~and do you remember me?~

The span of 40 years' worth of time has provided me with many teacher moments.  I've been able to see youth in 4 different states come in and go out of my classroom door each year since January of 1979.  From the Kansas prairie to the mountains of southwestern Colorado and from both the north and the south sides of the Red River in Oklahoma and Texas, there is one thing for certain.

The life that I have lived has been rich in memories and blessed more than a thousandfold.  

I have taken so many photos of school children and activities that we participated in, especially so during the last 15 years.  I always felt it was important to be able to make a pictorial diary of the days that I spent with children who called me their teacher.  Every once in a while, I come across a special picture that jars a memory inside of me and one that pulls on my teacher's heart strings as it says......

"Do you remember me?"
And the answer is that yes, I surely do.

It was some time ago and the teacher I was back then was 6 years younger.  I had never heard of towns like Olathe, Colorado or Petrolia, Texas.  You might have told me there were places called Randlett or Grandfield, Oklahoma but I'd have to say the names didn't ring a bell to me.  I was a Kansas school teacher and teaching what I thought were to be my final years in education, never once dreaming that my life would end up taking the amazing detour that it would one year after this picture was taken.

The young man shown in the photo above was a member of the 4-H group that we began at our elementary building during the 2012-2013 school year.  He had a desire to raise baby quail as part of his project for the year and so we worked out a way to make that happen.  I remember taking him after school one day to pick up the newly hatched baby chicks and bringing them back to our school on the south side of Hutchinson.  That sweet kid sat there in the back seat of my car, looking in wonder at them and listening to their constant chatter.  I laugh now as I remember his comment to me when I asked him what he thought they were saying to one another.

"I have no idea what they are saying but you know what?  I think it is going to be like a song that I get stuck in my head!"
Yeah, I know what you mean little one.  Me too!

Those tiny things, that to me resembled miniature bumble bees at first, made their home in my classroom for the better part of a week.  There was much noise and chatter that emanated from their cardboard box each day and a fair share of pooping and peeing going on as well.  Children came in and looked at them on their way to and from school, always asking me how things were going.  The young boy whose project they were came in each day to feed and water them as well as clean out their litter.  At the end of the week when they went home with him, it was with pride that he walked out the door, ready to care for them all by himself at his own house.

Tell you what.  If someone from the state department of education would have visited and questioned me on which one of the many standards written for the state of Kansas matched up with the raising of baby quail in a classroom setting, I would have had the answer quite quickly.

"There are absolutely none that match up and as a teacher, I must say to you, why is that?  How did that get left out?  Omitted?"

As a veteran teacher and a sentimental old woman, I find myself getting braver all the time in how I look at and question the validity of things in regards to my profession and the education of thousands of children who will have come under my care and tutelage before it is all done for me.  Although I know absolutely full well how extremely important the coverage and mastery of all the many standards set forth are for each grade level and the subsequent passing of state tests, I fear we are losing sight of some of the most valuable and priceless lessons that can be taught to children and those are the lessons of life. 

That sweet child learned so many wonderful things while caring for those quail.  He found out that they have to be fed and watered.  Their litter box must be cleaned each and every day.  It's important to watch out for the bullies in the box, those who won't let certain chicks eat or drink when they need to.  You have to check the heat lamp and make sure it is in the just right position so they don't get too hot or too cold and perhaps he learned the most poignant lesson of all.  

Just like all living things, baby quail die.

I remember the morning when we lost the first one and I didn't know how to break it to him.  What do you say when you count the quail each day and all of a sudden, a subtraction problem comes to mind?  That first of several died early on and I didn't know how to say it.  He just looked at me with those beautiful little eyes and told me not to worry.  He had already figured it out.  I was supposed to teach him and he ended up teaching me.

Somewhere just a few miles from here, "the 10" are sleeping soundly in their beds.  When the sun comes up they will make their way by bus and car to our school at Grandfield Elementary.  We are down to only a mere few weeks before school is dismissed for the year.  I'm nearly out of time to teach them all they need to know to be successful third graders come this fall.  Even though we have worked diligently all year long, I fear there may be a few things that we haven't covered yet and so we keep at it utilizing all the days that remain.  

When everything is said and done on the final day of school, I know that I will have taught them that which is the most important to them anyways.  The days of their youth are the best time to learn the most valuable lessons of all.

