Priceless gifts under the tree!

Paulson- Wentzell gifts to be displayed on Nanny's Little blessings. (see my link. To view that site, just ask me and get me your e-mail. If we know you, we'll sign you up!)

Christmas Trees

Reason # 6
I love the trees. My tree is not just a fancy decoration, it's a display of heartwarming memories.

Many of the angels came from my mom, the pictures of the girls, the crochet Mr. and Mrs. Santa that our dear Aunt Connie made us. The "joy" pillow, a gift from a very special director, who saw how much I loved it at the church boutique when I was too broke to be able to buy such things. The unique and beautiful ornaments Rosie brought me back from her travels, The special treasures from Sarah, and the list goes on.

The Gift of Giving

I sort of messed up on my list of "Reasons I love Christmas", because I keep going back to the the Carols.

We'll call this reason # 5

Finding just the right gift for just the right person!

For those you love, AND for those who are so needy that the love of Christ compels you.

I have a little girl in my class who is currently suffering with a brain tumor. A poor family, Spanish speaking, hard working, full of faith and struggling with the constant visits to Children's Hospital. (without a car)

Sweet, respectful, and eager to smile, Jasmine has touched many hearts.

Please send up a prayer for her. I told the mother I'd be praying and she cried and thanked me.

I told another teacher about her, and her son, (I think about 12 years old,) went out and bought some Christmas gifts for her!

That's another reason I love Christmas!

Joy to the World

While feeling sort of stressed out with all I had to do, I suddenly heard this Carol:

"Joy to the world, the Lord Has Come,

Let Earth receive her King;

Let every heart, prepare Him room,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven and nature sing,

And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing."

And it just gets better- the song's stanza's, that is.

Go there, not to all the stress factors- Look up and see if you can imagine that first Christmas when the whole of a midnight sky was torn apart by a MULTITUDE of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST,

AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOODWILL TOWARD MEN.

Think of it: multitude. hosts.

That's all I have to say about that. Except for this. That's why I love angels on my tree.

Joy

Reason # 3 of why I love Christmas:

The joy you can bring to others by bringing cookies, giving food and a prayer to the needy at the Church food bank, giving a call, singing, even just saying, "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah!"

I did the best thing I could, and it got me out of a bad holiday funk. I went with my group to the convalescent home and sang carols. Sweet old women were crying and laughing over hearing those tunes. Many joined in. We gave them each a pair of rolled up socks tied in a bow with a little card attached.

When I went I was stressed, when I was done, I was humbled. And blessed. And I got back in touch with the true meaning of Christmas.

JOY TO THE WORLD, THE LORD HAS COME- LET EARTH RECEIVE HER KING!

Christmas

Reason 2: ( really more of reason 1)

'The Little Drummer Boy" and the poverty of Spirit it represents- which leads to a richness of Love.

And the sweetness of children entering in and giving their best gifts- the gifts of their talents, love and efforts!

Maybe that's why I love homemade gifts.

The Thrill of Hope...

Why I love Christmas:

Reason # 1 - the power of the Carols to re-connect me with the Wonderful Gift of God in Jesus's coming.

"The thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices,

for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn;

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel's voices-

O night divine, O night, when Christ was born."

"How silently, how silently- the wondrous gift was given,

So, God imparts to human hearts, the wonders of His heaven.

We hear the Christmas angels, their great glad tidings tell,

O come to us, abide in us, Our Lord, Emmanuel."

Happy Thanksgiving to All

Happy Thanksgiving everybody out there!
I thank God for all of the good that comes out of this cyberspace-world. I thank God for being able to see pictures of my grand babies and hear from family and friends. And for all my many readers- both real and imaginary. ( only kidding, no really)
And for my daughter setting me up on this. And for food and health and a new dryer. And vehicles and a JOB!
I thank God that my grandchildren have such caring and competent parents, so that I don't have to worry as so many do.
And I thank God for my and for their health- such a precious gift. I thank God for my family, for the beautiful climate I enjoy, and so much more.
And I thank God for God. A God who is there with His comfort and love even when some of these other blessings are taken away. For a God who so related with our pain and failures that He became flesh and dwelt among us. I thank Him that as I worship Him, I too behold His Glory, and receive grace upon grace. And it makes me fall in love with Him more!

