"The light of the eyes rejoices the heart, and good news refreshes the bones." -Prov. 15:30
I want to start out this post by congratulating Kim on being recognized as top realtor of the month! We rejoice with you and in God's provision! And we miss you (but we're so glad we got to have some Backyard Burger with you over Christmast)!! :) Praise the Lord!
Secondly, today is Grandpa's funeral. Mom and Dad are out there, as well as Uncle Adolfo, Auntie Laine, Sarah, Uncle Andy, Aunt Loreen, Colleen, Amanda & Lee, Uncle Mickey, Aunt Tera, Anne, James, Bob, and Janella. I'm sad my brothers and I were not able to fly out, but I am so thankful for the family who is there with Grandma to celebrate Grandpa's life today. Family is such a blessing, and I am reminded over and over of what a blessing and gift I have in the Godly heritage of the family to which I belong.
This weekend is kind of busy, but I do not think it will be as marathon sprint-like as last weekend. Today is Sammy's class; I think we're halfway through the course! We need to take a walk with her this afternoon too, and keep working on this "loose leash" walking thing. Tomorrow is an all-church Valentine's party. I am now part of the women's fellowship team, who have planned the event. I am in charge of the ice-breaker type of activity. I have some ideas. I need to call the hostess and see what she has decided on for entertainment. And then we might need to make some copies or something depending on what I decide for us to do.
But the house is clean, dishes are washed, laundry is folded and put away, so it will not be a big house weekend. Although, I think Matt is going to put the drawers on the armoire I built so we can start arranging the "man room." Maybe we'll move the entertainment center and bed into that room and get it set up some. The replacement for my broken computer armoire piece has been shipped. So, that will be my next project soon!
Last night, I wanted to get out of the house (shocking, I know!), so we went to Lowe's and Walmart (the only things still open here, even on a Friday night, when Matt works until 7 and dinner's ready at 8). At Lowe's we priced some motion-detector floodlights for the back corners of the house. We also visited the medicine cabinet I would like to install in our bathroom and looked at lighting. We'd like to replace the fluorescent ballasts in the kitchen with something a little more contemporary. Lastly, we looked at doors. Matt is succumbing to my requests for white interior doors. :) All those things aside, it is really nice to have the house presentable and start having people over. When we got the house, we said over and over that we really want it to be a place of hospitality. I am excited that we are beginning to use it that way. We've had some of Matt's coworkers over and we're signed up for a new "adopt-a-college student" program at church. I am really excited about that, because the church my family attended in Charlottesville had something very similar. Even though I was 7 or 8 at the time, I still remember the two Jennifers my family "adopted". :) We just want to be a blessing!
At Walmart we acquired some dog food (Sammy was glad about that), and we also looked at flower bulbs. Last year I grew some calla lilies in a little pot that I bought. This year, I'm going to try some other lilies, and our house "came" with two stone pots near the front door, so we are going to try gladiola in those, I believe. We tried to pick some perennial bulbs/roots. And I got one seed packet of a perennial flower.... although I don't recall right now what it was. Something pretty. :) Hopefully there will be pictures to come.
Other than that, we are working away! Matt had his yearly review and felt really good about the outcome. We are so thankful for the Lord's provision of his job and his great coworkers! The review included a raise, which was a very nice affirmation for Matt, and we are excited to give more than we could have without the raise to our church's capital stewardship program to build! I had my second observation of the year (we have 2 formal observations when we're still an annual employee--i.e. no tenure, etc.). It was during reading, and I felt good about it. I received a very positive note on my desk when the administrator left, though I have yet to meet with him. I think we'll go through the evaluation on Monday after school, but I was very thankful for some immediate positive feedback, so I'm not stewing over it all weekend. :)
Lastly, I've lost two students from my class in the last week. Because this blog can be found by searching for my name (through Brad and Joy's blogs), I do have to be extra careful about what I write. But please be praying! Neither student is gone under particularly "easy" circumstances. One is gone under very difficult circumstances (in other words, when I found out why I called Matt and Mom and cried to both of them). It makes my stomach hurt. Thankfully, I will be able to write that student a letter, as I didn't get to say goodbye and just underscore his/her strengths. The other student's last day was yesterday. Because I knew it was his/her last day, I was able to write a note to the student, give the student a piece of writing he/she had worked really hard on, and let the student pick one last thing from my treasure box. Then, at the end of the day, the other students who wanted to got to say something to the student who is leaving, and I got to say something affirming to him/her in front of the whole class. I am SO thankful that even though this second student is leaving, I was able to celebrate him/her before he/she left. I will be down to 19 students on Monday.
I guess that's about it for us right now. Oh, my class does take FCAT in 2 weeks (only 8 school days though, with President's Day weekend), so prayers for that are appreciated as well. :) It's definitely crunch time, as far as that is concerned.
Congratulations again to Kim. What a blessing to have such sweet a friend with whom we celebrate!
