ice cream on thursdays

I have a friend, a former co-worker, who is older than my mom, who is having some serious health issues, having been diagnosed with  some chronic problems.  She has been asking for months for me to take her to "Charlene's Grave".  Charlene Richard was a little Cajun Girl who lived and died over 50 years ago in a rural community about 45 minutes from us.  She died at age 12 after a short battle with leukemia, and gradually she has developed a reputation as the "L'il Cajun Saint".

So, with school about to start, and time about to become very short, when she suggested that we go "next  week", I googled.  The cemetery where Charlene is buried is adjacent to the church.  The parish has Mass at 6:00 pm on Thursdays, so I told her we would go then.  I figured if we were going to make a road trip of it, we might as well do more than sit in a hot cemetery.  This is Louisiana, and it was July.

We arrived in time for Mass.  I knew that since it was a small, rural community, we would obviously stick out at Mass, but I had hoped to blend in at least a little.  Well, so much for that idea. Including the priest, the musician, and the altar server, there were 7 of us at Mass.  That's the number of completion and perfection in the Bible, though.  Mass was absolutely gorgeous...the musician played and sang her heart out.  The homily felt like it was written just for us (and matched the picture of Abraham and Isaac in the sanctuary).

After Mass, we ventured out to the cemetery.  Charlene's grave is easy to spot, but someone else was praying there, so we meandered around the cemetery for a bit, before stopping to visit with Charlene. Even though it was after 6 in the evening, it was still quite hot, but  the experience was so peaceful. We were alone, and except for nature, there were no sounds.  No vehicles passing on the highway.....just peace.  We paused long enough to write down our petitions and place them in the box on her grave.  We knelt and prayed. Tears may or may not have been shed.

I know that some have reservations about the whole business of asking saints to pray for us, but I believe that if we can ask other broken people in this broken world to pray for us, then surely we should be able to request assistance of someone whom we believe has direct access to the Good Lord.

We made our way back home, - a little more at peace, and a little more hopeful,  but not before stopping at McDonald's for an ice cream sundae.

Fast forwarding to the next Thursday.  It was hotter than hot, but my son and two of his Boy Scout buddies were to meet in a local park for one of the other parents to take their pictures, in anticipation of upcoming Eagle Scout Ceremony.  

A couple of the grandkids were visiting, so I had brought them with me, thinking they would enjoy the park as something different.  They fed the ducks....

...and played on the playground.  But they were tired, and it was hot, and they mostly just wanted to get to their other grandma's house.  

When the photo shoot was done, the boys decided to go eat ice cream (it is summer and it is hot), and after letting the girls play for a little longer, I took them to meet up with their other grandmother. We saw one police unit shortly after leaving the park.  We were nearly broadsided by another that was speeding through a red light.  After I dropped the girls off, I met up with the boys and the photographer dad at the ice cream shop, and we sat for an hour or more, talking and watching as law enforcement vehicles - marked and unmarked - sped by at odd intervals. The 3 boys have known each other since second grade, and all of them are starting college in the fall, and that occupied much of the conversation.  "My mom says there's been a shooting at the Grand," one of them said quietly, reading the text from his phone.  So in the age of instant information, we all turned to our phones...

Yep, sure enough.  But not much information available. Maybe some domestic issue, we assumed.  We visited a while longer before going our separate ways. 

Once we got home, we saw our  hometown on national news. When all the dust settled, three people were dead - people connected only by the fact that they had gone to see Trainwreck on a hot, July night.  The deceased included the shooter - someone from out of state who was "just not right" and two beautiful young ladies, Jillian and Mayci.  Several others were hospitalized.  

But here, we still pray.  Here, we come together to emerge even stronger. Here, we have joy, and nobody from out of town is going to steal our joy on a hot Thursday night.  

back to school

It has been a while.  With my laptop down, I miss the ease of popping in my SD card and easily inserting pictures.  There is also something about sitting with a laptop on your lap and composing. Things seem to flow better.  My parents also haven't gotten much in the way of emails since my laptop broke.

Summer has ended.  School has started.  I have two weeks down....my kids have 6 days in.

A few pictures from the time period.

