Summer!

As you can imagine by my not blogging, the past few weeks have been extremely crazy! The end of school- who's more excited, the kids, parents, or teachers? At the last bell in our school, a group of teachers went into the front foyer and jammed, twisted, rocked out to a ton of oldies! (we are approaching a median age of 50!!)Being the reserved person I am (haha), I clapped to about half a song and then hustled back to my room to get my reports done.

So part of our family is heading north for a few days. I 'm not sure I will get to blog or not, so I didn't want you all to give up hope that I was abandoning my posts.
Hopefully this summer , I plan on getting back into the daily routine of writing. I miss it.

Happy summer!

Silence

I haven't blogged for a few days, hope I don't lose all my followers.I've been in a lot of "states" lately and I haven't felt like putting down much on paper. And the time thing got in the way too. Anyway, I write with a heavy heart this morning as my cardinal outside my classroom window has been gone since Monday. I was hoping to come in and see little heads peering up with open beaks, waiting to be fed, but ...nothing. No eggs, no birdies, no mom. The nest is empty. As it is in an enclosed courtyard, I can't imagine that an animal of prey would have gotten it. Kids don't normally have access to this part, as it is up on a raised bed in the corner, that surely their teacher would see them rummaging in the bushes.

So I wonder? Did mom just get overwhelmed and fly the coop? I did know of a mom that did that once to her three kids, never did understand that. As frustrated and exhausting as it is raising children at times, I cannot imagine abandoning them for selfish pleasures of my own. (Although at times I know I dreamed of it in my head- who hasn't, as a mom of multiple children? You now you have!)
Or did she build her nest and find out she was unable to lay eggs? The sorrow of a barren womb is another life tragedy, having seen couples go through it, though not experiencing it on a personal basis, I can only imagine the heartache. Is that why she left?

I guess I will never know the answer, just as I won't know the answers to many questions that I have , until I get to heaven. I know God is patient, he'll have to be as my list keeps getting longer each day.

Update

Thought I'd take a day to recap some of the things I have blogged about. It will be quick as I have a meeting in ten minutes!
1. My friend with the "stroke". Apparently it was not. She is at home recouping wonderfully. Even is back to emailing. Praise God- truly a miracle.
2.Mommy cardinal is at her post. Haven't seen the eggs yet, but they must be there as she is spending a lot of bottom in the nest time.
3. Street Light #15. Still going off and waking me up. Have to call on that soon.
4. Still haven't done anything with the "roaches".
5. Can't remember what else. So what else is new?
Gotta run- Blessings on this rainy, rainy day. My husband is substitute teaching today- so he had to drop me off early ( at 6:45) so he could get to his job. Only to find out they had a two hour delay. In May?? Only in southern Indiana- flooded roads. So he can grab a cuppa joe and the paper and enjoy two extra hours. In his car in the parking lot. Wow.

Pillows of Goodness

It has become a wonderful ritual each night that it is not raining, to have a fire in our fire pit in our back yard. Even the young neighbors have joined us, asking where the marshmallow and Smore stuff is. Yesterday, we were out of marshmallows, but my little 8 year old neighbor goes into my house and miraculously found a bag of opened marshmallows that I didn't even know I had! It was the perfect ending to a "my heart is full" Mother's Day weekend. My girls were home, we cooked out twice and my son sent me a package and pictures from Utah, as well as having a long conversation with him on Sunday. I am truly a blessed mom.

Marshmallowing over the fire has become quite fun. My 20 year old doesn't like graham crackers, so she lovingly toasts the perfectly brown,crusty on the outside, gooey on the inside marshmallow, and then slides in the chocolate for a "pillow of goodness". She and her roommates first coined that phrase for raviolis, but I think it fits perfectly for her naked smores!

So it looks like we are "stay-cationing". That's where you stay at home for vacation and find all kinds of fun stuff to do right at home. Three of our neighbors have pools, and we have a fire pit. We have a wonderful public library, so I am set for the summer. What are your plans?

The Hidden Nest

Outside my school window is the cardinal nest that I have written about. It is finally finished, and the momma bird has been sitting in it this morning. I stood on a chair to see if I could see eggs in the nest when she took a break, and there were none. But she was back later, sitting, peering into my window. I wanted to get a picture of the nest from outside, so I walked into the courtyard. This creature is ingenious! You cannot see the nest from the other side. It is totally hidden in the bush, in the very corner of the building. I had to step up on a ledge,on mulch,(apologies to our custodian) and pull down branches to even get a glimpse from that side. If I had not seen it from my window, it would remain undetected from the world.
Have you ever felt that way? Wanting to make a little space to be hidden, where you can see out on the world, but no one can see you? Amazing that God built into the smallest of living things that desire for survival and solitude. Even when the wind blew, the bush swayed, yet this little nest stood firm. It even had a plastic wrapper hanging out of the bottom. Amazing. I look forward to checking on my invisible friends each moring. I'll let you know when the eggs arrive. I hope before school is out!
Blessings!

