My "to do" list once we get there is approaching two pages worth and when I showed it to Mike last evening, he just smiled. I want to store up as many memories as I can before we head back home to Montrose. It will be Thanksgiving time before I get to see my Kansas home again but so thankful to be able to spend these few days upcoming there.
One of the things on my list is to be able to stop by my old school in Hutch, Lincoln Elementary, and see the kids and staff there. Oh, how I've missed them! Many happy memories were made there and my heart and spirit are full of them. When Mike and I were married there on the very last day of school in front of all the kids and staff, it was a blessing to be able to share that moment with them all. What a great moment it will be to step back into that school, if even for only a short while.
I reread one of my blog posts from December of 2012 last evening and it hardly seemed possible that nearly a year has passed since that time. I'm reposting it this morning if you would care so to read. I'm learning a lot here in Colorado about being a fourth grade teacher and if I told you that it has been easy, well then I'd be not telling the truth. It's a little tough sometimes and I have made mistakes aplenty. I'm learning though, right alongside my students, and in the end I hope to have become an even stronger teacher. Keep praying for all of us, will you? Kids and teachers everywhere need you to do that. It truly does take a "village" to accomplish the many things that lie ahead for us all. Have a great Friday everyone out there!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Upon having tried to make a difference~
I'm pretty sure that when "Peggy Miller" is long gone from the earth, her 3 children won't have millions of dollars in the bank to fight over and believe me, they aren't expecting it. Ursela and Grahame Hemman and Ricky Miller grew up as the children of a Kansas public school teacher and they have known, ever since their first allowance, that teachers don't make a fortune....not even close to one. I always figured it was better to tell them early on... LOL.... rather than keeping it a secret. Didn't want to get their hopes up for an underground swimming pool or a trip to Hawaii that more than likely wouldn't happen. But they survived and so did I.
I have said so many times in life, as I've written this blog and in conversations with others, that the vocation of being a school teacher is considered to be of the "ultimate calling" to me. It's an honour and a privilege to be called to teach and a calling that I take very seriously every day. What we might not receive in "hefty" monthly pay checks, we MORE than receive in the "bonus checks" we get nearly every day of the week and I could not be more satisfied. Tonight was a good example.
I just returned home a moment ago from attending an annual event to benefit the Boys' and Girls' Club here in Hutchinson. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center's lobby was filled to the brim with "club" kids, their vision leaders, family and some wonderful folks who are the benefactors of so very many kids in our town. The young students at our school, Lincoln Elementary are some of those kids. The "Steak for a Stake" fundraiser is done annually to help provide the funds to keep the local clubs operating and by the looks of it, our young kids have a lot of people standing behind them.
Several of the club members were seated at the various tables and it was their responsibility to help the other guests dining with them to understand what Boys' and Girls' Club has done for them. I was very fortunate to be sitting with a young man that I've known ever since he was a little kindergarten kid at Avenue A Elementary. Now he's a fourth grader at my current school, Lincoln, and what a delight to spend an extraordinary evening with him. Meet my young friend, Giovanni~
Sitting next to Giovanni was like sitting next to a grown-up. I was so very proud of him for his manners at the table. (heck, he knew more than I did about what you use all of those fancy forks for) He showed me the fine art of "napkin usage" and explained to me that sometimes when you cut into steak that you will find gristle. If you find the gristle, then you need to find a nice way to get rid of it. Giovanni is like a walking "encyclopaedia" and if that young man has read it in a book somewhere (and believe me, he reads all the time) then it is engrained in his brain from now until the end. I knew the conversation would be interesting when the first thing he said to me was "Mrs. Miller, did you know that you and the person sitting next to you at any given time share 99.9% of the same DNA?" Well, no Giovanni, can't say that I did.