My oldest flew to Florida with his grandmother to see his big brother (and big brother's kids) before he deployed.  He enjoyed some big brother bonding time.

While we were in New Orleans dropping them at the airport, SIL and I made a quick run by the church where Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos ministered to German immigrants in the 1800's.  It is a b.e.a.u.t.i.f.u.l church inside.  However, it is not air-conditioned while not in use, so we did not stay long.

A new statue in the courtyard at the Blessed Seelos shrine.  Do you sometimes feel like this when you pray?

When we got home from the airport, I discovered this in my son's room.

A gift from younger brother and a friend.  3 rolls, they said.  You know what they say about pay back....

Saw a rainbow one day.  I think we were on the way home from church.

And not just a little piddly half rainbow...the whole thing.  Unfortunately, it did not end over my house.

But it still is a promise that God has things under control.  Right?

Things that I do not have pictures of....

I have given a deposition.  I have appeared in and testified in court in an insurance case involving one of my students.  (took 3 different trips to court and about 3 hours altogether of waiting, which was aggravating).  Scratch that off the bucket list.  Oh wait...it wasn't on it!

I have started school.  So have the kids.  No pictures were desired by them.  I have a sophomore and a junior this year.  I am teaching the son of one of the students I taught in about 1990.  I guess that means I am officially old.  There are lots of changes for us as teachers this year. New stuff from the state and new stuff from the district. It is a little overwhelming and discouraging. I think I am at the age where it is getting more and more difficult to learn and remember new things.  I used to laugh at my older colleagues.  Now I laugh with them.

I have gone back to working out, after putting my membership on hold for the summer.  It wasn't as bad as I expected.

I have been exhausted at the end of the days.  Anything that requires more thought than posting a facebook status hasn't really happened.

Going next weekend on a couples retreat with my husband.  Please pray that it bears good fruit.

I think that's all I've got for now!

metanoia

It's an interesting word - metanoia.  I've heard it defined as a spiritual turning of sorts.  Wikipedia offers several possible meanings.  Mirriam-Webster defines it as "a transformative change of heart."  It's what we are called to do.  On an ongoing basis, I think.

It has been a long summer in some ways.  Lots - did you hear me LOTS - of family togetherness.  Can you have too much?  My boys have not participated in any extra activities this summer (their choice), my husband has worked very little (not his choice), and with limited funds, I have mostly kept the car parked.

I have also resented it.  With my husband's anxiety, he has made it known that he likes it best when everyone is home.  So I have gone with the flow.  By default, he has had things the way he has wanted them in that respect, but he doesn't seem much happier.  And for me...."Absence makes the heart grow fonder?"  There hasn't been near enough absence, I assure you!

By the end of last week, I could feel a weight somewhere inside.  It was really nothing anyone had done, but I knew a bunch of feelings were brewing below the surface.  (Side note to interject that the seemingly unrelated pictures were taken last night as a storm gathered. The reddish tint made things look really weird).  I finally found some time to visit Jesus at the little Adoration chapel near the house Sunday evening.  I took my journal and I wrote... Peeled back some of the layers to see what was below the surface.

I was able to return again on Monday and as I sat, I asked Jesus, "If I were to go to confession soon, what would I tell you?"  Well, I don't know about you, but He is always pretty accommodating in answering that question for me!  Again I wrote.  And there was The List.

 

I almost always prefer to show up for confession within the scheduled time frames, but this time, I knew I wanted more than my share of the 10 minutes allotted before daily Mass.  So, needing wisdom, I emailed my  confessor and asked if he had time after Mass one day soon. "... See you tomorrow," he replied.  

I began by saying that I didn't mean for this to be a complaint session about current issues, and he uncharacteristically stopped me.  "When there are issues - and there are - don't apologize for being honest with God.  We are not doing this to be slanderous, but to give the issues to Jesus."   I continued.  There was stuff.  Sin is icky.  Attitudes and thoughts and feelings which I will spare you.  Discouragement and doubt in spite of God's goodness.  Tiredness.  

