thirty days of thanksgiving 10

My students amaze me almost everyday.

Yes, there are days when things don't go quiet as I had planned.

Honestly, there are very few days that go anything like I planned.

Sometimes I come home wondering if my students listened to a single word that I said that day.

And some days I know that they learned more from each other than I could have ever gotten across.

The last few weeks have been a bit disjointed. We've had nine weeks testing, Target Testing, reading assignments, written an essay, and taken a novel quiz at some point in between. It's been hectic.

So I worried when I had to leave school suddenly yesterday. It required that I jostle some lesson plans even more and make an assignment that I hadn't discussed with my students. I was worried that the directions wouldn't be as clear on paper as they might be if I could discuss them in person.

This morning I was braced for chaos. I was mentally preparing myself to accept almost anything that resembled my expectations for the assignment. 

But there was no chaos. There were no notes of confusion. No excuses.

There were three stacks of finished assignments (very few didn't finish).

Impressive.

Dear Lord, thank you for blessing me with a job that I love. Thank you for students who come to school willing and ready to learn. Thank you for parents who provide for and nurture these students so that they are focused on learning. Father, I know that you have called each and everyone of us to a specific task in life. Help all of those who haven't heard your call. Be with those who know what you have called them to do but haven't been able find a job.

this is no democracy

Last night while I ate supper, I was thinking of the millions of things that need to be done in this house. And knowing that I would have to do a marathon cleaning to even get close to getting it done. And that would mean an entire Saturday. Cleaning. Dusting. Organizing. Washing. Scrubbing. And I knew I didn't want to give up an entire Saturday to do any of that. I had to come up with a plan.

So I declared a Momma Rule.

I don't use it often. The best Momma Rule I have ever enacted is the laundry rule: everyone over the age of ten must wash, dry, fold and put away his/her own laundry. It works wonderfully. I pick up some slack during the summer and during Christmas break when I'm not working, and maybe when I know someone has had a bad week, but most of the time I'm only responsible for my own laundry. I have to admit that there have been occasional catastrophes - like the time the big boy washed and dried a black gel pen with an entire load of new spring shirts and shorts. And EVERYTHING had black ink on it. Luckily, I found a cleaner that got most of it out - and he wore the rest with a little black ink on it.

Another Momma Rule - the momma doesn't take out the garbage. And in the last few years, I rarely have. And I have to say that Baby Jus is pretty good about doing it without even being told.

I occasionally pull a single night the-one-who-cooks-doesn't-clean-the-kitchen Momma Rule. But honestly I try not to use too many. Because I'm frugal with the power, they don't question me too much when I proclaim a new rule.

So because I have a few Momma Rules to use. And because I needed a plan to get this house clean without giving up my Saturdays forever and always. Last night I walked into the living room and proclaimed, "Momma Rule. Beginning tonight, everyone is required to clean for 30 minutes each night." There are no rules about what has to be done, no schedule. Everyone gets to choose the job he/she wants to do on that particular night. The only thing that doesn't count is laundry.

I love Momma Rule.

no coherence here

Not that I'm normally coherent. But I wanted to give you plenty of warning. So you wouldn't get your hopes up that today would be the day.

My momma's birthday is this week. And my step-dad's birthday was Sunday, so we cooked lunch on Sunday. I made shrimp pasta. Not to brag - but it was scrumptious! My SIL Ashley brought her yummy bread. I would cook lunch every Sunday if she would bring her yummy bread.

Lovey has hogs in his hay field. And his hay field has taken a beaten already this year. It didn't need any more punishment. He set a trap last Friday. He hasn't caught a hog yet. The hogs have figured out how to dig under the trap and get the bait without actually going inside it. Lovey is not happy. And if Lovey ain't happy...well, he just isn't happy, and I sometimes laugh at him about it.

We interrupt this post to bring you breaking news....

As I type this post I hear Lovey go, "Oh." I look over and crack up. He has the dog comb that I got for Jacob - the kind to comb out the loose hairs. And he has it stuck in HIS hair.   GOOBER!


Yesterday my new glasses finally came in. I broke mine at the beginning of summer and have been wearing cheater-readers. I hate the on-off-on-off all day. Today was great to be able to look up and focus without taking glasses off. And I didn't spend half of my day looking for glasses.

Today was a long day. I leave each morning just after 7:00. I tutor from 7:30-7:55, do my literacy coach stuff until 11:15, then teach all afternoon. Most days I get home between 4:45-5:15. But tonight was parent/teacher conferences. I didn't get home until about 8:15. There was an upside though. Each year we have faculty t-shirts that we wear each Wednesday. This year we were a little late getting those ordered. They just came in last week. Our principal decided that we should wear them for the first time today/tonight. I think this should become a tradition.

I have plans to join a friend early Saturdy morning for junking - hit a few garage sales and maybe an estate sale or two. How goofy is it that I am excited about that? We'll have fun even if we don't find any great deals. But I hope to find something fantastic!

you just can't complain on days like this

My morning was a bit of a blur - a productive blur, but still a blur. You can read a bit about it here.

Then my afternoon classes came in. Just as the students were settling in, the office called for  all seventh graders to go for school pictures. Picture day is always a bit crazy.

Then my creative writing class came in. Yesterday was such a beautiful day, and we took advantage of it. The girls came in and asked to take class outside. I simply asked that they pay attention to their surrounds and incorporate it into their writing through imagery. So today they read their products. I heard poems, stories, and the best "it's not really anything - I just rambled" that I've ever heard. Those girls inspire me every day.

During seventh period, I got the phone call. The one I had been dreading all day. The one I had avoided.
A few weeks ago brother called, Daddy would be having a biopsy on September 7. The doctors had found a spot on his lungs, and it had gotten bigger. So today, I was glad to be busy. Glad to have the distractions. But the call eventually came.

The procedure was over. The CAT scan was long. Daddy was getting discouraged and nervous. They kept him in the machine for what seemed like such a long time. He was feeling claustrophobic. He was imagining the absolute worst. Finally, the scan ended. And the doctor came in for a conference. They had checked and re-checked.

THERE. WAS. NO. SPOT.

PRAISE GOD!

God is good ALL THE TIME! Who can complain on days like this?