I am finally out of the deep dark pit of creeping crud, after 2 weeks! First a cold, which became a sinus infection, which WOULD NOT go away. I am always over those things in about 5 days, and this was going strong after a week! Seriously, there were several times a day when my nose was completely stopped up. Have you ever tried to swallow when your nose is totally plugged? Serious unpleasantness! I finally caved last week and went and got some antibiotics, thinking that in about 24 hours I'd be doing much better... and it was still 4 days before I was feeling even slightly better! I was useless the whole weekend, which put all manner of things behind schedule (I need those weekends to keep up with my non-school responsibilities!) I did finally read the most recent two books in the Temeraire series, which was a nice diversion from not being able to breathe. But I'm finally doing better, and after some housecleaning last night, feeling back on track.
Writing this reminds me to stop a minute and be thankful for breathing through my nose. It's amazing how I take that for granted until it's gone. :-)
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Yes, She's Definitely 2
Madeleine's birthday evening, after I picked her up from her 'fun day' with Grandma, was supposed to be a cute little family affair. We'd have dinner, she'd open her presents, we'd eat some ice cream, she'd blow out 2 candles and Brad and I would sing 'happy birthday' to her.
Instead, we heard "No, thank you!" to opening presents, eating dinner, taking a bath, or anything else we asked her to do. She mushed beans in her hair, almost dumped her plate off the table twice, threw peas, and barely ate half her food. We never made it to dessert or candles. We offered to sing and again, "No thank you!". Talk to Great-Grandma? "No thank you!" Open your cards? "No thank you!"
I was frustrated for a bit, but then thought, what a perfectly appropriate way to welcome age 2. :-) And, in Madeleine's defense, she had no nap today and was so tired that she could hardly see straight. She went to bed at 7:45 after complaining to me, "I'm sleepy!"
What I want to remember from today is: Two years ago today I was laying in a hospital bed, holding the most precious 8-lb bundle I could imagine. She looked up at me quietly with solemn eyes and I wanted to hold her forever.
Tonight I was standing in her darkened room, rocking her and singing her our goodnight lullaby after nightly prayers. She snuggled in my arms, sucked her thumb, and I still want to hold her forever.
Instead, we heard "No, thank you!" to opening presents, eating dinner, taking a bath, or anything else we asked her to do. She mushed beans in her hair, almost dumped her plate off the table twice, threw peas, and barely ate half her food. We never made it to dessert or candles. We offered to sing and again, "No thank you!". Talk to Great-Grandma? "No thank you!" Open your cards? "No thank you!"
I was frustrated for a bit, but then thought, what a perfectly appropriate way to welcome age 2. :-) And, in Madeleine's defense, she had no nap today and was so tired that she could hardly see straight. She went to bed at 7:45 after complaining to me, "I'm sleepy!"
What I want to remember from today is: Two years ago today I was laying in a hospital bed, holding the most precious 8-lb bundle I could imagine. She looked up at me quietly with solemn eyes and I wanted to hold her forever.
Tonight I was standing in her darkened room, rocking her and singing her our goodnight lullaby after nightly prayers. She snuggled in my arms, sucked her thumb, and I still want to hold her forever.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Yay, it's Friday!
Hurray, it's Friday! I even got an early start on the weekend, although it wasn't for a good reason- Madeleine came down with a cold/ fever and by noon needed to be picked up from daycare. So I got to spend the afternoon with my cuddly, sniffy, sick girl... and since she's not too terribly miserable (well, she wasn't until bedtime tonight) I really enjoyed spending that time with her. Now it's sad because she was looking groggy and had a fever of at least 101 (thermometer was broken) and unhappy before bed. I hope she's better tomorrow!
Just for fun, I'm doing the 5 Question Friday thingy again from 5 Crooked Halos.
1. Where did you meet your spouse and did you instantly know it was love?
Hm! Husband and I met on April 12, 2003, on the front porch of Pastor Bob's house. My friend Candace had set us up on a double date (much to my dismay when she sprung the news on me!) so I was peeking out the blinds as he and N came up the pathway, trying to see what Candace had gotten me into. It was definitely interest at first sight, and that developed into love over the next several months of emails and visits. Even that first night we couldn't stop talking about all kinds of things we had in common and were interested in! After I went back to California, I hoped he would contact me and I did a little happy dance when his first email arrived 3 days later. :-)
2. What is your favorite room in your house?
My living room. I painted the walls bright green when we moved in, and I've enjoyed them every day since then. We have enough bookcases and stuff against the walls that it doesn't scream "GREEN!", and instead it acts a great background color. I give a happy sigh when I survey the room.