  

He listens.  Really listens.  He hears where I am at - not just the sin list.  He speaks.  Little by little, he turns things just a bit.  What he says really does nothing to change the situation I am dealing with.  But what he says changes the way I view (and respond to) the situation I am dealing with.  He pulls forth a little compassion that has been dormant for far too long.  Not by chastising, but by pointing the way.  Slowly, gently, chipping away at some of the hardness of heart.  

Sometimes it seems that everything I do has a cost - the disapproving look or thoughtless rude comment.  The good priest does nothing to change that fact, but acknowledges that it is probably true.  To be a follower of Jesus, we do have to share in His Life - in the Paschal Mystery.  And here is my chance!  Not only does it have a cost, but I can take that and offer it back to God on behalf of and to benefit the other.  That's about the best economic news I've heard in a while.  Nothing is wasted!  

Twenty or so minutes later we are done.  I leave, not embarrassed or ashamed, but filled with hope and encouragement.  This may forever be one of the mysteries that I don't understand.  How one can [nervously] walk into a little room in the back of the church, sit and admit to another human the worst of who you can be, and then float out hope-filled and encouraged mere minutes later.  But it happens - often.  God's good grace is simply amazing!

Just a little different way of looking at things, and everything seems to change.  Metanoia?  A transformative change of heart?  Correction?  Healing? Embracing thoughts beyond our present limitations?   All of the above?  God is so very good!

riding shotgun with Jesus

I've mentioned Ad Altare Dei before, I think.  It's a religious award that Boy Scouts can work on.  It takes an in-depth look at each sacrament and tries to draw connections between the sacraments, scouts, and real-life, I think.

My little group started working on it in earnest in January, 2011.  We took off the summer (moving, vacations, summer camp) and most of the fall of 2011, and got things rolling again in 2012.  We have been through Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, and Holy Orders.  Only Marriage remains.  Saving the most difficult or the best for last??

As part of Anointing of the Sick, the boys are supposed to spend a month (?) helping the sick or elderly in some form or fashion.  We weren't really that enthused about going to a hospital (too many super-icky germs there) and not real comfortable with nursing home service.

So I emailed the husband of a couple I have gotten to be friends with through church.  He and his wife are my parents' ages, and she had surgery back in February.  There were many complications...a stroke during surgery that caused a loss of sight (they are hopeful this will improve some, but it has been months), diabetes that has caused the wound to heal painfully slowly, chronic diarrhea that makes it risky to go in public.  I had visited them one afternoon earlier in the summer and quite enjoyed myself, and thought that perhaps the boys could be of assistance to them.

Yes, he said, there were flower beds that needed weeding.  And so we set the time for Friday evening, when it would be cooler.  As luck would have it, it has rained all week, and the flower beds were a little soggy, but I knew my friends were looking forward to company.  I also know that our priest has visited them once in the months since the surgery (he has had a lot going on), but I know I would not want to go months at a time without the Eucharist.  So I asked if I could take Communion to them.  We had to work out some bugs (like I had to get the sacristan to open the church in the evening so I could get the Blessed Sacrament and I had to borrow a pyx from my SIL), but it all worked out!

My teen drove while Jesus and I rode shotgun. (Nothing could be better with a teen driver!)  I held the pyx in my hands, conscious of the incredible privilege.  My boys tried to avoid questionable language.

My friends were so happy to see us and Jesus!  As soon as I could work it in to the conversation, (did I mention they were happy to see us?) we had a brief communion service...a few prayers, a reading from the day's Gospel, a short discussion/homily, the Lord's prayer and Communion.  It was special to be a part of.

After that, we visited.  My boys did not turn their noses up at the talk of adult diapers, scabs, and wounds.  They got a good feel for the frustration and isolation of someone who is house-bound.  They enjoyed talking about the sports they participate in at school, things they are doing in Scouts and heard stories about our hosts' grandchildren. I saw them smiling and laughing.  It was really a wonderful evening.  We enjoyed strawberry cupcakes and a couple of hours later left with some to take home.  It did my heart good to hear my boys say that they had enjoyed the evening, rather than acting like they were being tortured to fulfill this particular requirement.  Before we left - we looked at the flower beds....we'll be back!

