Quote of the week...

So Braylon came in recently for his Reading Lesson.  Stopped mid walk, put his nose up in the air, and sniffed.  He then made a face and walked over to the table, books in hand and said with an indignant tone, "It smells like ball in here!".  

Ball?  Like a sweaty dance Cinderella attended?  

Or like a football?  Basketball?  And can it really smell like ball?

Ah, must be my  new Ball Perfume I got at the mall!

My other job...

My afternoon duty requires me to stand outside in the elements in front of traffic and make sure that cars are moving and kids are getting picked up safely.  Not an easy task when parents scream and curse at you for not letting them park their car in the drive through.  Not an easy task when parents lead their children into ongoing traffic.  Not an easy task when it is 900 degrees outside.  Not an easy task at all.

Days like these make me want another job.

So Thursday I was walking through a classroom to get to my "office" (My office is just a closet behind someone's classroom.  I have to actually walk through this classroom to get to my space...fancy huh?) and I am carrying a stop sign.  Maybe this time people will look at me as more official if I have a stop sign?  Maybe I would get yelled at less with the stop sign in my hand?  Maybe as soon as parents start yelling obscenities, I can flash the stop sign and the mean nasty comments will act as a force field, protecting me from meanness??? OK so I can dream right?

So I was walking through the classroom on my way to outside duty when this little girl jumps up from her seat and runs over to me.  In her very loud 6 year old voice, she shouts... "Oh, I know you!  You work on the streets!!!"

Yes folks.  My new job... working on the streets.  And I was wondering why I made extra money this month in my paycheck... I said I wanted a different job... just not sure I would want that one. 

:) 

Saturday Love Fest

Since I was in such a bad mood on Friday, I wanted to perk myself up with some lovin'

things  that make me laugh/smile

*Halloween

*anything referencing pirates

*children's laughter

*my friend Saba

*good news

*peppermint ice cream

*my fat baby boots

*texts from George

*reading 4 books at the same time

*being married for 10 years.

*my cat who will sit on the computer desk just to hang out with me

*extra money in my paycheck (cause I am worth it!) hee hee.

*impressions of people

*tests that come back negative.

*have I ever mentioned sonic ice?

hope you find something to make you smile today.

My two cents...

So I hate to make phone calls. Just something I hate to do. I don't like calling to order a pizza. I don't like calling to make inquiries about things. And calling a student's parents is the WORST! I just don't like to do it. It's not that I am afraid that someone will be mean to me or that they will think badly of me. I just don't like to do it. But sometimes it is necessary. Sometimes it HAS to happen. Like it or not.

So today in church, we read a parable about brothers that Jesus told. Oh that Jesus. He always spoke in parables. Love that! So Jesus told about these two brothers...the father asked them to work for him. One brother refused, but then repented and did the work. The other, readily and happily told his father he would do the work, but then got distracted and never actually followed through and did the work. What was the difference in the two brothers? Besides their desire or lack of desire to do work? Action. It is all about action and actually doing what they needed to do.

How many times are we the ones who don't actually take action? The ones who say we are happy to do what needs to be done but then make excuses? I think we easily fall into the trap of making excuses.

Oh gosh, I couldn't call. The phone will be busy. I don't have enough time to spend on that phone call... excuses.

But ultimately, it is all about Action. It is about what we DO, not what we say we will do.

So if you are miserable, if you are tired of living the way you are living, do something about it. Action.

If you are wondering why our world isn't the way it is, do something about it. Action.

If you are tired of the world being the way it is? Do something about it. Action.

Rob Bell's new book, Jesus Wants to Save Christians, talks a lot about this. From the book of Exodus, God suggests and wants action. God wants us to complete the life that He started in Genesis. God wants action. God needs action. God wants us to change the world.

Sometimes it is hard. It requires things from us we didn't know we could do. Sometimes it is easy and all it requires is a phone call. What are you willing to do?
Make the call? Or sit around and blame others? It is all about you. It is all about me. It is all about action.

Quotes from a new school year....

Well, we have had 9 days of school so far and all is well.  The new batch of first graders are so cute!  

Here are some recent quotes that made me laugh...

Ean is my new best friend.  He is so serious all of the time.  Due to his shaggy Beatles hair cut, his eyes are hard to see.  He looks like a grown up in a little body.  He speaks in a monotone voice and rarely shows expression in his face.  

