Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I love about my KIDS!! 1. B is old enough and mature enough to babysit for short periods of time. 2. J has a love for his momma that is like no other. 3. A is always full of life. 4. S makes me laugh, especially when she asks to be "mascused" from the table. 5. B is really really smart but not in the least bit conceited about it. 6. J loves his baby sister and would do anything for her. 7. A loves to clean (and that has it's advantages if channeled correctly!) 8. S still loves to snuggle and be held. 9. B, at least for now, is totally comfortable in her own skin and really doesn't seem to care what the other kids think is "cool." 10.J loves to read so much that it sometimes gets him in trouble at school. 11.A has a heart of gold and loves to be a helper to her classmates. 12.S is learning to read and loves to "do more learning, mommy." 13.Most importantly, they all love the Lord. I sure am blessed!! Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

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The Truth

There is a famous line from the movie A Few Good Men where Jack Nicholson as Colonel Jessup states rather emphatically to Lt. Kaffee "You can't handle the truth!"

There's not many among us who can handle the truth. We want to hide behind half truths and realities that feel comfortable for us. We want to run away from things that frighten us. We want to hide from things that feel like they are too much work for us to handle.

Take my house, for instance...after a 9 week school term it is a disgusting mess! It's an overwhelming task. If I look at it all as one thing, I really want to run and hide!! But let's look at TRUTH here. I've managed to avoid it for two days and it hasn't gotten any cleaner...nobody is going to come in and clean it for me...and it's not going to get any easier to face as the mess becomes worse. I might be tempted to just leave my house...run away and buy a new house, a clean house...but the mortgage would still be there so that isn't really facing the TRUTH, is it? I could burn it down...but eventually I'd get caught (they'd realize it wasn't an accident once they figured out I had saved my computer and all my scrapbooks!). So if I face the TRUTH (it must be cleaned) figure out what I can manage (one room at a time) and take a step forward, eventually my whole house will be clean.

Isn't that how it is with life? Life can seem so overwhelming at times and we just want to run and hide from TRUTH. When things get hard and seem overwhelming we want to run and hide. But scripture tells us in John 8:31 & 32 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

I had to go to the dentist this week. I say I "had" to because the pain has become unbearable and I can no longer control it with standard over the counter pain medicine. I've "needed" to go to the dentist for a very long time (say about 8 years). For reasons I cannot explain and don't totally understand going to the dentist completely terrifies me. It is all I can do to get in the door to take my KIDS to the dentist and sit in the waiting room for them. So my dear husband, who is willing to be my enabler in this scenario, called and made an appointment for me and made me promise to go. I got childcare. I went. I sat silently in the waiting room. I was able to give a sort of coherent explaination to the tech as to what was hurting me so they could take x-rays. The dentist saw me and gave me the standard lecture about not coming in until the problems were overwhelming. I nodded and prayed he would get it over with so I could leave...all I could think of was that I would get to leave the building soon...that is what kept the screams at bay, I kept telling myself it will be over soon, it will be over soon. But I had to go to a specialist to have (multiple) root canals. This meant walking into a whole different dentists office...hearing all those sounds, smelling all those smells, all over again. I paid my bill, took the referral and nearly ran to my car...got in and screamed...then I cried, hyperventilated, felt like I couldn't breathe and was dying and had a panic attack for nearly an hour. Somewhere in that process I had the wherewithall to call my husband (who didn't answer!) and my best friend (who came and rescued me.

The TRUTH in that scenario is that I KNEW that going to the dentist makes me nutty and I tried to go anyway without any help. The next day, armed with the TRUTH, some anti-anxiety meds and my best friend beside me I managed to make it through this consult with the specialist with only some minor trembling and sweating, but no panic attacks that took up half my day. Admitting the truth set me free (more or less).

