OH what Fashion!

Today, Garbage Bag and Duct Tape, quite an aray of fashion. One of the girls in my mom's class was a court jester . . . it was amazing! her whole outfit was all bag and duct tape. She even had a goofy hat and shoes with bells on them. We had a couple of "brides" and "super heros" and then there was only my mom and I as the staff that dressed up. Tsk Tsk, such self-concious teachers. I made a fun hat and tie with a jacket as well . . . she looked so cute. In fact, I just gotta share a pic. :)

Here is mom and one of her students who brought her pet rats to share with the school. They are soo cute. I miss my rats. And my chinchillas

Anyhow . . . the week is done. :) I'm excited, one of my girls is coming back monday. We have a Fall Festival on Sunday, and a lovely couble days in between. SABBATH!!! woohoo!

typos, grammer errors . . .

Haha! I just looked at that post . . . what a typo/grammer . . . I could almost use it for a D.O.L. LOL

A Brighter Day!

This Week is School Spirit Week. And we've been having fun at school with that . . . though there is still an underlying sadness amoungst the teachers and staff (I've got my moments), The days are brighter . . . Monday was PJ day . . . WOOHOO!! I've got the softest, cuddliest, and very attractive Pajamas :) Yesterday, Crazy Hair and Hat. WHat a hoot! The kids here have really been helping in the process of feeling better about the whole mess from monday too. They're talking again, and sharing with me, and laught more. I missed it the last few weeks. Today was A Day in History day. You could choose to dress as someone famous from history, or a time period. I made a costume that was as close as I could come up with for the Ancient Mesopotamia/Persia eras. A roal Roble. LOL, all the girls "Miss Katie, you look so nice." "Where did you get your dress?" "Can you make me one?" "You look the best." LOL galk about an ego boost. I personally didn't think it looked that great . . . I had to pin it together in the back, because it was such a rush job, I made it tooo big. PHEW! better that then too small. :)

No, I'll not be posting a pic of me in it either . . . I don't have one for one. :D

Thanks for all the love and support everybody . . . it means a lot to me, and was such a comfort!

devastating

No matter how much you do, time put in, love and support. You're bound to get slammed by the ones you put everything out for. Such is today. Right now, I can't really talk, can't believe I'm actually typing, but it helps. Calming maybe. Today I discovered just how much my students have been breaking the rules of the school, lieing to myself as well as parents and principal, and was threatened by one through a chat with one another.

I keep asking myself, what did I do? how did I fail these girls? Because that's how I feel, I've failed. But no, that's the devil just trying to bring me down more and more. It's a battle that's all . . . God's got the war covered and already won . . . still hurts.

I should trust the insincts God gave me and acted on what I noticed earlier. AHHH!!! stop second guessing!

A few weeks back I knew something wasen't right, the attitude of the students was getting more and more negative. . . tense . . . long story short, I'm afraid I no longer have 9th graders. One may be allowed back, but they are all hurting so much and don't have an outlet except that which hurts themselves and those who care about them. It's terrifying and devastating all at the same time.

I cried so much today, after they left it was very difficult to not burst into tears. God helped me with it though, and I don't think it was to apparent to my other students how upset I was. I love my students . . . I care about them and about thier salvation. Oh to see the pain in thier parents faces. God help them all! Give them wisdom, patience. As my cousin, former elementary principal, said, "you send them away, but the parents have them for the next several years" I wish so much we didn't have to send them away, but for the safety and educational interests of the other students in the school, it had to happen. Policy not withstanding.

Please, friends, pray for my students and thier families. And for me too. I'm feeling rather sad.

And a word to my former students/campers who visit here . . . I love you all so much, and I'm soooo proud of you all. You're a bright spot in my day to know that you are out there, and you will succeed, you have succeeded through the toughest part of your teens. You're in my prayers guys! Please, never let me hear this happening with you! Stay strong and trust in God!

