Diet Coke Disaster

It was a Diet Coke Disaster in this household last night. I needed something to drink (and, though I'm trying to get in at least 64 ounces of water daily, I still *need* that Diet Coke!), and grabbed a pop from the pantry. Well, in one fluid motion, my arm went up, fingers releasing and accidentally dropping the pop can, and the pop can hit the floor on the precise edge of the can.

Diet Coke sprayed *everywhere*. I mean e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. All over me, my clothes, the pantry, the cabinets, the fridge even! Disastrous!

At least the floor got a much needed, much overdo mopping!!

My Bumper's Back...

To the tune of The Angels' 1963 classic:

My bumper's back and I'm going to get some sleep,
hey la day la my bumper's back!

After traveling for a couple of days, we discovered that some babies have their blankies - Grant has his bumper. To go to sleep, he literally buries his face in it and hugs it to himself. When I go in to check on him at night, he's moved all over the crib, but is still almost always hugging the bumper.

So, with out his bumper, he had a hard time sleeping. It took the better part of the entire evening 2 nights in a row to get him to sleep and stay asleep. Thank goodness for an old vibrating massage pad my mother-in-law had! When placed underneath the leg of the pack-n-play, the Boy was out in T-minus-2 minutes flat! Whew!

But, thankfully, we're back home, and the bumper is back.

(For anyone wondering what the bumper looks like - here it is.)

Pureed to Perfection!

So, when we were planning on adopting, I read about making your own baby food. I was intrigued, so I read more, and more, and am now doing it for Grant! It's SO easy, WAY more economical, and I LOVE doing it. I puree vegetables with breastmilk, and I *really* like the fact that he's getting the extra breastmilk mixed in with his solids.

I started making his baby food about 5-6 weeks ago, storing it up in the freezer. I started with sweet potato, and now have apples, broccoli, pear, and banana frozen in baby-sized portions. Here's how it works:

You cook the fruit or veggie, then blend it with some added breastmilk or water (or formula).


Then, when it's the perfect puree consistency, you pour it in ice cube trays to freeze.



Then, when the cubes are frozen, you can pop them out and put them into a freezer bag. That way, they're ready to grab and thaw when needed!! It's as easy as that!

Happy 4th of July!

Okay, so, it's now July 16th and I'm wishing you a happy 4th - but, the pictures are still good.

Some New Pictures...

So, if anyone is actually reading this (sometimes you start to wonder if you're talking to yourself in Cyber-land), here are some recent pictures.

The Funnel Cake!

Did you know that it can take *days* to track down the camera cord and a fresh battery for the camera? It's a fact.

After finding those 2 things, here are the promised funnel cake pictures!

Here's one of Grant looking distressed over not being able to eat it!

And another of Matt, mid-bite!

Late-Night Loopy-ness

I'm tired (I have a 5-month-old - I've been tired since January 10th! ) But, I just gotta say - if I'm allowed to comment on my own blog - that I love all of my emoticon. Here are a few of my favorites that I just couldn't get worked into a normal post (I tried!)

Early 4th Festivities

The small town near us puts on early 4th festivities every year, and after we heard about the street fair that happens, we decided to check it out. It was so fun! Very quaint and patriotic - booths lined the streets of downtown - games for the kids were out, bounce houses, live music, and - the best! - we got our first elephant ear of the summer!

I personally like funnel cakes better, but I'm not going to complain about the elephant ear! (For those of you wondering, yes, I'm still dieting, but took today off! ) Pictures to come of the elephant ear!

We had the best seats in the house, too, for the fireworks this evening - our back patio! Put Grant to bed, and a couple of hours later, sat outside on the patio watching fireworks. Our neighbor came over and we had a nice chat with him during the fireworks, which were actually a pretty good show for just a small town deal.

It felt like summer, today - elephant ears, pulled pork sandwiches, and small-town fireworks - gotta love life in the Midwest!

Sound Asleep!

I walked into Grant's room tonight to check on him, and found him sound asleep - like this! He won't be able to fit like that much longer!!

It's the Dairy Fairy!

So, when Grant was 1 month old we figured out that my eating dairy products was causing his severe reflux. (He had been seriously throwing up and screaming at every feeding prior to figuring this out). So, since then, I've had very little dairy. :/ I miss my Marble Slab, but it's SO worth it for no more throw up!

