Public School What a Joy!

Do you remember those impatient moms. You know what I mean. They have their nose every where. Needing to know information before it is even available. Well I have become one of those parents. I never wanted to but perhaps it was in me all along. My oldest son started 6th grade yesterday in our local "Public School" . You see he has been in a Lutheran school for the last 3 years. We Lutheran teachers make sure our families are well informed. I have come to expect this. Not this year. I never got to even meet his teachers until after school the first day. I went to register him on their new student registration night. I figured I would at least get a school lunch menu and a schedule but nothing. So yesterday afternoon I the pushy mom that I am. I walked back to each teacher and introduced myself. I also barged into the office asking for information on the lunch program etc. Well now that I have it I found out that the principal will be explaining everything to the students today and they will be bringing home the information tonight. So now I feel a little sheepish. Perhaps I should have been a little more patient. Next year I will know what to expect and it wont be so scary....For me.
By the way my son had a fabulous day and loved every minute of it. He even signed up for band.

Two year old frenzy!

Monday night around 10:00 I received a phone call from DSS. They had a little two year old boy that was found wandering the highway. They needed a safe place for him to stay until they found out who he belonged to. So we opened our home to him. He was a large two year old. We didn't know his name until midday on Tuesday. He arrived at 2am sound asleep. When he woke he was timid but excited to play with Rosco who was happy to fetch the ball that was being chucked across the room. We soon discovered that he could say a few words and loved to run. He ran every where he went. Needless to say I am tired. He went back home this morning. I am glad to see him return to his grandma who loves him and I pray he will not wander off again.

When it Rains it Pours

Last night was our anual staff picnic and it was my turn to host. Well we were hoping for nice weather so that the kids could swim and the adults could sit around the picnic tables and visit. God however had different plans. About 6:00 the sky opened up and it dumped over 4" of rain our our very dry land. Needless to say the party had to be held in our little house. We had over 25 people in our house. Well it rainrd so hard there was about two feet of water running through our campground. Here is what I found this morning.

We haven't seen standing water in a very long time.

There are lots of tire tracks all through out the park. This is the worst one.

All of the gravel was washed off the road and gathered towards the lowest end of the park. There will have to be lots of redistribution in the up coming days and weeks.

Here is the storage shed. I didn't know that there was a pond in there!

I wonder how many tools and things are buried under this muddy soupy mess? This happened to us last year and we lost a ton of things. But we had hail last year so there was more damage to buildings RV's and such. Along our interstate I heard there was soft ball size hail. Some of our campers got their windows broken out while driving. I am glad I was safe at home when this storm hit.

It's Getting There.

Well this is what my room looks like after two days of cleaning and throwing away garbage.

I actually found the floor so that I could lay my carpet.

My tables are almost ready for the name tags. In case if you were wondering yes they are written on. I am going to start my year with a frog theme.

This is my garbage pile. It will be gone by tomorrow. Hey don't laugh it will.

This is my closet. Clean and organized. I even have the shelves labeled.
Who knew that getting ones classroom organized and clean would be so much work.
Stay tuned for the final transformation next week. I will show you how the room looks on the first day of school!

School Web Page Update

The address has changed for the school web page it is now http://zioncrusaders.org/. Lots of new updates check it out and tell me what you think!

What A Mess!

This what my classroom looked like after about 6 hrs of reorganizing my closet and classroom.

My classroom has turned from shiny clean floors to a disaster. I wonder if I will be able to get it all in order before the 29th? That's when all the little first graders come.

Gosh I sure hope so because I think this site would make me cry!
I'll keep you updated on my progress!

Peaceful and Quiet

All the motor cycles are gone. The roar of there rumbling engines has quieted. Our campground seems empty and quiet. This was a down year for us when it comes to the Sturges Motor Cycle Rally. Last year we had around 12o sites/cabins rented. This year only 72. Although the numbers were lower it is nice to have a quiet couple of days before school starts. There is no loud music blaring through the grounds and no drunk people trying to sit in the hot tub at all hrs. of the night. I am glad that they enjoy their week long party however I am saddened that they feel the only way to have fun is to drink or do drugs. I don't know how after a night of "partying" they can get on their bikes and ride all day with out becoming a hazard to other drivers. Suprisingly there were only 4 deaths this year and 80 injuries in the Black Hills and surrounding area. I wonder though how many made it home in one piece. Many ride their bikes the entire distance. May the Lord watch over this crowd as they travel on home.

What? Me? Create a Website?

O.k. so I have been chosen to create a new website for our school. Talk about pressure. I have never done this before. I had to start by researching companies to be our host and tech. support. (boy will that come in handy) I didn't even know where to start. I was pointed in the direction of the Lutheran Portal by my principal so I checked it out. I sat on the phone and computer for over an hour while they demonstrated the ins and outs f their program. So I finally chose them then I had to get it approved through the Board of Education. When it was finally approved I was told I had until the 15th of Aug. to get it up and running. So yesterday I spent two hours on th phone with a nice gentleman who helped me get started. I feel that I already have a great start but we will see if the teachers approve and if they will indeed keep their section updated! Feel free to view my site if you like and provide me with any feed back. Remember it is still in the developmental stages so not all of the fancy things are complete. There will be pictures and a logo on the home page and the teachers will be updating their own spaces next week. I hope!

http://www.lcms01.com/zionrc/Home/tabid/1331/Default.aspx

Love your Neighbor As Your Self

Why is this command so hard to keep? Do we feel that we are better than they are? Do we feel that we are always right and they are wrong for what ever reason. What gives us the right to judge others? The answer is nothing. I am a selfish human being who forgets to let God be in charge of my life. I want to take things into my own hands. This however is rarely a good idea. It usually turns out badly. I pray that the Lord will give me the courage to love my neighbors and to be forgiving in my daily life. I pray that he will open my eyes so that I can be the wife and mother that He designed me to be.

Developmental Stages

Today we had a lady come to see our little boy. She administered a Denver Developmental Screening Test. She wanted to see how he is developing. I guess that all children who enter foster care under 3yrs old are given this screening. Mostly we had to answer her questions. They looked at his speech, physical and emotional abilities. She said that he was developing at a good pace and is advanced in some areas. She did say that we need to work on rolling a ball, playing patty cake, putting an object in a cup and saying da and mixing his words together like yadama instead of just bababa. But he charmed her by smiling and waving. She said that in the next six weeks we should see him doing these things. I am glad that he is doing well. Praise God! Tim will be working with this lady to help the baby stay on target for his development. In other words she will be teaching Tim how to play with the baby.

School is Quickly Approaching

There are two weeks left of my vacation. Am I enjoying my time? Well yes but I am also creating more work for my self. A teacher from town who has taught first grade for 21 years decided she was done and wanted to give me all of her stuff. So on Tuesday I went to her classroom and Dug through boxes and boxes of books, educational games and posters. I walked away with at least 7 boxes of things. Today she called and told me she has more. Oh my goodness what will I do with all of this stuff. where will I store it? I am beginning to get concerned. A teacher never turns down books and I can really use the math and language arts games. But storage is always a problem. I guess I will have to get creative or purge my some of the old stuff I never use.