The Lighter Side of Life

Yesterday's post was DEEP, man, so I thought today, I'd share a couple of my adventures with Mother Nature over the last week. First, it was the frog, then the spider, and finally the cockroach.

It started last Wednesday. It was about 10:30 pm, and I was getting ready to go to bed. But, like any other average person, I decided to go to the bathroom before bed. Well, I lifted up the toilet lid and noticed something high up on the side of the bowl. Inspecting further, I discovered it was a frog that was about two inches long. Being the lover of God's creation that I am, I tried to flush him down the toilet. He stuck tight to the side of the bowl. So, I used the toilet brush to try and push him into the water so I could flush him again. That failed miserably, and he was able to get between the seat and the bowl and get outside the toilet. Being the calm, cool, collected person that I am, I immediately screeched. That must have scared him because he jumped off the bowl and onto the floor. I jumped the same time he did! Once he was on the floor, he didn't really move, so I went to the kitchen for a cup. After a couple of tries, I was able to get the cup over top of him. So now I have this frog in a cup on my bathroom floor. I thought about just leaving him that way, but then in the morning, I'd have a shriveled up dead frog on my bathroom floor. Not a good thought. So, I searched through the house and finally found a piece of thin cardboard to slide under the cup. (Sorry, Nathan, you're not getting that free ice cream at Chik-fil-A.) I was able to slide the cardboard under the cup and pick it up. Now, I'm holding this thing like the frog is going to fight its way out. (See why I hate nature?) I first planned to let him go out the front door, but I had left the light on outside, and there were a number of moths. Not wanting to fight the moths, I decided to use the back door. I opened the door, and I was just ready to open the glass door when I looked up and realized a HUGE spider had made a web across the door. Weighing my options, I figured I could handle the moths better than the spider, so I headed back to the front door. By now, the light had been off for a while, so most of the bugs had left. I was able to stand on the front porch and fling the frog across the yard. Hopefully, he found his kind and will not return to our house. I still check the toilet now every time before I sit down!

Then, the next morning, I had my adventure with the cockroach. We get these huge roaches down here. I was told they were called tree roaches, but I've also heard them called palmetto bugs. Here is what one looks like. I was sitting on the bed drinking my coffee when Matthew came in and said "Mommy, why is there a big bug on your carpet?" He flipped the light on, and we watch this huge bug run across the rug to underneath the dresser. We pulled the dresser out, but he was gone. I figured he had squeezed into a crack by the floor and taken off. We weren't sure, though, because the cat still seemed pretty interested in what was going on. I sat back on the bed to finish my coffee, and Jeremy says, "There he is behind you!" I jumped off of the bed, because I thought the bug was on the bed. He was actually on the wall, but he could move!! We grabbed one of my old flip flops to smack him, and we discovered he can also fly! He flew off the wall and onto the back of Jeremy's shirt. He was able to shake him off, and then hit him a couple of times on the floor. So, unlike the frog, this poor guy went to roach heaven rather than back to his friends. Of course, if he had stayed outside rather than inside, he would have had a long and happy life.

Food for Thought

This is an e-mail my parents sent me. My dad always has the most thoughtful responses! Someday, I'll grow up to be as smart as him. (I always have a tendency to shoot off a smart-aleck response.)

Here's is an email we received yesterday: As I was listening to a news program last night, I watched in horror as Barack Obama made the statement with pride. . .'we are no longer a Christian nation; we are now a nation of Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, . . . As with so many other statements I've heard him (and his wife) make, I never thought I'd see the day that I'd hear something like that from a
presidential candidate in this nation. To think our forefathers fought and died for the right for our nation to be a Christian nation--and to have this man say with pride that we are no longer that. How far this nation has come from what our founding fathers intended it to be. I hope that each of you will do what I'm doing now--send your concerns, written simply and sincerely, to the Christians on your email list. With God's help, and He is still in control of this nation and all else, we can show this man and the world in November that we are, indeed, still a Christian nation! Please pray for our nation!