3. Can you wiggle your ears?
Not in the slightest!
4. What is your evening ritual?
Well, it's not what I'd like it to be, but... starting at 4 pm, it's 1) pick up Madeleine 2) play with Madeleine 3) cook dinner (most nights) 4) eat dinner with little M and Husband 5) clean OR play with Madeleine OR teach ESL 6) bedtime routine with M (Husband does half and I do half). Then, as soon as she's in bed, it's 7) check email/Facebook/Google Reader 8) do lesson plans 9) maybe watch a TV show 10) go to bed, usually around 11. Lesson plans take forever! :-(
5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I am functional but unhappy with 6 (less than 6 and I'm not very functional!); I'm moderately productive with 7; I'm productive, cheerful, and creative with 8 or more. Sadly, my sleep deficit gets worse throughout the work week, and then I crash on Friday night, trying to catch up. I wish I could get by with less, just because there's so darn much to do, but I've discovered that one of the best things I can do for my state of mind is get that needed sleep!
And on that note, I'm off to watch Bones with Husband and then head to bed!
Just for fun, I'm doing the 5 Question Friday thingy again from 5 Crooked Halos.
1. Where did you meet your spouse and did you instantly know it was love?
Hm! Husband and I met on April 12, 2003, on the front porch of Pastor Bob's house. My friend Candace had set us up on a double date (much to my dismay when she sprung the news on me!) so I was peeking out the blinds as he and N came up the pathway, trying to see what Candace had gotten me into. It was definitely interest at first sight, and that developed into love over the next several months of emails and visits. Even that first night we couldn't stop talking about all kinds of things we had in common and were interested in! After I went back to California, I hoped he would contact me and I did a little happy dance when his first email arrived 3 days later. :-)
2. What is your favorite room in your house?
My living room. I painted the walls bright green when we moved in, and I've enjoyed them every day since then. We have enough bookcases and stuff against the walls that it doesn't scream "GREEN!", and instead it acts a great background color. I give a happy sigh when I survey the room.
3. Can you wiggle your ears?
Not in the slightest!
4. What is your evening ritual?
Well, it's not what I'd like it to be, but... starting at 4 pm, it's 1) pick up Madeleine 2) play with Madeleine 3) cook dinner (most nights) 4) eat dinner with little M and Husband 5) clean OR play with Madeleine OR teach ESL 6) bedtime routine with M (Husband does half and I do half). Then, as soon as she's in bed, it's 7) check email/Facebook/Google Reader 8) do lesson plans 9) maybe watch a TV show 10) go to bed, usually around 11. Lesson plans take forever! :-(
5. How many hours of sleep do you need to function?
I am functional but unhappy with 6 (less than 6 and I'm not very functional!); I'm moderately productive with 7; I'm productive, cheerful, and creative with 8 or more. Sadly, my sleep deficit gets worse throughout the work week, and then I crash on Friday night, trying to catch up. I wish I could get by with less, just because there's so darn much to do, but I've discovered that one of the best things I can do for my state of mind is get that needed sleep!
And on that note, I'm off to watch Bones with Husband and then head to bed!
Pain in This World
Wow... I just read a most excellent post on the subject of pain in this world. So excellent, in fact, that I'm going to post Jamey's words in their entirety, because she's expressed so well the thoughts that swirl around in my own head, I don't think I could get them out any better.
I don't know where this is going. I'm just warning you in advance. Just in case you think I'm coming at this with an agenda or trying to make a point. I don't have one and I'm not. I don't even know what the next word is going to be as I type it. My life is like that a lot....
Being a grown-up was so much easier before I was one. I mean, did you ever look at your parents, even as a teenager, and think, "Wow, I bet they've got a lot of stuff on their mind." No. We all knew that parents had it easy. Work. Home. Clean. Pay bills. What's hard about that? Surely they didn't struggle, they didn't have friends having a hard time that they were trying to help, they didn't think about deep subjects, they weren't scared. They were just adults and what could possibly be hard about that?
It turns out...everything.
