It is the last week of March. Then just two more months and this school year will be history. Even though I begin to feel excited at the prospect of summer vacation, I also begin to feel the crunch. That is all the parts of the curriculum I still need to cover with my students. I am a bit more frustrated than usual though because until April 20 I have been pulled from my classes for 2 1/2 hours to work with 6 students that did not pass the TAKS test in February. Therefore, I have an added burden of work to complete with them.
Another part of the crunch is not so much frustrating from a "wish I didn't have to" as it is from a "wish I had a more relaxed time to do it." Kim and I are about to become new grandparents for a second time. Hopefully a little girl will be born to Jason and Kari in the next week or so. We are so anxious to finally have a little girl in our family that we just don't know how to act except silly. I will get to leave the madness of school for two days to go to Michigan just to hold, rock, kiss on and play with grandchildren. Sounds fun to me. Plus I have an opportunity to get away from my job.
Another part of the crunch is much like the one above because it involves a happy occasion. Kim and I are going to see our youngest son, Ryan, get married in May. We will host the rehearsal dinner and that takes a small bit of planning and sending out invitations. Yes I know, "at least I'm not the mother of the bride". I will need a new dress and Kim will probably get a new shirt and tie. I'll be going to wedding showers, two to be exact, in April. Relatives will be coming in for the wedding and I'm working to get bedrooms cleaned up and arranged for our company. Ryan's finacee', Amy, is going to be a nice fit in this family. Now we'll have three daughters in law and I finally have girls to side with me. I'm thrilled!
So there are a lot of good events happening right along with my busy, hectic job coming up in the next two months. I'm going to try to keep things in perspective and not become too overwhelmed by it all. I'm a very blessed woman to have such a dilemma. I'm not in a nursing home wondering who my children are, or in the hospital battling a terminal disease. I have my husband, my health, healthy children, my house and a job. God has been good to me and for this I give Him thanks. Even if I am a bit crunched for the time, it's better than the alternative.
To God be the glory!
March 29, 2005
March 25, 2005
Living With Refinery Workers
My daddy was a refinery worker for Union Oil Refinery in Nederland, Texas for all the years I was living at home and then some. Refinery workers go into a dangerous workplace every day and yet they go in and come out of their unit like any white-collar worker in downtown Houston at the end of their shift. Daddy was also on the company's fire safety crew and at times had to extinguish flames that might occur in the refinery. Fortunately, he was never involved in as horrible an explosion as this Baytown area heard about recently.
Texas City is located about 45 minutes down the Gulf Coast of Texas from here. Many locals work at the BP refinery there where, Wednesday, March 23, 2005, a terrible explosion blasted through the plant killing 15 people and injuring more than 100 others. I teach school here in Baytown and I didn't even know about the accident until I was driving home and heard it on the radio. The next morning at school I learned that our young P. E. coach had to go to Texas City to identify his wife's father. His father-in-law was working on a job in the BP refinery and it was soon to be completed. What a heartbreaking act of love for a young man to commit as to identify the lifeless body of his wife's dad.
My heart goes out to all of the families that lost loved ones in that explosion. Many of the newspaper articles I read this morning at breakfast was remembering another Texas City explosion that killed more than 500 people back in 1947. That explosion came right on the heels of WWII and many veterans compared the aftermath of the explosion to war.
I couldn't help but think about all of those years of watching my dad come home from work carrying his black lunchpail and wearing his hardhat that I oftentimes played with. I have fond happy memories of his returning home and getting a kiss and a hug from my daddy.
For most of those years I never once thought of my daddy as being in danger when he went to work. Then, sometimes at home my mother and I would hear the refinery whistles go off. That was when my mom would stop and announce with concern, "Those are the fire whistles at the refinery." Next I'd observe my mother look to the sky for smoke or listen to the news and especially wait for a phone call from my daddy telling her he was alright. That is not to say that my mother lived in fear each day that my dad went off to work. Quite the contrary, she never really gave it a thought until we would hear those refinery whistles. Then reality of pending danger would come to the forefront of our thoughts. Of course, now that I think about it, she must have gone through much the same or worse situations when my dad was overseas during WWII.