Thursday Thirteen

Thirteen Things I did TODAY!! 1. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 2. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 3. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 4. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 5. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 6. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 7. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 8. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 9. Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 10.Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 11.Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 12.Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. 13.Sat in a courtroom listening to testimony. Jury duty sucks!! Links to other Thursday Thirteens!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others comments. It’s easy, and fun! Be sure to update your Thirteen with links that are left for you, as well! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things. Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Worship Wednesday

 
 
  

Stand in the Rain

Recently I've had a lot of time to think. I got called for Jury duty way on the other side of town and it's a 45 minute commute each way. I'm not quite sure how to fill so much no kid alone in the car time. I make phone calls to friends that I haven't talked to in awhile...I talked to my mom for 35 minutes today. But mostly I listen to the radio. You know how sometimes when you listen to the radio you keep hearing the same song over and over? Not because it's the only song playing but because your brain sort of tunes out the music except for that one song...when it comes on your brain takes notice? This song has been running around in my head for a couple of days now...I heard it for the first time a week or two ago...but I keep hearing it over and over on my commute to civil service. It's really speaking to my heart right now.

Stand in the Rain

She never slows down
She doesn't know why
But she knows that when she's all alone
It feels like it's all coming down

She won't turn around
The shadows are long
And she fears if she cries that first tear
The tears will not stop raining down

Chorus:
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day what's lost can be found
You stand in the rain

She won't make a sound
Alone in this fight with herself
And the fear's whispering
If she stands, she'll fall down

She wants to be found
The only way out is through everything
She's running from
Wants to give up and lie down

Superchic[k] - Stand In The Rain
From the album Beauty From Pain 1.1

My life is so much like this right now...I never slow down, I keep busy from morning until night...partly because there is so much to be done, but partly because I'm afraid of what will happen if I stop. It's like those circus acts where someone gets plates spinning on top of small posts but if they slow down they crash to the ground...I'm spinning plates.

And it's hard, I'm exhausted...and there is no end in sight. If I give in to the pain, to the exhaustion, the frustration, if I cry that first tear...that is the end of it all, I will never be able to pull it back together...it's too hard and takes too much energy.

Fortunately, I'm not alone in my fight. I have my wonderful husband that would cut off his right arm for me. I have some wonderful friends. And I have an AMAZING God who loves me...even when I don't feel lovable...even when I don't feel loved...even in the midst of the rain...His love is standing.

What we see...

We will see if the following quote by one of my favorite author's holds true. I was just called to sit as a juror for a criminal trial. I can't say anything until it's over but I'll let you know how it goes.

Homework...Friend or Foe?

We have been having an intriguing discussion about homework at the school where I teach.

Turns out the new administrators at our district office aren't big fans of homework.

I'm not either...but I've always assumed that was because I home schooled for so many years. I still find it amazing that the work that we accomplished at home in three or four hours takes at least seven plus some homework to accomplish in an institutional setting. But at home, I didn't have to redirect 18 students. My kids didn't have anyone to talk to besides their siblings and me so that wasn't a great distraction and they knew if they finished early they could go outside and play.

So what is the purpose of homework? I generally only send home assignments that haven't been finished in class. Most of my diligent students get it done and get to go out to play. But is that really fair? That leaves my slower students who need more help to get that help from parents that perhaps weren't helping in the first place and that's why the student is one of my slower students...plus, don't we all need time to play? I think so. But when do those students get that assignment done? If they do it in class the next day I have all of my faster students sitting bored and getting into trouble. If I let them move on, the slower kids get even further behind. It's very much a catch 22.

Many of the other teachers had other reasons they sent homework home. The main one was to force parents to be involved in their children's education. Do you really think that if a parent doesn't want to be involved in their child's education they are going to be bullied into it by a page of homework?? That seemed like odd reasoning to me. Of course, I've always been involved in my children's education so I really don't know if that would be a motivating factor or not.

Then there is the work factor. I find as a working mom, by the time I get home from work, have checked all the homework for three kids, made dinner, made lunches, done baths, hair brushing, tooth brushing, and prayers...I pretty much fall into bed exhausted only to repeat the same thing tomorrow. I have NO CLUE how parents fit in soccer, piano, dance class etc...along with that all...I just don't. Homework definitely doesn't get the attention that as a teacher I might hope it would get in all that chaos, and I understand that.

Most of us came from a generation where homework was the norm. Of course, most of us, at least among my circle of friends, had moms that stayed home, or had a neighbor's mom that stayed home, and could help us with that homework.

What do you think? Does homework serve a purpose? What is that purpose? Or is homework a thing of the past?

Wordless Wednesday