things i've seen

First of all....I survived the week!  Hooray!  The waters rose, but I floated!  Four IEP meetings in three days!  One student was moved to a more structured setting, which is in the best interest of all involved.  How amazed was I that common sense triumphed?  Another student moved to a different campus.  He never gave me any trouble, but the same was not true of other teachers and other settings.  Two other "routine" meetings. 

How much teaching did I do?  In four days, I taught about 1.5 classes.  My trusty assistant took over my job, and at least got homework checked with each class, and a few "daily math" problems done.  She also got to use the Promethean board, though I think that comes under love/hate relationship.  I would gather info, type, meet, come back, gather, type, meet, tie up loose ends, type, meet....  My new, red-headed co-worker was also very helpful to me.  She helped with some of the information gathering, the behavior plans, and had the right thing to say during a couple of the meetings.

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My dryer smells like wet socks.  I'm not sure why.  So this morning, I took off the cover in hopes of finding the source of the wet sock smell.  I found a lot of lint.  Or is it lent? But no wet sock smell....

In and amongst the lint, I recovered 61 cents, a BB, a piece of lead, a washed match stick, a bead, and other things that come under the Cajun term - grah-dieu.  
  

I could not ninja myself around the corner to disconnect the power source, and I don't think we own a vacuum cleaner, so I cleaned it as best I could (quite a heap of lint) and resealed the lint tomb.  There is still a funky smell.

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Near my church, there is an apartment complex for elderly and disabled people.  Some mornings, after dropping off my offspring, I drive past, and there is a trio waiting for the school bus.  A kindergartner, along with her blind mother, and a wheelchair-bound friend are at the corner.  You can see Jesus there working in those lives.  The blind lady pushes the wheelchair lady.  The wheelchair lady makes sure they all get where they are going safely.  It makes your heart warm.

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There is a picture that I wish I could copy and paste, but I can't.  I mentioned in Monday's post about a priest in my parents' hometown who was cleared of any charges of misconduct.  His return to his parish after ten months was celebrated with a special Mass.  There was a picture taken of him with the 31 priests who attended standing behind him in the sanctuary.  He was in his chasuble, and they were all in varying albs and stoles.  It kind of warmed the heart, too.

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My boys were with me at Mass today seated next to each other.  At 14 and 15, I don't think I should have to sit between them to keep the peace.  Then there was the hand-holding at the Our Father.  I don't generally hold hands with other people, but we do as a family.  About the time Father got to "...and grant us peace in our day..." there was a "smack".  One child was squeezing the other child's hand a little too tightly and the victim remediated the situation.  I was afraid the Sign of Peace might not be too peaceful, but all was well....

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And that, my friends, are things that I've seen (and heard)....