Good week so far.

I'm having a pretty good week so far. I almost hate to say it, it's like "tempting the evil eye" but there it is. We had conferences last night. I was dreading it for a variety of reasons but the main one was that I had a parent who vehemently wanted to retain their kindergartner for a second year in kindergarten. Minnesota school districts, in fact most school districts in this country, simply don't retain a student who is already identified as disabled - it really is counter productive. It is like using a general ed approach to address a special ed need. On top of that, the research shows that there are very few situations in which retention of any student is an effective way to "help them" progress. I had already had several tentative discussions with these parents to that effect but at the bottom it is up to the school Principal to make the final decision. I knew what she was going to say and was NOT looking forward to these parents' certain disappointment. Our school Principal is awesome! She was so gentle but immovable. It was an education to watch. The discussion lasted over half an hour but by morning the dad had left us all a message that he understood what we were trying to tell him and he agreed after all. And he thanked us for taking the time to talk it through with him!! Since he is an attorney I was pretty impressed by this message. I was ready for another round.

Today the snow made me 10 minutes late for a Child Study meeting (I'm the Child Study Chairperson) and the meeting was in progress when I got to school so I had to scramble to get my part put together and present it. By the time I was finished with that I had to teach a social skills lesson. Then I had to cover a class for a teacher who had to go to another building for a transition meeting. When that was done I had to leave to attend a meeting at the Staff Development Center. I had to leave that meeting 45 minutes early in order to be back at Madison for an IEP meeting! After such a day, of course, my phone was ringing when I finally walked back into my office (40 minutes after my duty day is supposed to have ended.) When I picked it up the person calling said "I called you at 8 this morning and you haven't called me back yet!" I had to laugh. I ran full blast all day but it all went really well so I had fun! I sincerely hope all my friends and family are having as good a week as this is starting out to be. ;)

Church Today

I had a great time at church today. Usually by the time I get home my head gets so full of "what comes next" that I can't remember what the talks were about. Today, I remember some specific impressions. Sister Howell (sp?) made a specific point that we "keep the Lord's commandments" with exactness" Her words made me take stock of my own apathy. I go through the motions but there is no "fire" in my testimony right now. I know that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is Christ's church with all the keys of the priesthood restored. I know that I, like all God's children, am entitled to personal revelation. It's not that I'm doing anything particularly wrong but watching Sister Howell's impassioned speech lit a little fire under my own testimony, I hope I can fan the flames this week. Next was the sweet feeling of the spirit that attended the talk given in Primary. The speaker was 4 years old and I was struck at the incredible wisdom of having the many jobs that need to be performed in our church community done by "laypeople". Here was this sweet 4 year old girl learning how to speak in front of a group. Nearly from the time our children can speak we begin to develop the skill to stand up before others and share God's word, by the spirit of the Lord. While this little girl was speaking a room full of children were also learning to listen both to their peer and to the spirit who would speak through her. We learn from the Book of Mormon (1 Neph 3:7) that "the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them" Most active members in the church have held a variety of callings (jobs). I've had a family member of mine refer to our leadership as "a joke" because they are not "trained" but over the years I've come to understand just how sweet and wise it is that our bishops are not always "polished" and have rote methods by which to serve. We all have to rely on the Lord to "prepare the way" and we learn and grow so much more in the process. My service in the church is the greatest training I've ever had over and above the university level courses I took to prepare me for my career. I do what I do because I was called to it by the Lord and the most useful training I've had I received in Primary, Young Womens, Relief Society, and Sunday School.

Friends

Some people collect friends. It is a gift I don't posses. Don't get me wrong, this entry is not going to be a "poor me, nobody likes me" wallow. As a matter of fact, what's on my mind this morning is how well I have done in making good friends despite my poor skills in the area. A couple of weekends ago I spent Saturday morning playing around with paper in my craft room and decided while I did to check out facebook to see what was going on. It turned out that my friend Sue was facebooking at the same time. We got into a 2 hour long chat online. (Doesn't the internet rock!!) We talked about everything from crafts to family to ancestry and our faith. Sue has always been like that. She and her husband Mike used to be our Saturday night card/game buddies when my children were small. We played Pinochle, Spades, Risk, and Trivial Pursuit. Once, we took a trip together to Mike & Sue's hometown in Idaho. We played Trivial Pursuit over CB radios the whole trip! Sue's children were friends with my children so that when we did get together everyone seemed to have a good time. After we moved away from Winnemucca Sue kept in touch. I'm terrible at that but she is always willing to forgive and forget and when we do manage to connect again it seems like we can just pick up where we left off. Sue is the kind of friend who just seems to encourage you to be better.

Sue isn't the only good friend I have, however, just the one with the most history. I'm lucky to have good friends I work with and friends at church all of whom seem to basically forgive my antisocial ways. I'd list them but I'd be bound to forget someone and run the risk of hurting someone's feelings. You know who you are. ;)

Okay Sue, if you are reading this here is the card I made at your suggestion while we were talking. Thanks for the idea.