Find Joy

Great thought for today... and every day.

 

In Less Time

When you know how to do something, it can be very simple.

Tracey has had a beautiful dress with a split in the seam for two years.

We bought the dress second hand and one of the first times she wore it, I noticed the split.  The dress seam was attached at the top and at the bottom, but just had the split in the middle portion.

The dress had a flowery overlay, so the split doesn't even infringe on the modesty of the dress... it just gets caught on things. 

For YEARS I have been meaning to just stitch up the seam by hand. 

Finally yesterday I looked at the dress... and called my neighbor.

My wonderful neighbor made all of our costumes for the church Christmas Pageant herself and I was pretty sure she could stitch up this seam with minimal effort.

I asked if I could trade her her sewing services for a batch of cookies.

She of course said it would be no problem and I didn't have to provide cookies.

The kids and I dropped off the dress at the neighbor's house and then walked to our mailbox to get the mail and walked home.

BEFORE WE GOT HOME -- we were still half a block from our house, our neighbor had sent her daughters back over with the fixed dress.

She repaired that dress in less time than it took me to walk to the mailbox with my kids.

Some things really are simple if you know how to do them.

Lee Lee Girl

Our little Lee Lee Girl is almost 18 months old and she has more sass than I remember any of our other children having at the same age.  She is also tougher and more adventures than any of my other children were at her age.

She could say "ya" pretty early -- around a year of age she started saying "ya" when we asked her a question.  Just recently, she has started saying "no"... but she says it, "NOOOOOOOOO."

She rarely wants to be carried -- she wants to walk any chance she can, and she wants to go in her own direction.

Tracey always wanted us to come with her whenever she wanted to explore. 

Howard followed everywhere Tracey went... and no further.

Caroline would only hold our hands and never explore on her own.

Lee Lee is headed for uncharted waters any chance she can.  She is leading the way and she hasn't a care in the world as to if we follow her or not. 

She is very independent and tries to do any chores that I ask the big kids to do.  When the big kids want to go outside, I usually tell them to get on shoes and coats and they can go outside... while the big kids hem and haw or argue with me about wearing a coat... little Lee Lee just toddles over to get her coat and shoes and happily brings them to me so she can go outside.

The other day, she brought me Caroline's coat.  So, I put her shoes on and then found the coat that fit her.  Addallee was okay with wearing her coat... but was insistent that she was also going to wear Caroline's coat.

She was so happy to be wearing those two coats and able to go outside and play with her brother and sisters.

I can't wait to know how God is going to use her independent and fearless personality. 

 

Palm Sunday

It feel sacrilegious to post this on Easter... but the comic did make me laugh really hard, so I will use it to start off Holy Week.

Happy Palm Sunday.

 

These Two

Howard and Caroline have been very into dramatic play lately.  They make up a pretend scenario and assign roles to each other and then act out their activity.

This particular day, Caroline was the Mom and Howard was the Dad and they were loading up the cart to go grocery shopping... but Howard also had the horse and a gun that he needed to bring along.  Also, notice the three babies they are juggling.  It took them quite a while to work out their travel logistics to the three babies, the horse and the gun were all ready to go to the store.

 

10 On The 10th

10 picture taken on the 10h of the month... 

many in the car when you're a traveling vision teacher.

Post workout picture

In the care on the way to school 

Rain in the valley... snow in the mountains

The kid's dropped off and now driving and making work calls.

Long list

Many braillers...

Grading a braille assignment

Picked up kids.

Almost home

Bedtime.

 

One Month...

One Month from today will be a big day...

One month from today will be the culmination of something I began working on last January... something that literally started with one door being closed in my face and God opening a window for this idea.

This idea started in my head and has been my baby throughout the process.  I have one other teacher assisting me... but this is event is the culmination of my hard work and investment.

Here are the details:

I have a new student this year in 6th grade at a local middle school who is blind due to a brain tumor she has been fighting since she was 3 years old.  She is such an inspiration. 

Working with this student was my first exposure to the challenges of someone living with a brain tumor and from our working together this year came this idea for a Brain Tumor Awareness Event for our community.  We want my student to know there are other people in the valley suffering from brain tumors, and no one is alone in their fight.

We are partnering with some local schools creating a Brain Tumor Awareness Week during the week leading up to the race to really increase awareness in this area, especially with this studen's peers.

The event is a 1K Emoji Fun Run on Saturday May 11 at 10:00am in Silt.  We are partnering with the Silt Police Department and their annual Bike Safety Rodeo.  The race starts at one Park and ends at another Park where the Silt PD Bike Rodeo will be happening at the same time.  "Come for the Race!  Stay for the Rodeo!"

Race participants are encouraged to dress to support someone fighting a brain tumor... or dress like an emoji!

If participants register before April 18, they are guaranteed a race t-shirt.

We are hoping for a great family and youth turnout, so youth prices are available for kids ages 5-18.

All the proceeds go to the National Brain Tumor Society.

We have received monetary and in-kind donations from organizations up and down the valley and we have been thrilled by the community response thus far.

The race registration is available here:

https://gograyinmay1kemojifunrun.itsyourrace.com/event.aspx?id=12006