I mean, life is hard. What is going on with that? I keep reading these things (and I'm not actively seeking them out!) about husband's dying, children dying, awful things happening during wars, people have sick kids, wives have cancer, kids in Africa are starving. People are getting divorced, women and children are abused. Kids brought into loving homes have trauma issues and spreading their trauma into their new families. Moms are exhausted. Dads are stressed out. People don't have jobs, kids aren't getting good educations. People I love have cancer, are having heart attacks, are depressed.... Life is a daily struggle. Lives are going 180 degrees from the direction that seems right. Kids are hurt by adult decisions, adults are hurt by kids' behaviors, marriages are scraped over the rocks and both parties left hurt and bleeding. People are scared, alone, hurting.
I just don't understand. From the little pains to the enormous traumas, I don't get it. Where is the justice? How can this be okay? Where is God while the world breaks itself? Why does the suffering just go on and on.
(I'm just putting it out there, God, that I don't think this is a good plan.)
I grew up in church. I went to a Christian liberal arts college. I married a pastor's son and a Bible Theology major. I've read the books. I "know" the answers:
God is restraining himself. Grace and free will. Justice will be restored with the second coming. God weeps with us. And all of those other answers.
Theologically I can get it. Intellectually I can get it.
But my heart is not getting it.
The more I see of the world, the more I am given the privilege of seeing into other people's hearts and lives, the more I experience, the more I learn, the more I want to understand, the more I wish I knew how to respond, how to help, the more I want to help bring healing into others' homes, into my home, the more I seek, the more pain I find
the less I feel like I know God.
That's all.
I don't know where this is going. I'm just warning you in advance. Just in case you think I'm coming at this with an agenda or trying to make a point. I don't have one and I'm not. I don't even know what the next word is going to be as I type it. My life is like that a lot....
Being a grown-up was so much easier before I was one. I mean, did you ever look at your parents, even as a teenager, and think, "Wow, I bet they've got a lot of stuff on their mind." No. We all knew that parents had it easy. Work. Home. Clean. Pay bills. What's hard about that? Surely they didn't struggle, they didn't have friends having a hard time that they were trying to help, they didn't think about deep subjects, they weren't scared. They were just adults and what could possibly be hard about that?
It turns out...everything.
I mean, life is hard. What is going on with that? I keep reading these things (and I'm not actively seeking them out!) about husband's dying, children dying, awful things happening during wars, people have sick kids, wives have cancer, kids in Africa are starving. People are getting divorced, women and children are abused. Kids brought into loving homes have trauma issues and spreading their trauma into their new families. Moms are exhausted. Dads are stressed out. People don't have jobs, kids aren't getting good educations. People I love have cancer, are having heart attacks, are depressed.... Life is a daily struggle. Lives are going 180 degrees from the direction that seems right. Kids are hurt by adult decisions, adults are hurt by kids' behaviors, marriages are scraped over the rocks and both parties left hurt and bleeding. People are scared, alone, hurting.
I just don't understand. From the little pains to the enormous traumas, I don't get it. Where is the justice? How can this be okay? Where is God while the world breaks itself? Why does the suffering just go on and on.
(I'm just putting it out there, God, that I don't think this is a good plan.)
I grew up in church. I went to a Christian liberal arts college. I married a pastor's son and a Bible Theology major. I've read the books. I "know" the answers:
God is restraining himself. Grace and free will. Justice will be restored with the second coming. God weeps with us. And all of those other answers.
Theologically I can get it. Intellectually I can get it.
But my heart is not getting it.
The more I see of the world, the more I am given the privilege of seeing into other people's hearts and lives, the more I experience, the more I learn, the more I want to understand, the more I wish I knew how to respond, how to help, the more I want to help bring healing into others' homes, into my home, the more I seek, the more pain I find
the less I feel like I know God.
That's all.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Thankful Thursdays
Some things I am thankful for....
-watching my daughter push her baby in her stroller and "take her to the bookstore" (the bookshelf)
-a soft, warm bed on a cold night
-cars with bun warmers
-being caught up (mostly) with grading
-a wonderful brother and sister-in-law
-leftover pizza
-hearing "I love-a yew" from little M
-mint-chip ice cream
-"Chicka chicka boom boom, look there's a FULL MOON!" (when there really is!)
-holding hands and talking with Husband
-tomorrow is Friday!
