A Mini-Vacation (The Best Christmas Present Ever?)

My day will be an easy one. I will not be meeting with any of my students today. All of St. Paul will be walking down to Concordia to see a production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" which even has some of our students in it. The nice thing is that I get to go too. An early Christmas present. Why, a Christmas program so early, you may ask? The Ann Arbor News says that otherwise it competes for time and space with Concordia's "Boar's Head Festival".

So off we go!

When Will it be Over????

Who, besides me, is sick of the political ads? It makes me want to say, "I'll vote for the one with the fewest commercials!" I know it's part of our political system and that I should listen to what they have to say-- but then I never know what to believe, anyway! I tried listening to the debates, but that was pretty disheartening also. I know--I'll pray for the right people to be voted in. God knows!

Someone Reintroduce Us!

Tom has been like a squirrel the last week or so--he must be storing up for winter. When he gets home from work, he immediately changes his clothes to go outside or in the garage to do whatever he does out there and doesn't come in until after dark. He eats his "slowly simmering" supper and sits down to avoid watching the Tigers and promptly falls asleep.

I, however, cannot wait that long to eat-- I usually don't have time to eat lunch and am famished by the time I get home--so I eat before he does! I've been foolish enough to stay up for the Tigers and so the two of us are on different sleep/work/eat schedules.

Someone please reintroduce us!

A Guardian Angel

Years ago one of my students' family gave me this plate (I'm thinking it may have been the Davis'). It's been hanging in my house a long time. Then along came Quinn and Ella and as they grew older I noticed a remarkable resemblance. So we finally got around to taking a picture. The one big difference-- the wings. Perhaps one day, Quinn will be a type of guardian angel for his cousin Ella!

Happy Birthday to the "Much" Older Man

Blessings to the man in my life who "robbed the cradle". I love it that I can say that for 21 days!

I know he won't like it that I'm blogging about his birthday. He also won't give any "gift" hints and his last words to me this morning--I don't want any special attention on my birthday!

Sorry, Tom, but you're loved by me and many others, so we have to give you a little attention today. So---relax, enjoy, and thank God, along with the rest of us, for all the blessings of your 56 years on this earth! I love you!

Moments of Inspiration!

A few weeks ago, on our way home from Three Rivers at 6:00 am on a Sunday morning, a Christmas melody and words came to my mind for our children's Christmas program this year. It was truly inspired, so using the map light, I wrote it down on the back of Suzy's wedding invitation. Later in my zeal to get organized, I threw out the invitation (on garbage day, no less)! Oops! It has taken 3 weeks to retrieve the song out of the recesses of my brain, but I did it! Yesterday afternoon I had two verses recalled and Heidi called and asked to come over with the kids. In the 25 minutes before they came, I had figured out the 3rd verse and written another complete song for the pre-schoolers. Why is it that my brain can be so lacking at most moments and then have brain bursts in others?

Time to Go Home!

It's 2:15 on Friday afternoon and school gets out in an hour. I'm supposed to work half a day on Friday. Why isn't this working for me? I think I have worked 45 hours for my 28 hour job this week? (I know, Scott and Andy, I shouldn't complain, right?) Okay, I won't! I like my job a lot--it's very rewarding because I get to watch kids grow and learn. I get to help frustrated parents who don't know what to do or how to help their children. I get to encourage teachers and show them different ways of doing things for their "different" kids. I just wish my 28 hours had more minutes in them!

That's the end of my blog for today--I still have another 45 minutes of things to do before I can go home and rejoyce in my weekend!

What's the Date?

October 11th-- Snow on my way to school this morning! Can it be? Enough to slow down traffic (almost a white out at one point)! Coming north I passed cars with their roofs covered. Getting to school, the woodchips in the new landscaping were covered! Too soon, too cold! The Tigers are still playing!

It is what it is! Going back in history I remember having about 6 inches one year, on my mom's birthday (Oct. 3--I think in the early sixties.) Look at it this way, we can't have an Indian summer until it's been cold, right? An Indian summer for Friday and Saturday's games would be nice!

Have a great day!

Planner Times Four!

I was going to blog about planning this morning and I checked my blogs and there was Joyce's planner. You know what they say about "Brilliant minds" thinking alike.

I wish my "brilliant mind" could figure this out! I have a hard enough time keeping my own dates and times straight--but lately I'm really frustrated trying to "plan" meetings around teachers, parents, principals and myself. Yeeeesh! This is when 4 way calling would be helpful, but I probably wouldn't be able to find a time to get everyone on the phone!

A Satisfying Weekend

Besides a "pain in the neck" pain in the neck, I had a very nice weekend. Wasn't the weather awesome? Weren't the Tigers awesome? And for those of you who are Michigan fans, wasn't it great? Sorry, Joyce!

Friday night included supper at Mac's with the Pattersons--always enjoyable!

Saturday - praise team practice, the mums sold out by 11:00 am at the market, a quick visit to the Woehlke's, closed the pool (finally), and I wore out my thumb remote controlling between the Tiger game and the Michigan game. I also made a delicious vegetable beef soup for supper.

Sunday - church, a delicious dinner at Metzger's for Elmer Sell's 90th birthday. Another gorgeous afternoon, and then a trip to Tecumseh to wish Mary a Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday, Mary-- we love you! I would post some great pictures, but I don't have any on my computer!

Have a great day, everyone, and enjoyce the weather while it lasts!

G.G. the Great

Happy Birthday to "G.G. the Great". GG for Great "Great-Grandma", Great Great "Grandma", and Great Great Mother! Eighty four years ago today, she came into our world in Chicago, Illinois. She has brightened it ever since! May God give you Great Great blessings on this Great Great Day. We love you lots!

The Weekend was Busy!

We left at 3:00 Friday afternoon to head to the Three Rivers area for the wedding of Suzy and Dan. Two rehearsals - one for good weather -- one for not so nice. A fun delicious rehearsal dinner at the Fisher Inn--lots of Tom and Randy jokes passed around the table. We spend 2 nights at a B & B - the Mendon Country Inn. It could have lots of charm but sadly, some neglect, some not so comfortable beds, a less than gracious host, and less than ample food, spoil the ambiance.

Then, with Mark, Joyce, and Jan, a shopping trip to Three Rivers, and a barbecue lunch at the Brewster BBQ place.

The wedding spot was beautiful and all set for the event until 15 minutes before the wedding was to begin, the sky opened up and all scrambled for the pavilion - the alternate sight. After the sun came back out, and after some debate as to whether the weather would cooperate, the ceremony was held in the pavilion which was also very nice. Lots of people had lots of fun at the reception and the food was much better than we would have probably gotten at the B & B.

We got up at 5:00 am and headed home to make it in time for church - our new part-time associate pastor was installed. A celebration breakfast at church between services, and another dinner with Pastor Dean and a few other guests at Webers. Way to much food this weekend.

By the time I got home, I was too sleepy to do much of anything and spent the afternoon disappointed by the Tigers and the Lions.

Finally, I watched two hours of a special "Extreme Makeover" which happened to be about a family who goes to a Lutheran School in Richmond (one of our LSEM teachers was interviewed on the special Detroit version of the show). I cried through most of the two hours of show and then went to bed.

I thought this was published early this morning--but it still didn't show up, so I'm trying again.