~Happy Summer 2016~

Tuesday morning
4 a.m.

I had a feeling this would happen.
First Tuesday of vacation and I was wide awake at 3:00 in the morning.
Maybe it will get better.

Summer vacation seems like it takes so long to get here sometimes and then when it does, you wonder why the time is moving so fast.  It's just how the rest of life goes, I suppose.  So we enjoy each and every day of it while we make as many memories as possible.  That idea sounds like a good one to me.

One of the 4th grade girls at school asked me last week what it was that kids did in the summer when I was a young girl.  I'm sure I had a smile on my face when I gave my response.

"Well, we stayed outdoors a lot and we had to use our imagination instead of technology."

I remember life back then as if it was just last week.

How times have changed since the summer of 1964 when the quiet little 9-year old girl that I used to be enjoyed her first day of summer vacation.  The old black and white TV that our family owned brought in only 3 stations and when the reception was bad you had to walk over and adjust the tinfoil that was wrapped around the antennae.  The remote control was your own two feet and if you spun the dial to change the channels too quickly, you could be sure to be yelled at from any room in the house.  The television didn't play nonstop either.  Mostly we could choose one or two programs to watch and then it was off for the day. There was little negotiation on that issue.  If it was off, then it was off and that would be the end of the discussion.

The outdoors was much more fun anyways.  Our family was blessed to always have lived in the country and as a matter of fact, I only recall living in town for nine months while our parents remodeled a home south of Haven.  You could be outdoors in the sunshine and gentle breeze, explore all of the places around you, and dream of things yet to come in your life.  It seemed as if there were always animals around and they provided the entertainment for us all.  Life in the country was a very good one.

Lots of memories from the days of my youth have become a part of my 60-year old memory bank.  I will never forget the day that my little sister and I went out to check on our baby chicks and found a huge old bull snake systematically eating them up, one by one.  That got a little bit exciting! If a snake could have died by two little girls yelling their lungs out at it, then that guy would have been gone in an instant.  I remember our father making us an old rope swing every spring for us to use throughout the summer.  He'd find a old board that he could notch the corners on to make it fit as a seat for us.  We'd swing and swing all summer long until finally one day the frayed rope would say "no more".  If you were lucky, you weren't the one on the swing at the time when it broke.  We made mud pies, told stories, sang songs, read books, drew pictures on old brown grocery bags, wrote stories and a hundred other things to keep ourselves occupied.  And yes, when we got thirsty we didn't run into the house and open up a soda or an energy drink.  Our liquid refreshment did indeed come out of the end of the garden hose.  The amazing thing was this.

We all survived.

My wish for all of my students and children everywhere for that matter, is that they have a good summer and that they make as many deposits in their memory banks as I have.  I pray for their safety and well being.  I want them to just enjoy being a "kid".

For me, well I'm not sure what all the summer will bring.  Mike and I hope to do a bit of traveling and see more of the great state of Texas.  We also seem to have aplenty to do around here, especially in the backyard.  That's ok too.  I love the outdoors.  I hope to know within a few weeks where I might be able to spend my 39th year in education.  My prayer for myself is that God puts me just where I am needed and I'm sure that will happen.  I continue to wait in faith that something really good is being put into place for me.

I just have to be patient enough to wait and find out.

Happy Summer 2016 everyone out there!

40 years ago~

A good deal of my summertime memories revolve around the wheat harvest.  My father was a custom cutter for over 25 years.  He began in May right in the area where Mike and I now live.  His route took him all the way through the Great Plains states of Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and the Dakotas.  The picture above shows us during the summer of 1976 when we met up with him and his crew of workers near Kinsley, Kansas.  Such a long, long time ago.  I miss those days.

~having one last lesson to teach~

I received the nicest gift at school on Friday from a dear young girl who has been one of my students this year.  It was an unusual one, something that I had never seen done before.  She handed me a clear cellophane wrapper that contained some candy coins and a lottery ticket inside of it.  There was a cute phrase on the gift tag saying that she had "won the lotto" by being in my class this year.   

I smiled when I saw it.

I brought it home and gave it to Mike to scratch off and see if we were winners.  I didn't pay all that much attention to him as he did it.  At first he told me that he didn't think that any of the numbers matched.  Then as he looked at the card, Mike realized that we had indeed won $20 and it was a really pleasant surprise.  

I wasn't sure what I would do with the money at first.  There are always plenty of ways to spend it around our house.  A twenty dollar bill can still buy several things these days.  I decided to wait and think about it rather than cashing it in at the store.  While we were on vacation this past weekend, I had yet another idea of how to spend it and I must say that I like this idea way better than any other thing that I had thought of.

That idea is explained in the letter shown below.  I'll be mailing it to that young lady early this coming week with my thanks for her kindness and instructions for one last homework assignment that I'm giving her.

I have always maintained that the lessons of life are among the most valuable of things that children should be taught these days.  No, you won't find them listed on any of the state's standards anywhere, but it is my firm belief that you sure SHOULD.  We might be surprised at just how valuable they could turn out to be in the years ahead.

Have a great day everyone out there and if you can read the letter shown below, then as the old saying goes, "be sure to thank a teacher".

Hello dear one,

I know you will be surprised to see this letter and especially the money inside of it.  The scratch card that you gave me for a gift on Friday was a $20 winner!  Mr. Renfro and I were so surprised to see it.  I thought of a lot of ways that I could spend it like gas for when we go on vacation this year or a new pair of flip flops or even to pay a bill or something.  All of those things would have been great, except for one thing.  They would not have made me as happy as the idea that I now have come up with.  I hope that you will help me.

