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Monday, August 31, 2009

A good mother

"She loves them so, she could be such a wonderful mother if only her children were always still like this, and lying sleeping."

from The Ladies Lending Library by Janice Kulyk Keefer

I almost woke people up laughing out loud when I read this last night.

Sunday, August 30, 2009

August stars

When I was growing up in Iowa, we moved to the country when I was 11 or 12. We weren't farmers, but we lived about 10 miles out of town, about a mile from the country church we attended. I loved living in the country. At our first country house, I had a favorite abandoned hog feeder. It looked a lot like the one below except it was all silver. I liked to climb on it and sit and watch the sun set.

I enjoyed the quiet, peaceful country life. I loved the country sounds. Crickets, locusts, frogs, tractors. It took some getting used to though. It also took getting used to when I moved back into town as an adult.

One memory that is especially vivid is lying in my bedroom at night, looking out the open window at all the stars. There was very little light in the country then, and the stars were incredible. I remember seeing lots of falling stars. As I think about it now, it was probably the August Perseid meteor showers, but at the time I didn’t know about that, and it was incredibly magical to see falling stars. I spent lots of time lying there in the dark thinking about the mysteries of life, faith, and what my future would hold.

I also remember loving it when we would get snowed in. I’m sure for my parents it wasn’t nearly as much fun, although my mom tells me they made the best of it and enjoyed it. But no heat, no lights, no water (our well/pump was on an electric switch or something) couldn’t have been that much fun for them. I loved it though.

I hope my kids have magical memories from their childhood like I do from mine.

*This post isn't as good as the first one was, but it's as good as I can do tonight :)

Friday, August 28, 2009

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah

This is how Fridays feel to me. They're my day off. I get a three day weekend, every week. I know how lucky I am to have that.

Today wasn't totally relaxing. I had to testify in court (!!!) for a friend in a custody suit. That was stressful but truth will prevail.

It's so nice to have a day that just is. Reminds me of one of my favorite Dan Fogelberg songs "To the Morning".

It's going to be a day -- really nothing left to say but come on morning.

Good week in art class. Wish I had pictures. Maybe next week.

Friday, August 21, 2009

One week down

I don't have any great pictures to share. I have to admit I'm kind of wiped out, after 21 different classes this week. Normally I'll have 24, but no Kindergarten at SC this week. Next week I'll have two of the three K classes. Won't have all three in one week until all day kindergarten starts. Anyway, it went well. Better than I expected. What a relief. I was so nervous, excited, scared, thrilled. I appreciated so much all the good thoughts and prayers sent my way. I'm so thankful to be doing what I love to do and getting paid for it.

I have middle school grades at one of the schools. I have to admit it's not my favorite. I student taught in middle and high school, but I always knew I wanted to teach at the elementary level. Middle schoolers are a different breed, and I salute those who are called to teach that level for sure. I will muddle through, but I know it's not my calling. As they went out my door yesterday, one of them said "so, what do you think of the new art teacher?". Thankfully, I didn't hear the response :)

A funny story from my week (sorry Facebook friends if you've already seen this one). At the school I'm less familiar with, I gave out nametags to help me put names with faces. In the Kindergarten class, I had a nametag with the name M-I-C-K-E-Y. That's how the name was on my roster. So I called out Mickey (like Mickey Mouse). No answer. I said it again. The kids responded "Mickey isn't here". I asked if he was absent and they said yes. I then spied one little boy with no nametag and asked him his name. He replied, "Mikey (as in he likes it, hey Mikey)." LOL. They then proceeded to tell their Kindergarten teacher that they had 20 in the class, not 19 like she had said (because Mickey was absent). She had no idea what they were talking about until I explained it to her at lunch the next day. Too funny.

Thursday, August 13, 2009

Art room!













No time to do much posting but had to share some photos of the art room! First classees on Monday. Excited, anxious . . will only get worse as Monday approaches. Can't wait!!!