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
V. 16-17 And of His fulness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

We went to the zoo!

I loved it! This video was a favorite of Selah's. We all agreed that it was, "A very unpleasant sound." ( for the best effect, imagine Selah's little pixie voice saying that slowly and distinctly.)
I went a little crazy with the photos, but am taking more time than I can afford to download this one pathetic little scene. I hope that their noise comes out- it was so strange. At one point they were carrying on with constant shrieks. Turns out it was only their lunchtime cries of anticipation. Talk about overreacting!!!
It was great to be with Rosie and the 2 little ones!. I LOVE THEM!

November's Journey.

Well, in an attempt to not become totally obsolete, I am forcing myself to inform anyone who might care and has not been swallowed up by that newfangled invention- FACE BOOK- about my current journey.

I went from my best class in 18 years in 4th grade to the "Kindergarten from Hell," (spoken by one with 9 previous years of Kinder experience in a very hard area) in a month.

And yet, I felt like God had ordained it for something really good for me. Well, it was good for my seeing some personal progress. Even though I didn't do it perfectly, as I did put in some time for groaning and complaining, I was able to be gentle and kind in lowering the boom on the little, wild, um, how-do-you-say, monkeys. I swear, God makes them so darn cute for a reason. It's so that they survive.

After many parent communications, new, creative forms of time outs and multiple compliments and rewards when they were caught LISTENING, walking, and staying where they were supposed to be- my little class began to emerge as teachable.

I have to say that I was blessed with an amazing assistant for almost 1/2 of the day, and the teacher whose class I was given was there as a "floater," and was also constantly involved in the clay forming process as she was able.

So, after 2 and 1/2 weeks, the higher powers said,"Okay, we can re-open first grade.

And they did. And I took it. I took it, leaving the former teacher with a smaller and better class.

( The extra kids from the Kinder they closed were sent back to their jungle- oops, I mean other class with a teacher with different standards....)

And I ended up with that which God had promised, A REALLY GOOD first grade class.

I am in awe. I don't know how I could get 2 such classes in 1 year.

The transition was exhausting and wore me out, but the light is shining already.

And I carry a deeper sense of His working in all things, forming something of His character in us- forging something in the dark to be used for the Light.

Double Bumped

Well, I was teaching 4th grade, but then we didn't get enough kids to justify the 5 4th grade classrooms. So I was chosen, the excuse was that I have the least seniority of them all, to go to Kindergarten. At which point my work and home computers both died. And I began moving all my stuff and entering a tiny and very undisciplined world where normal 1 minute activities take 15 and simple directions often need to be mimed. And I got the classroom which has the bathroom for the other Kinders to come through all day long. Did I mention that many of them don't speak English?
So project training began. I had great help- for which I am very grateful. But I have been exhausted and bummed.
So, after all of that, we found out that we can bring back the Kinder's original teacher- who has been a "Floater" and in and out of my room testing. She is sweet, patient, and bi-lingual. The title is actually wrong- I didn't get double bumped, I volunteered to take the re-opened 1st grade and give Mrs. "Mary-Poppins" Falcon her class back. While I have to move again, I will be getting a much better class, without a public bathroom, and children who are already, in part, trained.
I also have been told that they are a really good group and I will be working with an awesome 1st grade teacher-team.
It feels like Joseph, finally getting out of prison-and entering into a place of leadership and blessing. I hope my feelings are right.
This morning I read, "Don't grow weary in doing what is good." I needed that- it's getting tiring. But, one day I hope to get this message right: I CANT COMPLAIN!
I have a job, a great school, beautiful grand babies with great parents, and so much more!