They're dropping like flies

My first contacts with students this morning were with my worship team for sharing and prayer, then 6th grade music class, followed by 7th grade music class. In each class there were a number of absentees, and half the students that were there looked like they were ready to fall over. One of the sixth grade boys told me his stomach didn't feel well. Right there and then, my stomach didn't feel well either, and it's been feeling funny every since. Throughout the day at least six middle school students were sent home. Oh, the joys of trying to teach anything at times like this!! One week I don't have a voice, the next week my schedule is screwed up because I went away, now half the kids are sick. There should certainly be some chance for normalcy in March. We have NO days off that entire long month, not until Easter break.

The musical that grades 3 - 5 is preparing for our Spring Program is called Survivor Babylon, about the time Shadrak, Meschak, and Abednego would not bow down to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. Most of the songs are very upbeat and contemporary and even funny. But my favorite one of all is one called God Will Take Care of Me, obviously the testimony of the three Hebrew boys. It brought tears to my eyes the first time we listened to it, because it was so what I needed to hear. We were working on the choreography for that song today. At the end of the day a 3rd grade girl saw me and said, "That song 'God Will Take Care of Me' is just stuck in my head all day long." I said, "GOOD! That's the kind of stuff I want you to have stuck in your head."

On a completely other note, I've been amused at all the news coverage preparing us for the president's speech on the economy this evening. I keep hearing over and over how things really aren't any better, but he can't be too negative, because people who CAN spend money SHOULD spend money to get the economy going. So it's going to depend on the tone of his voice whether people feel hopeful enough to spend money or not. I keep thinking, "Do these news people think we're stupid, that we're not listening to them when they're saying these things?" No tone of voice will change the fact that a lot of people don't have money to spend. In fact, they already spent way too much they didn't have.

So the bottom line is - if any of you out there have money to spend, please spend it so my husband can get a job, ha, ha, ha!! Actually, he's really busy. Advance Auto Parts is giving him 20 -plus hours per week, and he is constantly working on people's cars on his own. Today he was working on a Jaquar!