'Cast your bread upon the water'... then something along the lines of it will come back to you multiplied? ...sounds Biblical, but don't know the precise location:
I'm sure we could 'google-it' and get chapter and verse. But my interpretation (totally unqualified scholar that I am with things from 2000 + years ago) is that the good you do comes back... maybe not in ways you expected, but the 'secret' to That is to Not Expect.
So: A Big 'Thankyou' to all the people who thought we had fallen off the edge of the planet (like those ancient maps from the 1500's where the cartographer would note 'there be dragons here' when they got to completely uncharted territory, whole oceans and continents 'undiscovered' by the WASP population). I had not sent out holiday greetings in a couple of years to lots of folk I used to be so connected with, who somehow got dropped from regular (if infrequent) communication.
The investment in copying and postage paid off. Paul has enjoyed hearing from people who have called to say 'it was sooo good to get your family news...'
Wish I had been smart/forward thinking enough to include a phone number and email address with the annual Sanders Family Gazette, since the world (specifically daughters) largely left me in the dust with their ability to communicate electronically... I don't do the text thing: Man! How Tedious!
But I do want to hear from folks and promise to send 'friendly letters' (remember eighth grade letter writing exercises?) and cards, notes to those who will make the effort to keep in touch... for the rest of you... just keep reading the blog...
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Friday, December 25, 2009
Counting Blessings
Though the things I am thankful for are too numerous to actually enumerate, there are lots of reasons...
Waking up knowing both my girls are here, under the same roof.
Francina and roommate Frannie came down from Decatur yesterday, early afternoon. (Then the crazy people went shopping: had a last minute project that caused them to get out in the worst traffic in town... better them than me: since I had not even started gift wrapping and could not put it off any longer.) We had pizza and went to an early church service at 4:00.
A good problem to have is that our congregation has gotten so big, we cannot all meet at one time. We normally have two services on Sunday morning, and there was such a crowd for Christmas Eve last year, we would not all 'fit'. I guess the planners were hoping the early rising crowd on Sunday mornings would be the early shift for Christmas Eve, but there was not an empty seat in the house at 4 o'clock, and expect the 6 o'clock was full too.
Paula had to work till 5:00, so it was after 6:00 before they left TN, and got here about 10:00, reporting it rained hard the whole way. But they (including the Gwen, the wonder dog) arrived safely... and we continued the 'tradition' Francina insisted upon of opening a gift before bed.
I apparently over-estimated the size of the stockings hanging on the mantle, and have 'way more stuffers than will actually 'stuff', so I can either get out the tape and wrapping paper again, or just give it to them in the K-mart bag. But I Will be able to walk into the closet not stumble over over-flowing bags of stuff becasue they are taking it All with them
We are here. Together. I am thankful.
Even in the dark outside, and I am pretty sure it is still raining buckets:
'I know the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and God is good.'
Right here in the wee hours of Christmas morning, waiting for dawn in the season of hope.
Waking up knowing both my girls are here, under the same roof.
Francina and roommate Frannie came down from Decatur yesterday, early afternoon. (Then the crazy people went shopping: had a last minute project that caused them to get out in the worst traffic in town... better them than me: since I had not even started gift wrapping and could not put it off any longer.) We had pizza and went to an early church service at 4:00.
A good problem to have is that our congregation has gotten so big, we cannot all meet at one time. We normally have two services on Sunday morning, and there was such a crowd for Christmas Eve last year, we would not all 'fit'. I guess the planners were hoping the early rising crowd on Sunday mornings would be the early shift for Christmas Eve, but there was not an empty seat in the house at 4 o'clock, and expect the 6 o'clock was full too.
Paula had to work till 5:00, so it was after 6:00 before they left TN, and got here about 10:00, reporting it rained hard the whole way. But they (including the Gwen, the wonder dog) arrived safely... and we continued the 'tradition' Francina insisted upon of opening a gift before bed.
I apparently over-estimated the size of the stockings hanging on the mantle, and have 'way more stuffers than will actually 'stuff', so I can either get out the tape and wrapping paper again, or just give it to them in the K-mart bag. But I Will be able to walk into the closet not stumble over over-flowing bags of stuff becasue they are taking it All with them
We are here. Together. I am thankful.
Even in the dark outside, and I am pretty sure it is still raining buckets:
'I know the sun is shining, the sky is blue, and God is good.'
Right here in the wee hours of Christmas morning, waiting for dawn in the season of hope.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
'thankful' for a remarkably dull life...