Anyway, I've decided when I'm done breastfeeding, we're going to host a Dairy Fairy party, as the dairy fairy can return to our household, finally! Cheesecake, nachos, brownies, all of it will be mine! :-) You're all invited, of course! ;-)

First Father's Day!

We had a wonderful First Father's Day here in the Midwest. Grant gave Matt a Home Depot gift card - so that Matt can build him toys. :-) After church we went to my brother's house, where we enjoyed a leisurely afternoon with my brother and his wife and son, their dog, our dog, and my parents. After 3 years of waiting to wish Matt a Happy Father's Day, it was the perfect first.

Old Friends

It feels great to hear from some of our old friends again. We miss our "Dallas" friends, along with all of you who've moved away. We think of you often, and pray for you when the Lord brings you to mind.

Just a quick update for those of you with whom we haven't chatted lately - here's a top list of what's happened in our lives.

1) Moved to Iowa after graduating from Dallas Seminary.
2) Had a rather difficult experience there, learned a lot, but glad we're gone. :-)
3) When I was 28 weeks pregnant, we moved back to Indiana, where Matt accepted an associate position at a church plant.
4) Moved to our new home right before Christmas, at around 32 weeks pregnant. I highly recommend against moving while pregnant, just FYI!
5) Had Grant 3 weeks later!

And,
6) are enjoying life back in the Midwest. I'm such a city girl, and living in small-town Iowa was *not* for me. I need to be 5 minutes from Starbucks and 15 minutes from Ann Taylor Loft. I need Target close and the grocery closer.

We feel extraordinarily blessed by the Lord to be living here, so close to family, in a beautiful house and ministering at a church that's wonderful to us. I came across this verse 4 years ago in Dallas, when we were grieving the loss of pregnancies, and it's still very dear to my heart - and very fitting for our lives.

Isaiah 25:1
"O LORD , you are my God; I will exalt you and praise your name, for in perfect faithfulness you have done marvelous things, things planned long ago."

Welcome!

To keep our pictures more safe, I made the blog private and invited readers to join. So, if you're finding your way here for the first time, or the first time in awhile, welcome!

I'm trying to keep this current with what's happening with us, so happy reading! And, I love comments, so feel free to post! :-)

Pictures!

Friday Fever!

It's Friday!

Even though being a SAHM doesn't provide the same type of regular work-week as working outside the home, Fridays still have that same feeling to them! The sun is shining, the weather's nice, the baby's sleeping...what a nice afternoon!

Here are some random thoughts of mine on this sunny Friday afternoon:

1) We had a wonderful weekend visiting Matt's family as his little brother graduated from high school. It was fun to spend so much time with them, and for them to see Grant so much. Being around high schoolers, though, made me miss teaching even more. I LOVE being at home with Grant, but I miss teaching. My heart will forever be in the classroom. I'm trying to remind myself, though, of the late nights grading papers, preparing worksheets, making out tests, and dealing with endless make-up work.

2) I am only 3.8 pounds away from my pre-The Boy weight! Probably another 3 - 5 pounds after that, though, that I'll want to lose. Whew! I'm tired of this losing weight stuff! I just want to maintain!

3) I've really been getting to know one of our neighbors, M. She's *ultra* nice. We went out to lunch at Panera yesterday, and I treated her as a pre-baby gift. :-) (She's having a planned cesarean on Monday). Well, last night Matt was walking Lizzie (our dog) for the last "outing" of the night around 10, and M.was walking by to put a thank-you note in our mailbox. She's SO sweet.

4) The former said neighbor, M, and her husband, didn't find out the gender of the baby she's having Monday. So, we're all eagerly awaiting the news. So much anticipation! Though I don't think Matt and I could ever *not* find out, it IS exciting!!

5) I have GOT to start running more and running longer. I have determined to find a race in August or September and sign up for it to keep myself motivated. (Along with the 5K I'm doing with my mother over 4th-of-July. Mom, that's only like, 3 weeks! )

6) Do you like all of my smiley faces? I for sure do!

7) I have become quite adept at typing with one hand, while the other hand is either pushing the swing or holding The Boy.