So when he was asked to tell me about his favorite food, he told me fish.  He loves fish.  Then I asked him to draw a picture of himself eating fish. 

He drew flowers, plants, grass, trees.  (Ok, so you catch fish?) Then he drew a little stick figure body with some hair standing by a tree.  (you have picnics eating fish?  Is that allowed in the picnic rule book?) And on his little stick figure arm, he attaches a box.  One white box.  I am quite confused at this point and I say, "so, where is the fish that you love to eat?  He points to the white unlabeled box.  "There," he says.  "My fish is there."  His teacher tries to help by asking if he goes fishing.  "NO" he says with a certain look.  "Oh," his teacher says, "your fish doesn't look like this?" she asks, drawing a pond and a quick little circly thing that looks like a cartoon fish.  

"No. My fish never looks like that" he says as serious as his little 6 year old face can be.  "My fish comes in a box and it is delicious!"

OH MY.

Yesterday, he came to school in tears clutching his stomach in pain.

He demanded he see the nurse.  

In order to assess whether a pass to the nurse was needed, his teacher and I did some investigation...

Teacher: Do you need to go to the bathroom?

E: No.

T: Do you need to get a drink?

E: NO.

T: Did  you eat breakfast this morning?  (this is the cause of stomach pain most of the time at our school in the mornings) 

E: Yes.

T: Here at school or at home? (Sometimes breakfast at school could cause WAY more than a stomachache. ) 

E: At home.

T: What did you eat for breakfast?

E: (the most exhausted sounding and with the most expression he could muster... which wasn't much but enough to notice)   Stuff!  That stuff!  You know...the stuff on a plate!!! 

Ugh.

Of course.  The stuff on the plate.  How could I have been so stupid?

Oh Ean.  You are my new friend.  I can't wait in the next 170 days to hang out with you and gain more wisdom and knowledge.

Things I love...

In the middle of all of the drama and stress... I could spend my blog time venting about life.  I could vent about work and about manipulative people, but no.

I choose to write about things I love...

Not in any particular order...

laughing

Sonic Ice

BT and his wit.

BT and his kindness

BT and his face

singing loudly in the car to musicals

Avenue Q

My parents

My laptop named Hobbes

That Saba got an iphone for her birthday

The way George and I make mean faces at each other in the hall

Thai food yummmmmm

drag shows

bingo

not going to Graduate School ANY MORE!

Watching snails.

playing with Owen and Miles

Shopping with Ginger

Debating theology with Sharon

Shaking things up.

Speaking my mind

Loving other people with my whole heart.

first graders

going to the movies on Sunday afternoons

the way my cat snuggles with me every night

grace

teenagers

kindness

immodium

boots

watermelon

corn on the cob

street meat

festivals 

craft shows

Canton

my life...

What do you love?

Hi there

Yeah, I know.  It has been a while.

Sorry for that.

I have been writing a paper and such.  

Really, I have just been wondering if it is worth writing here anymore.

Still thinking.

Till then, let me tell you about a few things I am excited about...

* GRADUATION!!!  Yep. It is about freakin' time.

* REATA after said graduation.  hhhmmmm... cheese grits.

* seeing my friend Owen. Oh, and his mommy Ginger

* going to movies on Sunday afternoons again. (this was a past time during Christmas break...when I had time) 

* knitting again.

* The Gods Aren't Angry DVD. (one day I will write about that experience.  It was amazing)

* Vacation in July.

so, what are you excited about?

:) 

Church... Good God, what is it good for?

I have been thinking a lot lately about church and its purpose or lack-there-of in my life. Don't get me wrong. Deep down I love my church. I love the people within my church. I love my Renewal small group and I love the fact that we have been adopted by the "other Thompsons".
I love that when we have trouble or something that needs praying about, we can call them at a moment's notice and they will be there or they will drop everything they are doing to raise up our names to God. I love that.