As I think back on those days growing up in a town where most of my friend's fathers were refinery workers too, I think about the children and families that lost loved ones Wednesday in that blast in Texas City. I'm sure they were not expecting that day to be any different from the rest. I can just visualize the panic and anguish on the faces of wives or husbands as they began to hear sirens. It makes me very sad for them because I can just imagine how my mom, my brothers and I would have reacted if it had happened to us back then. Thankfully, God spared us from such a tragedy.
May God bless and support those families that are suffering today because of their losses in the Texas City Explosion of 2005.
ML
Texas City is located about 45 minutes down the Gulf Coast of Texas from here. Many locals work at the BP refinery there where, Wednesday, March 23, 2005, a terrible explosion blasted through the plant killing 15 people and injuring more than 100 others. I teach school here in Baytown and I didn't even know about the accident until I was driving home and heard it on the radio. The next morning at school I learned that our young P. E. coach had to go to Texas City to identify his wife's father. His father-in-law was working on a job in the BP refinery and it was soon to be completed. What a heartbreaking act of love for a young man to commit as to identify the lifeless body of his wife's dad.
My heart goes out to all of the families that lost loved ones in that explosion. Many of the newspaper articles I read this morning at breakfast was remembering another Texas City explosion that killed more than 500 people back in 1947. That explosion came right on the heels of WWII and many veterans compared the aftermath of the explosion to war.
I couldn't help but think about all of those years of watching my dad come home from work carrying his black lunchpail and wearing his hardhat that I oftentimes played with. I have fond happy memories of his returning home and getting a kiss and a hug from my daddy.
For most of those years I never once thought of my daddy as being in danger when he went to work. Then, sometimes at home my mother and I would hear the refinery whistles go off. That was when my mom would stop and announce with concern, "Those are the fire whistles at the refinery." Next I'd observe my mother look to the sky for smoke or listen to the news and especially wait for a phone call from my daddy telling her he was alright. That is not to say that my mother lived in fear each day that my dad went off to work. Quite the contrary, she never really gave it a thought until we would hear those refinery whistles. Then reality of pending danger would come to the forefront of our thoughts. Of course, now that I think about it, she must have gone through much the same or worse situations when my dad was overseas during WWII.
As I think back on those days growing up in a town where most of my friend's fathers were refinery workers too, I think about the children and families that lost loved ones Wednesday in that blast in Texas City. I'm sure they were not expecting that day to be any different from the rest. I can just visualize the panic and anguish on the faces of wives or husbands as they began to hear sirens. It makes me very sad for them because I can just imagine how my mom, my brothers and I would have reacted if it had happened to us back then. Thankfully, God spared us from such a tragedy.
May God bless and support those families that are suffering today because of their losses in the Texas City Explosion of 2005.
ML
March 21, 2005
A Prayer for Lasting Faith
O for a faith that will not shrink,
Tho pressed by ev'ry foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.
That will not murmur or complain
Beneath the chast'ning rod,
But in the hour of grief or pain,
Will lean upon its God.
A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt!
Lord, give us such a faith as this,
And then, whate'er may come,
We'll taste e'en here the hallow'd bliss
Of an eternal home.
(W. H. Bathurst, O for a Faith That Will Not Shrink, 1831)
Tho pressed by ev'ry foe,
That will not tremble on the brink
Of any earthly woe.
That will not murmur or complain
Beneath the chast'ning rod,
But in the hour of grief or pain,
Will lean upon its God.
A faith that shines more bright and clear
When tempests rage without;
That when in danger knows no fear,
In darkness feels no doubt!
Lord, give us such a faith as this,
And then, whate'er may come,
We'll taste e'en here the hallow'd bliss
Of an eternal home.
(W. H. Bathurst, O for a Faith That Will Not Shrink, 1831)
March 19, 2005
My Children Have Caught Up With Me
It is true. My children HAVE caught up with me. No,we weren't running a race, unless you consider life a race. I just realized that they are now my peers in a manner of speaking. One of my sons and his wife are school teachers in the same district where I also teach. We can talk about our jobs together in the same way I talk about work with my immediate colleagues. With my older son I realize that he has such wisdom far beyond what I ever had at his age. He is almost finished with his doctorate in family counseling from MSU and I find myself listening carefully to what he can teach me. My youngest son, newly graduated from college, is soon to be married. He is starting out with some excitment and a little bit of apprehensiveness about being in the "real world". However, as I talk to him about job interviews and auditions for acting jobs, I see a grown up with a future of new beginnings. I have to admit I'm a little jealous and envious of this fresh start in life.