Love,
Becca
Secondly, today is Grandpa's funeral. Mom and Dad are out there, as well as Uncle Adolfo, Auntie Laine, Sarah, Uncle Andy, Aunt Loreen, Colleen, Amanda & Lee, Uncle Mickey, Aunt Tera, Anne, James, Bob, and Janella. I'm sad my brothers and I were not able to fly out, but I am so thankful for the family who is there with Grandma to celebrate Grandpa's life today. Family is such a blessing, and I am reminded over and over of what a blessing and gift I have in the Godly heritage of the family to which I belong.
This weekend is kind of busy, but I do not think it will be as marathon sprint-like as last weekend. Today is Sammy's class; I think we're halfway through the course! We need to take a walk with her this afternoon too, and keep working on this "loose leash" walking thing. Tomorrow is an all-church Valentine's party. I am now part of the women's fellowship team, who have planned the event. I am in charge of the ice-breaker type of activity. I have some ideas. I need to call the hostess and see what she has decided on for entertainment. And then we might need to make some copies or something depending on what I decide for us to do.
But the house is clean, dishes are washed, laundry is folded and put away, so it will not be a big house weekend. Although, I think Matt is going to put the drawers on the armoire I built so we can start arranging the "man room." Maybe we'll move the entertainment center and bed into that room and get it set up some. The replacement for my broken computer armoire piece has been shipped. So, that will be my next project soon!
Last night, I wanted to get out of the house (shocking, I know!), so we went to Lowe's and Walmart (the only things still open here, even on a Friday night, when Matt works until 7 and dinner's ready at 8). At Lowe's we priced some motion-detector floodlights for the back corners of the house. We also visited the medicine cabinet I would like to install in our bathroom and looked at lighting. We'd like to replace the fluorescent ballasts in the kitchen with something a little more contemporary. Lastly, we looked at doors. Matt is succumbing to my requests for white interior doors. :) All those things aside, it is really nice to have the house presentable and start having people over. When we got the house, we said over and over that we really want it to be a place of hospitality. I am excited that we are beginning to use it that way. We've had some of Matt's coworkers over and we're signed up for a new "adopt-a-college student" program at church. I am really excited about that, because the church my family attended in Charlottesville had something very similar. Even though I was 7 or 8 at the time, I still remember the two Jennifers my family "adopted". :) We just want to be a blessing!
At Walmart we acquired some dog food (Sammy was glad about that), and we also looked at flower bulbs. Last year I grew some calla lilies in a little pot that I bought. This year, I'm going to try some other lilies, and our house "came" with two stone pots near the front door, so we are going to try gladiola in those, I believe. We tried to pick some perennial bulbs/roots. And I got one seed packet of a perennial flower.... although I don't recall right now what it was. Something pretty. :) Hopefully there will be pictures to come.
Other than that, we are working away! Matt had his yearly review and felt really good about the outcome. We are so thankful for the Lord's provision of his job and his great coworkers! The review included a raise, which was a very nice affirmation for Matt, and we are excited to give more than we could have without the raise to our church's capital stewardship program to build! I had my second observation of the year (we have 2 formal observations when we're still an annual employee--i.e. no tenure, etc.). It was during reading, and I felt good about it. I received a very positive note on my desk when the administrator left, though I have yet to meet with him. I think we'll go through the evaluation on Monday after school, but I was very thankful for some immediate positive feedback, so I'm not stewing over it all weekend. :)
Lastly, I've lost two students from my class in the last week. Because this blog can be found by searching for my name (through Brad and Joy's blogs), I do have to be extra careful about what I write. But please be praying! Neither student is gone under particularly "easy" circumstances. One is gone under very difficult circumstances (in other words, when I found out why I called Matt and Mom and cried to both of them). It makes my stomach hurt. Thankfully, I will be able to write that student a letter, as I didn't get to say goodbye and just underscore his/her strengths. The other student's last day was yesterday. Because I knew it was his/her last day, I was able to write a note to the student, give the student a piece of writing he/she had worked really hard on, and let the student pick one last thing from my treasure box. Then, at the end of the day, the other students who wanted to got to say something to the student who is leaving, and I got to say something affirming to him/her in front of the whole class. I am SO thankful that even though this second student is leaving, I was able to celebrate him/her before he/she left. I will be down to 19 students on Monday.
I guess that's about it for us right now. Oh, my class does take FCAT in 2 weeks (only 8 school days though, with President's Day weekend), so prayers for that are appreciated as well. :) It's definitely crunch time, as far as that is concerned.
Congratulations again to Kim. What a blessing to have such sweet a friend with whom we celebrate!
Love,
Becca
1 comments:
What a full but fun weekend you have planned!!! Congratulations to Kim. And I applaud you, B. You are really an amazing teacher to go through so much after a student leaves. I don't see how any one could have anything negative to say about you at all, let alone as a teacher. You are a sheer blessing to those kids.
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