Meet the Teacher

The morning started out hurried as I had to finish preparing for lessons that day and staple fliers up around the community (which included three places). I ended up sprinting back to class in my high heels, which the maintance men commented on. I arrived to class in the nick-of-time to find my children patiently waiting for me. How I love them.

The morning was good. I finally started our new reading program after finishing the required testing and I think that it is going to be really cool. We didn't have any time to write but I am hoping that was just because it was the first day. I also had the kids help prepare for Meet the Teacher night. I was so nervous because everyone was saying that no one would show up. My room was also a disaster. I had the kids hang up some of the work they had done and also make some posters. It was so cool because one of the kids in my class who almost never participates did so by making our class poster. He is really pretty good. I was just excited to see him show some hint of emotion.

As for Meet the Teacher Night itself, it was simply blessed. I had famlies representing all but five of my 17 students. Of those parents that did not attend, two had to work, one conferenced with me before school, one was at a funeral and the last had a stroke. Pretty good excuses, huh? I was just grinning like a fool. The 3rd grade had more students than K-5 combined. Praise God.

It was also just good to chat with the families. I actually had already met all but one of them. They were kind, gracious and seemed very intent on learning how their child was doing. I really look forward to meeting with them throughout the year.

Thank you, Father for the amazing turnout! God is so good!

After Meet the Teacher, I had a take-home exam for a grad class I am taking for certification purposes. I started to work on it at 9:00 and didn't get done until 4:00. I was up two hours later. I am pretty tired right now...

Que un Dia

Today was the first day since school started that I woke up and didn't want to go to school. It had been a long night before. One of my students--remember Hannah Montana?--showed up at my door for my usual dinner of black beans and Ritz crackers. She told me her grandmother wanted to know if she could stay with me until her Auntie arrived, as grandma had to leave town. I agreed and took her to my classroom. Well, let's just say that Auntie wasn't very timely as Hannah and I were in my classroom until 10:00. Finally, I packed up my stuff and prepared to work in my apartment and allow Hannah to spend the night. On our way out, we ran into Auntie who barely acknowledged my presence after taking the girl. I decided not to return to my classroom as I packed everything up and just went home. I went to bed with no lesson plans and a weary heart.

I woke up today feeling extremely sick. My stomach was hurting--actual pain and I felt so sick. I had to go to school since I had no lesson plans to give to a sub since I didn't write any the night before because of the Hannah Montana fiasco, though it's highly unlikely I would have missed anyway. Anyway, I drug myself to class, the first time I have ever not wanted to be in school.

Shortly after I arrived at my classroom, I saw Hannah, looking as if she hadn't slept in six years. I took her into my classroom, made her a bed on my carpet and let her sleep for 40 minutes before school started. I was fuming mad at the people in her home life.

Meanwhile, I am feeling more and more sick. By the time my babies have arrived, I had moved the trashcan into my room. I threw up a couple of times before the day was over, in the bathroom for the kids sake. Though I felt quite miserable, it was a classroom management technique as I threatened to throw up on misbehaving students.

I still feel sick, but not so bad. I'll be up late again as tomorrow is Meet the Teacher Night. I hope we have a better turnout than the fifth grade--eight parents out of 48 students!

Please pray that I am quickly restored to health, that parents come to meet the 3rd grade teachers and that my children learn.

B

A Little Bit of Bragging

So I thought I would take this time to brag about my sisters a bit. For those of you who don't know them, you are missing out. They are two truly incredible women. D lives in California and has been a hero of mine since as early as I can remember. She blazed a path that I wanted to follow. She taught me to love to read, to love to learn and what living a life of service for Christ in the United States looks like. She has always seemed larger than life to me. As I have passed into young womanhood, I have also gained a greater appreciation for the sacrifices she has made for others and for me. D also has an incredible ministry in California. If you want to hear how God is moving in big ways down in CA, read her blog: http://derikabrendsel.blogspot.com/

My younger sister, B was my constant playmate and closest comrade for most of my life. As a younger girl, she was sweet and willing to a fault. She would do virtually anything I asked of her. As you can imagine, this relationship changed a lot as we grew older, but in a good way. I now see her as an equal, not just my baby sister. We have served together in some of the most life-altering experiences of my life including Mexico, Brasil, Alaska and the Virgin Islands. We played ball together and against each other, always each other's biggest fans. She now an amazing young college student, maturing every day and teaching her big sister that she has much to learn. She doesn't have a blog, but here is an article about her so you can see that I am not the only one who thinks she is all the rave: http://www.cornerstone.edu/athletics/?news_ID=4143

So, I guess I just wanted you to know that I feel a little sorry for all of you who don't have sisters as amazing as mine.

B

P.S. Yes, I realize that both of my sisters are far more fashionable than I am.

Vineyard

I was about 20 minutes last to mass today because of the sleepover. As a result, me and the five girls I brought walked in during the middle of the sermon. I am not even sure where the sermon was from, but it had to do with a vineyard. At one point, the priest--a man I absolutely love--was talking about the vineyard and what God entrusts us with. As he said this, a picture flashed in my mind. It was not like a photograph, but I can still see it in my head. It was something like this:

I was in a vineyard and it was dark, clearly night. However, the moon was bright and I could see the grape vines around me. I had a knife in my hand--a big one. I was running around the vineyard and savagely destroying the fruit by cutting off the vines. I could sense that my actions were a result of pride, bitterness, anger and despair. I was crying as I did my work. Then I stopped, exhausted by my efforts. After I stopped--no, before that--I knew that what I was doing was wrong. And I also knew that it would be restored. As I stood looking at the damage, I knew that the Gardner would forgive me and begin to rebuild the garden. Though I was instantly forgiven, it would take time to once again regrow the fruit.

