A Prayer Walk

I love to go on walks.

I don't think about walking as exercise because its just so darn enjoyable.  Walking in the woods, walking in a city, walking the dog, walking with friends, walking with music, walking with an audio book, walking on a cool morning or in the heat of the day, I LOVE walking.

This past weekend I took a different kind of walk than my usual talking on the phone or listening to music walk.  This past weekend, I was upset, and I took a prayer walk.

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 This past weekend, I was feeling upset, overwhelmed, angry, discouraged, blind-sided, etc.  I knew I needed to take all of my hurt before God and if I stayed home, on my knees, I was going to cry and cry and cry -- it was just one of those days, and one of those situations.

I didn't want to cry and cry and cry, but I knew I had to take my feelings before the Lord.

On a prayer walk, my heart rate increases, and I get out-of-breath, like when I cry, but I don't have the breath or the energy to cry, because I'm working up a sweat.  I find the same release through walking as I would get crying, but I feel much better walking than I do crying.

And... since my walk is 3 miles (with Lloyd), a beautiful thing happens during that hour walk.

Lloyd and I were not half way through our route when I had all my pain and discouragement off my chest, and my heart began to change.  I began to thank God for his challenges.  I thanked Him for the chance to face this challenge with my husband.  I thanked Him for the time to correct the situation.  I thanked Him for standing with us in this situation and leading us through the days to come.

As I thanked Him, near the middle of my walk, I really was grateful for the challenge ahead.  I wasn't just offering empty thanks, but I really had a new perspective on this, previously upsetting, situation.

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By the time I got home, I was pretty excited to see what the upcoming weeks would bring and how God was going to lead Hubby and me through this challenge.

When I'm upset, I need to remember how beautiful a Prayer Walk is.

Word-Filled Wednesday: Romans 8:28

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28

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This is my prayer today for all who read this.
What a beautiful verse to focus on all day.

Treasuring the Present: Late August

Today, I want to take a minute to treasure Late August.

Late August has never been my favorite time of the year, but today, I really want to treasure this unique middle ground between summer and autumn.  Late August is still summer, but here in Colorado, the kiddos are back in school and teachers are back to work so its not really summer anymore.

Today, I noticed some beauty of late August:

• Beautiful afternoon walks with my puppy -- the days will be getting shorter soon, but in late August, afternoons are still hot and summery

Lloyd in the evening sunlight

• Michigan football season is JUST around the corner -- excitement and anticipation is at an ALL-TIME high, and the entire season is still ahead of us

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• Beginning of the school year dramas and successes -- Hubby and I are into the full swing of teaching, but the challenges that we face are beginning-of-the-year challenges... the real challenges, the burn-out are all ahead.  We are fresh and excited for another school year

My handsome hubby off to his first day of school!

• Flowers still in bloom

This picture really doesn't do these blossoms justice

• We have had our puppy 10 months -- and every day he and Lexie tolerate each other better than the day before

She got closer, but I wasn't fast enough with the camera

• The hope and optimism that by September we will have a routine with work and students... and maybe I won't back my husband a sandwich with cheese paper in it, like I did yesterday morning :-(

Paper = Healthy, right?

What is your favorite thing about late August?

Prayers for a New School Year

Dear Lord,

Today begins a new school year for my husband's district, and several of my districts.  By the end of the week, all of my districts will be back in session.  Thank you for a new school year.

Thank you for the children at each and every school where my husband and I teach.  Thank you for the students we will see every day and get to know very well, and thank you for the students who we will go through the entire year never meeting.  Thank you for hand-picking each individual student at every school.

Thank you for the teachers with whom my husband and I get to work.  Thank you for teachers who have taught many years, from whom we have so much to learn, and thank you for new teachers with new ideas and fresh, optimistic outlooks.  Thank you for the team of teachers with whom my husband works closely and please create in them a wonderful sense of support and teamwork.  Thank you for the teachers with whom I get to work this year, and please help us to find patterns that work for us, and help us maintain strong lines of communication despite my traveling so much.

Lord, I pray for the students starting a new school today.  I pray for strong, solid friendships to be discovered and created.  I pray for students to minister to students this year and I pray for the students who will come to know You this year.  I pray against cliches, bullying, gangs, drugs, bitterness, and discouragement.  I pray for teachers and parents to use their influence to strengthen and encourage students this year.

I pray with expectancy for all the great friendships that will be made, teams that will be formed, hobbies that will be found, subjects that will inspire, and accomplishments that will be delighted in.  I pray for the students getting braces, glasses, new haircuts, new sneakers, contacts, and pierced ears.  I pray that students will learn quickly that beauty is an inner-quality.

I pray for the challenges ahead, for there will be challenges, but I pray that the students and teachers will face them with a positive attitude.  I pray that students and teachers will rejoice in the opportunity to learn instead of groan at the requirement to learn.

