Hello from Pittsburgh

I am relaxing in my room at the Pittsburgh Hilton (where this teacher's convention is being held) with my laptop and a good cup of hot tea. We had a fun trip here, and my heel isn't hurting quite as badly as yesterday, praise God. I'll tell you more and have more pictures after I get back tomorrow night.

Oh my aching foot

Destiny is here this evening, as usual on Wednesday evenings. She has been sitting at the kitchen table coloring for hours, could hardly stop to eat. Her ability to stay focused and content is increasing more all the time. So is her artistic abilitity. Pictured below is the grape family she created last weekend!!

Tomorrow we will have just half a day of school. At noon we teachers will be leaving for a teacher's convention in Pittsburgh, PA, returning Friday night. We're going to be traveling in a coach with the teachers from another local Christian school. I'm looking forward to it, EXCEPT that I can hardly walk. I have been struggling with an increasingly painful heel. I cannot see a thing wrong with it, but it almost feels infected. Today it was worse than ever. The pain started a few weeks ago right after I got a new pair of walking shoes. Last week I decided to go back to my old pair, but it hasn't gotten any better, actually worse. So I guess I'll soak it tonight and hope for the best. If it keeps up I will be needing to see a foot doctor. I could use a coritzone shot about right now.

Stand in Awe

I don't have anything interesting or clever to write about tonight. I'm still waiting for an update from my sister about Scott's day.

So I'm just going to share the lyrics of this wonderful Jeremy Riddle song that I've been teaching the kids for Mass Chorus. Honestly, I wish every believer had the opportunity to explain the meanings of words and phrases of songs to children. I am convinced there is almost no better way to have those words and phrases come alive in one's heart.

Stand in Awe
Jeremy Riddle

Gracious and astounding,
God's love so confounding
Appears to us in a cleansing flow of blood.
The Son left throne and glory,
Bore the Father's wrath and fury
In our stead,
And for the sins of all He bled.

Stand in awe and worship!
Raise a voice in worship!
Come adore the King of kings
And Lord of lords.

Behold the Lamb in heaven,
He was dead, but God raised Him
From the grave,
For His arm is mighty to save!
Now glorified and reigning,
The keys of death and Hades in His hand,
And all hail the Lord of every man!

Stand in awe in worship!
Raise a voice in worship!
Come adore the King of kings
And Lord of Lords.

2007 Mercy/Vineyard Publishing

So how would you explain to children the Son bearing the Father's wrath and fury IN OUR STEAD? That kind of love really is ASTOUNDING and CONFOUNDING! Or the glorified and reigning Lamb of God holding the keys of death and Hades in His hand? Aren't we thankful that HE now holds those keys and not the devil?

Okay, now I got the update I was waiting for. Scott was more awake today, and was moved to a private room this evening. He has a lot of noisy stuff in his lungs that they are working on 3 times an hour. He also has a lot of pain, but they are working on trying to manage it. Most likely he will not be going home, but rather to a rehab hospital, maybe on Saturday. He was surprised that today was Tuesday, but somewhere throughout the day he remembered that Merida was in a concert at school this evening, and he wanted Betty to attend it! Merida plays clarinet. Betty did go to the concert. They called Scott afterward and the children got to talk to him, which really meant a lot to them. She said he can talk above a whisper, but sounds really different. Oh, God, please put Your healing hand upon those vocal cords!

Update on Scott

As of last evening they had removed Scott's breathing tube, but have him on oxygen and lots of pain medication. They said he would have a very sore throat and be very hoarse for a while. He is still in ICU, needing very close monitoring. He whispered Betty's name one time yesterday, the only thing he has spoken so far.

Scott is in the New England Baptist Hospital in Boston, about 1 hr. 15 minutes from their home in Merrimack, New Hampshire. Both Scott and Betty are teachers, actually Betty is the director of preschool and kindergarten at a local YMCA, so this unplanned surgery and recovery is a huge thing for them to deal with. We are so very, very thankful that Scott's parents, who are now retired and live south of Boston, are available to help them out with childcare. I think all of our hearts are just longing to be up there doing whatever we could to help and support them. We're praying about the weather too, that with all this driving Betty and Scott's parents would not have to deal with any big snowstorms.

Thank you, Tonja, for passing this award on to me. I do have plenty of opportunities to practice kindness every day, being around children and middle schoolers. That does not mean that my first impulse is always to be kind. In fact, it often is not. Like when I have forty-some primary students coming into my room for chorus practice and they are all disagreeing about where they should stand on the risers, some of the boys are acting like the risers are gym equipment, a child or two has something urgent to tell me right NOW and follows me every step I take.... and it turns out that the urgent thing is about a tooth or some such thing, and the other child just wanted to ask me (as slowly as possible) if we're going to sing a specific song he likes. And then someone sneezes all over the people in front of him, so he needs a tissue, which reminds 10 other children that they need tissues as well. Meanwhile, a few girls are talking about a song we practiced last time, so they start excitedly singing it while I'm taking care of all these other urgent issues, but that's not the song I had planned to start with. Oh, and I forgot the clowns. The clowns are the ones that think every class period is a show all about themselves, and they are there doing everything they can to ensure that they are being watched. Ah yes, everyday kindness! (I know it sounds like I'm completely out of control, but I'm really not.) My everyday kindness takes the form of sitting at the piano with "the look", and waiting until everyone shushes everyone else and says, "She's ready."

