Tuesday, October 28, 2008

A horrible day; a wonderful day...

You never know when a perfect day can go so horribly wrong.  During the afternoon, my students were busy working their way through center rotations as I pulled students for writers workshop. The room was filled with the busy movement and sound associated with 22 engaged learners and I sat quietly observing it all.  Unexpectedly, one of my parents entered the room.  I knew immediately from the expression on her face that something was wrong.  I have a secluded area behind my desk where I am able to have private conversations with my students so I left my seat and guided this parent to that area.  I was right; something was terribly wrong. A loved one had lost his life today in Afghanistan.  My heart breaks every time I hear of the death of another brave soldier and see the pain on the faces of those closely effected.  If only our government leaders could spend their days watching the struggles the youngest victims of these wars face, maybe they would manage to find a way to bring our soldiers home with dignity and let them be parents.  
On a brighter, happier note, Leslie called this evening to let me know that she and G are expecting their second child.  They have been trying for a while now and she is super excited.  I know Ryan and Scott will be thrilled when they hear the news.  They suffered through her last pregnancy with her and have a special fondness for Maggie.  This new little one will certainly have 2 doting uncles.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Yet another birthday...

It seems hard to believe but I hit 53 this year.  I don't know why I am surprised.  Every time I walk past a plate glass window and catch a glimpse of that old woman that looks really familiar, I get a reminder.  It was an extra special birthday because both of my boys called. (Scott is finished with training in Georgia and is packing his gear to deploy.  He still doesn't know if he will be home on a pass before he leaves or not. I guess we will know when he knows. Ryan is doing well. He is so close to graduation and is learning a lot at his new job.  He makes geological maps or some such thing.)  Leslie and G sent me a yummy chocolate covered strawberry bouquet.  (It arrived at school and I was the envy of the office staff.)  Ron bought me a beautiful watch and chocolate.  Miss Mary, Maggie's babysitter, remembered my birthday and sent me a dozen of her famous cookies.  I taught her son Andrew my first year as a third grade cluster teacher.  She still thinks of me as the teacher that had the most influence on her son.  That is quite a compliment now that he is a Sophomore!   I got email cards from Becca and Ed.  And last but not least, I had a delicious spaghetti dinner with Mom and Dad.  All in all, not a bad day.  Just hope all of my boys are home this time next year and I can have them, my girls, and my parents all over for dinner.  Now THAT would make a perfect birthday.

Friday, October 17, 2008

A day with my girls and a call from my boy!

I had the best day today!  I was home from school because I had oral surgery yesterday.  (Ron is my substitute so I know the class is in good hands.)  Anyway, I woke up feeling pretty good, aside from the swelling in my jaw.  I started to work on some of the unfinished projects that have been laying around here, but in the middle of one I had a moment of inspiration.  I decided it was a perfect day to get with my girls for some shopping and lunch.  The weather was mild and sunny, the company great and lunch was delicious.  The best part was not having even a twinge of guilt about not being at work!  The projects will wait until another day, the papers that need to be graded will wait until tomorrow, and I still have plenty of time to prepare my Relief Society lesson for Sunday.  
As I was typing this my cell phone rang and it was Scott!  He is in Georgia at Ft. Stewart training to deploy to Iraq and had a free minute to call home.  It was the first call we have had in over a month so it was wonderful to hear his voice.  He is standing in line right now waiting to process some paperwork to get his security clearance.  He filled us in on his training, the lack of sleep, and possible deployment date.  I am in no hurry though.  As long as he is stateside his federal clock is ticking and he will have to spend less time overseas. It is always good to hear from him but hard to hang up.  We can only keep him in our prayers and trust in the Lord to watch over him.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Yet another talk...

Last Sunday marked the second talk I have given in Sacrament meeting since we moved into the ward.  I was asked to speak on general conference and listening to the prophets voice.  I chose the story of Deborah and Barak as the basis of my talk.  It is wonderful to read stories from the scriptures that illustrate the power of a mother in Israel.  I have to tell a funny story on myself though.  I had finished my talk and asked Ron to read through it. He asked me if I thought it would last for 15 minutes and I told him I wasn't too worried about it.  I figured whoever was speaking last could make up the time if I ran short.  Well guess what; I was the last speaker.  Lucky for me, our first speaker went over by 5 minutes!
This coming Sunday is my week to teach in Relief Society.  I am teaching the lesson on enduring trials and there are so many examples of how the prophet Joseph Smith was tormented and ridiculed.  It is such an emotional lesson to read.  I hope I do it justice.  Then, the NEXT week I am teaching the gospel doctrine class.  Maybe the next week I won't have anything to do!

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Saturday evening...

It was a busy day  Ron and I got up around 6:15 and took Daisy for a walk.  The weather was cool and there was a nice breeze blowing.  When we got back, we cleaned up and headed for Killeen.  I needed to spend some time in my classroom and Ron had to pass out paychecks for the officials at the Boy's Club.  Afterwards, we headed to Gatesville to watch Seth's football game.  They won again and it makes their record for the season 8 wins, 0 losses.  Seth got a few tackles but he also got knocked on his fanny a few times.  Leslie and G were there will Maggie.  She wasn't in the best of moods but looked sooo cute in her cheerleading dress.  
After the game, Leslie and her family came into Temple to spend the afternoon. They also needed to pick up the chainsaw to cut some trees on Monday.  Luckily, Maggie will go Miss Mary's so they should be able to get plenty of work done.  
I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my talk for sacrament meeting.  I was asked to speak on D&C 1:38 which was pretty easy considering conference was this past weekend.  
Anyway, the last thing I did today was set up this blog.  Hopefully, I will be fairly faithful about "blogging".  Wow! I am soo trendy!