Sunsets…

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Today is another track day.  We ran this morning.  I like running in the cool air 🙂  Fortunately for us we have this weirdish weather pattern hanging around making it cooler than usual for this time of year.

Yesterday was our daughter’s last day of school.  We are both always happy and a little sad.  It can be sad to leave a comfortable routine.  It can be sad to know you won’t see the people you’ve gotten used to seeing everyday for at least a little while.  On the flip side, it is actually nice sometimes to not have a schedule and to have the chance to do some different things.  We get to spend more time together and we enjoy going to the water park, the library, helping at VBS, horseback riding, and just spending time at home.  I really enjoy spending my summers with our daughter.  I am grateful for my teaching schedule.  I am home almost every afternoon in time to pick her up from school and our vacation times are similar.

Time passes by quickly and slowly, its a weird thing.

So an evening has passed since I first started this post.

It’s Friday now.

I want to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for my neighbor.  His name is Bob and he has recently lost his wife, pets and now his daughter is selling his house.  He doesn’t like it.

It’s like three months later now.  Bob’s house was sold and is now a rental.  Our daughter has started 7th grade.  She seems to mostly enjoy.

Track season ended and she started cross country.  She placed 3rd in the district she ran in for JV at their all city finals.  She also had a PR, which was great!

Time is still moving slowly and quickly.

My birthday is tomorrow.

Today for being home early enough to do a few chores and make dinner, the good people our daughter has in her life, and so many other things, one of them being, finally finishing this blog!  For these things…I Give Thanks!

KOR!

Free Solo…

On By runnergirl02In Biblical Reflections, UncategorizedLeave a comment

I was watching this movie called Free Solo about this guy named Alex Honnold.  He is the first and only person to Free Solo El Capitan in Yosemite Valley.  It was a really good movie.  I always find stories about overcoming the odds inspiring, even if they are slightly crazy things like climbing El Capitan without any safety ropes or protection of any kind.  Crazy.  Cool.  Crazy.  Amazing.

We were just there yesterday, Yosemite.  It is one of my favorite places in the world.  Alex called El Capitan the greatest piece of granite in the world.  That’s saying a lot coming from a man who has literally climbed massive granite cliffs all over the world.  Even cooler that it is only about 2 and a half hours from us!

We love to go to Yosemite every year about this time.  We enjoy the waterfalls and the beautiful views.  It can be crowded in summer but the key is getting there before 8:00AM, parking the car and then hiking everywhere you want to go or taking the shuttle around the valley.  Do not attempt to re-park, once parked and take food with you!

So back to this Alex guy.  I was thinking how we are all Free Solo-ing every day in this thing we call life.  In many ways its more scary than climbing El Cap.  Alex prepared.  He practiced every pitch on his chosen route over and over until he had every move memorized and it was just automatic.  He had specific notes about when to do what move, how to move his body, his hands, his feet, where to put them.  The consequence of making a wrong move was death.

We don’t really have that luxury.  We can’t practice for what’s to come because we don’t what is coming, in most cases.  We have to just go out there everyday and Free Solo our way around whatever the mountain throws at us.  There are sections of granite in Yosemite on big slabs like El Cap called flake.  Granite can flake unexpectedly and break away, leading a climber to an early death or injury.  The same thing often happens in life.  Something we thought was steady and true and never changing all of a sudden changes without warning and we have two choices, let it kill us or adjust, grab our rope and find another way up.

Today is Pentecost.  Today we celebrate the rope that God sent us, the Holy Spirit.

Sometimes I forget that rope is there.  Sometimes I want to do it all by myself and I forget to reach out for the rope and then smack, down I go.

It’s pretty cool that Alex climbed this massive piece of granite without a rope.  He considers himself a militant atheist.  I’m not sure what that means actually, to be honest.  I read it here...

I’m just glad that as I do my own Free Solo in life I have a rope ready and waiting for me any time I want it.  I notice, for me, its when I forget about my rope,  that I get the most worried and anxious.   When I start to think I need to do it all by myself that I get the most frustrated and tired.