Color

My Art classes are learning about color and color theory . . . last week they did monochromatics. It's a fun art lesson actually. They draw a picture to paint, and then draw it again. So they have two of the same, then, with the first, they choose a color and do a monochromatic. Today, they will start the split complimentary, or complimentary based on the age group. They will look nice on our Wall of Masters!

Example of one of the monochromatic paintings . . . we had to mix the purple, and over two differant days. So it isn't perfect because of that.

We have the nastiest paint. It's . . . well it's just not so great. The colors are . . . not pure I guess is the problem. Oh and it smells like fermaldehyde. I would toss it out . . . only it is the only paint we have, and well, we've lots of it. And several new bottles, when we do more elaborate painting, I'll get some better stuff.

COLD WEATHER!

It's getting colder here. Especially in the evening and early hours. Even Pips gets cold. One morning she was curled up on the end of the bed, quivering a little and cuddling up so tight. I took her blanket and wrapped it around her just to see what she would do, and she looked at me at first as shown here, then she tucked her nose in a little and went to sleep. Stayed that way for a couple hours. I swear, she actually looked thankful for the cover.

Wall of Masters

I'm about to change the Wall of Masters to new paintings and drawings . . . I've some interesting talent in grades 1-9

Students Dance . . . HA!

I got quite the kick out of my girls this morning. We have a fall festival coming up here at the school and the ninth graders have a booth. Well, today I showed them the Dance Praise game, and they loved it and want to do it for our booth for the fair. But the fun part was watching them try it out. They are awefully uncordinated . . . If the Bro thought I looked funny, he would have got quite the laugh watching my 9th graders.

Thier rythym is missing . . . well, lacking perhaps. they concentrated on stepping on the right squares, but forgot to listen to the beat of the music. I almost thought one was litterally going to fall over in her tangled mess of her legs. Another just used one foot to try to step in every square. At lunch break, I told them they could try it some more, I'm going to put it on medium hard this time . . . hehe. They got a good laugh out of it earlier, so they will probably get more with the increased difficulty

Yesterday's field trip was awesome. What an incredible rec center! I would love to go up there more often . . . to bad it's about an hour away. We need one in our town. Gotta find a place with a decent pool for swimming . . .

Photogenic . . .

I'm so not photogenic, and of course, today would be school picture day. I'm not looking forward to it. My college days friends know what school pictures can turn out to be with me in them. My freshman year of college, I looked like I was missing a few marbles, sophmore year I was . . . well, not much better. Only one year did I take a fairly decent picture. ERG! I'm not looking forward to this mornings event. I gain 10-15 pounds in the picture, and then the facial expression. I'm just praying that both my eyes will be open equally at least. My hair looks awesome right now, but who knows when the guy will get here. AHHHH!!!

I'm such a whiner this morning. :P

OK, so I did something goofy last night. I got one of those ddr games, exept not ddr, it is a christian themed one so that when I have kids over, there won't be questionable songs, but in any case. The Bro' groaned and made fun of me. I tell him he does so because he can't do it. :) But sure, it's silly, but wow, what a workout. Its fun too, trying to beat your last score. My mom likes the idea of getting a second dance pad and we can bring it into school when we have a class party. We're combining her class and my class when we have a class party. Tomorrow is our first one actually. We're going on a field trip up to a little town in Colorado not that far from here that has an awesome rec center. Climbing walls, swimming pools (lap and leisure), hot tub, fitness area, aerobic/dance room, gymnasium, indoor track, racquetball courts, youth games . . . and it only costs 3.50 or something like that for adults and 2.50 for students tomorrow. We get to use the whole facility. It should be fun!

Gotta remember the camera for yearbook pictures. 9th grade is in charge of the yearbook this year.

Oiy! Pictures!

Heartbroken and Soul Weary

I love my students. It never fails, no matter where I go, and how long I am there, I fall in love with each of them. And when you love people and they are in pain, you feel it too. From last Wednesday to today several students have had tramadic experiences.