I tucked inside this letter five $5 bills.  You are a whiz at math so I am sure that you are wondering where the extra $5 came from.  It was my emergency money that I always kept in my desk at school in case I needed it.  Now that school is over and no emergencies have arisen, I am including it with the original winnings of your gift card. 

Here is where you come in.

Mr. Renfro and I both agree that we want you to do something special with the money.  I guess you could call this one last homework assignment but I promise you that this one is going to be a lot more fun than the usual ones are!  We want you to find five different people that you can help this summer with the cash.  That should work out with a five dollar bill given out five different times.  The possibilities are endless.  Maybe you will be at the store and standing in line with someone who looks like they could use some help in paying for the their groceries.  Give one of the bills to the cashier and tell them that you are paying forward for the person behind you.  Hey, you could pay $5 for the people behind you in the drive through at Sonic or McDonald's.  A person never knows when another person is having a bad day or something.  Imagine what a gesture such as that would feel like, both the giving AND the receiving!  I could tell you more ways but you are a very bright girl with a huge heart.  You will figure it out, I am positive.

You don't have to tell me how you gave away the money but if you'd like to, I'd be happy to hear about it.  I'm so happy that I was your teacher this year and I hope that you learned what you needed to from me.  But you know what?  Even if you should forget some of it, may I ask you to please remember the lesson that I tried to teach all of you kids, each and every day of school.  

That lesson is this.

You can be the smartest kid in class, the best mathematician or the most gifted reader in school. You can be the most awesome athlete or the best cheerleader there ever was but if your heart is not good and kind to others, then you are missing something.  One thing I learned about you from the first weeks of school is that your heart is good and kind.  I know it will ALWAYS be that way.

Have a good summer dear one and enjoy every minute of being a kid.  Although it might not seem like it at your young age, life goes quickly.  I can only imagine how wonderful yours will turn out to be.

Love to you always,
Mrs. Renfro

                                                            Once I was a kid too!

~having traveled along this road~

We have nearly made it to the last day of school for this year.  My 38th year in the field of education has flown by and just like everything else that has happened to me in my life, I still wonder the same question.

Where are on earth did all the time go?

30 miles lie between my front door and the front door of Petrolia Elementary School.  There really is no easy way to get there from here.  A series of twists and turns, yet another county away from Burkburnett, provide the road that I have used for the past nine months.  Tomorrow marks the last day I shall travel it.  Over 10,000 miles of highway time later, it's going to feel a little weird to no longer do so.

I've left every morning before the sun even arose here in Burkburnett.  I'm an early riser to begin with so it just made sense to get a good start on the day.  Usually I have left home between 5:30-6:00 in the early morning darkness in order to get to school around 6:15 or so.  I recall in the beginning just how scared I was that I would get lost along the way.  The first time Mike and I drove over to check out how to get there, I remember thinking just how long and winding a road it seemed to be.  From the "get go", I began to look for landmarks that would help to light the way and help me to not forget where I was at or where I was going.  

Somehow, it all worked out.  

I never got lost once.

Just call me "Dorothy".

I followed the "yellow brick" road.

The way there each and every day was marked by the signs and landmarks shown below.  I got so used to seeing them each day and they provided me much comfort and peace of mind.  I know that it sounds strange, but it was like there were angels resting upon them as they helped to lead me to my destination for well over 175 days this past school year.

For the safe passage that the good Lord above has provided me as I traveled, I do give thanks. I'm not sure where life will lead me in the weeks and the months ahead, but I have faith that God already knows and is preparing the way for me to get there right now in this present time.

That's what I love about faith.  It leads you to believe in things that you can't even see but believe me when I tell you, they ARE already there.

Look carefully at the pictures below.  I believe that angels had a hand in it all and perhaps just like me, you will see them for yourselves.

This sign was my first turn of the drive.  I knew that if I saw the light above it in the darkness, that I would turn left and head towards school.

The little community of Cashion marked the very beginning of the drive each day as well as the point in the return trip home when I was sure that I could make it!

The road in between here and there was marked with signs all around it.  They were signs that I grew to rely on and pay attention to along the way.

Clay County, Texas covers 1,117 square miles.  Petrolia is just one of the towns within it.  At the end of a long day at school, it was always good to see this sign as I looked back and to know that I was just about home.

The church and the country cemetery at Thornberry always told me that I was halfway through the journey.  I looked for them both, even when the weather was foggy or rainy or any other way in between.  They gave me hope that sooner or later I would make it.

I have driven in all kinds of weather, the good and the bad.  Thankfully there was never any ice or snow to worry about.  I had been afraid of that but fortunately that was not an issue for me. I had my fair share of fog to travel through and sometimes it was pretty thick.  It was during those times that I really relied on those landmarks to see me through and guide me along the way.  I figured as long as I could make it to the orchards at Charlie, then everything would be ok.