:-)
-watching my daughter push her baby in her stroller and "take her to the bookstore" (the bookshelf)
-a soft, warm bed on a cold night
-cars with bun warmers
-being caught up (mostly) with grading
-a wonderful brother and sister-in-law
-leftover pizza
-hearing "I love-a yew" from little M
-mint-chip ice cream
-"Chicka chicka boom boom, look there's a FULL MOON!" (when there really is!)
-holding hands and talking with Husband
-tomorrow is Friday!
:-)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
5 Random Questions
I was reading a blog whose author does a fun little meme called "5 Question Fridays". There's a way to link up so that everyone's posts are linked back to the main one so you can read various people's answers, but I don't know how to do that bit of technical wizardry yet. Plus, I was busy on Friday and now I'm answering them on Sunday. But just for fun, here goes!
1) What movie could you watch over and over again and not get tired of?
Hm... pretty much none. I get tired of pretty much anything I watch too much, or listen to, or play... And the more meaningful and serious something is, the less I can stand to watch it, just because I feel it needs to be paid proper attention. So the more mindless and frivolous it is, the better to watch it repeatedly, especially when I'm grading paper and bored to death. :-) For that, I'd have to say that Across the Universe is awesome. Love story, the best Beatles covers ever, 1960s confusion, my favorite type of leading man (tall, thin, dark, handsome... just like a certain Husband of mine)... I love that movie.
2) What's your biggest pet peeve right now?
Now I'm remembering why I'm not very good at these question thingys. I am so indecisive about picking something. In fact, let's just go with that- my own indecisiveness is driving me crazy right now. We have some Major Life Decisions to make soon, and it's a special form of torture for me, because I go over and over the pros and cons so often that there's probably a groove in the surface of my brain. I need a Worry Room like Uncle Scrooge. But 'pet peeve' wouldn't be complete without referencing the 170 adolescents I spend most of my days with, and right now it's the fact that none of them seem to have a pencil most of the time. It's SCHOOL, people- a pencil should be an appendage of your body when you're at school!
3) If you had to describe your best friend in 5 words or less, what would you say?
My best friend is Husband. :-) "Just as quirky as me". We are such a good match!
4) If you did not have to worry about money, or go to school, what would you do for a living?
I would... (many minutes ellipsis here because there are so many possible answers!) live in Europe, teach English classes, homeschool my kids, and serve in a church there.
5) What is your one "splurge" item that you will always buy, regardless of the cost?
Well, as new acolytes of Dave Ramsey, I'm trying hard not to splurge on anything while we make like gazelles and be intense. And there are dozens of current items that may move from the 'necessity' category to the 'splurges' category as we continue to tighten the ol' belt. However, I will always subscribe to a few magazines, because there's pretty much no way I love to relax more than curling up with a new magazine. Time, Woman's Day, and Newsweek are my standbys.
Gee, that was harder than I thought. I better keep working on #2!
1) What movie could you watch over and over again and not get tired of?
Hm... pretty much none. I get tired of pretty much anything I watch too much, or listen to, or play... And the more meaningful and serious something is, the less I can stand to watch it, just because I feel it needs to be paid proper attention. So the more mindless and frivolous it is, the better to watch it repeatedly, especially when I'm grading paper and bored to death. :-) For that, I'd have to say that Across the Universe is awesome. Love story, the best Beatles covers ever, 1960s confusion, my favorite type of leading man (tall, thin, dark, handsome... just like a certain Husband of mine)... I love that movie.
2) What's your biggest pet peeve right now?
Now I'm remembering why I'm not very good at these question thingys. I am so indecisive about picking something. In fact, let's just go with that- my own indecisiveness is driving me crazy right now. We have some Major Life Decisions to make soon, and it's a special form of torture for me, because I go over and over the pros and cons so often that there's probably a groove in the surface of my brain. I need a Worry Room like Uncle Scrooge. But 'pet peeve' wouldn't be complete without referencing the 170 adolescents I spend most of my days with, and right now it's the fact that none of them seem to have a pencil most of the time. It's SCHOOL, people- a pencil should be an appendage of your body when you're at school!
3) If you had to describe your best friend in 5 words or less, what would you say?
My best friend is Husband. :-) "Just as quirky as me". We are such a good match!
4) If you did not have to worry about money, or go to school, what would you do for a living?
I would... (many minutes ellipsis here because there are so many possible answers!) live in Europe, teach English classes, homeschool my kids, and serve in a church there.
5) What is your one "splurge" item that you will always buy, regardless of the cost?