The lessons of life~

~as we patiently wait~

~from our life upon the anvil~

     It's been a little over 5 weeks now since Mike lost his job, 37 days in all to contemplate how to change our course towards whatever lies ahead of us.  I've always likened times such as these to being laid upon God's mighty anvil as He reshapes us, sometimes rather painfully, and sends us forth on a new path.  We have survived this unplanned ordeal but the truth would surely be this.

     It's not the funnest thing a guy would ever want to do.

     Being down to one paycheck has taught us many things and perhaps the most important to us at this time is the lesson of being thankful for what we already have and surely most thankful for the many things that we do not.  I remember the weekend after Mike found out that he had just worked his final day, we took stock of what groceries we had on hand.  Mike and I emptied out all of the cupboards in the pantry and kitchen, lining up an assortment of food as each of us mentally made notes of what we might need to pick up at the store in order to get by until the next payday came for us.  It was not surprising to see that Mike and I had more than a  plenty of food and it was obvious that we would not ever need to worry about starving.  We did it in a very calm and logical manner.  It was not like we were panicking about anything, rather we just wanted to plan accordingly.  We have learned to make smarter decisions about whether or not to eat out, something that we did way too much of anyways.  Both of us can eat much healthier simply by eating at home, saving money along the way. 

     This unexpected journey has also taught us the value of staying busy and keeping ourselves occupied with plenty of things to accomplish around the house.  Between the times that Mike has been out looking for work or applying online for jobs, he's been diligently working in the back yard and finally getting some things accomplished that he'd been wanting to do for a long time.  Luckily he had many of the materials needed to do things already on hand.  For those materials that we didn't have, both of us made a conscious effort to think of any other way to accomplish the task without having to spend much money.  Many times we just repurposed various items that have been stored in both sheds since we moved into our home in January of 2016.  If we had to buy something we tried to get it at the best price possible.  So far, so good.  Mike could have chosen to sit around the house moping and worrying about everything.  Instead he chose a healthier way of coping with the unknown and little by little, the backyard is coming together at last.

     Perhaps the lesson that we needed to learn the most though is the one that teaches us to never give up.  It hasn't been easy in fact some days are downright hard but the times on God's anvil never are easy.  Hopefully the finished result, well at least finished until the next time on the anvil comes around, will be a better version of what life was meant to be for us.  The universe must still be aligning itself as far as Mike's next job is concerned.   Somewhere out there one person is moving on from a position that will some day go to Mike.  In the meantime, there is only one thing we can do.

    Patiently wait.

Mike is making a stone patio for the backyard and accomplishing a project he's been wanting to do for some time now.  It's a lot of work but he didn't give up, even when it might have been easy to quit on it.  It will look really nice when he finishes.    
     

     

~and it doesn't get any better than that, my friends~

Time is of the essence for me as a teacher.  With 24 days left on the school calendar before we all go home for our summer vacation, I'm reminded each day of all that is left to accomplish.  With about 3 years remaining before I really do call it done as a teacher and enter the world of whatever people do when they refer to themselves as retired, I get up each morning and head to school knowing one thing for certain.

After being a teacher for over 40 years, I will really miss this life something fiercely when all is said and done.

I've always been a teacher who way more enjoys teaching the lessons of life than I do teaching the prescribed curriculum and standards of any state that I've been privileged to be an educator in.  I make absolutely no bones about it.  While I know full well how important is to have children prepared to go successfully from one grade to the next and while I am surely aware of how important these state assessments we all go through across the United States each spring seem to be, believe me when I tell you that they are not the only lessons that children need to learn.  I say it over and over again and will until the day that I die.  

Some of my best lessons have the been the ones that are of life.

My 2nd grade kids at Grandfield Elementary in Oklahoma have been studying the U.S. and the geography of the states.  As part of our geographic literacy and awareness unit, we've been asking for folks to help us by sending a post card from what ever state they might be living in or even one that they love to take a vacation to.  I put out a message on my own personal social media page that requested post cards if anyone would so care to help us out.  That post ended up being shared nearly 350 times all across the state of Oklahoma and to all directions north, south, east, and west.   In the two weeks since that post went out, the kids have received many post cards, letters, and even some special gifts from folks along the way.  It's been so exciting about the 1:30 time of the afternoon as the mail is delivered to our room.  The kids always look forward to seeing what came addressed to us and so do I.