What I don't love however, is the fact that nothing seems to be changing in the church. No one wants to grow. No one wants to learn or talk about God. No one. No one wants to talk about and wrestle with their faith. They don't want to think about the fact that we spend less money helping people than we do on the electric bill. They don't want to see that the world is messy and we should all look at fixing it. They don't like to think about how they are being fed spiritually. They like being starved.
And the music. OY VAY. The music in the church is going to be the death of me. How long can we sing funeral hymns and call them spiritual? B and I look around on Sundays to see who out of all of them in the sanctuary, who is being lifted up by the music from the 1800s. NO one.
My friend HH tells me that is normal in the church. It is a Type 1 church, he says, and I should get used to it, as most churches around are Type 1 churches.
Well crap. That is helpful.

So I am posing the question here... What good is the church as a whole? What is the purpose of church? Greg tells me that the purpose of the church is to be the body of Christ. Why then would I want to be a part of a body that is dying?
Why is it that our churches very quickly are dying? I have an idea...

Just a few ideas at least. One has to do with Christians and the other has to do with televangelists, but I could be wrong...

Prayer

The BT wrote this prayer just in case he felt called to say it at my grandfather's funeral...
I think it is beautiful.

Psalms tells us “As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who hold God in awe. As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you, says the Lord.”

There are two things that I know Lonnie missed the last few years. Lessie Vee and pouring concrete. I hope God likes concrete.

Please pray with me.

God, in this time of loss, we turn to you, trusting in your loving mercy and grace. We thank you for Lonnie and for all he meant to us. We thank you that because we knew him, our lives are better. We pray that you will strengthen us in our loss and help us to remember his life with joy. Help us to remember our good, happy memories of him, which will comfort us in the days to come. Help us to rest in confidence that You love us and will help us grieve. We commend Lonnie and commit his body to the grave, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. We humbly pray that with Lessie by your side, that You welcome him, a sheep of your flock, a sinner of your redeeming. Receive him into your merciful arms, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace.
Amen.

Rest in Peace

My grandfather died today.
He was a good man who worked hard for everything he had. I am proud to say that I am his granddaughter.

Grandpa,
I prayed last night for you to have peace. I am glad, after all this time, you finally got it. You lived a great life. Thanks for leaving a legacy of family and love.
love, Me

ODE...

My grandfather is sick. Really really sick.
We went to see him this weekend since it may be the last time.

In honor of him, I post this old Bloghead post. I think it is still my favorite post yet.

We have hard wood floors in our house. They are real hard wood floors, not the kind you have to sand down twice a year like my grandfather had years and years ago, but the kind you can clean by rubbing a nice clean sock on the spill. I don’t have to think about the upkeep of the floor, really. I just spend a few minutes on them every once in a while, with an actual mop, and I forget about them for the next several days. Considering the level of slactitude in my house, it is amazing that it even gets done once a week. Needless to say, I like them, I am glad I have them, and they are considered very special when visitors see them, but I don’t really think much about them on a daily basis. Who would really? I am sure there is some internet site out there about someone’s obsession with hard wood floors…

My grandfather was in town recently, and we had quite a few conversations about our hard wood floors. I hadn’t really thought much about them till those conversations. Funny how you our thoughts work when you really focus on something.

I have also been thinking about my grandfather lately. Again, funny how you our thoughts work when you really focus on something. He is a hard man, who had a hard, hard life. You can tell by his calloused hands that he was no stranger to working hard. He is hard to talk to, not because he has nothing to say, but because you have to scream at him to have him hear you. As hard as he is, there was something soft about him, a shine in his eyes, like the shine on the hard wood floors, I don’t remember noticing until this visit.

He didn’t want to come on this trip, I know. His bones ache and his arthritis is so bad, that travel is not fun for him. He is set in his ways and likes his own space, so the trip was not his idea of a great time. So the fact that he was actually coming was a big surprise to everyone, I think. But as the trip progressed, as he visited with family and friends and talked about old times and times to come, I could see that spark in his eye. He was actually glad he came, I know. And I am glad he came too.
You see, my grandfather, like those hard wood floors, is tough, and a relationship with him is something I take for granted, something I hadn’t worried too much about maintaining. I realized this weekend, that family is the most important thing to him. It is the thing that makes him shine. I also realized that I needed to not just rub a clean sock across my relationship with my grandfather, I need to get rid of my slactitude and work hard at polishing and maintaining my relationship with him. Maybe one day, I can stand back and look at my relationship with my grandfather and admire it, like I now admire my hard wood floors.

Not just a job. It's an adventure!

