Flooding, taking a sabbatical

So this is a post to our blog to report on flooding in Carol Stream and to announce my sabbatical from posting to the blog. I posted this old but adorable picture because I don't have any new ones--no time. In my absence, my husband, Brooks, has been placed in charge of all blog update activity. He has been faithful in this recently, however the content is questionable in nature, since it involved my son wearing a Cowboys jersey. I will admit that he looks quite adorable in it, but it should be a BEARS or Redskins jersey. I will have to talk to my brother about getting something for him, although I bet Diane will get one first. She's the one who dressed Elliott as a White Sox fan even though Brooks likes the Orioles and I'm for the Cubbies, and Red Socks. I'll take that over those crazy Texans. "America's Team" my foot! The president could name them our national team and I still wouldn't budge! Oh well--I must say that it makes our lives a little more colorful.


Anyway, flooding news. I don't have any, except that school is canceled for tomorrow, Sept. 15, 2008. I got 3 calls, yes, 3, from our superintendent Hank Gmitro regarding school cancellations, including one from our school phone tree. Cloverdale's phone tree hasn't even been updated for the year, since we usually don't start cancelling school until after Thanksgiving. I hope all the new employees got the district message. I get to call someone new this year because the person I called last year resigned. Don't know why, but I do know she had a change of position last year after one of our colleagues died of cancer. :( Anyway, I have not personally seen the flooding in Carol Stream except to see the intersection we take to Jillian's school blocked off (due to water) on our way to church this morning. We saw plenty of flooding at Lincoln Marsh and Elliot Lake just north of the marsh. You almost couldn't read the signs the water was so high. Our home is in a higher area and it seems that it was well developed considering all the problems this constant rain has caused. We have lake in our neighborhood that usually isn't there, but otherwise we're safe. Praise the Lord! A co-worker had to evacuate her home due to massive flooding. :( I heard from the 5th grade teacher that calls me on the phone tree. I'd appreciate if you prayed for Katie F. and her family.


Elliott started sitting up with more stability this week, so that makes it easier to accomplish tasks with him nearby. I can carry him to a spot in the house where I need to do something, like prepare his solid food dinner, and he's happy and safe next to me. He has been very upset whenever he sees me leave his presence, which is heartbreaking but I'm glad to know he's so fond of me. :) Jim says it's because I provide him with his primary food source, but I bet he would love me just as much if he was bottle fed. He gets at least 3 bottles a week when he is with Mom and at least 2 more when Brooks is home with him. Then they feed him solid food more than I do. Oh well!


Jillian's reading is really impressive! Tonight she was reading an email survey that Mama Locke filled out and returned to me, but as it got later, she quickly went downhill. I knew it was time for bed then! It was an hour past her bedtime, but she doesn't have school tomorrow. :) I love the way she cares for Elliott. You can tell they are buddies by the way he looks at her when he wakes up in the mornings. He always has such a big smile on his face, it warms my heart so much! I wish I could stay home with him and enjoy him even more!!!





Work has been very exhausting. Some of my classes are more draining that others due to classroom management demands, but Brooks has really been encouraging me to "crack the whip" and not give my little "testers" any room, and it has really helped. Not having kindergarten this year has been a blessing, too, because not only do I have less trouble, but I have smaller classes overall, which is the right thing to do. I don't think it's fair for us specialist to be expected to teach huge classes when the classroom teachers have no more than 25. However, next week I start losing students to the math support program that pulls them out of specials (aka CATs: Comprehensive Arts Team--Art, Gym, Health, Music, Drama/Dance) for about half of the time. Normally, those are students I don't miss, but this year's third graders who qualify are some of my favorites! :( I just hope this program helps them enough to graduate them soon! :) Anyway, another draining part of work is meetings--we have had quite a few recently, from staff meetings to team meetings to TARGET meetings (team meets with administration) to Professional Learning, which I don't want to go into, except that it's the district-wide approach to meeting the academic needs of students, and I think it's one of those wonderful NCLB pieces of legislation. :P Our first meeting was announced only a few hours before it was to begin...and took up all of our lunch and most of our plan time for the day. YUCK! I was thankful for once that I had to pump, so I missed the first half (pumping takes about 25 minutes of my time, if I'm super organized and I have access to the office I've been given permission to use; rarely do I get both on the same day!) thanks to that, then I had to heat up my lunch (oh darn!) I want to help my students reach their academic potential, but I feel like they have very high expectations of us specialist--meeting our own state standards, assessing them on those, integrating between our special disciplines through vocabulary, cross-curriculum articulation, and now being expected to reinforce what they learn in reading, math, and the like. So, as you can see, it's a little exhausting at work. I also have lots of new materials in addition to my new textbooks to get used to (and modify for my classes since lots of their ideas are cheesy and ineffective--I know because I've tried them!!) I usually wake up before Brooks, have more to do to get ready, including feeding Elliott twice before I leave, then getting to work to do my job in an overwhelming setting. There is so much to do and plan and think about that I find that I am becoming less effective...oh wait, I have a family, too?


It's going to be easier NEXT YEAR, RIGHT?


That's what I keep saying, every year since my first year.


It had better be!!!! It was true my second year teaching, but not as much as I would have hoped beyond that...yet. :)


I am surviving by God's good grace alone, which He has provided mostly in getting me through the day, having such an amazing husband (despite his love of those crazy Texans) and two great kids. Seeing how much Elliott loves me really cheers me up. His "need" for me is discouraging, since I usually come home and have so much more to do, and I'm exhausted. This weekend has been very restful, and having tomorrow off will help, too. I hope to get some lesson planning done for next week, which will hopefully help my load next this week...Lord willing and the creeks don't rise! (Oh wait, too late! Was that a terrible pun or what?)

In other news...A new girl to 129 that is from Texas (but lives in Chicago with her in-laws as of recently) and her son, Jack, came to church today and Lauren sat with us. She sat with us in 129 and then came out to lunch with us to Corner Bakery. Jack just turned 2, and is a cute blondie with blue and green eyes who knows many colors, but calls grey "mouse". :) Isn't that cute? He was initially afraid of me at the beginning of class, but he warmed right up to Jillian (of course, who wouldn't?) and was friendly with us after that. When he saw us in line at CB, he ran up to me with his arms out for me to hold him...out of the blue! It was so sweet! I can't understand most of what he says, but he's a cutie and he really likes Elliott, too. He actually says his name pretty well! Anyway, a bit of info on Lauren--she's a widow. Her husband drowned on a recreational boating trip when Jack was only a few months old. I'm sure she was so sad and devistated, but her testimony is so powerful! She read Elizabeth Elliot's book (before the accident) and it was such an encouragement to her, knowing how Elizabeth continued to minister to the people that took her husband's life. Lauren said that she was married for the same amount of time that E.E. was...wow! She is so strong, and I pray that God would use her, and Elizabeth Elliot, to minister to me if that ever happened to me. I tell Brooks that he's not allowed to die before me because I would be waaaay too devistated. I'm the emotional one, so I wouldn't handle it as well. However, he seems reluctant to agree anymore since he tells me he doesn't know what he would do without me...at least I know I married the right guy! :) I need to pray that God would work in my heart on that one, making sure my priorities are straight, but He keeps it real. I'm head-over-heels for Brooks, but his marathon football watching does get under my skin by the 10th quarter (yes, multiple games in a row), so that helps me remember that God is the only one that I can truly rely on--He will never abandon me for football!!!! :)

I still wouldn't trade my husband for another--any day!


Well, I think this last blog has gotten long enough. Hasta el verano!


Susan