Given the fact that all of my sons are grown up now, I find it easier to just be myself around them. I don't have to be their mom like I did when they were still at home. The youngest son is living with us for a while before he gets married in two months. It is a relief for me to be able to treat him like a man. I don't worry about where he going or who he is with like I might have when he was a teen. Whether they are living in my house or their own, I know they are capable men and are equiped to handle life. That of course is not to say that I don't want to help them if a need arises. I truly enjoy and cherish babysitting for my grandson or feeding pet cats or making wedding plans. I even enjoy ironing workshirts, flying to another state to help pack for a move or driving to an apartment to feed and clean up after pets. I get pleasure out of all of that now that they are adults. I believe that is because I know that I don't HAVE to do it, I want to. I also know they realize that I don't HAVE to do it anymore and when they hug me and say "Thanks Mom", it is all worth it.
One other pleasure about grown up boys is that they can still be little boys and act silly. I can have so much fun with them. My sons make me feel young because we can laugh and joke with each other as if we were the same age. It really warms my heart and lifts my spirits when they want to include me in their plans for fun. They don't treat me like I'm old even though I act like it sometimes. There are times when I miss my little boys, but at this stage in my life those grown up young men are a very special blessing to me.
Thanks Guys!
Mom
Given the fact that all of my sons are grown up now, I find it easier to just be myself around them. I don't have to be their mom like I did when they were still at home. The youngest son is living with us for a while before he gets married in two months. It is a relief for me to be able to treat him like a man. I don't worry about where he going or who he is with like I might have when he was a teen. Whether they are living in my house or their own, I know they are capable men and are equiped to handle life. That of course is not to say that I don't want to help them if a need arises. I truly enjoy and cherish babysitting for my grandson or feeding pet cats or making wedding plans. I even enjoy ironing workshirts, flying to another state to help pack for a move or driving to an apartment to feed and clean up after pets. I get pleasure out of all of that now that they are adults. I believe that is because I know that I don't HAVE to do it, I want to. I also know they realize that I don't HAVE to do it anymore and when they hug me and say "Thanks Mom", it is all worth it.
One other pleasure about grown up boys is that they can still be little boys and act silly. I can have so much fun with them. My sons make me feel young because we can laugh and joke with each other as if we were the same age. It really warms my heart and lifts my spirits when they want to include me in their plans for fun. They don't treat me like I'm old even though I act like it sometimes. There are times when I miss my little boys, but at this stage in my life those grown up young men are a very special blessing to me.
Thanks Guys!
Mom
March 17, 2005
My job is over at 3:30??
As least my job shouldn't have to go beyond the normal workday. However, I'm finding that as a school teacher, we have to work a whole lot more hours than a banker. Of course, having taught school over 25 years, I have known this well known fact for a long time now.
This evening I am suppose to go back to my school and stay for 1 1/2 hours longer just to let the parents see my classroom. If they want to see it, they can schedule an appointment and come in to talk to me about their little darlings. There is also a Book Fair in progress in our library and I suspect that most of the parents will take their children to buy books. That is just fine with me, but then I'll be stuck in my class room when I could be at home with my feet propped up watching TV while I grade papers. (Still on the job.)
You know, I should have done more research on careers when I was in college. Maybe I'd be working as a sweet librarian shelving books and working in a quieter environment. I could probably go home at a decent time with no homework. It would be nice to know that when I got sick that I wouldn't have to drag my sickly self to the computer and log on to get a substitute. Even after I cover the day with a sub, the lessons plans have to be rewritten for any regular Joe to understand. The worksheets, workbooks and pencils have to be put where they can be found. What is more, on the day I return to my classroom, books and other supplies will be out of place and left strode all around the room because the sub didn't remind the class to pick up. In addition I will return to notes left by the sub on all the misconduct that my class got into while I was absent.
Yes, shelving library books or working in a small bookstore is looking better and better.