I never had an accident although in the early spring the transmission of my jeep went out just outside of Cashion on the way home one day.  Now that was fun.  I limped in, driving about 20 mph but I made it.  I never had a tire go completely flat, although I did have a run on nails and assorted objects finding their way into my back passenger side tire.  I nearly ran out of gas back in the late fall as I foolishly neglected to check my gas gauge before leaving home one early morning in the dark.  I prayed the entire way from Thornberry to Petrolia that the good Lord above would guide me in on nothing more than fumes.  I never hit a deer although I saw aplenty of them.  One time, I nearly collided with an entire herd of wild hogs that were running across the road just the other side of Charlie.  That was a surreal experience to be sure.  I've seen more dead skunks, possums, coyotes, and armadillos than I ever imagined I would.  

One thing I can say about the drive.....it was never boring.

I will miss the dear friends that I have made at Petrolia and the many fine families that I have come to know.  I thank God for this year of experience and growth for me as a teacher.  I was brought here for a reason.  

Nothing in this life happens by accident.

The best sign ever to see at the end of the day is this one.  We love our community and are so glad that we are here.  God knew just where to put us!

~We followed~

It was one year ago today that we arrived in this part of the world, having packed up everything we owned and left our mountain home in Montrose, Colorado.  We had absolutely no idea what would lie ahead of us and only knew what we were leaving behind.  After a long day of driving, we arrived in Wichita Falls around 7 in the evening.  We were tired, hungry, and a whole lot on the discouraged side.  The home that had been promised to us to rent was not available at all.  The money we put down was lost and for a brief moment in time, we were without a place.  It was as close to being "homeless" as I ever want to be.

Little did we know that God had another plan for us.  Wichita Falls was not to be our stopping point after all.  Early in the morning of the next day, we knew we had to do something.  Mike got behind the wheel of my vehicle and said 7 simple words.

"Where do you think we should go?"
At first we headed towards Henrietta, a small community just a few miles up the road.  I had applied for a teaching position there, but had not heard back from them.  We only got about a mile down the highway when I told Mike that we should go the other way.  Something told me that we should try Burkburnett instead and being the good husband he is, Mike Renfro turned around.

Within half a day's time, we had secured a place to rent and were so thankful that we could finally get our moving truck unloaded and our pets into a new place.  We knew no one in this community and wondered how on earth we would get our truck unloaded.  A local church came to the rescue and we were able to hire a couple of their young men to do the job.  It began to rain half way through the unloading process but it didn't damper those two men's spirit.  They kept right on going.  Soon my sister and brother-in-law from the nearby community of Altus, Oklahoma arrived and how good it was to realize that we were now just a stone's throw away from one another.  

Things were beginning to look up.
Thank goodness!

Both Mike and I went through the first month without the prospect of a job for either of us.  I had applied in several places but nothing came available for me.  In mid-June, Mike suggested we get out of the house for a while and go over to Byers to see their car show.  On the way over there was when I discovered the small town of Petrolia and learned of a teaching position that was available.  Within the month, I had an offer of a classroom that I gladly accepted.  Later on, Mike was offered the job of being the manager of our new hardware store here in town.  By summer's end, we both were employed.

So much has happened to us since we arrived.  Mike's dear and special Aunt Margaret passed away in October.  She had been living in Olney, a nice town about an hour's drive away from us here.  We had been able to go and visit her every weekend from our arrival in June until shortly before she died.  How we wished to have been able to have more time with her but at least we had the summer.  We bought a new home in January on the other side of town from our original rental and moved in towards the middle of the month.  The Renfro Family is putting down our roots here and we feel much to home.  This community has been wonderful to us and for us. There are no regrets whatsoever in our decision to locate here.

God has been good to us.

I so often have been asked why it was that we came to settle here.  People want to know why we would ever leave the beauty of the mountains for the plains of Texas.  When Mike and I were first deciding on where would go in this huge state, we weren't quite sure.  I do remember the day when Mike sat at the table with the atlas in front of him and drew a circle around the city of Wichita Falls.  One way or the other, we knew that this area was the place that God was leading us to.  With a whole lot of faith, we did one thing.

We followed.

This was our old sunroom back in Montrose.  I kind of miss it.

We were just two kids, trying to figure out where to spend the rest of life together.  The answer was the "Lone Star" state, Texas.

You cannot believe just how much we crammed into the back of that moving truck.  Talk about being blessed by the good Lord above.  We are.

   Our roots are being put down in this place and we are very happy to call Texas our home.

~and we say our "good byes" to kids~

I'd rather not venture to guess just how many kids I've had the chance to teach in this life of mine.  More than a handful, that's for sure.  My first 20 years of teaching were back in Haven, Kansas working in the same school system that raised me up as a child.  The next 15 years in education were spent just up the road a ways in Hutchinson, Kansas as I taught in the same system that helped to educate 2 of my own children.  Two very wonderful years were spent in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern Colorado as a teacher in the Montrose/Olathe Public Schools.  This year completes my 38th year as an educator in Petrolia, Texas and for yet another year to be called "teacher", I have been most happy.  It appears that I've been around a while.

38 years of a long while.
I remain most grateful.

The school year will end on Friday of the upcoming week and everyone, teachers included, are looking forward to it.  We've worked hard, kids and adults alike, and to be able to have a break from it all is a good thing.  It's always a well deserved time off for kids and I love to listen to them talk with one another as they share plans for what they want to do just as soon as that first day of vacation rolls around.  Their plans are pretty simple and usually revolve around one thing.

Sleep.

The last day of school is the time for me to say my "good-bye" to them all and wish them well not only for the summer but for the rest of their lives as well.  This will be my only year at Petrolia and even though God's plan for me was to stay for just one school season, I am still glad that I came there.  I've had the chance to learn so much and a huge part of the learning that I acquired came from the lessons that the children taught me themselves.  Believe it or not, those are actually the best ones to learn anyways.  

