The three amigos

A sunday afternoon in May

Happy birthday sweet budgie!

Farewell Continental

Continental is history..literally. There is no such named airline anymore. Now I have to tell people I work for United. And they may not have had a pleasant experience traveling on United. I can tell that by the expression on their face when I say I work there. Then I clarify and say: " I really only started working for them a few days ago. I've worked for Continental for years, but we just merged with United." 

Goodbye, my friend. Thanks for taking me around the world, and helping me out for family emergencies as well. 

You'll be missed!

Reliability

We replaced our van. It had over 220, 000 miles and was going to cost more to repair than it was worth. It took us many great places, but lately it has not been very reliable. We were trying to hold on to it for a few more months, but last weekend when Rick was out of town, the brakes started failing. I thought we had bought it about 4 years ago, but when I pulled the title.. nope- we bought it used 7 years ago. 

 I don't know why it has to be such an ordeal to look for and buy a car.  We decided on a Dodge Caravan- not because we love it- but because after much research it really is the best car for Rick to take to art shows because of the stow-n-go seating.  He can test it this weekend at his next show. btw, the name caravan reminds me of a traveling merchant- which I guess is technically what Rick does with his art, but I won't be putting any fabric curtains in the van.

We had many adventures in our Nissan Quest. The kids loved watching movies on the VCR! Time goes swiftly by.  M and C were 9 and 7 when we bought it. Unbelievable. Childhood is so short. Hug your little ones and not so little ones now. Soon they'll have their own home and families. We are looking forward to many more great adventures traveling together in our caravan.

The new job

My Day at Mollie Ray.
 I like that title, but I don't feel like I can really write in detail about my experiences at the school on a blog, so I'll have to find time to write them in an old-fashioned journal.

I am so lucky that I grew up surrounded by light. I was raised by loving parents and in a safe home environment. I was talking about this to one of my Continental co-workers who is not a member of our church, but is a happy, very giving person. She asked what was different about the school. The school is as an inner-city school. I told her it may sound strange, but I feel like the light is missing for so many students there. It has this darkness hanging over it. She understood exactly what I meant.

I made me think that a lot of people have found pieces of light in the world and are pretty happy, but others are completely surrounded by darkness. It is sad and lonely in the dark, and may cause you to have feelings of anger and anxiety. The void of light is an overwhelming feeling. It is exhausting and hard.

I am grateful to have the complete light of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I think sometimes when we are raised surrounded by light, it may become easy to ignore or appreciate those feelings of peace that the gospel brings. We are so used to having the Holy Ghost in our lives, that we don't even acknowledge that he is there guiding us and helping us. Even if we are not able to talk openly about what makes us hopeful and happy, we can still share the light through example and kindness.

It is definitely a different environment than I am used to, but I am enjoying working with the children. They are just children, and they need to be nurtured and loved. 

Temporary Job

Tomorrow I start working at a new job as an FCAT tutor at Mollie Ray Elementary School. I am a little nervous, as I'm not really sure what to expect. I'll be working M/T/Th/F 8:30-2:30. They called me Tuesday to start Thursday. I'm beginning to see that that is how it is with the school district. The need is great, but it seems they don't have enough people over human resources to get through the paperwork. Niko will go to his friend Avery's house. They love to play Thomas together.


Update: I am teaching MATH! Math and I have not had the best relationship in the past, but who better to teach it than someone who understands their frustrations?  But now that I think about it, my math frustrations started in 8th grade. I actually loved 7th grade Math from Mr. Mitchell. In 8th- Mr. Day's class- our class became the guinea pigs for a new math program. It failed. It wasn't helped by the fact that Mr. Day was almost never in the classroom.  High School math reminded me of the teacher in Ferris Bueller's Day Off...