Highs and Lows of the Week

Sorry for the long absence, I just haven't felt "drawn to blog" this week, nothing in and of itself overwhelmingly worthwhile to make a post about. But, if you add it all up, there were some noteworthy moments...both in the high and low departments.

HIGHS:

- Most certainly Brayden's acceptance as a "apprentice counselor" out at Harlow. I later found out there were only 20-25 positions, but over 50 applicants. And, to add to the fun, grand inspiration was involved in coming up with the perfect camp names for both Brayden and Traig: Phineas and Ferb! Brayden will be Phineas and Traig, Ferb. Brayden is definitely the shorter, more talkative one - and Traig is Mr. Fix It, taller, and a little more serious. As we all LOVE that show, and it is super relevant to the younger kids - we thought it was perfect.

- Teaching math to the fifth grade class that I've had numerous times. The teacher encouraged me to come up with my own lesson - so I brought in about 10 cereal boxes for them to measure and determine the volume of - and then had them "comparison shop" by determining a unit price based on the volume and dividing it into the price of the cereal. It was fun to engage some of those "educator muscles" again....

- Tuesday night. I feel like there's been a bit of a spark missing from our recent gatherings with our ladies and this Tuesday it was back in full form. The only bummer was that Stephie wasn't there. I went to bed that night feeling so thankful and full of gratitude for those ladies.

- Lori Salierno. I'm sure, somewhere in the midst of my blog post archives I've mentioned this lady before, but she is worthy to be mentioned again. She is AMAZING and has been the single most influential person to me in terms of who I aspire to be in my Christian walk. If you go to I-Tunes Store and type in her name, you'll come to a page with 6 different podcasts from when she's done "chapel" at various schools. On Tuesday night, we listened to #6 - regarding God's will for your life. However, on Tuesday, I listened to a couple of others as well, trying to decide which one to play for the group. "Getting Out of Your Spiritual Rut" and the podcast at George Fox were the other two I listened to. The thing about Lori is she is so passionate, so easy/fun to listen to - and she imprints stories into your mind that you will remember for decades (and I've used numerous times when giving my own talks). I was in the best mood all of Tuesday afternoon, just because of Lori.

- SPRING BREAK! It's already begun for Brayden who has today off due to his trimester grading schedule. Mikayla still has to get through today.

LOWS:

- A very nasty headache that I'm dealing with right now. I think it might mean canceling a date with Lisa and Steph H. for this morning as I'm pretty certain an icepack and a bed are on the docket. Yuck.

- A certain third grader's spelling list for this week. It has resulted in tears both last night and this morning. I'm frustrated she didn't start earlier in working with them, but it's hard to not be a little overwhelmed myself when I look at her list....mind you, this is THIRD grade. I'm all about stretching kids (she's in the highest spelling group), but I feel like these words are just a tad above and beyond what should be expected of her. There are 20 words this week, but a sampling of what is on her list would be: EMBARRASS, APPROXIMATELY, GRAFFITI, MAYONNAISE, ABBREVIATION (which was even spelled wrong on the list), CHANDELIER, LIEUTENANT (which I just had to use spell check to determine). Ugh.....

- The fact that the weight goes on a lot faster and easier than it goes off....enough said. =(

- The rain. We are already over four inches of rain for March. Much of this week has been spent in a downpour. Hopefully, this next week will at least offer breaks from the rain long enough for the kids at Harlow to get outside a little bit....

That's about it, and Mikayla needs a ride to school. How's your week been?