This evening I am suppose to go back to my school and stay for 1 1/2 hours longer just to let the parents see my classroom. If they want to see it, they can schedule an appointment and come in to talk to me about their little darlings. There is also a Book Fair in progress in our library and I suspect that most of the parents will take their children to buy books. That is just fine with me, but then I'll be stuck in my class room when I could be at home with my feet propped up watching TV while I grade papers. (Still on the job.)
You know, I should have done more research on careers when I was in college. Maybe I'd be working as a sweet librarian shelving books and working in a quieter environment. I could probably go home at a decent time with no homework. It would be nice to know that when I got sick that I wouldn't have to drag my sickly self to the computer and log on to get a substitute. Even after I cover the day with a sub, the lessons plans have to be rewritten for any regular Joe to understand. The worksheets, workbooks and pencils have to be put where they can be found. What is more, on the day I return to my classroom, books and other supplies will be out of place and left strode all around the room because the sub didn't remind the class to pick up. In addition I will return to notes left by the sub on all the misconduct that my class got into while I was absent.
Yes, shelving library books or working in a small bookstore is looking better and better.
March 15, 2005
Fiddler On the Roof
That movie is on TV tonight. I've seen it so many times on film and stage that I don't have to even be in the same room with the set. I know the images as I hear the dialog and practically recall the lines. Yet I am still moved by it's message. Traditions and change are inevitable and the father, Tevia, feels that he just can't give into all of the changes and be true to God. I am especially moved by his continual conversation with God. He always looks to God for a sign, a message that what he is doing is the right thing to do. God is ever present and with us in times of change and times of idle contemplation.
I relate to Tevia very much. He wants to do what he has been taught that God would want. Even so his own family persuades him to push the envelope and evaluate what is truly God's will. It never ceases to make me stop and think about my own faith.
ML
I relate to Tevia very much. He wants to do what he has been taught that God would want. Even so his own family persuades him to push the envelope and evaluate what is truly God's will. It never ceases to make me stop and think about my own faith.
ML
March 14, 2005
What Do I Know?
Today my school got to see the TAKS scores on the reading test my 50 third grade students took back in February. Forty one of that number passed and I felt okay with that. However it isn't over yet. There are the 9 that will need more help to pass the retest in April. Today I found out that it is up to me to bring them up to passing. My daily schedule is going to change starting in one day so that I can teach the 9 children that did not pass the TAKS. I will have them in class for 2 1/2 hours in contrast to the 1 1/2 hours I teach them now. My regular classes will have a substitute to teach them during my remediation period. That means more lesson plans. I'm not a fan of making out lesson plans. I suddently feel inadequate for the job. As I stare at the three diplomas hanging on my wall above my desk with my name I am thinking, "What do I know? Can I help them to pass this test?" I'm a scholar of education. I have 30 years of experience in the teaching field. That doesn't matter. This is real and not in a book.
Easter Holidays in two weeks.
ML
Easter Holidays in two weeks.
ML
March 13, 2005
Today is Sunday. Tomorrow will be Monday.
When I taught kindergarten, our class recited the day in terms of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Yesterday was Saturday. (I love that day!) Today is Sunday. (Church. Break. Church again.) Tomorrow will be Monday. (Five more days until Saturday.)
ML
ML
March 12, 2005
The Third Time is the Charm
Kim and I are planning our third wedding rehearsal dinner for our third and youngest son, Ryan and his fiancee, Amy. No, it isn't Ryan's 3rd, it is ours. We have three sons of which Ryan is the youngest and the last to get married. I guess this is one of those milestones we pass in life. "Kids all married...check."
We felt like pros walking into restaurants requesting to talk to the managers. So confident we were with very few questions and knowing pretty much what we wanted. A room big enough to move around in and hold about 50 people comfortably, good food with 2 or 3 entree choices and a bit of decor (not a priority). However, we didn't want to come away penniless. If we learned nothing more from weddings 1. and 2. we learned what we really need and what isn't all that necessary.
The short trip to the wooded East Texas town of Lufkin was relaxing and calm. It was a nice drive with my husband and no time restraints to push us to or from our destination. We were able to leisurely talk about the wedding and what we want to do for our son and his future wife. We made some solid decisions and not the least bit anxiously. Next we will begin to follow up on those plans this week.