About a week ago, all of the teachers at my school got an email in
their inbox telling us to be on the look out for Mr. G's hamster that
was officially on the loose. Every once in a while, I would check in
with Mr. G and ask him if anyone had found the lost little friend. No
such luck. So of course, none of us were surprised when we began our
day on Friday and noticed a little brown creature hurrying and toddling
on little legs down the hall. All kids were silent and strangely still
as they watched the hamster make her way down the edge of the hallway.
Luckily, three teachers were there and were ready and waiting to catch the
little friend and return her back to Mr. G, who had of course fixed the
cage in preparation for her return.

I happened to be picking up Isabel for our lesson when this whole thing began and we were able to stand from the sidelines and watch the action. Boy did she and I feel
important in the fact that we could give first hand information about
the capture of the lost hamster! "Wow!" I said, "What an exciting
day!!"
And Isabel and I spent our morning feeling pretty happy we had experienced some excitement.

About 1:30 pm, I began to hear noises. Was that a helicopter? Teachers were
quickly leaving their classrooms during planning time to run outside
and look. Helicopters were circling our playground in a very frantic
fashion. Then we heard that the school right next to us was onlockdown and no one was able to leave their rooms.
Shouldn't we not do the same?, we wondered as we stood outside.
One check of the news on the internet let us know that there was a killer on the loose. He had murdered his wife and step children, dropped off his own bloody 3 year old at a
church, and headed down the road. Police had him cornered in his car in
a driveway down the road from us.

We were on full alert. Excitement once again was in the air.
We spent the rest of the day trying to deal with dismissal and ways to get
kids safely with their parents and at home. This meant not letting the
walkers walk, and only letting kids go when their parents showed up.
Trying to arrange this was not fun, but with all of us working
together, we made it happen. At 6:15 we only had four children left, so
we were able to go home and leave them with the administrators.

Friday morning, Isabel and I were feeling pretty special that we were part of
the action. By Friday night, we were all very thankful we were pretty
far away from it.

Our jobs, each day, come with lots of different challenges and excitement. Each day we teachers are called to do some things that are out of the ordinary. On Friday, we had to go
above and beyond and do more. It isn't just a job, it is an adventure
and I am thankful for every exciting and boring time of it.

If I only had a brain....

OK. I have decided that I really want THIS!
I could always use more brains!

A few letters...

Often, as I am out, I will compose letters to people. Not just anyone, mostly people who frustrate me or make me happy. It's a letter of extremes. I very rarely think to write a letter to the every-man on the street just minding his/her own business. I do, however, think to write letters in my head about things that irritate me or make me smile.

So, as I sat in the movies yesterday, I eloquently composed a few letters... here they go. Not so eloquent, but effective none the less.

Dear Lady with TWO babies at a PG-13 movie...
I understand that this is the Simpson's movie and you think it is a cartoon. I understand that you very probably allow your children to watch the Simpson's at home while you make dinner. I understand that you very possibly are one of those parents who allow their youngster to also watch South Park just because it is a cartoon and cartoons must all be for kids. I also understand that you probably have the IQ of Homer Simpson's nose hair. Now, taking that into consideration, I find it helpful to remind you of a few things. Movies rated PG-13 are usually rated that way for a reason. The ratings board didn't just arbitrarily come up with that 13 number cause they thought it was lucky. No. There is a reason. There are bad words. There is casual nudity. There is violence. It is the freakin' Simpson's for goodness sake. So, please understand that this movie is not appropriate for your child who happens to be 11 years below the PG-13 limit.
Also know that children that age get bored. My goodness, I get bored after 30 minutes of ANYTHING, so your child must get bored too.
Please know that when your child makes noise in the movie theatre, they are trying to tell you that they are bored. Now would be a good time to leave and find another activity for them to do. Please do not wait till they are screaming at the top of their lungs. It isn't fun for you, the child, or me, who happens to be sitting the next row down from you.
Really. I promise.
So, lady with children at the movies, I hope you take this with all the love that is intended and leave your freakin' kids home. We will all be better off.
Thanks and Love ya!

