Ray and Thyda went somewhere this afternoon to get their pictures taken, but of course, I had to make them pose for me before they left.

But wait!! Why is this son of mine, all dressed up in his suit for a picture, kneeling like this on my deck?

Because we were finished using water for a while, and I wanted it turned off so the shower leak would not run all the rest of the day. So Ray came up with this bright idea - why not have the littlest person in the house get down into that crawl space and turn the main water off? He patiently showed Destiny how to do it, and she thought it was quite an adventure. It actually was quite convenient that she knew how to do it, because later (after my wonderful nap) when I wanted to run the dishwasher and another load of laundry, I simply had her turn it back on for me, and off again when everything was finished.

This evening Destiny and I had our first outing at the local park. There were lots of families there with little ones. I'm sure everyone has just been waiting and waiting for a warm evening like this.

One of our "finds" at Salvation Army yesterday was roller blades for Destiny. The park was a great place to try them out. I sat at a table and began the laborious task of finishing up paper grading and doing report card grades. Last time for this year - yipee!!

My Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Night

I just might be having one of the worst nights of my life. I had a most pleasant day (Saturday) with Destiny and Ray and Thyda. But this evening things began to deteriorate.

First off, after Ray took a shower the faucet continued to drip. He decided to fix it, but actually made it worse. Instead of a drip it was a steady stream that landed loudly and splashily. I was thankful it was the cold and not the hot water, closed the shower doors, and quit worrying about it. Ray and Thyda left for an engagement party for some of their friends.

I had had a phone call from one of my worship team girls that she had left her worship team tee shirt at school and what was she to do about it? (We have a program in the morning.) I told her I would go to school and get it. So around 10 PM Destiny and I headed over to school. While there I discovered some lights that had been left on that shouldn't be on, so we trekked through the school taking care of them.

When we got home I started worrying about the shower problem. I put a cleaning bucket under the stream hoping to cut down on the splashiness of it. To my amazement the bucket filled up in five or ten minutes. This whole community gets its water from a well. How long would it take for continuously running water to run it dry??? I called Dick and Ray, with very little help from either one.

At the same time Destiny was having a fit because her belly hurt and she just couldn't go to sleep. (I was going to let her sleep in my big bed with me since Dick's not here.) And then, oh joy, oh delight, she came into the guest bathroom and informed me that she had thrown up in my bed, upon which announcement she promptly threw up into the bathroom sink. I mean she REALLY threw up. What I found in my bed was not a pretty sight either. How do you empty chunky vomit out of a king size sheet? That was not a pretty sight either. I managed to strip the bed, put a full size flat sheet down on it. She was feeling all better after that and was soon asleep. (My stomach has felt absolutely yucky ever since.)

I kept trying to figure out different ways to fix the shower problem. Then Ray called and said he and Thyda were on their way home and that Dick had called him and told him where to turn the main water off under the house.

So I decided to take wash out of the dryer. Now you're going to think I have completely lost all common sense. Remember the crayon-in-the-dryer fiasco from last weekend? After having tried all the suggestions for getting stains out of a few items of clothes, to no avail, I just let the rest of that ruined load in a pile on the laundry floor all week. I just could not come to terms with throwing all those clothes away. (I did wear some undies off that pile this week, praying I would not be in a car accident and have paramedics wondering why I had multi-colored bra and panties on.) WELL, would you believe that this evening when I started my white load I thought, "Why not put some of the stuff from last week's load in with it, and maybe washing it in really hot water and lots of detergent and Clorox II would cause some of the crayon stains to disappear." WRONG!! Just the opposite. Now everything in this week's white load that wasn't ruined last week has been ruined this week, even my pillow cases.

Just since I started writing this post, Ray and Thyda came home, and I went outside with him while on the phone with Dick, relaying instructions for turning the main water off. It was definitely a camera moment, but no camera. Me out there in my housecoat and slippers at 12:30 AM, Ray lowering himself into a crawl space that gave him the heebie jeebies. I said, "Come on, Ray, you're a sailor, you can do anything, right?" He wasn't so sure.

And just imagine - when I get up in a few hours to take my shower, I'll have to go wake him up to turn the water on again for me. What a good son. I had just washed those thrown-up-upon sheets right before he turned the water off, now there's no water to rinse them. I guess it won't hurt them to have detergent and bleach in them all night long. All the better to disinfect them, hopefully.

