Students and Church

I have a little guy at work; he's 5 and going into kindergarten and full of energy. Getting him to sit still and print letters is a very challenging task, although he will sit still when being read to. He loves stories.

The most common words from him:
"When me and mine stuffies take over the world..."
When this happens, he's going to make the clouds more colourful. First, though he has to bring his stuffies to life with the box. If you push the middle button, there will be lightning and it will go into his stuffies. If you push the other buttons, there will be food and drink.

Best conversation starter from him:
"What do you think it would be like if the world was full of marshmallows?"

I met a couple new kids at church yesterday (at least they were new to me, although I guess they may have been in the overflow room and I've never seen them). I don't know who they are. They seemed to be around 5 and 3 and they came into the library when I was working on the computer.
One of them asked: "Are you working in the Grace Church library?"
He's either very perceptive, not sure what work looks like, or he was lost and trying to get his bearings. They're nice boys, though; when I told them they couldn't play in the mess of stuff on the other side of the room, they came away from it right away.

What I'm Thankful For

my family

my church family

my pastor's willingness to preach direct sermons on tough issues without worrying about making people feel bad

my pastor's love for God, the Bible, and the church family

my Sunday School class

friends

flowers

books

Sunday afternoons

my job

life

What I Need to Remember

Banana Muffins

Today is not insanely hot and I'm not working, a rare combination in the summer. I'm taking advantage of this mix to make muffins. I don't often cook in the summer because the oven heats up my apartment too much, so today is nice.

For your cooking pleasure, I present my banana muffin recipe:

3 bananas (well, 3-ish; if you have 4, by all means use all four, especially if they're small)
1 egg
1/3 cup oil
a small container of yogurt (the size you pack in lunches) or the rough equivalent*
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 cup flour

Mash up the bananas, add the egg, oil, yogurt, and sugar, and mix well. Add the baking soda and flour** and mix just until everything is wet and mushy; do not over-mix.

Fill your muffin cups and bake at 350 for around 30 minutes (maybe a bit less, maybe a bit more; it depends on your oven). You should get 12 muffins.

*About the yogurt: it's optional. The original recipe didn't call for yogurt, but one day I was making muffins and discovered that I didn't have any eggs. I searched on-line for a solution and discovered that yogurt can replace eggs when making muffins (although not for everything), so I threw in a small container of vanilla yogurt. I liked the texture, so now I add it all the time, even when I have eggs. The muffins are moister and the vanilla flavor is nice. You can leave out the yogurt or try different flavors.

**Okay, true baking confession time: I know I'm supposed to mix the dry ingredients separately and then add them. I don't. I add the baking soda and get it all mixed in, and then I add the flour. I see no reason to dirty another bowl for baking soda and flour.

School

This is the first summer in years that I haven't been heading off to school for a week. I miss it. I really liked being around other students and getting to learn all week. Finishing my degree was a great moment and a complete relief; I do not miss having deadlines and papers to write.

I miss the learning. I miss the friendships. I miss the laughter and fun.

I miss having a week where I could relax and be a student again. It was a vacation from real life.

I don't miss it enough to start another degree. I just miss it enough to be a little bit sad today.

I have a friend heading down to Masters next week for his last week of classes. I'm a bit envious. I wish I was going too.

Gearing up for Summer

School is out today or tomorrow depending on the school. The students are excited and the teachers are excited and I'm bracing myself for summer.

Summer is good. The sun shines for long hours, it's warm, there are flowers, and it's a great time to drink iced coffee. Summer at work, though, is a bit more challenging. The students are there all day: 10-2 and 4-8. I get a bit of a break in the middle to catch up on stuff. Some centres are open 9-1, 1:30-3:30, and 4-8. I have no idea how they cope with no down time (yes, they get 30 minutes twice a day, but between students who are picked up late and students who leave early, that's not really any time).

So far summer is looking very quiet this year. There aren't a lot of students coming during the early times, which is odd. Usually evenings are quieter. We haven't had a lot of calls about new students yet either; usually that's started by now. It's left us wondering what is happening out there and if we're going to get swamped next week. Usually the first couple weeks of July are wild with testing new students.

I am considering reading comprehension skills for some parents. These would be the ones who haven't returned their summer schedules despite a May 30th deadline, the words "I need the schedule even if your child is keeping the same schedule in the summer" and regular emails. The other parents are the ones who get the schedule and ask to come from 2-4. Is it really to difficult to understand that we're closed then?

Right now we're waiting to see what summer will bring. Will it stay somewhat quiet, or is everyone waiting until the weekend to start calling?

Sunday School

Today was the last Sunday School for the year. I finished by giving them their final exam. I don't take it very seriously and they're allowed to work together, use old worksheets, and copy from one another. Basically, I want them to review some key topics and go home with a short recap of the year.

A couple of my boys had most of the worksheets with them (they came prepared this year). They weren't very organized, though, so they ended up with a mess of papers all over the table and everyone searching through to find the right pages! The other teacher and I helped them find the right papers, worked on spelling, and encouraged them to help each other. In the end, almost everyone finished (some students were late and some were slow at writing).

It was interesting to watch. One of the older boys finished his test quickly with some help from the other boys' papers but did not think he should have to help anyone else. He ended up just sitting there doing nothing because I took his test away and gave it to one of the slower students so she could copy his answers. He knew all the answers and could have helped the others, but choose not to. I don't think, in the three years I had him, that I managed to get through to him on this area. He's smart and quick and I haven't been able to teach him about grace and putting others first. I'll keep praying for him.

By now I'm ready for a break from teaching. By September I'll be ready to teach again and very happy to have them back. I'm losing 4 of my boys to the junior/senior high class, but the 3 girls who should move on have asked to stay (two sets of parents are concerned about them being with the older teenagers, and the third girl will stay because there are no other girls moving up).

This summer I need to start preparing for next year. We're going to be studying Acts and the early church.

It's been a good year.