Cleanin' for Company

Why do we only clean really well when company is coming over?  It feels good to have a really clean house.  I often find myself not caring if there is a few dishes in the sink or laundry needing to be put away.  Most evenings I find myself in a chair with papers to grade.  You know 2 or more hours worth of grading....I think I need to keep working on priorities.

As hectic as it is getting ready for company I find myself enjoying them being here.  Last night I was making dinner rolls to deliver to my visiting teaching list and my niece wanted to help.  So we were rolling dinner rolls together and she says, "Auntie Stacy, I just love coming to your house, two years is just too long."

Our big old house is full.  The energy that only little ones can bring is filling it to the brim with my heart as well.  For this I am thankful.

Red is Good

Kyle ordered me roses from a Lyons fundraiser several weeks ago.

They arrived Friday after a long week.  I was out for a couple of training meetings.  I have piles to catch up on, never a dull moment where paperwork is concerned.  It's kind of like laundry, when you finish between the all of us there is another load; there is always another assignment.

We went to my brothers to have Thanksgiving with my side of the family.  We always go the weekend before Thanksgiving because mom usually heads to Florida on Thanksgiving.  I made a new pie, German Chocolate, it was delicious, but very decadent, not sure that it is a keeper recipe.

I made Heath bar cake once and now, I have to make it every time we have a family function.  So much for pumpkin.

It is all a matter of perspective

Sometimes in life I find myself distracted.  Lost in work, drowning in the regulations set by people who have know idea what it is like to be in a room with 28 twelve year olds.  Treading water to make a curriculum accessible to every type of learner.  Listening to the loudest critics tell you that after six years of education you don't know how to teach their children, why did my son or daughter get in trouble....what you don't teach cursive?  

It has consumed me...chewed me up, crushed my light, and spit me out.

After donating 12-14 hours daily to my profession, I'm changing my perspective.

I am a mother.  I am a wife.  I am a daughter of God.  I am most happy when this is my perspective FIRST!  I am a teacher, and I work hard, and will not stop, but I am not longer going to let it crush my light, I will do my best to ignore my loudest critics, but this is not what defines who I am.