Snuggy

I love this weather! It is absolutely the best to be snugged into my bed with the mattress warmer turned on high (which my little husband remembers to do for me) and the windows open to let in that cool, crisp night air. Almost makes me want to sleep outside in a tent...hearing the rain drop softly on the tent and roll down the sides...almost!
Haven't put socks on with my Birkenstocks yet, though. Might get a few more days sock free. Looking forward to winter! Love it, love it, love it!
Enjoy. God changes the weather often enough to keep us all happy, right?
What's your favorite time of year, kind of weather?

Saturday

It was a rainy day today. All day. Nice and cool. Amazing how with a rainy day everyone can only remember the rainy day Buckwheat Festivals. I can't tell you how many times I heard, "It ALWAYS rains during the Buckwheat Festival." Hmmm. Didn't rain yesterday or Thursday and shouldn't rain tomorrow. It is one of those things about human nature that seem sad to me. We tend to see the negative, the half empty glass as our default mode. For example, today when I saw a friend who has a new job I had to conciously stop myself from asking her if there were any mean people working with her. I asked instead if there were any friendly and helpful ones and what a difference it made in the tone of our conversation...lots more smiles and laughs instead of whining and frowns. Hmmmm.
Spent most of the day selling art in the Arts Council booth. Saw lots of people, got to know some of my fellow artists better, and sold a good bit of art by all the artists. A good day...maybe even a great day if my feet aren't too upset in the morning. I even began to feel just a bit of kinship with the other artists in our booth and the other booths. Interesting.
Yesterday, Stevie and I spent a couple of hours frying sausage at the community building. It wasn't hard work, but it was dangerous...I smelled so "sausagey" when I got home that my dogs went a little crazy! Quick in the shower....
Then a great concert by Kathy Mattea. And we had front row seats!!!! WooHoo.
Tomorrow is church. Blessing. Sustenance.
But for now, I sold all but one of my Carolina Stars (yippee!) and I need to go and help my little husband finish up a few for tomorrow.

Fest'al Time

When it's frostin' in the meadows and there's colorin' on the mountains, then you know that once again, it's Fest'al Time.
It's only Thursday and I have had festival fries with vinegar 3 times and buckwheat cakes once!
I spent a fun 2 hours at the Arts Council booth demonstrating how to make Carolina Stars. It was great. You get to sit down, visit with people and get stuff done! I got 4 stars made and hopefully I will need them to sell before the weekend is over. My friend, Anne, bought one tonight. Thanks.
My little husband and I watched the parade and I cried at every little band that went by. I wanted to walk out in the street and thank the band directors as they went by, for making a difference in those kids lives.
But, all that said, I was teary eyed today and told my husband that I missed being the me that used to LOVE the Buckwheat Festival. I don't rightly know where she got to.
Let me know if you see her.
ps...saw some of my kids and parents today...they shared how proud their kids were of their ribbons and prizes from the mini-Buckwheat Festival! Oh, yeah. That's why we went to all that extra trouble. :>)

Little Joys

My kids are so excited about the Mini Buckwheat Festival we are having at school tomorrow. We talked about it and sent the note home explaining it all to their parents yesterday. Today several of them reported that they already had their "pet" for the pet show in their backpack today so they didn't forget it tomorrow. Some are working with the Nana's to create art for the art show, some wanted their moms to dig up the morning glory plant from the yard for the plant show. They are excited and it makes my job so much fun! While they tour the Buckwheat Festival grounds tomorrow morning I will be at school thinking up ways to award prizes to everyone...not everyone gets 1st place, but everyone does get a prize. So, there are prizes for things like, "Stripiest Animal" "Purplest Flower" "Picture with the Most Colors". You get the idea. They will love seeing the awards pinned on their creatures or creations. They will get to play games and get prizes...and of course, eat buckwheat cakes (no sugar added) with sugar free syrup for my diabetic darlings and their chubby teacher! Oh yeah. We also crown our own King and Queen! They each get to come and tell me who they think should be our Royalty and usually they make an amazingly wise choice.
Another small joy for me today was a wonderful group of parents who are willing to come in and volunteer to work 2 or 3 times a week with the kids for and hour and a half. It's a major committment and I am thrilled with their willingness. They had their training today after school. They will start on Monday!
Did you find joy in your day today?