Two of our kids (brother and sister) are wondering how long thier grandmother is going to live. Over last weekend, something happened that caused her to fall while she was at the store. In the course of the fall, she hit her head hard enough that it caused bleading inside her brain. She's in the hospitol, but not expected to recover. As I understand it she is basically brain dead. The kid's mother is my age, and grandmother about my mom's age. It's so young to die loose a mother and grandmother. The boy is having a very difficult time. He retaliates with everyone who asks how he's doing or how his grandmother is. "Don't call my grandma names!" or he'll call the person names "four eyes!" is the most tame. Yesterday he yelled at one of the older girls who also has found out something this week about her dad.

Yesterday morning I was informed that two of our older students (sisters) got some bad news the night before. Thier dad was arrested and is in jail. The charges? Kidnapping, attempted murder, and assult. Allegedly he pulled a gun on a guy and in the mist of a stuggle shot him in the leg. Reading the report in the paper, it sounds a little fishy to me, but in any case, he is in jail with these charges, and the girls are hurting.

And if that isn't enough drama for the week, it started with another student who's brother was arrested for stealing a car. The circumstances there are also . . . well he did steal the car, but who was the wise individual who left thier car unlocked with the keys in the car at a ranch for troubled boys? HELLO!!! Any how, the sister, one of our students, is sad at times, angry at others, with her brother. She loves him so much, and . . . I'm so proud of her though. She asks for prayers for him regularly. And for herself so that she shows patience with him when she talks with him. He's awaiting a second trial I guess as well.

When the devil strikes, he knows just where it will hurt the most and I pray that each of these families remain strong and close to Christ through these ordeals. These families touch every classroom in our school . . . myself and the other teachers need guidence with them. The right words to say, actions to use . . .

Please pray for 'my kids' thier families and the other teachers and myself.

Teenagers of 2006

So I will start with this thought, teenagers and trips mix like mentos and diet coke.


It can be quite explosive. haha

It was a lovely trip both up and back . . . Colorado is amazing. Such majestic mountains, and colorful landscapes . . . Horses . . .

It was amusing at times, eye opening at other times, and yet other times . . . well quite interesting. You know when your parents tell you how differant things were when they were your age . . . I KNOW life was differant when I was thier age. I definately remember having a better grasp on the world around me. The world is such a "me first" "gratify me" society . . . very self centered, and it is normal for them. They have no clue how they sound when they talk about . . . well it's a little disturbing how easily they use God's name in such crass ways. And refuse to believe you when you talk about it. And then all the times they choose to remain ignorant. Ok, not all of them. I was quite impressed with one of my girls who I know was thinking things through, and understood. I can see her going far with her determination to understand. I just pray that she pursues her education and doesn't loose hope with all that is going on with her life. She's a beautiful young lady, both inside and out and my heart aches for her . . . for all of them. Such beautiful girls, intelligent girls . . . I pray that I and the other teachers will be good examples for them and show them joy in school and in knowing God.

So here is a brief synopsis of the weekend. 9 hour drive (several restroom breaks). Registered, girl's move in with a friend of thiers in the dorm, I and mom get a guest room, supper, rotating vespers at Faculty Families homes, Sabbath School, Church, Trip up to a beautiful park just barely into the Rocky mountains. WOW! that was awesome! it got up to 85 or more on Sabbath and Sunday. OK, where was I . . . Oh yes, return to school, supper, vespers program with the music department (they even have a guitar ensemble), Iron Man (a boys club thing, entertaining, especially if you know the boys involved I'm sure), sleep, breakfast, vespers, classes for kids, sponsers meeting for sponsers, tours, auction and return home. I'm soooo thankful it was only 7 and a half hours back . . .or we would have gotten in . . . well 9:30 is much better then 11. It was a nice weekend. Though I don't look forward to the drive, I am looking forward to taking the 5-9th graders up again for music festival. I haven't seen an academy like the one I went to in a long time. It was very encouraging. A spiritual atmosphere with lots of opportunities for the students to lead out.