Well, it is now after 1 AM, and I need to get up by 6, so I guess I'd better try to get some sleep before anything else happens.

And now I am adding one more thing at 7:15 AM. I had mercy on Ray and decided to try some alternate methods. I heated drinking water on the stove and managed to wash my hair and bathe myself at the bathroom sink. Not fun, but it did the job. I think after church I'll go fill up all the drinking water jugs we have and just use that for our water needs till Dick gets back home Monday night. It could be worse - at least we have electricity.

A beautiful day in the neighborhood

It is GORGEOUS in PA today! It's been a long time coming and all the more delightful!

On most Saturday mornings Dick makes his special eggs for Destiny and me. However, this morning he left at 5 AM for the airport and flew to Tampa to be with our Florida kids for the long weekend. But never fear, a cook is here! Ray and Thyda arrived from Virginia Beach sometime during the night and there was a note on the table that Ray wants to cook breakfast. As usual, he made a huge production out of it, complete with lots of noise and humor.

I wanted a picture of him making the eggs, but he turned and looked at me like this just when I snapped the picture.

I said, "RAY!! I wanted a picture of you tending your eggs." So this is what I got next.

Finally, the pose I had in mind.

Dick called at 10:55, right on schedule to say that his flight had just landed at the Tampa Airport. So by now he is probably with Lisa and Sophie. Lucky Grandpa!

Coming and going

First thing this morning we had an all-school assembly in the gym with my worship team leading the rest of the students and teachers in praise and worship. Most of the songs we do are ones I've already taught the entire school, so it was great having such an enthusiastic little audience helping us to sing. I got one of the teachers to take pictures with my camera, BUT something seems to by going haywire with my Picasa program. When I load pictures this week they don't load in the order I took them. One time they loaded twice and when I tried to delete the one folder, it deleted both. This time when I tried to load them they completely disappeared. COMPLETELY!! I have searched every nook and cranny of this computer for them. I can find the folder title "MCDS Worship Team Assembly", but there are no pictures in it. Hopefully I can get some from someone else. I especially wanted to show you pictures of the little ones singing along.

The rest of the day was track and field day, for which I had absolutely no responsibilities. It was WONDERFUL. I closed my door and worked on things uninterrupted as I listened to classical music.

After school today Destiny was taken to her other Grandma's house in Lancaster, so later this evening Dick and I went there to get her. I was thankful to not have to make another trip to Reading, after having made two last evening for her doctor appointment.

Dick is snoring away. He will be leaving here at 5 AM for the Baltimore Airport. He's going down to be with our Florida kids this holiday weekend. I know, I know - it seems we never travel together. But we have to do what works for us. He used up most of his vacation days for the year when he went to Sweden in March, so we decided if he went over this holiday weekend he could get an extra day with them "for free". And I couldn't go this weekend because I have one more Sunday with my school worship team and we have a few more days of school left next week. I'll be going down next Saturday and staying till the following Wednesday. Dick will get to see Jeremy tomorrow night in his performance in Gypsy, and I'll get to see him next weekend.

Ray and Thyda are on their way here tonight. I suppose they and Dick will completely miss each other!

The loooong Winter, oops, I mean Spring

I am not kidding when I say that for at least two weeks now, most of our days have been rainy all or part of the day, and the daytime temps have been in the 50's and 60's.

I reminded some of the teachers today that last fall when we had unusually warm temps through October we were saying that we were getting tired of wearing our summer clothes. But it's a good thing we got to wear them then, because we certainly are not getting to wear them now!

I had a proud message on my voice mail today. It was Ray saying that he just got the results of the big test he took in March. He has now been promoted from Sailor to Petty Officer Gonzalez. You go, Ray!!

Old videos

This week we have been watching portions of the video from our Spring Program in each class. Today I had all middle school classes. Instead of watching it I started pulling out old videos of programs when they were younger. The kids just LOVE seeing themselves when they were little. It was so much fun.

This afternoon I had no classes because grades 3 - 5 were on a field trip. I got all the costumes and props put away and even spent a lot of time organizing the storage room. It is now more organized than it's been for YEARS. Wow, that feels really, really good.

This evening I went to the retirement center in Lancaster for our church's monthly singing. On the way home I saw regular gas was $3.85. Makes me wanna cry. I already put almost $60 in my car this week, and tomorrow I need to go to Reading for Destiny for her ADHD follow-up appointment, and I know I'm going to have to fill up again.

