In Worry

This is my mantra right now. 

I look for the door he will open,
I prepare the best I can,
I serve with my very best effort in each day here and now. 

And I trust in His wisdom that he has a plan for me and my house.

Perspective

I have been working to be calm and trusting about our whole house journey, but in the dark at night when I am awake I am a bundle of excited fear.  Some days that fear sneaks into the day and taints the joy of my day.  Yesterday was tainted.  I walked around with anxiety like Pigpen's dust cloud.

Today the cloud dissipated somewhat I as pray and am trying to let go of worry about tomorrow and hold onto my faith that God's plan is good.

Then I got home today to hear that both my sisters have been evacuated from their homes as the spring thaw and massive rain has caused severe flooding in their whole community.  My own little anxiety was completely washed away with compassion and concern for them.

They have sweated over thousands of hours of DIY work.  They have crafted what were pretty dumpy houses when they purchased them into warm, welcoming homes.  And both those homes are threatened by this crazy, erratic spring.  Their homes have been havens of welcome to me, my family, and their neighbours for years.  They are priceless far beyond their real estate value.

I ask that you keep the community of Huntsville in your prayers, and the residents of Rivercove, who are waiting for the floodwaters to crest and subside so they can go home and start to rebuild.

To my dear sisters, you are in our prayers constantly.  We wish we could be there to pitch in with repairs and clean up (even with our completely virgin DIY skills).

Sweet Success

No bones about it, math is hard.  Yesterday my class was really  convinced that not only is it hard, it is impossible to understand.

We were trying to learn to multiply 4x32 in our heads by breaking the 32 into the tens (30) and the ones (2) like so... 4x32 = 4x30 + 4x2 = 120 + 8 = 128.  It just wasn't working.  They were frustrated with trying to break the larger numbers into manageable pieces.  I was unsure how to break the steps down into chewable bits.

So we took a step back and left the lesson for a day.  

Percolation ensued while they slept.

Today math was hard, but not anywhere near impossible.  After an hour of solid hard work and serious enough thinking to cause little brow-furrows on several students, they got it.  The looks on their faces when they realized that they had actively engaged a challenging task and mastered it by their own effort was priceless.  They actually felt the sweetness of success!

I wanted to stop and dance on the desktops, I was so proud of them.

More importantly, they learned that success after hard work is something that feels really good.  

And did that ever feel good for all of us.

Overcast

We woke up to grey skies and two inches more snow. Cloudy spirits quickly ensued.

At 6AM it was falling in the kind of big, fluffy flakes that I love in November and December.  It made for a pretty morning walk with the puppy.  And we saw an otter.  Bright spot.

The snow brought with it another unexpected delight; the first (half) snow day of the school year.  The announcement came on over the PA as we were eating lunch.  Everyone was being sent home due to inclement weather.  Bright spot.

Then the snow became a playground for a little boy freed from the constraints of his desk and classroom.  The wet spring snow makes the best sliding hill, slick and fast.  He came in soaked through and smiling from ear to ear.  A ray of sunshine.

And so I can relax knowing that spring is inevitable and that even a long, lingering winter can be filled with joy right through its end. 

Loose Tooth

She still eats puppy chow.  She wants to rough-house and play all day long except when she collapses in exhaustion after a session of play.  And she is terrified to walk beyond the end of the drive without Frank along.  She is still very much a puppy in my eyes.

But the puppy is really not a puppy anymore. After dinner while we were cleaning up the kitchen tonight we found a tooth on the floor.  Upon inspection it was clearly not one of the Sprouts'.  Astrid is loosing her baby teeth!

And she has her important appointment with the vet in two weeks.  Fingers crossed that she doesn't go into heat before then.

The Way to My Heart

On Tuesday morning LK arrived in my classroom with a box that had come in the mail.  I was confused because we have not been spending anything not necessary (trying to sock away every extra penny into the down payment fund).  Neither of us is spending on ourselves or our classrooms, so why the box?

"What is this?"

Pause.  Silence.  Smile.

"A present?"

Smile.  Nod.

And off he goes.

My students were all milling about, waiting for the recess bell to go and they wanted me to open it right there.  Um, no.  I had no idea what it was.  And that would be inappropriate.

So I waited a whole two minutes until they were busy elsewhere and opened it quietly behind my desk.  Two minutes is a long time to wait for a surprise you didn't even know about. Try it and see for yourself.

Shoes.

Sweet bliss. 

As we have not been spending, I have been experiencing a few twinges of new shoe withdrawal in the past month or two.  Nothing serious, I totally have a handle on it (uh, huh, right).  Just little twinges.  I am sure nobody even notices the twitches.

He hunted down a pair that I pinned a few weeks ago and ordered them. 

They fit perfectly.

See?

Easter Weekend

Two people in our family fall decidedly on the extrovert side of the I-E scale.  Two people fall decidedly on the introvert side.  That can cause a little friction when we are making plans for holidays.  In our family history it has caused some significant friction between my spouse and I (as we have quite different needs for social interaction). 

For the most part we have found strategies that work for us to balance everyone in the family and make sure that our needs are all met.  Sometimes, though, we get a little off balance.

This year at Christmas we were way off balance, and didn't even realize it until it all hit the fan.  Not nearly enough time for the introverts.  It wasn't pretty, people.

This year at March Break we did better, but were still not in balance.  Not enough time for the extroverts.  Not any prettier than Christmas.

I think that this weekend we hit a good blend.  The extroverts had time to be with people and busy with activities.  The introverts had time for quiet and refreshing their energy. 

I hope that we are all refreshed for another stretch of school and work.