At present we have post cards from 36 of the states, leaving us only 14 yet to acquire.  We believe that we can meet our original goal of one that represents each of the states.   And you know what?  

We will!

Yesterday after I had taken the time to read 3 of the letters that came to the kids, I called them over to me and asked them to sit down so we could talk.  For a moment I looked them in the eyes, one by one, as I began to speak.  A little lump came in my throat and although I didn't cry, I felt like a tear could well up in my eyes. With pride in my voice and gratitude in my old teacher's heart, I told them how happy I was that so many people had seen our project and wanted to help.  And then I told them something most important to me, something that I sincerely believe that those second grade children should know.

"Boys and girls, I want you to know something.  You will often hear that the news is filled with bad things and bad people who don't always want the best for you and for me.  But I need you children to know something.  I want you to look for the good people, for those who do kind things for one another.  Look for the ones like the strangers who have sent you these post cards and have wished us well.   Trust me when I tell you that for every bad person, there are a million more people who are practicing the good.  They are out there.  We just have to look for them to see that it is true.  No matter what happens to you in this life, I always want you to look for the good."

My prayer is that they always will.

For the next couple of weeks, until May 1st, we will continue to try to gather as many post cards as we can.  After we finish up getting all of the 50 states taken care of, we will divide all of the duplicate post cards up among the class as well as share some with other classes at school.  Our hallway bulletin board that is just outside of our classroom has a U.S. map affixed to it and each post card is matched to its appropriate state by colored string.  It's filling up fast and we are so very happy.

So to all of you who read my post a few weeks back and shared it with your friends as well as to all of you who sent us a post card or a letter, you have our humble thanks.  Even though the original lesson was to help kids learn which states were in certain geographic sections of the country, it turned into a far greater and much more precious and valuable kind of lesson.  

It was one that was taught by over 350 people to little children who call the prairie of southwestern Oklahoma their home.  They were total strangers helping out kids simply because of their desire to make a positive difference in the life of a child they will probably never even meet.

It doesn't get any better than that my friends.

My little sister Cindy from back in Hutchinson, Kansas was one of over 300 people who shared my original post.  She knows the importance of taking a stake in the life of a child.  We are all in this together.  I'm the big sister on the left and she is the little sister on the right.  Out of 5 girls in all, we are the only two girls still living.  It's nice to have each other.

~and it's a long ways from Grandfield, Oklahoma to Honaunau, Hawaii~

It's a long ways from Grandfield, Oklahoma to Honaunau, Hawaii~3,263 miles of a long ways in fact.  A guy would have to cross 5 time zones to get from one state to the other.  Realizing of course that I've lived a rather sheltered life, I've never taken a vacation there nor even known anyone who called the Island State their home. 

That is until yesterday.

An idea to teach the geographic literacy section of the social studies standards for Oklahoma 2nd graders led me to start a post card collection effort back in January.  Slowly over the last couple of months, various post cards were mailed to our school by dear friends and still others  that we didn't even know of.  Two weeks ago I took a look at what remained of the calendar for our current school year and realized that if we wanted to be able to see a card from each state that we'd need to make a fairly strong push to complete it in this last 9 weeks of the school year.  After putting out a call for anyone that could help us on my own social media page and thanks to the efforts of over 300 people who shared it on their own pages, the cards began to come this week.  One of the cards ended up being from a former Grandfield resident who now calls the Aloha State his home.

After a stack of cards were delivered to our classroom yesterday, we stopped everything we were doing and sat down together to take a look at them.  The card from Hawaii was the third one that I found and when I read where it was from, I was so surprised.

"Oh my goodness you guys!  This one is from Hawaii and it says it is from someone who used to live here in Grandfield!" I told the kids.

They could sense the excitement in their teacher's voice because I have told them all along that I felt the two most difficult states to get them from would be Rhode Island and Hawaii, mostly because I have absolutely zero connections with anyone from that pair of locations.  To actually find that someone had taken the time to send a card to the kids from a place so far away warmed my teacher's heart and provided some renewed energy at the end of a very busy Friday afternoon.