We are called to bring Jesus to others, to be Gift for others.  Most often, it is in an abstract way, but this time  it was in a literal, concrete, truly present way.  But in the awesome, perfect way that Jesus works, we all left richer!

reunion anticipation

Oh...how I am missing my laptop.  The screen has stopped working. So my options for blogging are to use the desktop or to disconnect the monitor from the desktop and connect it to the laptop (which pretty much turns the laptop into a desktop - just in a different location).  But the desktop is so old and slow, and it has no slot to put the SD card from my camera....

It makes blogging harder than it should be.  And my iPad - as much as I love it - is still not a fully functioning computer.  There are some things that it just does not do and interacting easily with Blogger is one of those things.  And posting pictures....still haven't figured that out.

Nonetheless...

My THIRTY year high school reunion is coming up at the end of this month!  I went ahead and pre-registered.  My high school was such a neat place.

(Image from http://www.waymarking.com )

It was built in 1925, and has undergone major renovations during the past 2 years.  It was a special place to be then, and I am excited to see how it has been updated.  I have memories of climbing out of windows and eating lunch on the front lawn.  When I attended there in the late 70's/early 80's the curriculum had been changed to a magnet format that attracted those interested in academics and fine arts.  Our football, baseball, and basketball teams had been discontinued, but we had gymnastics, cross country, and fencing that no one could touch!  No cheerleaders, but classical ballet and full scale dramatic productions.  Radio and TV stations.  German, Russian, Latin, French and Spanish.  No marching band, but vocal music, orchestras and jazz bands...sometimes playing at lunch.  It was a whole high school of the Geek Squad!

We came from hellacious middle school experiences (judging from this past week's Facebook postings) from all over the parish (the Louisiana equivalent of county).  Some of us arrived our freshman year knowing no one.  But I think the overwhelming majority of us found acceptance and freedom.  Because of that acceptance that I found then, I am not too nervous about our reunion.  We were generally drama free, even if we didn't move in the same circles.

A picture of me and my BFF - probably our Senior year.  I would guess that it is before school, and we are sitting in front of our locker on the third floor, outside of French class doing last minute homework.  I am the stick-figure on the right!

This is a picture of us 20-some-odd years later.... I'm a little sad that she won't be at the reunion...that darn vow of enclosure thing.

But at least a few from our gang will be there.  There is a walking tour of the school scheduled for Saturday morning, and then some of us will be meeting for lunch.  A big shin dig that evening, and that makes me the most nervous.  What if my purse doesn't match my shoes?  I don't like make-up and never wear it.  Should I make an exception?  What about my hair?  It so has a mind of its own,  Should I buy a new dress or just go with one of the two in my closet?  Sigh.

A picture of our gang.  ^^^  My BFF is second from the left. I think the two on the right will be with us on Saturday, plus a couple of others.  We determined that this was taken the morning of graduation rehearsal (probably with my Kodak Instamatic!)  Don't we look ready to take on the world??

So anyway...no real point to my ramblings.  Just recording, documenting, putting the little bit of nervousness and anticipation out there!

Anyone else with reunion anticipation??

blogging from the ipad

Something I have never done - at least not successfully.

My laptop, which I use for blogging, went dark one day last week. The brains still work, but the display - not so much. And hooking it to another display, makes it more of a desktop than laptop.

Have never had any success in adding images to a post using an iPad, and that still holds true. Even trying to use a URL from dropbox, the blogger software sends my image to someplace I have never located.

It has been a long week, but is ending on a good note. Had a great day yesterday visiting parents, grandfather, sister, and Godchild. My sister works at a library bookstore, and I visited and came away with some easy-reader findsnfor my classroom library and some possible spiritual reading for my library. I am most excited by one that I have been looking for -- The Little Prince! I read it in HS, and have been wanting to reread to see if I can catch some of the deeper meanings.

I am sending off the deposit and paperwork for Retrouvaille weekend. Very excited about this. When I saw it in the church bulletin last weekend, I had *that* feeling. Dear hubby agreed readily enough to the weekend, but balked at the follow-up sessions, which ticked me off. However, the local folks said that - while not ideal - I could attend the follow-up sessions alone, and that perhaps after the weekend, he would be more willing. So we are going with that for now.