Thank God there are plenty of times each day when kindness comes easily. I thank God for giving me a compassionate heart.

Asking for your prayers

This evening I am asking any visitors to my blog to lift up my sister Betty and her husband Scott to the Lord. A month ago Scott had major neck/spine surgery for a condition called cervical spinal stenosis. He has been recovering, but still having pain. This week, after an MRI and CT scan, it was determined that they did not insert long enough rods the first time, that his neck was healing in an overly forward position, so today he has been in surgery since 10 AM. This time they were going in through his throat and he will need to have a breathing tube afterward and will be in ICU for a few days. This is very major, delicate surgery. Betty has been waiting all day in the hospital. Scott's parents have been with their two young children. Betty and Scott live in New Hampshire. Scott is a children's entertainer, a great singer and song writer. When I heard they were going in through his throat I immediately prayed protection over those vocal cords. Your prayers for both of them and their children will be so appreciated.

Thirty-four years ago

Thirty-four years ago today was one of the most pivital days of my entire life - the day I became a mother. I remember almost every detail of that entire day as though it had been yesterday. My favorite memory is of the first time I had my beautiful, little red-skinned, black-haired baby girl Lisa alone with me in my room - just the two of us. I remember how I introduced myself to her.... Okay, I gotta stop - I'm starting to cry already.

Anyway, happy birthday, Lisa Joy. You are truly a joy to me.

It's Good to be Me

Earlier this week Kat tagged me for this "It's Good to be Me" game. She included pictures with her post, so I am doing likewise. So here goes:

1. It's good to be me because I was born to and raised by this most loving, Godly man - my dad. He instilled in me a healthy fear of and passion for the Lord, a compassionate heart for people, and the gift of music. I am also blessed with six sisters (one in heaven) and a brother that I absolutely LOVE to be with, and the sweetest, funniest stepmother ever.

2. It's good to be me because I have been married to this loving, kind, patient, hard-working, very witty man for 36 years.

3. It's good to be me because I have such a wonderful, beautiful, talented, very funny variety of children, children-in-law, and grandchildren.

4. It's good to be me because I belong to the most loving, supportive church family there could possibly be.

5. It's good to be me because I have a job that allows me to combine many of my passions - children, teaching, music, and worship.

6. It's good to be me because in addition to the wonderful love and support I receive from our family, our church family, and my co-workers, I now also have a whole network of friendship and support in Blogland. Below are a few of you (when you dared to get together without me, ha, ha!!) And there are so many more of you.

7. It's good to be me because we live in a very comfortable, easy-to-care-for house. It is not my dream house (our life has had its unexpected twists and turns), but it is good enough and it is paid for. And because we have already downsized, if the Lord ever grants the desire of my heart to move to Florida, it won't be such a monumental task.

8. It is good to be me because we live right next to so much nature - trees, birds, rabbits, squirrels, skunks, groundhogs.... Oops, I'd better stop. Next thing I'll be saying snakes! Thank God I have never seen any of those around here.

Three years ago

We celebrated Sophie's birthday on Sunday (the kids' gym only does parties on weekends), but her actual birthday is today. How well I remember going to school that day, knowing that Lisa was in labor, waiting, waiting, waiting for a phone call. When I finally got the call that Sophie had arrived I ran to the computer lab just in time to find the above picture emailed from George's cell phone. Ohhhhh, how I wanted to be there!

And below, three years later, is the adorable picture I took of her just this past Sunday in the car. What a beautiful smile!

Freudian Slip?

Would you believe, today I had another "duh" moment, or as our school book keeper pegged it, a Freudian slip! In the third grade class I began reviewing the musical staff and the letter names of the lines and spaces. First of all I had them explain to me what the musical staff is, that it is made up of five lines and four spaces, etc. Then I drew two of them, one with the treble clef sign and the other with the bass clef sign. I asked, "Now when we see two staffs like this together, what is it called?" A child raised his hand and answered correctly, "The grand staff." I proceeded to write "grand staff" above the two staffs I had drawn. As I finished writing and turned toward the class, a child exclaimed, "Grand STAUFFER???" I looked at what I had written, and sure enough, instead of "Grand Staff" I had written "Grand Stauffer!" Well, I just cracked up, and the children howled with delight. I said, "Well, I AM GrandMA Stauffer!"

