There's No Crying on Vacation : )

Yesterday was incredibly involved. It had its high points and low. I wanted to cry at least three times. But it is over and vacation has begun...

When I got to school yesterday, I had one new e-mail from a kindergarten teacher. She wanted to meet with me about one of my students. I called her to let her know that the day was going to be crazy and could we talk over the phone. She answered and said yes and started in on something that made me feel hurt and angry...

The boy that she wanted to discuss had been in her kindergarten class. His family had approached her about me. Apparently, it is hard for them to do his homework and they are worried about his English skills and his grades. So she was calling to tell me all this and to mention that she has started tutoring him "free of charge, of course" because they have nothing and she "only wants the best for him."

This whole time, I'm trying to figure out why his parents think that I don't want the best for him. They have never approached me about anything.

Then the kindergarten teacher went on asking why the boy wasn't put in any of our afterschool or ELL resources. Then I try to explain to her that we have limits to how many kids can do these things and that this boy certainly is not my lowest. I have lots of kids with lots of needs to meet.

So, at 7:20, I hung up the phone and wanted to cry. Why has his family not talked to me, and why did this kindergarten teacher not encourage them to do so. Instead, she calls me and makes me feel like a horrible teacher. Great way to start a day, huh?

Then the day begins with the kids and my volunteers. The kids were soooo excited about everything. They were giving all kinds of hugs and were eager for M&M's. The morning was so fun for them and so stressful for me...

Wanted to Cry for the 2nd Time: My kids have a horrible habit of being impatient. When I am talking to someone they love to shout my name "Mrs. Gentle...Mrs.Gentle... Mrs.Gentle" until I acknowledge them. I have tried explaining how terribly rude this is to me and to who ever I am talking to. Yesterday, due to all the excitement, it was worse than normal. It seemed like ever minute, somebody was shouting at me.

Finally, after two hours of craziness, a sweet girl started doing it while I was talking to her friend sitting right next to her. In total anger, I did sin. I turned to her and shouted "Can't you see that I am talking? What are you supposed to do when I am talking to someone else?" She immediately burst into tears and I immediately felt regret. I knew my tone was full of anger and I was embarassed that I had lost patience with their impatience (ironic, huh?) I asked for her forgiveness over and over again and assured her that I loved her, but needed her to be respectful. I have a sick feeling that neither she nor I will ever forget that moment...

The morning went on and we ate lunch and had our special pizza party for my good at-home readers. Then it was time for special reading group and P.E.

While at P.E. my mom, mother-in-law, and I went to the office to make copies. Somehow, right in the middle of the school office, we started talking about our church situation and my mother-in-law wanted to know if Ross and I were just "biding our time" or if we planned on staying at our church or leaving. Due to the morning's stress: I wanted to cry again.

We don't know where God wants us to be. I wanted to have this conversation with her, but not in the middle of the school office! Hopefully, Ross and I can have a heartfelt discussion about this over vacation. The tension is hard on my heart...

The rest of the afternoon went smoothly. After school, I met with one of my special boys, his mother, our resource teacher, our speech teacher and the school psychologist. That was a great meeting. I really felt encouraged and empowered to teach this boy. The specialists had great ideas for me and were very supportive of me when talking with this mom. I had worried about the meeting, but it went very very well.

Mom and Dad stuck around and helped me put my room back together. Then we went back to my house and waited around for Ross. Mom took a nap, Dad surfed the web and I tried to relax. When Ross got home, we had a nice dinner of sandwiches, fruit and brownies. Mom and Dad retold the day to Ross and then headed home.

I got sleepy soon after that : ) But Ross made me stay up until 9:00.

This morning, I worked long and hard on grading and report cards. Yesterday's crazy center rotations made my report cards very easy, however. I am happy about that. At two o'clock, I finally quit. I was wandering around the house wondering what I should do to keep me from taking a nap- and I remembered I had some packing to do!

Hooray!!! Tonight we are hanging out with Ben- tomorrow we will go to church and pack and then Monday morning we will leave our house bright and early for L.A.

I can't wait!