Silly Bands

This is what happens to confiscated silly bands in second grade!

O.K., not really.

But I've threatened to give them to Tosca if the kids are playing with them during class!

P.S. Thanks to A.B. for letting me borrow her silly bands. :)

Busy, busy, Busy

The beginning of a new school year is always busy. Getting in the routine again, setting the alarm clock, planning lessons, meeting new students and learning their personalities. Someone recently mentioned that going from August to September for a teacher is like riding up a hill in a roller coaster (August) to suddenly zooming down at breakneck speed (September). That example seems to fit perfectly. But that’s not all that’s been going on this September. I’ve also spent the last month taking an online class dealing with integrating technology into the classroom. It’s been a great class – I’ve learned a lot, but the timing was not the best. The beginning of the school year is not a good time to take a class. It turned out to be much more work than I thought it would be; I’ve spent every weekend and several nights during the week working on it. That, along with regular schoolwork (and a new math series to get used to), has provided very little free time.

But now I can breathe again. I finished up my work for the class last night (at 6:50). I celebrated by opening a novel that’s been sitting on my dresser for the past three weeks, just waiting for me. I read two chapters; it felt so good to read for fun again. And today, I celebrated with my first Sunday since the school year began, truly at rest. I slept in and went to the later church service, had a great walk through the woods and meadows at VanRaalte farm with Tosca this afternoon, made bowtie lasagna, and finally posted a blog entry. What a blessed day.

Monday Moment

This video is perfect for me at this busy time of year. Maybe it will speak to you also.

Summer's Last Fling

With the new school year beginning on Aug. 30, I ended my summer vacation with a weekend trip to Chicago with my mom and sister. The weather was glorious – sunny with beautiful blue skies, temperatures in the low 80s – absolutely perfect for our weekend plans.

My mom and I drove to Michigan City and took the South Shore commuter train into Chicago on Thursday afternoon after my school “teacher meetings.” We arrived in time to enjoy supper at an outdoor restaurant in Millenium Park and part of a jazz concert at the park pavilion before walking to our hotel a few blocks away.

We met my sister at the train station the next morning and then took a trolley to Navy Pier. The Festival of Tall Ships was taking place so I was afraid it would be terribly crowded, but it wasn’t and we were able to ride the Ferris wheel right away. We walked along the pier, checking out the tall ships and shopping area. Then we enjoyed a buffet lunch cruise on the lake aboard the Spirit of America ship. It was awesome – the food, the entertaining wait-staff who sang and danced for us, the view of the Chicago skyline and the boats on the lake, the company of my mom and sister – two hours of relaxation.

We took a bus back to Millenium Park later that afternoon and then said goodbye to my sister. On our way back to the hotel, I stopped at the Ford Theatre where the Broadway musical Billy Elliot is playing to see if they had any discounted tickets for the evening’s performance. I was thrilled to get 2 tickets at a little more than half price in the orchestra section! It’s a great show – the choreography is spectacular – about following your dreams. (There is some questionable language, so I wouldn’t recommend it for kids.)

On Saturday my mom and I took a tour from the Chicago Neighborhood Tours focusing on the 1893 World’s Fair and the “White City” of Chicago. We had both read the book The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson about the World’s Fair and wanted to see the places the book described. The tour was great (I highly recommend it); it even included a delicious lunch at a charming Italian restaurant in Old Town. After our tour we collected our luggage from the hotel and made our way to the train station to take the commuter train back to Michigan City. It had been a perfect weekend!

It was the perfect weekend ... until we got to the train station. There we found that the trains would only be going as far as Gary, IN for the entire weekend. The rest of the route was closed for upgrade work. Uh oh! (To be fair, this announcement was posted on their website, but I had gotten the dates wrong and thought the closing wouldn’t happen until the next week). Now what? How would we get home? Thankfully we didn’t panic (much) and found God was still directing our path. We found that there was an Amtrak train leaving at 6:00 that would stop in Michigan City. We made our way to Union Station, got tickets, and boarded the train with just enough time. However, the Amtrak train stop was a few miles away from the commuter train stop. We’d have to find a way to get to the other train station where our car was. God was still directing our path, and He provided us with an unexpected gift when we got off the train in Michigan City. The information I had said that there was no train station, just a platform stop. This is true, but there is also a cute little restaurant called “Swingbellys” right next to the station parking lot. As it was now almost 8:00 at night, we decided to have supper there before calling a cab. The food was delicious and the waitresses were so friendly and helpful. When we found that the taxi wouldn’t be able to come for another hour, one of the waitresses drove us to the train station! After the unexpected stress of the last few hours, these women were definitely an answer to prayer and used by God to reassure us that we were still under His care. We finally got to our car around 9:30 pm (the time we had originally planned to be back home) and had an uneventful drive back to Holland. Whew!

What a way to end summer vacation!