Speaking of lessons, I actually was "schooled" on something by them yesterday.  One of the classes went into the computer lab with me where they were given the option of 20 minutes of game time as a classroom reward.  They all settled down quite quickly and were intent on playing their favorite games.  I trusted them to find an appropriate one and they did not fail me.  It was actually kind of nice to see the looks on their faces as they navigated their way through the different educational sites online.  Kids have never been afraid of technology.

I noticed that many of them were gravitating towards the same game and challenging one another as they played it.  I'd never seen it before and of course, I don't even recall its name for sure this morning.  But it looked like they were having fun, so much so that I began to want to try it as well.  I found a spot with an available computer and sat down to give it a try.  Sure enough it WAS fun and the little 9-year old girl that still lives within me sent me the sweetest message.

"Thanks!"

I tried it for a while and of course, mostly I didn't win but that didn't really matter.  What did matter was that for one tiny moment in time, I entered the same world that my students live in. Some of them stopped playing their own games for a bit and came over to watch me attempt it.  I heard the sweet comment, "Wow, Mrs. Renfro's even trying it!", more than once. It was nice to see life as they see it for a change and perhaps if we teachers tried that more often, the end results might surprise us.

I cannot remember a year's end when I didn't shed a tear or two about giving kids one last good-bye hug at the door.  Something tells me that this year won't be any different.  Come the 27th of May, it will be time to say our farewells to one another.  I don't know yet what next year will hold for me but as I've said before the plan for me is already in place somewhere out there.  I'm really not worried or anxious yet about anything.  

God has it covered.
Soon it will be shown to me.

                              ~3 years ago today when Mike and I were married at school~
I'm going to always be joyful that my years have been spent around children.  I could not have asked for a better life.

~the teacher in me~

The rain has come down off and on nearly all the day long.  A check of the rain gauge shows that since last night we have received over 2 inches of much needed and appreciated moisture.  In the land that "used to be drought" every drop that falls is precious.

Along with the rain have come much cooler temperatures and cloudy, gray skies.  It's been the kind of weather where a person would just like to curl up with a blanket, good book, and a cup of hot tea to sip on.

Almost sounds like a good idea to me.

I normally do not write in this blog in the early evening hours.  My favorite and most often used part of the day for blogging is in the time before the crack of dawn.  I love to write when I just first wake up.  Some people think that I'm crazy, but I do.  It's my time of day.  I overslept this morning, waking up at 4:30 instead of my usual 4:00.  I had to hustle and get ready for school without blogging.

So here it is, now 12 hours later and another day of school has since come and gone.  I looked at the kids today, all of those children that entered into and left from my classroom.  I saw how much they had truly grown and changed over the course of the last nine months.  I remember the first day of this school year as if it was yesterday and for the life of me, I wonder where those precious days and weeks went.  My guess is that they went to the place where all time goes and they call it by one name and one name only.

Life.

"The 120" and I have given an entire school year of our lives to one another.  It's kind of amazing when you stop to consider it in those terms.  Every day, for better or worse, we have shared the same space.  I would be lying if I said that all of us always got along because we did not for we all belong to the same race, called "human".  As such, people sometimes have differences of opinions.  Our dissimilarities can sometimes cause problems but more often than not they end up being our greatest strengths.  In the end, we have all learned how to "meet in the middle" and I like that about us.

With only 7 full days remaining, I am nearly out of time.  I hope I have taught those 120 young people enough and if I didn't, well then I hope they will be ok regardless.  I have learned with them and from them.  All of us have done our best and when you stop to consider it, what else could we ask of each other?

My life as a teacher has been richly blessed.
38 years.
Seems like yesterday.

It's the "teacher" in me that is putting in a plug for one of the best books that I have ever read.  If you haven't heard of this young man's story, be sure to check it out.  It's well worth your time and also makes you have a greater appreciation for both of your arms!

~move forward, have faith~

     The car is unpacked from the journey to Kansas this past weekend.  It was a fairly easy job with only a couple of trips necessary back and forth to bring everything in.  There have been many trips that it took the better part of 15 minutes to get all of our belongings hauled inside. This time it was different.

     Something that is easy to unpack are the memories, mostly because I carry them with me in my heart.  Each and every journey that I have made back there to that beloved state of my birth, whether it was while we lived in Colorado or here in our new home in Texas, I have opened up my heart and poured in as many precious moments as I could.  I never know when I can return again to see them all.  

     This time was no different.

     My hometown of Haven, Kansas is located less than 20 miles from Hutchinson.  A lifetime of memories are stored up for me in that little Reno County town.  I go through there every time that I go back.  Although I do not stop all the time, I do drive through town every chance that I can.  Yesterday just seemed like a good time to do so.  I was met at the outskirts of town by the sign announcing just where I was.  I pulled over to the side of the road and got a picture of it.

     I drove through the downtown area and stopped at the gas station to fill up the car before leaving on the long trip ahead of me.  Although I didn't see anyone that I knew while I was there, it was ok.  I will see them at the journey's end for all of us.  Of all the places on earth that anyone could call their "hometown",  I will forever be glad that Haven shall be mine.

