of end to this life, but one for which they had been prepared. My paternal grandmother feared the process of death, but passionately yearned for the eternity. So she prayed frequently that her passing would be easy. God answered her prayers, surrounding her with family, and taking her quietly in the night. My mom's mom told me that she'd had a dream in which she died and was met by her family. They asked, "How was your passing, Glady?" "Terrible," she told them, "but if I'd known what was waiting for me, I'd do it again." She suffered a first terrible, debilitating stroke, and then a second four months later. She languished for seven days in which my aunts had to make tough, heart-rendering decisions. Even at that, we all knew what waited for her. When she passed away, there was no question of who met her and what joy she knew. Both grandmothers passed their love of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ to their children. Both lived a life that exemplified their deep and abiding love of God and His son.

So, surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, what slows down my walk with God? I think it is that slow, steady diet of not-so-bad stuff that dulls me to the need for sustenance; real, nutritious, sustenance. And that, I believe, is why the scriptures talk about the need for the last days to be shortened or even the very elect will not be saved. The convenience of this life lulls us into passivity. The pace of our lives exhausts us and feeds the need for convenience. A vicious cycle.

I am thankful for the righteous people God puts in my life.

Where NOT to go...

I look forward to pedicures in the spring and summer. During the winter my feet are hidden and really don't need the attention. But sandals demand smooth heels and painted toes. Since I only go about once every six to eight weeks I'm will to pay what I need to for this little luxery. For my last pedi, I went to the Super Wal-Mart (first clue) near John and Deb's house. They were packed! I got all the horrible skin scraped from my feet, a gently leg massage and cute pink toes for under $30.

Today was pedi day in preparation for the big summer vacation. Hailey and I hit two places that were either packed or closed. So we headed to Wal-Mart which was open and had little waiting. Once we sat in the chair, the badgering began. They had changed their prices and so calous removal was extra. They kept pushing "sugar rub...you like for smooth skin on leg." Fine, I'll take the sugar rub, but before I could pick my herbal scent, they yanked the book out of my hands and began the torture. Let's just say that while my feet are smooth, heels free from calouses and toes a lovely, glittery red, I am NOT relaxed.

Lesson? Stick with our favorite spot close to church, get the same service for 2/3 the price, and take a good book!

On a side note, we came home to Jim and Chase jackhammering the laundry room floor. The good news is they found the leak before we left. The bad news is...well, it doesn't feel too bad today. That feels good to not to see a bad side to concrete dust flying through my house, the washer and dryer sitting in the kitchen. Thank you God, for good days.

Things I'm looking forward to this summer...

1. Writing five new Women of the Bible Lessons for camp.

2. CAMP!! Missed it last year, but I'll be there this year.

3. North Carolina

4. Coffee at Starbucks (no time for that during the school year)

5. Sleeping past 6 a.m.

6. Going to bed after 10 p.m.

7. Summer reunions...as many as we can get to.

8. Swimming...I don't know why, but swimming just sounds really appealing right now.

9. Kissing baby Asher. I have cold right now, so that has to wait for a while.

10. Getting ready for next school year (I dreamed all morning about teaching. Something is sooooooo wrong with me!).

Tidbits

On a standardized test, the question was something like:

Use a strategy like making a table or drawing a picture to solve the problem.

There were six girls and four boys on the bus. How many more boys than girls were on the bus?

I walked around checking my student's work and stopped at one boy's desk. He was carefully drawing a verticle line with four horizontal lines descending from the first verticle line. At first I thought he was making bus seats, little rectangles divided into thirds because first graders must sit three to a seat. I was SO impressed with the boy! I asked him, "What are you drawing?" And he said, "I am making tables."

Four more days of school. My family is helping me get the physical work of checking out of my classroom done. Moving to a new room and must box everything up in addition to checking back in all my curriculum and labeling everything that is mine that will be moved to the new class.

Lost my voice Wednesday, was VERY sick, running a temperature, hot then cold...you know the drill. The first grade aide taught my class with me there to guide her. I don't think she wants to be a teacher any more. Got my voice back Thursday. Voice gone yet again. What a way to end the year.

As Jim and I worked last night, I felt like we had just put up that tree and bulliten board and math progress chart. Time flies when you're looking back over it, but sometimes it just crawls when you're in the midst of it.

Have a great week! Looking forward to seeing many of you soon.

I feel the need to announce...

that Kaitlyn ROCKED her solos tonight.

Thank you, and good night.

Nearly Over

I am sad to say that I'm excited the school year is almost over. My expectations proved to be SOOOO very different than the reality of teaching. Maybe it was the population? Maybe it was district expectations? Maybe it was reliving elementary school of the 1970s...whatever it was, I will be able to say I survived first grade.

Today was the big test for my First Graders. Called DIBELs, it assesses risk for reading. We don't use it for risk assessment, we use it for a benchmark (something that the creators of the test clearly stated was NOT the purpose of the test). The golden number is 40: 40 words in one minute. The 1st grade goal was 60% of the students reaching the 40 word goal. About 50% of my English Language Learners made the goal, which is pretty good. Only three little darlings are considered at risk, an even better number going into second grade. Three other little darlings tested at above 70 words/minute. This morning we did alot of mental preparation: we cheered for ourselves, we practiced High Frequency Words, we talked about reading strategies, we cheered some more, we engaged in positive mental feedback...and I think that, all in all, they did great. I'm really proud of the little honey-bunnies.

I had to go to a training tonight, the last of the year, for first year teachers. We spent a lot of time reflecting on what we'd learn, our greatest success and our greatest failures, what we'll do differently next year, etc. I left the question about the greatest lesson I learned blank because I just needed more time to think about it. But driving home I think I know what my greatest lesson is: it's not about me. It's not if I like the lesson, if I think it worked, if it is easy on me. Success is measure on how they do, how they grow, how they succeed. It's all about them. I guess I'll see if it works next year...

The word of the day is...

its side did!

As in, "Anthony came over to play with me and I was its side did!"