Also,

Dear Movie Theatre,
If you say the movie begins at 4:40, make it start at 4:40! I don't want to watch the commercials of the commercials before the previews. I don't want to watch some guy interviewing fake people. I just want to watch the movie...on time! If you are doing that in order to accommodate the late people then tough. They should have figured out that they needed to plan better. What? You missed half the movie cause you couldn't get you and your twelve children all ready? Oh. That is too bad. Try again some other time.
Love ya!

Oh, and finally...

Dear People of Earth,

Alvin and the Chipmunks were freakin' HI-larious when I was 10. Once you become a teenager, the magic sort of ends. Really, this is one part of retro we can do without, don't you think?
start working on that.
Thanks so much!
Kisses!

What I did on my Summer Vacation...

listen to some awesome live music by the McKay brothers

The McKay Brothers...

Saw Ray Wylie Hubbard play with the Heathens....

More Band of Heathens...


I even got to see Zack Walther without the Cronkites.
LOL!

I sing songs about Texas....

I guess it must have started in Indiana, back in 1999, now that I think about it.
As you may or may not be aware, Fort Wayne, Indiana is uh, not quite like Anywhere in Texas.
I don't want to put down Fort Wayne. I did get to play in LOTS of snow that year, and we did get to learn the difference between menonites and amish. I did get to dip my feet into first grade, and learned that if you feed frogs too much, they get uh, fuzzy. But boy were we missing Texas. I think we were missing Texas on the drive to move in.

One day, BT came home all excited. He had discovered this Texas radio station on the internet. And they were playing this Texas song by this guy named Pat Green.
Ah, we were just one step away from Texas again. We had brought Texas music to Fort Wayne, and we were happy for a little while.

Thus began what we could consider a love story of grand proportions. Not only did we love Texas, but we now loved Texas music just as much.

We listen to our share of music these days. We can say Hey there Delilah along with the Plain White Ts and even enjoy some Amy Winehouse. We have all kinds of music on our ipods. I guess we had forgotten the old days. We had forgotten when we were missing Texas so much it hurt, when we flew the Texas flag in our house not only out of rebellion, but out of respect for what we loved.

This past week, we got to go back to our roots, and visit an old love...Texas Music.
I honestly think neither one of us will be the same.

Here's to you Gruene Hall. Here's to Ray Wylie Hubbard and the Drunken Poet's Dream (which by the way is the funniest song ever, next to Snake Farm). Let's all lift a Shiner to The Band of Heathens who are not only awesome, but nice enough to email me back. The McKay brothers who have Texas Hearts, and Mexican Souls. And for my BT for reminding me about the good days and helping me remember why I love Texas.

Tripping down memory lane

For my class I had to do this project. It was a "cultural and literacy autobiography" to find out where I came from and to understand why I am the way I am. Seems like it will take more than looking at an old yearbook to figure that out, but whatever.

Anyway, I did some research and wandered through web sites. The internet is a lovely thing.

A friend of mine in the class, after hearing my autobiography and realizing that I hailed from Clint, Texas, mentioned it to her friend who she rides to school with. Come to find out, that friend is best friends with someone who graduated a year before me.
Wow. I have always heard that phrase, "it's a small world" but I hadn't thought much about it until someone was actually best friends with someone from Clint, Texas. I mean, there were not that many people in Clint.
So, I scoped out yearbooks and checked out classmates and as I did, several people came to mind. Wonder what happened to... so and so.
Wonder where so and so is. Oh, and that so and so, he was voted most likely to succeed. I wonder if he did.
That kind of thing.
I haven't gotten many answers, but I don't know how much energy I have for the whole thing any more. I have found and gotten into contact with people who I really care about and have the energy for. The rest, I will just keep wondering about...maybe I will think about you again one day. Maybe our path's will cross and it will again be a small world. Till then, I am just enjoying my little corner of it.

Names and the Bad Word.

It has already been an interesting summer.
No being lazy and getting addicted to soap operas for me. OH no.
I can't be that lucky.
I am going to graduate school, driving hours to get to class every day and then reading reading reading on the hours I am not in class. Makes for a really super fun summer, let me tell you!
But I am really not complaining. I am learning a lot in my class and have had some adventures.