Quite disappointed by the Supreme Court decision on the healthcare mess. I say pray. And hubs says we need to change the nation. I say prayer is how that happens, and you start with yourself, and go from there.

One of our air conditioning units was out for about a week. It has been replaced (thank you, home warranty), so we are glad about that. It has been hot, and when it is so hot, one feels like doing nothing.

But, alas, the laundry and the dishes, and whatever else await. So I will send this off to cyber blogdom and see what it looks like when it reappears on the other side...

a holy orders kind of weekend... part one

For the past year and a half or so, my two sons and two other teen boys have been working on the Ad Altare Dei award.  It is a religious award that Boy Scouts can earn.  Many hours have gone into this, as we have worked our way through the sacraments.  Baptism.  Confirmation.  Eucharist.  Reconciliation.  Anointing of the Sick.  Holy Orders.

As we opened our books a few weeks ago to begin learning about Holy Orders, we realized that we were nearing the end (only Marriage remains), and that our timing was perfect because our Diocese was ordaining a new priest soon.  One of requirements gave us two options - attend an ordination or read the rite from the back of the book.  [For Anointing of the Sick, we had done the read-from-the-back-of-the-book option, and I was afraid someone was going to need some actual anointing by the time they were done.  The "sick person" kept punching the "priest" as he attempted to anoint him and lay hands on him.]

So Saturday found our little group of 4 teenage boys and 3 moms of teenage boys nicely dressed, at the Cathedral to witness the Ordination to the Holy Priesthood of a new priest for our diocese.

My younger son and I had once attended an ordination of a young man to the Transitional Diaconate, but the ordination of a Priest was a first for all of us.  

Different things caught our attention.  The music was key for some.  The laying on of hands moved others.  I think all of us moms were taken by the youthfulness of the seminarians who were present.  Some of them looked like there were not much older than our teen sons sitting in the row in front of us.  Holy Communion found us receiving from "the new guy". 

Although there were varying degrees of enthusiasm among them (moms of teenage boys will understand)....we were there about 45 minutes before it was scheduled to start, and it lasted about 90 minutes....all survived.  Here is a picture to prove it - taken in front of the 500 + year old Cathedral Oak.  It as hot, and they were looking into the sun, and one shirt was untucked as soon as the final notes sounded from the organ, but they can all say that they attended an ordination.  :-)

Today, at our regularly scheduled meeting, our good priest dropped in so that the boys could "interview" him.  More on that next time.

a few pictures...

Mostly sharing a few pictures.

Summer is well underway.  Though nothing much is happening.  A shortage of funds has us hanging close to home.  There is a neighborhood to ride bikes in and a pool to swim in.  My children are so stir-crazy they were ready to come with me to the funeral home for the funeral of a friend of my sister-in-law today. 

I love my camera's zoom...the squirrel was running away from an attacking bird on the neighbor's roof.

Was trimming shrubs the other day.  All was well until one of these  ^ horrid things stung me.  I retaliated with wasp spray.  A paste of vinegar and baking soda on the sting did amazing things.  It was almost gone the next day.

Dear husband and I survived our first joint counseling session yesterday.  We got a few hurried tips on communication techniques.  I guess for us to practice them, we will actually have to have a conversation of some substance.  There is so much I would like to tell him, but I hesitate because I don't know what the reaction will be.  It is emotionally safer to keep it to myself. But the journey begins with a step, and we have taken it.

These roses are about 8 feet in the air.  There bush is obscured and over-shadowed by a lemon tree.  But the rose didn't give up.  It reaches - up, up, up - until it breaks out over the citrus tree.  Beautiful.  There is a lesson in there somewhere about not giving up - right?

Looking up.  The palm tree has what we guess are seeds or seed pods.

We saw a bird building the nest in the shrub next to the garage the other day.  Today, son #1 (who is taller than the rest of us) peered in and saw eggs.   I held the camera up high and aimed down.

And that is the excitement we are dealing with for now!

ember days, summer days, lazy days

School is out!  It's been out for almost a week, now.  And what do I have to show for it?  I have read some....