Here is Dad's response:Perhaps the writer of the original e-mail never read how Jefferson excised from his Bible all of the passages he did not like, or how Jefferson's
concern about the "wall of separation" between church and state was based more
upon the concern that the church not dictate to the state as it was upon the concern that the state would run the church. I would exercise caution in attempting to place on any nation the label of "Christian nation." If we are going to place that label on ourselves, perhaps we need to go back to Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy to see how a nation bearing God's name is to treat its citizens and
the foreigners in its midst. May I suggest that we remember that the early church experienced explosive growth in the midst of an empire, Rome, that attempted to exterminate the church. In fact, after Constantine made Christianity the "in" thing, the empire and the church became increasingly weaker and the western world eventually entered a period we now call the "dark ages," a period in which the established church became indistinguishable from the state, a period from which the reformation, thankfully, delivered us. May I also point out that the areas of the world today where the church is rxperiencing exponential growth are areas where the governments are not all that friendly toward the church. Perhaps it is because the church in those nations operates in the realization that it's future growth is based not upon the favor of Caesar, but rather on the grace and favor of the King of kings. My concern is not so much that my nation be known as a "Christian nation," rather that my nation be one in which the Christians are living out the kingdom of God in the midst of all, whether they be the nominal Christians, or Muslims, or Buddhists, or Hindus, or atheists. My concern is that the Christians in my nation be the living embodiment of Micah 6:8, "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." History has shown us that the church has been most powerful and effective when it has not been busy trying to control how people live, but rather has been totally focused on HUMBLY being the Body of Christ. While this will certainly lead us to support laws that reflect
kingdom values, let's make sure we are not selective about which kingdom
values we wish to support.While we will always live in a nation that at times will support kingdom values and will at times not support kingdom values, the church is free, unfettered by any political alliances with the government, to FULLY live out the values of the kingdom in the midst of every generation.

Mike

I guess I've always been one who said, "We should be a Christian Nation." But after reading what my dad wrote, I have to say that I agree with him. Maybe we should worry less about being a "Christian Nation" and more about being a "Christian Church".

By the way, Dad, I hope you hit "Reply All" when you sent your response.

Well, let's see. . .

26 - 14 equals 12. Twelve days it's been since I found the time to get here. Yeah, sorry about that. The last few weeks have been crazy, and that's on the good days. Things at school haven't really seemed to slow down yet. We're in the middle of all of our beginning of the year assessments, and that means I have to find time during the day to sit down with each of my lovely children individually and listen to them read while I try to juggle a clipboard, a stopwatch, and a pencil. Plus, I have to be able to send out the silent death glare to any of my other children who aren't sitting there reading quietly like the county thinks they should be able to one week into school. So, teaching? I'm getting a little bit done since we have to keep up with the county calendars, but I feel like I'm just rushing through things. Plus, we have benchmarks. Don't get me started on benchmarks, or the steam will begin to rise. I'm sure they will be very helpful throughout the year, but trying to give a math pretest that takes about two hours and a language arts pretest that also takes two hours during the second week of school does not add up to fun. We're surviving, though. And that's usually the goal for the first month of school. Survive and advance. (Sounds like the NCAA tournament.)

Right now we're attempting to keep our selves from going underwater. I know, it sounds weird for someone in a drought, but Tropical Storm Fay has decided to stop by Atlanta! We've got to be the only people in the southeast who are thrilled to see a tropical storm! I'm sure Florida was more than happy to see her go. Fay has been generous with us. In some places, like the Lake Lanier watershed, she's dropped close to eight inches of rain! Yesterday, the lake had already risen about 3 inches which means an increase of 1.4 billion gallons. As I type, it's continuing to rain. Hopefully, we'll get another inch or two before Fay heads off somewhere else. And, there's another hurricane in the Carribbean which could bring us more rain in the next couple of days. I don't feel quite as guilty taking a bath now. :)

So that's about it for our lives right now. Jeremy's hours were cut back a little at work. He's going in at 5 pm now, so Andrew doesn't need to go to daycare. Hopefully, the money that he's losing in his paycheck will be offset by the money we don't have to pay for daycare. We'll see. They've also cut back on their Saturday schedule, so for right now he's not scheduled to work any weekends. While I'm not happy about the cut in hours, I can't complain about the Saturdays. I don't know how long this will last. Hopefully only for a few months at least.

