My Kids

I have been feeling a little lonely and sorry for myself lately. Another school year is soon coming to a close, and I am pretty sure this has been my favorite group of kids in all the 14 years of classes I've had. No offense to all my other kids - I've loved them all, and all classes have contained favorites, but this year,  all 26 of them are my favorites.

Last night I was working on the class video I'm making with pictures from throughout the school year, and thinking about the journey I've been on with these students of mine. I was also thinking about some incidents that happened during our field day activities earlier in the day. One involved a head-on collision of one of my girls during the relay race, and she wouldn't get off the ground until her teacher (me) was there to pick her up and walk her around. Another was the camaraderie I saw among all my kids during the games. And the most disturbing was a seriously unhinged woman who got angry with a couple of my kids, flipped them off, then started shouting obscenities at them and chasing them around telling them how horrible they were until they found an adult to get help from, then found me. (Who does that to kids, anyway?? I was soooo mad at that lady!!)  Needless to say, my entire class was in tears after that and were scared to go outside to go home. (That is another entire blog entry, but I won't write it because I don't want to hate on the hater.)

Anyway, what I realized is that these are MY kids. Yes, I know they really belong to their parents. But they are also mine. Maybe the only kids I will ever have. I love them fiercely and would protect them with all that I have. It gives my life some meaning to know that I have the opportunity to influence children and share my love and my personality with them, along with teaching them to do long division and spell "precipitation". I have so much fun with my students and we have all grown up just a little more together this year.

Ready for tug o' war  - the only one we won - I think because we had the principal and custodian on our side this time!

My Many Moves

As I am getting ready to move yet again, I have been thinking about how many places I've lived over the course of my life. When I was growing up, I lived in only 6 different houses. Since I left home to go to college at BYU, however, I have lived in at least 12 different apartments or condos (and that's not even including the 4 different apartments I inhabited as a missionary). Mostly by my own choice, I have moved about every 2 years. Kind of strange for someone who claims to like familiarity and security. Crazy, I know.

Despite having to pack up all my things and move them from one place to another so often, I feel blessed to have the various experiences I have had in my many homes, which include wonderful roommates, church callings, and friends.

When I bought a town home almost 5 years ago, I thought for sure I would stay put for awhile. I loved my beautiful new home. But as life always seems to throw us curve balls, I ended up moving after 2 1/2 years. I didn't plan to stay away long, but another 2 1/2 years have gone by. It is now time to move again. For the first time, I am moving back "home",  rather than just to a new place. I am so excited to paint and redecorate and be in my own beautiful house again! Only a few short weeks....