As we drove back to Baytown we stopped at a Texas icon..the DQ (that's Dairy Queen) for some ice cream. I got an Oreo blizzard and Kim got a banana split. Yep, it doesn't get much better than that.
We felt like pros walking into restaurants requesting to talk to the managers. So confident we were with very few questions and knowing pretty much what we wanted. A room big enough to move around in and hold about 50 people comfortably, good food with 2 or 3 entree choices and a bit of decor (not a priority). However, we didn't want to come away penniless. If we learned nothing more from weddings 1. and 2. we learned what we really need and what isn't all that necessary.
The short trip to the wooded East Texas town of Lufkin was relaxing and calm. It was a nice drive with my husband and no time restraints to push us to or from our destination. We were able to leisurely talk about the wedding and what we want to do for our son and his future wife. We made some solid decisions and not the least bit anxiously. Next we will begin to follow up on those plans this week.
As we drove back to Baytown we stopped at a Texas icon..the DQ (that's Dairy Queen) for some ice cream. I got an Oreo blizzard and Kim got a banana split. Yep, it doesn't get much better than that.
March 11, 2005
Pictures, pictures and MORE pictures!
I have been trying to sort through 30+ years of photographs that my husband and I have taken over the course of our marriage and even some from before. Now let me tell you, that is a host of Kodak prints!
When I started last summer to sort through the various little packages of photos and negatives, I simply moved them into cardboard boxes that are really too big to place upon a closet shelf. Consequently those boxes were moved to a corner of the room awaiting a new home. There they have sat stacked one on top of the other where they have acquired a new function...a climbing toy and resting place for our two cats.
However, now I have another method in mind that I saw on my new favorite TV channel, HGTV. http://www.hgtv.com/ It involves shoebox-type containers with lids and labels as to the contents. It looked so easy and organized. Not wanting to spend any money on my little(?) project, I accumulated several shoe boxes from every member of my family. Now all the photographs and boxes are spread out over an unused bed in our guest room.
My biggest dilemma now is figuring out the categories for sorting. The subjects of the pictures all seem to lap over the other and we have way too many scenery photos to justify keeping them. I keep forgetting how I'm sorting too. Did I put all the children's high school pictures in that box or just them with their friends or was it birthday parties? I don't know, it hurts my brain to think about it.
In the meantime, there will be no new prints, only digital pics I can store on a disk or my computer. Sounds good. Right? Now to get that bed cleared before we have company again.
When I started last summer to sort through the various little packages of photos and negatives, I simply moved them into cardboard boxes that are really too big to place upon a closet shelf. Consequently those boxes were moved to a corner of the room awaiting a new home. There they have sat stacked one on top of the other where they have acquired a new function...a climbing toy and resting place for our two cats.
However, now I have another method in mind that I saw on my new favorite TV channel, HGTV. http://www.hgtv.com/ It involves shoebox-type containers with lids and labels as to the contents. It looked so easy and organized. Not wanting to spend any money on my little(?) project, I accumulated several shoe boxes from every member of my family. Now all the photographs and boxes are spread out over an unused bed in our guest room.
My biggest dilemma now is figuring out the categories for sorting. The subjects of the pictures all seem to lap over the other and we have way too many scenery photos to justify keeping them. I keep forgetting how I'm sorting too. Did I put all the children's high school pictures in that box or just them with their friends or was it birthday parties? I don't know, it hurts my brain to think about it.
In the meantime, there will be no new prints, only digital pics I can store on a disk or my computer. Sounds good. Right? Now to get that bed cleared before we have company again.
March 10, 2005
"Something is missing:"
"Something is missing: that's as close as I can come to naming the sensation, an awareness of missed or thwarted connections, or of a great hollowness left where something lovely and solid used to be. This, I think, is the coarse grit at the bottom of the ocean, the floor beneath appetite's sea: simple human sorrow." a quote from APPETITES WHY WOMEN WANT, written by Caroline Knapp
The above quote made so much sense to me the first time I read it. Underneath all that we do to cover the sorrow it is still there like the grit at the bottom the ocean.
The above quote made so much sense to me the first time I read it. Underneath all that we do to cover the sorrow it is still there like the grit at the bottom the ocean.
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