...or at least part of the reason.
This is not meant to "bash" our education system or anything of that sort. However, I believe that every child should learn to do at least one thing they can take "beyond" the A. For some students that is creating beautiful art, for others it's throwing the perfect fast ball, for others it's interpreting the music written on the page, for still others it's writing a perfect paper or solving math problems. All subjects are important. When students have found a place they belong and something they love to do, we will be much closer to solving the bullying, gang and drug related problems of our world. Just my humble opinion.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
God's Work
I will not try to do God's work today.
I spent a few minutes in the Eucharistic Chapel in my church this morning. There was a book of daily meditations sitting on the kneeler and after a few minutes of private prayer, I picked it up and found today's meditation. The above quote was at the bottom of the page and quickly caught my eye. My first thought was "What? Why not?" Then, I read the whole meditation. I don't have it in hand right now, so I can't quote it verbatim, but the general idea is that so often we get in God's way or exhaust ourselves trying to do things that are in God's hands alone. We need to trust more and do God's job less. I really felt like a burden had been lifted right off my shoulders. I only have to do my own work today, not God's...He's perfectly capable. :)
I spent a few minutes in the Eucharistic Chapel in my church this morning. There was a book of daily meditations sitting on the kneeler and after a few minutes of private prayer, I picked it up and found today's meditation. The above quote was at the bottom of the page and quickly caught my eye. My first thought was "What? Why not?" Then, I read the whole meditation. I don't have it in hand right now, so I can't quote it verbatim, but the general idea is that so often we get in God's way or exhaust ourselves trying to do things that are in God's hands alone. We need to trust more and do God's job less. I really felt like a burden had been lifted right off my shoulders. I only have to do my own work today, not God's...He's perfectly capable. :)
Monday, March 21, 2011
Jake and Nina Adoption Fund
Borrowed from their Razoo page (set up for them by another one of their friends):
Jake and Nina are two loving, awesome people who have been trying desperately to add a child to their family for 3+ years. God, apparently, has plans for them to help add to their family through adopting a baby boy or girl.
Jake and Nina met in 2005 and knew they were meant for each other right away. Nina knew he was the guy she was going to marry after only a month of dating. They were married in August 2007 and began trying for a baby soon thereafter. After a year of trying and many doctor's visits the year after that, they decided God had other plans for them. They've been trying to save up the money for adoption but it is a long road to save $25,000.
Nina has cried on my shoulder many times in frustration and sadness over not having a child of her own. Money should not be the reason holding these two awesome people back.
Nina works with autistic children as a behavior therapist/music therapist and Jake is an office manager. They are fabulous with kids and wonderful people. Let's do this for them!
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good and not for evil. To give you a future and a hope.
From me:
Nina and I were friends ever since college. She has always been a wonderful and supportive friend to me. I would like to be able to be the same to her. She and Jake would make fantastic parents. The best I can do (for right now) to help them out is spread the word and pray. If that's all you can do as well, please do. If you are able and feel called to help them out financially, I've put Razoo's widget on the side of my blog. Here is the direct link to the page if you would prefer.
Jake and Nina are two loving, awesome people who have been trying desperately to add a child to their family for 3+ years. God, apparently, has plans for them to help add to their family through adopting a baby boy or girl.
Jake and Nina met in 2005 and knew they were meant for each other right away. Nina knew he was the guy she was going to marry after only a month of dating. They were married in August 2007 and began trying for a baby soon thereafter. After a year of trying and many doctor's visits the year after that, they decided God had other plans for them. They've been trying to save up the money for adoption but it is a long road to save $25,000.
Nina has cried on my shoulder many times in frustration and sadness over not having a child of her own. Money should not be the reason holding these two awesome people back.
Nina works with autistic children as a behavior therapist/music therapist and Jake is an office manager. They are fabulous with kids and wonderful people. Let's do this for them!
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. Plans for good and not for evil. To give you a future and a hope.
From me:
Nina and I were friends ever since college. She has always been a wonderful and supportive friend to me. I would like to be able to be the same to her. She and Jake would make fantastic parents. The best I can do (for right now) to help them out is spread the word and pray. If that's all you can do as well, please do. If you are able and feel called to help them out financially, I've put Razoo's widget on the side of my blog. Here is the direct link to the page if you would prefer.
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Prayers for Japan
Watching the disaster unfold in Japan has been awful. First, because I have friends in Japan (I heard from them rather quickly...thank God for FaceBook) and then because the whole thing is awful to begin with and just keeps getting worse. I get a lot of my news online...it takes me less than the 1/2 hour news program to skim through the headlines and read the articles/watch the videos that interest me. In situations like this, I usually watch a lot of the coverage. This time, though, watching those walls of water wipe away cars and houses that I know still had people in them once was more than enough. I felt so ill, I've avoided the video clips ever since.