8) Our said dog, Lizzie, has officially gone off-her-rocker. Last night around 1 a.m., I heard her click-click-clicking,walking on the tile in our master bath, where we have a water bowl for her. I had forgotten to refill it before I went to bed, and, sure enough, she was thirsty at 1 in the morning. She barked at her bowl, and I lied (laid? I can never get it right) in bed, trying to ignore it. So, the dog ran downstairs, and I faintly heard her paws click-click-clicking on the tile in the kitchen, drinking out of her water bowl there. She never came back up, though, so I had to get up, call for her, and shut the bedroom door. While I was up, I refilled her water bowl in our bathroom, of which she proceeded to drink 1/2 of. What in the world makes the dog so incredibly thirsty at 1 in the morning?

8) I'm working on organizing our house, one closet at a time! WHERE is all of this stuff coming from? I just took 3 huge bags of stuff to Goodwill. I think the stuff multiplies itself.

9) Speaking of which, I'm off to organize our dining-room-turned-craft room. :-)

10) Did anyone notice there are 2 number 8's?

Have a great weekend! And, stay tuned for new pictures of The Boy soon!

Crazy Sunday!

I am exhausted. We've had like, 5 nights in a row where we haven't gotten to bed before midnight, and The Boy was awake for 3 of those nights at 4 a.m. Uggh. He slept better last night, so at least I slept from midnight until 6:30, but I'm still exhausted.

And church this morning was just a disaster. The Boy spit up a TON - the 2 bites of ice cream I had Friday night were 2 bites too many. He was spitting up chunks the whole time before the service started as I was trying to chat with different women. Now, the women who had kids were totally okay with it, but there were a couple of women who were looking at me like, can't she get that kid under control? I mean, I'm talking MAJOR spit up - chunks all down my shirt, skirt, legs, and all over the floor. It totally doesn't phase me any more, but I guess if you're not used to it you'd be grossed out.

So, he was doing that everywhere, and then I put him in the carseat on the chair in the sanctuary, and some little kid ran into the chair, knocked the car seat off, and Grant fell out and hit his cheek, and of course started screaming. This was like, 2 minutes before the service was supposed to start, so the sanctuary was packed and everyone turns and stares at me, with spit-up chunks still down my Ann Taylor skirt. It was just nuts. I wanted to go home right then.

Here's hoping that that doesn't set the tone of the week!

Reverse

That seems to be the direction we're going in with The Boy, at least as far as his sleeping habits are concerned! He's been a terrific sleeper pretty much since day 1, giving us 4 hours at night from one-week-old. From about 2 months he was sleeping from 11 p.m. until 6 a.m., and it's just gradually lengthened since then. For the past 4 weeks he had regularly been sleeping from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m., eating, and then going back to sleep until 8:30 or 9.

Until this past week. He's been awaking at 4 a.m. to eat for the past 5 nights. He's STARVING, too - takes him 25 minutes to eat! (He can eat in about 10 during the day!) So, last night I tried to "dream feed" him before I went to bed at 10, hoping to make him sleep longer. Well, the reverse happened - he woke earlier and more! He woke up 2x, both for like 45 minutes a time.

And, when the Mom didn't go to bed until 1 a.m., it makes for a short night and a dazed mommy! Hopefully he'll nap well so I can, too!

Zzzz's

The Boy needs his Z's! He was tired when we got home from church early this afternoon, so we put him in - where else? - his swing to take a nap. Well, he slept in that swing for 4 1/2 hours!! We kept waiting for him to wake up, but he just slept and slept and slept. He then took an early evening nap, and then went down for the night at about 7:30. Growth spurt?

Dos Minutos

When running Day2 of Week 5 this evening, I started thinking about the dichotomy of time. Yes, a second is always the same length, but can often feel longer or shorter depending on the circumstance.

2 minutes. Sometimes it's an eternity, sometimes it's the blink of an eye.

When finishing the last 2 minutes of a Couch-to-5K running segment, it's an eternity. When lying in bed, savoring the last few moments before I have to get up in the middle of the night to feed The Boy, it's lightening fast.

I am often thankful that time never speeds up or slows down. Before going to an event I'm dreading, I repeat to myself, "12 hours, and it will all be over." It's then a blessing that time never changes.

However, as I'm drudging along, trying to finish my last couple of minutes of running, I wouldn't mind if time would at least just slightly speed up.


