Faith and Family

 We’ve been enjoying a few days of unusually warm Maine weather, which has been lovely for outside recess time! It has not been a lovely as teachers endeavor to teach a few more important things before school is wrapped up! However, this is the time of year where we indulge in a bit longer recess, more hands-on learning experiences, learning through writing letters outside with chalk or “Mother, May I?” while reviewing service words. We are getting there! Both the students and the teachers have started on a countdown to the end, and the Lord continues to give us grace and mercy. 

This past week I celebrated another birthday...each birthday is a gift from God and a reminder that He has a plan and purpose for my life. I spent the day teaching, covering lunch duty, and teaching music classes as we continue to prepare for our Patriotic program, and a staff meeting. I was blessed by so many sweet and simple gestures...a homemade note from a student; a friend, Hannah,  making me some mini cheesecakes and bringing some flowers; my friend, Bethany, giving me a beautiful plant, a few birthday cards from friends and family...it was a good day. Roger offered to take me out to dinner that evening, but by the time we got home, it was good to be home. We made plans to celebrate at a later time. Neither of us knows when that will happen, but the thought is there. Roger continues to be overwhelmed with work and school board responsibilities, but again, God continues to give grace. We continue to be in fervent prayer for whatever God has for us- it’s the waiting that’s hard! 

On Tuesday, my friend, Allison and I snuck away for lunch together. A few select restaurants have indoor seating now, so it was nice to be able to sit and chat for an hour. It’s amazing how fast time flies when it’s time spent with a dear friend. I’ve know Allison for almost five years now, and every year our friendship becomes dearer. She’s often the one that tells me “that’s a bad idea” or the one that comes up with a “simple” idea that we can do together and it morphs into a big project! I’m so thankful to have a friend to “do life” with here in Maine. We both attend the same church, and we both have students in the school. We both are passionate about several things in our lives, I’m just louder about it! :) 

Our last early-release day for the year was on Wednesday. My sister, Hannah, and her husband, Josh, invited us to come on their boat with them for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day in Maine, and it was a relaxing afternoon. If I’m not careful and intentional, I can easily become a work-alcoholic where I become controlled by my to-do list. But out on a boat in the afternoon sun leads it’s way to a relaxing atmosphere to enjoy time with family. Roger was working, but the boys had a great time fishing. Emma, Wyatt and Travis got in the lake...brrrr!! 

Because we had an early release day on Wednesday, I taught a quick music class on Thursday. We are getting to the nitty, gritty details of the program such as walking quietly, watching the teacher, re-doing small errors. Our school is currently without an administrator, (something to be praying about) but we had an applicant come and observe at the school on Thursday. This person is an amazing music teacher and has directed several big productions at area schools. And this person came to observe the music class! I was a little nervous as my degree is NOT in music, but it’s something that I’ve taught for the past four years. And I felt like the practice didn’t go as well as I would’ve liked, but oh well. Anyways, after the practice and the students were dismissed, this person came up to me and told me what a great job the 7/8 grade had done on their performance! “Moved to tears” were the words used as this person had observed the students working on practicing Patriotic music and speeches. I’m looking forward to having this program behind us, but oh so excited to see what God is going to do through the hard work of these students! 

Friday found us all excited to be wrapping up another week of school! Thank you, Jesus!  We have chapel on Friday mornings, and this morning we found out that the chapel speaker was not going to be able to make it for chapel. The school office found someone willing to fill in on short notice, but he wouldn’t need all the chapel time. Oh perfect! It was a golden opportunity for some whole school practice singing for the program! Another fellow teacher teaches the younger grades for music, so it provided an opportunity for students to perform for a live audience. While we missed our scheduled chapel speaker, I love how God works out so many details for us! In the afternoon, I helped with a beach cleanup that involved students in 1-8th grade. It was a great afternoon as the sun was shining, the students were happy to be out of class, and it provided a service opportunity. 

We have continued to stay at our friends house as we are house sitting for another few days. It’s been a good experience, but we will all be thankful to go home. But while we’ve been not sleeping at our house, we’ve continued to work on projects around our house. Roger and the boys have been working on some landscaping around the house, while I’ve been preparing to do some more painting. This time in the boys room! My parents are coming in a few days, so we’ve been extra busy as we anticipate that. I have a few projects that I need my dad’s help. The boys continue to mow at the neighbors every week, and that’s been a good job for them. 

We went to a work get together for Roger’s work in the evening as the whole family was invited. Things are never the same once someone passes away or leadership changes. It’s been a rough year, and last night was a reminder of how much we’ve missed Rogers boss. Hard on our children, harder on Roger. Life never stays the same, and as believers we know Who holds tomorrow. It’s easy to become anxious over what might happen or what might not happen, but we rest in the One who holds it all. What I really want our children to see through all of this is the faithfulness of God. Life isn’t fair, it’s not always easy, and changes are hard, but we can rest in the promises of a faithful, unchanging God. 