Mother's Day

Bittersweet. That's what Mother's Day is to me. I am so blessed and thankful to be the mother of three amazing children (now young adults!). Yet I am sad as I lost my mother when I was 17- she died of breast cancer. So I have known my children and my mother-in-law much longer than I knew my own mom. Not that anyone can EVER take the place of your mother, but God has totally blessed me with a very loving step-mom and mother-in-law that I am extremely close with.

My mom-in-law and I can talk for hours...she was our son's first babysitter when I tearfully had to go back to work when he was 5 months old. Then we moved out of state when he was 17 months old and she accused us of kidnapping her baby! I am so thankful that someone who loves him as much as I do was able to see him take his first steps, and let me know every day what new trick he did! Thanks, Mama Gina.

And my step mom that parented me from afar, letting me know each time I talk with her (continuing today!) that she prays for me (and my family) each day, by NAME. Not generic- please bless them, but by name. That so speaks to me. Thanks, Mom.

So even if you don't have your mom with you, look for the wondrous people that God has put into your life to bless you in the absence of your mom. It might be a neighbor, or a mentor at church. As I get older, I also look for the younger person who may have lost their mom, and try to be there for them. I am so thankful for how God provides for me, and always has. So go hug your mom, tell her you love her. And if she's not there, find someone who is.

My friend came in this morning and introduced me to a song by Rascal Flats- I love the words, so I am copying them here from cowboylyrics.com. The song is called My Wish. She got it in a card for her daughter who is graduating from high school, but I think it is a great wish for our families also. Be blessed!

My Wish- Rascal Flats
I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow,
And each road leads you where you want to go,
And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose,
I hope you choose the one that means the most to you.
And if one door opens to another door closed,
I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window,
If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,

But more than anything, more than anything,
My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to,
Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small,
You never need to carry more than you can hold,
And while you're out there getting where you're getting to,
I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too,
Yeah, this, is my wish.

I hope you never look back, but ya never forget,
All the ones who love you, in the place you left,
I hope you always forgive, and you never regret,
And you help somebody every chance you get,
Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake,
And you always give more than you take

This is my wish
I hope you know somebody loves you
May all your dreams stay big
(some verses are repeated in the full song)

Transparency

There is a pair of cardinals building a nest right outside my classroom window. The window doesn't open, but it does look out into a beautiful courtyard that is brimming with colorful flowers at this time of year. Enter a mama cardinal dragging pieces of straw, grass, whatever to make her nest. Daddy was out there helping too. The bush it is being built in is in the corner of the building, quite hidden from the tables and steps where children go out to sit and read when the weather permits. I'm sure these birds thought this was the perfect hiding place, where no one would see them and their new offspring once the eggs hatch.
However, I have a perfect view , separated by a thin piece of glass that allows me into their inner sanctum. I can even hear them chirping.I see their comings and goings. I have a perfect window into their lives.
It reminds me somehow of my relationship with God sometimes. I feel like I can hide in the bushes, where I can't be seen, doing my own thing, living in my own world. Yet He is there , inches away on the other side of the pane of eternity, me not hiding at all, but being in full view with my inner sanctum exposed. I can fly away, come back, and still be seen in open space.

ADHD

If you yourself don't have ADHD, I know you know someone who does! These are the interesting lil' guys that parents often say, "He's all boy!" Translation- his motor NEVER stops running and I am exhausted all the time! We often used to say about our son- he had two speeds- 100 miles per hour or zero...sleeping/crashed out. The difference between all boy and ADHD is that ADHD's motors never shut down- they are revving 24-7. Little sleep, constant movement. I work with these motors every day. And watching parents of ADHD kids is sobering, easily recognizable by the dark circles under their eyes.

The encouragement is that usually if the energy can be channeled, these are very creative, productive beings that are our future's out of the box thinkers. Have a problem? Toss it to someone with ADHD and look for a different perspective on how to solve it. There is a whole list of famous people who used their ADHD to their advantage. Remember JetBlue airlines? The founder of that(his name escapes me) invented the e-ticket as he continued to lose his paper airline ticket. Ingenious. The airlines now charge you if you USE a paper ticket rather than an e-ticket. Wonderful solution that revolutionized air travel as we know it.

So my hat's off to parents of kids with ADHD- you are remarkable to be able to juggle all that is involved with homework, organizational skills, social issues as well as a tremendous amount more. Some excellent resources are through Dr. Russell Barkley, Dr. Daniel Amen, and Dr. David Rabiner to name a few. Dr. Barkley's 30% rule is particularly enlightening.

Any specific questions? I have worked with ADHD students for over 20 years, as well as having personal friends and family members that have also experienced the blessings/difficulties of living with personally, or living with someone who has ADHD. I have lots of ideas and resources that may be able to help. I'd love to share with you- let me know how I can help.