It is times like this that we see the best humanity has to offer, but unfortunately, we also often see the worst. One family spent a day or so thinking their daughter was dead (she wasn't) because some hoaxer added her name to an online list of the dead. News programs are already warning of scammers posing as charities to steal the money. Honestly, I don't understand how people can do these things and sleep at night. The company I prefer to give any donation I can to is Catholic Relief Services (because of their low overhead and high accountability). They are BBB approved and were already in the region. Their web page is http://crs.org/japan/. You do not have to take my word for it. The Compass Newspaper, published by the Diocese of Green Bay, provided the link.
I know I have readers in Japan (could just be my friends, but the numbers seem a little too high to be just two people). Please know that our prayers are with you. Stay safe and God bless.
It is times like this that we see the best humanity has to offer, but unfortunately, we also often see the worst. One family spent a day or so thinking their daughter was dead (she wasn't) because some hoaxer added her name to an online list of the dead. News programs are already warning of scammers posing as charities to steal the money. Honestly, I don't understand how people can do these things and sleep at night. The company I prefer to give any donation I can to is Catholic Relief Services (because of their low overhead and high accountability). They are BBB approved and were already in the region. Their web page is http://crs.org/japan/. You do not have to take my word for it. The Compass Newspaper, published by the Diocese of Green Bay, provided the link.
I know I have readers in Japan (could just be my friends, but the numbers seem a little too high to be just two people). Please know that our prayers are with you. Stay safe and God bless.
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Feeding Frenzy Friday XIV
Ooops...I forgot about Feeding Frenzy Friday yesterday...the item for this week is pudding.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
Feeding Frenzy Friday XIII
Ok, so I realize it's been sort of a while, but I want to get back to this...Our Feeding Frenzy Friday item for the week is canned pasta (ravioli, etc.).
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Go With God, Jeanne
Last week, at our all school Mass, Deacon Mike told the student body that Fr. Tim had been to visit Jeanne (see this post) earlier in the week. As Father was leaving, he was saying his good-byes just in case she'd be gone before he got back the next day. She assured him that she'd still be there. She intended to die on her 75th birthday (Sunday). 3:00 Sunday morning she went Home. Her funeral was today and most of the school attended. The 3rd-8th graders were taken over as a group (only a few parents opted to have their students stay in the school - they acted as helpers to the K-2 teachers). I was invited to sing in the choir, which I decided to do as a gift to Jeanne. It was hard, though...I felt like I couldn't allow myself to cry since then I wouldn't be able to sing if I did. In addition, I was sitting with strangers instead of my school family. Somehow, I had thought that the hardest part of this was over...she'd stopped playing for us after Christmas, I'd said good-bye, her death on Sunday...but today was hard. She was my friend and my cheerleader. I'm not even doing very well at getting through this post without tears...
I'm sure I'll come back at a later date to finish this, but for right now, good-bye, Jeanne, go with God. I'll miss you.
I'm sure I'll come back at a later date to finish this, but for right now, good-bye, Jeanne, go with God. I'll miss you.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
February Celebrations
My mom and dad decided that February would be a nice time to get married, since it would break up the winter and give them something to look forward to. It was a great plan...until both of their daughters wound up being born in February. It's the shortest month of the year and we end up with four "holidays," not counting ground hog's day which is Mom and Dad's anniversary. Plus, my sister and I both teach in Catholic Schools and Catholic School's Week (a busy week full of open houses, book fairs, and other 'extras') usually starts on the last Sunday in January and runs into February. Yikes! We didn't make cupcakes for Mom and Dad's anniversary. They wanted to go out to dinner with us all, and since it was a school night, we didn't have time to do both. However, I still have two sets of cupcake pictures to show. We made the ducks for Maureen's birthday and they made the "string monsters" for mine. (If you are wondering, "why cupcakes?" visit this post, where I do a little explaining about this tradition.)
We had some trouble getting the ducks to set up again after we'd dipped them in the icing and put the beaks and eyes on...we think they should have gone back in the freezer afterwards to help. They looked kind of droopy.
Mom and Maureen used the fun silicone feet for the string monsters, but found that they were very top heavy. If you look carefully you'll see that they are propped up on icing tips. We always learn a lot about what we'd do differently next time. They are very cute, however!
We had some trouble getting the ducks to set up again after we'd dipped them in the icing and put the beaks and eyes on...we think they should have gone back in the freezer afterwards to help. They looked kind of droopy.
Mom and Maureen used the fun silicone feet for the string monsters, but found that they were very top heavy. If you look carefully you'll see that they are propped up on icing tips. We always learn a lot about what we'd do differently next time. They are very cute, however!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)