Almost...Almost!

 Trying to find a quiet or spare moment to write on the blog has been challenging at best, and when I do have a spare moment these days, my brain is going 500 directions! This week we have mid-quarter reports that need to be prepared, kindergarten screenings for next school year, pet-sitting for some friends of ours, Patriotic program practice, teaching gym class to some students, plus just the normal day to day activities in our family. But...we have only 20 days of school left! We are in the home stretch, and I think both the students and the teachers are feeling it! 

We’ve been pet sitting for some friends of ours, and while I miss my own bed, it’s been a good experience for the kids. The pond in their yard is an attraction for all our kids, and a lot of time is spent looking for frogs, turtles, and seeing who can fall in the most times in a day! It’s a little farther from school than our house, but we are making it all work. 

Sunday was Mother’s Day, and it was a blessing to be back with our church family. We went out for lunch after church, and then a quick stop at Lowe’s for a Mother’s Day present. Travis picked out my Mother’s Day present. A few weeks ago, I had seen a yeti cup that keeps your can cold. I had admired it because I like sparkling water and Diet Coke, but I’m always drinking it at room temperature by the time I finish it. I had mentioned it to the kids, and they decided to get it for Mother’s Day. Travis picked out the color of the cup, and it’s a beautiful teal color. He said, “I know you really like pink, and they had a pink cup there. But I know you like teal too, and if I get to use your cup, I’d rather it'd not be pink!” Alrighty then! I do enjoy the cup though! All our kids created cards for me too, and that was very special also. I love reading homemade cards. 

Last week was teacher appreciation week, and I found myself on both ends of the spectrum as parent and teacher! I worked with several moms in our parent group to help create some special events for our dear teachers. I ordered Amazon gift cards on behalf of the parent group and wrote out the thank you notes to our staff...didn’t write myself a note though! Tuesday the parent group handed out the teachers favorite candy bars, and I had my kindergarten class deliver those to the teachers. They really enjoyed that! Wednesday was a teacher’s luncheon. It was a special time for our teachers to enjoy lunch and visit together. Thursday was thankful Thursday with notes from the students to the teachers. And Friday we had coffee, fruit and yogurt for break time. My amazing friend, Bethany, coordinated some parents to help cover morning recess for the teachers. I made the teachers some blueberry muffins on Tuesday evening but I failed to tell my children that the muffins were not for them! Guess what? We did not have any blueberry muffins to take to the teachers on Wednesday morning! Instead we made more blueberry muffins on Wednesday evening and the kids took some to their teachers on Thursday.  Roger came to help out with playground recess on Friday as well handle some matters with the school board. He’s been working about three full time jobs with his regular job, the school board, and our family, as well as helping with teen group on Sunday nights.  We are waiting patiently...actually, I’m not waiting patiently, but I’m trying...as we continue to wait on God’s perfect timing.  

Last Sunday afternoon, the neighbors barn burned down. It was a fairly large fire, and we are thankful for the Lord’s protection. The family and pets are all safe, but it was quite the afternoon of excitement. Garett and Chandler have been hired by our neighbor to mow the grass once a week, so they started that job last week. They are very excited about their job, and the neighbor man told them that he was impressed with the boys mowing skills. He didn’t think that they’d do as good of a job as they did. Ha! I remember when Garett was about eight years old. I was trying to back my dads zero turn lawn mower out of the garage, and it wasn’t going well. Garett says, “Mom, I can do this. I’ve helped Papa (my dad) lots of times”. So I let him get on, and he proceeded to back it out carefully and correctly. Since then, I’ve never gotten on a riding lawn mower again as the boys just do it all. Now if it’s a push mower, I’ll do that because that’s great exercise! 

As with every year, we are faced with changes and challenges in our little Christian school also. It can sometimes be a bit overwhelming, but I am so thankful to rest in the promise that God goes before and beside us. Our administrator had her baby last week, and I snuck away from school today to go see the baby. Travis was having a very rough morning today and told me that he wanted to be done with school and that he didn’t like it at all. We chatted for a bit, and he told me that he just feels like he can’t get away from the difficult people in his class. I’ve really been trying to do better lately about LISTENING to my children instead of offering them a quick reply. I also recognize that I am WAY better about listening in the morning than I am in the evening! Anyways, I told Travis that I would take him with me to see the baby, but he would have to come back to school as I have kindergarten screenings. He was so excited about the opportunity, and he told me that he’d love to see the baby but he couldn’t hold the baby. I said yes, well the baby is really little. He said “That’s not it, mom. We boys had a playoff golf tournament to see who would get to hold the baby first, and I didn’t win.” This baby is so loved by our children already! It cracks me up that they created a way to see who would get to hold the baby first! 

While the week has been long, there is always something to rejoice in every day. I’m thankful for my salvation, my family, my spouse, my kindergarten class, our church and school. We are blessed.