As part of my class, I am to tutor a child. I picked Destiny. She is darling but a struggling reader.
She is also an enigma.
I tried to get to know her the other day and she told me all about her family, some of the names are made up. I would be willing to bet you could pick out which ones.
The funny thing is, she kept trying to convince me that they were real.
Here was our exchange:

Me: Destiny, who lives in your house?
D: I have my mom, my dog, my dad, and all my brothers and sisters.
(to my knowledge there are only two brothers and no sisters)
Me: Really? What are all the brothers and sisters named?
D: well, Carlos, Michael, (those are the real ones) then there's... what's that kid's name? Oh yeah, David. Then there is Smokey and Fishy. They are my brothers too.
M: (thinking...really? when did your family turn into a mob movie?) Oh, I see. Smokey and Fishy. I have never heard of them.
D: Yeah, they are older and gone.
Me: I see. Tell me about the sisters.
D: Well, there is Queen, my mom named her that, and Horsey, my mom named her that too, and Unicorn, Pony, and Zebra. Yep. there are my sister's names.

OH MY.

But the best one came when I asked the Dog's name. I would be willing to bet that that one isn't made up.

Me: did you say you had a dog?
D: yes. It is a little brown dog that barks a lot.
Me: Really? so you don't like it?
D: I like it, but it is smelly all the time.
Me: hmmm. interesting. what is the dog's name?

D:Chingar (pronounced chingow)
Me: (shocked) uh, what did you say?
D: Chingar.
Me: Oh, I see.
D: sometimes my dad calls it poo poo.
Me: That is probably a better name for the dog.

Friends, those who aren't familiar with spanish slang, the word means Fuck.


On my way home from that meeting I called to tell my mom about the dog's name.
Ever the English teacher, decided she needed to know how to spell the word so she looked it up in her old Spanish/English dictionary and was surprised to not find it there.
We have since found the spelling and found all of the great ways in which you can insult someone with that word.

I never realized how much I would learn from this graduate class. I am sure there is more to come!

the best thing ever!

OMG!
I found the BEST thing today!!!
Jeus Bandaids!!!
Can you believe that they make Jesus bandaids?
ooh, Jesus, he heals your heart and your wounds.
Jesus, he puts you back together.
And coolest of all, inside, like cracker jacks, was this free prize!
A Jesus pencil topper!!!
OMG how cool is that?
this stuff is the best!
I can't wait to cut myself so I can use the Jesus bandaids.
:)
OK, I take that back. Knowing me, I will put them in the bathroom with all the first aid stuff and forget about them till BT hurts himself and has to wear a Jesus bandaid to work.
LOL!
What a great evangelism tool.
for sure.

speaking of evangelism tools, RLP has officially introduced people to Hugh and his new blog. He is reading the bible and making very Hughlike comments about them. This can only mean one thing...craziness ensues.
check it out here... Hugh's Bible Blog

Peace be with you...

Marie Clay

It wasn't like we cared if she ever went to the latest parties. It wasn't like we even wanted to know what sort of car she drove. We certainly never saw her on the US weekly or on a gossip blog, but she was famous to me.

In truth, I remember thinking, she was just a grandma. Just someone who had a family and grandchildren and possibly great grandchildren and she lived her life simply, I figured. But she was also a researcher, a learner, a brilliant mind and she will be missed.

Marie Clay, to those of you who don't know, was the creator, founder of Reading Recovery...a reading intervention that has helped millions of struggling readers learn to be successful. I am a Reading Recovery teacher and I know first hand the legacy she has left behind.

Let me tell you about Markeesha, who had never had a book at her house until I handed her that green bag filled with books she could read. It was as if I had given her gold. She had two brothers in her house who were already in trouble, and she was just trying to stay afloat. Her mom was working two jobs and her dad was in jail and she stayed with grandma most of the time. She wasn't a reader when she began, but she BECAME a reader. She became successful and empowered. She became someone, and she knew it. Her whole personality changed. She became a child who believed in herself and in others around her. She moved from the timid, shy little girl, to a confident learner and reader. This was because of Marie Clay. This was because of Reading Recovery, and what I have learned through training for Reading Recovery.

I am forever thankful for the opportunity to learn to be a Reading Recovery teacher. I am thankful for the knowledge that I have gained. And I am thankful for Marie Clay, who looked like just a grandma, for making it all happen, for helping hundreds of teachers help millions of kids like Markeesha, learn to be someone in the world.

Rest in Peace, Marie Clay.
We will miss you.