Will and Amy

I have been fighting a cold for a few days now, which last night developed into a stomach thing, and nothing sounds better to me than a Route 44 Diet Ocean Water from Sonic. This is partly fueled by watching TV this week (I'm so glad my shows have started up!) and watching national TV broadcasts of football games - Sonic likes to advertise! However, like many, many other things, we don't have a Sonic.




So, because I don't feel very well, and whining always helps, here's a list of restaurants that we don't have here that I so, so wish we did...

-Sonic
-Chick-fil-a
-Cheddar's
-Chili's (which I used to get so sick of - the only one here is in the airport)
-any real Mexican food (at a place where I can sit down - we do have pretty good Mexican food, but it's from a trailer that parks in various lots around town) - I'd take an El Chico or On the Border, too...we got nothin'.
-Wings 'n More
-Freebirds (I'd even take a Chipotle if it was close)

I was going to go on to add things like "nice people" and "smiling faces" and "sunny skies" but I've reached my whine limit. In order to lift my spirits, I might head to the KOHL'S which opens today. Finally.

So all you down South, enjoy a Sonic drink for me. And know I'm green with envy (and a bit of a stomach bug).

She's a huntin' dog...

I remember watching the news...

...seeing the looks on their faces when they finally realized that the fire wasn't just a fire.

...that the small plane (probably a personal jet) wasn't a small plane, but was an airliner.

...and finally that it was happening again as we all watched.

Watching it unfold is something none of us will ever, can ever, forget. Horror. Terror. Exactly what was intended by those actions. But, we live free - so free, in fact, that today when I talked to my students about the significance of the day, one said "Oh, so that's why the date looks familiar." We're so free that parents don't have to talk to their kids about what happened that day six years ago. We don't have to remember. We don't have to act. But we do remember and we do act...for the very reason that we are free. Thank God for that.

Thank you for your prayers! The meeting went just about as expected - the principal ended up attending, and it was so nice to have his support. Pretty much nothing was resolved with the one (uncooperative) teacher. However, the other teacher, who is pretty shy, has opened up and finally spoke her mind today. She definitely wants to do a good job, and she and I are going to teach cooperatively - I'll teaching Reading/Writing to my class and hers, and she'll teach Science/Social Studies to both of our classes (she has taught S/SS block to sixth graders, and she is certified in Biology as well). We'll teach our own classes Math - this will work out well because we have three pretty even blocks of teaching time in our day. I think it will be best for us and our kids - we'll have fewer preps and our kids will being taught by teachers who specialize in the subjects we're teaching. The principal not only agreed to this, but was impressed at our willingness to adapt to this situation (which would be so much better if all three of us were doing it - we'd have a teacher for each subject). I'm excited to get started and see where it leads.

Open House was tonight and I met about two-thirds of my class. I have some truly precious kids and I am ready to get the year underway. However, right now I'm exhausted after working an 11-hour day, which started with shaky nerves and a confrontational meeting.

But before I go, here's a praise God moment for you - I have told some of you about the lady who also interviewed for the job that I got. She's an awesome Christian woman, her daughter and son-in-law attend Dallas Theological Seminary, and she was always one of the most pleasant people to be around at this school (she worked as an aide there for five years). It was bittersweet when I got the job, because it meant that she didn't. To make a long story short, she was told she could have the Kindergarten job that opened up a few weeks ago, but only if they got enough kids. They were six short as of Friday when she interviewed (and she came by my room to ask me to pray for God to bring at least six more kids in K to our school, mere days before school started). They were still one short this afternoon, just two hours shy of our Open House. And, because God is good and gracious, they are now over the numbers needed and she 100% has a job! I am so relieved to know she will be at my school permanently, and I'll have a prayer partner and a friend.

Prayers needed...

I'm about to go to work for our first official grade level meeting. We have had several informal ones that were disastrous - all culminating this weekend with a series of emails between myself and one of the other sixth grade teachers (who is very dominant). It was not good. Nothing I say or suggest is well received, and she hates the third teacher on our team - she went so far as to call her a "crappy teacher" in an email to me. I think she is trying to form an alliance with me against the other teacher (a la Survivor), but she's trying to bully me into it. So, prayers needed. Thanks!