Before they got sick from all the junk food they decided they had to eat on the 9 hour drive. Thankfully, they didn't eat as much on the way back and we didn't stop as often and got back in under 8 hours.







On the road north to the mountains and Campion Academy.






The Academy went to this lovely park that was about 45 minutes from the school. It was a lot of fun to see the academy students intract with each other and the guest students and sponsers. They were so nice. Such polite interest in the visitors on campus. I would send my kids there . . . though I don't have any. :)











A moment of peace at the park.









For a couple hundred miles there are these retired and rusting train flatbeds. It seems to be flatbed retirement home.









Sun down on the way back from the Academy about 100 miles or so north of Pagosa Springs I think.







My girls sleeping . . . or one sleeping, the others woke up when I took the picture. :)

They got that huge stuffed lion at the Academy Days "Auction".

October in New Mexico and random thoughts

I'm sitting in the dining room, looking out the back door and realized, there are roses blooming. It's October! All the roses were dead when I got here in August, now they are blooming? We've been getting a lot of rain the last few days though. I was told this is rather uncharacteristic the amount of rain we've been having. I'm not complaining though. We've got roses, and grass growing.

They are fairly pretty too.



This picture doesn't do it justice, but
there you can see the rocks we have. The poor
dog, she has very tender feet, and it is terrible, but amusing to see Tipsy, tip-toe out there to do those things dogs do.

Here's one more picture of a cute little bud.


Being Sabbath afternoon, one of those favorite activities, "lay activities" are currently being held, and my mother is to cute sleeping on the couch. You almost can't see her between the blanket and the stuffed dog that's over her as well.

She'll probably shoot me for posting this picture, but it's too cute. :) Especially since Tipsy decided to sit next to her at the same time as I took the picture.

That stuffed dog is bigger then Tipsy, and she's no small dog as you can see.

My mind is wandering over the last few weeks and wow, I can't believe I've been in New Mexico for two months!

I do like it here, though there aren't that many young adults here, there are many young families, and older ones that make you welcome. It's nice for a change. Of course, I wouldn't mind getting to know some nice single . . . HA! never mind that.

My "little" brother is working at the airport, and he comes home with some interesting stories. He's not that impressed with his boss, but his co-workers seem to be pretty interesting and friendly people. Close in age to him as well. I know it's a small airport though, because the security on the airfield is . . . well when I've driven over there, or anyone else in the family does, he drives over from the Hangers where he works, opens the gate, and we drive in and down to his place of work. The planes I've seen parked there have been everything cessnas to a WWII fighter plane someone personally owns. So though he's got a turkey of a boss, he does have good company and interesting adventures.

Yesterday, my bro and I went shopping. Mom and I had spotted a sale on laptop computers, and well, my computer was, well . . . it's been functioning on . . . well very little. So this sale was very exciting, and well, I've bought a new computer. WOOHOO!!! And my brother . . . he bought a new camera. Digital one. One I wouldn't mind having myself, but I needed the computer more then a new camera.
I'm thinking of calling him Samson . . . Actually I think his hair just might be longer then mine now after this new cut of mine. I've no pictures of me and my new do . . . later I guess. :)

Oh, so I haven't written about my trip up to CO yet . . . more to come. :)

YIPEEE

I got a new computer today!!! No more sssssllllllllow pc. I'm so excited. My old computer had so many problems, but now I've got a new laptop that I can take back and forth to school. YES!!! I can keep it all on here. Ok, just checking out my new computer . . . write more later, with pic too of course.

shuffle shuffle . . . drag

I'm soooo exaughsted from this weekend. It was wonderful, but very tiring. I've some interesting experiances to share, however at the moment, it's not going to happen. I've got a few pictures too, but not as many as I'd like. OH well.

I'm going to clean up my classroom a bit, and go home!