P.S. FYI, for the references to running, check this link out:

http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Pacifiers Needed

Who knew that The Boy would become a pacifier-crazed baby over the last 2 weeks? Standing in the aisle at Target, elbow-deep in rows of pacifiers, I realized that I have been branded by the Mommy iron. Because, of course the Boy has to have a certain kind of paci - or pluggie as Daddy calls them. Not just the cheap-o brand will do - oh, no, we have to have the Mam blue, sparkly, silicone-tipped pacifier. And, because I love this kiddo so much, I'll gladly be elbow-deep in the pacifier aisle, making sure I have the right type.

A cold, rainy day here in the Midwest! We awoke this morning to the workers arriving earlier than scheduled - around 7:30 instead of 8. We had gone to bed late last night, so 7:30 was early! (Even though I had already been up with The Boy a couple of times during the night!)

We have lots of family coming in this weekend, so I'm off to organize and clean and organize and clean some more!

Here's a new favorite picture:

Head Down!

At my 32-week appointment yesterday, we found out that Baby W. is officially head down and ready to go! :-) Our OB did say, though, that she's occasionally been wrong about baby's being head down -- and laughingly said that some babies have pretty firm bottoms! :-)

Matt and I will hopefully close on our house Friday, which means Friday night will be our first night in our first house! :-) We're very excited. Baby W.'s room will be the first room painted. :-)

A Pain in the...

BACK!!! Argh! About 3 days ago I awoke to horrendous back pain in the middle of the night, and it hasn't gone away since then! :/ It's worse when I sit for a long period of time, or when I sleep. I'm going to try to pick up a heating pad tomorrow to see if that will help. :/

Matt bought me a body pillow yesterday, though, and that was a miracle to sleep with! SOO Much better!! I highly recommend it to other pregnant women!

Off to do school work!

97 Days!!

So, my computer counts down the days until my EDD, and I just saw that it's now saying 97 days! I remember when I was counting down days until our wedding, I was so excited to reach 2-digits. Now, I'm excited, but when I read "97 days" it causes a small amount of panic, too! Eek! Only 97 more days until we'll meet, have met, or be close to meeting Baby W. (who is still name-less!)

Team Blue!

So, we found out last Friday that we joined Team Blue! It's a boy for us!

Here's a picture taken at the doctor's office, right after we found out it's a boy! And, here's one of the first shirts I bought for The Boy. Isn't it adorable? He'll look so much like his Daddy!

Middle-of-the-Night Musings

1. After not having a firecall in almost a month, we were awakened to the pager buzzing at 1:30 in the morning. Matt rushed around the house trying to find clothes, put contacts in, etc, while I tried to wake up enough to help him. I found his thermals for him, considering the wind chill is
-2 out right now!

I've been surfing the web and listening to the scanner for the past hour-and-a-half, and just heard that the department is back now. Hopefully he'll be home soon.

2. A new Wal-Mart opened here recently, and presumably to attract business, their gas prices are LOW. We filled up for $1.93 and would've gotten 5 cents of that if we had a Wal-Mart card. (Whatever that is). We almost bought a gas can just to fill up! Haven't seen it under 2 bucks recently.

3. Lizzie now has all of her puppy shots! Yay! Thanks to a super sweet, semi-retired vet who's in the office in the mornings just because he loves it. :-)

Okay, hopefully the pager will stay silent for the rest of the night...Sleep Well!

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better? What City Do You Belong In?

I found this fun quiz about what city should I live in, so I thought it would be fun to post! I like their analysis: "You're a big city girl with a small town heart." :-)

What a Cutie!

When Lizzie's really listening to or watching something, her right ear stands up. Cute!

Visits With Old Friends...

We left this past Monday to visit our friends Mike & Rachel and their son Jonathan. They live north of Chicago and are preparing to leave for Thailand to be missionaries. (They're hoping to leave next fall). So, we're trying to squeeze in as many visits with them as possible before they leave.

We hadn't seen their son, Jonathan, since he was about a month old, so it was a lot of fun to play with him!! Here he is in his special fireman outfit worn just for Matt.

Back in the Saddle Again!

Or, should I say, back on the other side of the desk again!

Monday I'll start a very part-time Spanish teaching position at a local Christian school. (And in local, I mean local: it's about 3 minutes from our house!) It's one-class-a-day, 4-days-a-week, and I'm through-the-roof excited! It feels great to break out my Spanish supplies again: lesson planning, here I come!

I'll keep you posted on how it goes! I'm trying to be a better blogger!

It's Blustery!