It was kind of strange as we sat there waiting for the meal to begin that I noticed a nice looking fellow sitting a couple of tables away from me. He looked familiar and after staring at him for a bit, he turned to look at me and then I knew! He caught sight of me and before I knew it we were standing alongside one another and I recognized immediately who he was. My "old teacher's heart" was happy and I'm sure I had a smile on my face as I recognized Brad Fry, a former student of mine in the first and second grade at Yoder Grade School. Now nearly 34 years old, he's married with a child of his own but he still remembered me and how blessed I felt to be able to give him a hug again. Here we are... and either Brad grew a LOT or I was never tall to begin with.
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Tonight was "bonus check" time for this school teacher~I got to spend the evening with current students and reconnected with a former student from the land of "long ago and far, far away". There is nothing that could reward an educator any more, at least in my books, than to find out that former students have done well for themselves AND that they remember you with respect, love and kindness. Brad Fry~I'm proud of you for the man you became and for all of the things this life will yet promise you. And to little Giovanni~well, YOUR life is just starting and my prayer for you young man, is that you would find happiness and be able to achieve the very lofty goals that you have already set for yourself. I'm betting you will make it~and I'd "lay" my teacher's pay check on that one.
The day is done and in just a few hours I'll be heading out the door again for another day of school. I never refer to it as "work"~that word just doesn't fit right. Our school is full of kids that deserve every chance in this world to receive the best education they could possibly get. Lincoln Elementary is not alone. Having never figured I'd spend 35 years at this profession, I pray every morning to make a difference to some kid along the way. I've been blessed and I thank God every day to say that I am a teacher. I hope that in your life, you have been blessed by a teacher as well.
I came into the world with "nothing" and I shall leave the same. Thank you God for the little people I have been entrusted with. Always hope to be remembered for having tried my best to help them learn.
Good night friends!
I have said so many times in life, as I've written this blog and in conversations with others, that the vocation of being a school teacher is considered to be of the "ultimate calling" to me. It's an honour and a privilege to be called to teach and a calling that I take very seriously every day. What we might not receive in "hefty" monthly pay checks, we MORE than receive in the "bonus checks" we get nearly every day of the week and I could not be more satisfied. Tonight was a good example.
I just returned home a moment ago from attending an annual event to benefit the Boys' and Girls' Club here in Hutchinson. The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center's lobby was filled to the brim with "club" kids, their vision leaders, family and some wonderful folks who are the benefactors of so very many kids in our town. The young students at our school, Lincoln Elementary are some of those kids. The "Steak for a Stake" fundraiser is done annually to help provide the funds to keep the local clubs operating and by the looks of it, our young kids have a lot of people standing behind them.
Several of the club members were seated at the various tables and it was their responsibility to help the other guests dining with them to understand what Boys' and Girls' Club has done for them. I was very fortunate to be sitting with a young man that I've known ever since he was a little kindergarten kid at Avenue A Elementary. Now he's a fourth grader at my current school, Lincoln, and what a delight to spend an extraordinary evening with him. Meet my young friend, Giovanni~
It was kind of strange as we sat there waiting for the meal to begin that I noticed a nice looking fellow sitting a couple of tables away from me. He looked familiar and after staring at him for a bit, he turned to look at me and then I knew! He caught sight of me and before I knew it we were standing alongside one another and I recognized immediately who he was. My "old teacher's heart" was happy and I'm sure I had a smile on my face as I recognized Brad Fry, a former student of mine in the first and second grade at Yoder Grade School. Now nearly 34 years old, he's married with a child of his own but he still remembered me and how blessed I felt to be able to give him a hug again. Here we are... and either Brad grew a LOT or I was never tall to begin with.
.JPG)
The day is done and in just a few hours I'll be heading out the door again for another day of school. I never refer to it as "work"~that word just doesn't fit right. Our school is full of kids that deserve every chance in this world to receive the best education they could possibly get. Lincoln Elementary is not alone. Having never figured I'd spend 35 years at this profession, I pray every morning to make a difference to some kid along the way. I've been blessed and I thank God every day to say that I am a teacher. I hope that in your life, you have been blessed by a teacher as well.
I came into the world with "nothing" and I shall leave the same. Thank you God for the little people I have been entrusted with. Always hope to be remembered for having tried my best to help them learn.
Good night friends!
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