This series is probably one of the best I have come across.  There are meditations for each day, largely based on the scripture readings for the day.  Just awesome stuff.  It is not the 2-minutes-and-done kind of quickie meditation.  This is something you take, and you spend some time reading and pondering.  It quotes heavily from St. Josemaria Escriva.  Sometimes I have found myself taking notes.  And often I have been impressed (though I shouldn't be) with how well it fits with where I am in my life right now.  So I have finished up most of this...it ended at Pentecost.  And I am actively searching for my next volume.  Being cheap on a budget, I am not willing to pay nearly $20 for a single volume.  But if I can find them on ebay for less than $5, we have a winner!  And I have debated about whether I want the paper version or the digital version.  Advantages of the digital version include the ability to increase the size of the font (getting more important with each passing day) and the ability to read in a dark church (where I sometimes find myself before school). 

Digital reading...who knew that books would be so 'last century'? 

This was a free download one day.  I think from Word Among Us.  So, I downloaded it.  An interesting read.  An easy read.  The author takes a prayer from St. Alphonsus, (I think) and unpacks it.  It's a good prayer....things that God can't refuse to give us.

This was a free download, too.  From the digital department of the local library.  Best part - no overdue fees.  Have to get a little bit of contemporary culture in, I suppose, and Stephanie Plum can sometimes make me LOL! 

My hair is getting grayer.  As this lovely photograph taken by my dear second child vividly details....

I have a pain in my side.  My friend says it's that "thorn in my side".  For a while it hurt most when I breathed deeply, so it was just a nuisance more than anything.  I really don't know how I possibly injured it, and I wasn't sure if it was a pulled muscle or what.  Exercise didn't really bother it.  Yesterday, I woke up feeling pretty darn good.  Until I grabbed the 5 gallon bucket of chlorine tablets in the back of my car....oh my....whatever had healed - just completely unhealed, and it is painful today if I so much as shift from park to reverse in my car. 

I've done some minor putting away.  We have never totally unpacked from the move.  There are still containers and boxes.  I am going with the little-bit-every-day method.  This rosary has been sitting in a ziploc in my bathroom forever.  I got it almost put back together today.  I am missing one bead and a little bit of chain. 

I cleaned my bathtub and the mirrors and a countertop!  Yay!  We (the kids and I) have made progress in the very small computer room that was just a dumping ground for paperwork of any kind.  Paper clutter is killing me.  Any suggestions?

I have swam, and I have napped, and I have walked the dog in the neighborhood.  I have called my EAP to set up an appointment for me and my dear hubby.  Nervous about that, but all shall be well and all shall be well (Julian of Norwich). 

Yesterday I had a wonderful visit with a couple from my parish.  They have helped finance our annual altar server outings, and we have worked together on some service projects.  They are the age of my parents, and the wife had surgery in February.  It has been one complication after another, and she has been pretty much housebound ever since.  Her husband invited me to visit, and I took him up on the offer.  Next time I will try to bring Holy Communion.  I have never taken communion to the homebound before, and there were just too many logistical questions to work out on short notice. 

My pastor has taken off this week, and as far as I know, his mother continues to hang on.  Last Saturday he told us that only she and God know why she is still here, and he's not sure if God even knows at this point. 

And oh yeah....before I conclude my rambling....Catholic nerd that I am....I learned something today.  From a couple of other blogs.  Ember Days.  Apparently they were around very early in the Tradition of the church....probably as a way of taking pagan days of fasting and offering sacrifice and re-orienting them to the one, true God.  After Vatican II, they kind of fell between the cracks, it seems.  Basically, they were 3 days every season of fasting and partial abstinence from meat.  They are celebrated on a Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.  In the winter, they follow the Feast of St. Lucy (Dec 13), in the Spring, they follow Ash Wednesday (so they get kind of swallowed up by Lent).  Summer Ember Days follow Pentecost (that's us right now!) and the Fall celebration is the Wednesday, Friday and Saturday in the week after the Exaltation of the Cross (Sept 14).  The old way of remembering this was "Lucy, Ashes, Dove, Cross".   Another blog suggested that we be rebels and reclaim that part of our liturgical calendar.  Fast.  Pray.   Jesus, himself, sometimes took the opportunity to fast and pray.  Why not us? 