It's a blustery day here in the Midwest! Snow is on the ground, the wind is blowing, and the smell of a wood stove is permeating our house. My last post I mentioned that there's almost no other profession I love as much as teaching. Well, today is one of those days that makes me love my current profession as a stay-at-home-wife. Being able to get up, make hot chocolate, have supper in the crockpot, and just generally not have to go out in the cold is fabulous! Though I LOVE teaching, and hopefully will be able to do some part-time work soon, being able to stay at home, love my husband and enjoy being a wife is even better than being in my classroom.

So, bring on the hot chocolate, baby! The low is 10 here tonight! As my dad would say, it's going to be brisk!

The Greatest Profession Ever

When you teach, there are days, and then there are The Days. They're the ones where your lesson plans are clicking, students are interacting, and the classes are clicking along. On those days, when I'm in my classroom doing this thing called teaching, it's almost a rush. To have my students learning Spanish, laughing with me---the days when teaching almost seems effortless, those are the days that I absolutely love my chosen profession.

Yes, there are the frustrations, and, yes, if you listened to me complain sometimes you would wonder if I actually enjoyed my job, but overall, teaching is just the best profession there is. To have even a small impact on a young person's life, what more could I want to do? To be able to teach my student some Spanish, give them a positive idea of learning, and to encourage them to be positive, constructive citizens in this world...there is almost no other profession I could love more.

Check back soon for the almost clarification.

Back-to-School!

Though it often comes too early and too soon, the start of a new school year holds a special excitement and anticipation that only a teacher can fully appreciate. I'll try to describe the feeling for all of you non-educators!

You leave your classroom in June, feeling tired, impatient, slightly cynical and just all-around cranky from the previous school year. 180 days with 15-year-olds is enough to leave any teacher having white-sand and crystal water visions! So, the green grading pens are put away, teacher manual's stored, and the classroom locked up.

Then comes the special bliss of summer -- sleeping in, staying up late, and being creative for creativity sake, not the student's sake. Flexible schedules, no deadlines, and leisurely lunches invigorate a tired teacher. Summer projects are completed (or put on the list for next summer!), and the fresh summer days are breathed in deeply.

And then, that day in August comes, when you walk back into the school building. As the car is parked, you view the building with fresh eyes. Even the building itself seems excited: the smell of fresh paint lingers through the hallways and the freshly-waxed floors gleam.

Teachers greet each-other with smiles that were virtually non-existent 3 months previously, administrators start meetings with a positive plan for the new academic year, and curriculum is creatively planned. Anticipation builds as teachers get ready for the new year.

A fresh optimism fills the hallways as teachers count-down the days until students will, once again, flood into the builidng. Break out those grading pens, baby! A new school year, here we go!

Burn Out

Last week the count-down began. Before the bell rang, I caught a conversation between 2 students, both seniors. They were discussing whether or not the count-down to summer (and, more importantly, graduation!) should include weekends - and both felt strongly about their personal method of counting, with the countdown updated weekly in their planners with cute markers and stickers. I just smiled and continued my "6-minute-shuffle," the time I have to organize, sort, and stack between classes.

Inside, though, I thought "Woo-hoo!" only 52 (or 70-something, depending on your method!) days left!! Visions of leisurely mornings, followed by afternoons by the pool, filled my brain. The 6-letter word that's a teacher's motivation this time of year: summer.

I love my job. However, the late-nights, the continual pressure of school-work on your mind, and the never-ending to-do lists wear on even the best of educators after 9 months of school stresses. If you're not in education you may have problems understanding the constant pressure that weighs on the mind of a teacher, but if you could learn even a fraction about life From the Other Side of the Desk, you would understand.

Almost three years ago, when I was embarking on this journey of education, I talked with one of my now dear friends, who had previously taught in a year-round school in California. At first I thought it was utterly crazy, but after talking more with her, and after three years of this concept steeping in my teacher-crazed lifestyle, I wonder if, perhaps, year-round school isn't quite as out there as I originally thought.

The basic concept (scheduling the school days with more smller and more frequent breaks through out the year as opposed to the one major summer-time break) is radically different. And, in fact, that's one reason why year-round scheduling fails in school districts---it's simply to hard to go against the ingrained, traditional school schedule. However, is the tradional method always the best method?