In reality, Alex didn’t climb El Cap with a rope but he had one.  He had his friends who worked with him daily during the climbing season to help him train.  He had an awesome crew of camera men and fellow climbers cheering him on. He had his girlfriend supporting him in his dream.  He had many ropes.  He just didn’t see them or at least in the movie acknowledge them.

If you watch the movie you’ll see he’s a rather self-centered man.  I guess in some ways you need to be to accomplish amazing things.  Maybe he’s changed by now.  I hope one day he will also find the only rope that really matters.

For Today…For Yosemite, God’s beautiful creation, and ropes! I Give Thanks!

KOR

Here’s a picture of a meadow we love! DSC06826.JPG

 

Today

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Today I am thankful for time with my daughter and husband after work.

We went to track practice, stopped at the Farmer’s Market and got some berries! Yum!

We had some fish tacos and sat at my second favorite table.

It was a nice way to end the day.

The first part of the day also started off nicely. My 3rd period class was a challenge today. One of my students tossed a gold chain that belonged to another student up on top of the roof of our Science/History/Language Building. Yes, you read that right. So in the middle of trying to get the final done, notebooks graded and late work addressed I also had to try to keep the two from killing each other.

End of the year, always seems to be some crazy thing. At least it’s not like two years ago when some parents kept threatening to file a complaint against me to the school board. Their daughter had cheated and was caught. I told them to go ahead. A day later they sent an email asking if there was anyway we could work anything out. End of school year = crazy.

Tomorrow is the last day of finals and then I’ll post grades and will be done for the summer!

Oh, I’m also thankful for yogurt! Especially, Fage 0% Greek yogurt. I’ll slice up the fresh berries we just bought, add sliced almonds, walnuts and honey, Yum! Looking forward to that for breakfast in the morning.

So today for time with people I love, the end of the school year (it’s time for a break), and yogurt, LOL! I Give Thanks!

KOR!

U-turns

On By runnergirl02In running, Thankfulness, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today is a track day for my daughter.  My husband and I walk the track while she runs it.  I hope it doesn’t rain.

The end of the school year is often a frustrating event for many reasons.  It’s also bittersweet and full of fun activities.

We are about three weeks out from this years “end”.  My daughter gets out next Wednesday actually, a whole two weeks before me.

The kids are kinda loopy.  They have taken their AP Exams and are ready to be done with school.  I could go on a rant about things that aren’t great but I won’t.  Instead I’ll share what I’m thankful for today.

A note from a student.  He is in my AP Chem class.  Sweet kid.  Smart.  Mostly kind.  Unfortunately, not motivated to be in my class at all.  He will likely end the class with a C, which he has earned but he should have earned a B or A.  He just would not work.  I could not get him to work to save my life or his. Today I got a note from him.  The AP Government class often has the seniors write notes to their teachers.  I got a note from him and it was a sweet note, not just because he said Thank You, but because in the note he was able to see that he had not been the greatest student in my class this year.  His Personhood… awesome, studenthood…not so awesome.  I really liked that he was able to explain that he knew he could be better and do better.  I really think that is an important attribute in kids, to be able to recognize their errors, reflect on them and correct them, without an adult pointing them out.

I spent an afternoon recently discussing Judas with my daughter.  She was sharing different theories people had about him.  She asked where I thought Judas had gone wrong.  I told her that I believed Judas’s biggest mistake was not being able to believe that Jesus could or would forgive him.  I told her that even more than taking money for ratting Jesus out, Judas’s grave error was in not understanding the mercy and grace Jesus offered him.  If Judas had asked for Jesus’s forgiveness as he hung dying on the cross I am convinced Jesus would have given it.  I told her I wanted her to remember that no matter what happens in her life, that if she somehow ends up on road she didn’t mean to travel that God always always always allows U-turns and that she should never ever forget that.  I think its important for us all to remember that Jesus loves us, died for us and will always forgive us.  He died for our sins, all the ones we have committed and all the ones we will commit.  They are cleansed in his blood. We should never be so arrogant as to think we are above His grace and mercies. We should never be so arrogant to believe that other people aren’t worthy of His grace and mercies.  They are offered equally to everyone.  The very best and the very worst of humanity.  That’s what makes God such a mystery. His love incomprehensible at times.

