The Seven of Us

Today is August 1st. It feels a little like D-day, because my summer is over.  On Wednesday I go back to work.  .luckily I won't have students until the following Thursday, Aug 14.  I'm not completely ready for them yet! Having the summer off really has made me love my job.  I'll admit: The month of May felt long.  But then it was summer, and I felt so lucky and grateful to be home.  What other job would allow me to do that?!  While I wouldn't mind another week or two of vacation, I can tell that I'm almost ready for a change.  I wish I could be home with the kids for their last week, but it's not a perfect world.  So I'll do what I can to be ready.  And it'll be good, because we had a great summer together. 

I've watched some amazing ball games in my life:  Some great baseball games, even as long ago as 6 years, when Kenna and Caleb played machine pitch together.  In one game they combined for a great play at first.  Many of Jimmer's games were completely amazing:  the San Diego game his senior year, some MWC games that year, the games where he scored over 50 points, the game against Florida State during March Madness his junior year.  Taylor's basketball and volleyball teams have played some awfully close high school games.  And then there are  the annual junior high basketball tournaments.  We've yelled our guts out during a few of those recently.  And I can't forgot the Border League tourney game against Holyoke 2 years ago, when we exacted some revenge on our  Least Favorite Coach Ever (Rece doubled, Darian tripled, and immediately after those two hits, Caleb had hist first home run. And it felt so good because LFC had argued with ...

This weekend, I got to play in our state all star tourney in Rocky Ford, Colorado. I had played in two in past years, and wasn't quite sure what to expect following our disappointing run last year. I pitched in our first game, and threw pretty well. I struck out fifteen, surrendering 2 walks and just one hit. At the plate, I went 1-4 with a sac fly and 2 run single in an 8-2 win. The next day, I caught all seven innings in a 8-3 win over UPL, and went 3-3 with 3 more RBI and a few runs scored. I picked off/caught stealing 3 runners. My team played on Sunday morning while I was at church, and they lost 13-3 to the eventual state champs, Santa Fe. On Sunday night, I was able to play. We were playing UPL again, and they wanted revenge. I thought I started things off right when I exploded on a ball, but the bigger field allowed a catch at the wall. I was catching pretty well, but our younger pitchers struggled. We soon found ourselves in a 6-1 hole. I came up to bat and hit a ...

On Saturday I ran a 5k in memory of Scott Gerlach, a member of my church congregation who died in an accident in May.  The following words, which were in his funeral program and printed on the shirt I received Saturday, really made me think.  They are:  "Your life consists of two numbers and a dash. Make the most of the dash." I started reflecting on some of the more unique things I've done and still hope to do before my dash becomes a number again. In that spirit, I made these lists. What I've done with my dash: *Learned to work and to use my body to do things I enjoy: volleyball, weight training, running, swimming, yoga. I've modified those activities, but I haven't given up on them. And I'm coming back strong now.   [Side note: jogging during yesterday's 5k doesn't seem to have damaged my knees.  Was it my new kicks?  I hope so....I'm still planning to do some kind of a fitness event--something more challenging than a 5k--during my 40...

I have been working on several new posts, so soon there will be a flood of them. Before I move all.on,though, I found this  and decided it belongs here with the stuff about baseb. I wrote this the night that we stayed at Muddy Gap in our fancy little hotel, right after we went through the visitor's center at Martins' Cove. Blog   June 27, 2014   muddy gap, Wyo 530 am Well, I am here in Wyoming, about 12 miles or so south of the Martins Cove Visitor’s Center, because I came to pick Caleb up from Trek.   He, of course, has a baseball tournament this weekend.    Yesterday I asked myself why the heck I would drive 12 hours for a baseball tournament; now that the day is here and I was doing the driving it seemed as though the tournament was the end goal.   And then I remembered:   I am doing this because I love my son and He loves Heavenly Father. Period.   Sometimes his age and limited vision make him love baseball more.   And ...

This is Devil's Gate, as seen from entrance to Martin's Cove visitor's center.  (Poor photo--taken with my iPhone.  Sometime soon I'm getting a camera!)   Last week the youth of our stake went to Martin's Cove, Wyo, to participate in the pioneer trek.  I didn't get to go on trek, but I had some great experiences that revolved around trek. My role in trek was simple:  I just has to drive to Wyoming and pick Caleb up (early) and bring him home for his last Border League baseball tournament. The entire idea of doing that was something I fought against for almost a year.  Last summer, I talked with those in charge of the tournament to see if they could avoid scheduling it during trek, which was typical.  Many times I talked with and encouraged and pleaded with Caleb to miss his baseball tournament.  I tried everything I really could do to encourage him to attend the entire trek.  Eventually, I resigned myself to the fact that the o...