From event to event

This morning I took the kids who had gone to the Jr. High Festival on May 2nd, along with several middle school teachers, for an all-you-can-eat breakfast in the banquet room of a local restaurant. The restaurant changed hands and was remodelled. We were pleasantly surprised at how much more elegant it seemed. We weren't exactly dressed elegantly, but we had a good time and the kids were complimented by the restaurant staff for their good behavior.

A former student brought seven puppies to school for the kindergarten and pre-K class to play with. I forget what kind they were, but they were absolutely adorable!

After school I returned our rented mics, then went directly to the funeral of Brittany whom I mentioned in yesterday's post. It was heart-wrenching to see the grief her family is experiencing, but the service was so sweet as they celebrated her life. There were tears and laughter both.

From there I went directly back to school for a dinner theatre that the eighth grade and our Bible teacher were putting on for the teachers and eighth grade parents. The kids wrote and performed the drama about Christ's death and resurrection, then served our simple meal of soup, bread, cheese, vegetables, fruit, and dessert. The setting was very intimate and absolutely delightful.

No adrenaline left

Today I feel like I don't have an ounce of adrenaline left in my body. I am sooooo sleepy. I felt like I would fall asleep on my way home from staff meeting. I took an hour-and-a-half nap early this evening, and now I'm ready to go crawl under the covers for the night. It doesn't help any that we seem to be having March weather.

My sister Rose was wondering who the former student of mine was who passed away. It was Brittany Ward, who would soon have turned 23. Brittany had some mental handicaps and health issues, and came to our school in grades two through eight. With the help of very committed teachers, resource people, classmates, and family Brittany made great strides. Her younger sister Kaitlyn is the one whose high school concert Dick and I recently attended. On Friday morning Kaitlyn found Brittany having a seizure after their mother had left for work. Unfortunately her efforts, and those of the paramedics and hospital personnel were not successful in getting Brittany's heart restarted. It was a tragic shock. This was a family who did everything to encourage, protect, and help Brittany to succeed. Brittany's death leaves a huge, huge void in their hearts and their family. Please keep them in your prayers.

The spiritual and the ... not so spiritual

This morning my school worship team came to my church to lead worship. I just love when I can combine my two "work" worlds into one event. The kids did a tremendous job of ministering in the presence of the Holy Spirit. Afterward was our church's monthly fellowship meal. We had a LOT of food and a lot of people. My sister Mary Ellen and my parents were there, so I had the privilege of eating lunch with them.

Not all of my day was quite to that level of spiritual bliss, however. When I woke up this morning the first thing I did was transfer a big load of white wash over to the dryer. In the process I saw several stubby crayons on the bottom of the washer. Oh, no!! There must have been crayons in one of Destiny's pockets. I searched through every piece of clothes in that load, one piece at a time, looking for any more crayons. I found one - still in one of her pockets. I was absolutely sure there were no more crayons in that load when I started the dryer. BUT!! When I heard the buzzer telling me the load was finished, I began taking it out of the dryer, and immediately saw the horrifying truth. The entire load was ruined by splashes of melted, dried crayons!! The load included every white and tan school uniform piece of Destiny's! I was sick and ready to SCREAM when I saw how bad it was.

I had no time to deal with it then. When we came home from the fellowship meal, I immediately remembered what I had to do this afternoon - instead of that Sunday afternoon nap I was longing for. I looked up ideas on line. I tried WD40, dishwasher detergent, boiling water, a hot iron, etc. - to no avail. While I did that, Dick worked at cleaning the drum of the dryer and the lint screen.

So I called Penneys and Sears to find out if they carry uniforms throughout the school year. Penneys did not, but Sears did. Yeah!! We packed up and headed to the mall where I found school uniform pieces for 50% off!! I was so thankful!

Later we took her home to Reading, stopped for our weekly grocery shopping "date" at a huge Walmart on the way home, where once again, I could not locate the Quaker Quakes, ha, ha!! But that's okay. I've found them lots of places since I first posted about my craving for them. (So have other people. I've had at least three people give me a bag of them since that post!!)

