Everyday is an Experience

I was presented with a unique opportunity. I was able to attend an enrichment night like no other. The women in my stake were able to have General Relief Society President Julie Beck come and speak to use. At first I was hesitant to go, but I decided to go and I am not sorry for it. What a blessing it was to be able to hear her speak. While there are many things that I rattle on about that she said I will only mention a few.
At the very beginning she would ask all the sisters that were young single adults, then the young marrieds with young kids, without kids, marrieds with teens, empty-nesters...you get the idea. After this little exercise she went on to explain that we were all in different seasons of our lives with some overlap depending on the family. This all led to the comment that we as women are all learning and growing differently and are able to strengthen and be strengthened by those around us. That really stuck with me because often times I feel like I am alone in what is going on with my life. There are times when I think that no one is able to understand what I am experiencing. This whole thing continued into her basic message that as women we have a divine role in helping those around, be it family or as a Visiting Teacher. Visiting Teaching is not just a check that we need to make sure to get checked off every month, but a responsibility to make sure that the sisters that we are put in charge of are being taken care of and that their needs are being met. This struck a chord with me. I am relatively new to this whole concept. The singles ward that I was a part of wasn't the best at getting it done or making it a priority. I can count the number of times that I was visit taught on my hands. I do not claim that I was any better. This was also something that was not a prominent feature in my home growing up, so the importance of it was never really bolstered and made to grow. It is only now that I am in this ward that I can see how it draws sisters in this church together and enables them to progress and become stronger. This is not to say it has been made easy for me. Quite the opposite. I am still struggling with the idea and spirit of it, but I am doing it. The effort is being made to better myself.
Sister Beck also had a Q&A (this where the bulk of her time was spent) session. Sisters were encouraged to think of questions that they wanted answered. It was amazing how Sister Beck was able to tie life experiences, the scriptures, and the general concerns we as women and mothers have in these times. She explained how we can be the strong covenant women that are needed to enrich, encourage, and bring up a strong younger generation and the older as well. I am so glad that I was able to go to this fireside and that we were able to get Sister Beck to come since it is hard to get such a busy women.

One of my favorite quotes that she said was a something along the lines of :

Time + crisis = future laughter. So why not laugh about it now and get ahead. Enjoy the experience.

I do have to remember that I need to take each day at a time, not get caught up in the problems, learn to laugh at it, and enjoy the experiences they are for my own benefit.

Local Celebs

To be perfectly honest I work in a school that is far under the radar of most people. In fact, it is so obscure that when I tell people where I work they think it is a big white house and not actually a school of learning. The reason I bring up this obscurity is that Walden will soon be local news. It isn't because they are that fabulous as a place learning, but they got the attention of the news. The kindergarten teacher there wrote to Channel 4 News explaining the plight of schools all across this great state and even nation in regards to the dramatic budget cuts that are being inflicted. To help bridge the cuts have caused they lower elementary classes have organized a Baking Back the Budget Fundraiser. Families are contributing baked goods and other offerings to be auctioned off and are even entered into a raffle to win a digital camera. While this isn't necessarily all that outlandish or uncharacteristic of a school to raise money, it is just amazing that the news has found it note worthy to put it on the 5 o'clock news tonight.
I was there when the news was brought to the teachers. They were all pulled out of class for a impromptu meeting in the hall and told the wondrous news. I had to just sit there and control my laughter at how excited and giddy they all got when told. I know that I'll be watching the news to see who is interviewed this afternoon and all that jazz. The frenzy that is generally Walden will be thrown even more out of whack as they quickly and frantically try to clean and organize the chaos of kids, rooms, and stuff into a sensible array.

Seriouslyn People!

As most of you know I have been working with a special needs kid at work. While it is true that he can be a real handful at times, he can also be a real joy to work with. The reason I am saying this is that he has been sick lately and I was assigned another kid to work with today since the other was absent. This kid is off the hook! There are things that I wanted to do to him that I know are not sanctioned by the school or any ethics board in the States. Just working with this boy for a few hours has drained me of the little energy I was able to recover over the weekend, since I was sick. I was constantly having to stop him from annoying, hurting, and/or disrupting individuals or the whole class. It was funny because he decided that he didn't want to do the work that was assigned to him...so..he spent two sessions the bathroom about 25 minutes each time . I knew he would eventually get bored and do what was asked of him. His teachers were amazed that I would allow him to do it. I later explained that it was better than letting him run all over the school and being a complete disruption in class. I just sat there outside the bathroom instructing the boys that went in there to do their business, not talk to him, and go back to class. Once he was back in class he did what was asked of him (for the most part). It just blows my mind that these teachers and consequently the parents are so amazed when I enforce what I say and stick to the consequences laid out. Then they wonder why the kids are running amok, being disrespectful to teachers and other students, rude, and defiant. When dealing with these kids I tell them they don't have to like me and can hate me, but the DO have to respect me.

It just makes me enjoy the boy I supposed to be working with that much more. He has come a long way from kicking, biting, screaming, and running away. We are able to get things done quicker, control our emotions and actions better, and be overall more happy. I am glad that the teacher(s) are taking note and backing me up with some of the things that I do. That is my one (of many) problems with Montessori schools, the general lack of structure and discipline. It does have its redeeming qualities, but come of parents! Love and kindness may be a great motivator and key to general harmony, but when you don't lay down the law and stick to it you will be run over with kids that think they are entitled to everything and not be responsible for their own actions. Oy.

I know that this is a long rant, but I just needed to get it out. All the chaos and stress, however crazy it is, it gives me a purpose. It gives me the purpose to bring order to a generally chaotic environment. Doesn't makes sense I know but it works for me.