After the image faded from my head, I thought of a quote from a book called I have been thinking a lot about that picture. The Shack. In it, Jesus talks about the "sheer lunacy of sin." When I was destroying the vineyard (sinning), I was insane. To sin, it absolute insanity. Why in the world would we disobey the Creator of the universe, our Savior, Father, Redeemer, Healer, Restorer, Brother, Friend, Counselor--our very Life? Sin, is indeed, sheer lunacy.

Just some thoughts,
B

Solid Ground

Today I found out that a friend of mine lost her father yesterday to a heart attack. A few days before that, two boys I went to school with died in a car accident.

As I have come to love my children with a deep and fierce protective passion, I also have picked up a new burden of anxiety. Every day, I tell the children that I will protect them, whether from the angry bee or the ghost that haunts Little Wound Elementary, they know that their teacher will stand up for them. But even as I say it, I know that it really isn't true. I can't protect them. When they leave my classroom, they are at the mercy of so many evils--at least some of them are. There is a funeral nearly every week in Kyle. What if something was to happen to the families or, God forbid, one of my children? I have been nearly choked with anxiety while thinking of this. I think I am beginning to understand what my parents feel when I go live in poverty-stricken areas around the world. It is a fear that what you love most, what you hold so dear, might be taken from you. Sometimes I wonder if the love or the fear is stronger.

But I have a choice. I can take up this additional yoke or I can bring to Jesus. You see, I don't want to live in fear. And right now, I am listening to they beautiful song by the Gettys "In Chirst Alone." And you know what, that is what I think it comes down to. Christ alone can protect the children. He loved them first, He will love them longer and He loves them deeper. He will take care of them. And if tragedy does strike, I can rest in the blessed assurance that God is still good and still in control. Christ is my solid ground. I will not be shaken.

I Survivied!

So the sleepover went very well. Thank you all so much for praying. It could have been an absolute nightmare, but it turned out to be a lot fun. There were a few kinks (I thought the printer down the hall was a microwave so we ended up not getting popcorn, no time/control for play practice). But on the whole, I was really pleased. All of the children slept through the night (despite claims otherwise) and we had no nightmare issues. I had virtually no problem awakening all of the children by 7:15--a minor miracle. Every child was ready to go by 8:00, just in time for pick-up.

Pick-up did have a few snags. Parents showed up over 30 minutes late. Two didn't show at all so I had to take them home. I took five kids to church in my truck. We were illegally crammed in their like sardines. It is literally straight across the street from the school, but I didn't like doing it. I really didn't have much of a choice as I couldn't leave any of the kids who didn't get picked up and I had to drop off four of them at church. But God gave us grace and we all arrived safely. I am now in my room surveying the damage, preparing to do all the work I did not do this weekend.

Wish me luck!

B

The Sleepover

I kinda think the title "The Sleepover" would be very suitable for a Japanese horror movie. Indeed, for a teacher, class sleepovers are often akin to some sort of horror/thriller. I am happy to report, however, that this has not been the case thus far. It is currently 10:40 and the night has gone beautifully well. Eleven of my 17 students came--not bad at all. I also have two junior high chaperons and one younger sibling of one my students.

The night really began very early in the morning when one of my students woke me up at 7 in the morning on a Saturday (her mom had her sleep over at my house so she could come to the party). I let her sleep on my bed and I slept on the floor, which was painfully uncomfortable--even for a floor. Anyway, she slept well enough it seems since she was bright-eyed-and-bushy-tailed at an appalling hour. It reminded me of when my mom used to wake me up to the tune of "Rise and shine and give God the Glory-Glory, rise and shine and give God the Glory-Glory." She had an incredible gift of making the word Rise sound like some sort of curse word as it was more like "Ri-i-ze."

So we got up early. I cleaned a bit (you know you need to when an eight-year-old clicks her tongue at your mess). Around ten S and began planning for the party. We worked all day. We had a lot of fun together and she was surprisingly helpful. I love all of my children, but there is something about this girl that I love so much. I was glad to spend the time with her.

Things started to heat up when I had to make pizza. I only had one cookie sheet and I needed to make five pizzas--fast. Against my mother's advice (first problem, I know), I tried to cook two pizzas at once. Since I didn't have two cookie sheets, I thought of the genius idea of sticking the other pizza on top of the muffin pan I had borrowed from a fellow teacher. Brilliant!...or not. As some of you may have predicted, the dough sagged into the cups and produced an amazing spotting effect where half of the dough was cooked to perfection while the other portion was still doughy, sagging and stuck in the muffin holes. The pizza looked like a dog threw it up after I finished with it. I served it anyway and got no complaints.

We watched Ruby Bridges and I think the kids really enjoyed it. We didn't get to discuss racism as much as I wanted as we started everything late. After the movie, I literally let the kids run crazy in the gym. I wanted them to burn off some of their sugar-high before bed. It seemed to have worked as most of them are sleeping right now. I'll let you know how the rest of the night goes.

B

P.S. I have included the first picture of one of my students--the girl who helped me prepare for the night.