Max

Today our first monarch butterfly hatched out. The kids are pretty faithful about checking on them first thing in the morning. I made sure to point out how clear the chrysalis was and tell them to keep a close eye on him. Just about 10 minutes later the watchers started shouting, "It's out, it's out!" We all gathered around the table and sat on the floor and watched the miracle. Sharing it with these eager, amazed little beings is just like seeing it anew each time. It doesn't get much better than that. After lunch we named him, Max, and set him free. Another powerful moment was when he finally leaped into the air off of my fingers and flew, after hunkering down for a few minutes in the slight wind. The kids all start waving and saying, "Bye, Max!"
Do you have a better job than this? I can't imagine.
I also saw a couple of my kids today fold their hands and pray, God is great, God is good, before they ate their snack.
Oh, and I wore those jeans I bought right before school started and they do fit and look pretty good!

Two Kinds Of Tired

Today I got to go and ride Flicka, the mighty red riding lawnmower, for a few hours of what was probably the last ride of the season. It was great. Outside, listening to a great sermon or two on my ipod, just driving around. I saw monarch caterpillars in the wild (as opposed to in the aquarium at school) and resisted the urge to help them over to the jucier looking milkweed plant. Just like all summer when we were working long days at Shangri La Ti Da, I am tired. But, this tired is a refreshing tired. Does that make sense? I can see exactly what got done. I was in the fresh air. I didn't have to smile or talk to anyone else. I got some spiritual food from the sermons. I am refreshed.
Now, I am going to school to finish lesson plans. Since school has started I have been a whole different kind of tired. The mental stress of a teaching job leaves me everything but refreshed at the end of the day. Sure I can see what got done, but often I am stressed because I didn't get something else done, or meet the need of one more child who needed me, or didn't present the new concept clearly enough, engagingly enough for it to work. I am tired and it is a draining tired.
What I realized again this weekend is the need for balance. Since school started I have not taken any "refueling" time for me. I haven't created. I haven't spent time walking or working outside. I haven't read or listened to anything to feed me spiritually except for Sunday mornings.
I can so understand why people decide to leave the stress and live closer to God and the land...
What kind of tired are you?

Sharing Tears

Twice today I cried with friends at school. Once it was because we are both feeling overwhelmed with life...so we cried and prayed.
The other time was happier...a sharing and a hug.
Pray for a tender heart and keep the kleenex handy!

Arrrgghh to Ahhh

By the end of the day today, I was in a mood and it wasn't all butterflies and rainbows, either. Technology, unfairness, can'ts, shouldn'ts...aaarrrrggghh!
After a lovely dinner with my sweet husband (who always knows to be extra sweet when I am saying aaaaarrrrggghhhh!) I decide to go to the Board of Education meeting...adding insult to injury, right?
Well, as I got out of my car behind the Board office and saw that view over the valley to the mountains, the peace of my Creator God, in charge, came over me. For sure there is evil out there seeking to destroy and devour all that is right and good...no butterflies and rainbows for these guys. Hmmmm, maybe I was having a "dark side" moment there at the end of school. Hmmmm, where there is light (God's side) the dark cannot be. That's not just some good spiritual hoo ha, that's good science (and good spiritual hoo ha). So, I guess when I let God's light go out or turn away from it, then that arrrgghhhh dark is there. Hmmmm. Doesn't seem that hard...stand in the light, right? Where's my sunglasses???
Anyway, that amazing view inspired me to be peaceful. The board meeting was nothing but good news! We are doing all we can and doing it well, to avoid the H1N1 crisis. The state auditor is very happy with us and very complimentary. No hecklers were in attendance...
So, thank God I went from an aaarrrrggghhh afternoon to an ahhhhh evening.