Well, as new acolytes of Dave Ramsey, I'm trying hard not to splurge on anything while we make like gazelles and be intense. And there are dozens of current items that may move from the 'necessity' category to the 'splurges' category as we continue to tighten the ol' belt. However, I will always subscribe to a few magazines, because there's pretty much no way I love to relax more than curling up with a new magazine. Time, Woman's Day, and Newsweek are my standbys.
Gee, that was harder than I thought. I better keep working on #2!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Too much input!
Today was filled wall to wall with things to do and things to think about. Here's some of today's mental smorgasboard:
Early this morning, checking Google Reader, I read Tonguu Mama's take on a new, apparently very inflammatory, article on parenting by a Harvard law professor named Amy Chua. So I had to skip over and read it for myself, and boy, people weren't kidding about inflammatory! Later in the day I saw it was one of the headline articles on Slate, so it really made the rounds. Chua talks about her 'Chinese mother' parenting style, which horrifies most 'Westerners'- in her eyes, it's expecting excellence, and in many others' eyes, it's control-freak parental bullying at its worst. (Never accepting less than an A in school, mandatory piano and violin, no playdates, no sleepovers, no acting, just getting ready for Harvard... and achieving this by railing at her kids about the family honor and how they're 'garbage' if they balk at her dictates or don't want to work hard). It really is a thought-provoking article, though, because she makes a couple points that are really valid: 1) that kids don't enjoy the practice necessary to become excellent at something- they only really enjoy it after they get really good at something, and should be forced to that point; 2) that hard work is a valuable skill in itself and parents should not accept laziness from children. My knee-jerk reactions are to agree with those points but still not agree with her methods in achieving them by putting a crushing load of guilt and pressure on her kids.
At school, I was deluged with the usual torrent of tasks to get done, and spend much of the morning immersed in helping students understand Jim Crow laws (they were reading about it online but, as usual, having lots more problems with comprehension than I'd expected them to have). Then in the afternoon with the 8th graders, I was answering all manner of questions about their World War II research topics and helping them find books and encyclopedias.
When I picked up Madeleine from daycare, I learned that she had a Very Bad Day, getting into trouble all day long, so J and I talked for a long while about what different consequences we could try. I'm really at a loss right now, as she doesn't seem to mind either timeouts or spankings, and I don't really want to increase either of those in frequency, as I don't think it'll make a difference. I know she's seeking attention (she's hitting the other kids, taking toys, saying "I don't like you") but I don't know why or how to help her find better ways (or, actually, tell J what I'd like her to do, since I'm not there to do it myself). Honestly, as soon as I heard about all this, I felt even more strongly that we've got to find a way for me to stay home and be Madeleine's primary caretaker- not because J isn't doing a great job (she is!) but because it's my job as her mom to be her teacher, her consistency, her nurturer.
Interestingly, then I read that a friend of mine (former Awana crony) -who blogs about her life as a stay at home mom- is joining the writing team for a site called Raising Homemakers. The purpose of the site is to raise one's daughters to be homemakers, and for them to be "stay at home daughters", living at home until marriage. This is one of the latest conservative evangelical trends, or so I gather, and appears to be headed for "I kissed dating goodbye" status as the idea everyone loves or hates. I went over to read my friend's profile on the site, so I scrolled through some of the other 30 or so contributers' profiles as well. One of the very first ones, that caught my eye, was a 19 year old girl who description includes "loves the Lord", blah blah, all the usual Christian description, and then says something to the effect of 'her talents lie in the area of academics, but her deepest desire is to serve the Lord at home'. That made me grate my teeth, because that sounds suspiciously like saying, "I'll bury my God-given academic talent that could influence the culture for good, as a teacher or professor, because at age 19 I already know that being a homemaker is what God has called me to, even though I'm not married and don't have kids yet". I know how quickly, in Christian women's circles, the idea that being a homemaker is an excellent way to serve God becomes the idea that being a homemaker is the best way to serve God. How can a 19 year old possibly know that? How much is my friend, whose daughter is 5, going to hint to her over the years that she is destined to be a homemaker, when God could call her to be a working mom? I have a suspicion that many of the blog's contributers might say that God never calls a mom to work outside the home. (Admittedly, the fact that I wrestle with my choices in this area all the time might make me just a tad bit oversensitive to this topic.... but still).