     We have the day off from school today and I'm going to be busy catching up on a whole lot of things around here.  There remain only 8 days of school more and they shall pass quickly by. I intend to gather up as many good memories as possible before we say our "good-bye" at the end of next week.  I have decided to do something different next year and am looking to hopefully teach in Oklahoma somewhere near our home along the Red River.  My Oklahoma teaching certificate is in place and it turned out to be a process that was easy to complete. In less than a month, from start to finish, everything was taken care of.  I will forego taking the Texas tests for certification that were required of me before June 1st.  I am praying for the possibility of teaching two more years.  God has a plan already in place for me and soon, very soon, I will learn of it.

     As in all things in this life, there is only one choice.  

    Move forward.  Have faith.

This was one time I had to have a lot of faith.  Getting back in the water to attempt to learn how to swim as a grown up was pretty scary, especially for someone who thought she would drown if she put her head under the water.  I didn't drown and actually got over a little fear of the water during the summer of 2011.  The woman standing with me was the best swimming teacher ever! She understood.

~may some day others do the same for me~

     My folks are buried in the city cemetery just north of Halstead, Kansas.  It's a place I am very familiar with, having been there about a gazillion times in my 60 years of life.  Nearly everyone from my immediate to extended family has been buried there over the past 100 years.  When we were kids, we often went with our parents to visit the graves and to decorate them on Memorial Day.  My mom and grandmother always loved to walk amongst the gravestones and talk about the people that had already gone on before us.  I remember hearing all of those wonderful stories and considering them to be like lessons in history.  I miss those days and the two women who shared those  sweet and loving remembrances with me.

     Yesterday I was home for a while in Kansas and so I went to the cemetery with my daughter to decorate the graves of my parents, brother, and sister.  It is always a peaceful and pastoral kind of place, one in which I feel at ease.  Even though Highway 50 runs right alongside of it, the traffic noise doesn't seem to bother all that much.  Cars and trucks are going to and fro, east towards Newton and west towards Hutchinson and all points beyond.  Life continues to go on.

     While I was there, I wanted to be sure to leave some flowers for them as I know I won't be there on Decoration Day this year.  I had no fancy floral arrangements to decorate with this time but I decided to leave something different and special for them.  It was an offering that would make them happy if only they would be able to see it.  John and Lois Scott would know that it came from the hearts of two of their "little girls".

   

     My sister Sherry knows how much I love things that remind me of Kansas.  On Super Bowl Sunday, she brought me some sunflowers and wheat to arrange in  a special vase that I had.  We enjoyed them on the table that evening after our supper together.  When she left, I decided to keep them atop the china cupboard and that's where they have stayed for the past nearly 4 months.  As I was packing up to go to Kansas on Friday after school, I thought about what I'd use to make their graves look nice and immediately the sunflowers and wheat came to mind.  Sherry agreed that we should use them for our folks, so into the car they were packed.  Yesterday I placed them in the center of their graves and before I left, I asked Ursela to take a picture of me by them.  

     At first I felt bad that I had no more flowers than just one bouquet to leave them.  Normally I have time to pick up several more so that their graves look nice for the upcoming holiday.  I apologized to my mom, telling her that I was sorry I hadn't any more flowers to leave.  But after I looked at the picture for a while, I realized that my parents would have thought this was the most beautiful arrangement there ever had been.  

     They would not have wished for anything more than these.  

     The view looking up yesterday as I stood next to my mother and father's graves.  It was such a peaceful  feeling to be there.  It was worth driving 6 hours to get home, even if it was for only a brief moment in time.  I'm thankful that my parents taught me to honor those who have gone on before us.

     May some day others do the same for me.

     

     

     

~upon finding your destiny~

From upon the plains of the "Lone Star" state, good morning dear friends and family out there.

The school year is winding down and now with only 12 days left to go, it's amazing to sit here this morning and realize just how fast it all went.  In the beginning, I was so afraid that I'd never learn all of the names of the kids in my classes.  Every day when I got home from school, Mike would see the look of exasperation on my face as I'd explain to him how much trouble I was having in keeping the names straight for over 120 students.  I was extremely hard on myself those first few weeks and I remembered thinking that I was the only one there having trouble with such a simple task as recalling the correct names for students.  Then one of my friends reminded me that I was the only person with that many students who was new to the group.  All of their other teachers had prior experience with those kids, at least 2 years of prior experience.  Mike told me not to worry, that I would get those names down before long and you know what?

He was right.  I finally did.

And so to "the 120", all of the kids in 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B, 6A, and 6B, your teacher says thank you for teaching me so many lessons that were invaluable this year.  It's a great thing when a kid can school a grownup, most of the time without even knowing they were doing so.  The lessons that I gained from this experience in my 38th year of teaching ended up being most valuable.  They are tucked inside of my heart and there they shall always stay.

The Lord has been good to me.  38 years with the sincere and heartfelt hope of a couple of more in the field of education is something that I am thankful for.  As this year winds down, I have absolutely no regrets for ever becoming a teacher.  While I never became rich in money, I gained my reward in so many other more meaningful ways. 

Destiny.
I found my future.

What a privilege to have worked with so many fine educators over the years.  These two women are among them!  We taught summer school together back home in Hutchinson, Kansas.  Marlen and Shelley are my good friends.

Shelley and her husband Clint are both fine teachers.  Here we all are at the starting line for the Bike Across Kansas of 2011.

After teaching for this long, it's always nice to find a "little" girl that used to be a first grader.  Nori was in the very first class of kids that I taught back at Haven Grade School.  She was always a good little girl and I love her so much.  

