Daily Balance Sheet
Good things that happened today:
1. My sister Lois brought her two youngest children and her guest Merry Yoder from VA to visit school and have lunch with us. She shared her Indian lentils and rice with me.
2. The list of immigrant ancestors of class members grew by about 12 names today.
3. An unnamed procrastinating student got his written report handed in on January's current events study: Private Lives of Public Figures--and he had a few percentage points left after the late points and the errors points were subtracted.
4. Mr. Schrock stayed ungrouchy (as usual) even though he was not feeling well at all.
5. Merry loaned me a book by George MacDonald, and gave me a list of other books to read from an author she knows I would love. I've wanted to read MacDonald ever since I heard Elizabeth Elliot refer to him as one of her favorite authors. Elliot is one of mine.
6. Several people put nice comments on my blog.
Bad things that happened today:
1. The bank was closed for President's Day when I hurried over there, even though I was almost late for school, to deposit my latest paycheck and make all the transactions I always see to when I get paid.
2. The beaker we keep the praying hands in at school to pass along as a marker to identify whose turn it is to lead in the lunchtime prayer jumped off the top of Frieda's desk and shattered on her desk top.
3. My oven poured out smoke when I turned it on tonight. Apparently a tiny bit of the taffy that spilled in there on Sat. night had to carbonize. One pan I put in there to keep it from cooling too fast tipped over. . . .
4. I read Arthur Nisly's account of their daughter Evie's death on Saturday when they were gone briefly to El Salvador while their children stayed here at their Sabbatical home. I can't imagine how difficult that would be for them, but understand also that God's hand was in the timing of her passing. The funeral is to be on Wednesday. It's wonderful to think of Evie being pain-free in a safe place, so her death is not bad for her, but I grieve with her family at this parting, and it would not feel right to put her death in the "good things" list. Evie was about 20 and had cerebral palsy, requiring total care.
5. I burned my hand twice over cooking supper tonight. I know. There's no excuse. And it's no big deal.
6. After I cooked supper for six, only three showed up, including me. I had forgotten about Joel's plans, and Shane and Grant neglected to inform me ahead of time. To their credit, they usually do better than this.
7. The Kansas House of Representatives passed the bill today that passed earlier in the Senate allowing the unrestricted construction of two new coal-fired power plants in Kansas, thereby kissing Kansas' comparatively pristine atmosphere goodbye for all of us. The only legal reprieve now would have to come from a governor's veto and the legislature's inability to mount a successful override.
8. Our beloved parakeet, Magog, met an untimely end at school. Unaccountably, and without anyone having any idea how it happened, he must have gotten outside somehow and fallen prey to the cat that hangs out on the property. Several perceptive and persistent students searched the tree row around the buildings until they found feathers that matched Magog's. No wild bird in this vicinity has coloration like that.
He was all one could ever wish for in a parakeet--tame, affectionate, beautiful, and verbal. He had a cheerful "How are you?" that sometimes came out with impeccable timing--like just after I walked into the classroom in the morning.
Except for David and Frieda who declared today that they did not like Magog (thereby coming under suspicion when he first went missing), the students liked him and often had him at their office or on their shoulder.
On balance, much is still right with the world, but today's losses will make me glad to start with a clean slate tomorrow morning.
1. My sister Lois brought her two youngest children and her guest Merry Yoder from VA to visit school and have lunch with us. She shared her Indian lentils and rice with me.
2. The list of immigrant ancestors of class members grew by about 12 names today.
3. An unnamed procrastinating student got his written report handed in on January's current events study: Private Lives of Public Figures--and he had a few percentage points left after the late points and the errors points were subtracted.
4. Mr. Schrock stayed ungrouchy (as usual) even though he was not feeling well at all.
5. Merry loaned me a book by George MacDonald, and gave me a list of other books to read from an author she knows I would love. I've wanted to read MacDonald ever since I heard Elizabeth Elliot refer to him as one of her favorite authors. Elliot is one of mine.
6. Several people put nice comments on my blog.
Bad things that happened today:
1. The bank was closed for President's Day when I hurried over there, even though I was almost late for school, to deposit my latest paycheck and make all the transactions I always see to when I get paid.
2. The beaker we keep the praying hands in at school to pass along as a marker to identify whose turn it is to lead in the lunchtime prayer jumped off the top of Frieda's desk and shattered on her desk top.
3. My oven poured out smoke when I turned it on tonight. Apparently a tiny bit of the taffy that spilled in there on Sat. night had to carbonize. One pan I put in there to keep it from cooling too fast tipped over. . . .
4. I read Arthur Nisly's account of their daughter Evie's death on Saturday when they were gone briefly to El Salvador while their children stayed here at their Sabbatical home. I can't imagine how difficult that would be for them, but understand also that God's hand was in the timing of her passing. The funeral is to be on Wednesday. It's wonderful to think of Evie being pain-free in a safe place, so her death is not bad for her, but I grieve with her family at this parting, and it would not feel right to put her death in the "good things" list. Evie was about 20 and had cerebral palsy, requiring total care.
5. I burned my hand twice over cooking supper tonight. I know. There's no excuse. And it's no big deal.
6. After I cooked supper for six, only three showed up, including me. I had forgotten about Joel's plans, and Shane and Grant neglected to inform me ahead of time. To their credit, they usually do better than this.
7. The Kansas House of Representatives passed the bill today that passed earlier in the Senate allowing the unrestricted construction of two new coal-fired power plants in Kansas, thereby kissing Kansas' comparatively pristine atmosphere goodbye for all of us. The only legal reprieve now would have to come from a governor's veto and the legislature's inability to mount a successful override.
8. Our beloved parakeet, Magog, met an untimely end at school. Unaccountably, and without anyone having any idea how it happened, he must have gotten outside somehow and fallen prey to the cat that hangs out on the property. Several perceptive and persistent students searched the tree row around the buildings until they found feathers that matched Magog's. No wild bird in this vicinity has coloration like that.
He was all one could ever wish for in a parakeet--tame, affectionate, beautiful, and verbal. He had a cheerful "How are you?" that sometimes came out with impeccable timing--like just after I walked into the classroom in the morning.
Except for David and Frieda who declared today that they did not like Magog (thereby coming under suspicion when he first went missing), the students liked him and often had him at their office or on their shoulder.
On balance, much is still right with the world, but today's losses will make me glad to start with a clean slate tomorrow morning.
posted by Mrs. I at
4:26 PM
1 Comments:
May Magog rest in pieces. . . I'm sure the cat took care of that part! And I'm also sure that his cheerful tune will be greatly missed at school. Keep posting interesting school stories!
-Karen
By
Anonymous, at 2/19/2008
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