I don't have anything to report, but it you want to appreciate how dull your life is, you should take a look at Paula's blog for today. Look at www.theadventuresofstinkysweet.com, and scroll down to the 'december' page, look up the one for Dec.3, telling you about all the fun she did not have at work on Tuesday.
Gives you one/40 more things to be thankful for, don't it!!??
Gives you one/40 more things to be thankful for, don't it!!??
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Today in Kindergarten...
I have been perusing the production of the primary blogger in the family, and see that there seems to be some sort of issue directly related to people who do not participate on a regular (daily) basis.
So here I am, with other things that need doing, putting in my keyboard time.
I (accidently) had a sub. teaching job today. I was sitting in my pj's at nearly 8:00 this morning, checking the email situation, when the phone rang. I was so sure it was not sub offer, I answered to discover a need for a para-pro. sub. in a classroom at the one elementary school in town I have never been in. It's a fairly new school, up on the north side of town, so (not meaning to sound prejudiced or biased:) I knew it would be a relatively agreeable situation.
When I got there I found that there had been a sub. in the class the day before, who had apparently turned the job for today back into the computer-search system, which explains why I got a call so late in the cycle. (The computer usually starts calling, looking for replacements at 6 am, and will continue to call until all the slots have been filled, or 9:00 which ever comes first).
The teacher was telling me that the school board has decided to let all the first grade and Kindergarten para-pros go the end of the year. Maybe a few will stay on, depending on education/longevity to serve as 'floaters'. The pre-K paras. are paid with lottery money, so their jobs are apparently safe.
All this means that the administrators will continue to sit behind big, wide desks on their big, wide behinds in the brand new $50 million admin. building, collecting their big, fat checks while completely isolated from the classrooms and educational needs of the community. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.
I am thankful I am not looking work. I am very thankful I am not thinking about looking for work as an educator. I've long believed that substitute teaching is probably the most thankless job on the planet, with a very close second being a school bus driver.
And don't even want to think about the direction our educational system, therefore society is headed in. I am very thankful mine are 'all growed up', or as my elderly friend used to say: 'saucered and blowed'.
A number of years ago I made the surprising discovery the world economy is based on 'greed'. It is sad to see our public schools in the situation they are, and looking even more dismal for the future, and see what administrators are paid... while wondering what they actually do. I know there is some risk involved in being willing to be 'the buck stops here' guy, but when the people on the front lines, in the classrooms trying to instill character and values, in addition to basic educational skills in the next generation are not getting the support they need: it's a sorry situation.
So here I am, with other things that need doing, putting in my keyboard time.
I (accidently) had a sub. teaching job today. I was sitting in my pj's at nearly 8:00 this morning, checking the email situation, when the phone rang. I was so sure it was not sub offer, I answered to discover a need for a para-pro. sub. in a classroom at the one elementary school in town I have never been in. It's a fairly new school, up on the north side of town, so (not meaning to sound prejudiced or biased:) I knew it would be a relatively agreeable situation.
When I got there I found that there had been a sub. in the class the day before, who had apparently turned the job for today back into the computer-search system, which explains why I got a call so late in the cycle. (The computer usually starts calling, looking for replacements at 6 am, and will continue to call until all the slots have been filled, or 9:00 which ever comes first).
The teacher was telling me that the school board has decided to let all the first grade and Kindergarten para-pros go the end of the year. Maybe a few will stay on, depending on education/longevity to serve as 'floaters'. The pre-K paras. are paid with lottery money, so their jobs are apparently safe.
All this means that the administrators will continue to sit behind big, wide desks on their big, wide behinds in the brand new $50 million admin. building, collecting their big, fat checks while completely isolated from the classrooms and educational needs of the community. There is something seriously wrong with this picture.
I am thankful I am not looking work. I am very thankful I am not thinking about looking for work as an educator. I've long believed that substitute teaching is probably the most thankless job on the planet, with a very close second being a school bus driver.
And don't even want to think about the direction our educational system, therefore society is headed in. I am very thankful mine are 'all growed up', or as my elderly friend used to say: 'saucered and blowed'.
A number of years ago I made the surprising discovery the world economy is based on 'greed'. It is sad to see our public schools in the situation they are, and looking even more dismal for the future, and see what administrators are paid... while wondering what they actually do. I know there is some risk involved in being willing to be 'the buck stops here' guy, but when the people on the front lines, in the classrooms trying to instill character and values, in addition to basic educational skills in the next generation are not getting the support they need: it's a sorry situation.
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