Birthdays Galore!

Like Melissa, running out of time . . .

. . . to post the pictures I promised two days ago! I haven't had any time to get that done, nor do I have time today to do anything but say,
Happy Birthday, Heidi! I love you!

I'll blog ya later!

Yesterday I had my camera with me to capture a lot of the action at Sophie and Lucy's party. However, I mistakenly picked up Heidi's camera (looks like mine) when I went home and her batteries are dead. So I have no pictures to post. I'll do it later, or Heidi, you're welcome to post them if you can find some good ones.

In the meantime read Joyce's blog! She's given some great word pictures of the event! I'll add that the food was delicious! The presents were numerous (the other kids in attendance liked that Lucy wasn't interested in opening her presents and so they got to do it for her)! The day was perfect, except that I left my camera behind and I have a cold.

Blog ya' later!

These Days

These days before school starts are always a little crazy for me. Meetings, staff retreats, learning yet a new procedure handbook, meetings with parents and teachers, choir planning, tomatoes (I'm ignoring those pretty well!), birthdays. Add to that getting ready for starting my class (I'm trying to read ahead in my 670 p. textbook.)

Today I'm off to Detroit where I'll get to listen to our psychologist (who's often quite obtuse) and pick up materials - trying to figure out what will be the best approach to use with about 20 different children.

This is the day that the Lord has made. I WILL rejoyce and be glad in it!

Me, with no camera!

If I had known it was going to be a very special occasion, I would have had my camera poised and ready!

Emily and Bob's brunch yesterday turned out to be a surprise visit from Andy and Christie to tell us their good news! We are thrilled to announce the engagement of Andrew Thomas Schroeder to Christie (uhoh! I don't know her middle name) Racey. It happened Friday night on a beach! I'll let the two of them blog all the details. I'm glad Heidi blogged about it. I was waiting to give the two of them the opportunity to blog first--but since Heidi did, so can I!

It was fun spending Sunday afternoon talking about wedding plans! We are looking forward to adding another daughter to our family! We love you, Andy and Christie!

Hi Ho! Hi Ho!

I'm off to school this morning. St. Paul staff is having a meeting and I need to add my 2 cents before teachers get settled in with schedules, etc.

I'm off to college again. I got my acceptance in the mail yesterday, got my override permission, ordered my book (670 pp!!), and will finish my registration process today -- Assessment of the Learner.

Friday I will go to Ann Arbor Christian and meet my new principal.

I will work hard at "whistling while I work"!

Having a Great Time

Here we are at the Horizon Book Store in Traverse City. Joyce is opposite me, also blogging, so we may be saying the same things. We traveled through lots of rain to get up here and in Traverse City and the surrounding areas it is as dry as a bone. We've been praying for them, but we're also enjoying the nice weather while we're here.

Thursday we took a drive up Old Mission Peninsula and had dinner at the Old Mission Tavern! Excellent!

Yesterday, we traveled around the Leelanau Peninsula, and then to the beach in Traverse City, then to Boone's for supper, out to Interlochen to see the cottages, out towards Empire, found a different beach, and back to our cottage.

This morning Mark and Tom dropped us off in Traverse, while they meet Mike and Phil for golfing out in Bellaire. We've already spent quite a bit of time in the bookstore here.

Anchor In On the Bay, is lovely, but small. The beach is very nice, but rocky and you have to travel half way out the bay to get deeper than your ankles.

We're having a great time and will blog you later!

Off to the North!

Tom left a few minutes ago. He has to perform a funeral in Clio so Joyce, Mark, and I will meet him there and go on to Traverse City. I have a bit of trepidation because I arranged the lodging. I have a track record, you know--going back to 1984 or 85 and the "Country Roads" incident. So I'm hoping "Anchor Inn on the Bay" will be a better experience.

I'm in charge of packing my stuff and Tom's and closing up the house, the pool, etc., so I better get busy!

Thank you, God, for good friends, safe trips, and weekend getaways!

Help me remember it's only August!

Yesterday I found myself getting more and more tense as the day was spent thinking about what's ahead of me in a month! I had to contact some people connected with school issues. One person thought that I had been on a group email list for school and I wasn't, so she "caught me up" with about 10 emails. This made me realize that even though I will only be there 5 half days, they're expecting "full-time" kinds of things from me.

I still haven't heard from U of M Dearborn about getting into their "Inclusion Specialist" program, but that's on my mind!

I spent a few hours working on choir issues--scheduling, picking music, etc., and I'm still not finished!

Retirement is looking better and better, but I've got quite a few years to wait!

I'm thankful to Heidi this morning for her "Up north" blog! I'm planning on spending this day looking forward to my vacation!

"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoyce and be glad in it!"

Blogging Bonanza!

What a fruitful blogging morning! Lots of pictures, birthday blessings, lots of shared memories! I love it! Now that I've been blogging for an hour, I better get to work. Laundry to do, choir planning to complete, closets to clean out, etc. I'm looking forward to going up north this week with the Patterson's. Have a terrific week everyone!

M & M Visit

On Tuesday Melissa and Mary came for a visit. It was great to hear about Melissa's life in Palm Springs. Things I learned: She's not fond of the desert. She misses trees and green. There aren't many tall cacti - it's mostly low-growing varieties. There are lots of pools there and many of them are salt water pools. Many young teachers don't stay there long but she is planning to stay a couple more years to get tenured. Teaching is so different there because of the language barrier and cultural differences. Students are classified by their abilities and the great majority have basic skills or less than basic skills. She is constantly amazed at the things that the students don't know. Cathedral City, where she teaches, has a lot of blue collar workers. There are not that many "rich" students in Palm Springs because it is predominantly a gay community - that or retired folks.

It was great to spend time with her. Emily and Heidi came with their children for lunch and a swim also. Heidi had to go do some more design consulting, so thanks Mary and Melissa for the extra hands in the pool with all the kids! And thanks Melissa for putting up with messy cookie hands. "This is why I don't want to have kids."

Sorry I didn't take any pictures. M and M - I hope you had a great time on your mystery trip yesterday!