~weathering storms~

Burkburnett, Texas

7:14 p.m.

Life in Tornado Alley~

The sky is gray and dark storm clouds are all around us.  About every 5 minutes, a new weather warning comes across the bottom of the TV screen.  Mike put both of the cars under the carport in case hail should accompany one of the approaching storms.  We aren't really scared or nervous.  Both of us have seen stormy weather many times in our lives and we know that there is nothing we can do to stop it.  

"Riding the storm out..." is more than just a line in an R. E. O. Speedwagon song.  Just like back home in Kansas, it's a way of life here in north central Texas.

During the two years that I lived in Colorado when Mike and I were first married, I would watch the weather reports for my old home in Kansas especially during the spring and summer months.  I'd see that Reno County would be under a severe thunderstorm or even a tornado warning and I'd pray that my family and friends back there would be safe.  In the mountains we had no fear of such storms and to be honest, I'd kind of forgotten about having to worry over them.  We had things like avalanches and mudslides to be anxious about instead.  I guess it was a trade off of sorts and I'm glad that I never had to fear any of them.  

My students back in Olathe, Colorado used to ask me all the time what it was like to live in Tornado Alley.  My fourth graders were particularly interested in what it was like to have to do tornado drills in school.  When I tried to explain how that kind of drill would be taken care of, they all had looks of wide eyed amazement upon their faces.  It was just hard for them to fathom a storm that packs the strong winds that a good old Kansas tornado does.  I'm glad that they never had to experience one and I'm sure they were too.

The sky looked weird about 20 minutes ago.  Mike noticed it first and then I did as well.  The clouds had a strange formation that I'd never seen before.  The artwork of nature is always changing, providing us with a new backdrop this evening.  I stared at it for quite a while before taking this picture.

Life is filled with storms, whether you live smack dab in the middle of Tornado Alley or anywhere else for that matter.  Storms don't always have to be of the "weather kind" either and if you have been through those kinds of storms like I have, you will understand exactly what I mean.  Generally speaking, we always make it through them, even though sometimes it seems like there's no possible way that we can.

People thought we were crazy to leave the beauty of the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado and come here to the plains of Texas.  Tornadoes were one of the things that were most mentioned to us.  Yet we came any ways and are glad that we did.  It took a leap of faith, a giant one at that, for us to give up the life that we had there and begin a new one here.  No matter what was waiting for us, tornadoes included, we were going forth in faith that everything would be ok.  I believe that is what I like most about faith and I'm sure you will find it somewhere in "the Good Book".  Believing in that which you cannot even see, requires strength and courage, and a whole lot of it.

One way or another, Mike and I found it.

Through this storm or any other, we follow the same plan that we left Montrose, Colorado with and the plan is this.

We hold hands and stick together.

It's the only way.

~and it was only a bar of soap~

This is a blogpost about a bar of soap but not just any bar of soap mind you, but a really special one.  I bought it over two years ago when I was back home in Kansas as I was shopping for a few things before leaving in the early morning hours to return to my new home in Colorado.  I got it at one of the speciality stores over in Wichita and I was immediately attracted to its luscious peach flavored scent.  The ridges that the soap cutter made as it was sliced off of the huge block of soap it came from seemed to add to its appeal.  It was a stunning bar of soap and I didn't bat an eye at paying nearly $4 for a tiny slice of it.  The shopkeeper wrapped it in cellophane and tucked it into a small bag for me and off I went.

As soon as I made it home to Montrose that next day, I quickly tucked that sliver of soap heaven away in a box of special things that I keep and hardly ever use.  There it would stay, safe and sound for the next two years.  It survived the move over the big mountain in May of last year and even was moved once again when we bought our new house in January of this year.  Still it remained unused.

Last week as we were rearranging some of the things here at home in our bathroom, I came upon that treasured soap bar of mine.  There it was, still untouched and still safe and sound in the corner of the basket.  Alongside it were three other bars of soap, all special ones that I had picked up as I was shopping.  You know, I had to ask myself "Why?"  What was it about that little tiny sample of cleanliness that made it so special that I could never bring myself to use it? Why on earth would I pay money for something and then refuse to utilize it, all in the name of keeping it in its pristine condition?

I honestly don't know.

You know I could have written about a dozen other things that I have around here that somehow or another I'm afraid to use.  After all, what if something happens to it?  What if it gets all used up?  Then what am I going to do? My grandmother's pink quilt with water lilies upon it is finally used on the spare bed in our house.  For years after I received it, I kept it wrapped carefully in blue tissue paper and never allowed the sunlight to touch it.  No more on that.  Mike's Aunt Margaret gave us some beautiful linens that she no longer needed and so far, those things are tucked away in the bureau drawer.  I think tomorrow that in honor of Mother's Day and the dear sweet aunt who gave them to us, that I will lay out a few of those crisp white linens on the table.  It would make her happy.

Are you like me perhaps?  Do you have things in your possession that you cannot bear to use?  Are they so special that they must remain unused?  Please accept some advice from an old person, one who has been around the old block at least a time or two.  Nothing should be so special that you cannot use it.  Get it out of wherever it is being stored and put it to the good use that God intended for it to have.  If something should happen to it before you have the chance to pass it along to those that follow you, at least you got the enjoyment from it that was intended.  

Give it a try, will you?
You won't regret it if you do.
You might regret it if you do not.

