What we do when no one is watching

I may or may not have licked a CD today in order to clean it while I was driving because it was skipping. It may or may not have done the trick, so I may or may not regret the decision. And I may or may not have been happy to get to listen to my CD uninterrupted.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Well, just because:-)

English. . .

Yesterday I wanted to write a sentence that contained the word "led." Something to the effect of "This led me to believe" or something like that.

I blame it on being the Friday following the first FULL week I've worked in over three years because I just kept staring and staring at that word thinking it didn't look right.

I tried "lead" but that obviously was the present tense of the word I was trying to say, as in, "Where you lead, I will follow." So I figured I had the right spelling of the word I was trying to write.

Suddenly, I was left trying to think of the spelling for the stuff in your pencil. "Lead" right?

What the heck. See! This is why my students struggle with this language!

What might be overheard at bathtime. . .

Boy: Wanna see my penis?

Mommy: No thank you. We do not show other people our penises. Sit back down in the water, please.

Boy: Oh. Ok.
*Sits back down and plays with trains.*

That would be this boy:



So penis obsession starts this early, huh? Welcome to the world of raising boys, I guess. . .

Oh, and overheard from another room in the house would be this boy's dad laughing at the conversation.

(P.S. I can only imagine what this is going to do to the search queries on my dashboard.)

A Swift Answer!

I was already up at 5:30am because of one of those migraines I get about once a year that won't respond to the meds and makes me want to be sick. When I opened my computer at 6:30, immediately a message popped up on Facebook from my BFF. "Are you there?" Something's not right, I immediately thought. There's no reason she would be hitting me up on Facebook in the 6am hour if everything was fine. (She later told me that she had the same thought when her mother called her a little earlier.)

I replied that I was. "My dad is missing." was her response. I was stunned. All I could muster was, "What??? When did this happen? What can I do?" He hadn't returned home from work last night and since there isn't a time clock for his job, there was no time frame for how long he had been unaccounted for.

Immediately I began an e-mail/text message blitz asking people to stop and pray now. I called Jeff at work. I called Linda who is overseas at a wedding. I called our prayer chain manager AND sent him an e-mail. I wanted Jenn to know that we were lifting her dad and her family up and surrounding them in prayer.

This family has not had an easy time of things in the decade and a half since Jenn and I were roomies back in college. Her middle brother was killed in a horrific car accident. Her mother has suffered with multiple health setbacks. Her younger brother was hospitalized with meningitis when our babies were 6 and 7 months old. Her grandmother is currently recovering from a stroke.

I must admit that as I began to pray, I was kind of throwing my hands in the air asking God what else they were going to have to go through.

It was around 10am and I was laying in the guest room trying not to throw up when Jude came in to tell me my phone was ringing. It way Jenn! This must mean news!

And news it was. Her dad had been found. He works in the forestry department and had fallen in a well in a neighboring county. I have no idea how they found him except to say it was the hand of God. The way they close up old wells leaves much to be desired and they do not keep very good track of them after they are closed.

As we were speaking, a rescue team was working to get him out of the well and then they would be heading to the ER to assess his injuries. We know he has a head injury at the least.

But he is ALIVE! And I am giving praise to God for his swift answer to our prayers!

First Week Down

I had forgotten how exhausting the first week of school is!!! I'm talking more exhausting than new baby waking every 45 minutes all night exhausting. Especially those first two days after the students went home, I was nearly crawling home at the end of the day. (Super thankful for the friend who brought a tall barstool by the house today! Tuesday should be a LOT better!)

I couldn't be more pleased with my class make up. I've got one gifted class of 20 and one advanced class of 26. This is the type of student I am accustomed to working with. These are the types of classes I taught 4 of my 6 years in the classroom before Jude was born.

Then I have a new challenge as well. Two of my classes are what is known as inclusion classes. In each of these classes I have 14 average level kids and 4 kids who are higher functioning special ed, as well as a co-teacher who is certified in teaching to the specific needs of special education students. I am super excited about the possibilities for these two classes. With only 18 kids in the room and 2 adults at their disposal, I think we can reach these kids in a way that a traditional special ed class can not. My goal is to see all 82 of my little darlings (and any of the new ones that I know will come in since our population around here is pretty transient) meet or exceed on their state test. But more importantly, I want them to catch a vision this year for their full potential.

Like me, some of these kids may be the first in their family to ever even consider college, let alone graduate from college. Whatever it takes, I want to do to get them to understand that no matter where they're coming from, they have what it takes to achieve the high goals they set for themselves.