Oh, and for those of you who were wondering. My student who had his adventure in the bathroom was back to school a week ago Monday. His arm is bandaged up still, but it seems to be doing OK. I think I've had enough blood for the year, although with this group, I have a feeling more accidents are in my future. They have a tendency to act before they think. I'll just make sure my insurance premiums are paid up!

Things You Never Want to Have Happen

There are some things I have never wanted to have happen as a teacher. One, a child puking in a classroom. I understand it's something they can't control, but I have a very quick gag reflex, and I would puke right after them. I can't even handle my own kids' vomit. Two, one child hurting another seriously. I just don't want to have to try and explain it to a parent (or to the news media for that matter!). Three, having to call an ambulance for one of my students. That's never a good thing.

Unfortunately, number three happened today. Here's how it happened. I had my entire class in the hall for a bathroom break, and there were about three boys and two girls still in the bathroom. As I'm standing next to the line of students who are done, I hear this tremendous crash come from the boys bathroom. I knew immediately that the sink had fallen off of the wall, and I headed toward the bathroom ready to lay into someone. Suddenly, one of the boys comes running out saying, "Somebody did something!" As I'm trying to get more information from him, I look up to see another one of my students rounding the corner of the bathroom with blood pouring out of his arm. Immediately, I tell the first student to RUN and get the nurse. Thankfully, we have an RN in the building at all times. My assistant principal was coming across one of the hallways at the same time, and she must have heard me tell the child to RUN. She comes running, as I'm trying to make sure the bleeding child doesn't come out in the hallway where all of my students can see him. His arm looked really bad. The nurse comes and without even putting on gloves grabs a paper towel and puts pressure on the arm. (Something I guess I should have done, but I was in too much shock. One reason I'm not a nurse.) They take the child off to the clinic, while I try to get the rest of my kids settled down and in the cafeteria for lunch. After I had them at their table, I find out that the ambulance has been called for my student. I went quickly to check on him, and by the time I got back to the cafeteria, most of my class had convinced themselves that he had died. I got them settled down, and after recess when the tears had dried up, I gave them the "This is Why We Have Rules" lecture. I don't know what exactly he was doing in the bathroom, but I don't think he'll do it again. I also think seeing him with a huge bandage on his arm will speak louder than any words I could ever say to my class. They were pretty subdued this afternoon. The update I got from the nurse at the end of the day was that he had cut it all the way down to the bone. (What I had thought was a piece of sink stuck in his arm was actually his muscle hanging out! Another reason I'm not a nurse.) I have no idea how long he'll be at the hospital, or what kind of treatment he'll need, but it was certainly a memorable start to the year. Tomorrow's Friday, and hopefully we can make it through the day without the ambulance showing up!

Already an improvement!

After yesterday, I was a little worried about how this year would be for me. My class had a very hard time listening and following directions, and they were trying to pull things that you usually see in May (like throwing food in the cafeteria). I told Jeremy last night, that I was going to have to really crack down, which I didn't want to do. I'm more strict at the beginning of the year, but I don't really like to hand out consequences the first week of school, since the kids and I are still trying to feel each other out. But I knew I was going to have to be tough with this group. However, they were a little better today. We still had some problems, and I know I'm going to have some that will test me the entire year, but there are others that are seeming to catch on to the idea that summer is over and school has started. I was happy to see it, because this year is going to be tough enough academically for some of my students. They certainly don't need the distraction of others acting up.

First Day of School

Today started bright and early (5:30 for me, 6:30 for the boys) at our house since it was the first day of school! This year, I get to take both Matthew and Nathan to school with me since Nathan is now in kindergarten. Nathan was very nervous and excited this morning, and I was a little worried too, since he didn't have a very good experience last year in Pre-K. But I shouldn't have worried, since he had a great day! I think his teacher will be very good for him. She has a very sweet personality, and I think she will be great for him. Here are a couple of pictures of him in his new kindergarten room.