You would think that this week would be easier for me, but unfortunately things have stacked up and waited while I was busy. And everything that was waiting until after my program is now taking place, it seems. And they're not unstacking very well. Tomorrow after school I am scheduled to return the rental mics we used at the program, but we also have staff meeting after school. On Tuesday evening I absolutely want to go to the funeral service of a former student who passed away suddenly on Friday morning, but I also was planning to go to the dinner theatre that our Bible teacher and the eighth grade class are putting on. I don't see how I can miss either one. On Wednesday evening is the monthly singing at the retirement home, then on Thursday I have managed to schedule an ADHD follow-up appointment for Destiny, a foot specialist appointment for me, and a very important VBS leaders meeting all at about the same time. YIKES!!!! Like I said, everything has been stacking up and waiting.

My Spring Program

Yesterday was an exhilirating day for me, from beginning to end. THANK GOD that I got that shot in my heel on Thursday, because I was literally on my feet all day. I still had tired, aching feet, but nothing compared to the intense pain I've been having every time I wore something other than my Reeboks with the orthotic inserts. We had a complete rehearsal in the morning. Dick was there to work out the bugs in the new sound system. At 1:00 we had the first program, and at 7:00 the second one.

Since I usually go for Destiny after school on Fridays I had had to work something else out. I wanted her to be there to see the program, so I had asked Sam if he would be willing to go to Reading after work and get her and bring her to the program. He willingly did it for me, but I don't know how willingly he'll do it again. She was as high as a kite the minute they got there, and on top of that I had given him my camera to take pictures for me. Between that and watching her, and imagining that everyone around him assumed she was his ill-behaved child, I think it was more than enough to send any single uncle over the edge. Bless his heart. But he did get pictures - when Destiny wasn't trying to insist on using the camera herself. (All the pictures are clickable.)

We started with prelude music half an hour before starting time, first with my worship team instrumentalists, then the 1st and 2nd grade bell choir, pictured above.

We opened the program with the worship team leading the audience in Sing to the King, complete with flags. Following that Mass Chorus (the entire school) sang three tremendous praise and worship songs. I got seriously choked up in the afternoon as they sang Jeremy Riddle's Stand in Awe in beautiful three-part harmony. (I guess Sam didn't have the camera during that time!)

Primary Chorus did three lively numbers, including some amazing solos.

Middle School Chorus completely wowed the audience with four amazing pieces, The Light of That City, Little Innocent Lamb, On the Third Day, and He Never Failed Me Yet, with Hannah Metzler's incredible solo.

The main feature of the evening was the musical that grades 3-5 did, The Slingshot Heard 'Round the World, an unforgettable retelling of the story of David and Goliath. It had to be one of the funniest musicals we've ever done. In the picture above we were singing a fun song, Go, Go, Goliath.

In the musical Goliath has four hilarious brothers, GoRilla, GoFigure, GoTee, and GoFish, each with very distinct personality and appearance. At one point their "wives" came out to the battle field to jeer at little David, as they did the song "Dave, Dave, Davy, Goodbye" to a very fifties sound. One man told me afterward it was to the tune of a song from his teen years called, "Toot, Toot, Tootsie, Goodbye." I had no idea.

David's brother and King Saul tried to talk David out of fighting Goliath, but David could not be swayed. Since he had already taken on a lion and a bear, he knew he could take care of Goliath.

The ring announcer (red bow tie) did a bang-up job announcing the "match" between Goliath and David. He had everyone in stitches. To me the best part of the show was after the ring master finished, David stood there facing Goliath with his slingshot and proclaimed that while Goliath comes with sword and spear, he was coming in the Name of the Lord our God. He said it with such strength and conviction, it gave me tears.
We had people in even more stitches at the evening program. After Goliath fell, I asked, "Is there an undertaker in the house?" Our third grade teacher, who works part-time for an undertaker, came on stage in a black trench coat, checked Goliath's body for signs of life, took his black hat off and held it to his heart, then took a measuring tape out of his briefcase, measured Goliath's length (I guess undertakers do that to get the right casket size!), covered Goliath with a sheet, put a bouquet of flowers on top of him, then directed my stage crew guys to drag him off the stage. On the stage we had put a vinyl thing that Dick's brother uses to drag his deer out of the mountains when he goes hunting. Goliath conveniently landed on top of it. Everyone was just screaming laughing.
Back to a more serious moment in the song You Get Tall When You Fall on Your Knees, which started with a beautiful solo by "David." That boy has tremendous potential for future productions.

The finale ended with a raucous proclamation that God gets all the honor and praise!