Anyway today for a God that allows U-turns, people who learn from their mistakes and become better people, for having more time to write lately, for track practice because it gives me some extra exercise…I Give Thanks!

KOR

A Good Day

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It was a good day:-)

Today I’m thankful for a great lunch spent with family for Mother’s Day, for the opportunity to live so close to so many people I love, for hearing from Samantha, my daughter in Australia, for my husband and his steadfastness in the face of my chaos, for sweets, for my daughter here, for my baby girl in heaven, for my God-Children, for God’s everlasting love, I read this yesterday:

Jesus said:
“My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father’s hand.
The Father and I are one.”

I LOVE, “No one can take them out of my hand.”

It brings me comfort and certainty in a world full of uncertainty, chaos and divisiveness…

For all these things…I Give Thanks!

KOR!

Here’s a picture from my Mother’s Day Hike, it was beautiful!

Always knows

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God always seem to know when I need a little pick me up:-)

I’ve been sick and not running which for me can lead to blue.

Anyway, we came out to the Farmers Market to get some strawberries and cherries and I was meh…

Until I heard, “Look who’s here?”

I looked up and it was my brother, his wife and the babies, who are also our God-Children.

How can you be blue after that?

We walked down the street a little with them and then we saw an old friend listening to the band. There’s almost always a band. It was nice to see she was doing well after missing her last year.

We got out berries, cherries and a few other items and on walking back through the music circle my husband grabbed my hand and asked me for a dance, which was very sweet. It was a song about a cowboy and a city girl. I love to dance with him.

So I’m feeling better now, just the edges are blue…

Today for Farmer’s Markets, the first cherries of the season, our God-Children, who make me smile, my daughter, who I also danced with, oh and Ramen, very yummy…I Give Thanks!

KOR!

Grumpy

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I’ve been grumpy lately. I’ve been sick. I have an advanced Chemistry class of 8 and six of them have D’s or F’s. It’s ridiculous. They have had plenty of opportunities to improve their grade. One student said he just didn’t care and told his counselor he was taking the F, not even going to try. It’s kept me awake at night and actually I’m pretty sure that’s why I’m sick. Sigh…

I did however get a sweet note from a student today in an Honors class. He said Thank You. It was nice to read, so I’ll focus on that. I could go on a tirade about student entitlement, apathy, phone addiction, the list goes on but instead I think I’ll end my grumpy streak with gratitude for my students that do care and do want to do better. They are few and far between these days but I am thankful for them and I learn from them. In fact, just the other day I learned that if I say “Deuces,” while holding my hand sideways with a peace symbol , that means I am leaving wherever it is that I am…

Hoping that in exchange they learned that Keq can give us a lot of info on an Equilibrium Reaction, which is really just a reaction that has reached its “chill” in their language.

Today for sweet notes and feeling just the tiniest bit better…I Give Thanks!

KOR

Fish

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Today is Tuesday 🙂 Our local farmer’s markets are on Tuesdays and Fridays. We enjoy spending time at them and buying organic strawberries, zucchini’s, honey, other produce we might be looking for.

I especially enjoy stopping at Rubio’s for their Fish Tacos! They are 1.75 on Tuesday’s, used to be $1.25, alas inflation, and my very favorite thing to do is sit outside at a table on the corner of the patio. When we first walked up I was chagrined to find our table was occupied. How could this be? Doesn’t that man know his table is our table? Doesn’t he know how much I enjoy sitting there? Sigh…as we walked up to the counter to order the man rose from our table and I bolted to it…ha! Our is table is ours once again! Victory! Here I sit typing today’s post from the “table”…happy once again:-)!!!

Anywhoo…it’s been a good day, even though I’m a bit under the weather 😦

Today I’m thankful for Fish Tacos, Farmers Markets, Our Table, Cool breezy evenings and so much more…for all these things I Give Thanks!