I wasn't able to get any pictures of Matthew, cause he's in first grade now, and he's too cool for that. :-) I do have one of him at home plus one of Nathan.

Now, on to my class. I have a number of at risk students, so there will definitely be some challenges this year. Right now, I only have 17 students, and hopefully my class will stay fairly consistent. The last two years I've had what I call "my revolving door". Each year, I've had three or four leave, and three or four move in. Sometimes, I've had students stay for only a month. It's very hard to get to know a child and teach them when they are only in your room for a short time. Hopefully, this year will be more consistent, and I can really help those at-risk kids.

And, I just had to post this.

Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen? :-)

Back to Work!

Today was my first day back to work for the new school year. We have five days of pre-planning before the kids come next Monday. This morning was spent mostly in a large faculty meeting. We have to go over all of the faculty info for the new year, talk about any changes that have occurred, meet the new staff, have people announce pregnancies (not me!), and then we reach the most exciting part. The county has a power point presentation about Title IX, professional ethics, and sexual harrassment!! (I know you all wish you could be there.) By the end, my butt was totally numb, and I was ready for a nap. Thankfully, we got the rest of the day to work in our room. I've been in a couple of times over the last few weeks, so my furniture was all arranged, but now it's a matter of getting everything where I want it to be, plan for next week, put up bulletin boards (which I hate!), and get ready for Meet the Teacher on Thursday morning. Right now, I have 19 in my class, but that will probably change after Thursday when we have kids who don't show up and ones who register on that day.

Off to bed! It's another fun day tomorrow!

Returning from Vacation

So, as I posted yesterday, we got back yesterday morning from vacation. While we had a great time, it was good to be home. One thing I've discovered is that vacation is brutal with an eight month old child's routine. Andrew was doing really well, but with being gone, he's struggling a little bit to fall back into his routine. Plus, he caught a cold while we were gone, so he's had that to deal with as well.

We got home yesterday a little before 7. We fed Andrew, then the other two needed food as well. Of course, since we had been gone for a week, there wasn't a whole lot in the house. We had a couple of boxes of cereal, but we needed milk. So, Jeremy headed off to get milk while I tried to keep Nathan from wandering the house moaning "Hungry, hungry." (It's really fun to listen to, so if anyone knows how to get him to stop, I may fall on my knees to thank you.) Of course, I had been up for much of the night, so I was really hungry too! (I did refrain from moaning like Nathan, however.) After we had some breakfast, I fell asleep for about an hour. Then it was off to the grocery store to replenish our kitchen.

Then, last night, I had promised the boys I would take them to McDonald's last night for supper. We went up to the drive thru, and I ordered for all of us. Then, when I got up to the window, I handed the kid my debit card. He got ready to swipe it, then said "He didn't tell you cash only, didn't he?" Umm, no, because if he had, I wouldn't be handing you my card! So, he asked me if I had the cash to pay for it. Again, no, all I had was about two dollars. So I asked him if I could write a check. He told me that they didn't take checks. So you're telling me that it's impossible for you to take a check for $10?? Instead, you're willing to throw away three meals. I should have asked for the manager, but I was so irritated, I just pulled away. Now, I had two boys who had been counting on McDonald's, and I couldn't figure out where there was a closer one. I offered Chik-fil-A, but that was shot down since "they don't have toys." (You can see what my kids find important in fast food.) I was going to drive down 78 to find a McDonald's, but they are doing construction on 78 and three lanes of traffic coming from Atlanta have to squeeze down to two, and it was 6:30 in the evening, so I'll let you guess what traffic looked like. Finally, I decided on Wendy's and told Matthew if he didn't want it there was always peanut butter and jelly waiting for him. He chose the food, but he spent most of the rest of the evening grumping about it. (He was able to choke down all of the food, though)

Ahh, the joy of returning from vacation. Plus, I got a letter from the state telling me that I have to change my insurance next year since they've decided not to offer Blue Cross Blue Shield next year. Lovely. I'm breaking my resolution about not complaining about insurance.