It was only a bar of soap that was meant to cleanse our body, not take up space in a cabinet somewhere.  So tonight I used it and hey, if I use it all up, so what?  I know the way back to Wichita and I'm sure they haven't sold it all yet.

~yet it did~

Sunday is Mother's Day. 

Nine Mother's Days have come and gone now since my mom was last with us.  I can't really recollect how I spent my last one with her back in May of 2007, but I can only imagine it involved a hamburger, a small can of diet Coke, and a plain sundae.  More than likely I picked up her favorite lunch in the drive-thru of the 30th Street McDonald's back in Hutch and delivered it to her at the long-term care facility where she lived her final 4 years of life.  She loved for us kids to pick up that simple kind of fare for her from time to time.   Mom could only take having to eat so many meals served from a nursing home kitchen before she would call one of us kids and ask the simple question.

"Can you please go to McDonald's and bring me a hamburger for my supper?"
We always did.

So much has happened in my life since my mom passed away that late September day in 2007.  I retired from teaching, went back to teaching, got married, moved to Colorado, became a mother-in-law twice, became a grandmother for the first time, and last year moved to Texas where I am now finishing up my 38th year as an educator.  Even though a person doesn't think it can, life did go on and I tried to live mine as she would have wished for me to.  I hope she would be proud of me.

I miss my mom, some days more than others.  Every once in a while, I still think of the many stories that she shared with me about life.  I wish I would have paid a little more attention to what she told me and sadly I admit that I have forgotten some of them.  I have her diaries and journals that she faithfully kept for nearly 5 years and from time to time, I go back to them and read what she wrote.  Her thoughts and words were simple and true as they explained the kind of times she was going through.  I'm so happy that she wrote and kept track of what life was like.  Perhaps it is because of her that I blog in the way that I do.  My desire is for my own 3 children to remember a few things in the years to come about their own mom and how much I really did love my life and them too!

When I lived back home in Kansas, I'd always make it a point to go to the cemetery just outside of the little town of Halstead where all my family members are laid to rest.  I would always go twice in May with the first time being Mother's Day weekend and the other Memorial Day.  I promised her that I would take care of the graves of all the Brown and Scott family members and for many years I was able to do just that.  The last 3 years have been a little more difficult, simply because we lived so very far away in Colorado.  Now that we are in Texas and only a 5 hour drive away, I will be able to go more often and I think she would be quite pleased with that.  As kids we were taught to honor both the living and the dead, something that I have passed on to my own children.  I believe that mom would be happy about that as well.

My mom wasn't perfect but who is anyways?  She loved us and cared about what happened to us.  Without a doubt, she sacrificed much more than we would ever know.  I still remember her voice and I will always remember the very last gift she gave to me as we waited by her bedside in the early morning hours of September 25, 2007.  With one last gaze into my eyes, she looked at me and told me something that I will never forget.

"You are a good girl, Peggy Ann."
I never saw her eyes open again and it was the last time that she spoke to me before she passed on.

My mom didn't realize just how much I needed to hear her say that.  She never knew what a precious gift she was bestowing to me in just 7 little words.  Even though I am now only 27 years younger than she was when she died, I still know one thing.

Forever I will be her little girl.
Happy Mother's Day in Heaven Mom~where the banquet table is set with food far greater than even the best McDonald's in town.

Mom on her 65th birthday~1985
Not sure how the time flew by so quickly, yet it did.

the new day begins

And the new day begins~

It's quiet here at 4:30 in the morning.  Even Sally the dog is still nestled into her cozy spot in Mike's office.  She has no desire to be let out for her normal pre-dawn's early light bathroom break.  Crosby the cat has hardly moved a muscle as well, evidently having spent most of the night on the prowl for random geckos inside the house.  So it's just me, a cup of coffee, and plenty of peace and quiet to start this good day.

I get asked a lot by kids at school what time it is that I get up each day.  When I tell them that it's always at 4 a.m., their eyes and mouths get wide.  They always ask me the same question.

"What do you do at 4 a.m. Mrs. Renfro?"
My answer is always the same.

"I get ready for the day."
Yesterday a sweet little fourth grade girl had the most innocent of responses, one that brought a big smile to my face.

"Can't you do that at 6 a.m.?"
Perhaps some day I shall.

Each day I make the journey along the back roads and s-curves between here and school.  I've learned to look at it in terms of segments of travel. not the 30 miles that it really is.  There's the leg from here to Cashion, followed up by the stint from Cashion to Thornberry.  Once there, it's the drive to Charlie, past the fruit stands, and finally the last 8 miles to Petrolia.  It works out to be about a half hour drive or so, give or take a minute or two along the way.  In the beginning, I was afraid of getting lost but thankfully that never happened.  You just follow the road and it takes you where you need to be.

Kind of like the road to life.

The school year is close to over now and the day after school lets out, I'll be thankful to not have to drive the long distance that morning.  I might even turn the alarm off, roll over and sleep an hour or so more.  Hey, wait a minute.  Come to think of it, I won't even have to turn an alarm on to begin with.  

Chances are good, I'll be up anyways.

Have a great day dear friends and family out there.  
5:02 a.m.
Let the day begin! 