Becoming

We are watching the life cycle of the Monarch butterfly in class. We started with 4 lowly yellow, black and white striped caterpillars in various sizes. Each were tiny, focused eating machines munching almost continuously on their only food source - milkweed. At the appointed time each moved to the top of the aquarium and onto the screen to turn into a chrysalis. This is an amazing process and one rarely seen because it is so fast. They attach themselves and then hang vertically until they shed their skin one last time in a writhing dance of change. We are waiting now for the final transformation and the becoming. It makes me think, as others have before me, about my/our transformation and becoming more Christlike...Christian.
Before we become Christians we, like the lowly caterpillar, move about close to the ground with a mighty focus on getting what we need to grow in whatever way we have decided is the best way to find and secure our personal happiness. When we have done all we can, when we finally feel the need for more, the inexplicable urge to change someway, somehow because we just aren't happy, then we stop.
When we hear the call of God in our lives, we like the caterpillar, attach ourselves and just hang on. I have seen every step of the life cycle with the Monarch except that letting go and hanging step. I wonder if they just let go with great abandon and fall straight or do they cautiously release 2 of their little feet at a time as they ease into the vertical hanging position. I want to witness this step, but it will have to wait for another year. And I wonder if we, when we find God and attach our lives to His, just let go with abandon, knowing that with him we are safe, or do we cautiously let go a little at a time? Our next step, like the butterfly, is to shed our old skin/life/way of living for the last time. When you watch the caterpillar do this, you see that it isn't really a gentle or gradual process. It is hard work, but it is also short work. After it is begun it must be completed and that final shaking off of the old skin is the very hardest part but when it drops you can see the relaxing into the new creature that is becoming. You can immediately see the creature it will be. I don't know if with us it is that obvious, that immediately, but I do know that it must be done if the transformation is to be complete. And once it is done...Woo Hoo! Who knew that inside that creepy crawly caterpillar was the beautiful butterfly? Who knows what is inside you? God does and He has built into us the "need" to be transformed ...completely and forever.
Amen.

Inquiring Minds

Most days you get lots of questions in Kindergarten. Can I pee? When's lunch? When can I see my mom? What did you say? What did you say? What did you say? But every once in awhile you get one who likes to think a bit deeper. Then you get questions like how did Noah fit all the dinosaurs on board the ark? Who came first, the cave men or Adam and Eve?
And one of my all time favorite questions was from a little guy who was in trouble at recess and had to stand against the wall for a short time. I went over to lean against the wall in the sun near him and he scoots over, looks up at me and says incredulously, "What did you do?"
And the parents...did this one REALLY want me to let her child be a Price St. wacker for the hole year????
What's your most interesting question????

Even Day

I found a double acorn today at Shangri La Ti Da. Hooked together with both hats on. They are just so cute that I want to make them into little people with faces and cute tweed jackets and flannel shirts. So, that's a 2 and 2 is even.
One of my little darlings had a bit of a melt down today when he was supposed to be writing numbers. He couldn't write a 4. Mrs. Bayles told him she knew tricks and he would know how to write a 4 in no time....down and over-down some more...that's the way you make a 4. He got it and was so proud of himself. Those are the moments that make teaching the job to have! You should have seen his face...and then, to make a perfect moment even better, I let him write it on the chalk board! So, that's a 4 and 4 is even.
Got some of the last corn of the season from a wonderful gardener. There were 6 ears and 6 is even.
I stopped to get a diet soda at McDonald's on the way to Shangri La Ti Da this evening and waited long enough to read 8 pages in my book...and 8 is an even number.
Did you have an even or an odd day?
Tomorrow, the question, "Did cave men or Adam and Eve come first?"

Confession?

On the playground on of my little darlings came up to me and said, " I was just holding some of these wood chips in my hands. I hope no one got hurt." I said, "Well, tell them to come and see me if they did."
A little later the same darling comes and says, "I was only trying to hand them some wood chips. I hope no one got their eye hurt." Having heard no screams or seen any problem, I say, "OK. Be careful. Go play."
A little bit later still she comes back and says, "So, do you mean I don't have to worry about this anymore?"
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Quiet

Today was like a second Sunday. It was very peaceful, fairly productive and healthy...
Reminded me of my summer. Ahh.
Gotta go now. My little husband just opened a bottle of Brietenbach Elderberry Wine that we got on our anniversary honeymoon last April.
Oh, but before I go...we want to go to Yellowstone next summer...any suggestions? We are thinking of driving/camping so we can take the dogs.
My little husband will be 6o and this will be his birthday adventure!
OK...wine is pretty good. Bye now.