Still sleepy

I'm falling asleep at the computer this evening. Obviously I have not yet "caught up" from the sleep I lost over the weekend.

I've been putting the song "Order My Steps" by Glenn Burleigh into my computer composer program for Middle School chorus period tomorrow. It's time consuming in the first place, but so convenient to play back through my digital piano for the kids to practice with. It also puts me to sleep when I do it at this hour of the day.

A mystery was solved today. Lisa and I have been noticing on our site meters that we get visits to our blogs from someone in South Korea. We have been wondering who that would be and why they would be interested in reading our blogs. Today Lisa had a comment on her blog from a person from this area who was a good friend of Anthony's in high school. She is married to a man who is in the military and they are stationed - you guessed it - in South Korea!! What a small, small world this bloggyland is!!

I forgot to tell about one of my "duh" moments from the weekend. Southwest Airlines has recently begun a new method of boarding. When one gets his/her boarding pass, in addition to being assigned to the A, B, or C category, each person is also assigned a number. So the person who has A1 boards first, then A2, etc. on up to A60. Then they board the people who are B1 through B60, then the C people. When I printed out my boarding pass on Friday I saw that I was in category B and I also saw a big 46 right under the letter B. So on Saturday morning when the B people were supposed to line up I tried to find my place in line as number 46. Everyone was holding their boarding passes and looking at each others' in order to line up properly. To my surprise I saw another 46, then another, then I realized that every boarding pass I could see was number 46. I could not imagine why. Someone looked at my boarding pass and said, "You need to move up further." I said, "Well, I'm number 46, but it looks like you are too." She pointed to a different place on my boarding place and said, "No, you are number 28." Only then did it dawn on me that we were boarding flight number 46!!!!! We got a good laugh.

My short, but packed trip to Florida

After a VERY short night of sleep (because I was trying to get a weekend's worth of work done on Friday evening, remember?), Dick, Destiny, and I headed for the Baltimore Airport Saturday morning. After I got there I discovered that my flight was to have a 30 minute layover in Norfolk, VA! It felt crazy to be so close to Ray and Thyda, but not able to see them. We communicated by cell phone, of course.

Lisa, George, and Sophie met me at the airport. Once at their place, Sophie wanted to show me her new outdoor toys. My camera was still cold from having been in my luggage, apparently in a very cold luggage compartment, so at first my lens was constantly fogging over.

Can you find Sophie in the "fog?"

Here comes that wicked driver again!

Then I gave her my Christmas/birthday gifts - a collection of farm, safari, and sea animals.

And here are the other "grandchildren" - Macy up front and Dexter, sleeping as usual. I used to come home from our trips to their house with picture after picture of these dogs. Hmmm. What happened? It seems they've taken second fiddle to someone else!

Saturday evening Lisa and I drove in heavy rain to the Brandon Public Library for the performance of Mame. There had been a heavy thunderstorm and some streets were flooded, so it took a long time to get there. I guess, as we were to find out, the storms were announcing the arrival of COLD weather! (Not PA cold, but definitely Florida cold.)

Jeremy played two different characters and also sang and danced in the chorus line, so he had to change costumes at least four or five times. In the picture above he was a hair dresser - not his most flattering hair do!

Here he was singing and dancing with the chorus (second from left) - one of my favorite scenes.

He was Mame's friend Lindsay when he had the brown suit on. I took the above picture so you could see the work he did to the set - the windows, drapes, fireplace, and pictures.

This was a funny scene with Mame's friend Vera (right) and her hired girl, Agnes. They were both really good actresses.

The grand finale. What fun! I wanted to be one of those people up there, but how would I ever fit community theatre into my life yet?

And yes, I was beaming afterward. Seeing Jeremy up there having such a good time and hearing his amazing voice and enjoying it with Lisa was all very good for this mother's heart. It was very late when Lisa and I got home and finally went to bed.

Sunday morning we went to Grace Family Church in Tampa where they attend. The Lord is alive and well there, and it was good to be there. On the drive home Sophie and I were having fun together in the back seat.

Sunday afternoon I spent hours playing with Sophie. As I've said before, her imagination is really active, so it's just plain fun to play with her, because I love to pretend and make things up. We played with her animals...

...we read books in her bed, sang the Veggie Tales hairbrush song at least five times,

she showed me how to play drums with your feet,

and we got silly as I tried again and again to take a picture of us with my camera, but I kept missing parts of our heads. (The bright spot on her cheek is from the sun shining in through the window.)

Sophie's birthday party was held at a kids' gym. What a FUN place. The staff (in tie-dyed shirts) who were in charge of it were so energetic and well organized, it was very impressive. For a long time they sat in a big circle and did fun activities and exercises.

They tried long jumping,

they "surfed",

they went for a swing ride on a big mattress,