It's been a week since Caleb threw a perfect game. I missed that game.  (Sometimes we have other kids who need attention.  Go figure.).  But it's okay, because I've experienced it vicariously.  I experience it every time somebody tells me what an amazing game it was, or how they felt after the game, or how their son, Caleb's teammate, prayed and prayed that he would be able to play whatever was hit to him so that Caleb could have the distinction of saying he threw a perfect game. I've lived it in the Facebook posts, the pictures, the smiles on Caleb's face when it's mentioned.  So, while I would've loved being there, I don't really feel like I missed it. (Besides, I couldn't have stood it.  The pressure. The intensity. The emotions.  I might've died before the end.  When Caleb's playing baseball and something's on the line, I morph and I brood and I pace and it's pretty much as terrible as it is awesome. Not being there saved...

About six weeks ago, on Feb. 4, I went to Ft Collins.   (Haha.  THAT shows how behind I am.) It was a Tuesday, and it was snowing. If you know me, you know I don't relish driving in winter weather. I'm becoming calmer about it--meaning that I've learned the difference between a little snow that will probably die down and a blizzard--but I don't mess with Mother Nature when she's mad.  (Growing up, our roads were always snow-packed.  And sanded. They had to be, because they were narrow and very curvy. So winter driving was actually very different in NY than it is in, say, a ground blizzard.) Since Haxtun is two  hours from Ft. Collins, I wasn't sure what I'd run into.  But, I felt fairly calm about going, which was great, because I didn't have a choice.  I had to go, and I had to pass. I was scheduled to take the Praxis II: General Science Test.  My entire future seemed to hinge on passing this test; passing would enable ...

It's April 25.  There are 4 weeks of school left, with fewer than 20 days to actually teach and impact my students.  What can I do in 20 days?  I don't know, but I know what I've done this year. I've walked into a foreign situation and said, "Here I am. Teach me how to do this."  I've learned how to manage my grade book and--largely--how to manage my classroom.  I've learned how to manage time better.  I've learned about formative assessments and think-pair-share activities.  I've learned even more about being consistent and I've dedicated myself to practicing integrity as fully as possible. I've learned that great kids with lots of guidance sometimes make mistakes; it's part of the growth process. Less-guided kids make more mistakes or, more accurately, make poor choices and then wish to excuse themselves. I've learned that I still love Latinos; speaking and hearing Spanish makes my soul happy.  Once again, I feel the urge...

I' m at Church.  Someone just told me, " I enjoy your sunset and sunrise pictures." An innocent, well-intentioned comment, but it gave me pause.  A couple of days ago, I actually started blogging about this very thing.  there's so much more to sunrises and sunsets than just beautiful photos.  In fact, the beauty of the sky speaks to me. We moved to Haxtun sixteen years ago this week.  The terrain seemed desolate, ugly, and untouched.  There was no one around.  Everywhere I looked, in any direction from our rented farmhouse, was nothing.   I wondered where everyone was, and more importantly, I wondered what the heck I was doing here.  I was here because of Jared and he was here because he felt impressed to take the job that Servi-Tech had offered--but was I destined to live a lonely life with my two year-old, the cattle grazing on our landlord's cornstalks, and our new dog? Interestingly, during those cold, bleak winter months, I didn't t...

No,I haven't given up on blogging.  Yes, I have been a bit too busy to blog regularly.  I have a new job that gets in the way of most things I'd like to do. I'd really just like to post pictures of our new house, but I'm kind of OCD about blogging chronologically.   That means I need to go back to September and play catch up! Fall r eally flew by this year!  Caleb started high school and began playing HS football.  Though our team didn't do very well, Caleb had a pretty good season.  He ended up playing a lot of varsity and usually had 5-10 tackles per game.  But the very best thing about football is that he stayed safe and didn't get hurt!  Whew. Caleb also set up a recruiting page for baseball, and he is really committed to trying to have a 4.0 so that he can qualify for an academic scholarship, which makes him more appealing to coaches since he can play for them but not use an athletic scholarship (there are uaually only a few at...

 At its best, writing is cathartic.  When words flow freely, they heal.  They bind our wounds, smooth the rough edges of our souls, and ease  our pain.  Our eyes may be the windows to our souls, but the words we speak and write are the rhythm of our hearts.  Words are especially revealing; not many people weigh their words before speaking, and thus we easily see who  others are.  In moments of clarity we even see who we are.  The lovely Facebook saying  "I always mean what I say. I may not mean to say it, but I always mean it." rings  true to me. I think I'm getting old.  I'm thirty-nine, but if I were to stop coloring my hair, I'd probably look 50.  I have three teenagers.  I certainly don't believe that teenagers age us; if anything, I think they're fun and refreshing and, sometimes, amazingly hilarious.  So, yes, I'm getting older.  I'd like to think that I'm also getting wiser...