And so there, you have your Catholic Trivia of the day.  Have a great week!

in appreciation

My favorite day of the year,!  There are 1,728 hours until school starts again!  All kinds of limitless possibilities sitting out there on the horizon - just waiting to be grabbed!

It was a pretty good school year.  For the first time in many years - 13 or so - I did not have an assistant, thanks to budget cuts.  I managed OK with less time to plan, less help, more students, and more classes.  I'm not sure my students fared as well.  Ultimately they pay the price.  Today we heard that our school will have more teacher assistants in the fall!  I am cautiously excited, as is my assistant from the last several years, who was assigned to another class this year.  She helped other students, but she never really left my class.

For some reason that I do not understand - gift of God, perhaps - I have finished this year very unstressed.  Usually by the time the end of May rolls around, my shoulders are in knots, I am not sleeping well at night because I am afraid of forgetting something while I sleep, and I just don't even want to talk to people.  That didn't happen this year.  I still had all my end of the year stuff plus Honors night to plan, plus the issues from home, but no stress.  I walked through things as they came, and life was good!

I was even able to appreciate some other people this year.  Teachers love to be appreciated, and some of the things that I have saved for years have been thank-you notes.  They come so rarely - from parents or supervisors or administrators or students.  I still have one that my principal of several years ago wrote to me after an Honors Night.

Person #1 on my list of gratitude was my kids' bus driver.  I'm not even sure what his name is, but my kids love him.  When we moved to our new house, I knew by the diversity of surrounding neighborhoods, there was a good possibility that they would be two of very few white kids on the bus.  My husband was horrified at the idea that I would even entertain the thought of them being in such a situation.  As it turns out, they were the only white folks on the bus, but it has been just fine.  The bus is drama-free, the bus driver waits for us in the morning if he gets to the stop first, and my kids have appreciated his wisdom and outlook on life.  A quick note for him, and a gift card to Chik-Fil-A. 

People #2-6 on my list were my co-workers who helped me with Honors Night.  I wrote them notes, too, and bought each a gourmet chocolate bar.  Not expensive, but just a way to say thanks.  They appreciated being appreciated.

Person #7 would be my good priest.  He has been going through a lot lately, as his mother is "hanging on" and they are taking everything hour by hour, day by day.   He has missed a couple of Masses in the past 2 weekends, and we never know if there is going to be daily Mass in the morning when we get there or if he will have gotten "the call".  Since it was about time, I figured I would take advantage of confession while I could, and went yesterday.  I mentioned something about being angry and the language reflecting that, and I had to smile as he commented wryly, " it usually does". 

Dear hubby and I are both agreeable to counseling, but quite honestly, the whole idea of working through things isn't very appealing.  I'm afraid they will decide that I'm the one that is totally off in left field somewhere.  And so I said something about the fear of working through things.  Fear doesn't usually come from God.  I know the Holy Spirit speaks through this man.  With barely a thought, he pulled an example from what he is currently going through with his mom and siblings.  Apparently things have not been all sunshine and roses with his siblings through the years.  He said how much he had dreaded what he is now going through, but how awesome God's healing love had been in the past weeks.  Never be afraid of the healing love that Jesus wants to pour out, he tells me...bite the bullet and work through it!  He is always SO encouraging!

Person # 8 would be my principal.  He has his issues, but he is also kind and compassionate.  I had an observation back in November, I think.  It was such a train wreck that I never went in afterwards for a post-observation conference.  In the middle of my math lesson, with my principal sitting in the back of my room, I had kids asking for "call-home slips" and refusing to lift their heads off the desk.  The icing on the cake was when one of them - in his socks - got up and started to 409 his desk in the middle of a lesson on equivalent fractions.  The desk was dirty, after all.  Probably because he had written on it.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when it was all done.  I chose laughter.  This week, I had to finally sit with him and sign end-of-the-year paperwork and that observation.  He said that in spite of the fact that I had to constantly redirect attention, my teaching never stopped, and that it was a masterful job.  I thought it was so kind of him to see the glass as at least half-full. 