Be Careful What You Ask For

Because our God has a wicked...in the holiest aspect of the word...sense of humor, you had best be very careful what you ask for. Being a slow learner, I have to keep learning this lesson, over and over again.
Once I was asking for help with losing weight, controlling my tendancy to eat too much too often sort of thing. So, my little husband and I go off for dinner at Monroe's before a church meeting. You have to know that at that time we were going to eat there 2 or 3 or 4 times a week. They knew what to bring us without even asking. But, on this particular day they didn't come and they didn't come and they didn't come. When they finally did come there was only time for my diet coke with lemon before we had to leave for our meeting. As I was complaining to my little husband as we drove to the meeting, I heard "the voice" say, "What? You said you needed help controlling yourself, didn't you?" (chuckle, chuckle, chuckle...I could hear him chuckling, really)
The latest event was last week. For some of you this may come as a shock, but I have serious control issues. I know how I want things and I know how to get them the way I want them. Not always an attractive attribute. So, I have been praying to not have to always be in control, in charge.
His answer this time was much quieter, more subtle. I spent hours and hours this summer organizing all the things I wanted to teach this year and when, down to books I wanted to read and papers I wanted to copy...for all year! I was so proud of myself. Since school started I have spent hours and hours working on a schedule that worked for 4 people and 30 kids and allowed time for all of the massively amazing plans I had made over the summer. In the past this has been maybe an enjoyable 2 hour job that needed a tweek or two after the first day. By Thursday, I was a basket case. I wasn't sleeping. I was sick of retyping the schedule and lesson plan form and I wasn't seeing any way to fix it. Thursday morning I admitted to Stevie and Teresa and Susie that I couldn't do it. It was too much pressure and I didn't know what to do. And I cried. After they popped their eyes back in and picked up their jaws off the floor, Teresa prayed. Peace came down, we got through the day and that evening it all came together.
This evening I spent enjoyable time planning for next week...knowing that God is listening to me and He must think I am amusing! Giving God a reason to smile is a good thing, right?
I am blessed to work with Godly women.

A Day in The Life

Fun Fridays are supposed to be fun. We had fun, but let's start at the beginnng. It is only the 4th day for these kids in school and already they need just a bit of reminding for the morning "check in" routine. Amazing what they can learn. They each come in with something on their mind...sometimes it is good and sometimes it is bad...but it is their life. Our job is to hear what they say and even what they don't say and greet them each as special.
Today was Apple Day.
First thing they got to find the word apple in a story and do apple patterns.
Next was karaoke time for reciting their poem for the week. Every single one of them got up and took the microphone...most with authority...many with their lips right on the equipment. We went through a few Clorox wipes! What fun that was to watch. One little guy who never complains had a little puffiness in his eye. I thought perhaps just a cold settling in or the effects of tiredness at the end of a long week. Within a half hour it was seriously puffy and the other eye was very red...off to the nurse and he goes home. We peel and cut apples and put them in crock pots to start cooking for applesauce. Four adults with 6 or 7 kids assisting and about 10 pounds of apples. Those car assembly lines have nothing on us. We were through those 10 pounds in about 1/2 hour! You, get apples. You, get rid of the peels. You, push the corer thingy to make slices. You, get your fingers out of your mouth and go wash you hands (just kidding...). You, take these cut up pieces to the crock pot...yea! for team work.
Did a little singing and dancing to relax.
Lunch time. Recess. Next crisis. One of my baby girls fell off of the monkey bars, landed on her wrist and got up saying ow ow ow ow ow, just quietly. I take one look, toss the radio to Stevie and start for the nurse's office. She is fine for about 25 steps and then gets a bit shaky and white so I pick her up and start praying that I can carry her up the stairs and all the way to the nurse's office. She is so brave and just whimpering and clinging to me. We get her settled, call her mom who is luckily just about 2 minutes away. Off they go to the hospital. I run her backpack and folder down to the emergency room and have a last little visit. X-rays show both bones in wrist broken and twisted...off to Morgantown. She told her mom she wanted to have some of our applesauce. (I saved her some.)
We are busy doing a graph before special class while Stevie meets with a parent. One of my princesses has a birthday and mom brings cupcakes. We eat and sing our birthday song. Mom cries and cries...sweet.
We are busy doing more apple activities when we have the 2nd firedrill in 3 days. We all get out there and are out there and out there and out there. We begin to look for smoke! Finally, one of the teacher's radios in and asks if we can come back and they say, "Oh, sure. Didn't anyone tell you?" We go back in and finish the last apple activity and have about 20 minutes to eat our yummy applesauce with ginger cookie "spoons"...kindergarten teachers are not to be deterred by the fact that we were out of spoons in our stash...lots of forks but no spoons. Cookie spoons were a big hit. One slept through this part. Busses start coming. Kids start leaving. It looks like something blew up in the classroom, but everyone left happy and I have great help for clean up...oh, and only one wee one missed the bus. Well, one of Stevie's did, too, but the bus came back from the high school to get him.
Oh. Before the broken wrist this same little girl came down the fireman's pole and was very proud of herself, so I said, "So, are you going to be a fireman when you grow up?" She says, "Uh, no. A Princess." And off another of my little princessses ran.
Amazing day. Amazing job. A week that lasted longer than the whole summer off.
So, how was your day?