After all this, good thing that the education seminar I was supposed to attend tonight turns out to be next week. Now all I need to do is go figure out a way to teach 7th graders, in 45 minutes, about the injustices done to Native Americans by western settlers in the 1880s. In a differentiated, interactive, critically-thinking way, of course.
And then I'm taking my poor overtired brain off to bed!
Early this morning, checking Google Reader, I read Tonguu Mama's take on a new, apparently very inflammatory, article on parenting by a Harvard law professor named Amy Chua. So I had to skip over and read it for myself, and boy, people weren't kidding about inflammatory! Later in the day I saw it was one of the headline articles on Slate, so it really made the rounds. Chua talks about her 'Chinese mother' parenting style, which horrifies most 'Westerners'- in her eyes, it's expecting excellence, and in many others' eyes, it's control-freak parental bullying at its worst. (Never accepting less than an A in school, mandatory piano and violin, no playdates, no sleepovers, no acting, just getting ready for Harvard... and achieving this by railing at her kids about the family honor and how they're 'garbage' if they balk at her dictates or don't want to work hard). It really is a thought-provoking article, though, because she makes a couple points that are really valid: 1) that kids don't enjoy the practice necessary to become excellent at something- they only really enjoy it after they get really good at something, and should be forced to that point; 2) that hard work is a valuable skill in itself and parents should not accept laziness from children. My knee-jerk reactions are to agree with those points but still not agree with her methods in achieving them by putting a crushing load of guilt and pressure on her kids.
At school, I was deluged with the usual torrent of tasks to get done, and spend much of the morning immersed in helping students understand Jim Crow laws (they were reading about it online but, as usual, having lots more problems with comprehension than I'd expected them to have). Then in the afternoon with the 8th graders, I was answering all manner of questions about their World War II research topics and helping them find books and encyclopedias.
When I picked up Madeleine from daycare, I learned that she had a Very Bad Day, getting into trouble all day long, so J and I talked for a long while about what different consequences we could try. I'm really at a loss right now, as she doesn't seem to mind either timeouts or spankings, and I don't really want to increase either of those in frequency, as I don't think it'll make a difference. I know she's seeking attention (she's hitting the other kids, taking toys, saying "I don't like you") but I don't know why or how to help her find better ways (or, actually, tell J what I'd like her to do, since I'm not there to do it myself). Honestly, as soon as I heard about all this, I felt even more strongly that we've got to find a way for me to stay home and be Madeleine's primary caretaker- not because J isn't doing a great job (she is!) but because it's my job as her mom to be her teacher, her consistency, her nurturer.
Interestingly, then I read that a friend of mine (former Awana crony) -who blogs about her life as a stay at home mom- is joining the writing team for a site called Raising Homemakers. The purpose of the site is to raise one's daughters to be homemakers, and for them to be "stay at home daughters", living at home until marriage. This is one of the latest conservative evangelical trends, or so I gather, and appears to be headed for "I kissed dating goodbye" status as the idea everyone loves or hates. I went over to read my friend's profile on the site, so I scrolled through some of the other 30 or so contributers' profiles as well. One of the very first ones, that caught my eye, was a 19 year old girl who description includes "loves the Lord", blah blah, all the usual Christian description, and then says something to the effect of 'her talents lie in the area of academics, but her deepest desire is to serve the Lord at home'. That made me grate my teeth, because that sounds suspiciously like saying, "I'll bury my God-given academic talent that could influence the culture for good, as a teacher or professor, because at age 19 I already know that being a homemaker is what God has called me to, even though I'm not married and don't have kids yet". I know how quickly, in Christian women's circles, the idea that being a homemaker is an excellent way to serve God becomes the idea that being a homemaker is the best way to serve God. How can a 19 year old possibly know that? How much is my friend, whose daughter is 5, going to hint to her over the years that she is destined to be a homemaker, when God could call her to be a working mom? I have a suspicion that many of the blog's contributers might say that God never calls a mom to work outside the home. (Admittedly, the fact that I wrestle with my choices in this area all the time might make me just a tad bit oversensitive to this topic.... but still).
After all this, good thing that the education seminar I was supposed to attend tonight turns out to be next week. Now all I need to do is go figure out a way to teach 7th graders, in 45 minutes, about the injustices done to Native Americans by western settlers in the 1880s. In a differentiated, interactive, critically-thinking way, of course.
And then I'm taking my poor overtired brain off to bed!
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