During the past 40 years of being an educator, mostly in Kansas but also in the states of Colorado, Texas and now Oklahoma, I've been asked many times by folks what they could do to help children and their teachers.  I was always humbled to encounter those who would want to assist in any way that they could.  Once I even made a list of things that I could hand to those people, a checklist of sorts that would give them some good ideas they might be able to do.  I tried to think of things that wouldn't cost too much money and also to balance the list with an equal share of the thing that is the most precious gift of all.

~the gift of time~

The list went like this.
~Agree to mentor a student for a 9-weeks or even a whole school year.
~Eat lunch with a class of students once a month and actually sit at their table and listen to their conversations, joining in with your table talk.
~Go shopping at the beginning of school in August and in January as well for pencils, erasers, glue sticks, colors, or scissors and take them to your neighborhood school for use in the teachers' classrooms.
~Gather up gently used books and take them to a classroom for their own personal library because kids are voracious readers.  They need access to every book they can get their hands on.
~Participate in classroom projects any way that you can.  Gathering post cards is a great example of one way you can do that.
~Save those little box tops that come on certain products and take them to the office of a school that collects them for redemption.  They may only be worth a thin dime each, but many hands collecting them can make a huge impact on schools whose budgets are already stretched onion skin thin long before year's end.
~Choose a class and their teacher. Send them a card once a month to say you are thinking of them and say a prayer for them while you are at it.  Believe me, we need all of those that we can get.

All it took to bring a smile to this old teacher's face was the cost of a post card, stamp, a little bit of time, and the desire to make a difference in the lives of Oklahoma children and their teacher.  Thank you Vince for helping us out!

We are well over half the way there in our quest to complete our project and I have no doubt that we will receive the ones we need.

Even Rhode Island~

~little did we know~

~and life goes on~

It took me quite a while to understand what it meant when someone told me once that unanswered prayers are actually a good thing.  I remember looking at my friend with a quizzical and unbelieving look on my face, wondering where she came up with that idea.  Many years and several thousand unanswered prayers later, I began to get it and started to realize that what my lifelong friend was saying was indeed the very truth.

I have learned, sometimes the extremely hard way~the "I'm going to have to lay you upon the mighty anvil" kind of way, that unanswered prayers are really a gift from the good Lord above.

It's coming up now almost 5 years since Mike and I were married and every once in a while that is still hard to imagine.  Never was the life I am living now even on the radar.   Believe me, I never sat at home in Kansas and prayed this prayer.

"Lord, please help me connect with someone I might have known from high school 40 years ago and haven't seen since.  It's ok if you uproot me from my home of forever here in Kansas.  I want to go and see the world, well at least Colorado, Texas, and Oklahoma.  Amen."
Kid you not.  It never happened.

My prayer for life was on a much different path back then and none of it involved getting married to Mike, moving away, teaching children in the mountains of southwestern Colorado or the plains of Texas and Oklahoma.  Day after day I kept wondering what the problem was.  Why was it that God hadn't heard me asking for those things that I felt would have been a good life for me?  And of course, the answer is that He is much wiser than I would ever even think of professing to be.  The plan for a little girl from Kansas named "Peggy" was going to take a different course and everything would work out just fine, if only I would let it.

And so we are here, along the Red River and living the life that was my destiny all along.  When things fell into place, everything happened just as it should.  All my prayers of hoping for anything different went unanswered, thank goodness.

Actually, thank God.

It had been a long time since I saw this photo taken after our wedding in May of 2013.  Mike and I got married on the last day of school back home in Hutchinson, Kansas.  We actually got married at school in the gymnasium in front of all the kids, teachers and staff of Lincoln Elementary, and a host of family and other friends.  The gym was packed and it was how we both wanted it to be.  As I look at Mike standing there in the background (sans chin whiskers then) while I said my good-bye to all of the kids as they were leaving, I have to imagine that he might have been wondering where the path of his life would now lead him.  

Just like me, little did he know.

                                   and life goes on, through everything

~on behalf of the kids~

You know, it's only a bulletin board.  When I first found it last summer in the hallway outside my classroom at Grandfield Elementary, it was barren and painted black.  It was like a blank slate, a canvas with a picture that was yet to be determined by me.  It's been utilized in many ways since that first day of school this past August.  More often than not, it has displayed the work of my second grade students as they wrote for me on various assignments throughout each 9 weeks.  It's been fun to showcase their work and give them a chance to share with others just what we are learning in our classroom.