KOR

Report

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Well I just had a really nice run but I’ve been reading the news and now I’m annoyed so I’m just venting…ignore me…

Dear Democrat’s,

If the plan is to get this President elected again, you are right on track. You have jumped the shark. The report was independent. You’d think you might be happy there was no treason involved, instead you keep poking and looking for any bit of something you can hang onto so you can make the guy look bad. He does that on his own. He doesn’t need your help. You are going to get him re-elected because he’s not wrong, you are harassing him and his administration and you have been since he got elected. It started with the ridiculous riots after the election, then there were the Marches, March after March some of which were exclusionary, oh but you are so tolerant aren’t you?

Look, I didn’t vote for the guy but  I am telling you, you are going to get him elected again because most independent thinking people can see what is happening and no they don’t see it your way. You are the ones with closed minds. You are the ones resistant to change. Stop just stop and start working for the people again and you know what there’s a chance we can get a new President elected next time. Another piece of advice, someone tell Joe Biden, who I would actually think about voting for, not to run on having the “moral” high ground or restoring morals to the country because as far as I can tell, none of you have them right now.

People are dying, wars are ongoing, our youth are lost and you are wasting time fighting about a report that says what it says. Get over it and get on with it.

The End

I am thankful for my run today!

KOR

Deployment

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Tonight is a deployment night.  They happen once a month at our house.  My husband is the Director, interim, for now, of a small IT department for a local county superintendent of schools office.  They have “sprints”.  At the end of the “sprint” they deploy.  What that really means to me is that he is awake half the night making sure all the software is doing what is should be doing and when necessary and when possible fixing it when it isn’t doing what it should be doing.  There’s this little dinging sound that rings every time someone is updating on this app called Slack.  Most of the time the dings aren’t for him but a lot of times they are, they annoy me.

I don’t really like deployment nights but in all fairness I suppose neither do the people in his department doing the deploying.  He has been in this position now for a little over a month and its been really fun to watch him grow into the leader I’ve always known he was.  He is a really good leader.  He is steady and sure.  He really takes the time to think through problems and find good solutions.  The former director took a job in Texas and when he left, recommended that they make my husband interim Director and that they should hire that position from within this time.  My husband applied for this job twice, even though he was told both times that he wouldn’t be hired.  They were looking for someone with experience running a software department.  He never gave up though and stayed positive.  He went to those interviews, gave it his best shot and stayed true to his work ethic even after they did eventually hire someone from the outside.

He has shared his vision for the department with me.  He wants to create a place where best practices are followed and where they can have local students intern to get on the job training and mentoring.  He has great ideas for creating a positive atmosphere where people know their jobs help to contribute to the education of local kids.  He wants people in his department to know they matter, they are important and they make a difference in the life of kids.  I am a teacher and so I think that is a totally great and awesome goal.

I’m really proud of him.  He is extremely smart but he is humble.  Have you ever been around a person who was smart but knew they were smart or could do something amazing but they knew they could do those amazing things?  That person is not my husband.  My husband is kind and good, the kind of good that is really really hard to find these days.  He is fair and he is honest.  He is trustworthy.  When they interview out for the job again, he will apply, if they hire him this time, I know, he will make a great Director of Application, Development and Support. He is such a great leader in our family.  He is always trying to be better to do better.  God gave Him the gift of a strategic mind.  He loves board games, especially strategy games and running an IT software department is a lot like a strategy game.  God has been preparing him for this moment his whole life, I’m sure of it, it’s funny how sometimes you actually get to see all the pieces fit together.

So today I guess I am thankful after all for deployments, because they let me sit and think about and remember all the wonderful reasons that after almost 24 years of marriage and almost 26 years together, there is no one else I would rather spend my time and my life with….I am so very grateful for him everyday and I thank my heavenly Father for my husband every single day.

I’m also thankful for Laina’s track coach.  We have a great time out at practices.  She encourages parents to run and take the time to exercise while their kids are practicing. So far its been a good experience.  It was a beautiful evening to walk around a track.

For my wonderful husband and for track…I Give Thanks!

KOR