In Two Weeks

Since my last post on June 8:

1. Two of my friends got baptized. One of them was even recommended by two of our pastors to follow the calling of full-time ministry. What an honour, even if that might not be the path of his choice.

2. A defamatory article in one local newspaper marred the image of my school and my administrators. The backlash of this article came in the form of overwhelming support for our administrators and a stronger, positive staff culture.

3. The person who gave information to the newspapers confessed to me. We talked about forgiveness and perspective.

4. My sister and I attended her first and my third Cirque du Soleil show -- Corteo. My favourite acts included a human trapeze act (He-Man would look puny standing next to the male performers) and the floating midget. I don't know if that's the PC term for it, but the female midget floated on four giant balloons into the audience. A ringleader encouraged audience members to help her stay afloat and the laughs ensued from her reaction to people pushing her in uncomfortable and sometimes scary ways.

5. During Father's Day, we had dinner at a Chinese restaurant that took too many reservations. Many patrons, including all of us at our table, sat on folding chairs and extra tables, including ours, were set up where there should have been walking paths. The food was good, but I forget how busy Mother's Day and Father's Day can get at restaurants.

6. VBS is looming and I still haven't done a thing.

7. Report cards are finally done. Now on to transition papers, class lists, personal record cards, and inventory while still providing service to my ESL and autistic students. Lately, two of my high-needs kids have been throwing tantrums on a daily basis. The latest one occurred because the teacher wanted to show Shrek 2 in class and since my student already owns it, she didn't want to see it again "because I could watch it anytime I want and I want to watch a different movie!" Spoiled? Not if you're autistic.

8. I've been hired for a summer school position. I struggled with accepting the job, but I was given only one hour to decide. To accept meant increasing my seniority and having income during the summer that I otherwise wouldn't have, except through EI. But, I had applied last month and was rejected two weeks after my application. I changed my mindset to holidaying with my hubby, babysitting my neighbour's adorable son, spending time with my parents, hanging out with my sister before she leaves for China for one month, welcoming my godchild, tutoring, concentrating on VBS, and doing odds and ends around the house. Because this year is the first year that summer school is free, there are more applicants than there are programs, so extra teachers have to be hired and I was next on the list after a few other rejected applicants turned down the offer. It doesn't help that I found out I'll be teaching reading, writing, and math to Grade 6-7 students who have an inner-city mentality. I hate to say that I regret taking the job when I haven't even started it yet, but I regret even more that I'm not very good at saying no to people.

9. My garden grew! This my very first and humble garden. I plan to plant more soon, but I wanted to start small because I didn't quite know what I was doing.













Before (May 26):



















After (June 20):