I pray for parents as they send their most precious children out into another school year -- or maybe a first school year.  I pray comfort for the parents and great comforting words to speak to their child.  I pray that parents will tell their children how much they will get to learn this year, and how smart they are for working so hard and learning so much.  I pray over homework time in each of their houses, and I pray that it would not be a nightly struggle.  I pray for a spirit of helpfulness and encouragement over houses that have previously held feelings of anger and frustration.

I pray for collaboration between parents and teachers, and teachers and teachers, and teachers and administrators, and parents and administrators.  I pray for ears to listen before reacting, for all parties.  I pray that students will come to see their parents and their teachers are on the same team -- we all want engaged, happy, hard-working students who are challenged and excited about learning.

Lord, Thank you that You are everywhere.
The United States government doesn't have to recognize Your presence in schools -- You are there.  The students do not have to pray at the start of each day for You to lovingly watch over every interaction and conversation they will have each and every day -- You are there.  The teachers don't have to be wearing a cross around their necks for you to be present in their classroom -- You are there.
You created every human being in each and every school.  You know the number of hairs on every student and teacher's heads.  You hear every whispered plea and desperate prayer from every mouth and every heart.

Lord, as teachers, my husband and I have such a long list of things we are hoping and planning to teach our students this year.  Father, please let this be a year they learn more about You.  However You can reach them this year, through friends, family, circumstances, music, stories, examples... Their relationship with You is the only Eternal lesson there is.  Let this be the year so many students, teachers, parents come to know You and Your beautiful sacrifice for them.

Happy Birthday, Momma!

I absolutely LOVE my mom!

She is truly my best friend in the world, and I cannot imagine my life without her.  Here are a few (very few) of the reasons I love my momma:

• We talk on the phone almost every day... it is a very rare day that we don't talk (Thank you, Lord for cell phones, and free mobile-to-mobile minutes)
•  She knows how to get me out of a bad mood
• She is my shoulder to cry on
• She is my ear to complain to
• She is a vault of information - when I tell her a secret, she is good at keeping it a secret
• She's a great cook and baker
• She never takes a day off -- her full-time job is wife and mother, and she never takes a day off -- the vacation time she has stored up has to be nearing a decade-worth of vacation
• She is full of wisdom
• She is great at giving advice
• She is great at listening when I don't want advice
• She and I have the same sense of humor
• We understand each other
• We enjoy of the same movies
• We share book recommendations
• We both cry at the drop of a hat
• We have both experienced heartache, heart break, brokenness... which is a big reason we both cry at the drop of a hat
• She is such a strong woman of faith
• She is a prayer warrior
• We share a love of junk-food (for better or worse)
• She is a wonderful animal grammy

For all her wonderful qualities, she has a hard time taking a good picture.  :-D  She takes a great picture when she's not thinking about it, but when she's told "SMILE, I'm taking your picture", the result is not great.  :-D

Fortunately, beauty is not what a camera captures, beauty is captured through action, word, lifestyle, service, body, and heart.  And my mom is one of the most beautiful women I have ever met.

I've reached into the archives and tried to find some pictures that capture mom's beauty over the years:

 Happy Birthday, to the best Momma in the world!

Rescuing Missy

Sometimes I hear a story or I watch a news report and I can't get the story out of my head.  Such is the case for me regarding a news broadcast I heard nearly a week ago about a German Shepherd named Missy who was rescued off a 14,000 foot high mountain in Colorado.

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An owner and his German Shepherd, Missy, hiked a 14,000 foot high mountain (commonly called a "14er") together and apparently the weather took a turn for the worse when they were near the top (which frequently happens atop 14ers).  Missy had sustained injuries to her paws along the hike and the owner apparently couldn't carry her down... so he left her on the mountain.

All of the above, I can understand.  Hubby and my wonderful pup is nearly 70lbs, and I would have a hard time carrying him across a level meadow let alone down a treacherous 14,000 foot mountain.

But then, after leaving Missy at the summit of the mountain, the owner "assumed the dog died" and didn't go back to get her.

I have no understanding of that above statement.  I typed the statement, I heard the statement reported on the news, but I still just stare at it in disbelief.  I do not understand those words.

Other hikers eventually came upon Missy... they had to leave her at the top too, but they recruited help to go back and attempted to rescue her.  EIGHT DAYS after being abandoned by her owner, seven hikers eventually went after Missy hoping to find her alive and hoping to be able to get her down the mountain safely.  She was very weak, extremely dehydrated, and her paws were still injured, but she was alive.  I wish I could hug this dog for myself because I'm so overcome with emotion when I think of her on that mountain alone for eight days and nights and then, finally, rescued.

