One More Week

There is only one more week of summer vacation. I know that for some summer vacation is a thing of the past, but today was the first day where the reality has hit me. I will have 11 little students running around, talking non-stop, touching everything, and listening to hardly anything. We had a Get-Acquainted Party today. It was only a bit more than an hour and I am exhausted. It is times like this that I think, maybe I am not cut out to be a Kindergarten teacher. But then someone comes in and says, "I just saw you with all those kids; you were amazing," and I think that maybe I just am letting the emotions of the moment get in the way of what I really know. Anyway, now that I have had a wake-up shock, I know that I will be ready for the first day of school. I may not be all happy about it, but I will be ready. And there is something very comforting in that.

We are in the middle of in-service again. I love these times of learning. I have such respect and admiration for my fellow teachers. They are sincere, knowledgeable, loving, and learning to follow Jesus more and more. Together we strengthen and encourage one another. I am proud to serve along side of them. This in-service we are talking about how authority is a blessing - it is a blessing to be under authority, and it is a blessing to be an authority. We talked about the ramifications of that for our classrooms, but it reminded me of the conversations between Weston and the Green Lady and Ransom in Perlandra. Weston is trying to persuade the Lady that Maledil gave a command that it might be broken, but Ransom says that the command was given so we might know the joy of bowing our wills to that of another, Maledil. The Lady is delighted by that concept - that most commands we can see the goodness of and desire to follow, but Maledil was so good as to give a command that we don't see the benefit, so that we might know the joy of bending our will to his command.

C.S. Lewis says it better. I don't have to book right here to quote it. I have been reading the Space Trilogy again and finding it so rich and beautiful. In the words of the Green Lady, "I am being made older," and it is good.

My Olympic Experience

We have been watching the Olympics this week. I have never done this before. I saw clips from Olympics many weeks or even years afterward. I have read books about them. I have heard stories and even watched a movie or two about them. I also generally prefer the winter Olympics. But now, completely surprising me, I have enjoyed watching each night - until midnight or one in the morning. Now for something to be so fascinating that I actually choose to stay up that late on a regular basis, even when I have to get up the next morning, it must be impressive.

I must say that gymnastics were my favorite to watch, still are, for that matter. I am glad they are not over yet. I was cheering for Nastia Liukin to win, even though Shawn Johnson was amazing. I realized that the balance beam makes me really stress to watch. The uneven parallel bars are my favorite. Men's gymnastics were really amazing too. The high bar and rings are my favorite for them.

You cannot watch the gymnastics without watching the swimming. So we watched the "historic eight medals for Michael Phelps." I also learned the name Eamon, from Eamon Sullivan of Australia. I really like that name. Because he didn't win and wasn't American, I didn't see much of his swimming, but I really like his name. My sister says it sounds like Haman with a dropped "h", and I like saying like a Jamaican "Hey, Mon!" but I still think it is a great name.

So now there is one more week of the Olympics. I am looking forward to the gymnastic individual event competitions and my sister is getting me excited about some of the running.

Sometimes I think we watch them to see who will win, but sometimes I think we watch them to see lose or get hurt, even though we feel bad when they do. Evan Hunter in his short story, "The Fallen Angel," about a trapeze artist who fell on purpose says it this way. "You know why people like to watch trapeze acts? They like to watch because they are evil. They think that the fool up there is going to fall and break his neck, and they want to be around when he does it. So I figured it all out." Sometimes I think it applies to watching the Olympics. But whatever the reason for watching, it is still enjoyable.

Various sorts of excitement

Today I got up after my alarm went off. I didn't snooze it. I didn't fall back asleep. I didn't stay in bed long enough for the alarm to go off if I had snoozed it. I was very proud of myself. I was also very proud of how my husband got up too. We got out of the door before 7:30. Go us!

The reason I wanted to get up so quickly was that I was going to go blueberry picking. Daddy had a meeting, so I was going to borrow that car to drive to where Mommy was picking blueberries and join her. I got about half a gallon of blueberries - tiny ones compared to the ones you buy in the store, but really tasty - in about and hour and a half. It was fun to pick and talk with my mom. I got back in time to wash up before my summer school meeting. Daddy left pretty quickly after I got back to the school.

I read in the library which was very relaxing and enjoyable. I found several new ones to read to my students next year. When I came back to the office, I heard that my mom called to tell me that my dad had totaled the van. He is ok, scratches on his face and arm, but it shook everybody up. He was a half mile away from home. If you think of it, please pray for my family. Things are a bit crazy right now and this is just one more thing added to the pile. Thanks.

Not much other news except that I played softball Monday night and had a fun time, but was sore all Tuesday and Wednesday. I think that the relief from pain helped me wake up this morning. But I would definitely play again. I need to practice a lot though.

Beauty that makes me dance

I went to Camp yesterday to be a SAFA person/babySITer. It was fun. I got to hang out with several Staff in Training girls (one was my sister!) We got ice cream and shirts, picked flowers, watched a movie. I gave them back rubs, and one of them gave me one too!

As I was leaving, I looked up at the stars. I really think there are more stars over Camp. Katie pointed Jupiter out to me too. The sky felt so deep and reminded my of my childish dreams to be an astronaut. The funny thing was that I wanted to share it. Rather than just lay or spin or look, I wanted to show it to others. It almost wasn't enough just to enjoy it. For the joy to be complete, it had to be shared. Since I haven't been able to yet, the memory will sit in my mind. Then maybe, someday you will come to Camp with me, and I will say, "Look up!" and you will be amazed. And I will dance because you have seen the beauty too.

But it is not just about the stars. Every time I get to share the beauty of Jesus with some one and they see some of His amazing-ness too, I want to dance in the same way. I love to see how wonderful Jesus' love was for me. He saw poor, dirty me and loved me, and took my dirt on himself, and died for it, but made me a princess. But he didn't stay dead because of my dirt. He destroyed it forever and rose from the dead. Does it excite you? Are you amazed? Then I will dance because you have seen the beauty too.