And so here we are with a post that I meant to be about the opportunities of summer, but ended up to be about gratitude.  What are you grateful for?  How can you show it?

dog days

What can I say?  School has started, and it is just pure-dee HOT! 

We all lack energy.  The heat doesn't help.  Yesterday evening, I came home, sat down in the rocker, and fell asleep. I didn't even have to recline.

The mornings are especially bad...soooo humid.  And by afternoon, it's a 100 or so.  My boys told me they announced a heat advisory at their school today...I guess that is for things like football practice.  How on earth can football in this weather be "fun"?

There seems little to blog about.  Some interesting little people at school, but it would be unprofessional to go there.

Some odd big people at school.  Ugh.  But I can't go there, either.

After my last post about wondering how I was going to get it all done, I heard that voice that told me that I don't walk alone.  What I get done, I will get done with His help.  

I was at the old house today.  I got out of the car to get the mail, but then I realized that I would be killed.  We lived on a highway. Our mailbox is one of the rural type deliveries.  They are resurfacing (widening?) the highway that runs in front of our [old] house.  They did the shoulders - only took about six months - and now they are doing the middle.  So traffic is rerouted to the shoulder.  Not sure quite how I will get my mail and live to tell about it.

See...reaching....deep for something to blog about.

I did run across something in a church bulletin that I thought was just lovely.  Maybe I can share that?  It was about the period of silence after communion. 

 "During this time of silent prayer the priest leads us into the third and last of the three ancient silences in the Mass, the silence when we reach out to be in communion with Jesus and with everyone to whom he leads us.  

You are now seated beside Jesus.

What is he saying to you?

What have you to say to him?

Is our Lord calling you to serve him in a special way...?

Is he inviting you to enjoy the vocation he has already given you...?

....Is he leading you to smeone whom you have hurt or who has hurt you?

You are now close to the saints and all your beloved dead; tell them of your love and receive theirs.

Listen to Jesus comfort you in your suffering.

See him reveal himself as the ultimate source of your joy.

Let him give you strength for your work.

Hear him answer your prayer.

[Mass in Slow Motion...Paul F. Ford]

so long, summer...

I had meetings three days last week....and the kids come on Monday.

Summer is officially over for us.  :-(

Last summer was a rich one, spiritually.  This one will forever be known as the Summer of the Move.  It was only across town.  Only 6 or 7 miles.  But from a house where we've lived forever (my husband lived there as a kid, and then off and on, until he ended up there for good in the late 1970's).  It's a house where we barely had room to turn around (or put up a Christmas tree) to a place where we have room to stretch.  But it has been a full time job - moving.  Dirty, hot, heavy, stressful.  And we are still not totally done...

But I digress....in honor of the end of summer, perhaps some pictures that did NOT make the blog are in order....

This is what the grass looked like in June.  We went a long time without rain.  

But there were some yummy things produced in the garden.  

Those red bell peppers (top right)...they were rather underwhelming.

The kids' "tree house".

It was one of the things that had to go in preparation of the move.

The fence, too.

It has been there for many, many years.  

Twenty, maybe.

Hurricane Gustave flattened it a few years ago. 

But we stood it back up, patched it, tied it together...

Too precarious to leave for a renter, it's gone now.

Someone came and hauled the sections away...to use again.

The single picture that I have of the moving chaos. 

It was just too horrible to photograph.

The collected, neglected junk of so many years.

A diversion from the chaos.

My parents, sister, and nephew visited.

Twice.

I live in a house that people can visit now!

Our annual altar server outing.

With our kind pastor and the majority of our faithful altar servers.

They told me I had to be in the picture this year.

I went with the flow.

The cake for my mother-in-law's 80th birthday.

Her name is Dolly.  

Oops.

This is how the younger teen spent the majority of his last week of summer vacation.

Swimmer's Ear kicked his ....

Two trips to the doctor's office, antibiotic ear drops, and oral anti-b's, and I think we're on the downhill side.

And that, boys and girls, is part of the story of my life.