Below is the full news story that I still just can't get out of my head.  I understand an unfortunate situation where you have to leave a dog behind.  I do not understand not going back the next day to get her, look for her, retrieve her remains, find her.



I feel such a strong responsibility to my animals and cannot understand abandoning them for anything.  Thank you, Lord, for entrusting us with the care of your amazing and beautiful creatures.  Please teach us to be worthy of their affection and unconditional love.

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 Seven strangers went after an abandoned dog, up and down a mountain and through a snowstorm.  The Bible promises that the Lord leaves 99 sheep in order to find the 1 that wandered away.  When He finds that one missing sheep, He hoists the lamb onto His shoulders and calls his friends to come celebrate with Him.

If our human love is capable of this kind of rescue on behalf of a dog, imagine the Heroic rescues God completes every day through His love on behalf of his children?!?!

Have You Ever Wondered What I Do?

Yesterday, I attended an all-staff workshop with all of my colleagues.  As I've alluded in the past, I travel a lot in my job, and so do my colleagues.  The organization for which I work does not have an easy task managing their staff between two offices and across ten school districts.  We communicate via phone and email and rarely talk face-to-face.  Days like yesterday are enjoyable because we're all in one place, once, to start the year.

As a part of the workshop yesterday, each department was asked to write a description of what they do to possibly be put into an annual report to share with the school districts we serve.  This will help the districts know exactly what they are getting through all of our collective services.

The Vision Team spent an hour creating a document explaining what we do, and I was really pleased with the result.  I think it is comprehensive, but not over-informative, and accurate, but not overly-complicated.

When we finished, I jokingly said to one of my vision colleagues, "I might have to send this to my mom and dad so they have a better understanding of what I do."  He said he'd like to send it to some of the general education district teachers with whom he works, so they believe that he really does have a job and doesn't just drive from school to school.

That gave me the idea to share what we wrote on my blog.  If you've ever wondered what I do, the document the vision team wrote describes it so well.

Before you read it, I should clarify that I am a Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI), and I was recently accepted to a program to become certified as an Orientation and Mobility (O&M) instructor.  So, in the below writing, my job is TVI, and in the next two years, I will also the the O&M teacher, but I am not at this time.  The organization for which I work employs two TVIs and one O&M instructor to serve vision students across ten school districts.

What Do the Vision Teachers Do?

by: The Vision Department

         Vision services and Orientation and Mobility (O&M) services equip students with visual impairments for independent learning in the general education environment through providing instruction for skills and means to access the general curriculum.  In so doing, our aim, job, and goal is to create independent, safe, productive, happy citizens without limitations. 

When a student qualifies for vision services, they are not only entitled to curriculum adaptations, they become involved in an entire extended core curriculum (ECC).   A teacher for students with visual impairments (TVI) adapts general education material and curriculum so it becomes accessible for the student with visual impairment regardless of the severity of the visual impairment.  This includes but is not limited to braille and large print production, supplemental materials, tactile representations, magnification, auditory resources, and high-and-low classroom technology.

         Beyond the time spent adapting and supplementing general classroom curriculum, the TVI prepares and instructs the students with visual impairments in a standardized extended core curriculum.  The subjects included are (1) social skills, (2) daily living skills, (3) orientation and mobility, (4) technology, (5) recreation and leisure, (6) career and transition skills (7) visual efficiency, and (8) self-determination.  All of these subjects are the teaching responsibility of the TVI.  The students may have IEP goals in each of these areas throughout their years of schooling as they advance in skill and grade level.

         It is the responsibility of the TVI to determine the eligibility and severity of every potential student requiting services.  A recent eye doctor report is required before a TVI can meet and potentially evaluate a student.  If the TVI determines that state eligibility might be met, the TVI will conduct a Functional Vision Assessment and Learning Media Assessment.  A Functional Vision Assessment describes, in detail, what a student is likely able to see in a school setting, while a Learning Media Assessment determines the student’s primary learning and literacy modality and media.

If it is determined that a student’s primary learning modality is tactile, it would be recommended that the student becomes a braille reader.  In this case, the TVI acquires the responsibility of teaching the student the Braille Code.  If the student is determined to be a Braille reader, their classroom textbooks, materials, and supplements must all be transcribed into Braille.  This is the job of the TVI or a Braillist, who works in conjunction with the TVI.

Included in the extended core curriculum is Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Instruction.  This curriculum teaches students the ability to know where they are in space and travel safely and efficiently in their environment as independently as possible.  These lessons often include development of cane use, distance-viewing skills, auditory and environmental awareness, traffic and pedestrian rules, time and distance, and public transportation where available.  Orientation and Mobility may involve environments in school, neighborhood, and community at large, both during and after school hours.

And now you have a better idea of what I do August-May.
Thanks for reading.