The Seasons of Your Life

Saw this today in something a cousin emailed...

Don't judge your whole life based on one season. If you give up in your winter, you'll miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, and the fulfillment of your fall.

Barbara's Senior Prom

It's been a pretty rough day for me as a mom - real, adopted, or whatever else I may be to the people who live with me. I love my kids- all of them 3+1. I wish they knew how much, but I know they will understand me better when they are older.

Tonight is Prom night. Barbara's first and only prom. She asked Treshawn, a friend from the swim team, to go with her. The above picture is the group that went together, Barbara's friends- Dunamis, Britney, Shaleesa, Treshawn, Barbara, & Rita.

What God Won't Ask

A coworker sent me this in an email today. It is another forward, but so true, and I needed the reminder of what is really important in life.

15 Things God Won't Ask

Author unknown

• God won’t ask what kind of car you drove, but will ask how many people you drove who didn’t have transportation.
• God won’t ask the square footage of your house, but will ask how many people you welcomed into your home.
• God won’t ask about the fancy clothes you had in your closet, but will ask how many of those clothes helped the needy.
• God won’t ask about your social status, but will ask what kind of class you displayed.
• God won’t ask how many material possessions you had, but will ask if they dictated your life.
• God won’t ask what your highest salary was, but will ask if you compromised your character to obtain that salary.
• God won’t ask how much overtime you worked, but will ask if you worked overtime for your family and loved ones.
• God won’t ask how many promotions you received, but will ask how you promoted others.
• God won’t ask what your job title was, but will ask if you performed your job to the best of your ability.
• God won’t ask what you did to help yourself, but will ask what you did to help others.
• God won’t ask how many friends you had, but will ask how many people to whom you were a true friend.
• God won’t ask what you did to protect your rights, but will ask what you did to protect the rights of others.
• God won’t ask in what neighborhood you lived, but will ask how you treated your neighbors.
• God won’t ask about the color of your skin, but will ask about the content of your character.
• God won’t ask how many times your deeds matched your words, but will ask how many times they didn’t.

Makes me think of a Brandon Heath song I LOVE- it is my theme song in my life that I try to live by- "Give me your eyes for just one second. Give me your eyes so I can see. Everything that I keep missing. Give me your love for humanity...."

the world the way it should be

Yesterday I saw a picture of how I think the world should be, a world that would be filled with more peace and less war, more joy and less anger, more love and less of all the things that fill hearts with hurt, anger, despondence...

Picture the scene...

A playground with children- smiling, running, playing, pretending, happy children. Picture a little boy picking flowers until his hands are full of small yellow blossoms and then running around the playground giving his flowers to all the girls in class. He tells many, including his teacher, "It's girl flower day. My dad said it's flower girl day!" Picture some of the girls running over to show their teacher what the little boy had done and see their smiles of happiness from this kindness.

Then I saw the most beautiful picture of friendship and kindness that I think I might have ever seen in fifteen years of teaching. One child, took the flowers offered her, patted the boy's hand kindly and thanked him for her gift. She took time to look at the flowers, smile, and share her joy with him personally, simply, sweetly and with such true friendship.

Let me add to this that the little boy is, well... special. I don't mean that as a put down. He is truly a special child. I believe time will provide a "label" of some kind- I have my suspicions and have been trying all year to get someone to see the signs I see without any help, support for the child or any interventions. My students see the difference between themselves and the little boy, but they are so kind and gentle to him. Never, not even once, have I ever seen or heard them make fun of this child, express anger at him, or be unkind to him. They help him daily, ignore the things that can be annoying, and cheer for even his smallest success like it was the world's biggest accomplishment. My class has made me cry more than once this year when they cheered for this little one printing a very weak, but legible copy of his first name, the first time he put his coat on by himself, the first time he opened his own milk or built something with blocks. They often bring him to me to show me some new thing he has learned and are more excited than even I am!

Each year I work very hard to create a "family" atmosphere in my room, a place where we all work together, cheer each other on, believe in each other, and in the end develop a close, friendly-kind of love for one another. I want my room to be a safe place where all are accepted- good, bad, pretty, ugly, "smart" or seemingly not- where each person is able to grow and become more than what they were when they arrived- including myself.

There are so many, many things about myself that I despise, that I feel I have ruined or messed up. I know my faults and hide many of them from even my closest family members, but in this one thing I feel I have succeeded. I have created a small world where people are loved for who they are, accepted just the way they are, cheered for when they do well, shown kindness and acceptance and freedom to continue on life's path. I have a world that is just the way it should be. I wish the "real world" could be that way too.