There are a myriad of supposed problems-economic, scheduling, funding, support-the list goes on. I don't want to debate the advantages or disadvantages (if you're that interested, just google it). I just want to propose one simple idea: would I be a better educator in a year-round school?

I think, perhaps, I would be. For the longest period of time a teacher in most year-round school district teaches with out at least a week-long break is six weeks. With a year-round schedule, every time that I, professionally, felt tired and needed a break, I would have one! There would be no long-haul, hard-core push from spring break until summer. More frequent breaks translates into fresher teacher AND fresher students, which would help motivation and classroom management.

I LOVE summer. The thought of giving it up is terrifying. However, if I hadn't just pushed myself to the max for the previous 180 days, would I need the summer so desperately? If I had frequent breaks from my classroom, would I need 2 1/2 months of so badly? If I were able to frequently escape the pressures from my classroom, would I be so worn-out by the end of the year?

Hypothetical, I know - I'm not likely to teach in a year-round district. At this point in the school year - only one grading period left - an educator can't help but wonder what would help prevent exhaustion. Tell me what you think.

As for now, I leave you with this quip:

"Teachers love summer as much as parents love fall."

Never Dull!!!

Teaching 15-year-olds is never dull, and I think you could teach for 30+ years and still be surprised. Though I've only taught for 3 years, here are 2 semi-funny, semi-inappropriate for the classroom, yet true, stories that happened this past week.

The first comes from my own classroom--between classes last week, a student wrote an anatomically inappropriate word in huge letters on my chalkboard. (And when I say written on the board, it was in 4 foot letters across the entire chalkboard). When I walked into my classroom and saw it, I tried to remain calm and just casually erased it as the class was slightly snickering. When I stepped out in to the hallway for a moment later that class and came back in, the word was written again, this time spelled in smaller letters, but still spelled incorrectly! I just tried to ignore it and continued the class.

After finding out who wrote it, I talked with the assistant principal about the kind of funny, but still inappropriate word for a Spanish classroom!! The principal laughed and told me to just ask the student why she did it, and then the principal told me this similar story that came from a recent biology class...

The biology class was doing group presentations, and one group (of nice, but boisterous students )chose Tourettes Syndrome as their topic. Their opening statement, and their opening Powerpoint slide said, "Tourettes Syndrome: What the F*** is it?"

Nice, eh? Ah, the life of a highschool teacher - - - sometimes, a little more boring would be nice!

More to Life...

Sometimes my classroom becomes larger than life. In the daily-ness of working with teenagers, with all of their drama and issues, sometimes teachers can begin to think that their one class is more important than it actually is. I can quickly become irritated with why students don’t have their homework done or why struggling students don’t come in to my tutoring times for help. I can easily become cut-and-dry with classroom guidelines and policies and easily justify my firmness. I can easily see my students as just “my 3rd period class” as a whole instead of 30 individual teenagers who are each struggling with their own identities, their own families, their own lives.

Occasionally, though, I get a chance to step back from my classroom and am offered a glimpse into the life of a student. Sometimes it will come in the form of a note from a parent or a visit with the student’s counselor. Today, however, 2 students gave me a glimpse into their lives by just being themselves.

This morning a sweet, though slightly immature student from my 7th period class came to talk with me before school. I really like this student—his sense of humor is sharp and his easy laugh keeps the class interesting. (I did have to tell him recently, though, to stop throwing paper airplanes into the ceiling!) This student came in and just talked with me, and I could tell that he wanted something from me. Well, he suddenly handed me a card and said, “Senora, this is for you,” and quickly left. I opened the card to find that he had written me, apologizing for his grade the past 6 weeks, telling me that he liked my class, and asking if there were any way his grade could change. He than thanked me for “considering the request.” Right then I realized that here was this sweet, though boisterous teenager, who couldn’t quite figure out Spanish, but was nice enough to hand write me a letter pleading his case.

The second glimpse into my students’ as individuals came today between classes. A student of mine, who moved to Dallas and entered my class only a month ago, saw me in the hallway and stopped and said hi. I had no idea what he would then tell me: a month ago today, his mother passed away for sudden heart failure. He and his brother had to move to Dallas to live with their aunt, their only surviving relative.

I was once again reminded to look beyond my classes as entities and to try to see my students as true individuals, some with more serious life issues than I could ever dream. Though I can often do little to help, I can pray, and I can also try to create a warm, caring, safe environment where my students learn a little Spanish along the way.