~a time when life got a little complicated~ 
August 2011

~and nature feels happy too~

 Mike and I love nature and we have found that it abounds here in our new part of the world.  In particular, we love to watch birds as we gaze out the kitchen window.  Our backyard is starting to fill up rather quickly with bird feeders and birdhouses and how wonderful it is to see and hear the many different types of birds that have found us.  There's something about free food and plenty of it that entices those feathered friends to show up each and every day. 

We can't identify all of them yet but are starting to become more accustomed to their being here.  It's fun to to feed them and relaxing to sit and see them devour each and every morsel that we have left for them.

Hey, it's cheap entertainment as long as stocks in birdseed don't go sky high.

I used to not get all that excited about watching them but as I have grown older, my tastes have changed.  A few years back, I bought a couple of books to help me to identify them and that helped quite a bit.  With all the ones that have joined us in our backyard, I guess it's time to get that book out once again.  This part of the country is teeming with doves and normally that is the type of bird that I enjoy eating.  For now though, I'd rather watch them than eat them so they pretty much get a free pass in our backyard.  It's better that way.

We've worked like crazy in both the front and back yards as we try to make this house our home.  Flowers seem to go into the ground every single day around here with the promise of more to come.  A person can't really have too many of them.  We try to be very mindful of the watering situation, realizing that the drought that left a year ago in May can return in the future.  It's best to keep that in mind and practice water conservation everywhere that we can. Remembering to do so will make it all that easier in the years when water is lean.  

A gentle rain has just given the outdoors a quick bath and the smell of it all is quite calming.  From the window here in the spare bedroom, I can see several birds on the branches of the pine trees just outside.  The songs that they sing are ones of contentment and when I hear their voices, I feel happy.  What a beautiful day this has been and by the sounds of it, one thing is for sure.

Nature feels happy too.

We love this old birdhouse made from someone's gourd harvest.  We hope to grow our own gourds this summer and make more of them to use.

Lots of different birds are attracted to the colorful flowers in the front yard.  We try to get a variety of shades and kinds.  By the looks of it, we are attracted to lots of purples and yellows so far.

An empty bird feeder at the end of the day means that we had visitors while we were gone.  Finally we gave up buying the small bags of seed and went with the more economical 10 pound version.

The doves love this feeder with sometimes as many as three or four of them vying for a spot at the supper table.

So glad that we have a good start on things now.  Perennials will hopefully grow and thrive this first year and come back to life again when the springtime returns in 2017.  

Life is good.

     

~"plans to give you hope and a future"~

Pictures that make me smile~

I've been going through old photos that I've taken over the years and realized I have taken so many of them that I truly had forgotten some of them.  Some are shown below.  I've had a great life, full of rich experiences that I will never forget.  All the people that I have encountered along the journey have helped to shape me into the kind of person that I was destined to become.  Have a great evening friends and family!  I'm alive, well, and thriving here along the Red River in north central Texas.  God has been so good to me.

 One of the wonderful women that I took care of when I was a CNA back home in Kansas.  Vera was such as sweetheart!

 Katie and I!  We always got along well together.  I took care of her too when I was a CNA back at the Wheaton House at Mennonite Manor in South Hutchinson, Kansas.  We had two things in common....we were both short and both of us were teachers.

 A sweet young man who wanted to take on some baby quails as a project at Lincoln Elementary back in Hutchinson, Kansas.  He needed someone to help him out a bit and the someone ended up being me.

 Dennis, Dennis, Dennis~not sure what else to say about this picture.

 I was the recipient of this wonderful hand bag made totally out of duct tape during summer school back home in Hutchinson, Kansas.  What a unique gift from one of my students.

 Visiting the library back in Owego, New York and taking along a flat person from Kansas.

 Year #2 as a teacher at Haven Grade School, back in Kansas.  Oh to be 26 once again.....

 Getting ready to shoot a gun for the very first time at the gun range in rural Hutchinson, Kansas.

 Ok, so maybe jumping the curb wasn't the smartest of things to do that day.

 The tall and the short of it~such a fine young man!

 Joan was a sweetheart.  We met at Lincoln where I was teaching and she volunteered with various classes.  Two years after this photo was taken, Mike and I were married on the last day of school in front of all the kids and staff.  She took her place alongside my children, standing in for my mom.

 The front door of the Presbyterian Church in Owego, New York.  I loved that massive structure and this impressive front door.

 No more casts!  The last one in April of 2011 was gladly removed by Dr. Chan.

 Not the way the good Lord intended for it to look!

 The urn I am going to use for my cremation ashes.  It's a nice container and one that I've held onto for a long time.  Not planning to use it anytime soon!

My dear friend, a former teacher and now a missionary for the Lord.  I admire Collette so very much.

 Meeting my good friend Scott for the first time back in Wichita, Ks. in April of 2013.  His sister took good care of my mom when she lived at the nursing home in Hutchinson.

 One great school cook!  Desi took good care of us!  I never saw her without a smile on her face.

 Everyone needs a friend like Craig~We were in the same class from the 8th grade on through high school and graduated together in 1973.

 What a dear friend this woman became!  She helped us pull off our wedding back in May of 2013 by taking care of the Boys/Girls club members so the kids could all witness our wedding.  We never forgot your kindness Darlene!

This kid I know from the "land of long ago and far, far away...."

Meeting the mayor of Owego, New York and enjoying a great breakfast.  Kevin Millar takes great care of his village.

The last class that I was ever supposed to teach~May of 2010

"For I know the plans I have for you....plans to give you hope and a future."
From the "Good Book, Jeremiah 29:11~