The Seven of Us

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...

I am ready for a vacation!!  Have been for  month! Today 5 of my anatomy students, all seniors, dropped my class.  They were my favorite 5, too.  It stinks.  I know that it's not personal--they all have other classes they want to try that are opposite anat--bu tit stinks.  Really a bummer for next semester. I am SO. glad. it's almost Christmas!!  

All week long: padres here, cooking, cleaning painting.  House warm, neat, and cozy when I get home. Work getting done on the new house.  Treated to Pizza Hut.  Soon it will end. NO fun! Really, I feel extremely blessed.  I am grateful for the parents I have. They love me. THey watch over us.  They pray for us. They are interested in us.  They have spent many, many weeks and months here and they have developed a great relationship with their grandkids.  My kids all love them and look forward to having them around.  When my parents come to visit, they come to work.  I don't know that they've ever come expecting a vacation. (Which is good.  I doubt they've ever had one while viiting us! Sure, our lives were a little more relaxed when we were able to just sit back and watch the kids play all day.   But even then, they had to deal with less-than-ideal accommodations in our busy home.  Their bed was on the couch and break...

Today is October 6, and it's been exactly two months since I showed up for my first official day of school   meetings.  I think it's been the fastest two months of my life.