It's only a bulletin board, but actually it is so much more beyond that. 
It's a tool to help children learn and to educate others along the way.

Much is asked of teachers in the great state of Oklahoma just like much is asked of teachers all over the nation.  The state standards for all of the core subjects are filled with things deemed to be the most important to spend our days teaching and for the kids to be learning.  We teachers take it quite seriously and align our lesson plans to the curriculum and the standards that go with them.  As a second grade teacher, I find some days that it's all I can do to make sure the reading/language arts standards as well as the math standards are covered.  Believe me when I say that we need at least a couple of more hours in the day most times.  The idea of managing to get social studies and science in during the course of our days together is a trick sometimes but it can be done.

When I began to look at the standards for second grade social studies and how to incorporate them into our work just shortly after Christmas, I came upon the 3rd standard, one that deals with geographic literacy.  As I read through what it meant for the kids to be geographically literate, I thought about the idea of having my students learn about the 50 states via postcards.  I figured surely I had enough connections across the nation that would help my kids to receive them by choosing one and then mailing them to us here in Oklahoma.  I only had to plant the seed, then wait and hope that someone would hear my request and help us out.

We've been working on this since January and have been the recipients of some awesome postcards.  One of the young ladies in my room has a very sweet grandmother who sent several antique postcards for the kids to look at and enjoy.  I even found one in that particular bunch from my native Kansas and recognized it right away as one that I had purchased now so many years ago.  Mike and I went into the store in Wichita Falls and bought a really nice U.S. map and ended up using the hallway bulletin board to display it plus all the postcards that had arrived.  It's been fun to watch the faces of the kids when Miss Sarah brings them into our classroom from the office.  It's like Christmas comes each time that door opens and Sarah's smiling face appears.  

"Mrs. Renfro, you guys got another postcard in the mail today!"

This morning I went to school to work awhile and took a moment to count up the cards that we had already received in the mail and to make note of those we were still lacking.  With a goal of having all 50 states taken care of by the last day of school in May, I knew that we were lagging behind a bit.  I put out a plea for them on social media this morning and the response that I received was pretty overwhelming.  I would have to admit that there were tears welling up in my eyes and a lump in my teacher's throat as I read the responses I received.  So many people out there are willing to help little children who they don't even know in order that they can learn about America.  They can see the value in a project such as ours and stand more than ready to do what they can.  It takes little in cost to do so.  By the time a postcard is purchased plus the stamp to mail it, hopefully no more than $1.75 to $2.00 will be spent.  For the students, although they will love to see it arrive in the mail, the greatest gift of all in addition to a colorful postcard is the fact that it cost the person who sent it one more thing.

It's the gift of their time.
And it was time spent for an Oklahoma child.
Just like them.

As a teacher for the past 4 decades now, I've had to find some pretty creative ways to teach daily lessons.  Our basic social studies curriculum is rather limited and I don't have all the fancy supplemental materials to use with it.  Of necessity I have to come up with some new ways to teach what is asked of me.  By no means am I alone in that fact.  Teachers everywhere across Oklahoma, and more than likely across the nation, could use way more funding for our schools in order to do our best job in educating the kids who are going to grow up to be the surgeon who operates on you, the architect who designs a supermarket that you buy your weekly groceries at, or the teacher who educates your grandchildren.  Until that time comes, all of us make do with different ideas and various things at our disposal.

I hope that when our bulletin board is complete, when the 50th post card arrives in the mail and is affixed to the appropriate state, that my boys and girls plus any other students in our school can learn a life lesson in social studies.  Perhaps not every child who attends Grandfield Elementary will get the chance to visit places like Rhode Island, Alaska, Hawaii, or North Carolina, but I do hope they remember the year that their teacher showed them America via the postcard.  

You know, it was only a bulletin board that was barren and painted black.  
With some imagination, it became the vehicle that took children to places they had never been.

It takes very little to help a child.  A postcard and a stamp, coupled with the desire to make a difference in the life of a young person is a mighty fine and honorable start.  To all who have sent them already and to anyone who will send one in the days ahead, I surely do thank you on behalf of the kids.  You probably knew this anyways but it bears repeating again.

Kids are more than worth it!